第一講 The Old and Medieval English Literature

1、Introduction of the CoursePreliminary question: Why do we learn (English) literature?Course description: Objective: A general survey of English literature; Textbooks: 英國文學(xué)史及作品選讀英國文學(xué)史及作品選讀(東北師大東北師大); 新編新編 英國文學(xué)選讀英國文學(xué)選讀(北大北大) Course arrangement: * 1 lecture for Part One (old and medieval ages); * 3 lec

2、tures for Part Two (Shakespeare, Milton, Donne); * 4 lectures for Part Three (Pope, Swift, Defoe, Fielding); * 2 lectures for Part Four (the 1st generation and the 2nd generation of Romanticists); * 4 lectures for Part Five (Dickens, Hardy, Tennyson, Browning); * 6 lectures for Part Six (Yeats, Elio

3、t, Lawrence, Joyce, Mansfield, Western criticism)Part One The Middle AgesChapter I. The Old English Period (449-1066)I. The Early History of England1. The Earliest Settlers: Britons/ Celtic tribes/ no written language2. Roman Conquest: Julius Caesar; dream of Roman Empire3. The Anglo-Saxon Invasion:

4、 Beginning of English history4. The Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons: 597 A.D., St Augustine(* The above are the two greatest historical events before the Norman conquest- Igor Evans)5. The Danish Invasion6. The Norman Conquest: English feudalismII. Early English Literature: Beginning with Anglo

5、-Saxon Settlement1. Beowulf: The national epic of the English peopleBasic Information: Mixture of myths, hero legends & historical events; Composed in about 750 A.D./ written manuscript in about 1000 A.D. in Wessex tongue/ 3183 lines; Concerned with the Scandinavians (the Geats & the Danes)-

6、 the concept of Greater German; 3 parts: the fight with the monster Grendel; the fight with Grendels mother; the fight with the fire dragon.Status: technically unexcelled in Old English poetry.“the most forceful English writing before Chaucer and the greatest heroism before Miltons Samson Agonists”

7、(Ifor Evans: A Short History of English Literature).Main Features: Alliteration (words beginning with the same consonant sound): the main poetic feature of Old English poetry rugged; Metaphors & understatements: “ring-giver;” “shield bearer”; “very welcome” “not troublesome”, “right to condemn”

8、“need not praise” Mixture of pagan and Christian elements: monks role mainly values of the heroic age (valor, glory, duty, generosity, loyalty, blood-revenge) vs Christian elements- Grendel as Cains descendent / hell/ devil/ Gods dominion over the world.Comparison with Homers Iliad too simple story:

9、 fighting the monsters; inferior in its coverage of social life, characterization, & insights into life.2.Shorter poems or short fragments of long poems Widsith/ Doers Lament/ The Seafarer/ Waldere Miserable life, uncontrollable fate / bravery & determination3. Riddles4. Religious poetry Cae

10、dmon: shepherd-turned poet, translation of the Biblicaladj.圣經(jīng)的 stories into English. Cynewulf: The Christ, Juliana, The Fates of the Apostles.5. Old English prose the Venerable Bede: Ecclesiastical History of the English People; Alfred the Great: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.6. Summary of the Old Engli

11、sh LiteratureOne rugged epic, a handful of shorter heroic fragments, some short lyrics, several Christian poems, and a few prose works (mostly translations from Latin)* Old English Literature: now a foreign language to English peopleChapter II. The Middle English Period (1066-1485)I.The Norman Conqu

12、est and Its EffectsEstablishment of feudalism in England;The expansion of French culture and Latin civilization: English only for the poor and illiterate (pig-pork/ sheep- mutton/ bull-beef);Gradual blending of the Old English and French Influence of French literature on English literature: introduc

13、tion of regular meter and rhyme into English; development of chivalric system Romance.II. Influences of the Medieval Church: Religious hold on Secular AffairsGreat estates & hierarchy of government; 2 centuries of strife between the Pope & English kings: loosening of the church on secular af

14、fairs; Strong hold of the church on peoples spiritual world.III. Middle English LiteratureBasic Information Flowering of literature in Latin & French in the 12th & 13th centuries; Flowering of Middle English literature in the latter 14th C.: 4 masterpieces- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, T

15、he Pearl, Piers the Plowman, The Canterbury Tales. The 15th C.: popular literature ballads, miracle/ morality plays. The Romances Originally a tale in one of the Romance languages; Loose, episodic construction, extravagant incidents, miraculous occurrences;Popular romances in the 11th & 12th C.:

16、 heroic adventures of knights dealing justice & protecting the weak (Esp. King Arthur & his Round Table knights); Passionate lovers defying all circumstances & keep loyal to the one reality of their love- “romantic love”; Subject matter: a. the matter of France: Charlemagne the Great, Ro

17、land (“Chanson de Roland”);b. the matter of Rome: Alexander the Great, the Siege of Troy;c. the matter of Britain: Arthurian legends (brought to France by the Celts & then circulated back to England) - Sir Gawain, Lancelot, Merlin, the Quest for the Holy Grail, Death of King Arthur. Sir Gawain a

18、nd the Green Knight Written about 1375-1400 by an unknown author; Lasting about 2,500 lines in 4 “fyttes”: 1st fytte: A green knight comes to King Arthurs New Year feast at Camelot to challenge the knights with a beheading game. Sir Gawain accepts the challenge;2nd fytte: Sir Gawain departing from A

19、rthurs court to seek the Green Chapel for the Green knight. Numerous adventures on the journey till he reaches a castle.3rd fytte: what happens to Gawain during the 3 days he stays in the castle. Hunting and bed chamber scenes (temptation);4th fytte: duel with the Green knight- master of the castle

20、who has entertained him. Ideal of feudal knighthood: dedication to the Church & possession of the virtues of courage, promise-keeping and physical chastity and purity. Artistic features: a. vivid portrayal of the hero Gawain & a fine analysis of his psychology; b. unified & exciting plot

21、 full of climaxes and surprises; c. parallelism between the 3 hunting scenes & the 3 bedroom scenes (deer, boar and fox respectively in the 3 huntings); d. Combination of English alliterative verse with French metrical verse (the poem was written during the Alliterative Revival) - mainly alliter

22、ative, but 4 metrical lines at the end of every stanza. Selected readingNow he rides in his array through the realm of Logres,Sir Gawain, God knows, though it gave him small joy!All alone must he lodge through many a long nightWhere the food that he fancied was far from his plate;He had no mate but

23、his mount, over mountain and plain,Nor man to say his mind to but almighty God,Till he had wandered well-nigh into North Wales.All the islands of Anglesey he holds on his left,And follows, as he fares, the fords by the coast,Comes over at Holy Head, and enters nextThe Wilderness of Wirral few were w

24、ithinThat had great good will toward God or man.And earnestly he asked of each mortal he metIf he had ever heard aught of a knight all green,Or of a Green Chapel, on grounds thereabouts,And all said the same, and solemnly sworeThey saw no such knight all solely green in hue. Over country wild and st

25、range The knight sets off anew; Often his course must change Ere the Chapel comes in view.Many a cliff must he climb in country wild;Far off from all his friends, forlorn must he ride;At each strand or stream where the stalwart passedTwere a marvel if he met not some monstrous foe,And that so fierce

26、 and forbidding that fight he must.So many were the wonders he wandered amongThat to tell but the tenth part would tax my wits.Now with serpents he wars, now with savage wolves,Now with wild men of the woods, that watched from the rocks,Both with bulls and with bears, and with boars besides,And gian

27、ts that came gibbering from the jagged steeps.Had he not borne himself bravely, and been on Gods side,He had met with many mishaps and mortal harms.And if the wars were unwelcome, the winter was worse,When the cold clear rains rushed from the cloudsAnd froze before they could fall to the frosty eart

28、h.Near slain by the sleet he sleeps in his ironsMore nights than enough, among naked rocks,Where clattering from the crest the cold stream ranAnd hung in hard icicles high overhead.Thus in peril and pain and predicaments direHe rides across country till Christmas Eve, our knight. And at that holy ti

29、de He prays with all his might That Mary may be his guide Till a dwelling comes in sight.By a mountain next morning he makes his wayInto a forest fastness, fearsome and wild;High hills on either hand, with hoar woods below,Oaks old and huge by the hundred together.The hazel and the hawthorn were all

30、 interwinedWith rough raveled moss, that raggedly hung,With many birds unblithe upon bare twigsThat peeped most piteously for pain of the cold.The good knight on Cringolet glides thereunderThrough many a marsh and mire, a man all alone;He feared for his default, should he fail to seeThe service of t

31、hat Sire that on that same nightWas born of a bright maid, to bring us his peace.And therefore sighing he said, “I beseech of Thee, Lord,And Mary, thou mildest mother so dear,Some harborage where haply I might hear massAnd Thy matins tomorrow meekly I ask it,And thereto proffer and pray my pater and

32、 ave and creed.” He said his prayer with sighs. Lamenting his misdeed, He crosses himself, and cries On Christ in his great need.Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)Basic Information Son of a wine merchant, close tie with the nobles; POW of France during the Hundred Years War, diplomatic missions to Italy -

33、 contact with finer literature, esp. with Renaissance in Italy. 3 periods of writing: French period (1360s-1372) (French love of skill & artifice) The Book of the Duchess; Italian period (1372-1385) (influence of Italian Renaissance) The House of Fame, Troilus and Cryseyde (the best sustained lo

34、ng poem in quality in English language; the first English novel); English period (1387-1400) The Canterbury Tales.Status in English Literature: Father of English poetry (called by John Dryden; rise of English nationalism during the Hundred Years War); An accomplished poet: Writing in various forms w

35、ith ease and grace; Musical and elegant poetry; Keen observer of life a panoramic view of his time; Vivid characterization; Genial satire and humor.Chaucers contribution to English literature and language Reforming the English alliterative verse into metrical verse; Establishing various poetical for

36、ms for the English: heroic couplet (Pope in the 18th C.), the rhyme royal (7-line stanza in iambic pentameter, rhyming ababbcc), the terza rima (from Dante, later Shelley in Ode to the West Wind, rhyming aba, bcb, cdc), the octave: rhyming ababbcbc; Establishing the realistic tradition in English li

37、terature; Precursor to modern English novel; helping make the dialect of London (Midland dialect) the foundation for modern English language.The Canterbury TalesMain features: panoramic view of Chaucers time (involving various social classes except the royalty and the poor); vivid characterization;

38、dramatic structure (based on Boccacios Decameron but more compact: closer relationship between the tales and the tellers, paralleled stories); the use of London dialect; humor and irony.* English critics (e.g. Evans) tend to think that Chaucer borrowed nothing from Decameron for his The Canterbury T

39、ales except for its structure. But “The Knights Tale” and “The Scholars Tale” actually come from Decameron.* Chaucer compared borrowing from others to collecting the wheat that the harvester had left in the field.The Selected ReadingsThe Prologue the beginning description of English spring: fresh, v

40、igorous, light-hearted, the basic tone of The Canterbury Tales, Renaissance spirit. * The Waste Land (T. S, Eliot) 1. The Burial of the Dead April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.* These lines of Chaucer and

41、Eliot appeared on the front page of The Small World (David Lodge)Introduction of the NunGeneral impression actually a vivid description of an upper-class English lady: the apparel.衣服, 裝飾, way of speaking, table manners, dog-keeping, etc. secularization.凡俗化, 還俗, 把教育從宗教中分離of the nun (criticism); the m

42、odern features of Chaucers characters; hinting/ suggesting to satirize. Portrayal of the nun: critical and ironical only two places concerning her status as a nun, but in both places Chaucer pokes fun at the nuns easy virtue: “singing a serviceher nose” affectedness, “Amor vincit omnia” hinting easy

43、 virtue; the nuns improper manner/ behaviour * “her greatest oath by St Loy” oath-taking is improper for a nun / affected elegance, * “simple coy” affectedly shy, * Madam Eglantyne not a proper name for a nun (Prof. Luo Jingguo believes this, together with “intoning through her nose”, was common at

44、that time. But who has ever seen a Chinese nun named “秋蓮”、“麗香”, common names for Chinese women? ) , * unable to speak standard French, * weeping when seeing a mouse bleeding affectedness, * feeding her dogs with meat, milk, fine bread luxurious life of the monks and nuns at that time (Christian doct

45、rine: monks/ nuns could not eat meat unless ill. But in 12th C. Wenchester, monks got angry when their food was reduced to 13 dishes a meal); choice of words for the irony: “to counterfeit a courtly kind of grace” mimicry, “And to seem dignified in all her dealings” affectedness.Similar style with “the Wife of Ba