Lecture FourLecture Four

British Literature

TimelineTimelineBritish literature can be roughly divided

into 7 periods.1. Early and Medieval Literature2. Literature of Renaissance Period3. Literature of Revolution and Restoration

Period4. Literature of the 18th century5. Literature of Romantic Period6. Literature of Critical Realism7. Literature of the 20th Century We will go over the major works in the first six

periods.

Types of LiteratureTypes of Literature1. Narrative Fiction2. Drama3. Poetry4. Non-fiction Prose

Narrative FictionNarrative FictionShort storiesNovelsMythsParables 寓言故事RomancesEpics 叙事史诗

DramaDramaTragedyComedyFarce 滑稽剧

PoetryPoetrySonnetLyric 抒情诗Pastoral 田园诗Ballad 叙事诗SongOde 颂诗Dramatic Monologue

I. Early and Medieval I. Early and Medieval LiteratureLiteratureBritish literature began with the

Anglo-Saxon settlement in England.

Focus:◦The national epic (primitive

literature)◦The Romance Cycles (feudalist

literature)◦Folk literature◦Chaucer’s literary works

I. National Epic-BeowulfI. National Epic-Beowulf A long poem of 3000 lines; Telling a story about an ancient hero Beowulf’s

fight against a lake monster, his mother and a fire dragon;

Beowulf is considered an epic poem in that the main character is a hero who travels great distances to prove his strength at impossible odds against supernatural demons and beasts.

I. Beowulf (2)I. Beowulf (2)The outstanding features of the poem is its use of alliteration, understatement and metaphor.-Alliteration 押头韵“Thus made their mourning the men of Geatland, For their hero’s passing, his hearth-companions quoth that of all the kings of earth, Of men he was the mildest and most beloved, To his kin the kindest, keenest to praise.”-Understatement not troublesome (very welcome); need not praise

(condemn)-Metaphor swan’s bath (sea); sea-wood (ship)

I. The Romance I. The Romance

Romance: a long composition in verse or prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero

Theme of romance: a knight riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournaments, or fighting for his lord in battle

Emphasizes the loyalty to king and lord

I. The Romance (2)I. The Romance (2) Romance Romance CyclesCycles The great majority of Romances mainly fall into 3

cycles. 1.The matters of Britain:About King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table2.The matters of France:About Emperor Charlemagne and his peers3.The matters of Rome:About Alexander the Great

Of these three cycles, the matters of Britain is the most important one, and the culminations of its is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Romances are literature for the feudalist ruling class, and they had nothing to do with the common people.

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King Arthur and his knights of the Round TableKing Arthur and his knights of the Round Table 　　　　　　 Sir Gawain and Sir Gawain and the Green Knightthe Green Knight

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I. Folk LiteratureI. Folk Literature Literature of the lower

class in the feudalist society includes written folk literature and oral folk literature.

As for the written folk literature, the most important writer is William Langland, whose masterpiece is Piers the Plowman.

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I. Folk Literature (2)I. Folk Literature (2) With an oral tradition, popular ballads

usually deals with a single episode and their beginning is often abrupt, without any introduction to the characters and background information.

The themes of ballads are various in kind. And among the ballads published, the

Robin Hood ballads are of special significance.

Robin Hood, the famous outlaw welcomed by the poor was a half-historical and half-legendary hero. He and his men lived in the forest, fighting with the oppressors and protecting the poor and the oppressed.

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I. Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-I. Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400)1400)

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I. Chaucer (2)I. Chaucer (2)Founder of English literatureThe greatest English poet of the Middle

AgesFounder of English realismA crucial figure in developing the

legitimacy of vernacular, Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary language were French and Latin

Introduced “heroic couplet” 英雄双韵体 (rhymed couplet of 5 accents in iambic meter (aabbccddeeff…) to English poetry, which used the alliterative verse

I. Chaucer (3)I. Chaucer (3)The Canterbury Tales

◦A collection of stories written in Middle English

◦The tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims on their trip to Canterbury.

◦ It paints an ironic and critical portrait of English society at the time, particularly the church.

II. Literature of Renaissance II. Literature of Renaissance PeriodPeriod• The word “ Renaissance” means revival of

interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture, specifically between the 14th and mid 17th century.

• Renaissance, in essence, was a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to get rid of feudalist ideology in Europe and introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie, to lift the restrictions in all areas placed by the Roman catholic church.

II. Renaissance (2)II. Renaissance (2)• Humanism is both the keynote of the

Renaissance and the intellectual liberation movement. Humanists took interest in human life and human activities and gave expression to the new feeling of admiration for human beauty, human achievements and human reason and passion.

• The English Renaissance was an exciting time for literature which experienced a burst of ideas and literary brilliance.

II. The Renaissance (3)II. The Renaissance (3) In order to appreciate literature in the Renaissance period,

it is necessary to grasp some key words for this period: The most important ones are humanism and revival of the

interest in the ancient Greek and Roman literature. Besides these two words, which can be applied to all the

works by all the renaissance writers, there are also some key words that can be used in analyzing some individual writers.

Emphasis on the importance of national unity. The importance of ideal kingship. The importance of legal succession to the throne. The issue of witchcraft and racial prejudice. The close study of human nature, esp. human weakness.

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II. The Renaissance (4)II. The Renaissance (4)Thomas More (1477 ～

1535), scholar, thinker and statesman, was the leading humanist of his day. Among his writings the best known is Utopia (1516)

The work tells of a journey to an imagined island name Utopia, where an ideal form of society exists.

Its title comes from the Greek word meaning “ nowhere” and was adopted by More as the name of his ideal commonwealth.

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II. The Renaissance (5)II. The Renaissance (5)• Edmund Spenser (c. 1552 ～ 1559) was

the most influential poet and the dominating literary intellect in the late 16th century in England. The Shepherd's Calendar (1597), a poem in the traditional pastoral form and his first important work, established his poetic reputation.

• The union of line and meter in the poem is more harmonious, more supple, and richer than that in the works of Chaucer.

• His sonnet Amoretti is one of the most famous sonnet sequences of the Elizabethan Age.

• In his masterpiece The Faerie Queene, Spenser devised a verse form called the Spenserian Stanza, which consists of eight ten-syllable lines, plus a ninth line of 12 syllables, an iambic rhythm and a rhyme scheme as follows: abab bcbc c.

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II. The Renaissance (6)II. The Renaissance (6)• Politician, philosopher and essayist,

Francis Bacon (1561 ～ 1626) showed his great intellectual energy in his day.

• His major works are The Advancement of Learning and New Instrument.

• While being the founder of English materialist philosophy and the founder of modern science in England, he is also the first great English essayist.

• In 1597 Francis Bacon published his first collection of essays, which made popular in English a literary form widely practiced afterward. It is the most informal and casual of his works, the Essays, that is read most often.

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II. The Renaissance (7)II. The Renaissance (7)• Based on the miracle play, the morality play, the

interlude and the classical drama, drama flourished in this age more than any other form of literature.

• Christopher Marlowe (1564 ～ 1595) was the greatest of the pioneers of English drama.

• His importance is due to the energy with which he endowed the blank verse line (unrhymed iambic pentameter), which in his hands developed an unprecedented suppleness and power.

• His plays have great intensity, but sometimes they show a genius which is epic rather than dramatic—at least in Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta and Doctor Faustus which are his acknowledged masterpieces.

• The final scene of Doctor Faustus is one of the most intensely dramatic in English literature. It shows his musical handling and control of the ten-syllable line.

• Marlowe's works paved the route for the greatest dramatist—William Shakespeare—whose accomplishments were the monument of the English Renaissance and whose works gave the fullest expression to humanist ideals.

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II. The Renaissance (8)II. The Renaissance (8) William William

Shakespeare (1)Shakespeare (1)• William Shakespeare (1564 ～ 1616), a great poet and dramatist of the English Renaissance period, is surely one of the greatest writers the western world has ever produced.

• The facts concerning Shakespeare's life are scarce; nevertheless there are many records left in the works of his contemporaries and later biographers that help us to restore his image.

• William Shakespeare was born probably on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. As a child William was sent to the local grammar school that he had attended for six years. He studied Latin and Greek and read widely the books current in his day. When Shakespeare was fourteen, his father fell into debt, and the boy probably left school and became a country schoolmaster to help support his family.

• In 1582, William Shakespeare, then eighteen, was married to Anne Hathaway, eight years of his elder. Six months later, Susanna was born; in 1585, their twins, Hamnet and Judith, were baptized.

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II. The Renaissance (9)II. The Renaissance (9) William William

Shakespeare (2)Shakespeare (2)• Shakespeare arrived in London in the year 1586 or 1587. At that time drama was rapidly gaining popularity among the people.

• Shakespeare worked both as actor and playwright. He established himself so well as a playwright that Robert Greene, one of the “ University Wits” resentfully declared him to be “ an upstart crow. ” However, during the period in London, he became an acclaimed actor and established playwright.

• Shakespeare retired from the stage and returned to Stratford in 1612. He died on April 23,1616, the 52nd anniversary of his birthday.

• William Shakespeare produced 37 plays, 2 narrative poems and 154 sonnets.

• His plays can be divided into four types: historical plays, comedies, tragedies and romantic tragi-comedies. His major dramas may fall into three periods.

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II. The Renaissance (10)II. The Renaissance (10) William William

Shakespeare (3)Shakespeare (3)• The first period (1590 ～ 1600)• Henry VI (1590 ～ 91)• Richard III (1592 ～ 93)• The Comedy of Errors (1592)• Titus Andronicus (1593)• The Taming of the Shrew (1593 ～ 94)• The Two Gentlemen of Verona

(1594)• Love's Labor's Lost (1594)• Romeo and Juliet (1595)• Richard II (1595 ～ 96)• A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595 ～ 96)• King John (1596 ～ 97)• The Merchant of Venice (1596 ～ 97)• Henry IV, Part I (1597)• Henry IV, Part II (1597)• Much Ado about Nothing (1598 ～ 99)• Henry V (1598 ～ 99)• The Merry Wives of Windsor (1598 ～ 1601)• Julius Caesar (1599)• As You Like It (1599 ～ 1600)• Twelfth Night (1599 ～ 1600)

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II. The Renaissance (11)II. The Renaissance (11) William Shakespeare (4) William Shakespeare (4)

• The second period (1601 ～ 1608)• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (160

0 ～ 01)• Troilus and Cressida (1602)• All's Well That Ends Well

(1604)• Measure for Measure (1604 ～ 05)• Othello, the Moore of Venice (160

4 ～ 05)• King Lear (1605 ～ 06)• Macbeth (1606)• Antony and Cleopatra (1607)• Coriolanus (1607)• Timon of Athens (1605 ～ 08)• Pericles (1608)• The third period (1609 ～ 1612)• Cymbeline (1609 ～ 10)• The Winter's Tale (1610 ～ 11)• The Tempest (1611 ～ 12)• Henry VIII (1613)

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II. II. The Renaissance (12) The Renaissance (12) William Shakespeare William Shakespeare (5)(5)

The Merchant of Venice: It deals with the conflict between

the rising bourgeois and the feudalist money lender.

It praises true love and friendship and attacks greed and selfishness.

It also reveals the prevailing prejudice against the jew.

It shows the rising bourgeoisie’s confidence in winning the future.

Hamlet: It praises humanists as

represented by Hamlet. He is the scholar, a soldier and a statesman.

It shows the inevitable problems faced by the humanists.

Hamlet’s delay of action is due to his awareness of the possible national disaster which will be brought about by his personal revenge and his sense of responsibility to put the interests of his nation and his people before his own. 23/4/22 29

II. The Renaissance (12)II. The Renaissance (12) William William

Shakespeare (5)Shakespeare (5)

Macbeth:A tragedy of human

weakness, esp. ambition.

Importance of legal succession to the throne, which has great significance in keeping national unity.

Othello:A tragedy of human

weakness, esp. envy.A tragedy caused by

hypocrisy and selfishness.

The issue of racial prejudice against the black.23/4/22 30

III. Literature of the Revolution and III. Literature of the Revolution and Restoration PeriodRestoration Period John Milton

◦ Paradise Lost-Great epic since Beowulf A long epic in 12 books written in blank verse ( 无

韵叙事诗） The story were taken from the Old Testament and

was about the Fallen of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden

Paradise LostParadise LostTheme:A revolt against God’s authority

Characterization Satan is the real hero of this epic Firm, courageous, persistent Prefers independence to happy

servility http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost

IV. Literature of the 18IV. Literature of the 18thth centurycenturyBackground: • The Enlightenment in Europe (an

expression of struggle of bourgeoisie against feudalism)

Focus• Jonathan Swift• Daniel Defoe

Jonathan Swift (1667-Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)1745)

Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftGulliver’s Travels

Gulliver’s TravelsGulliver’s Travels

Story: Gulliver’s self description of his fantastic visits to some unbelievable places◦The story consists of four parts

Voyage to Lilliput Voyage to Brobdingnag Voyage to Liputa Voyage to Houyhnhnms http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gulliver/summary.html

Theme◦A satirical view of the state of European

government◦An inquiry into whether men are inherently

corrupt or whether they become corrupted

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)

Daniel DefoeDaniel DefoeEarliest proponent of novelsOne of the founders of English novelsAuthor of Robinson Crusoe

Robinson CrusoeRobinson CrusoeThe famous story of Robinson Crusoe can

be divided into three parts: ◦ Robinson’s youth and the time up to his

shipwreck; ◦ his twenty-eight years on an uninhabited island; ◦ his lie and adventures after being rescued from

the island.

Published in 1719, Defoe places his story in the 17th century in England, north Africa, Brazil, an island off the coast of Venezuela and back to Europe.

Robinson Crusoe (2)Robinson Crusoe (2)Part 1: Robinson wishes to pursue his livelihood by

going to sea against the advice of his father. He does so and after a false start has some success but a third voyage ends in slavery. He eventually escapes and is helped to Brazil where he becomes a successful plantation owner. He embarks on a slave-gathering expedition to West Africa but is shipwrecked off the coast of Venezuela in a terrible storm.

Robinson Crusoe (3)Robinson Crusoe (3)Part 2:

◦The bulk of the novel attends to Robinson’s life on the island —how he accomplishes his survival and even establishes his "kingdom"; how he moves from a frantic state of discontent to one of resignation and contentment; how he meets Friday and, finally, how he leaves the island.

Robinson Crusoe (4)Robinson Crusoe (4)Part 3:

◦Though anticlimactic, the third part of the novel traces Robinson’s securing of wealth through the honesty and loyalty of friends, his return to England, travels through the continent and a last trip to his island to see how those he left there fared.

Robinson Crusoe (5)Robinson Crusoe (5)The character of Robinson

Crusoe is representative of the English bourgeoisie at the earliest stages of its development. He is most practical and exact, always religious and at the same time mindful of his own profits.

Daniel DefoeDaniel DefoeDefoe is an anti-romantic, anti-feudal realistic writer.

His stories are all real concerns of his time: people in their struggle to overcome the natural or social environment.

Defoe adopted the autobiographical form and made use of his long trained journalistic skill by describing things in great detail and by using specific time and space

His style is characterized by a plain, smooth, direct, and almost colloquial but never coarse language

V. Literature of Romantic V. Literature of Romantic PeriodPeriodRomanticism refers to a literary

movement characterized by◦The idealization of nature◦Freedom of thought and expression ◦Heavy reliance on the imagination and

subjectivityRomantic period: the first third of

the 19th centuryFocus:

◦William Wordsworth◦George Gordon Byron◦Percy Shelley

V. William Wordsworth V. William Wordsworth (1770-1850)(1770-1850)One of the most accomplished and

influential of England’s romantic poetsOne of the Lake Poets (together with

Robert Southey and Coleridge)Poet laureate He set forth his principles of poetry in the

Preface to the Lyrical Ballads 抒情歌谣集 that “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling”, which contrasted with the classicists who made reason, order and the old, classical traditions the criteria in their poetical creations.

He endeavored to bring his language near to the real language of men.

William Wordsworth (2)William Wordsworth (2)A radical democrat in the early days,

attracted to slogans of liberty, equality and fraternity.

A conservative in politics and religion in his later years

Being strong against the industrialization, thinking it caused miseries and destroyed country life

He changed the course of English poetry by using ordinary speech of the language and by advocating return to nature

George Gordon Byron (1788-George Gordon Byron (1788-1824)1824)His poetry conveys the essence of

the romantic movement in literature.

ByronByronDon Juan

◦A satiric poem◦Purpose: to present a panoramic

view of different types of society◦Subjects

Love, war, religion, ethics, politics, etc.

◦Theme Appearance vs. reality Natural man vs. hypocritical society

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)1822)One of the most influential leaders of

Romantic MovementLiving by a radically nonconformist

code

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley Shelley, with a triumphant praise of

the imagination, highly excelled the role of poetry, thinking that poetry alone could free man and offer the mind a wider view of its powers. Poetry “is a more direct representation of the actions and passions of our internal being”. It is through language that the imagination most readily apprehends the ideal order of truth.

Prometheus Unbound by Prometheus Unbound by ShelleyShelleyA four-act play Story: torments of the Greek

mythological figure Prometheus and his suffering at the hands of Zeus;

It differed from the Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound in that there was no reconciliation between Prometheus and Zeus. Instead, Zeus was overthrown and Prometheus was released.

VI. English Critical RealismVI. English Critical RealismIt flourished in the forties and the early

fifties of 19th centuryThe critical realists described with

much vividness of the English society and criticized the capitalistic system from a democratic viewpoint

Great use of humor and satire Chief tendency is not of revolution but

rather of reformism with happy endings or important compromises in the end

English Critical RealismEnglish Critical RealismContribution to the literary form

is the perfection of the novel.The works of this period not only

pictured the conflicts between separate individuals who stood for definite social strata, but also showed the broad social conflicts over and above the mere individuals.

Jane Austen (1775-1817)Jane Austen (1775-1817)

Major works◦ Sense and

Sensibility◦ Pride and Prejudice◦ Northanger Abbey◦ Mansfield Park◦ Emma

Jane AustinJane Austin• Stories of middle-class women in

search of husbandsKnown for fine writing, subtle

characterization and controlled studies of manners

Charles Dickens (1812-Charles Dickens (1812-1870)1870)A master of story-tellerA master of character-portrayal

◦ He is best at child character portrayal◦ He is good at description of horrible and

grotesque figuresA master of humor and pathos

Charles DickensCharles DickensMajor works:

◦Pickwick Papers- “the supreme epic of English life” in early 19th-century England

◦Oliver Twist- calling forth the reader’s sympathy for the down-trodden people of the lower classes

◦David Copperfield-an autobiographical book

◦Hard Times-a fierce attack on the bourgeois system of education and ethnics and utilitarianism

William Thackeray (1811-William Thackeray (1811-1863)1863)A representative of critical

realism in 19th century England

Vanity Fair by ThackerayVanity Fair by ThackeraySubtitle “A novel without a hero”,

emphasizing the writer’s intention not to portray individuals, but the bourgeois and aristocratic society as a whole

It describes the life of the ruling classes in the early decades of the 19th century, and attacks the social relationship of the bourgeois world by satirizing the individuals in the different strata of the upper society

The Bronte SistersThe Bronte SistersCharlotte Bronte (1816-1855)Emily (Jane) Bronte (1818-1848)Anne Bronte (1820-1849)Major works

◦Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte◦Wuthering Height by Emily Bronte◦Jane Eyre by Charlotte

Bronte

Thomas Hardy (1840-Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)1928)One of the

representatives of English critical realism at the turn of the 19th century

Thomas Hardy (2)Thomas Hardy (2)Best known for his Wessex Novels,

i.e., the novels describing the characters and environment of his native countryside.

Major novels:◦ Under the Greeenwood Tree◦ Far from the Madding Crowd◦ The Return of the Native◦ The Mayor of Casterbridge◦ Tess of the D’Urbervilles◦ Jude the Obscure

Thomas HardyThomas Hardy (3)(3)Tess from the D’urberville

◦Theme: “Ache of modernism” Sexual double standard

VII. 20th Century Literature

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