1、Lecture 1 1. What is literature? (1) extensive thinking a pice of news? a letter? diary? the teaching mateial? the books in the reading list? (the reason of your choice) (2) definition Literaturature, in its broadest sense, is any kind of writing. More restrictively, it is writing as an art form, or

2、 any writing deemed to have artistic or intellectual value, often due to deploying language in ways that differ from ordinary usage. (give example) Etymologically, literature has to do with letters. Its Latin root literatura (derived itself from littera : letter or handwrting) was used to refect to

3、all written accounts, though contemporary definitions extend the term to include texts that are spoken or sung (oral literature). (3) the change of the definition of “ literature ” In Western Europe prior to the eighteenth century , literature as a term indicated all books and writing. A more restri

4、cted sense of the term emerged durintghe Romantic period , in which it began to demarcate “ imaginative ” literature. “the best expression of the best thought reduced to wrting ” Encyclopedia Britain Eleventh Edition (191011) The formalist definition is that the history of “litefroarteugreroun”ds po

5、etic effects; it is the “ literariness ” or “ poeticity ” of literature that disdin it from ordinary speech or other kinds of writing. (4) major forms fiction Fiction is the classification for any story created in the imagination, rather than based strictly on history or fact. drama In the most gene

6、ral sense, Western drama refers to any work designed to be represented on a stage by actors. essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author argument. poetry Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evooke meaning. 2. The reasons

7、 why we learn literature It is useful to look at some of the things that literature does. Literature is something thatreflects society , makes us think about ourselves and society, allows us to enjoy language and beauty, it can be didactic, and it reflects on “ the human condition ”. It both reflect

8、s ideology and changes ideology , just like it follows generic conventions as well as changing them. It has social and political effects . Literature is the creation of another world, a world that we can only see through reading literature. 3. What books have Ss read? (ask Ss) The Making of England

9、1. The Britons The English people are of a mixed blood. The early inhabitants in the island now we call England were Britons, a tribe of Celts. From the Britons the island got its name of Britain, the land of Britons. 2. The Roman Conquest (1) In 55 B.C., Briain was invaded by Julius Caesar, the Rom

10、an conqueror, who had then just occupied Gaul. (2) Britain was not completely subjugated to the Roman Empire until 78 A.D. With the Roman Conquest the Roman mode of life came across to Britain also. Roman roads s own Christianity (3) At the beginning of the fifth century, the Roman Empire was in the

11、 process of declining. And in 410 A.D., all the Roman troops went back to the continent and never returned. 3. The Anglo -Saxon/English Conquest (1) At the same time Britain was invaded by swarms of pirate. They were three tribes from Northern Europe: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. The Jutes occupied

12、 Kent, in the southeastern corner of the island. The Saxons took southern part and established some small kingdoms. (Wessex, Essex and Sussex) The Angles spread over the east midland. (East Anglia) (2) By the 7th century these seven small kingdoms were combined into a united kingdom called England,

13、or, the land of Angles. The three tribes had mixed into a whole people called English. The Angles are the most numerous of the three. The three dialects spoken by them naturally grew into a single language called Anglo -Saxon, or Old English. 4. The Social Condition of the Anglo -Saxons (1) Before t

14、he Anglo-Saxons settled down in Britain, they still lived in the tribal society. Each group of families united by kinship fixed its home in a separate village. There was then what Engles calls “ the military democracy grown out of the gens”. (2) After the conquest of Britain, the social constitution

15、 of the Anglo-Saxonswent through some rapid changes. The Angl-oSaxon period witnessed a transition from tribal society to feudalism. 5. Anglo -Saxon Religious Belief and Its Influence (1) The Anglo-Saxon were heathen people. Theybelieved in old mythology of Northern Europe. Northern mythology has le

16、ft its mark upon the English language. The days f the week in English are named after the Northern gods. Odin: Wednesday Thor: Thursday Frigga: Friday Tiu: Tuesday (2) The Anglo-Saxons were Christianized in the seventh century. Monasteries were built all over the country. The earliest English books

17、were written down by monks who could read and write. 6. The Norman Conquest (1) The Danish Invasion About 787, the English began to be troubled by bands of Danish vikings. King Alfred the Great succeeded in driving the Danes off with force. Laying down his sword, King Alfred set himself to the task

18、of encouraging education and literature. He translated some works from Latin himself. After his death, the Danes occupied the country in 1013, and held it for 30 years. The England was once more governed by another foreign ruler. (2) The Norman Conquest The French-speaking Normans under Duke William

19、 came in 1066. William was crowned as King of England. It was called the Norman Conquest. King Baron Knight The Norman Conquest marks the establishment of feudalism in England. (3) The Influence of the Norman Conquest on the English Language After the Norman Conquest the Norman lords spoke French, w

20、hle their English subjects retained their old tougue. The scholar wrote in Latin and the courtier in French. The was almost no written literature in English for a time. Chronicles and religious poems were in Latin. Romances, the prominent kind of literature in the Anglo-Norman period, were at first

21、all in French. By the end of e fourteenth century, when Normans and English intermingled, English was once more the dominent speech in the country. The English became something different from the old Anglo-Saxon. The structure of the language remained English, and the common words were almost all re

22、tained, though often somewhat modified in form. But many terms employed by the Normans were adopted into the English language. eg. -“ veal ”“, calf “ I ” “ I “ ”丄丄 ” “ swine- ”“ pork ” , “-sh“eempu”tton ” 7. Feudal England (1) Social Feature of the Feudal England distict division into classes: landl

23、ords and peasants a whole network of church government as well as that of the king (2) the miseries of the peasants Black Death disease a Statute of Labourers the war between England and France which was prolonged for 40 years 8. The Rising of 1381 (1) leader: Wat Tyler and John Balls officers A Bri

24、ef Introduction of English Literature 1. Early and Medieval English Literature (1) Beowulf: It is a long poem of over 3000 lines and is the national epic of English people. (2) Langland: Piers the Plowman (3) Chaucer:the founder of English poetry,The Canterbury Tales 2. The English Renaissance Thoma

25、s More: Utopia Edmund Spenser :Sonnet 75 Christopher Marlowe and his dramas William Shakespeare: The greatest dramatist and poets in the English Renaissance period. He had left 37 plays, 154 sonnets and several long poems to the world. Four Comedies A Midsummer Night sDream 仲夏夜之夢 The Merchant of Ven

26、ice 威尼斯商人 As You Like It 皆大歡喜 Twelfth Night 第十二夜 Four Tragedies Hamlet 哈姆雷特 Othello 奧賽羅 King Lear 李爾王 Macbeth 麥克白 Others : Romeo and Juliet 羅密歐與朱麗葉 Francis Bacon: The founder of English materialist philosophy and modern science. Bacon is especially famous for his essays. works : Of Studies; Of Beaut

27、y 3. The Period of the English Bourgeois Revolution John Milton: Paradise Lost John Bunyan:The Pilgrim s Progress Metaphysical poets: John Donne s poetry 4. The Eighteenth Century Literature Alexander Pope:The Rape of the Lock卷發遇劫記 Jonathan Swift: Gulliver s Travles Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe 魯濱遜

28、漂流記 Henry Fielding: the founder of English Realistic Novel Oliver Goldsmith William Blake, Robert Burns 5. Romanticism William Wordsworth: the representative poet of the early romanticism;Lyrical Ballads S.T. Coleridge: The Rime of Ancient Mariner George Gordon Byron:Don Juan Percy Besshe Shelley:Prometheu