英美文学简介课件.ppt

1、English literatureOld English Literature(8th C.-1066)-Its roots lie deep in the tales of Denmark and other Scandinavian countries.The chief work includes“Beowulf”which is a folk legend brought to England by Anglo-Saxons.It is a long poem of over 3000 lines and the national epic of the English people

2、.第1页，共39页。2.Middle English Literature(1066-14th C.)Comparing with the Old English Literature,it had a various themes and styles,such as the legend,knights romance,popular ballad etc.The great figure is Geoffrey Chaucer with his masterpiece“The Canterbury Tales”.His contribution lies chiefly in the f

3、act that he introduced from France the rhymed couplet of 5 accents in iambic meter “the Heroic Couplet”(5 音步音步抑扬格抑扬格)to English poetry.He was called“the father of English poetry”.or“the founder of English Poetry”.第2页，共39页。When spring showers of April fall and shootDown through the drought of March t

4、o pierce the rootWhen spring/showers/of A/pril fall/and shootDown through/the drought/of March/to pierce/the root第3页，共39页。It refers to the period of transition from the medieval to the modern world.Humanism flourishes and tends to exalt the human element or stress the importance of human interests,a

5、s opposed to the supernatural,divine elements.The representatives are William Shakespeare,Francis Bacon,John Milton,Thomas More etc.第4页，共39页。Which of the following are regarded as Shakespeares four great tragedies?A.Romeo and Juliet,Hamlet,Othello,King Lear B.Romeo and Juliet,Hamlet,Othello,Macbeth

6、C.Hamlet,Othello,King Lear,Macbeth D.Romeo and Juliet,Othello,Macbeth,Timon of AthensWhich of the following is the work of Francis Bacon?A.Utopia B.Paradise Lost C.Songs of Innocence D.Essays第5页，共39页。Essays:Of studies,of Friendship,Of Wealth “Reading maketh full man,writing an exact man,conference a

7、 ready man”“Studies serve for delight,for ornament,and for ability.”is one of the epigrams found in _.A.Bacons“Of Studies”B.Bunyans“The Pilgrims Progress”C.Fieldings“Tom Jones”D.Johnsons“A Dictionary of the English language”第6页，共39页。Milton created Satan the real hero in his poem _.A.“Paradise lost”B

8、.“Paradise Regained”C.“Agonistes”D.“Lycidas”“Utopia”was written by _.A.Thomas More B.Francis Bacon C.Daniel Defoe D.Jonathan Swift第7页，共39页。The Enlightenment Movement(to enlighten the world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas)was in full swing.The literature took the ancient Gre

9、ek and Roman classical works and contemporary French ones as the literary model.Poetry was elegant in structure and diction,the novel gave a realistic presentation of life of common people.The main figures are Daniel Defoe,Jonathan Swift,John Bunyan,Henry Fielding,John Donne第8页，共39页。Daniel Defoe is

10、a famous _.A.poet B.novelist C.playwright D.essayist “He has a servant called Friday.”“He”in the quoted sentence is a character in _.A.Henry Fieldings Tom Jones B.John Bunyans The Pilgrims Progress C.Richard B.Sheridans The School for Scandal D.Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe第9页，共39页。Novelists:Daniel

11、Defoe:“Robinson Crusoe”.The novel concerns the struggle of the shipwrecked person for security,eulogizes the hero of the hard-working class.)Jonathan Swift:“Gullivers Travels”.He is famous as a great satirist.The novel describes the travels of Gulliver to Lilliput,Brobdingnag,Laputa and Lagado.John

12、Bunyan:“The Pilgrims Progress”.It is a prose allegory depicting the pilgrimage of a human soul in search of salvation.Henry Fielding:“Tom Jones”.the first to give the modern novels its structure and style,father of English novel第10页，共39页。Playwright:Richard B.Sheridan(the only important English drama

13、tist of the 18th century.His plays are generally regarded as important links between the masterpieces of Shakespeare and those of Bernard Shaw.The important works:The School for Scandal(造谣学校造谣学校)The Rivals(情敌）情敌）第11页，共39页。Poet:John Donne (playwright,essayist,founder of metaphysical school”玄学派玄学派):“T

14、he Flea”The Metaphysical poets-17th century poets whose work was characterized by intellectual wit and ingenuity,esp.the use of elaborate figures of speech.The author of“The Flea”was the representative of _ poets.A.religious B.romantic C.metaphysical D.realistic第12页，共39页。In the following description

15、 of the Neoclassical Period,which is wrong?A.Neoclassical Period is prior to the Romantic period B.Henry Fielding is one of the representatives of the Neoclassical Period C.The modern English novels came into being in the Neoclassical Period D.Neoclassical Period is also known as the Age of Enlighte

16、nment第13页，共39页。5.The Romantic Period (late 18th C.-mid.19th C.)-an age of poetry,marked by imagination,worship of nature,simplicity,expressiveness William Wordsworth,Samuel T.Coleridge,George G.Byron,Percy B.Shelley,John Keats,Robert Burns J.Austen,etc.第14页，共39页。The Romantic Period in English litera

17、ture began with the publication of _.A.William Blakes Songs of Innocence B.Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice C.Wordsworths and Coleridges Lyrical Ballads D.Sir Walter Scotts IvanhoeGeorge G.Byron was most famous for _.A.Don Juan B.Ode to the West Wind C.Kubla Khan D.Ode to a Nightingale.第15页，共39页。Joh

18、n Keats is the author of _.A.Ode to a Skylark and Ode to a Nightingale B.Ode to a Grecian Urn and Ode to the West WindC.Ode to a Nightingale and Ode to a Grecian UrnD.Ode to the West Wind and Ode to a NightingaleWe can perhaps describe the west wind in Shelleys poem“Ode to the West Wind”with all the

19、 following terms except _.A.tamed B.swift C.proud D.wild 第16页，共39页。The novel starts with“It is a truth universally acknowledged,that a single man in possession of a good fortune,must be in want for a wife.”This novel is Jane Austens_.A.Pride and Prejudice B Emma.C Persuasion D.Sense and Sensibility第

20、17页，共39页。Summery of the period:The publication of“Lyrical Ballads”by Wordsworth and Coleridge marks the beginning of Romantic period.Ode to the West Wind,Ode to a Skylark,Prometheus Unbound by Shelley Don Juan by Baron Ode to the Nightingale by Keats A Red,Red Rose by Burns第18页，共39页。Novel became the

21、 most widely read and the most vital and challenging expression of progressive thought,writers became social and more critical,exposing all kinds of social evils.It is also known as a realistic period.Dickens,Bronte sisters,Thomas Hardy,George Eliot,William Thackeray,etc.第19页，共39页。Charles Dickens wr

22、ote all of the following except _ A.Oliver Twist B.David Copperfield C.A Tale of Two Cities D.Heart of DarknessThe novel“Vanity Fair”was written by _.A.William M.Thackeray B.O.Henry C.Charles Dickens D.Henry James第20页，共39页。“Do you think,because I am poor,obscure,plain,and little,I am soulless and he

23、artless?And if God had gifted me with some beauty,and much wealth,I should have made it as hard for you to leave me,as it is now for me to leave you.”The above quoted passage is most probably taken from_.A.Pride and Prejudice B.Jane Eyre C.Wuthering Heights D.Great Expectations第21页，共39页。Which of the

24、 following is not one of the Bronte Sisters?A.Charlotte Bronte B.Anne Bronte C.Jenny Bronte D.Emily BronteGeorge Eliot wrote all the following except_.A.The Mill of Floss B.Silas Marner C.Middlemarch D.Agnes Grey 第22页，共39页。“Wessex novels”refers to the novels written by_.A.Charles Dickens B.D.H.Lawre

25、nce C.James Joyce D.Thomas HardyNovels by Thomas Hardy:Tess of the DUrbevilles The Return of the NativesMayor of the CasterbridgeJude the Obscure第23页，共39页。-a reaction against realism,rationalism,casting away almost all the traditional elements in literature like story,plot,character,chronological na

26、rration,preference of “Stream of Consciousness”第24页，共39页。George Bernard Shaw:Widowers Houses,Saint Joan(won him the 1925 Nobel prize)D.H.Lawrence:Lady Chatterleys lovers Women in Love,Sons and Lovers V.Woolf:To the Lighthouse,Mrs.Dalloway,T.S.Eliot:The West LandJames Joyce:Ulysses 第25页，共39页。I.The Ro

27、mantic Period:(late 18th C.-mid.19th C.)Emphasis on the imaginative and emotional quality of literature started with the publication of Washington Irvings The Sketch Book and ended with Whitemans Leaves of Grass.第26页，共39页。The main figures and their key works:Washington Irving(Father of American lite

28、rature):The legend of Sleepy Hollow.Ralph W.Emerson:“Nature”Nathaniel Hawthorne:“The Scarlet Letter”Herman Melville:“Moby-Dick”Walt Whitman:“Leaves of Grass”第27页，共39页。Moby Dick(白鲸)It is regarded as the first American prose epic.It is a tremendous chronicle of a whaling voyage in pursuit of a seeming

29、ly supernatural white whale.In this novel,the narrator is Ishmael.The voyage symbolizes the search for the truth.The giant Moby Dick symbolizes the mystery of the universe,the power of the great nature and the evil of the world.第28页，共39页。Ralph Waldo Emerson,the American Transcendentalist,argued for

30、the following ideas except_A.mans dependence in himself for spiritual perfectionB.Faith in Christianity C.Direct intuition of a spiritual God in natureD.The importance of an independent American culture 第29页，共39页。Emphasis on realistic writings,aiming at the actual life(the common lives of the common

31、 people),concerning more with the moral and social effects,free from idealism or romantic color.第30页，共39页。The leading figures:Mark Twain(his writing style is both humorous and satirical):_ is Mark Twains master work,the one book from which as Ernest Hemingway noted,“all modern American literature co

32、mes”A.The Gilded Age B.The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County C.The Adventure of Tom Sawyer D.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn第31页，共39页。Henry James(the founder of psychological realism,fictions noted for highly refined language):“The Portrait of a Lady”“The Wings of the Dove”第32页，共39页。The

33、odore Dreiser:Sister Carrie (It is the story of a poor country girl who goes to Chicago to pursue the American dream.)Jack London(one of the articulate and militant spokesmen of the working class at the turn of the century):The call of the Wild,Martin EdenEmily Dickinson(Her poetry concerns love,rel

34、igion,nature,death and immortality):Im Nobody 第33页，共39页。The literature of this period is marked by Imagism (poetic expression of the modern spirit),Expressionism(expression determines forms,against realism)The Streams of Consciousness(the flow of impressions,thoughts,and feelings are recorded as the

35、y pass through a characters mind).第34页，共39页。Main Writers and their works Sinclair Lewis-First American to win Nobel Prize(in 1928),whose works satirize American life outside the big cities:Babbitt,Main Street Eugene ONeill founder of American Drama,Nobel prize in 1936:The Hairy Ape T.S.Eliot-Nobel P

36、rize in 1948:Waste Land 第35页，共39页。William Faulkner-the foremost southern writer of the 20th century,the theme of his works is essentially an analysis of the underlying cause for the failure and decay of the South before the Civil War,master of“the Stream of consciousness”,Nobel Prize in 1950:The Sou

37、nd and the Fury Light in August第36页，共39页。Ernest Hemingway spokesman for the“Lost Generation”,almost all his stories deal with the theme of courage in face of tragedy,Nobel Prize in 1954:A Farewell to Arms For Whom the Bell Tolls The Sun Also Rises The Old Man and the Sea(It highlights the theme that

38、 man can be destroyed but not defeated.)第37页，共39页。_ built a word Babbitt which has found its way into the English dictionary as a synonym for the vulgar and philistine business man.A.James Joyce B.Catherine Anne Porter C.Mark Twain D.Sinclair LewisGone With the Wind is written by _.A.Margaret Millar

39、 B.Mario Puzo C.Erich Segal D.Margaret Mitchell第38页，共39页。The Gift of Magi is a short story by _.A.O Henry B.Jack London C.Mark Twain D.Catherine Annie porter The term“Lost Generation”was first used by _,one of the leaders of this group.A.Ernest Hemmingway B.F.Scott Fitzgerald C.Gertrude Stein D.John Dos Passos第39页，共39页。