专业八级英国文学The-Eighteenth-Century课件.ppt

1、 The Eighteenth Century(16881798)Background:After the Glorious Revolution,the monarch was deprived of ruling power and in his place Praliament became the actual leader of the country.Tory and the Whigs both supported commerce and the policy of toleranceThe two parties vied with each other for seats

2、in the house of CommonsEngland grew from a second rate country to a powerful naval country in the 18th century by defeating other European countries,especially France.Special Features:1、Political writingsWriting became an independent job.Hardly a writer of the time was free from political bias.2、New

3、spapers and journalsBoth parties printed newspapers as means to express their views Many great writers of the 18th century were great essayists.3、CoffeehousesThe coffeehouses in London served as informal meeting houses for menof all classes where they could exchange opinions and do business.Addisons

4、 Spectator Club Johnsons Club Dickenss Pickwick ClubThe men who frequented coffeehouses formed an influential element among the reading public and helped to determine the tone of literature,the critical reputation of writters,and the success or failure of play4、The new moralityAgainst the fanaticism

5、 of the PuritansDue to the development of science and philosophy of the timeAn age in which reason rather than emotion,played an important role.An age of reasonReason in England was a tool for the bourgeoisie to consolidate itsrule.5、Science and technologyNewtons scientific discoveryLaw of gravitati

6、on Henceforth,gone was the medieval conception that the universe was guideby divine will.Newtons philosophy did not rule out the idea of God,but it deprived God of his power to guide the stars in their course or to command thesun to stand still.The philosophy of John LockeThe father of a new theory

7、of knowledgeThis is the function of reason,or understanding,which is the power tocombine,coordinate,and organize the impressions received from senses andthus to build a body of general truth.The one for furnishing raw materials of knowledge and the other for shapingthem into meaningful forms.6、The F

8、rench influenceClassicism Neo-classicism A dramatist should observe the three unities of action,place,and time.Characteristics of neo-classicism:A dramatist should observe the three unities of action,place,and the time.Emphasized reason rather than emotion,form rather than content.As reason was stre

9、ssed,most of the writings of the age were didactic and satirical.As elegance,correctness,appropriateness and restraint were preferred,the poet found closed couplet the only possible verse form for serious work.It is almost exclusively a“town”poetry,catering to the interests of the“society”in great c

10、ities.It is entirely wanting in all those elements that are related with the“romantic”.Daniel Defoe(16611731)Introduction:A pioneer novelist and a prolific writer of books and pamphletsA self-made man contributed to the beginning of English journalism and tradeFather of modern journalismMasterpiece:

11、The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe(1721)(a long imaginative literary masterpiece which made Defoe recognized as amajor English novelist)The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders(1722)Robinson CrusoeReal incident Out of his own imaginationAlexander SelkirkNew

12、spaper interview Robinson Crusoe has the appearance of a picaresque novel,showingalowly persons wanderings over the world.A picaro is somebodywith a doubtful moral character who does not have a fixed goal in life.Importance:Robinson Crusoe is in fact a new species of writing which inhabits thepicare

13、sque frame with a story in the shape of a journal and has astrong flavour of journalistic truth.Characteristics of the heroThe hero is a typical of the rising English bourgeoisclass,practical and diligent,with a restless curiosity to know moreabout the world and a desire to prove individual power in

14、 the face ofsocial and natural challenges.Defoe tries to teach a moral message through his storyDefoe sings the praises of labour,presenting it as the source ofhuman pride and happiness as well as a means to change mansliving conditions from desperation to prosperity.Defoe also beautifies colonialis

15、m and slavery.Defoe lets Crusoe treat women as articles of property and as ameans to breed and establish a lineageJonathan Swift(16671745)Comparation Defoe and Swift:Similarities:Both of them were considerably occupied in the dangerous careerof political writers.Both of them were affliated themselve

16、s to Robert Harley.Differences:Defoe was a businessman and did not havemuch knowledge ofthe classics.He was a dissenter.Swift was a churchman and a university graduate.He was amember of the Anglican Church.Both of them viewed the world with common senseDefoe aimed to improve the morals of his timeSw

17、ift viewed human society with contempt and has been called acynic and even a misanthrope.Masterpiece:The Battle of Books(1696-1698)Is a satire on the controversy among literary people concerning thevalues of the ancients and moderns.A Tale of the Tub(1696-1698)Is a satire on the various churches of

18、his time.From 1704 to 1713 Swift wrote political pamphlets for the Whigs andlater for the Tories.His life in Ireland gave him an intimate knowledge of the miserablecondition of the people.The Drapiers Letters(1724)expose this blatant act of robbery.A Modest Proposal(1729)is a more bitter satire on h

19、e policy of the Englishgovernment towards the Irish people.Gullivers Travels(1726)Form of travel literatureFour voyages Joseph Addison(16721719)Richard Steele(16721729)Introduction:They started Periodical essays.Both of them were educators.Their aim was to educate the newly risen middle class.They w

20、ere concerned about the morals and modes of the time.They set out to be mind censors of the morals of the age,and most oftheir compositions dealt with light topics.Their aim was to bridge the gap between the small circle of Londonelegance and wit,and the large,serious,rather Puritan middle class.It

21、was,moreover,by their use of wit,humour,and satire that they scoredmost not only to interest the general reader but also to guide and developtheir tastes.Alexander Pope(16881744)The first periodPastoralsEssay on CriticismThe Rape of the LockThe second period(1720-1726)Translation of Homers epic poem

22、s Iliad and OdysseyThe third and last creative period(1728-?)The DunciadSamuel Johnson(17091784)Introduction:The greatest English man of letters between Pope and WordsworthHis magnificent letter written to Lord Chesterfield marked the end of thesystem of patronage.The Dictionary made him economicall

23、y independent.He founded a club and many men of letters gathered around him.As a critic he was known for his Preface to his edition of Shakespeare.Masterpiece:A Dictionary of the English Languagehis Preface to his edition of ShakespeareHenry Fielding(17071754)Introduction:Playwright,novelist and dis

24、trict law magistrateFielding was first educated at home under the tutelage of a clergyman.Then he was sent to Eton.Masterpiece:An Apology for the Life of Mrs.Shamela Andrews(1741)The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews(1742)Joseph Andrews became Fieldings first great success and made him see

25、 how he could make the best use of his literary talent,for as soon asthe country clergyman Parson Abraham Adams appeared in the story,thewhole novel went happily out of control and away from its original plan.The novel turned from a novel of seduction into one of the first exemplarsof the great Engl

26、ish panoramic tradition,which was to reach new heightslater in Thackeray and Dickens.The History of Tom Jones,A FoundlingThe first describes Toms childhood in Mr.Allworthys country home;the middle one contains adventuresOn the road to London;and the lasttells what happens in London to Tom and Sophia

27、.The city stands for evil and sin.Upright young fellow,brave and honest and full of sympathy for the poorand weak.morally,spiritually,and even physically.Tom Jones is open to allegorical readings.Thomas Gray(17161771)Graveyard School Characteristics:Carving for something more natural and spontaneous

28、 in thought andlanguageEmotions and sentiments as a leading role in their poetsReawakening of an interest in nature and in the natural relations between man and manIntroduction:Thomas Gray as a representativeThe Elegy Written in a Country ChurchyardRichard Brinsley Sheridan(17511816)Masterpiece:The

29、School for ScandalIn the tradition of Comedy of MannersThrough witty remarks and ingenious stagecraft exposing the immorality,hypocrisy,moneyhunting,scandal-mongering of the idle classes in 18th century England.Robert Burns(17591796)Introduction:His last 12 years in collecting Scottish folk songsA p

30、rofound love for the common Scottish people and their literatureBesides love lyrics,most of his poems and songs are about patriotic andpolitical themes.Poems and songs are premeated with the Scottish national spiritMasterpiece:Poems and songs in the Scottish dialect and in the tradition of Scottishf

31、olk songsWilliam Blake(17571827)Introduction:A poet and an engraverMasterpiece:Poetical Sketches(1783)Songs of Innocence(1789)which expresses the poets delight in life andfrom this collection we can have the first glimpse of Blakes mysticism,which will develop in his later poems.Songs of Experience(

32、1794)whose atmosphere is sad and gloomy andman has lost the Heaven of Innocence and gained the Hell of Experience.Two contrary states of human soulVerses bear the same title but the tone and atmoshphere are entirelydifferent.A heaven of our miseryIn later poems Blake grew more mystical and concentrated more on hisinner self and claimed that he saw visions.