英國文學(xué)教案Lectrue3

1、文檔編碼 : CK1M8U8J2L6 HY8B2P2W1G5 ZW9X3J6D5H3授課時間英國文學(xué)史及作品選讀 課程教案（第 3 講）2022-2022學(xué)年其次學(xué)期03.04-03.010 授課對象 15-17 級各專業(yè)選修生授課主題 Chapter 2 The Beginning Period of English Literature 1 Help the students know about the history and characteristics of literature in the 教學(xué)目的 與 要 求教學(xué)重、Middle English Period. 2 Help

2、the students know clearly about Geoffrey Chaucer and his work The Canterbury Tales. 1 History of the Middle English Period 2 Middle English literature 3 Geoffrey Chaucer 4 The Canterbury TalesLecture; Discussion; Multi-media 難點(diǎn)主要教學(xué)方法Detailed Teaching Points & Procedure 1 History of the Middle Englis

3、h Period 1.1 The Norman Conquest and its effects In 1066 the English king Edward the Confessor died without an heir and the energetic and ambitious William, Duke of Normandy, decided to conquer England. The divided 教學(xué)內(nèi)容English were completely defeated at the Battle of Hastings. The Norman Conquest e

4、nded the purely Anglo-Saxon period and started the medieval period in England. After they invaded England, William and his followers brought their new social organization new laws and new speech to England. The Norman Conquest accelerated the development of feudalism in England. The first thing Will

5、iam did after conquering England was to claim his right to every inch of English soil. He took away land away 的組織與from the Anglo-Saxon owners and granted large areas to his lords, who in return 設(shè)計promised their absolute loyalty to him. The lords could grant land to the knights, who in return should

6、fight for them in battle. At the bottom of the society were serfs, who farmed on the borrowed land. They could barely make a living. The three centuries following the Norman Conquest saw the introduction of medieval French culture, including French modes of customs, manners, literature, and especial

7、ly the Norman-French language into England on a large scale. For almost two hundred years after 1066 three languagesnative English, Norman-French and Latin, existed side by side in England. The native English language, which descended from Anglo-Saxon or Old English, was the common speech of the ove

8、rwhelming majority of the ordinary people, while the Normans, Lords and courtiers used French. Latin was used among the scholars in churches and courts. In the exchange of cultures throughout some four centuries the English language gradually underwent profound and extensive changes. The language in

9、 this transitional stage from old English to modern English is generally known as Middle English. The effects of Norman Conquest on England can be summarized as: 1 the bringing of Roman civilization to England; 2 the growth of nationality, i.e. a strong government, instead of the loose union of Saxo

10、n tribes; 3 the new language and literature, which were proclaimed in Chaucer. 1.2 Characteristics of the Medieval Period In the medieval period, chivalry was the important code of behavior for the knights. It served as a law that bound the often lawless warriors. Violating the code of chivalry coul

11、d mean the loss of honor. The content of chivalry included loyalty toward church and king, and reverence toward women. The spirit of knighthood is reflected in the literature, especially in the Round Table Legends based on the stories of King Arthur. Medieval life was harsh for the common people and

12、 for the aristocrat alike. Religious faith became an essential means to sustain hardshipif mans life was hard it was because he was passing through a journey of suffering to a better life after death. Geoffrey Chaucer captured the spirit of this age just as it was ending. 2 Middle English literature

13、 English literature is also a combination of French and Saxon elements. It has been said earlier that from the century and a half after the Conquest, English literature almost th and 13 th centuries witnessed a flowering of literature in two stood still. But the 12 socially acceptable languages, Lat

14、in and French, which was, of course, not a part of English literature. The narrative poems fell roughly into three subject groups: “The Matter of Frances” tales about Emperor Charlemagne, “The Matter of Britain” adventures of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table and “ The Rome” tales of an

15、tiquity, from the Trojan War to the feats of Alexander the Great. About 1200, when the first pieces of English writing appeared, they were chiefly sermons, homilies, prayers, lives of saints, retelling of Biblical tales, and other religious writings. Somewhat later than the religious writers, appear

16、ed romances mostly in the 14 centurythe most prevalent kind of literature in feudal England. The flowering of Middle English literature came in the second half of the 14 th century. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , The Pearl, Piers the Plowman and Chaucer The Canterbury Tales are considered the fou

17、r great contributions to poetry during this period. The 15thcentury saw the development of popular literature, chiefly popular ballads, and miracle and morality plays in the later part of the century. 2.1 Romances A romance was a long composition, in verse or in prose, describing the life and advent

18、ures of a noble hero. It generally concerns knights and involves a large amount of fighting as well as a number of miscellaneous adventures. In the tales of adventure, knights, or distressed ladies, experienced various tests and had their wishes eventually fulfilled. The reasons for their adventures

19、 could be love, religious faith, or the mere desire for excitement. The most important romance of this period is about King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. It was written in Latin. The first English version of the Arthurian legend is Layamons Brut. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the b

20、est of Arthurian romances; the most attractive and beautiful romance of chivalry, and one of the finest pieces of artistry of the English Middle Ages. 2.2 Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales 2.2.1 Geoffrey Chaucer Chaucers Life Geoffrey Chaucer c. 1340-1400, the greatest poet of the Middle Eng

21、lish period is the father of modern English poetry. He was born of a wine-merchantfamily in London in about 1340. In 1357 he began his life as a court page in a noblemans household. War, he went to France with the English army and was During the Hundred Years imprisoned there. After his release in 1

22、360 he returned to England. He married Philippa, a maid of honour to the queen and sister of the Duke of Lancaster, who later became his patron. In 1367 he entered the service of King Edward II, who sent him to the European continent on several diplomatic missions, two of which brought him into cont

23、act with the new renaissance trends in Italian literature. In 1373 he became the post of a comptroller of customs in the port of London. In 1386 he was elected member of parliament for Kent. But in December of the same year he was dismissed from his office due to the intrigues of his enemies. He see

24、ms to have known poverty at that time. s works at Westminster anHowever, in 1389 he was appointed clerk of the KingWindsor, and the new King Henry IV granted him a pension. The poet died on the 25th of October 1400, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, thus founding the “ poets Corner ” . The varied

25、 experiences of Chaucer public lifehis connections with the royal household; his contacts with Londoners and country folksgave Chaucer a wide range of knowledge about people from different walks of life. Chaucers Literary CareerChaucers literary career is conventionally divided into three periods: t

26、he French, the Italian, and the English. In his French period 1360s1372, which exhibits the French love of skill and artifice, he wrote The Book of Duchess 13691370 and The Romaunt of the Rose, a translation of the French Roman de la Rose. In his Italian period c. 13721385, when Chaucer wrote under

27、the influence of the great literary geniuses of early Renaissance in ItalyDante, Petrarch. and Boccaccio, he finished three long poems: The House of Fame c. 13721380, Troilus and Criseyde c. 13801386, and Legend of Good Women c. 13801386. The Canterbury Tales c. 13871400, his masterpiece, and a few

28、short poems comprise Chaucer s English period c.13851400. Chaucer is an accomplished artist. He writes in various poetic forms with ease and grace. His poetry is rich in music and elegant to a very high degree. He is a keen observer of life. Through his The Canterbury Tales he presents before the re

29、ader a panoramic view of his contemporary life. He sympathizes with true piety and goodness and attacks severely the hypocritical. The characters in his tales are most vividly drawn. Chaucer is also a master of genial satire. The fusion of humor with satire is the basic note of his style. Chaucerwor

30、k is permeated with buoyant free-thinking, so characteristic of the age of Renaissance whose immediate forerunner Chaucer thus becomes. He believes in the right of man to earthly happiness. He is anxious to see man freed from superstitions and a blind belief in fate. He is always keen to praise mans

31、 energy, adroitness, intellect, quick wit and the love for life. Chaucers Contribution to English Literature and the English language First, as a master of verse, he introduced from France and Italy the rhymed stanzas of various forms to English poetry form instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterativ

32、e verse, namely: a the heroic couplet, the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter, which was to be very important in the 18 th century. Most of The Canterbury Tales is written in this form. b the rhyme royal, a seven-line stanza in iambic pentameter, rhyming ababbcc. Troilus and Criseyde is written in

33、this form. c the terza-rima, three-line stanzas, rhyming aba, bcb, cdc, etc. which he imitated from Dante in some of his minor poems. d the octave, eight-line iambic pentameter stanza, rhyming abab-bcbc, in which The monks Tale is written. Secondly, Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London M

34、idland dialectthe language of the court, the learned and the well-to-do the foundation for modern English language. Though drawing influence from French, Italian and Latin models, he is the first poet who wrote in current English language. His product of so much excellent poetry was an important fac

35、tor in establishing English as the literary language of the country. 2.2.2 The Canterbury TalesThe Canterbury Tales is Chaucers monumental success. It is a collection of stories told by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, where the famous Saint Thomas Becket was assassinated. Chaucers or

36、iginal plan was to write 124 stories, two for eacpilgrim on their way to Canterbury and two more on their way back, but only22 were written. In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer has given us a picture of contemporary English life, its work and play, its deeds and dreams, its fun and sympathy and hearty j

37、oy of living such as no other single work of literature has ever equaled. The pilgrims are people from various parts of feudal England and except for the royalty and the poorest peasant, are representatives of various walks of life and social groups with various interests, tastes and predilections.

38、Every figure is drawn with accuracy as the poet succeeds in linking their narrated stories together by his unity to the whole work, inviting, criticizing, admiring and denouncing. Taken as a whole the 24 stories are of unequal merits and they represent practically the whole range of literary genres

39、in medieval and early Renaissance, embracing minstrelsy, chivalric romances, fabliaux, lays, legends, legendary epic sagas, animal epics, mythology, moral allegories and sermons. In this poem Chaucers realism, trenchant irony and freedom of views reached such a high level of power that it had no equ

40、al in all the English literature up to the 16 thcentury. The main Prologue is especially interesting, in which the author draws a group of vivid sketches of typical medieval figures from different walks of life, from the knight, squire and prioress, through this description and the stories they tell

41、, he presents before the reader a panoramic view of his contemporary society, with the exception of the higher nobility and the impoverished. 2.3 The Version of Piers PlowmanThe Version of Piers Plowman, the most popular poem of the 14thcentury, was attributed to William Langland. The poem consists

42、of a series of dream visions interrupted with occasional wake-ups. The poem is a violent attack on the Seven deadly sins lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride, and a satirical picture of the injustices suffered by the common people during the years immediately preceding the Peasant Revolt

43、 of 1381 under Wat Tyler. The author attacks the corruption of the rich and the wickedness of the clergy. In the search for the Good Life, he describes vividly scenes of poverty, idleness, debauchery and strife. Everywhere he saw greed and idleness destroying the foundation of life. In a society tha

44、t called itself Christian, he found little that Christ could approve of. For him, the only solution is work, and Christ himself is pictured as a humble tiller of the soil. The poem is a rich and realistic representation of the unhappy side of the life in feudal England at the second half of the 14 c

45、entury: social injustices, the corruption of the church, the meaningless power struggle in the court, and the sufferings of the poor peasants. The poem is both allegorical and satirical. Its language is plain and direct; its images are clear as well as familiar. The style met the taste of the genera

46、l public of his time. The author s vocabulary is the lively speech of the countryside, and his style is blunt and unpolished. However, the poet is a forecaster of those 17th-century Puritans who fought for democracy. As a whole, The Version of Piers Plowman is a realistic picture of medieval England.2.4 Popular Ballads ageless narrative folk song Ballads are anonymous narrative songs that have bee