文学简史全部.doc

I. Brief account of this course
1. The whole range of the history (from the 5th century to WWII)
2. Major writers and their works
3. Literary trends and their current of thoughts
4. Modern and contemporary critic climates
II. Brief account of British literary history
1. The Old English and Medieval English Periods
A. Anglo-Saxon Period (Chapter 1)
B. Anglo-Norman Period (Chapter 1)
C. Chaucer’s Age (Chapter 2)
2. The Elizabethan Period (Chapters 3 and 4)
3. The 17th Century — The Period of
Revolution and Restoration (Chapter 5)
4. The 18th Century
A. The Classic Age (Chapters 6, 7 and 8)
B. The Romantic Period (Chapters 9 and 10)
5. The Victorian Age
6. The 20th Century
A. The Early 20th Century (Chapter 19)
B. The 1920s (Chapters 20 and 21)
C. The 1930s (Chapters 22 and 23)
D. The Postwar Period (Chapters 24, 25 and 26)
The Old English Period & Medieval Literature
Ⅰ.The Old English Period also called ——The Anglo-Saxon Period
5th century — 11th century
beginning of English civilization
1. Two great influences on the shaping of Old English literature
A. Teutonic — Germanic
Anglo-Saxon invasion
B. Judaeo — Jewish — Christian
St. Augustine — missionaries — the conversion of the
English people to Christianity
2. Literature in this period
2 divisions: pagan and Christianity
A. Pagan poetry
by the Anglo-Saxons — oral sagas
B. Christian poetry
Under teaching of the monks
3. The Characteristics of Old English Poetry
A. strong stresses
B. alliteration
C. Christian coloring
4. The greatest epic — The Song of Beowulf
A. “England’s national epic”
B. an unknown scribe
C. the beginning of the 10th century
D. 3182 lines — 2 parts with an interpolation between the two
E. in spirit and matter — pagan
the interpolation — Christian
F. unique as a hybrid of fact with legend
G. testimony to a universal tradition
5. A few things that merit attention
A. pagan story — Christian overlay
B. the use of “kennings”
C