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English Renaissance, and one of the greatest writers the world over. 3Chaucer’s Contribution？

1. He introduced from Italy and France the rhymed stanza of various types, especially the rhymed couplet of 5 accents in iambic meter (heroic couplet) to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse.

2. He was the first great poet who wrote in English language (Middle English), thus establishing English as the literary language. 3. He did much in making the London dialect the foundation for modern English language

4What is the Enlightenment Movement?

The 18th century marked the beginning of an intellectual movement in Europe, known as the Enlightenment, which was, on the whole, an expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The enlighteners fought against class inequality, stagnation, prejudices and other survivals of feudalism. What is romanticism? What about its feature?

1. The general feature is a dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society.

2. Their writings are filled with strong-willed heroes or even titanic images, formidable events and tragic situations, powerful conflicting passions and exotic pictures.

3. The romanticists paid great attention to the spiritual and emotional life of man.

Personified nature plays an important role in the pages of their works.

文学赏析

Beowulf:---national epic

(1) Goodness conquers evil. (Beowulf stands for all that is good, brave and proper, while the monsters stand for evil.)

(2) Men against nature (The poem presents a vivid picture of how the primitive people wage heroic struggles against the hostile forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader.)

(3) Judge the greatness of a human being by the greatness of his deeds and his noble ancestry.

(4) Help thy neighbor. (Beowulf risks his life to help a neighbor, King Hrothgar, in trouble.)

(5) Forces of darkness— irrational, menacing— are always at work in society.

The writing features of Beowulf

1). The most important is in alliterative(头韵的) verse and in artistic form. 2). Another is the frequent use of metaphors and understatements(暗含的意义) for ironical humor.

The Faerie(Fairy) Queene and Comments a long poem

1 The dominating thoughts of it: nationalism, humanism and Puritanism

2 The Spenserian stanza: a verse form consisting of 8 iambic pentameter lines followed by a ninth line of 6 iambic feet with the rhyme scheme ababbcbcc.

3 The Faerie Queene is the first national epic of England in the age of the Renaissance. It expresses the poet’s patriotic feelings of national greatness, and voices the moral ideals of the English aristocracy as embodied in the noble, virtuous and brave knight. The Image of Hamlet

1. He is a humanist free from medieval prejudice and superstition. He has love for the world rather than heaven, he cherishes a firm belief in

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man’s power and destiny.

2. He loves good and hates evil. He adore his father, loves Ophelia and greets his school-fellows with hearty welcome, while he is disgusted with his uncle’s drunkenness and shocked by his mother’s shallowness

3. His intellectual genius is outstanding. He is a close observer. He can easily see through people. His quick perception drives him to penetrate below the surface of things and question what others take for granted. He is scholar, soldier and statesman. His image reflects the versatility of the men of the Renaissance. The Merchant of Venice The traditional theme To praise the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio, to idealize Portia as a heroine of great beauty, wit and loyalty, and to expose the insatiable greed and brutality of the Jew. The modern interpretation To regard the play as a satire of the Christians’ hypocrisy and their false standards of friendship and love, their cunning ways of pursuing worldliness and their unreasoning prejudice against Jews, here represented by Shylock Paradise lost 1. The theme of the poem is a revolt against God’s authority. 2. God: selfish despot暴君,cruel, unjust 3. Adam and Eve embody Milton’s belief in the powers of man, craving (longing) for knowledge 4. God’s angels are foolish, resembling the court of an absolute monarch. 5. Satan is a rebel against tyranny(专制，暴行) and Satan and his followers resemble a republican Parliament The Image of Satan 1. Satan is the real hero of the poem. 2. He is firmer than the rest of the angels. 3. He has an invincible(战无不胜的) heart. 4. Satan remains superior in nobility and welcomes his defeat and his torments as a glory, a liberty and a joy; 5. Satan is the spirit questioning the authority of God. 6. Milton makes Satan as his own mouthpiece(代言人). The Pilgrim’s Progress Bunyan’s language

1.Bunyan’s language is chiefly plain and colloquial and quite modern in comparison with that of the writers of the Renaissance.

2. His language is clear, vivid, natural, homely (朴实的), fluent, musical and powerful. 3. He paved the way not only in language style but also in writing technique of novels, for the novelists of the 18th century as Swift and Defoe. The image of Robinson Crusoe 1.One of the representative of the rising bourgeoisie 2. An enterprising Englishman 3. A laborer, a hard-working industrious and intelligent man. 4. A typical colonizer, explorer, and a foreign trader. 5.He is alert, vigorous and resourceful Blake’s poems such as tiger 《老虎》and comments on Blank (1) Blake’s poems seem easy but difficult to understand for his m mysterious images and symbols, unless versed in ( skilled at )religious knowledge. (2) Blake’s poems are full of emotion and apparent presentation of his progressive democratic idea in symbolism Comments 1) Blake was opposed to the classicism of the 18th century. 2) His poems were full of romantic spirit, imagery symbolism and revolutionary spirit. 3) He was a Pre-Romanticist or forerunner of the romantic poetry of the 19th century. Comments on Burns & His Poems 1. Burns was one of the most famous poets of the peasants in the world. 2. He obtained the characteristic of all old Scottish songs: simplicity, vividness, humor, directness and optimism, with a new spirit of romanticism. Explanation William Wordsworth poem i wandered lonely 【赏析】：

这首诗写于诗人从法国回来不久。诗人带着对自由的向往去了法国，参加一些革命活动。但法国革命没有带来预期的结果，随之而来的是混乱。诗人的失望和受的打击是可想而知的，后来在他的朋友和妹妹的帮助下，情绪才得以艰难地恢复。这首诗就写于诗人的心情平静之后不久。 在诗的开头，诗人将自己比喻为一朵孤独的流云，孤单地在高高的天

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空飘荡。孤傲的诗人发现一大片金色的水仙，它们欢快地遍地开放。在诗人的心中，水仙已经不是一种植物了，而是一种象征，代表了一种灵魂，代表了一种精神。

水仙很多，如天上的星星，都在闪烁。水仙似乎是动的，沿着弯屈的海岸线向前方伸展。诗人为有这样的旅伴而欢欣鼓舞、欢呼跳跃。在诗人的心中，水仙代表了自然的精华，是自然心灵的美妙表现。但是，欢快的水仙并不能时时伴在诗人的身边，诗人离开了水仙，心中不时冒出忧郁孤寂的情绪。这时诗人写出了一种对社会、世界的感受：那高傲、纯洁的灵魂在现实的世界只能郁郁寡欢。当然，诗人的脑海深处会不时浮现水仙那美妙的景象，这时的诗人又情绪振奋，欢欣鼓舞。

诗歌的基调是浪漫的，同时带着浓烈的象征主义色彩。可以说，诗人的一生只在自然中找到了寄托。

In the poem, writer not only sang the natural wonderful things, but also expressed the perpetual pleasure from momentary beauty Wordsworth’s Contribution

Wordsworth’s contribution to the historical development of English poetry lies also in his reaction against the stale poetic diction of neo-classicism of the 18th century and in the starting of the new tradition of romanticism by glorifying the world of nature and by the use of simple language of the common people Comments on Don Juan 1.The story of the poem takes place in the later part of the 18th century. 2. Don Juan is a Spanish youth of aristocratic birth. 3. This long poem describes Don Juan’s vicissitudes(变迁) of life and adventures in many countries.

4.The hero is made to participate in different historical events. Thus we can get a broad panorama（全景） of the social life of the time. 5. The poem gives a satirical description of English ruling classes and social conditions.