The Renaissance英国文学文艺复兴时期总结

The Renaissance

This is a greatest and most advanced revolution in the human history. This is the age the giants are needed and produced.

------F. Engles

<1> Brief introduction

?Renaissance in European history, refers to the period between 14th century to 17th century. It started in Italy and ended in England and Spain.

?“Renaissance” means “revival”, the revival of interest in Ancient Greek and Roman culture and getting rid of conservatism in feudalist Europe and introducing new ideas that express the interests of the rising bourgeoisie.

?Renaissance sprang first in Italy (Florence and Venice) with the flowering of paintings, sculpture and architecture, and gradually spread all over Europe;

?Renaissance originally indicated a revival of classical arts and science (ancient Greek and Roman culture) after the dark ages of medieval obscurantism.

During the period of Renaissance:

1. the Roman Catholic Church was shaken,

2. old sciences revived and new sciences emerged,

3. national languages and cultures took shape,

4. art and literature flourished

Brief introduction

?There arose an interest in the manuscripts surviving from ancient Greece and Rome. Classical learning and philosophy were enthusiastically studied.

?The intellectual wisdom of ancient Greece and Rome encouraged a rebirth of human spirit，a realization of human potential for development and creation．

?Never before in human history were men and women so eager to create and discover something new．In Italy a group of artists，scientists，politicians，and writers created the most brilliant page of culture and science in Renaissance Europe．

Examples:

①Copernicus (哥白尼) asserted that the earth was not the center of the universe；

②The passionate Petrarch produced sonnets that influenced Shakespeare and many others；

③Boccaccio(卜伽邱) wrote tales of eternal charm: The Decameron；

④Marco Polo (马可波罗) made journeys into the remote kingdom of China；

⑤Michelangelo（米开朗琪罗），Leonardo da Vinci (达芬奇)，Raphael (拉斐尔)，and Titian (提香) created

paintings and sculptures that are invaluable treasures of the world．

<2>Essence and features

?Essence: It is the reflection of the rise of bourgeoisie in the sphere of cultural life.

（另版本）：Renaissance, in essence, is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to:

to get rid of conservatism in Feudalist Europe;

to introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie,

to lift the restrictions in all areas placed by the Roman church authorities.

Briefly it is the reflection of the rise of bourgeoisie in

the sphere of cultural life.

?Features: there are two striking features

①A thirsting curiosity for the classical literature.

②The keen interest in the activities of humanity.

<3>Renaissance and Humanism

Renaissance: the term originally indicated a revival of classical arts and science after the dark ages of medieval obscurantism. Indeed, a great number of the works of classical authors were translated into English during the 16th century.

Humanism：The progressive thinkers of the humanists held their chief interest not in ecclesiastical knowledge, but in man, his environment and doings and bravely fought for the emancipation of man from the tyranny of the church and religious dogmas.

Humanism is the key-note of the Renaissance. It reflected the new outlook of the rising bourgeois class;

<4>Humanism

Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance. It sprang from the endeavor to restore a reverence for the Greek and Roman civilization based on the conception that man is the measure of all things.

Contrary to the subordination of individuals to the feudal rules and the sacrifice of earthly life for a future life in the medieval society, Renaissance humanists found in the classics a justification to exalt human nature and came to see that human beings were glorious creatures capable of individual development for perfection.

By emphasizing the dignity of human beings and the importance of the present life, they voiced their beliefs that man did not only have the right to enjoy life, but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.

<5>Features of humanism in Renaissance

Emphasizing the power, value and dignity of the human being and holding that human beings are glorious creatures The core of Renaissance thought is the greatness of man/giants. This is best summarized in the lines of Shakespeare’s Hamlet

What a piece of work is man; how noble in reason; how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable; in action how like and angel; in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals.

人是一件多么了不起的杰作！多么高贵的理性！多么伟大的力量！多么优美的仪表！多么文雅的举动！在行为上多么像一个天使！在智慧上多么想一个天神！宇宙的精华！万物的灵长！

?1. Emphasizing secular happiness and individualism against the medieval ideas of asceticism;

?2.shifting man’s interest from Christianity to humanity, from religion to philoso phy, from beauty and greatness of God to the beauty of human body in all its joys and pains.

?3. Applying Aristotle’s theory, Humanist literature mainly use realistic style and take literature as the mirror or miniature of the society.

<6>Influence and English Renaissance

Influences:

1.These Italians, and many others, helped to make Italy the center of the Renaissance movement in Europe.

2.The movement changed the medieval Western Europe into a modern one．

3.The intellectual wisdom of ancient Greece and Rome encouraged a rebirth of human spirit，a realization of human potential for development and creation

English Renaissance:

Oxford Reformers: the Oxford reformers, scholars and humanists introduced classical literature to England. Education was revitalized and literature became more popular.

This was England’s Golden Age in literature. There appeared many English literary giants such as Shakespeare, Spenser, Johnson, Sidney, Marlowe, Bacon and Donne.

English Renaissance

Contents

●I.TheSixteenthCentury England ●II. Renaissance in England ●III. The main artistic styles

●IV. William Shakespeare

●V. Francis Bacon

I. The Sixteenth Century England

1. Enclosure Movement

2. The establishment of absolute monarchy

3. Religious reformation

4. International situation

5. Cultural preparati

●The background of the humanism in Europe

●The introduction of printing led to an enlarged reading public and a commercial market for literature;

●The great economic and political changes led to the rise of democracy;

●The spirit of nationalism;

●The growing of "new science” etc.

Characteristics of the Elizabethan Age

1. An age of comparative religious tolerance;

2. An age of comparative social contentment;

3. An age of dreams, of adventures, of unbounded enthusiasm;

4. An age of intellectual liberty, of growing intelligence and comfort among all classes and of unbounded patriotism.

II. Renaissance in England

?The time: mainly from the reign of Henry VIII, Edward, Mary and then to Queen Elizabeth and Jacobean Era

a. Beginning: the last years of the 15-th century---first half of the 16-th century

b. Flourishing: the Elizabethan Age (1558-1603)

c. Declining: the period of James I (1603-1625) early 17-th century

The flowering of English literature

The second half of the 16th century, “a nest of singing birds”

The early period:

imitation and assimilation, translated works, poetry and poetic drama were the most outstanding literary forms. ?Sonnet: an exact form of poetry in 14 lines of iambic pentameter intricately rhymed.

?Blank verse: iambic pentameter unrhymed

The latter period:

Drama— the real mainstream of the English Renaissance

years 1587-93. they were all of humble birth and struggled for a livelihood by writing. Through hard work, they revised old plays and wrote new ones. They made rapid progress in dramatic techniques because they has close contact with the actors and audiences. They were looked down upon by the gentlemen and suspected by the government. It was their industrious works that furnished the Elizabethan stage.

Christopher Marlowe

William Shakespeare

III. The main artistic styles

The artistic styles as lyric poetry, narrative poetry, drama are maturized; new styles which characterized the modern literature such as sonnets, short stories and novels were produced.

translation:Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Homer’s Iliad, Montaigne’s Essays

?travel books:More’s Utopia

?poetry: Edmund Spenser

?drama: “University Wits”, Marlowe, Shakespeare

?essay: Francis Bacon

Forerunner of utopian socialism

?An imaginative travel narrative written in the form of conversation between More and Hythloday, a returned voyager describing an ideal state governed by reason.

?The subject is the search for the best possible form of government: Utopia---a community of property---a pure, pre-Marx form of communism.

The Sheph erd’s Calendar 《牧人日历》: 12 pastoral poems and eclogues, one for each month, put into the mouths of speakers distinguishing themselves as shepherds, really representing Spenser and his friends.

?Amoretti《爱情小诗》:a series of 88 sonnets in honor of his lover Elizabeth. All except one was written in the Spenserian sonnet.

?Epithlamion 《婚后曲》: marriage hymns to celebrate his marriage with Elizabeth.

The Faerie Queene《仙后》:

?The blending of religious and historical allegory with chivalric romance: a long poem planned 12 books. 12 knights for the qualities of the chivalric virtues--- the six completed books are holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship, justice and courtesy.

Fairy Queen—Queen Elizabeth, the knights as a whole --- England, the evil figures—enemies.

Themes of the poem :

●nationalism( celebration of Queen Elizabeth)

●humanism (strong opposition to Roman Catholicism),

●Puritanism (moral teaching)

Spenserian stanza:

it is a nine-line stanza with the first 8 lines iambic pentameter and the ninth, iambic hexameter 六步格的诗rhyming abab,bcbc,c which is the typical verse in The Faerie Queene.

For its rare beauty, this verse form was much used by many later poets, esp. imitated by the romantic poets of the 19th century.

Spenser’s position in English Literature:

the publica tion of “The Shepherd’s Calendar” marks the budding of Renaissance flower in the northern island of England.

The language he used was modern English which has distinguished itself from the Middle English of Chaucer's day. Spenserian stanza: a model of poetic art among the Renaissance English poets.

“the poet’s poet”, the first master to make the Modern English the natural music of his poetic effusion and held his position as a model of poetic art. His influence can be traced in the works of Milton, Shelley and Keats.

Life: short but riotous

?Major works:

?Tamburlaine the Great:《帖木耳》

?A drama in a blank verse

?About the rise and fall of Tamburlaine the Mongol conqueror on the 14th century central Asia.

?A tragedy about a man who thinks he can but actually can not control his own fate.

?By depicting a great hero with high ambition and sheer brutal force, the author voiced the supreme desire of the man of the Renaissance for infinite power and authority.

?

?The Jew of Malta:《马耳他的犹太人》

?A study of the lust for wealth, which centers around Barabas the Jew, an old money lender, whose only philosophy is the art of gaining advantage.

?Suggestive of Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.

?A tragic result: typically greedy of riches and gold, which is another feature shared by those in Renaissance England. ?

?The History of Doctor Faustus 《浮士德博士》

?Refer to compare with Goethe’s Faust

?The Faust myth in 16th century Germany: the myth of men seeking great earthly power from demons at the cost of their immortal soul.

?The conventional view: Dr. Faustus is a morality play that vindicates humility, faith and obedience to the law of God. ?The new view: Dr. Faustus celebrates the human passion for knowledge, power and happiness, and also reveals man’s frustration in realizing the high aspiration in a hostile moral order.

?Social significance and literary achievement

1.showing the spirit of the rising bourgeoisie. Its eager curiosity for knowledge, power and gold.

The praise of individuality freed from the restraints of medieval dogmas and the conviction of the boundless possibility of human efforts in conquering the universe.

The heroes are mainly individualists. Their individualistic ambition often brings ruin to the world and to themselves.

…soul of the Age!

The applause! Delight! The wonder of our stage! Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. He was not of an age, but for all time!

William Shakespeare

1. Brief Introduction

2. Shakespeare’s drama

Four periods of his literary career Categories of his drama 3. the artistic features of his plays

4. Shakespeare’s place and contribution

5. Shakespeare’s sonnets

What to be at least known about Shakespeare

Life: birthplace, birth date, death date, important time in his life and career

●His major works: 37 plays(10histories, 10 comedies, 10 tragedies), 2 long narrative poems, 154 sonnets.

Plays to be read: great comedies & 4 great tragedies

●Writing features in each of four periods

I. Brief Introduction

A dramatist “not of an age, but of all time” by Ben Jonhson, not of Engla nd, but of the world.

●Not only a master of English language but also a genius of character portrayal and plot construction

●A “poet of reality” for his idea that literature should reflect nature and reality.

●37 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long poems.

II. Shak espeare’s drama

Four Periods of Shakespeare’s Literary career

Four major phrases represent respectively his early, mature, flourishing and late periods.

1. Period of early experiment and apprenticeship (1590-1594)

Background:

A. it was in the middle of the highly thriving Elizabethan Age.

B. The thoughts of humanism and the ideas of man’s emancipation, freedom of love was rapidly spread.

C. Shakespeare was a young man full of astonishing versatility and wonderful talent and the great interest in the political questions of his time.

Features:

A. the writer made experiments in a number of dramatic forms: the historical plays, comedy, the revenge tragedy and the romantic tragedy.

B. this period is distinctively marked by youthfulness and exuberance of imagination, by extravagance of witty language or speech, and by the final and frequent use of blank verse. In his hand, blank verse developed into a happy vehicle to express all kinds of thoughts and emotions (thus shaking off the rigidity of rimed and mechanic lines) .

2. Period of maturity (1595-1600)

Features:

A. a period of “great comedies” and mature historical plays and sonnets.

B. a sweet and joyful time when the writer portrays successfully a magnificent panorama of the manifold pursuit of people in real life.

C. a great shift in characterization. A notable gallery of heroines in the comedies and vivid characters in historical plays is presented: Portia, Posalynd, Voila, Beatrice, Sir John Falstaff.

3. Period of gloom and depression (1601-1607)

Background:

A. the aggravation of the social situation: the rising of peasants, the corruption, the tension between bourgeoisie and the feudal lands.

B. the change of mood in the playwright: gloomy and indignant

Features:

A. a period of “great tragedies” and “dark comedies”

B. the writer gave a scathing exposition of the somber pictures and scenes of murder, lust, treachery, ingratitude and crime.

C. a higher level of crafts is reached: more intricate plotting, intense inner conflict, meticulous depiction of human mind.

4. Period of calm and reconciliation (1608-1612)

Background:

A. the fall and collapse of absolute monarch

B. the retirement of the playwright back into the tranquil countryside

Features:

A. some serenity and optimism, instead of the beginning lightness and the middle somber violence reigned.

B. romantic dramas and comedies were the main form.

C. moral teaching and supernatural forces were relied on to restore the rightful honor and position. These plays all show a falling off from his previous works.

Categories of his drama

comedies histories tragedies romances？？

Comedy is a light form of drama aiming primarily to amuse and ending happily. It often deals with people in their human state, restrained and ridiculous by their limitations, faults, bodily functions.

Four Great Comdies

The Merchant of Venice

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

As you Like it

Twelfth Night

Comedies of the First Period

The keynote of his comedies:

●to portray people just freed from the feudal fetters, sing of youth, love and ideas of happiness.

●The heroes and heroines fight against destiny and mould their fate according to their own free will. Thus become

the sons and daughters of Renaissance.

●The victory of humanist ideal is inevitable. The general spirit of these plays is optimistic.

The Merchant of Venice

?The double plot: one is about the Bassanio’s winning of a bride by undergoing a test; the other is about the demanding of a pound of human flesh by Shylock.

?The traditional theme is 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 new one is to regard the play as a satire of the Christian hypocrisy and their false standards of friendship and love, their cunning ways of pursuing worldliness and unreasoning prejudice against Jews.

Portia: a rich heiress of Belmont in Shakespeare's comedy The Merchant of Venice.

●1. Portia is a woman of Renaissance—beautiful, prudent, cultured, courteous and capable of rising to an emergency. She is one of Shakespear’s ideal women.

●2. the young heroes in Shakespeare's comedies are always independent in character and take their own path of life.

History plays aim to present some historical age or character, and may be either a comedy or a tragedy.

●His histories include two tetralogies (四部曲)and two other plays. Characterizes two centuries of English history from Richard III to Henry VIII (1377-1547)

●There is only one ideal king---Henry V who represents the aspiration for national unity under a powerful and efficient monarchy.

The image of Henry V:

Henry V is the symbol of Shakespear’s ideal kingship. He represents the upsurging patriotism of the time. In depicting Henry V as a prince and as a man, Shakespeare looks deep into the personality of his hero and shows a profound understanding of the politics and social life of the time.

Theme: Shakespeare’s historical plays describe the decaying of the old feudal society an d the rising of the new forces. His historical plays sum up the necessity for national unity under a mighty and just sovereign. The idea is anti-feudal in

It is concerned with the harshness and injustice of life. They are often serious plays with sad endings.

●Often the hero’s tragedy is due to a weakness in his or her character which brings self-destruction. A weakness such as the excessive pride of Faustus, the overweening ambition of Macbeth, or the uncontrolled jealousy of Othello.

●In S hakespeare’s plays, he saw sharp contradictions between his lofty humanistic ideals and the evil social forces. Background for Shakespeare’s tragedies

He began to observe life with penetration, to expose mercilessly the contradiction of the Elizabethan society. The economical and social crisis which began at the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth continued right up to the English Revolution.

The bourgeoisie intended to break up the yoke of absolute monarchy and struggled for free development.

It was in this atmosphere of general unrest that he created his great tragedies.

Four Great Tragedies All analyzing the human wickedness.

●Hamlet: the hero’s weakness makes him vulnerable in fighting against the outward evil.

●Othello shows how an outward evil make s use of the hero’s weakness and causes his fall.

●King Lear demonstrates how man’s mistake sets free the evils of treachery, hypocrisy, flattery, selfishness and distrust.

●Macbeth reveals how the outward evil stirs up the wickedness in man and destroys him.

Hamlet

“Hamlet” is considered the summit of Shakespeare's art.

Hamlet is a man of genius, highly accomplished and educated, a man of profound perception and sparkling wit. He is a scholar, soldier and statesman all combined. His image reflects the versatility of the man of Renaissance.

Hamlet’s melancholy is not the negative, over-subtle and fruitless kind, it is the result of his penetrating mind. It expresses, in away, the crisis of humanism at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century.

III. the artistic features of his plays

1. Characterization: By using comparison and contrasts, he depicts a group of individuals with strong and distinct personalities.

The melancholy of Hamlet, the wickedness of Claudius and Iago, the honesty of Othello, ambition of Macbeth and the beauty and wit of Portia.

2. Psycho-analytical study: He reveals the intricate inner workings of the character’s minds through the full use of soliloquies(独白).

3. Structure:

?His plays usu. have more than one plot. Through contrast and parallel, the major and minor plots are woven into

an organic whole.

?the device of a play within the play also plays an important part.

4. Language: Shakespeare is a master of the English language, with a large vocabulary of 16000 English words. More important are the figurative speeches such as analogy and metaphor.

5. style: realistic style. The reader may be impressed by the typical speech modes —the question in Hamlet, the ambiguities in Macbeth, the exclamations and very simple but also very basic questions in King Lear.

IV. Shakespeare’s place and contribution

One of the founder of realism in world literature. Living in the historical period of the transition from feudalism to capitalism, he paints a panorama of the decline of the old feudal nobility and the rise of new bourgeoisie.

Amazing prolificacy. In 22years, nearly 40 plays, no two of which evoke the same feeling or image among the audience, a master of every forms of drama.

Skilled in many poetic forms. The songs, sonnets, couplets, esp. at home with blank verse, which became a vehicle of utterance to all the possible sentiments of his characters.

A great master of English language. He has an amazing wealth of vocabulary and idiom. He is known to have used 16,000 different words. His coinage of new words and distortion of the meaning of the old ones also create striking effects on the reader.

He was universally regarded are the summit of English Renaissance. His influence on later writers is immeasurable. Almost all English writers after him have been influenced by him either in artistic point view, in literary form or in language.

Sonnet

Definition:

?A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme.

Origin:

?A form of lyrical poetry was originated in Italy. “sonnet” was derived from Provencal (普罗旺斯语) “Sonet”. It was once a short popular poetry used for singing in the medieval age.

?Italian poet Petrarch was the major representatives of the poets who used this poetic form. He wrote altogether 375 sonnets, dedicated to his lover. That is the Petrarchan sonnet.

?Sonnet was introduced into England by Thomas Wyatt . It flourished in the 1590s and reach its peak of popularity with the surge of Renaissance in England.

Two types of sonnet

The Italian, or Petrarchan sonnet :Petrarchan Sonnet

?The Italian form, in some ways the simpler of the two, Its fourteen lines break into an octave （八行诗）(or octet), which usually rhymes abba,abba, and a sestet （六行诗节）, which may rhyme cdecde or cdcdcd, or any of the multiple variations possible using only two or three rhyme-sounds.

?It usually projects and develops a subject in the octave, then executes a turn at the beginning of the sestet, which means that the sestet must in some way release the tension built up in the octave.

?Example: see Wyatt's "Farewell Love and all thy laws for ever."

Farewell, Love

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503~1542)

Farwell, Love, and all thy laws forever,

Thy baited hooks shall tangle me no more;

Senec and Plato call me from thy lore,

To perfect wealth my wit for to endeavor,

In blind error then I did persever,

Thy sharp repulse, that prickth aye so sore,

Hath taought me to set in trifles no store

And’ scape forth since liberty is lever

Therefore farewell, go trouble younger hearts, And in me claim no more authority

With idle youth go use thy property,

And therein spend thy many brittle darts,

For hitherto though I have lost all my time,

Me lusteth no longer rotten boughs to climb.

别了，爱，以及你所有的法则，

你上饵的钩子不再能把我缠绞，

塞内克与柏拉图叫我离开你那套，并尽我才智把完美的财富获得。我曾经步入迷途而不知返，

你严厉的拒绝将我的心刺痛，

却教我懂得，别太在意小事，

应挣脱这一切，因自由更可贵。别了，让年轻的心荡漾，

在我这里，你不再是权威；

虚度的年轻人把握你的财富。

在那儿已经耗费了太多。

迄今我虽然失去了我所有的时间，却已不再会去爬那枯树烂枝。

The English or Shakespearean sonnet: The English sonnet

The English or Shakespearean sonnet, developed first by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547), consists of three quatrains （四行诗）and a couplet（对句）with the rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef, gg.

A theme is developed and elaborated in the quatrains, and a concluding thought is presented in the couplet.

?The Shakespearean sonnet has a wider range of possibilities. One pattern introduces an idea in the first quatrain（启）, complicates it in the second（承）, complicates it still further in the third （转）, and resolves the whole thing in the final epigrammatic couplet （合）. (Example: see Shakespeare's Sonnet 18.)

?You can see how this form would attract writers of great technical skill who are fascinated with intellectual puzzles and intrigued by the complexity of human emotions, which become especially tangled when it comes to dealing with the sonnet's traditional subjects, love and faith.

Shakespeare's sonnet

I Introduction

?A cycle of 154 sonnets, wrote over a long period of time at the beginning of his career.

●Shakespeare’s sonnets are the only direct expression of the poet’s own feeling in all his works.

●No. 1-126 are addressed to a young man of superior beauty and rank

●No. 127-152 form a less coherent group involving a mistress of the poet, a mysterious “Dark Lady” who is sexual, faithless but irresistible.

?Theme: love, youth, friendship, beauty

II Sonnet 18

?Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

?Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, ?And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

我能否将你比作夏日？你比夏天更美丽温婉。

狂风会摇落五月钟爱的蓓蕾，夏日的勾留何其短暂。

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometimes declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed;有时天上的太阳照得太热，

它那金色的面容常常被遮暗。

一切美的事物总不免失去其美，由于偶然的或自然的变化而黯然。

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:唯有你永恒的夏日长新，

你的美貌亦毫发无损。

死神不会夸口你在它的阴影中徘徊，当你在这永恒的诗行中得到永生

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

只要人能够呼吸，眼睛能看见只要此诗长存，它将使你永恒。

Theme of Sonnet 18

“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee” is the conclusion (or theme) of the poem: your (my love’s) beauty and life will last forever since poetry is permanent and immortal.

?In this poem, the author mainly deals with the friendship between good friends, and the eternity of their friendship. ?Summer’s days are all mild, fair, but the love is even more fair and eternal.

Theme: the poet has a profound meditation on the destructive power of time and the eternal beauty brought forth to the one he loves by poetry. A nice summer day is usually transient, but the beauty in poetry can last forever. Thus Shakespeare expresses his faith in the permanence of poetry, of art and love.

III Sonnet 29

When, in disgrace fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries. And look upon myself, and curse my fate, ?当我受尽命运和人们的白眼，?暗暗地哀悼自己的身世飘零，?徒用呼吁去干扰聋瞆的昊天，?顾盼着身影，诅咒自己的命运，

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least; ?愿我和另一个一样富于希望，

?相貌堂堂，又和他一样胜友如云，?希求这人的渊博，那人的内行，?最赏心的乐事觉得最不对头

?Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, ?Haply I think on thee——and then my state, ?Like to the lark at break of day arising

?From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate,?可是，当我正要这样看轻自己，?忽然想起了你，于是我的精神，?便像云雀破晓从阴霾的大地

?振翮上升，高唱着圣歌在天门

For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings. ?一想起你的爱使我那么富有，?和帝王换位我也不屑于屈

Theme of Sonnet 29:

The power of love can overcome all the difficulties and obstacles in one’s lifetime.

The beauty and pleasure it brings to a man makes him despise authority and wealth.

IV Comments on Shakespeare’s sonnet

For depth of sentiment, for mastery of diction, for perfection of English, Shakespeare’s sonnets “remain the casket which e nclosed the rarest pearls of Elizabethan poetry”.

Francis Bacon

● A philosopher: the founder of English Materialistic Philosophy

●The founder of modern science in England

●The first English Essayist

●Statesman

Bacon’s works w orks: three classes

?The philosophical:

“The Advancement of Learning”1605 “New Instrument”1620

?The literary:

“Essays”1597-1625; covers a variety of subjects, such as love, truth, friendship, beauty, studies, riches, youth and age, death etc.

?The professional:

●His essays which were a n introduction to Bacon’s worldly-wise philosophy, have won popularity for their clearness, brevity and force of expression

●Some quotations:

1. Knowledge is power.

2. Wives are young men’s mistresses, companions for middle-age, and old men’s nurses.

3. Reading makes a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.

“Of Studies” is the most popular of Bacon’s 58 essays: it analyzes what studies chiefly serve for, the different ways adopted by different people to pursue studies and how studies exert influence over human character.

---Studies serve of delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in private- ness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business.

英国文学期末考试题目(英语专业必备)

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英国文学--古英语-文艺复兴

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第三章 文艺复兴时期文学

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文艺复兴时期英国文学概述

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英国文艺复兴时期

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文艺复兴时期英国文学

文艺复兴时期英国文学 1. What is Renaissance? How and why did it come about? 2. What is the development of drama? What were the original forms and content and practice of drama? 3. Why did drama flourish in Elizabethan age? Who are the major playwrights of the time? 4. Who is Marlowe? What contributions did he make to English drama? 5. Who is Shakespeare? What famous and great plays (history, comedy, tragedy)? What features? 6. What did Ben Jonson write about? What representative work? 7. Prepare the excerpt from Hamlet (31-32). What is it mainly about? What humanist idea can you find in the soliloquy? 8. What was the most important translation of the time? Reference questions on Shakespeare and Hamlet 1. Why is Shakespeare an eternal subject of study? Where lies his greatness? 2. What are the themes of Hamlet? 3. What is the significance of Hamlet as a character? 4. What is blank verse? 5. What is soliloquy? Text study 1 Hamlet’s soliloquy “To be or not to be” 1. What is the main idea of Hamlet’s soliloquy? Summarize in one or two sentences the main idea of the soliloquy? 2. How does the soliloquy reflect the spirit of the time or the idea of humanism? 3. How do you analyze Hamlet’s argument in terms of structure? Text study 2 The Merchant of Venice / The Trial Scene Pre-reading The most interesting character in this play is Shylock. Some people think him as a cruel miser, deserving his punishment while others consider him a victim of discrimination. From what you know of the play, what do you think of this character? To what extent does this character deserves our sympathy? Discuss with your classmates. Discussion 1. After reading the “trial scene”, have you changed your idea about Shylock? Refer to the questions in Pre-reading, and try to defend your position with evidence from the text. 2. Portia gives an eloquent speech on mercy when she tries to persuade Shylock to give up his bond. Consider the punishment received by Shylock, do you think the Christians are being merciful to Shylock?

英美文学选读-英国-文艺复兴时期-练习题汇总

英美文学选读选择题 1. _______, a typical example of Old English poetry, is regarded as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons. A. The Canterbury Tales B. Exodus C. Beowulf D. The Legend of Good Women 2. The work that presented, for the first time in English literature, a comprehensive realistic picture of the medieval English society and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life is most likely ______________. A．William Langlan d’ s Piers Plowman B．Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales C．John Gower’s Confession Amantis D．Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 3. With classical culture and the（）humanistic ideas coming into England, the English Renaissance began flourishing. A. French B. German C. Italian D. Greek 4. During the reign of_______, England started its Religious Reformation and broke away from Rome. A. Henry VII B. Henry VIII C. Edward VI D. Queen Elizabeth 5. The Protestant movement, which was seen as a means to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption and superstition of the Middle Ages, was initiated by _______. A. Francis Bacon B. Martin Luther C. Thomas More Utopia D. William Shakespeare 6．The Renaissance is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events EXCEPT_________. A．the rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture B．the vast expansion of British colonies in North America C．the new discoveries in geography and astrology D．the religious reformation and the economic expansion 7. In Renaissance, the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to do the following EXCEPT ______. A. getting rid of those old feudalist ideas B. getting control of the parliament and government C. introducing new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie D. recovering the purity of the early church, from the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church 8. Which of the following is NOT regarded as one of the characteristics of Renaissance humanism? A. Cultivation of the art of this world and this life.

The Renaissance英国文学文艺复兴时期总结

The Renaissance This is a greatest and most advanced revolution in the human history. This is the age the giants are needed and produced. ------F. Engles <1> Brief introduction ?Renaissance in European history, refers to the period between 14th century to 17th century. It started in Italy and ended in England and Spain. ?“Renaissance” means “revival”, the revival of interest in Ancient Greek and Roman culture and getting rid of conservatism in feudalist Europe and introducing new ideas that express the interests of the rising bourgeoisie. ?Renaissance sprang first in Italy (Florence and Venice) with the flowering of paintings, sculpture and architecture, and gradually spread all over Europe; ?Renaissance originally indicated a revival of classical arts and science (ancient Greek and Roman culture) after the dark ages of medieval obscurantism. During the period of Renaissance: 1. the Roman Catholic Church was shaken, 2. old sciences revived and new sciences emerged, 3. national languages and cultures took shape, 4. art and literature flourished Brief introduction ?There arose an interest in the manuscripts surviving from ancient Greece and Rome. Classical learning and philosophy were enthusiastically studied. ?The intellectual wisdom of ancient Greece and Rome encouraged a rebirth of human spirit，a realization of human potential for development and creation． ?Never before in human history were men and women so eager to create and discover something new．In Italy a group of artists，scientists，politicians，and writers created the most brilliant page of culture and science in Renaissance Europe． Examples: ①Copernicus (哥白尼) asserted that the earth was not the center of the universe； ②The passionate Petrarch produced sonnets that influenced Shakespeare and many others； ③Boccaccio(卜伽邱) wrote tales of eternal charm: The Decameron； ④Marco Polo (马可波罗) made journeys into the remote kingdom of China； ⑤Michelangelo（米开朗琪罗），Leonardo da Vinci (达芬奇)，Raphael (拉斐尔)，and Titian (提香) created paintings and sculptures that are invaluable treasures of the world． <2>Essence and features ?Essence: It is the reflection of the rise of bourgeoisie in the sphere of cultural life. （另版本）：Renaissance, in essence, is a historical period in which the European humanist thinkers and scholars made attempts to: to get rid of conservatism in Feudalist Europe; to introduce new ideas that expressed the interests of the rising bourgeoisie, to lift the restrictions in all areas placed by the Roman church authorities. Briefly it is the reflection of the rise of bourgeoisie in the sphere of cultural life. ?Features: there are two striking features ①A thirsting curiosity for the classical literature.

英美文学选读-英国-文艺复兴时期-练习题汇总(选择大题)

I．Multiple Choice Old and Medieval Period 1. ____ Beowulf ___, a typical example of Old English poetry, is regarded as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons. A. The Canterbury Tales B. Exodus C. D. The Legend of Good Women 3. The work that presented, for the first time in English literature, a comprehensive realistic picture of the medieval English society and created a whole gallery of vivid characters from all walks of life is most likely __ B．Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales____________. A．William Langland’ s Piers Plowman C．John Gower’s Confession Amantis D．Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 2.Among the great Middle English poets, Geoffrey Chaucer is known for his production of ___. A.Piers Plowman B.Sir Gawain and the Green Knight C.Confessio Amantis D.The Canterbury Tales 1. ____ A. B. George Gordon Byron C. Edmund Spenser D. Robert Browning 1.Romance,which uses narrative verse or prose to tell stories of B.

欧洲文艺复兴论文设计

文艺复兴时期人文主义思想及其历史影响 苏科电子1211yuexin 摘要: 人文主义是欧洲文艺复兴时期的主要思潮和指导思想,是早期资产阶级在反封建、反教会斗争中形成的思想体系。人文主义反对一切以神为本的旧观念,宣扬人是万物之本,用“人权"对抗“神权"向中世纪的教会统治和宗教教义提出了挑战。它突破了中世纪基督教对人们思想的控制,唤醒了人们的进取精神和创造精神,从而在思想方面为资本主义制度的确立开辟了道路。 关键词: 文艺复兴；人文主义；科学精神；理性 一、简单介绍下文艺复兴 文艺复兴是14世纪中叶至归6世纪在欧洲发生的一场思想文化运动,标志着人类从中世纪迈进了近代历史。在这场以思想解放为主旋律的运动中,新兴资产阶级在古典文化的启迪下,用以人为核心的崭新的意识形态反对以神为中心的陈腐意识形态,用新的文化取代了以天主教神学为主导的封建旧文化,用对主客观世界及其联系的直接体验和深层思考打破了蒙昧主义的桎梏文艺复兴在历史上的进步作用。恩格斯写道:“这是次人类从来没有经历过的最伟大的进步的变革,是 个需要巨人而且产生了巨人——在思维能力、热情和性格方面,在多才多艺和学识渊博方面的巨人的时代。”

文艺复兴的含义可以从以下几个方面理解：“复兴”——再生，重新获得新的生机，也就是说西方文明到了文艺复兴这个时期获得了一个新的生机，进入了一个新的阶段。我们通常说的西方文明的文艺复兴，是指14——16世纪，起源于意大利，接着发展到欧洲各国的思想文化运动。什么的复兴，什么的重新获得新的生机？文艺复兴这个时期，一批学者开始搜集整理古希腊的文献（亚里士多德、柏拉图等一些哲学家的重要著作）和一些重要的文化思想遗产进行新的整理、注释，因为这个工作，我们称作“文艺复兴”。实质是通过对古希腊文化的复兴倡导了一种人文主义运动。 二，欧洲文艺复兴的社会背景： ①经济：首先兴起于意大利，因为意大利最早产生资本主义萌芽，特别是意大利北部和中部的一些城市，在14世纪已经出现了具有资本主义雏形的手工业，随着资本主义日趋繁荣，商人队伍的日益壮大，他们逐渐成为早期的资产阶级。 ②文化：早先诺曼人攻克希腊港口城市萨洛尼卡卖了许多书给意大利人，意大利人购得的古希腊手稿数以万计。后来十字军攻占君士坦丁堡时候，侵略者与意大利人进行手稿交易。因此威尼斯商船从拜占庭返航时候带回许多的古籍和抄本。拜占庭灭亡以后，更多的希腊罗马古典文化流入到意大利。 ③宗教：中世纪的宗教文化强调神权至上，宣扬人们要禁欲赎罪。它认为人生下来就是有罪的，人的一生就是为赎罪而活的。人们只有通过禁欲和教会圣礼才能赎罪。它让人们追求来世而不是现世。此外，