英国文学教案Part14.docx

英国文学教案Part14.docx

《英国文学教案Part14.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《英国文学教案Part14.docx（31页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

英国文学教案Part14

TheAnglo-SaxonPeriod

ⅠBasicconceptsandrequirementsofthiscourse

1.what’sliterature?

  InEnglish,weusethewordinatleasttwodifferentsenses:

veryoftenitsimplymeansanythingthatiswritten:

timetables,catalogues,text-books,travelbrochures（booklet/pamphlet）.Inthisbroadsense,anaccountofyesterday’sfootballmatchoranadvertisementofsoappowder,isasmuchliteratureastheDialoguesofPlatoorthenovelsofD.H.Lawrence.

ButwhenwetalkaboutEnglishliteratureaswedointhiscourse,weareusingthewordinadifferent,andperhapsmoreserioussense.Herewemayagreethatliteratureiswritingwhichexpresses&communicatesthoughts,feelings&attitudestowardslife.Butsomeonemayask:

whataboutadvertisements,travelbooklets,etc?

Theycertainlyseemtobeexpressingthoughts&feelings&attitudes,yettheyarenotliteratureinthesenseinwhichwehavehowdecidedtousetheword.Thisisbecausetheylackoneofthequalitiesthatmakeseriousliteraturesodifferentfromadvertisingorjournalism.Thequality,Ihaveinmind,ispermanence.Suchthingsasjournalism,advertising,&evenworksofinformationare“heretoday&gonetomorrow”,butliteratureisintendedtolast.

Tosummarizewhathasbeensaid,wemaynowsaythatliteratureisapermanentexpressioninwordsofsomethoughtsorfeelingsorideasaboutlife&theworld.

 2.Whatistheusefulnessofstudying（English）Literature?

（1）Increasingone’sknowledge  

 EnglishliteratureisamirrortothesociallifeatdifferentstagesofEnglishhistory.Itisageneralexpressionoftheideas,feelings&aestheticjudgmentsof writersfromdifferentsocialclasses.Itisalsoadirectorindirect&vividexpressionoftherelationshipamongpeopleofdifferentsocialclasses,betweenpeople&society,people&nature,andthespirit&psychologicalstateofpeoplethemselves.

  ThereforestudyingEnglishliterature,isoneofthebestwaysforustogetagoodcommandofEnglishknowledge.

（2）Improvingone’slanguageability.

Generallyspeaking,allthatisbestinalanguagefindsexpressioninitsliterature.Dictionariestellusaboutthespellings,pronunciations&definitionsofwords.Thecommonestwaytolearnthemeaningofawordistolookitupinadictionary.Butdictionariescannotshowallthesubtleshadesofmeaningofaword.Thebestwaytostudythemeaningofawordisthatoflearningitbetweenthelinesintheworksofmajorwriters.Foranintimateunderstandingofthelanguage,weneedtoreadliteraryworksandtothinkaboutwhatweread.

  Anauthormaycontributeinvariouswaystotheenrichmentofthelanguagehewrites.Hemaydosodirectlybyintroducingnewwordsornewusagesofwords,orindirectlybybringingthoseexistingformsofexpressionintoageneraluseamongpeople.

（3）Trainingone’sthinking.

（4）Fosteringone’sconnoisseurship（theabilitytoappreciateaworkofart）

（5）Exertingafavorableinfluenceonaperson’sfeelingorcharacter（ormakingusbebetterpeople;inotherwords.,Englishliteratureissomethingfromwhichwegetmoraleducation）

（6）Enjoyingoneself.

（7）Enablingonetogetmoreeducationortoappearwelleducated.etc.

Ⅱ.TheAnglo-SaxonPeriod

1.RomanConquestandtheEnglishConqest

TheBritishcivilizationisoneoftheoldestintheworld.Oneofitsextantsigns,theStonehenge,datesbackto1400-1800BC,whenmankindwasstillwrappedinthemistoftime.Thisprehistoricmonumentalpileofstonesindicatesafairlyadvancedlevelofengineeringandastronomy.Assuchadvancedengineeringandastronomycouldonlybepartofawholefairlyadvancedculture,andanadvancedculture,ashumanhistoryshows,hastohaveanadvancedliteratureasitsoffshoot,theancientpeopleofthelandmusthavehadaprehistoricliteratureoftheirown.Butwhatevermighthaveexisted,inoralformorotherwise,nothingisleftnowexceptforsomescrapesandfragments.ItmighthavebeendestroyedbytheCelts.

TheCeltswereprobablythefirstinhabitantsoftheBritishIslesinrecordedhistory.Thesepowerfullybuiltandfairly-hairedpeopleweretenaciousandlovedwar.Oneoftheirtribes,theBritons,cameoverinthe5thcenturyBC,stayedforsomefivehundredyears,andgaveitsnametotheplace:

BritainmeansthelandoftheBritons.TheCeltsleftbehindarichoraltraditionofmythsandlegends,ofwhichtheArthurianlegendsareanimportantpart.About55BC,theRomansoldiersofJuliusCaesarcametostayforfivecenturiesandtransplantedtheircivilizationtotheland.TheRomansbuiltroadsandbridges,erectedsculptures,andbuiltbathsbesidethewarmspringsofBathwithheatingsystemsinthem.ThentheculturalheritageoftheCeltsandtheRomanswasdestroyedbytheinvadingAnglo-Saxoninthe5thcentury.

TheAnglo-SaxonswereabranchoftheGermanictribeswholivedatthemouthoftheElbeandalongtheNorthSea.Theycameoverthesea,drovetheCeltstothenorthandwest,andslowlydevelopedtheirownlanguageandculture.Anglo-SaxonbecameOldEnglish,andtheplacebecameEngland,ortheAngle-land,“thelandoftheAngles.”Theperiodwasgenerallyoneofwarsbetweenthepettykingdomsintheland.In597ADtheAnglo-SaxonsbegantobeconvertedtoChristianity.Intheseondhalfofthe7thcentury,thefirstEnglishpoetCaedombegantosing.AnothercenturypassedandBeowulf,thefirstEnglishpoemstillintactasawholepiecetoday,wascomposedinoldEnglish.Inthe9thcenturyKingAlfredtheGreatdefeatedanewwaveofinvasionfromScandinaviaandbroughtpeace,securityandprosperitytohiskingdom.Thekingbuiltschools,wroteannalsandencouragedculturalgrowth.ItwasKingAlfredwhodecidedthatliteratureshouldbewritteninthevernacular,orOldEnglish.In1057Macbeth,kingofScotland,diedonlytoberesurrectedafewhundredyearslaterinShakespeare’sfamoustragedy.

2.Literature

Nowlet’sturntotheliteratureoftheperiodunderdiscussion.TheAnglo-Saxonperiodwasbasicallybarreninliterarycreations.Thereasonforthiswaseasilyfound:

thefactthatpeoplewroteonanimalskinandfrequentlyscrapedoldthingsouttomakeroomrothenew,orthedestructionbywarsorsimplythroughlosstotime---allaccountedforthescarcityofwritingsstillextantfromtheperiod.Whathasbeenleftthroughtheravagesoftimeismostlyfragments.Theseincludebothpaganandreligiouspoems.Fornearlytwocenturiesintotheperiod,paganpoetryandpaganspiritremaineddominantonthepoeticscene.Itwasessentiallyabodyofheroicpoetry.Mostlythepoemsweresongsaboutwars,sea-faring,andviolenceinacruelworldwithlittleornotendernessorjoy.

Thereligiousgroupismainlyonbiblicalthemes.（GenesisA,GenesisBandExodusarepoemsbasedontheOldTestament;WhereasTheDreamoftheRoodcomesfromtheNewTestament（inthispoem,Christisportrayedastheyoungwarriorstridingtoembracedeathandvictory,whiletherooditselftakesontheburdenofhissuffering.）

TheseculargrouprepresentsthepoetryorsongwhichtheAnglo-Saxonsprobablybroughtwiththemintheformoforalsagas.（TheWanderer,Deor,TheSeafarer,andtheWife’sComplaintareamongthemostbeautiful.TheharshclimateofNorthSeastronglyaffectedthetoneormoodofthepoets.Thelifeissorrowful,andthespeakersarefatalistic,thoughatthesametimecourageousanddetermined.）

Literaturecharacteristics

TheliteratureofthisperiodisdividedintopaganliteratureandChristianliterature.

Theformerrepresentpoetryandinformoforalsagas.

Thelaterrepresentsthewritingsdevelopedunderteachingofthemonks.

Thepoetrywascopiedbythemonksandhasthereligiouscoloring.

Mostofworkscannotfinditsscribe.

Caedmon,thefatherofEnglishsong,isthefirstknownreligiouspoetofEngland.HewroteapoeticParaphraseofthebible

CynewulfproducedthedidacticpoemTheChrist

AlfredtheGreat（848-901）wroteTheAnglo-SaxonChronicles.ThisbookrecordsthemainhappeningsoftheAnglo-Saxonperiod.ItisthebestmonumentoftheOldEnglishprose.

RepresentativeachievementofAnglo-Saxonperiod—TheSongofBeowulf

TheSongofBeowulfisEngland’snationalepic.Itwaswrittenbyanunknownscribeatthebeginningofthe10thcenturyandwasdiscoveredin1705.Itreflectseventswhichtookplaceapproximatelyatthebeginningofthe6thcentury.

Theepicconsistsof3182linesandistobedividedintotwoparts.ThestorytakesplaceinScandinavia,andthereisnomentionofEnglandatall.TheherocomesfromSweden,andperformshisdeedsinDenmark.TheworkwaspossiblybroughtovertoEnglandatthetimeoftheAnglo-Saxonconquest,andwashandeddownbywordofmouthfromgenerationtogenerationuntilitwasanonymouslyrecordedinAnglo-Saxon,orOldEnglish,inthe8thcentury.

Themainplot:

Beowulf’sfightwiththemonsterGrendelinHrothgar’sHall

•Beowulf’sslayingofGrendel’smotherinherhair.

•Beowulf’sreturninglorytohisuncle,andhissuccessiontothethrone.

•Beowulf’svictoryindeath,fiftyyearslater,overthefiredragon.

WritingFeaturesofthePoem:

Structurallyspeaking,Beowulfisbuiltaroundthreefights.ThefirstpartdealswiththefightwithbetweenBeowulfandthemonsterGrendelthathasbeenattackingthegreathallofHeorot,builtbyHrothgar,theDanishKing.ThesecondpartinvolvesabattlebetweenBeowulfandGrendal’smotherawater-monster,whotakesrevengebycarryingoffoneoftheking’snoblemen.ThelastpartisaboutthefightbetweenBeowulfandafiredrakethatravagesBeowulf’skingdom.

Thematicallythepoempresentsavividpictureofhowtheprimitivepeoplewageheroicstrugglesag