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Introduction to English

Literature

Lin Yupeng

August, 2004

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I. Why We Study English and American

Literature

II. How to Study English and American

Literature

III. Requirments of This Course

IV. Periods in History of the EnglishLanguage

V. Periods in History of English Literature

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I. Why Study Literature

1. Literature has aesthetic and cognitive

value.

2. Literature has much influence on the

English language.

3. Literature can breed the students

sensitivity to the use of English.

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1. Aesthetic and Cognitive

Values of Literature

Before my bed a pool of light,

Is it hoarfrost upon the ground?

Eyes raised, I see the moon so bright; Head bent, in homesickness Im drowned.

Trans. X.Y.Z.

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The widow-making

unchilding unfathering deeps

Gerard M. Hopkins(1844-

1889)

(The other side of picture ofthe sea)

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Fear no more the heat o the sun,

Nor the furious winters rages;

Thou thy worldly task hast done, Home art gone, and taen thy wages

Shakespeare: Cymbeline, IV, ii

(Effect of death)

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2. Influence of Literature on the

English language 1) The English language is deep-rooted in

literature.

2) The writings of great writers contributedto the development of the Englishlanguage.

3) Literature shows the history of theEnglish language.

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1) The English language is

deep-rooted in literature. A little learning is a dangerous thing.

For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

To err is human; to forgive, divine.

---Alexander Pope

The child is the father of man

---William Wordsworth

A pound of fleshShakespeare

catch-22 --- Joseph Heller(b.1923)

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2) The writings of great writerscontributed to the development of

the English language.

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3) Literature shows the history

of the English language.

Great Vowel Shift Chaucers words Shakespeares pronunciation

/fi:f/ five /faiv/

/meid/ meed /mi:d/

/kl: n/ clean /klein/(now /kli:n/)

/na:m/ name /neim/

/g:t/ goat /go:t/

/ro:t / root /ru:t/

/du:n/ down /daun/

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The above diagram shows the systematic

change of some vowel sounds in theperiod from Chaucers time to

Shakespeares time: the elevation of the

tongue position and the narrowing of theopening of the mouth in pronuncing these

vowels. Where the tongues position was

the highest and the mouth opening was

the closest, the vowel sounds became

diphthones as in case of /i:/ and /u:/.

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3. Literature can breed the

students sensitivity to the

use of English.

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.1) Sea, sun, sand, seclusion

and Spain!(alliteration)

2) Buy this mattress for the rest

of your life.(pun)

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In the world of brand names, familiarity

breeds content.

(c.f. Familiarity breeds contempt.)

If the 1980s were the worst of times for

critics of that debt-propelled decade, they

were the best time for Wall Street Journal

editor Robert Bartley( It was the best of

times, it was the worst of times; it was the

age of wisdom, it was the age offoolishnessA Tale of Two Cities)

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In this confusing New Europe, some wereborn to a minority, others had minoritystatus thrust upon them

---The Economist ( c.f. But be not afraid of greatness: some

men are born great, some achieve

greatness, and some have greatnessthrust upon themShakespeare: TheTwelfth Night)

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II. How to Study English and

American Literature

1. By closereading;

2 . Be familiarized with some literaryterms;

3. Background information;

4. Some knowledge of literary theories.

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1. By close reading

close reading :

The study of literature should be

based upon the strict analysis ofthe literary text, mainly of its

linguistic code and medium.

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Close reading(1)

Across these minute pools the reflected stars

flitted in a quick transit as she passed; she

would not have known they were shining

overhead, if she had not seen them there--- thevastest things of the universe imaged in objects

so mean.

(images and symbols)

Thomas Hardy:Tess of the DUrbervilles

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Close reading(2)

In the late summer of that year we lived in

a house in a village that looked across the

river and the plains to the mountains. In

the bed of the river there were pebblesand boulders, dry and white in the sun,

and the water was clear and swiftly

moving and blue in the channels.

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Close reading( 2)

Troops went by the house and down the roadand the dust they raised powdered the leaves ofthe trees. The trunks of the trees were dusty andthe leaves fell early that year and we saw troopsmarching along the road the dust rising andleaves, stirred by the breeze, falling and thesoldiers marching and afterward the road bareand white except for the leaves.

(images,syntax, sound devices and meaning)

Ernest Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms

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III. Requirements of The

Course

1.Research work;

2.Participation in class discussion; 3. Writing;

3. Groundwork of language training.

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V.Periods in History of English

Literature

1.Middle Ages(5th century-1485)

2.The Renaissance(late 15th-early 17th century)

3.The 17th Century

4.The Enlightenment(late 17thmiddle 18thcentury)

5.Romanticism(1798-1832)

6.Realism(1830s-1918)

7.Modernism(1918-1945)

8.The Contemporary Period(1945-)