part one: early & medieval english literature english and american literature & selected...
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Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
English and American Literature &
Selected Readings
:魏晓红 : [email protected]
: 13931098970
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Contents Discussion
Piers Plowman
Par
t 1: Ea
rly
& M
edie
val
E
nglis
h L
iter
ature
An Analysis
Comments
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Discussion
What can we learn
from Beowulf?
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
1. Key facts
2. The point of view
3. Major characters
4. The plots
5. Major themes
6. The symbols
Revision on Beowulf
1. Loyalty 2. Reputation3. Generosity 4. Hospitality 5. Envy6. Revenge7. Heroism
1. necklace 2. banquet3. Heorot hall 4. The cave 5. claw, head6. Beowulf, Dam
1. Author: 2. Genre: 3. Protagonist: 4. Language: 5. Setting: 1) Time ~: 2) Place ~:6. Published:
epic
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
1. Alliteration
2. Metaphors and
understatements
3. Secular with Christian overlay
4. Symbols
Features of Beowulf
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Some Terms
• Alliteration:
• The accented words in a line begin with the
same consonant sound with the functions of
emphasizing and helping to memorize
things.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Some Terms
• Metaphor ( 隐喻,暗喻 ): implied comparison
• Metaphor is a figure of speech (修辞格) that
makes a comparison between two unlike things th
at are basically dissimilar, with no “as” or “like”.
For example:
1. n. → His face is a map of time.
2. v. → Snow clothes the ground.
3. a. → We had a pleasant, homey
evening.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Understatement ( 低调陈述 )
• Understatement 低调 : Minimize the importance.
• ↔ Hyperbole 夸张 : Maximize the importance.
e.g.
1) It took a few dollars to build the indoor swimming pool.
2) I have studied it and I know a thing or two.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Chapter 3
Feudal England
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Anglo-Norman Period
History Literature
Norman Conquest
Danish Invasion
Feudal England
Romance
Geoffrey Chaucer
William Langland
Medieval English Literature
English Ballads
Important Points
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Group work
What is the influence of the Norman
Conquest on the English language?
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
The Influence on the English Language
• Subjects:
1) Chivalry
2) Interests in Women
3) Respect to Virgin Mary
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Vocabulary:
French words of
warfare and chivalry,
art and luxury,
science and law
The Influence on the English Language
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Frenchnobles, lords
English subject( 臣民 )
scholar
romances
no written
chronicles,religious poems
literaturelanguagespeaker
English
Latin
The Influence on the English Language
By the end of the 14th century: English, dominant
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Introduction to the History of English
Map of the Division
Old English
5th-11th century
Middle English
12th-15th century
Early Modern English1450-1700
Modern English
from about 1700
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Discussion
What is romance?
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
• Form: long composition in verse, in prose
• Content: description of life and adventures of a
noble hero remote from real life in Middle Ages
• Character: knight with chivalry and devoted to
the church and the king
Romance ( 骑士故事 )
Literary TermLiterary Term
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Group Work
1. How many kinds of Romance?
2. What are the major woks?
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
The Romance CyclesThree Groups
matters of Britain
matters ofFrance
matters of Rome
English versions translated from French or Latin
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
French Group: Matter of France
Adventures of Emperor
Charlemagne and his peers
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Roman Group: Matter of Roman
Adventures of
Alexander the Great
and the attacks of Troy
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
English Group: Matter of Britain
Adventures of King Arthur
& his Knights of
the Round Table
from French or Latin
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
beginning: Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain《大不列颠国王史》 (Latin);Layamon’s Brut 《布鲁特》(alliterative and rimed English verse)
origin: Celtic legends
English Group: Matter of Britain
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Summing up:
Thomas Malory’s
Le Morte D’Arthur
(The Death of King Arthur)
《亚瑟王之死》
English Group: Matter of Britain
culmination( 顶点 ): Sir Gawain and the Green Knight《高文爵士和绿色骑士》 (metrical romance)
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Group work 1. Who is Malory?
2. What is Le Morte
D’Arthur about?
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
1) the adventures of the Knights of the Rou
nd Table( 圆桌武士 )at Arthur’s court;
Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, 1470
2) the quest of the Holy Gra
il ( 圣杯 );
3) the illicit love affair of Sir Launc
elot and Queen Guinevere;
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
4) the death of Arthur;
Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur
5) the dissolution ( 解除,解散 ) of
fellowship of the Knights of t
he Round Table.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Prevailing Literature in Feudal England
1. Romance: in verse, prose, 3 cycles
2. First in Latin and French, then in
English
3. For the nobles
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Chapter 4
William Langland威廉 · 郎格兰
(c.1330—1387) (c.1332—1386)(c.1330—1400) (c.1332—1400)
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Student’s Presentation
How much do you know
about Langland and his
Piers Plowman?
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
An Analysis of Piers Plowman
1. The Key Facts
2. Major Plots
3. Major Characters
4. The Symbols
5. Major Themes
6. Writing Features
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Key Facts of Piers Plowman1. Author:
2. Genre:
3. Language:
4. Plots:
5. Setting:
6. Published:
William Langland
allegorical narrative
Middle English
Dream, searching
14th-century England
A-Text:1360-70B-Text:1377-79C-Text:1380s
ca.1360-87
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Some Terms
• Allegory (寓言)• Allegory is a tale in verse or prose in which c
haracters, actions, or settings represent abstr
act ideas or moral qualities. An allegory is a s
tory with two meanings, a literal meaning
(字面意义) and a symbolic meaning (象征意义) .
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
• An allegory is a device in which
characters or events represent or
symbolize ideas and concepts,
with the second meaning beneath
the surface.
Allegory ( 寓言,讽喻 )
Literary TermLiterary Term
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
• Characters in allegory are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity( 博爱 ), greed, or envy, etc..
Allegory ( 寓言,讽喻 )
Literary TermLiterary Term
giving human qualities to animals, objects The Cat and Rats are personified.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Major Plots
• Will’s dream, seeing
• Piers’s Guide to search for Truth,
• Narrator’s quest for Dowel, Dobet, Dobest
a field full of folk of all social
classes, including beggars,
members of religious orders,
knights, kings, and plowmen,
going about the various activities
of life
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Major Characters .
1. The narrator: Will
2. The plowman: Piers
3. Parasites
4. The cat and rats
5. Characters in Lady Meed
6. Seven sins
7. Dowel, Dobet, Dobest
All the characters
have their own
symbolic meanings.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Symbols
1.Characters
2.Names
3.Animals
4.Objects
5.Actions
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Symbols
1. Humans:
2. Animals:
3. Objects:
Piers:
A field of folk:
King :
working class
God
Rats:
The Cat :
Good Parliament
The ruling class
Castle:
Dungeon :
heaven
hell
human kind
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Symbols
4. Character’s Names:
WillConscience Do-welDo-betDo-best
Meed 贿赂 Fickle-tongue 说谎人
Lechery 色鬼
Avarice 贪婪
Sloth 懒惰
Glutton 贪食者
SatirePursuit
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Symbols
1) Argument: Conscience, Meed,
Conflict between good & evil
2) The King’s stealing:
corruption
5. Actions:
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Themes
1. What are the themes of Piers
Plowman?
2. Find out the examples from the
text-book.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Themes
1. Exposure of the Ruling Class
2. Sympathy for the Poor, the needed
3. Equality of men before God
4. Dignity of labor
5. Pursuit of Truth, Good
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
1. Parasites:
bishops and deacons 大主教 助祭,副主祭
cardinal (天主教)红衣主教
idlers: friars, monks, hermits 托钵修士 隐士
religion, personified
Serjeants=lawyers
the King
Exposure of the ruling classes
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Sympathy for the poor and the needed
1) The Poor: prisoners in dungeon ( 地牢 ), baby cries, narrow room,… to show social discontent of the poor
2) Conscience’s need in “The Marriage of Lady Meed”
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Piers , teaches them:
So, peasants are the
nearest to the truth and the
salvation of the soul.
Equality, Dignity, Truth
Labor can guide the
Pilgrims to the right way to
the Truth.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Major Writing Features
1. Allegory, symbols
2. Alliteration
3. Personification
4. Satire
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
1. Allegory
Literal Symbolic
Dungeon → → → Castle
Hell → → → → → Heaven
Sins → → → → → Truth
1) Characters
2) Names
3) Animals
4) Objects
5) Actions
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
1) “They leapt away to London,
To be clerks of the King’s Bench and
despoil the land.”
2) “God forbid, quoth Conscience,
Woe betide me, if such a wife I wed.”
2. Alliteration
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
3)“There wandered a hundred, in hoods of silk,
Serjeants (lawyers) they seemed,
and served at the Bar,
Pleading the Law,
for pennies and for the pounds.”
Practice: Alliteration
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
3. The SatirePilgrims (7 sins)
Pride, Lechery, Envy,Wrath, Avarice,Sloth, Glutton
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
The Satire
“The Marriage of Lady Meed”
1. Lady Meed’s deeds
2. the King’s reconciliation
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
4. Personification
1) The Cats and Rats
“striding sternly forth”
2) Law is personified.
And if me Lacketh, Law wills that I take.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Comments on Piers Plowman
The Things I Learned
from Piers Plowman
Group Work
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Comments on Piers Plowman
• William Langland’s Piers Plowman
is an allegorical narrative poem
over 7000 lines composed from
c.1363 to c.1387, written in
unrhymed alliterative verse.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Comments on Piers Plowman
• Piers Ploughman is considered by many
critics to be one of the early great works
of English literature along with Chaucer’s
The Canterbury Tales and Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight during the Middle Ages.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Comments on Piers Plowman
• The poem is a classic of popular literature
throughout the 14th and the 15th century.
• It played an important role in the Rising of
1381 and the calls of John Ball.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Feudal England —Social Features
classeslandlords
peasants
It was William I who pushed Englandinto the feudal society.
church government
secular government
the King
the King’s office
Feudal order hereticsburnt alive
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
1. better than slaves
2. Black Death (1348—1349)
3. A Statute ( 法令 ) of Laborers (1350) low wages
4. The war between England and France 40 years, expenditure (cost)
5. A poll-tax ( 人头税 )
making the life pauperized.
The Miseries of the Peasants
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
The Rise of 1381
Fighting for equality with the
oppressors to have a happy life.
1. Wat Tyler & John Ball.
2. John Ball’s sermon
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Assignment
1. Comments on Piers the
Plowman.
2. Remember the literary terms?
1) allegory 2) symbol
3) personification
3. Pre-read “Ballad” and The
Canterbury Tales.
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Assignment
Questions for Pre-reading
1) What is a ballad?
2) What is the major character of
Robin Hood?
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Assignment
3) How much do you know about
Chaucer?
4) What are Chaucer’s three periods
of literary career?
5) What is Chaucer’s masterpiece?
Part One:Early & Medieval English Literature
Goodbye.