自考英語(yǔ)本科英美文學(xué)選讀2Neoclassicalperiod

1、Chapter II The Neoclassical Period一.新古典主義時(shí)期概述 1. 識(shí)記：（1）新古典主義時(shí)期的界定 （2）政治經(jīng)濟(jì)背景 （3）啟蒙運(yùn)動(dòng)的意義與影響2. 領(lǐng)會(huì)：（1）啟蒙運(yùn)動(dòng)的主張與文學(xué)的特點(diǎn) （2）新古典主義時(shí)期文學(xué)的藝術(shù)特點(diǎn)3. 應(yīng)用：?jiǎn)⒚蛇\(yùn)動(dòng)，新古典主義，英雄雙行詩(shī)，英國(guó)現(xiàn)實(shí)主義小說(shuō)等名詞的解釋 1. 識(shí)記Definitions of literary terms1) The Enlightenment MovementThe 18th-century England is known as the Age of Enlightenment or the A

2、ge of Reason. The Enlightenment Movement was a progressive intellectual movement which flourished in France & swept through the whole Western Europe at the time. The movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance of the 15th & 16th centuries. Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the ligh

3、t of modem philosophical & artistic ideas. The enlighteners celebrated reason or rationality, equality & science. They called for a reference to order, reason & rules & advocated universal education. Famous among the great enlighteners in England were those great writers like John Dryden, Alexander

4、pope & so on.2) NeoclassicismIn the field of literature, the Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works. This tendency is known as neoclassicism. According to the neoclassicists, all forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of the an

5、cient Greek & Roman writers (Homer, Virgil, & so on)& those of the contemporary French ones. They believed that the artistic ideals should be order, logic, restrained emotion & accuracy, & that literature should be judged in terms of its service to humanity. This belief led them to seek proportion,

6、unity, harmony & grace in literary expressions, in an effort to delight, instruct & correct human beings, primarily as social animals. Thus, a polite, urbane, witty, & intellectual art developed.3) The heroic couplet It means a pair of lines of a type once common in English poetry, which rhyme & are

7、 written with five beats each.4) the Realistic NovelThe mid-century was, however, predominated by a newly rising literary form, the modern English novel, which, contrary to the traditional romance of aristocrats, gives a realistic presentation of life of the common English people. This-the most sign

8、ificant phenomenon in the history of the development of English literature in the eighteenth century - is a natural product of the Industrial Revolution & a symbol of the growing importance & strength of the English of the growing importance & strength of the English middle class, Among the pioneers

9、 were Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Tobias Creorge Smollott, & Oliver Goldsmith. 2. 領(lǐng)會(huì)Characteristics of Neoclassical LiteratureAccording to the neoclassicists, all forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of the ancient Greek & Roman write

10、rs (Homer, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, etc,)& those of the contemporary French ones. Neoclassicists had some fixed laws &rules for almost every genre of literature, prose should be precise, direct, smooth & flexible. Poetry should be lyrical, epical, didactic, satiric or dramatic, & each class should be g

11、uided by its own principles. Drama should be written in the Heroic Couplets (iambic pentameter rhymed in two lines); the three unities of time, space & action should be strictly observed; regularity in construction should be adhered to & type characters rather than individuals should be represented.

12、二.該時(shí)期的重要作家1，一般識(shí)記：重要作家的創(chuàng)作生涯2，識(shí)記：重要作品及主要內(nèi)容3，領(lǐng)會(huì)：重要作家的創(chuàng)作思想，藝術(shù)特色其代表作的主題結(jié)構(gòu)，人物刻畫(huà)，語(yǔ)言風(fēng)格，藝術(shù)特色，社會(huì)意義等。4，應(yīng)用：（1）天路歷程中名利場(chǎng)的寓義。 （2）蒲伯的文學(xué)（詩(shī)歌）批評(píng)觀(guān)及其詩(shī)歌特色。 （3）格列佛游記的社會(huì)諷刺。 （4）菲爾丁的散文體史詩(shī)。 （5）格雷詩(shī)歌的主題與意象。I John Bunyan1. 一般識(shí)記His lifeEnglish author & preacher, born in Elstow, England, probably Nov.28, 1628,and died in London, E

13、ngland, Aug, 31, 1688.2. 識(shí)記His major worksJohn Bunyans The Pilgrims Progress (1678) is the outstanding 17th-century English religious literature. For more than 200 years this book was second in popularity only to the Bible. Bunyan did not attempt to portray the political confusion & social upheaval

14、of 17th-century England. His concern was rather the study of mans spiritual life.Bunyan chiefly wrote four prose works - Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666), The Life & Death of Mr. Badman (1680), The Holy War (1682) & The Pilgrims Progress, part II (1684).3. 領(lǐng)會(huì)Characteristics of his work

15、s Bunyans style was modeled after that of the English Bible. With his concrete &living language & carefully observed & vividly presented details, he made it possible for the reader of the least education to share the pleasure of reading his novel & to relive the experience of his characters.4. 應(yīng)用Sel

16、ected ReadingThe Vanity Fair, an excerpt from Part I of The Pilgrims Progress.(1) Theme: The Pilgrims Progress is the most successful religious allegory in the English language. Its purpose is to urge people to comply with Christian doctrines & seek salvation through constant struggles with their ow

17、n weakness & all kinds of social evils. It is not only about something spiritual but also beats much relevance to the time. Its predominant metaphor-life as a journey-is simple & familiar.(2) Vanity Fair is the most famous part of The Pilgrims Progress. It tells how Christian & his friend Faithful c

18、ome to Vanity Fair on their way to heaven, a fair where in should be sold all sorts of vanity & that it should last all the year long: therefore at this fair all such merchandise sold, as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures & delights of

19、all sorts as harlots, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones & what not. As they refuse to buy anything but truth, they are beaten & put in a cage & then taken out & led in chains up & down the fair. They are sentenced to deat

20、h-to be put to the most cruel death that can be invented. Vanity Fair is a satirical picture of English society, law & religion in Bunyans day.II. Alexander pope1. 一般識(shí)記His life & careerEnglish poet & satirist, born in London, England, May 21, 1688, died in Twickenham, England May 30, 1744.Pope is on

21、e of the fore-most satirists in world literature as well as a great poet. He wrote witty & polished verses ridiculing the behavior of his day. Popes mock-heroic poem The Rape of the Lock is one of the finest examples of English comic verse. He made his name as a great poet with the publication of An

22、 Essay on Criticism in 1711. His Dunciad is a scathing attack on dullness & pedantry in literature. He also composed verse essays on philosophy, literature, & criticism. In An Essay on Man, he brilliantly expressed the philosophical trends & concepts of his age.2. 識(shí)記Popes literally outlookAs a repre

23、sentative of the Enlightenment, Pope was one of the first to introduce rationalism to England. He was the greatest poet of his time. He strongly advocated neoclassicism, emphasizing that literary works should be judged by classical rules of order, reason, logic, restrained emotion, good taste & deco

24、rum. According to Pope, almost every genre of literature should have some fixed laws & rules. Prose should be precise, direct, smooth & flexible, Poetry should be lyrical, epical, didactic, satiric or dramatic, & drama should be written in the Heroic Couplets (iambic pentameter rhymed in two lines);

25、 the three unities of time, space & action should be strictly observed; regularity in construction should be adhered to, & type characters rather than individuals should be represented.3. 識(shí)記His major works1). The Rape of the LockA delightful burlesque of epic poetry, it ridicules the manners of the

26、English nobility. The poem is based on an actual incident in which a young nobleman stole a lock of a ladys hair.2) An Essay on CriticismHis first important work, An Essay on Criticism was a long didactic poem in heroic couplets. In this work, he reflected the neo-classical spirit of the times by ad

27、vocating good taste, common sense & the adherence to classical rules in writing & criticism. The whole poem is written in a plain style, hardly containing any imagery or eloquence &therefore makes easy reading.3） The DunciadGenerally considered Popes best satiric work, The Dunciad goes deep in meani

28、ng & works at many levels. Its satire is directed at Dullness in general, & in the course of it all the literary men of the age. Poets mainly who had made Popes enemies, are held up to ridicule. But the poem is not confined to personal attack.Dullness as reflected in the corruptness of government, s

29、ocial morals, education & even religion, is expertly exposed & satirized.4. 領(lǐng)會(huì)His language stylePopes works are still enjoyed for their sparkling wit, good sense & charm of expression. After Shakespeare, he is the most widely quoted poet in English literature. He worked painstakingly on his poems, d

30、eveloped a satiric, concise, smooth, graceful &well-balanced style.5. 應(yīng)用Selected ReadingsAn Excerpt from Part 2 of An Essay on Criticism. An Essay on Criticism is a didactic poem written in heroic couplets. It consists of 744 lines &is divided into three parts. It sums up the art of poetry as up hel

31、d & practiced by the ancients like Aristotle, Horace, Boileau, etc. & the eighteenth century European classicists.In Part 2, Pope advises the critics not to stress too much the artificial use of conceit or the external beauty of language but to pay special attention to True wit which is best set in

32、a plain style.III. Daniel Defoe1. 一般識(shí)記His life English novelist & journalist, born in London, England, 1660, and died in London, Apr. 26,1731.Like Pope, he never went to university, but he received a good education in one of the best Dissenting academies. He started as a small merchant & all his lif

33、e his business underwent many ups & downs & yet he was never beaten. Defoe also had a zest for politics. He wrote quite a number of pamphlets on the current political issues.2. 識(shí)記His social outlook As a member of the middle class, Defoe spoke for & to the members of his class & his novels enjoyed gr

34、eat popularity among the less cultivated readers. In most of his works, he gave his praise to the hard-working, sturdy middle class & showed his sympathy for the downtrodden, unfortunate poor.3. 識(shí)記His major worksDefoe is generally considered the first great realistic novelist in English fiction. He

35、based his stories on current events & materials, such as the maps & logs of actual sea voyages, personal memoirs& historical or eyewitness reports.Perhaps his most popular novel is Robinson Crusoe (1719), an adventure story based partly on the actual experience of a man who had been trapped on a des

36、erted island. A Journal of the Plague Year (1722), sometimes considered his best work, has such a colorful & detailed account of the London plague of 1664 & 1665 that it seems to have been written by an observer on the scene. Defoes third masterpiece, Moll Flanders (1722), is a lively novel tracing

37、the adventures of a female rogue. Told in the form of confessions, the narrative includes vivid descriptions of the courts, prisons, & other social institutions of Defoes era.4. 領(lǐng)會(huì)Characteristics of his worksDefoe was a very good story-teller. He had a gift for organizing minute details in such a vi

38、vid way that his stories could be both credible& fascinating. His sentences are sometimes short, crisp & plain, & sometimes long & rambling, which leave on the reader on impression of casual narration. His language is smooth, easy, colloquial & mostly vernacular. There is nothing artificial in his l

39、anguage: it is common English at its best.5. 應(yīng)用Selected Reading An Excerpt from chapter IV of Robinson Crouse. Robinson Crouse, an adventure story very much in the spirit of the time, is universally considered his masterpiece. In the novel, Defoe traces the growth of Robinson from a na?ve & simple y

40、outh into a mature & hardened man, tempered by numerous trials in his eventful life. The realistic presentation of the successful struggle of Robinson single-handedly against the hostile nature proves the best part of the novel. Robinson is here a real hero: a typical eighteenth-century English midd

41、le-class man with a great capacity for work, inexhaustible energy, courage, patience & persistence in overcoming obstacles, in struggling against the hostile natural environment. He is the very prototype of the empire builder, the pioneer colonist. In describing Robinsons life on the island, Defoe g

42、lorifies human labor &the puritan fortitude, which save Robinson from despair & are a source of pride &happiness .He toils for the sake of subsistence, & get his reward.VI. Jonathan Swift 1. 一般識(shí)記His life English author, born in Dublin, Ireland, Nov. 30, 1667, and died in Dublin, Oct. 19, 1745.Swift

43、is generally considered the greatest prose satirist in English literature. Through fables, allegories, & pamphlets he savagely exposed the vices &follies of mankind &championed common sense.2. 識(shí)記Swifts humanist viewSwift was a man of great moral integrity & social charm. A man with bitter life exper

44、ience, he had a deep hatred for all the rich oppressors & a deep sympathy for all the poor & oppressed. His understanding of human nature is profound. In his opinion, human nature is seriously & permanently flawed. To better human life, enlightenment is needed, but to redress it is very hard. So, in

45、 his writings, although he intends not to condemn but to reform & improve human nature &human institutions. There is often an Under-or over tone of helplessness & indignation.3 領(lǐng)會(huì)His styleSwift is a master satirist. His satire is usually masked by an out word gravity &an apparent earnestness which r

46、enders his satire all the more powerful.Swift is one of the greatest masters of English prose. He is almost unsurpassed in the writing of simple, direct, precise prose. He defined a good style as proper words in proper places. Clear, simple, concrete diction, uncomplicated sentence structure, econom

47、y & conciseness of language mark all his writings-essays, poems & novels.4. 應(yīng)用Selected reading An Excerpt from Chapter III, Part I of Gullivers Travels.Gullivers Travels, Jonathan Swifts best fictional work, contains four parts, each about one particular voyage during which Gulliver has extraordinar

48、y adventures on some remote island after he has met with shipwreck or piracy or some other misfortune. As a whole the book is one of the most effective & devastating criticisms & satires of all aspects in the then English & satires of all aspects in the then English & European life - socially, polit

49、ically, religiously, philosophically, scientifically, & morally. Its social significance is great & its exploration into human nature profound.Gullivers Travels is also an artistic masterpiece. Here we find its author at his best as a master of prose. In structure, the four parts make an organic who

50、le, with each contrived upon an independent structure, & yet complementing the others & contributing to the central concern of study of human nature & life. The first two parts are generally considered smallness in Part I words just as effectively as the exaggerated largeness in Part 2. The similari

51、ties between human beings & the Lilliputians & the contrast between the Brobdingnagians & human beings both bear reference to the possibilities of human state. Part 3 furthers the criticism of the western civilization & deals with different malpractices & false illusions about science, philosophy, h

52、istory & false illusions about science, philosophy, history & even immortality. The lost part, where comparison is made through both similarities &differences, leads the reader to a basic question: What on earth is a human being?V. Henry Fielding . 一般識(shí)記：His life & careerEnglish author, born in Sharp

53、ham Park, England, April. 22. 1707, and died in Lisbon, Portugal, Oct. & 1754.During his career as a dramatist, Fielding had attempted a considerable number of forms of plays. Witty comedies of manners or intrigues in the Restoration tradition, farce or ballad operas with political implication, & bu

54、rlesques & satires that been heavily upon the status quo of England. Of all his plays, the best known are The coffee-House Politician (1730), The Tragedy of Tragedies (1730), Pasquin (1736) & The Historical Register for the Year 1736(1737).Fielding started to write novels when he was preparing himse

55、lf for the Bar. In 1742 appeared his first novel, The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews & of his friend Mr. Abraham Adams, Written in Imitation of the Manner of Cervantes, which was first intended as a burlesque of the dubious morality & false sentimentality of Richardsons Pamela. The next

56、 year came The History of Jonathan Wild the Great, a satiric biography that harks back to Fieldings early plays. The novel was followed by The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749) & The History of Amelia (1751). The former is a masterpiece on the subject of human nature & the latter the story of

57、 the unfortunate life of an idealized woman, a maudlin picture of the social life at the time.2. 識(shí)記: His major works1) Joseph AndrewsIn this novel, Joseph supposedly the young handsome & chaste brother of Richardsons virtuous heroine Pamela, is tempted by his amorous mistress, supposedly aunt of Pam

58、elas husband, Mr. B. Here, instead of being rewarded for his virtue, Joseph is turned out of doors by his mistress. But the burlesque ends here; the book quickly turns into a great novel of the open road, a comic epic in prose, whose subject is the true ridiculous in human nature, as exposed in all

59、its variety as Joseph & the amiable quixotic parson journey homeward through the heart of England. The dominating qualities of the novel are its excellent character-portrayal, timely entrances & exits, robustness of tone &hilarious, hearty humor.2) The History of Jonathan Wild the Great Its a satiri

60、c biography that harks back to Fieldings early plays. It takes the life of a notorious real-life thief as a theme for demonstrating the petty division between a great rogue & a great politician such as Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister. The ironical praises for the very qualities of the unscrup