英美概况 作者 齐智英1 unit 5.pptVIP

Unit Five British and American Culture Contents Unit Five 5.1 British and American Literature 5.1.1 British Literature The earliest existing native literature of the territory of the modern United Kingdom was written in the Celtic languages of the isles. The Welsh literary tradition stretches from the 6th century. Irish poetry also represents a more or less unbroken tradition from the 6th century to the present day, with the Ulster Cycle being of particular relevance to Northern Ireland. Anglo-Saxon literature includes Beowulf, a national epic, but literature in Latin predominated among educated elites. After the Norman Conquest Anglo-Norman literature brought continental influences to the isles. English literature emerged as a recognizable entity in the late 14th century, with the rise and spread of the London dialect of Middle English. Geoffrey Chaucer is the first great identifiable individual in English literature: his Canterbury Tales remains a popular 14th-century work which readers still enjoy today. Unit Five Fiction Fiction is the average person’s recreation, reading in his spare time for enjoyment. We are familiar with English literature chiefly through novels, especially modern novels, though poems and songs are the earliest form of writing in English literature. There is a vast difference between the modern novels and ancient stories which people used to tell each other orally hundreds of years ago before they learnt to read and write. Fables which are about animals or supernatural persons or incidents and whose purpose is teaching a moral are probably the earliest form of story–telling. Legends come later and are more serious so far as the themes are concerned. They are unverifiable stories handed down by tradition form earlier times and popularly accepted as historical. The best-loved story is about Robin Hood who was a popular hero living under the greenwood with his men, taking from the rich and giving to the poor and waging war against bis