Highlights in English Literature 英国文学复习资料.docVIP

Highlights in English Literature The earliest literature of the English people, like that of many other peoples, originated from the collective efforts of the people, usually when they were working or resting from their labors. Stories based on history or legend or contemporary events were narrated orally and often sung during festivities and other occasions, chiefly for entertainment. Some of the more interesting of these narratives were passed from mouth to mouth and from generation to generation, and as they were told and sung by different singers at different times, additions were made to them or deletions were taken from them. The most monumental literary work in English literature in the Old English or Anglo-Saxon period (from the 5th century to 1066) is Beowulf. It is the only important single poem handed down in the written form and is preserved intact. Probably existing in oral form in the 6th century, it is believed to have been written in the 7th or 8th century although its manuscript extant now can be dated back to the 10th century. Composed of 3183 lines of alliterative verse (Alliteration, also known as “head rhyme” or “initial rhyme,” is a verse form which means the repetition of the same sounds, usu. initial consonants of words or of stressed syllables in any sequence of neighboring words, e.g. “lord of language.” Alliterative verse is a verse in which the chief principle of repetition is alliteration rather than rhyme), it is the longest of the early English poems preserved today. Beowulf is an epic, telling the story of Beowulf, a national hero, who went to fight against the enemies in defense of his country. An epic is a long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more legendary heroes in a grand ceremonious style, who was usu. protected or descended from gods, performed supernatural exploits in battle or in marvelous voyages in saving or founding a nation. A romance is a verse narrative that sings of knightly adventures or o