刘炳善 英国文学史课件(part1to8.docVIP

AS and AN 盎格鲁--撒克逊时期和中世纪时期 Historical background 1. The Roman Conquest 2. Anglo-Saxon Conquest 3. The conversion In 597 the Pope of Rome sent Augustine to England to convert the AS and within a century all England was Christianized. The conversion is the second important event because it brought a new life， a new culture and a new civilization to England.  The Anglo-Saxon literature Two divisions: pagan and Christian 1. The pagan lit refers the songs, legends which the AS brought from their original home. 2. The Christian lit refers to poems or prose writings developed after the conversion, under the teaching of the monks; they mainly deal with religious subjects, stories based on the Bible. Beowulf 1. The use of alliteration, compound words, understatement, metaphor 2. It is the national epic of Anglo-Saxons 3. It is passed down orally from generation to generation until the 10th century when it was written down in old English. It is regarded as the national epic of the Anglo Saxon people. It is written in Old English, part-historical, part-legendary. It is a long narrative poem on the theme of arms and man, mixing with pagan elements and Christian coloring. Artistic feature in Beowulf 1. The use of alliteration, words beginning with the same consonants alliterate with each other within each line, or a word beginning with a vowel alliterates with another word beginning with the same or another vowel. e.g. a. Thus made their mourning the men of Geat land, b. For their hero’s passing ,his heath-companion c. Quoth that of all the kings of earth, e. Of men he was the mildest and most beloved f. To his kin the kindest, keenest to praise 2. The use of indirect metaphor (kennings) e.g. sea: swan-road, whale-path or sea-bath Ship-- wave-traveler Soldier: shield-bearer, battle-hero, spear-fighter Fights: sword-clashing, edge-clash Armor: ring-mail, limb-sark, breast-net 3. the use of understatement(低调，轻描淡写地陈述）：a negative exp