English Literature 1

English Literature 1

The Origins of Western Literature

Ⅰ. Literature

1. What is literature?

Literature refers to writings in prose or verse, esp. writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest.

Genres of Literature

?Poetry

?Drama (tragedy, comedy...)

?Prose

2. Aspects of literature

①Theme: What is presented?

②Form: How is it presented?

Genre, structure, style, language, tone, rhetorical devices, point of view (perspective), characterization, etc.

③Background: How is the work related to the writer’s life and the social context?

The Functions of Literature

?To delight and to teach

?To express

Ⅱ. The Origins of Western Literature

1. Greek classics

①Epic:

Homer (before 700 B.C.): The Iliad

Plot

?Thetis marrying mortal Peleus——wedding excluded Eris——apple for “the fairest”——Hera, Athena, Aphrodite——Zeus——Paris, prince of Troy as the arbitor——rewards: Athena: great hero, Hera: ruler of kingdom, Aphrodite: the most beautiful woman, Helen,

a princess of Sparta——too many suitors, Odysseus (king of Ithaca) offers advice——

oath——marrying Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae——Menelaus as king of Sparta——Paris leaving wife and visiting Sparta——king away to Crete——elope to Troy——Greek army: Agamemnon, Odysseus, other suitors, 100 ships——ten years’siege——Achilles and Hector ——wooden horse——fall of Troy

Helen

?Helen of Troy by Evelyn de Morgan (1898, London); Helen admiringly displays a lock of her hair, as she gazes into a mirror decorated with the nude Aphrodite.

The Odyssey

(Odysseus’Journey back to Ithaca)

②Tragedy:

Aeschylus (524?-456 B.C.):

Agamemnon

Sophocles (495-406 B.C.): Oedipus Rex

?son of Laius, king of Thebes, and Jocasta——the oracle——left on hillside——rescued and raised as son of Corinth——left Corinth——traveled to Thebes——killed Laius on the way——solved Sphinx riddle——married Jocasta——gouged his eyes and went into

exile with his daughter Antigone (Note: Oedipus complex)

?Antigone

Euripides (480-406 B.C.): Medea

Medea, sorceress, daughter of Aeetes, king of Colchis accompanies Jason, helping him with magic arts to win the Golden Fleece. Deserted, she kills herself.

?Hippolytus

③Philosophy :

?Socrates (470-399 B.C.) (Confucius: 551-479 B.C.)

?Plato (429?-347 B.C.): Republic

?Aristotle (384-322 B.C.): Poetics

Roman writers:

?Virgil ( 70-19B.C.): The Aenead

(Greek hero Aeneas---Carthage---Italy---to found Rome)

?Ovid (43B.C.—17A.D.):

Metamorphoses

Ars amatoria

2. The Bible

?The Old Testament (39) (1000BC—100 A.D.): The creation and fall of man

?The New Testament (27) (49-120): Life and death of Christ.

3. Medieval Romance

①King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table

②Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

③The Song of Roland

?Subject matter: knightly adventures and courtly love

?Action: the hero fights with other knights, giants or monsters.

?His goal (the quest): the lady’s love, the Holy Grail: the vessel……

?The lady→the sovereign

?The hero→her humble servant, petitioning for her favors.

?Cervantes puts an end to all romances by his Don Quixote.

An Introduction to English Prosody

英语诗歌格律概论

Ⅰ. Types of Poetry

Ⅱ. The Musical Effect of Poetry

1. Meter (音步): rhythm of the poem, the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables used in the poem. One combination of these syllables is called a foot.

How to Describe a Poetic Line

Thus the feature of a poetic line can be described in terms of the type and number of feet it has.

e.g. (scansion)格律分析

?Whose woods these are I think I know.

(iambic tetrameter)

?The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.

(iambic pentameter)

Caesura and Enjambment

Caesura: Pause within a line—slowing down. e. g.

?One truth is clear: whatever is, is right.

?Stop here, or gently pass.

Enjambment: run-on line—speeding up. e. g.

?We would sit down and think which way

?To walk, and pass our long love’s day.

3. Rhyme: The repetition of similar sounds at regular intervals.

?①End rhyme; Rhyme found at the end of verse lines. e. g.

? A little learning is a dangerous thing,

?Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.

A. Complete rhyme: Same vowel (and same consonant). e. g.

?https://www.sodocs.net/doc/5317567909.html,te

?...fate

B. Slant (near, half, partial) rhyme:

?...hall

?...hell

?...eyes

?...lights

C. Eye rhyme

?...move

?...love

?What immortal hand or eye

?Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

D. Feminine rhyme:

?We poets in our youth begin in gladness

?But therefore come in the end despondency and madness.

?...hounding

?...bounding

E. Masculine rhyme:

?Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night:

?God said ‘let Newton be!’and all was light.

Rhyme scheme:

The arrangement of rhyme in a stanza or a poem. e. g.

?Wordsworth: Upon Westminster Bridge

abba baab cdcdcd

?Frost: Stopping by Woods...

aaba bbcb ccdc dddd

?Elegy (Luo Jingguo. Book One. p. 319. )

②Internal rhyme: Rhyme contained within a line of verse. e. g.

?The long light shakes across the lakes.

?“The game is d one! I’ve won! I’ve won!”

③Alliteration: Repetition of two or more initial consonant sounds in words within a line. e. g.

?He clasps the crag with crooked hands.

?The plowman homeward plods his weary way.

?Beowulf (Luo Jingguo. Book One. p. 8)

III. Figures of Speech

? A. Metaphor

All the world is a stage.

? B. Simile

My love is like a red, red rose.

? C. Personification

Because I could not stop for death--

He kindly stopped for me—

? D. Metonymy （转喻）

The pen is mightier than the sword.

When I consider how my light is spent,

? E. Synecdoche (提喻)

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme... ? F. Apostrophe

Hail to thee, blithe spirit!

?G. Hyperbole

The brain is wider than the sky.

?H. Paradox（隽语）

I’m nobody! Who are you?

My youth is spent, and yet I’m not old.

?I. Oxymoron（矛盾修饰法）

cruel kindness

loving hate

?J. Pun（双关）

And having done that, Thou hast done;