Part one: Early and Medieval English Literature
Chapter 1 The Making of England
1. The early inhabitants in the island now we call England were Britons, a tribe of Gelts.
2. In 55 ., Britain was invaded by Julius Caesar.
The Roman occupation lasted for about 400 years.
It was also during the Roman role that Christianity was introduced to Britain.
And in 410 ., all the Roman troops went back to the continent and never returned.
3. The English Conquest
At the same time Britain was invaded by swarms of pirates海盗. They were three tribes from Northern Europe: the Angles, Saxons and Jutes.
And by the 7th century these small kingdoms were combined into a United Kingdom called England, or, the land of Angles.
And the three dialects spoken by them naturally grew into a single language called Anglo-Saxon, or Old English.
4. The Social Condition of the Anglo-Saxon
Therefore, the Anglo-Saxon period witnessed a transition from tribal society to feudalism.
5. Anglo-Saxon Religious Belief and Its Influence
The Anglo-Saxons were Christianized in the seventh century.
Chapter 2 Beowulf
1. Anglo-Saxon Poetry
But there is one long poem of over 3,000 lines. It is Beowulf, the national epic of the English people. Grendel is a monster described in Beowulf.
3. Analysis of Its Content
Beowulf is a folk lengend brought to England by Anglo-Saxons from their continental homes. It had been passed from mouth to mouth for hundreds of years before it was written down in the tenth century.
4. Features of Beowulf
The most striking feature in its poetical form is the use of alliteration, metaphors and understatements.
Chapter 3 Feudal England
1 The Norman Conquest
2. The Norman Conquest
The French-speaking Normans under Duke William came in 1066. After defeating the English at Hastings, William was crowned as King of England.
The Norman Conquest marks the establishment of feudalism in England.
3night of knights. The Influence of the Norman Conquest on the English Language
By the end of the fourteenth century, when Normans and English intermingled, English was once more the dominant speech in the country.
3 The Romance
1. The Content of the Romance
The most prevailing kind of literature in feudal England was the romance.
4. Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur
The adventures of the Knights of the Round Table at Arthur’s court
Chapter 5 The English Ballads
2. The Ballads
The most important department of English folk literature is the ballad. A ballad is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas, with the second and fourth lines rhymed.
Of paramount importance are the ballads of Robin Hood.
3. The Robin Hood Ballads
Chapter 6 Chaucer
1. Life
Geoffrey Chaucer, the founder/father of English poetry.
3. Troilus and Criseyde
Troilus and Criseyde is Chaucer’s longest complete poem and his greatest artistic achievement.
But the poet shows some sympathy for her, hitting that her fault springs from weakness rather than baseness of character.
4. The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is Chaucer’s masterpiece and one of the monumental works in English literature.
6. His Language
Chaucer’s language, now called Middle English, is vivid and exact.
Chaucer’s contribution to English poetry lies chiefly in the fact that he introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types, especially the rhymed couplet of 5 accents in iambic meter the “the heroic couplet” to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse.
The spoken English of the time consisted of several dialects, and Chaucer did much in making dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.
Part Two: The English Renaissance
Chapter 1 Old England in Transition
1. The New Monarchy
The century and a half following the death of Chaucer was full of great changes.
And Henry 7, taking advantage of this situation, founded the Tudor dynasty, a centralized monarchy of a totally new type, which met the needs of the rising bourgeoisie and so won its support.
2. The Reformation
Protestantism
The bloody religious persecution came to a stop after the church settlement of Queen Elizabeth.
3. The English Bible
William Tyndall
Then appeared the Authorized Version, which was made in 1611 under the auspices of James I and so was sometimes called the King James Bible.
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