英国文学史第五讲：18thC-literature-and-John-Dryden.ppt

单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,18,th,Century literature,Enlightenment,Neoclassicism,Neoclassical Period(1660-1798),The English society of the neoclassical period was a turbulent one.The Restoration,in 1660the Great Plague in 1665The Great London Fire in 1666The Glorious Revolution in 1688,The 18,th,century saw the fast development of England as a nation.Abroad,a vast expansion of British colonies.At home,Acts of Enclosure British bourgeois grew rapidly,Enlightenment Movement,The 18th century is also known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason.,The Enlightenment Movement was a progressive intellectual movement which flourished in France and swept through the whole Western Europe at the time.The movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance of the 15,th,and 16,th,centuries.Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas.,The enlighteners celebrated reason or rationality,equality and science.,They held that rationality or reason should be the only,the final cause of any human thought and activities.They called for a reference to order,reason and rules.They believed that when reason served as the yardstick for the measurement of all human activities and relations,every superstition,injustice and oppression was to yield place to“eternal truth”,“eternal justice”and“natural equality.”This belief provided theory for the French Revolution and the American Independence.,The enlighteners advocated universal education.,They believed that human beings were limited,dualistic,imperfect,and yet capable of rationality and perfection through education.If the masses were well educated,there would be great chance for a democratic and equal human society.Literature at the time,heavily didactic and moralizing,became a very popular means of public education.,IN the field of literature,the Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works.This tendency is known as neoclassicism.,Characteristics of Neoclassical Literature,All forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of the ancient Greek and Roman writers(Homer,Virgil,Horace,Ovid,etc.).,The artistic ideals should be order,logic,restrained emotion and accuracy.,Literature should be judged in terms of its service to humanity.,Fixed laws and rules for every genre of literature,Prose should be precise,direct,smooth and flexible.,Poetry should be lyrical,epical,didactic,satiric or dramatic.,Drama should be written in the Heroic Couplets(iambic pentameter rhymed in two lines);the three unities of time,space and action should be strictly observed;regularity in construction should be adhered to,and type characters rather than individuals should be represented.,The neoclassical period witnessed the flourish of English poetry in the classical,style from Restoration to the 2,nd,half of the century.,The mid-century was predominated by a newly rising literary form-the modern English novel.,From the mid to the end of the century there was also an apparent shift of interest from the classic literary tradition to originality and imagination,from society to individual,and from the didactic to the confessional,inspirational and prophetic.,Restoration Drama and John Dryden(1631-1700),John Dryden was the leading literary figure in the Restoration period.,In the Restoration period,heroic play and the new comedy of manners flourished.,John Drydens work signaled the beginning of a new and great age,whose chief characteristic was a preference for reason,order,moderation,good taste,and for“easy,natural wit”.,Heroic Drama,The heroic plays restored some of the lost confidence of the English nation.Moral behaviors were once again emphasized and praised.Three virtues:valor,beauty,and love were highly admired.,The heroic plays,characterized by rich costumes and exotic scenes,dealt with strong emotional conflicts.,The heroic drama was commonly written in rhymed heroic couplets.,John Dryden wrote abundant,verse,and,drama,but his criticism was most influential and earned him the reputation as“father of English,criticism,”.,John Drydens major,poems,:,The Year of Wonders 1667,Absalom and,Achitophel,1681,The Hind and the Panther 1687,A Song for St.Cecilias Day 1687,Alexanders Feast 1697,John Drydens major,dramas,:,The Rival Ladies 1664,The Conquest of Grenada,1670(finest heroic play),Marriage la Mode,1672(best comedy),All for Love,1678 (best tragedy),John Drydens best work,the,criticism,-,An Essay of Dramatic Poesy,1668,summary,an influential English poet,literary critic,translator,and playwright who dominated the literary life of,Restoration England,to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.,Dryden established the,heroic couplet,as the standard meter of English poetry.,Drydens heroic couplet became the dominant poetic form of the 18th century.,What Dryden achieved in his poetry was not the,emotional excitement(in the Romantic poets),nor,The intellectual complexities(of the,metaphysical poets),.,His subject-matter was often factual,and he aimed at,expressing his thoughts in the most precise and most,concentrated way possible.Although he uses formal,poetic structures such as heroic stanzas and heroic,Couplets,he tried to achieve the rhythms of speech.,However,he knew that different subjects need different,kinds of verse,he wrote:“.the expressions of a poem,designed purely for instruction ought to be plain and,natural,yet majestic The florid,elevated and figurative,way is for the passionsA man is to be cheated into,passion,but to be reasoned into truth.”,