简明英国文学史-简答题-重点.doc

1. Analyse the themes and artistic features of Beowulf.
themes : The main theme of Beowulf is heroism. This involves far more than physical courage. It also means that the warrior must fulfill his obligations to the group of which he is a key member.
artistic features : The most noticeable artistic feature is alliteration. Alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds, usually consonants, or consonant clusters. Alliteration is used off and on in modern poetry but it is an important device in Anglo-Saxon poetry. Another peculiar feature characteristic is the frequent use of kennings, to poetically present the meaning of one single word through a compound simile of two elements. Finally, the general mood and spirit of Anglo-Saxon epic poetry is both solemn and animated.
2. Comment on Chaucer’s achievements and contributions with examples from his works.
Chaucer learned from both French and Latin poetry and then worked out a unique style for the English poetry. The realism and humanistic concerns demonstrated in his works looked forward to the coming English Renaissance. Because he uses the English of the London dialect to compose poetry, it becomes a literary language, which is a language rich and expressive enough to use for literary purposes. We call the English used and developed by Chaucer and his contemporaries Middle English, which was the foundation of modern English. His masterpiece and representative work is The Canterbury Tales.
3. Say something about Neoclassicism and its representation in English literature.
Neoclassicism was inspired by the rationality, simplicity grandeur of ancient Greece and Rome. These movements were between 18th and 20th centuries. There are many reasons that Neoclassicism happened in British. First, the glorious revolution made the constitutional monarchy was established. Second, there were many conflicts in the religious. Third, deism became a new force.
During this time, English literature had many special changes. First English literature show respect for classic writers, especially the Roman. Second, many writers have a new thinking about poems. The poems became more formal and followed more rules.
There were many good poets during this time, such as John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift and Johnson.
4. Comment on Alexander Pope and his contributions to English poetry.
Alexander Pope is the greatest poet of the Augustan age, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. His major works are An Essay on Criticism, An Essay on Man, The Rape of the Lock.
He was so perfect in heroic couplets that no one can approach him. And in the field of satiric and didactic verse, he was the undisputed master. He popularized the neo-classical literary tradition. He was one of the early representatives of the Enlightenment who introduced into English culture the spirit of rationalism and greater interest in the human world. He represented the highest glory and authority in matters of literary art and made great contributions to the theory and practice of prosody.
5. Write an introduction of Shakespeare, his life and his literary achievements.
Shakespeare has been and is still one of the greatest playwrights the world has ever had. He was born and raised in Stratford-on-Avon. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer and part owner of a playing company, later known as The King’s Men. After he retired to Stratford in 1610, he still went on writing. He died in 1616. Shakespeare wrote altogether 37 plays and 154 sonnets. His contribution to the development of drama is tremendous. His major works are As You Like It, The Twelfth Night, Hamlet, King Lear and The Winter’s Tale.
6. Give a historical review of the Old English Period.
In about BC 600 Celts, who inhabited the upper Rhineland, started to migrate to the British Isles, and among them the Britons came to the Isles in BC 400 to BC 300. Later, the Romans invaded the British Isles. After the Romans, the Teutonic or Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes moved to live in the British Isles. Starting from the late 8th century, the Danes from Scandinavia came plundering the Isles. The greatest historical event that followed was the Norman Conquest of 1066. And gradually the English language entered a new period of its history.