英国文学史及选读
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
English Literature
College of Foreign Languages
China Three Gorges University
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Teaching Outline
 1 Review
 2 English Literature in the Renaissance Period
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
1 Review
 1.1 Summarize Chaucer’s literary career.
 1.2 What is Chaucer’s contribution to English language?
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
2 English Renaissance and Humanism
English Renaissance :
 the medieval -> the modern world
 The word “Renaissance” means rebirth or revival.
 the 14th---mid-17th
 a European phenomenon/ an intellectual
movement / cultural life / the rise of the
bourgeoisie/ in Italy ( 14th ) / Europe
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
2.1 English Renaissance and Humanism
 Two features of English Renaissance
 1 a thirsting curiosity for the classical
literature.
 2 the keen interest in the activities of
humanity
 Humanism (the capacities of the human mind
and the achievements of human culture) -keynote
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
2.4 Three periods
 The first period ---the beginning of the
Renaissance ( 1516 – 1578)
 The second period --- the flowering time of
the Renaissance ( 1578 – 1625)
 Elizabethan Period/a magnificent
achievement/the Age of William Shakespeare
 The third period--- the epilogue of the
Renaissance ( 1625 - 1660 )
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
2.5 English Literature in the Renaissance Period
 English literature in the Renaissance Period is
usually regarded as the highlight in this
history of English literature.




An age of poetry and drama
2.5.1 Prose:
Thomas More(1478-1535) and His Utopia
About Utopia :
the form of a conversation/ two books the
social conditions of England/ an idea society
called Utopia
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
English Literature in the Renaissance Period
2.5.3 Lyrical Poetry.
 2.5.3.1 General introduction
 Variety / freshness / youthfulness / romantic
feeling
 a fashion /Queen Elizabeth /a nest of singing
birds
 Thomas Wyatt / Henry Howard /
Philip Sidney / Edmund Spenser
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
English Literature in the Renaissance Period






2.5.3.2 Edmund Spenser(1552-1599)
the poets’ poet /The Faerie Queene
The writing features of The Faerie Queene
written in the form of allegory
a new verse form ( Spenserian Stanza )
sweet melody / musical lines/ rare sense of
beauty,
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Spenserian Stanza
 It is written in a special verse form that
consists of eight iambic pentameter
lines followed by a ninth line of six
iambic feet, with the rhyme scheme
abab bcbc c.
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
3 Assignments
 Hamlet
 The Merchant of Venice
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Collection
Questions?
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU
HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
Questions?
College of Foreign Languages, CTGU