2019/10/23
课程名称:英国文学史
开课学院:英文学院
任课教师:南健翀
Edmund Spenser
(1552-1599)
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01?“the poet’s poet” 诗人中的诗人 (Charles Lamb英国散文家查尔斯·兰姆的评论);
? The Shepherds’ Calendar (《牧人月历》)in 1579
——a poem in the traditional pastoral(田园的) form, the first important work;
注:《牧人月历》或译作《牧羊人日记》,作者最早的田园诗作,是仿照罗马诗人维吉尔等古代牧歌写成的。这十二篇《牧人月历》,每篇正好对应一年中的一个月份,除首尾两首外,都是对话体,主要人物是热情的牧羊人柯林·克劳特。作品描绘了淳朴和谐的乡村生活,赞美人与自然的契合,略带暗讽宗教的虚伪。
?The Faerie Queene (《仙后》)(1589,1596)
——a long poem planned in 12 books, of which he finished only 6;
a dedication to Queen Elizabeth;
注:《仙后》采取中世纪常用的讽喻传奇的形式,是文艺复兴时期的一部重要的宗教、政治史诗。诗人原定写12章,只完成了6章和第7章的一部分,共约35000行,但是这部未完成的伟大史诗早已显示出了万丈光芒,像一座辉煌的殿堂屹立在欧洲文学的高峰之上。
——the plan of the poem: The Faerie Queene (who represents Queen Elizabeth) holds a feast of twelve days;
——The content: On each day a stranger in distress appears telling a woeful(糟糕的) story and asking the Queen to send a knight to right the wrong;
then a knight is assigned to each guest, and the 12 books are to describe the 12 adventures; each knight represents a virtue, as Holiness(圣洁), Temperance(节制), Chastity(忠贞), Friendship(友好), Justice(公正) and Courtesy(谦恭), etc.;
the long poem is a continued allegory; the knights as a whole symbolize England and the evil figures stand for her enemies;
注:长诗以亚瑟王(King Authur)追求仙后格罗丽亚娜(Gloriana)为引子,仙后每年在宫中举行12天宴会,每天派一名骑士去解除灾难,亚瑟参加每个骑士的冒险的故事。
——The dominating thoughts of the poem are:
1)Nationalism (民族主义)as shown in the celebration of Queen Elizabeth ;
2)Humanism (人文主义)as shown in its strong opposition of Roman Catholicism(罗马天主教);
3)Puritanism (清教主义)as shown in its moral teachings;
——The writing features of the poem
The whole poem is written in the form of allegory:
Allegory is a figure of speech in which abstract ideas and principles are described in terms of characters, figures, and events.
It can be employed in prose and poetry to tell a story, with a purpose of teaching or explaining an idea or a principle. The objective of its use is to teach some kind of a moral lesson.
——Spenser invented a new special metre for The Faerie Queene:
Each stanza has 9 lines, each of the first eight lines is in iambic pentameter(五步抑扬格), and the ninth line is in iambic hexameter(六步抑扬格);
the rhyme scheme/plan is ababbcbcc;
注:斯宾塞在长诗《仙后》(Farie Queene 1590~1609)中探索出一种新的十四行诗格律形式:每节9行,前8行都是每行10个音节,第9行为12个音节,按ababbcbcc押韵,被称作“斯宾塞诗节(the Spenserian stanza )”。
——Because of its rare beauty, this verse form , the Spenserian Stanza(斯宾塞诗节), was extensively used by nearly all the late poets, especially imitated by the romantic poets of the 19th century;
? Other Poems by Spenser:
Amoretti (《小爱神》)(a collection of 89 sonnets addressed to his second wife)
注:十四行诗集
斯宾塞的爱情十四行,至今仍是世界最优美的爱情诗。
斯宾塞十四行诗延续了与莎士比亚十四行相同的结构:三组四行诗加一个对句。诗歌以八行诗节(octave) 和六行诗节(sestet),连接最后以一个独立的押韵的对句进行概括。
莎士比亚十四行的韵律:abab cdcd efef gg。斯宾塞十四行诗的韵律为:abab bcbc cdcd ee。
斯宾塞十四行诗注入了当时的的一些新思想,心灵美更胜于外表美,美丽由于诗人的歌颂而得到不朽。人生就像舞台,通过对话的运用斯宾塞将民谣体渗入十四行诗,诗人将自己置身于诗歌的中心,向读者讲述他的处境、情感、信念。
中世纪,人被看作是社会的一份子,而十六世纪他却成为一个个体。斯宾塞的诗就是最好的代表之一。斯宾塞的爱情十四行与《婚曲》(Epithalamion,1595)一起出版,这组诗是为了庆祝他与伊丽莎白.博伊尔(Elizabeth Boyle)的婚礼而作的。
斯宾塞的爱情十四行集中收录在他的《小爱神》(Amoretti,1595)中,其中包括88首献给妻子的爱情十四行。这些诗与众不同:
(1)斯宾塞根据诗节的顺序来安排爱情的发展变化。
(2)素材来自Petrarchan conceits和他的经历。这是对彼得拉克文体的继承,同时也是诗人对自己生活的一种剖析。
(3)斯宾塞典型韵律:abab bcbc cdcd ee (the Spenserian form)。
(4)巧妙地运用古英语文字书写,诗意却浅显易懂,十四行诗中的句法以及表达,以其不同寻常的新颖而在十六世纪的诗坛上分外出众。斯宾塞甚至挣脱情爱的束缚,更加深入地揭示宗教道德现象与诗歌创作的联系。他的诗歌是身心的倾诉。
?Characteristics of Spenser’s poetry:
——a perfect melody (musicality);(完美的韵律)
——a rare sense of beauty;(罕见的美感)
——a splendid imagination;(奇妙的想象)
——a lofty moral purity and seriousness;(崇高的道德纯洁性与严肃性)
——a delicate realism; (献身的理想主义)
It is his idealism, his love of beauty and his exquisite melody that made him known as “the poet’s poet”.
——The language Spenser used is called modern English, which is different from Middle English used by Chaucer.
注:除此之外,他还多次使用一种怪异的语言语音模式即“斯宾塞诗节”,和废弃不用的古词汇,以增加作品的乡土气息。正是斯宾塞的理想主义,对美的热爱以及精美优雅的诗文韵律,使他成为“诗人中的诗人”。
c.Prose of Renaissance
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
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02? the founder of English materialist philosophy(英国唯物主义哲学), a scientist, an essayist;
? philosophical works: The Advancement of Learning(《论学术的发展和价值》);The New Instrument;(《新工具》)
? Essays (《论说文集》)(1597,1612,1625)
——includes 58 essays covering a wide variety of subjects like love, hate, truth, death, friendship, revenge, etc.;
——Characteristics: brevity, compactness and forcefulness; (简洁、紧凑、有力)
? some famous sayings of him:
——Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark. (Death)
——Revenge is a kind of wild justice. (Revenge)
——If a man be gracious to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world. (Goodness)
——That is the best part of beauty which a picture cannot express. ( Beauty)
——Some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but curiously; and some few to be read wholly.
——Studies serve for delight, for ornament,and for ability. (Studies)
——A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. (Ceremonies and Respects)
c.Prose of Renaissance
03?The highest glory of Renaissance is doubtlessly its drama.
?The development of English drama:
——Miracles Plays of the middle ages;
——the Morality Plays;
——Interludes;
——Classical Plays (Greek and Latin); comedies and tragedies; the orderly division into five acts;