《英美文学》辅导纲要一、英国文学部分ChapterOneEnglishLiteraturebeforeRenaissance主要内容：BeowulfSirGawainandtheGreenKnightsWilliamLangland:PiersthePlowmanChaucer:TheCanterburyTalesBalladsSirThomasMalory:LeMorted’Arthur重点掌握：BeowulfisanationalepicofEngland.Theonewhoproposethestory-tellingintheCanterburytalesistheboss.HisvisittoItalyplayedanimportantpartinChaucer’swriting.LeMortD’ArthurdealswiththefollowingstoryexceptfightagainstRomaninvasion.GeoffreyChaucer，the“fatherofEnglishpoetry”andoneofthegreatestnarrativepoetsofEngland,wasborninLondonabout1340.SirGawainandGreenKnightemploystheformofromance.ThestoryofSirGawainandGreenKnightistheculminationoftheArthurianromances.Apartfromoriginalpoems,ChaucertranslatedvariousworksofFrenchauthors;amongthemisthefamousTheRomanceoftheRose.ChauceriscalledthefounderofEnglishrealismbecauseheportraysalltheclassesofEnglishfeudalsocietyexceptnoblesandserfs.ThecharactersintheCanterburyTalescanbedividedintothefollowinggroups:ruraldwellers,churchmembers,tradesmen.ThefollowingsareChaucer’scontributiontoEnglishliterature:ChaucerintroducedfromFranceandItalytherhymedstanzasofvariousformstoEnglishpoetry;ChauceriscalledthefatherofEnglishpoetryandthefirstpoetwhowroteincurrentEnglishlanguage;Chaucerdidmuchinmakingalanguageofthepeople.Generallyspeaking,Chaucer’sworksfallintothreemaingroupscorrespondingroughlytothethreeperiodsofhisadultlife:TheperiodofFrenchinfluence;theperiodofItalianinfluence;theperiodofhismaturity.Chaucerdiedonthe25thofOctober1400,andwasburiedinWestminsterAbbey.ChaucerwasthefirsttobeburiedinthePoet’sCornerofWestminsterAbbey.PiersthePlowmanissimilarinformtotheworkwrittenbyLangland.LeMoreD’ArthurisanimportantlandmarkinthedevelopmentofEnglishproseforitslucidstyle.BeowulfwasbroughtbyAnglo-SaxonpeoplefromtheContinenttoEngland.Aballadiswrittenin4-linestanzawiththesecondandfourthlinesrhymes.MostofEnglishballadswerecollectedinthe18thcentury.PardonerinTheCanterburyTalessoldtherelicsofthedeadsaintstoearnmoney.Intheyear1066,theNo