Anglo-Saxon Literature Course Introduction PDF

N 0 Course Introduction Anglo-Saxon Literature Name: English Literature Nature: Compulsory Duration: 32 periods, 16 weeks Requirements: Full attendance (frequent absences would result in the failure of the course) Read the books and look up words you don’t know in a dictionary before cl...

N 0 Course Introduction Anglo-Saxon Literature Name: English Literature Nature: Compulsory Duration: 32 periods, 16 weeks Requirements: Full attendance (frequent absences would result in the failure of the course) Read the books and look up words you don’t know in a dictionary before classes. Figure out the meaning of relevant literary terminology in advance. Read the history of English and English language.  Anglo-Saxon Literature Recommended resources: 1. Abrams, M.H.. founding editor emeritus / Stephen Greenblatt, general editor. The Norton anthology of English literature, 8th ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2005. 2. 王守仁 , SELECTED READINGS IN BRITISH LITERATURE. 3. 张勇先 , 英语发展史. 4. 弗里伯恩 (Freeborn, Denis.) 著；陈国华导读. 英语史： 从古代英语到标准英语. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社 , 2000.8. 5. https://www.icourses.cn/sCourse/course_3769.html 6. https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1SW41177Dc? spm_id_from=333.999.0.0&vd_source=a841b1ad1420a13fa7 c94e21ff29c225 English Literature Anglo-Saxon Literature 1 Understand the Middle Age, Anglo-Saxon Literature 2 Master relevant literary terms 3 Master Beowulf and its features  Anglo-Saxon Literature Framework of English literature the Old English literature was leavened by the Latin and Anglo-Norman the Middle Ages writings, eminently foreign in origin. Geoffrey Chaucer William Shakespeare, the renewed interest in Classical learning and Renaissance values had an important effect on English literature the 18th century and the 19th ideas of Augustan literary propriety in the 18th century, reverence in the century 19th century, Classical antiquity continued to shape the literature. the late 19th century and the The Decadents, the Modernists, continental European individuals and early 20th movements for inspiration the late 20th structuralism, deconstructionist, Jacques Derrida century N 1 The Middle Ages  Anglo-Saxon Literature Warming-up Can you tell these ancient stories? How did these stories come from? Do you know any ancient English stories? Anglo-Saxon Literature The Middle Ages Caedmon's Hymn Everyman at the end of the 7th at the beginning of the century 16th a period of more than 800 years  Anglo-Saxon Literature The Middle Ages to ca. 1485 43—ca. 420: Roman invasion and occupation of Britain ca. 450: Anglo-Saxon Conquest St. Augustine arrives in Kent; beginning of Anglo-Saxon conversion to 597: Christianity 871-899: Reign of King Alfred 1066: Norman Conquest 1154-1189: Reign of Henry II ca. 1200: Beginnings of Middle English literature 1360—1400: Geoffrey Chaucer; Piers Plowman; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight William Caxton's printing of Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, one of the 1485: first books printed in England Anglo-Saxon Literature The Middle Ages Anglo-Saxon Literature Anglo-Norman Literature Middle English Literature Anglo-Saxon Literature Anglo-Saxon Literature Anglo-Saxon Literature Anglo-Norman Literature political organization administration architecture vocabulary literary expression French English Anglo-Saxon Literature  Anglo-Saxon Literature Literature in English was performed orally and written throughout the Middle Ages, but the awareness of and pride in a uniquely English literature does not actually exist before the late 14th century. Anglo-Saxon Literature  Anglo-Saxon Literature Middle English Literature in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries the mid-15th century (introduced into England by Caxton in 1476)  Anglo-Saxon Literature Movable-type printing of China Anglo-Saxon Literature 1. Craftsmen need to cut types in relief( 浮雕 ) ↓ 2. select characters according to the manuscript ↓ 3. arrange them in a type case( 铅字盘 ) ↓ 4. paint ink on the surface ↓ 5. After printing, the types were removed for reuse. Anglo-Saxon Literature  Anglo-Saxon Literature during the Northern Song Dynasty Bi Sheng (970-1051) developed the ceramic movable-type (1041-1048) system for printing in China during the Yuan Dynasty (1271- agriculturalist Wang Zhen (1271-1368) created a method 1368) of making wooden movable types In the middle of the Ming Dynasty bronze movable-type printing was widely used in Nanjing, (1368-1644) Wuxi and Suzhou not until four centuries later after German Johannes Gutenberg invented the metal Bi Sheng movable-type system for printing Anglo-Saxon Literature Anglo-Saxon Literature  Anglo-Saxon Literature Texts in Old English, Early Middle English, the more difficult texts in later Middle English ( Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Piers Plowman), and those in other languages are given in translation.  Anglo-Saxon Literature Dante Alighieri Francis Petrarch Giovanni Boccaccio Anglo-Saxon Literature Anglo-Saxon Literature N 2 Anglo-Saxon Poetry Anglo-Saxon Literature Pagan poetry: Pagan poetry refers to the poems composed before Christianity was introduced. There is little or no flavour of religion in the poems. The ancient English epic Beowulf is one of these poems. pagan poetry Beowulf Poetry in the Anglo-Saxon period the works of religious poetry Caedmon and Cynewulf  Anglo-Saxon Literature Pagan Poetry Beowulf the oldest poem in the English language the most important specimen of Anglo-Saxon literature the oldest surviving epic in the English language consists of more than 3,000 lines had been passed from mouth to mouth for hundreds of years before it was written down in the 10th century or at the end of the 9th century Anglo-Saxon Literature Epic An epic is a long narrative poem, on a grand scale, about the deeds of warriors and heroes. It is a polygonal, heroic story incorporating myth, legend, folk tale and history. Epics are often of national significance in the sense that they embody the history and aspirations of a nation in a lofty manner.  Anglo-Saxon Literature Although the poem itself is English in language and origin, it deals not with native Englishmen but with their Germanic forebears, especially with two south Scandinavian tribes, the Danes and the Geats, who lived on the Danish island of Zealand and in southern Sweden.  Anglo-Saxon Literature Beowulf falls into two parts. Anglo-Saxon Literature  Anglo-Saxon Literature 1. Anglo-Saxon conquest happened in the _________. a 5th century b 7th century c 9th century 2.The first Englishmen are ____________. a Angles and Saxons b Angles and Jutes c Anglo-Saxons 3. The history of English literature began with _________. a Anglo-Norman conquest b Anglo-Saxon settlement in Britain c the appearance of Beowulf  Anglo-Saxon Literature Writing Features of the Poem ① It is not a Christian but a pagan poem, despite the Christian flavour given to it by the monastery scribe who wrote it down. It is the product of an advanced pagan civilisation. The whole poem presents to us an all-round picture of the tribal society. The social conditions and customs can be clearly seen in the poem. It helps us a lot when we study the primitive society of Europe. So the poem has a great social significance. ② The use of strong stresses and the predominance of consonants are notable in the poetical lines. Each line is divided into two halves, and each half is made to have two heavy stresses.  Anglo-Saxon Literature ③ The use of alliteration is another notable feature of the poem. Three stressed syllables of each line are arranged in alliteration, which makes the whole line even more emphatic. Alliteration: A figure of speech in which consonants, especially at the beginning of words, or stressed syllables are repeated. It is a very old device in English poetry. It is occasionally used in prose. In Old English poetry alliteration was a continual and essential part of the metrical scheme, as in Beowulf. However, alliterative verse becomes increasingly rare after the end of the 15th century, and alliteration tends more and more to be reserved for the achievement of the special effect.  Anglo-Saxon Literature ④ A lot of metaphors and understatements are used in the poem. For example, the sea is called "the whale-road" or "the swan-road"; the soldiers are called "shield-men"; the chieftains are called "treasure-keepers"; the human body is referred to as "the bone-house"; God is called "wonder- wielder"; the monster is referred to as "soul-destroyer". Metaphor: A figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another. The comparison is usually implicit whereas in simile it is explicit.  Anglo-Saxon Literature Religious Poetry Caedmon The first known religious poet of England Known as the father of English songs His life story is vividly described in Bede’s Historia Ecclesiatica  Anglo-Saxon Literature Cynewulf and His Poems The greatest Anglo-Saxon poet Four poems: Christ, Juliana, The Fates of the Apostles, and Elene. N 3 Anglo-Saxon Prose  Anglo-Saxon Literature Venerable Bede (673-735) the first scholar in English literature the father of English learning. His works, over 40 in number, were written exclusively in Latin and covered the whole field of human knowledge of his day. The most important of his works is The Ecclesiastical History of the English People.  Anglo-Saxon Literature Alfred the Great (848-901) King of Wessex kingdom During his reign, he tried every means to improve education by founding colleges and importing teachers from Europe. A well-known translator. He translated some important Latin works into English, among which, the most important is The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. This book records the main happenings of the Anglo-Saxon period. It is the best monument of the Old English prose.  Anglo-Saxon Literature Aelfric (955-1010) A clergyman He wrote a large number of religious works in Greek and Latin. In his works he introduced a lighter, clearer and more musical prose, and the Old English prose was attaining high quality.  Anglo-Saxon Literature Homework 1. Review this chapter and finish the exercises. 2. Preview next chapter.