英國(guó)文學(xué)史Chapter 2

1、Anglo-Saxon literatureShi QingquanDepartment of Foreign LanguagesDezhou UniversityThe Anglo-Saxon literaturelTwo divisions: Pagan (heathen) and ChristianlThe pagan lit refers to the songs, legends which the As brought from their original home. they believe in sagas, legends .e.g. Beowulf, Deors Lame

2、nt, the Wanderer, the Seafarer, Widsith , the RuinlThe Christian lit refers to poems or prose writing developed after the conversion, under the teaching of the monks; they mainly deal with religious subjects, stories based on the Bible le.g. the earliest one: Caedmonian poems“凱德蒙的詩(shī)篇” Genesis, Exodus

3、 , DaniellOther famous ones: Andreas The fates of the Apostles, Elene The Dream of the Rood Christ and SatanAnglo-Saxon literaturel”Beowulf”lBeowulf , written in Old English sometime before the tenth century A.D., describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century. A rich

4、fabric of fact and fancy, Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic（史詩(shī)）（史詩(shī)） in British literatureThe Song of BeowulflThe national epic of the AS people, which contains 3182 lines. It was in the oral form in the 6th century by “scops” (poet-singer who sang poetic tales of their own making) and “gleemen”(

5、retellers of epics already in circulation) and was written down in the 7th or 8th century, but the manuscript was found in the 10th century.BeowulflThe use of alliteration, compound words , understatement, metaphorlIt is trhe national epic of Anglo-SaxonslIt is passed down orally from generation to

6、generation until the 10 th century when it was written down in old English.l It is regarded as the national epic of the Anglo Saxon people. It is written in Old English, part-historical, part-legendary. It is a long narrative poem on the theme of arms and man, mixing with pagan elements and Christia

7、n coloring.Artistic feature in Beowulf 1. the use of alliteration, words beginning with the same consonants alliterate with each other within each line, or a word beginning with a vowel alliterates with another word beginning with the same or another vowel. e.g. Artistic feature in BeowulflThus made

8、 their mourning the men of Geat land,lFor their heros passing ,his heath-companionlQuoth that of all the kings of earth,lOf men he was the mildest and most belovedlTo his kin the kindest, keenest to praiseArtistic feature in Beowulfl2. the use of indirect metaphor (kennings)le.g. sea: swan-road, whale-path or sea-bathship: wave-travelerlSoldier: shield-bearer, battle-hero, spear-fighterlFights: sword-clashing, edge-clashlArmor: ring-mail, limb-sark , breast-netl3. the use of understatement(低調(diào)，輕描淡寫(xiě)地陳述）：a negative expression usually in the form of an understatement creating lNot troubles