1、The Anglo-Norman Period (10661485),I. The Norman Conquest II. Romance III. Sir Gawain & the Green Knight IV. Geoffrey Chaucer V. The Canterbury Tales,I. The Norman Conquest (诺曼征服),William the Conqueror became the King of England in the year of 1066, thus feudalism was established in England. Middle
2、English literature is a combination of French and AngloSaxon elements. English literature almost stood still. During the three centuries after the Norman Conquest, large scale of French literature was introduced into England. And because the church had a practical monopoly of literature during much
3、of the Middle Ages, by far the largest proportion of surviving Middle English literature is religious. Literature that the Normans brought to England is remarkable for its bright, romantic tales of love and adventure, which can be seen in Romance, the most prevailing kind of literature in the feudal
4、 England.,The Consequence of the Norman Conquest,The Norman Conquest brought England more than a change of rulers. Politically, a feudalist system was established in England; religiously, the Rome-backed Catholic Church had a much stronger control over the country; and great changes also took place
5、in languages. After the conquest, three languages coexisted in England. Old English was spoken only by the common English people; French became the official language used by the King and the Norman lords; and Latin became the principal tongue of church affairs and was used by the clergymen and schol
6、ars in universities. The conquest opened up England to the whole European continent, so that with the introduction of the culture and literature of France, Italy and other European countries, a fresh wave of Mediterranean civilization came into England.,II. Romance(骑士文学),Romance is the literature fo
7、r the upper class, which was a long composition in verse or prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero. It generally concerns knights and involves a large amount of fighting as well as a number of miscellaneous adventures. 1.Essential features of the Romance 2.Romance Cycles 3. Sir Ga
8、wain and the Green Knight,1.Essential features of the Romance,a. It lacks general resemblance to truth or reality. b. It exaggerates the vices of human nature and idealizes the virtues. c. It contains perilous adventures more or less remote from ordinary life. d. It lays emphasis on supreme devotion
9、 to a fair lady. e. The central character of the romance is the knight, a man of noble birth, skilled in the use of weapons. He is commonly described as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournaments, or fighting for his lord in battle. He is devoted to the church and the king.,2.Romanc
10、e Cycles (组诗),The enormous number of the romance fall into three cycles or three groups: the “matters of Britain”, the “matters of France”, and the “matters of Rome”. a. The matters of France deal largely with the exploits of Charlemagne（查理大帝）, often known as Charles the Great, King of Frank and Emp
11、eror of the West Empire. The famous romance of this group is Chanson de Roland（罗兰之歌）.,Romance Cycles,b. The Matters of Rome deal with tales from Greek and Roman sources. Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.), King of Macedonia（马其顿） and conqueror of Greece, Egypt, India and Persian Empire is the favorit
12、e hero of this group. Besides this, Trojan War（特洛伊战争） is also dealt within this group. c. The matters of Britain mainly deal with the exploits(功绩) of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table（亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士）. The most interesting of all Arthurian romances are those of the Gawain cycle. The story of
13、 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the culmination of the Arthurian romances.,III.Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,高文爵士和绿衣骑士 It is a verse romance of 2530 lines, derived from Celtic legend.It was considered as the best of Arthurian romance. A. Plot: B. Story: C. Themes: D. Summary:,A. Plot,1)The Gre
14、en Knights challenge 2) Sir Gawains hard journey 3) Three days of Gawains sojourn(逗留) at the castle 4) Gawain went to the Green Chapel,B. Story,（See pp.18-20）,C. Themes,The tests of faith, courage, purity and the human weakness for self-preservation give us the characteristic traits of the chivalric
15、 romance.,D. Summary,This romance is one of the most delightful old romances in any language. In form, it is an interesting combination of French and Saxon elements. It is written in an elaborate stanza combining meter and alliteration. At the end of each stanza there is a rimed refrain(重叠句).,IV. Ge
16、offrey Chaucer (1343-1400),Father of the English poetry A. Life B. Literary Career C. Main Works D. The Canterbury Tales E. Contribution,Geoffrey Chaucer 杰弗里乔叟 (1340?-1400),A. Life,1)He was born of a prosperous wine-merchant family in London. 2)He was most probably educated in Oxford and Cambridge.
17、3)He once served as a page to Elizabeth, Countess(女伯爵) of Ulster(阿尔斯特,北爱尔兰省). 4)In 1367 he entered the service of King Edward III for nearly ten years. 5)In 1386 he was elected member of Parliament, but soon was dismissed. 6)In 1389 he was appointed clerk of the Kings works and the new king Henry IV
18、 granted him a pension. 7)He died in October, 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, thus founding the Poets Corner.,B. Literary Career,The FrenchItalianEnglish periods 1) The first period stretches from the 1360s to about 1372 during which time he mainly wrote under the influence of French liter
19、ature, and he chiefly translated from the French works, such as Roman de la Rose. 2)The second period extends from 1372 to 1386 when Chaucer wrote under the influence of Italian Renaissance. He mainly adapted works from Italian literature, such as Troilus and Criseide. 3)The third period covers the
20、last fifteen years of the poets life: from 1386 to 1400, when Chaucer stopped being the mere interpreter of other poets and produced his own works full of maturity. The Canterbury Tales was composed during the period.,C. Main Works,1)The Romance of the Rose玫瑰罗曼史 (translation from French) 2)The House
21、 of Fame声誉殿堂 3) Troilus and Criseide 特罗伊拉斯和克莱西德 4)The Canterbury Tales 坎特伯雷故事集,D. The Canterbury Tales 坎特伯雷故事集,1)The outline of the story 2)The Prologue （总引） 3)The characters 4) Summary,1)The outline of the story,The story opens with a general prologue telling that on a spring evening, the poet drop
22、s in the Tabard Inn, where he meets 29 other pilgrims all ready for a journey of 60 miles to Canterbury. Because of the long and tedious journey, the host of the inn suggests that they should colour the journey by telling stories. He proposes that each pilgrim should tell two tales on the way to Can
23、terbury and two others on the way back. The host is going to be their judge. And the best story-teller should be treated with a fine meal at the cost of all the rest. The pilgrims are 30 in all including the poet. Therefore according to the plan, there should be 120 stories altogether. But only 24 t
24、ales were written due to the authors death in 1400.,2)The Prologue(总引),It was considered the best part of the whole work, which supplies an artistic corridor of people from all walks of life in the medieval England. See pp.45-46,Translation:,春雨给大地带来了喜悦 送走了土壤干裂的三月 沐浴着草木的丝丝茎络 顿时百花盛开，生机勃勃； 西风轻吹留下清香缕缕 田
25、野复苏吐出芳草绿绿， 碧蓝的天空腾起一轮红日 青春的太阳洒下万道金辉， 小鸟的歌喉多么清脆优美， 迷人的夏夜怎好安然入睡 美丽的自然撩拨万物的心弦,多情的鸟儿歌唱爱情的欢欣 香客盼望拜谒圣徒的灵台 僧侣立愿云游陌生的滨海， 信徒来自全国东西南北 众人结伴奔向坎特伯雷 去朝谢医病救世的恩主 去缅怀大恩大德的圣徒 那是个初夏方临的日子 我到泰巴旅店投宿歇息 怀着一颗虔诚的赤子之心 我准备翌日出发去朝圣,黄昏前后华灯初上时分 旅店院里涌入许多客人 人来自各行各业 不期而遇都到旅店过夜 这些香客人人虔心诚意 次日要骑马去坎特伯雷 客房与马厩宽敞又洁净 店主的招待周到而殷勤 夕阳刚从地平线上消失 众人同
26、我已经相互结识 大家约好不等鸡鸣就起床,迎着熹微晨光赶早把路上 可是在我叙述之前让我占用大家一点时间，依我之见似乎还很必要 把每人的情况作些介绍 谈谈他们从事什么行业 社会地位属于哪个阶层 容貌衣着举止又是如何 那么我就先把骑士说说 骑士的人品出众而且高尚 ,3)The characters,All kinds of people except the highest and the lowest are represented by these thirty pilgrims. The gentle class （市民阶层）is represented by the knight, the
27、squire, the monk, the prioress, the Oxford scholar and the Franklin（地主）; the burgher class（市民阶层） is represented by the wealthy trademan, the haberdasher（服装销售商）, the carpenter, the landed proprietor（土地业主）, the weaver, the tapestry-maker（挂毯商）, and the Wife of Bath（巴斯夫人）; and the professionals are repr
28、esented by the lawyer and the physician. Besides being the typical representation of her or his own class, each character has her or his own individual qualities. For these true-to-life pictures, Chaucer is generally regarded as the forerunner of English realism.,Characters,4)Summary,The Canterbury
29、Tales consists of three parts: The General Prologue, 24 tales, four of which left unfinished, and separate prologues to each tale with links, comments, quarrels, etc. in between. Chaucer originally planned to have a group of 30 pilgrims with each to tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and anot
30、her two on the way back. So the total stories of the collection would be 120, some 20 stories more than Boccaccios (蒲伽丘）Decameron（十日谈). But Chaucer had actually completed only 20 stories, with four more existing in fragments.,Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375),Italian novelist of the 14th century. He wo
31、rked vigorously to reintroduce Greek works. Decameron （十日谈）was written in his middle years. The book is a collection of 100 tales told by 7 young ladies and a younger gentleman on their way to escape the Black Death (黑死病）of 1348. The tales are witty, full of praises of true love and wisdom and also
32、satire on the hypocrisy of the priest and the aristocrat.,E. Contributions,1)He introduced from Italy and France the rhymed stanza （韵脚韵律诗）of various types. 2)He first wrote in English language (Middle English). 3)He made the London dialect the foundation for modern English language.,Contributions,Mo
33、st of the tales are written in verse which reflects Chaucers innovation by introducing native alliterative verse into the French and Italian styles. Chaucer is thus to be regarded as the first short story teller and the first modern poet in English literature.,What is heroic couplet?,heroic couplet
34、（英雄双行/韵体）： a pair of lines in iambic pentametre （五音步抑扬格）that rhyme,Questions,1) How did the Norman Conquest affect the literature and language of England? 2) Which book is Geoffreys important work? Describe the book. 3) What is Chaucers contribution to English language? 4) What are the essential features of romance? 5) Make comments on the romance “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”. How does it relate to the Romance tradition?,The End,
