• A Brief Outline of British Literature History•1. Medieval Literature (5 A.D. -1485) (中世纪文学)Geoffrey Chaucer (1340—1400 )2. The English Renaissance (1500-1625) (文艺复兴时期文学)Thomas More （1478—1535）Edmund Spenser（1552—1599）Christopher Marlowe（1564—1593）Francis Bacon （1561—1626）William Shakespeare （1564—1616）3. The Seventeenth century (17th century)( 17 世纪文学)John Milton （1608—1674）John Donne （1572—1631）John Bunyan （1628—1688）4. English Enlightenment and neo-Classicism (17th century -18th century ) (英国启蒙运动和新古典主义文学)Alexander Pope （1688—1744）Jonathan Swift （1667—1745）Daniel Defoe （1660—1731）Henry Fielding （1707—1754）5. Romanticism in England (1798-1832) (浪漫主义时期文学)Robert Burns （1759—1796）William Blake （1757—1827）William Wordsworth (1770—1850)Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772—1834)George Gordon Byron(1788—1824)Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792—1822)John Keats (1795-1821)6. English Realism (1830s-1918) (现实主义时期文学) /Victorian Age (1832—1901)Robert Browning (1821—1889)Alfred Tennyson ( 1809—1892)Jane Austen (1775—1817) The Bronte SistersCharles Dickens (1812—1870)William Makepeace Thackeray (1811—1863) Thomas Hardy (1840—1928)Joseph Conrad ( 1857—1924)Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)7. Modernism (1918-1945) (现代主义文学)T.S. Eliot (1888—1965)William Butler Yeats (1865—1939)James Joyce (1882—1941)Virginia Woolf (1882—1941)D.H. Lawrence (1885—1930)••1. Medieval Literature (5 A.D. -1485) (中世纪文学)Beowulf《贝奥武夫》: the national epic of the English people.romance (浪漫传奇)：the most prevailing kind of literature in feudal EnglandTheme: loyalty to king and lordKing Arthur and his knights of the Round Table《亚瑟王和他旳圆桌骑士》 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 《高文爵士和绿衣骑士》★ Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-- 1400)Literary Position: The father of English poetryMasterpiece: The Canterbury Tales 《坎特伯雷故事集》（Old English）Literary Achievements: Heroic couplet (英雄双韵体)2. The English Renaissance (1500-1625) (文艺复兴时期文学)The word “Renaissance” means revival（复活）. The term originally indicates a revival of classical (Greek and Roman) arts and sciences after the dark ages of medieval obscurantism（蒙昧主义）. Humanism: the essence of RenaissanceEdmund Spenser (1552-- 1599): "the poets' poet" Masterpiece :The Faerie Oueene《仙后》Thomas More （1478-1535）Masterpiece: Utopia（乌托邦）Christopher Marlowe (1564--1593): most gifted of the "University Wits"（大学才子派）. Masterpiece: The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. 《浮士德博士旳悲剧》★ Francis Bacon (1561-1626 ) Literary Position:—the founder of modern science in England;—one of the earliest essayist(散文家） in English languageMasterpiece : Essays《论说文集》 Of Studies (论读书)★William Shakespeare(1564—1616) Literary Position:·“not of an age, but for all time”, · the greatest giant of English language and poetic form, · one of the founders of realism in world literature, · one of the greatest writers in the world’s literature. Literary Achievements:38 plays (comedies(喜剧）, histories（历史剧）, tragedies（悲剧）, tragicomedies/romances（悲喜剧）2 narrative poems 154 sonnets (Sonnets 1-126 addressed to a young man, Sonnets 127-152 addressed to “Dark Lady”, Sonnets 153-154 addressed to Cupid, the God of love in Greek mythology )Plays (4 periods)1. First period (1592-1594): His apprenticeship in plays.Historical plays: King Henry VI 《亨利六世》, Richard Ⅲ 《查理三世》Comedies: Love’s Labour’s Lost 《爱旳徒劳》2. Second period (1595-1600): Mature period, a marked increase in the knowledge of humanismRomeo and Juliet《罗密欧与朱丽叶》(4大喜剧): A Midsummer Night’s Dream《仲夏夜之梦》The Merchant of Venice《威尼斯商人》As You Like It《皆大欢喜》Twelfth Night《第十二夜》3. Third period (1601-1608): Flourishing period, a period of gloomy and depression(4大悲剧): Hamlet《汉姆雷特》Othello《奥赛罗》King Lear《李尔王》Macbeth《麦克白》4. Fourth period (1608-1612): The period of romantic drama in the form of tragicomediesReconciliation plays: The Winter’s Tale《冬天旳童话》, The Tempest《暴风雨》3. The Seventeenth century (17th century)( 17 世纪文学) Historical background1. The English revolution（英国革命） and the Restoration（王朝复辟）.· Causes: the conflict between the monarch and Parliament; the persecution of the Puritans2. The bourgeois Dictatorship and the Restoration· Glorious Revolution—a bloodless revolution· The constitutional monarchy.★John Milton (1608—1674) Literary Position· A master of the Blank verse· The greatest English revolutionary poet of the 17th century· One of the greatest poets of the English language Literary AchievementsPoems ·Paradise Lost 《失乐园》(1667): his masterpiece——The greatest epic in English literature.·Paradise Regained (1671) 《复乐园》·Samson Agonistes (1671) 《力士参孙》Paradise Lost《失乐园》—John Milton1. Introduction· Long epic in 12 books· Written in blank verse· Based on Genesis《创世纪》in the Old Testament· Dramatizes the Biblical account of humanity’s banishment.2. Theme—Milton’s aim。