第1章 古英语时期与《贝奥武甫》
1 Give an account of the history of England from the Celtic settlement to the Norman Conquest.
Key: In around BC 600 Celts started to migrate to the British Isles. The Britons, which is a branch of the Celts, came to the Isles in BC 400 to BC 300, and Britain got its name from them. Later, Julius Caesar of the Roman Empire with his troops defeated the Celts and ruled there from BC 55 to AD 407, during which time the slave system was brought to Britain. Later the Roman Empire declined at the beginning of the 5th century and withdrew all their troops in AD 410.
After the Romans, the three Germanic tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes attacked the British Isles and lived there, which happened in about AD 450. Celts were driven to Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Those Germanic tribes settled down and named the central part of the island England as the land of Angles.
In the late 8th century, the Danes from Scandinavia plundered the Isles. They were known as the Vikings. At first they attacked the eastern coast of England, but soon after their attack expanded to the whole country.
The most significant event that followed was the 1066 Norman Conquest. The Normans from northern France struck England and at the battle of Hastings won a decisive victory under the leadership of the Duke of Normandy who is known as William the Conqueror.
2 How did Christianity came to England? Name the most important monasteries of this period.
Key: In 597, St. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory the Great to England in order to convert the Anglo-Saxons. King Ethelbert of Kent was first converted and then he founded the Canterbury Abbey in Kent. Meanwhile, the earlier Christianised Ireland also sent missionaries to the Angles.
The monasteries in Northumbria were the earliest civilizing influences.
3 Name some representative pieces of the Old English poetry.
Key: “Widsith” “The Wanderer” “The Seafarer”, The Wife’s Complaint and The Husband’s Message, Beowulf and so on.
4 Name the two most important Christian poets of this period.
Key: The two most important Christian poets of this period were Caedmon and Cynewulf.
5 Analyze the artistic features of Beowulf, using the quoted passage to illustrate your points.
Key: (1)The most noticeable artistic feature is alliteration. The poem employs alliterative with a caesura in the middle and two stresses (or accents) in each half. The unstressed syllables in the two halves may vary in number.
(2)Another feature is the frequent use of kennings, which use a compound simile of two elements to poetically present the meaning of one single word.
(3)The general spirit is both serious and animated. The movement of action or events is vigorous, and the depictions with kennings are picturesque and precise.
(4)There are many other noticeable stylistic features in Beowulf including parallelism, similes, the elegant diction, and the rich variation of style, etc.
刘意青《简明英国文学史》笔记和课后习题详解
第二章 中古英语时期与乔叟
1 What was the social and class reality of the Anglo-Norman Period?
Key: The Normans were from the northern part of France and they brought French language, customs and culture to England, where they used strong military power to protect their feudal monarchy. William the Conqueror allotted the land of England to his followers who became barons. The defeated Anglo-Saxons were cruelly exploited and oppressed and worked as serfs and peasants for them.
Norman-French was the official language while English was dismissed. However it was impossible to impose a foreign language upon a country without eradicating the greater part of the population. The lowly people continued to speak English and assimilated the invaders gradually.
2 Tell the three divisions of romances according to subject matter and give an example of the Matter of Britain.
Key: According to the subjects, Romances can be divided into three types: Matter of France, Matter of Rome and Matter of Britain.
As the Matter of Britain, one of the most famous stories is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which was written in about 1375-1400 by an anonymous writer.
……
【完整版】 达聪网 刘意青《简明英国文学史》笔记和课后习题详解
热门内容
