英国文学第三章.ppt

Part Three Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer’s Life works Chaucer’s contributions to English Literature and Language The Canterbury Tales The function of the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales An Excerpt of the Prologue Geoffrey Chaucer’s Life Chaucer’s Life Son of a wine merchant; page – way of court; army – prisoner in France; Diplomatic position in France and Italy; Other positions. Chaucer’s literary career  1.the period of French influence (1359-1372): Romance of the Rose; 《玫瑰传奇》 Book of the Duchess; 《公爵夫人之书》 Chaucer’s literary career  2.the period of Italian influence (1372-1386) The Legend of Good Women;《良妇传说》 The House of Fame;《声誉之堂》 The Parliament of Fowls;《百鸟议会》 Troilus and Criseyde.《特罗勒斯与克莱西》 Chaucer’s literary career  3.the period of his maturity (1386-1400) The Canterbury Tales《坎特伯雷故事集》 Chaucer’s contribution to English Literature and Language the “father of English poetry” the first most significant poet in English literary history to write in Middle English the “heroic couplet” did much in making the dialect of London the foundation for the modern English language Heroic couplet (英雄双韵体） The heroic couplet, two rhyming iambic pentameter （五步抑扬格）lines, is also called a closet couplet because the meaning and the grammatical structure are complete within two lines. Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open ye (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages); Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; The Canterbury Tales a collection of 20 complete stories and 4 fragments the stories come from