English Renaissance英国文学简史.ppt

By Prof. Yao Benbiao 1.The 16th century England: the transformation from feudal society to the establishment of capitalism 2.Religious Reformation: King Henry VIII (1509-1547) broke from the Roman Catholic Church, made himself head of the Church of England 3.Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603): the summit of Tudor reign 4.The War with Spain: in 1588, English navy defeated the Spanish invincible Armada 5.Renaissance: the revival of arts and sciences of ancient Greece and Rome. 6.Humanism: the ideal of Renaissance movement, the humanistic values of ancient Greece and Rome. Humanists are greatly concerned about the welfare of human beings and believed the human happiness in this world (Page 30 for details) 1. Great literary achievements: (1)Poetry: “a nest of singing birds” (Samuel Johnson) --Sonnet: Originated from Italy, introduced by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (2)Drama: the most glorious achievement of the English Renaissance --London: the center of drama performance --Playwrights: “university wits” 2.Great Renaissance Writers: (1)Thomas More: the most prominent humanist --“Utopia”(1516): Land of Nowhere (2)Edmund Spenser: the Poet of Poets --The Shepheardes Calender (The Shepherd’s Calendar): a pastoral poem of 12 parts, one part for one month of the year; themes: love, poetry and religion --The Faerie Queene (1596): his masterpiece; an allegorical romance in verse; The Fairy Queen – Queen Elizabeth; the knights – virtues; central character – King Arthur --Amoretti: a series of 88 sonnets, together with Sidney’s and Shakespeare’s “Sonnets”, the most famous sonnet sequences of the Elizabethan Age. --“Spenserian Stanza”: verse lines in iambic pentameter; rhyming scheme ababbcbcc; 9 lines in each stanza, the ninth line being an alexandrine with 6 iambic feet (3)Philip Sidney: a poet and critic of poetry --A Defence of Poesy: an English vindication of literature; a survey of poetry from ancient times to eulogize its superior position to philos