III. 名词解释
1. Epic (or Heroic Poetry)
It is, originally, an oral narrative poem, majestic both in theme and style. Epics deal with legendary or historical of events of national or universal significance, involving action of broad sweep and grandeur. Most epics deal with the exploits of a single individual, thereby giving unity to the composition. Typically, an epic includes several features: the introduction of supernatural forces that shape the action; conflict in the form of battles or other physical combat; and stylistic conventions such as an invocation to the Muse, a formal statement of the theme, long lists of the protagonists involved, and set speeches couched in elevated language. Commonplace details of everyday life may appear, but they serve as background for the story and are described in the same lofty style as the rest of the poem. Epic poems are not merely entertaining stories of legendary or historical heroes; they summarize and express the nature or ideals of an entire nation at a significant or crucial period of its history. Examples include the ancient Greek epics by the poet Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The characteristics of the hero of an epic are national rather than individual, and the exercise of those traits in heroic deeds serves to gratify a sense of national pride. At other times epics may synthesize the ideals of a great religious or cultural movement. The Divine Comedy by the Italian poet Dante expresses the faith of medieval Christianity. The Faerie Queene by the English poet Edmund Spenser represents the spirit of the Renaissance in English and like Paradise Lost by the English poet John Milton, represents the ideals of Christian humanism.
2. Alliteration
A repeated initial consonant to successive words. In Old English verse, any vowel alliterates with any others, and alliteration is not an unusual or expressive phenomenon but a regularly recurring structural feature of the verse, occurring on the first and third, and often on the first, second, and third, primary-stressed syllables of the four-stressed line. Thus, from The Seafarer: hreran mid hondum hrincaelde sae (“to stir with his hand the rime-cold sea”)
In later English verse tradition, alliteration becomes expressive in a variety of ways. Spenser uses it decoratively, or to link adjective and noun, verb and object, as in the line: “much daunted with that dint, her sense was dased.” In the 18th and 19th centuries it becomes even less systematic and more \"musical\". IV .
1. What is the theme of Beowulf?
Beowulf, which centers on the narration of the exploits of the heroic figure Beowulf, is mainly about his three major adventures. It reflects a life of fights and feasting, of ceremony, of brilliant gold and sudden darkness. Here is a world of sacred obligations, feud and vengeance with heroic figures who are proud of their birth and their physical strength. But beyond this, the forces of wyrd (fate) seem to control man's destiny with mysterious omnipotence, while evil itself is both primordial and powerful. However, thematically the poem presents a vivid picture of how the primitive people wage heroic struggles against the hostile forces of the natural world under a wise and mighty leader. The poem is an example of the mingling of nature myths and heroic legends. For those interested in symbols, the
simplest interpretation of the myths in the poem is to regard Beowulf’s successive fights against the three monsters as the overcoming of the hostile forces of nature by man’s indomitable will and perseverance. For instance, the battle between Beowulf and the Dragon symbolically represents that phase of Winter and Summer myth in which the Summer God, here embodied by Beowulf, fights his last battle against the Winter Dragon in order to rescue the treasures of earth, that is, the golden corn and ruddy fruits. Having given them back to men, Beowulf himself dies of the Winter’s breath.
2. What is the heroic ideal of Beowulf?
Beowulf is essentially an aristocratic poem concerned with the heroic ideal of kings and kingship in North Europe. The social patterns ascribed in the poem are rigidly feudal, highly violent. Battle is a way of life. Strength and courage are basic virtues for both kings and his warriors. The hero-king strove to do better than any one else the things that are vitally important to the happy life of his people. The king should protect his people and show gentleness and generosity to his warriors. And in return, his warriors should show absolute obedience and loyalty to the king. By praising Beowulf's wisdom, strength and courage, and by glorifying his death for his people, the poem presents the heroic ideal of a king and his good relations to his warriors and people.
3. What is the structure of Beowulf?
According to the contents of the story, the poem can be divided into three parts:
Part I: the fight against Grendel
Part II: the fight against Grendel’s mother
Part III: the fight against Dragon
Beowulf is an oral poem and for centuries the bards sing it to the people. As it is quite long, the bard could only sing a part of the story each night. Usually he would sing one adventure on the first night about the battle with Grendel. Then on the second night, he would continue and sing about Beowulf's fight against Grendel’s mother. However, there might be some new listeners. So before he came to the second adventure, he would give a short summary about what he sang the night before. And on the third night, he would give a longer summary about what happened on the first two night. There is also a prelude to invent an allusion to the real story. The poem begins with the funeral of a king and rounds up with that of another.
4. Give a description of style in Beowulf.
“Beowulf” towers above all other literary works written in Anglo-Saxon, chiefly because it is a powerful poem about a people’s hero written in true epic style, and not so much because the other extent writings of the period are mediocre or fragmentary. Beowulf is not simply a man of great military prowess but he is forever eager to help others in distress and in his last adventure with the dragon he shows himself a worthy leader ready to sacrifice his own life for the welfare of his people. Setting aside the supernatural elements pervading the poem as an inevitable limitation of the tribal-feudal age, “Beowulf” deserves to be ranked among the great heroic poems of northern Europe through it has not been as well known as the “Nibelungenlied”. In artistic form the epic tells the tale in a leisurely way, full of elaborations in legendary details, and the verse rises at places to heights of poetic grandeur, particularly in the descriptions of the hero’s nobility of
character and in the narrations of his courageous battlings with malevolent foes. 尼伯龙根之歌（Nibelungenlied）是著名的中世纪中古高地德语叙事诗。 5. What do you know about Teutons?
Before the invasion of Britain, the Teutons inhabited the central part of Europe as far south as the Rhine, a tract which in a large measure coincides with modern Germany. The Jutes, Angles, and Saxons were different tribes of Teutons. These ancestors of the English dwelt in Denmark and in the lands extending southward along the North Sea.
The Angles, an important Teutonic tribe, furnished the name for the new house, which was called Anglo-land afterward shortened into England. The language spoken by these tribes is generally called Anglo-Saxon or Saxon. 6. Give the artistic features of old English poetry.
Anglo-Saxon or Old English, in which “\"Beowulf” was written, represents the earliest stage in the history of the English language and is very different from modern English. It appears almost like another language altogether and cannot be understood today by English-speaking peoples unless one consults notes and glossary in detail or reads its translation in modern English. It was closely related to Old Law German and therefore it is highly-inflected like other Germanic language. “Beowulf” was written in alliterative verse, employing the device of alliteration instead of the use of rhymes or blank verse that was common to the English poems beginning with the same consonants alliterate with each other within each line, or a word beginning with a vowel alliterates with another word beginning with the same or another vowel.
Each line of verse may contain an indefinite of words or syllables but generally
has four stresses, with a pause between the second and the third stresses, thus breaking the line into two parts. Alliteration invariably falls upon the stressed syllables, but not all four of the stresses in a line to alliterate, usually two or three of them alliterate, with at least one from half-line. The first three lines of the original poem are given here as specimen. Hwaet! We Gar-Dena Poed-cyninga Hupa aeo lingas
( in gear-dagum prym gefranon, ellen fremedon, in days long past glory have heard,
wrought deeds of prowess.)
(Lo! We Spear-Danes Of warrior king’s How the princes
One peculiar characteristic of style in “Beowulf” is the frequent use of compound-words to serve as indirect metaphors that are sometimes very picturesque. These are known as “kennings”, such as: “swan-road”, “whale-path” or “seal-bath” used to refer to the sea; “wave-traveller” to indicate a ship; “shield-bearer”, “battle-hero” or “spear-fighter” as substitute for the word “solider”; “sword-clashings” or “edge-clash” to describe or battlings or fights; “ring-mail”, “limb-sark” or “breast-net” as equivalent to armour.
第二部分 盎格鲁——诺曼底时期
补充练习
一. Complete each of the following statements with a proper word or a phrase according to the textbook
1. In the year _____, at the battle of _____, the Normans headed by William, Duke of Normandy, defeated the Anglo-Saxon. 2. The literature which n
3. Normans brought to England is remarkable for its bright, romantic tales of____ and____, in marked contrast with the____ and ____ of Anglo-Saxon poetry. 4. The new literature was of three classes: (a) the matter of____;(b) Matter of____;(c) Matter of____.
二．Define the literary term listed below. 1. Legend 2. Arthurian Legend
三．Give brief answers to the following questions. 1. What are the chief effects of Norman Conquest? 2. Can you name the varieties of the new literature?
3. Make comments on the romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
参考答案
一. 1.1066 Hasting
2. love adventure strength somberness 3. France Rome and Greece Britain 二. 1. Legend
A song or narrative handed down from the past, Legend differ from myths on the basis of the elements of historical truth they contain one speaks, for example, of Arthurian Legend because there is some historical evidence of Arthur’s existence. In speaking of the myth of Sysyphus, in contrast, one is aware that no such person actually existed.
西绪福斯(Sisyphus)是风华之王艾奥罗斯（Aeolus)的儿子，科林斯城(Corinth)的创建者，该城古代又叫埃菲尔(Ephyra)。 西绪福斯以其狡猾机智闻名，他的机智令他囤积了大量财富，当他感到死神塔纳托斯差不多来时，他就蒙骗塔纳托斯，令死神自己带上手铐，结果地上再没有人进入冥国，人们停止对冥王哈得斯进行献祭，宙斯命战神阿瑞斯去西绪福斯那里释放塔纳托斯，塔纳托斯立即摄走西叙福斯的灵魂，西叙福斯临死前叫妻子不要对冥王作献祭。
2. Arthurian Legend
it is a group of tales(in several languages)that developed in the Middle Ages concerning Arthur, semi-historical king of the Britons, and his knights. The legend is a complex weaving of ancient Celtic mythology with later traditions around a core of possible historical authenticity. The earliest references to Arthur are found in Welsh sources. The earliest continuous Arthurian-narrative is in the Historia Regum Britanniae (English: The History of the Kings of Britain) by the English writer Geoffrey of Monmouth. Here Arthur is identified as the son of British king Uther Pendragon, and his counselor Merlin is introduced. The Historia mentions the isle of Avalon, where Arthur went to recover form wounds after his last battle, and it tells of Guinevere’s infidelity and the rebellion instigated by Arthur’s nephew Mordred. All
later developments of the Arthurian legend are based on Geoffrey’s work. An Arthurian tradition also developed in Europe, probably based on stories handed down from the Celts who immigrated to Brittany in the 5th and 6th centuries. By 1100 Arthurian romances were known as far as Italy. Inspired by chivalry and courtly love, they are more concerned with exploits of Arthur’s knights than with Arthur himself. English Arthurian romances, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, concerned individual knights – Percival and Galahad, the Grail knights, and especially Gawain. The culminating masterpiece of these was the anonymously written sir Gawain and the green knight (c.1370). a number of theses Arthurian tales were retold, in English prose, by Sir Thomas Malory in his Morte d’ Arthur(1485).On this book the poet Alfred, lord Tennyson based his Idylls of the king (1859-1885), an allegorical treatment of Victorian society.
三. 1. After the Norman Conquest England became no longer an isolated nation and relations with the European continent grew steadily. There were rapid developments in commerce and handicraft industry in the newly established towns and cities, and the burgesses, made up of petty trades people and artisans many of whom were former peasants, gradually became a political force to be reckoned with, especially the citizens of the nation’s capital and biggest city, London. Beginning form 1165 these burgesses were represented in parliament and as time went on they planed an increasingly important role in the nation-wide political struggle.
The three centuries following the Norman Conquest saw the large-scale introduction into the England of French culture, including French customs and manners, medieval French literature and the literature of Italy and other European countries, as well as the extensive use of the Norman-French language, particularly
in the cities and the big manors where the Norman nobility lived. For almost two hundred years after 1066, two languages, native English and Norman-French, existed side by side in England, together with Latin. While the native English tongue, descended form Anglo-Saxon or old English, was the common speech of the overwhelming majority of the people, especially of the peasant in the countryside and among the lower ranks of the trades people and artisans in the towns. French for quiet a long time prevailed at the king’s court, in the big manors, in the law courts and in the bigger schools where Latin was also taught, and the clergy and many scholars made use of Latin in the churches and monasteries and ecclesiastical courts. By the mid-14th century the English language finally gained absolute supremacy in the whole country, particularly with the passage in parliament in 1362 of the statute of pleading, according to which it was required that court proceedings be conducted henceforth in English. But by then the English language had already been totally differently form old English, for in the three centuries after 1066 the language had undergone gradual but radical and extensive changes, as not only were borrowed in the course of time thousands of words from French and through French from Latin and also Greek, but many old inflectional forms of native English words had been dropped and formal grammar of the past had become considerably simplified. The English language in this traditional stage from old English to modern English, through some four centuries (from 12th to 15th) of development and change, has generally been known Middle English.
2. At first the new literature was remarkably varied, but of small intrinsic worth; and very little of it is now read. In our study we have noted (a) Geoffrey’s history, which is valuable as a source book of literature, since it contains the native Celtic
legends of Arthur. (b) The work of the French writers, who made the Arthurian legends popular. (c) Riming chronicles i. e. History in doggerel verse, like Laysmon’s Brut. (d) metrical romances, or tales inverse.
These were numerous, and of three classes:(a) the matter of France, tales centering about Charlemagne and his peers, chief of which is the Chanson De Roland; (b) matter of Greece and Rome, an endless series of fabulous tales about Alexander, and about the fall of troy; (c) matter of Britain tales having for their heroes Arthurian and his knights of the round table.
3. The brief summary of the action of the poem reveals that it is concerned with the rights and wrongs of conduct. Its theme is a series of tests on faith, courage, purity and human weakness for self-preservation. The story presents a profoundly Christian view of ma’s character and his destiny. By placing self-protection before honour and deceit before his trust in the love of god, Gawain has sinned and fallen and become an image of Adam. Human excellence is marred by original sin and courtly values alone are no protection. Though Gawain can hope to be excused, the girdle itself remains a perpetual reminder of his weakness, the motif of the green knight’s head-cutting might originate in ancient vegetation myth in which the beheading would have been a ritual death to ensure a rebirth in the following spring. There is a very clear structure in the poem with a prologue, an epilogue and its main body. Sir Gawain and the green knight is undoubtedly a romance told with the purpose of portraying ideal character in action. With a preference for irony, suggestion and implication, the unknown author tries to make his romance the vehicle of a wise morality in which the humorously grotesque merges with the morally serious.
第二部分 盎格鲁——诺曼底时期
补充练习
二. Complete each of the following statements with a proper word or a phrase according to the textbook
5. In the year _____, at the battle of _____, the Normans headed by William, Duke of Normandy, defeated the Anglo-Saxon. 6. The literature which n
7. Normans brought to England is remarkable for its bright, romantic tales of____ and____, in marked contrast with the____ and ____ of Anglo-Saxon poetry. 8. The new literature was of three classes: (a) the matter of____;(b) Matter of____;(c) Matter of____.
二．Define the literary term listed below. 1. Legend 2. Arthurian Legend
三．Give brief answers to the following questions. 1. What are the chief effects of Norman Conquest? 2. Can you name the varieties of the new literature?
3. Make comments on the romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
参考答案
一. 1.1066 Hasting
2. love adventure strength somberness 3. France Rome and Greece Britain 二. 1. Legend
A song or narrative handed down from the past, Legend differ from myths on the basis of the elements of historical truth they contain one speaks, for example, of Arthurian Legend because there is some historical evidence of Arthur’s existence. In speaking of the myth of Sysyphus, in contrast, one is aware that no such person actually existed.
西绪福斯(Sisyphus)是风华之王艾奥罗斯（Aeolus)的儿子，科林斯城(Corinth)的创建者，该城古代又叫埃菲尔(Ephyra)。 西绪福斯以其狡猾机智闻名，他的机智令他囤积了大量财富，当他感到死神塔纳托斯差不多来时，他就蒙骗塔纳托斯，令死神自己带上手铐，结果地上再没有人进入冥国，人们停止对冥王哈得斯进行献祭，宙斯命战神阿瑞斯去西绪福斯那里释放塔纳托斯，塔纳托斯立即摄走西叙福斯的灵魂，西叙福斯临死前叫妻子不要对冥王作献祭。
2. Arthurian Legend
it is a group of tales(in several languages)that developed in the Middle Ages concerning Arthur, semi-historical king of the Britons, and his knights. The legend is a complex weaving of ancient Celtic mythology with later traditions around a core of possible historical authenticity. The earliest references to Arthur are found in Welsh sources. The earliest continuous Arthurian-narrative is in the Historia Regum Britanniae (English: The History of the Kings of Britain) by the English writer Geoffrey of Monmouth. Here Arthur is identified as the son of British king Uther Pendragon, and his counselor Merlin is introduced. The Historia mentions the isle of Avalon, where Arthur went to recover form wounds after his last battle, and it tells of Guinevere’s infidelity and the rebellion instigated by Arthur’s nephew Mordred. All
later developments of the Arthurian legend are based on Geoffrey’s work. An Arthurian tradition also developed in Europe, probably based on stories handed down from the Celts who immigrated to Brittany in the 5th and 6th centuries. By 1100 Arthurian romances were known as far as Italy. Inspired by chivalry and courtly love, they are more concerned with exploits of Arthur’s knights than with Arthur himself. English Arthurian romances, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, concerned individual knights – Percival and Galahad, the Grail knights, and especially Gawain. The culminating masterpiece of these was the anonymously written sir Gawain and the green knight (c.1370). a number of theses Arthurian tales were retold, in English prose, by Sir Thomas Malory in his Morte d’ Arthur(1485).On this book the poet Alfred, lord Tennyson based his Idylls of the king (1859-1885), an allegorical treatment of Victorian society.
三. 1. After the Norman Conquest England became no longer an isolated nation and relations with the European continent grew steadily. There were rapid developments in commerce and handicraft industry in the newly established towns and cities, and the burgesses, made up of petty trades people and artisans many of whom were former peasants, gradually became a political force to be reckoned with, especially the citizens of the nation’s capital and biggest city, London. Beginning form 1165 these burgesses were represented in parliament and as time went on they planed an increasingly important role in the nation-wide political struggle.
The three centuries following the Norman Conquest saw the large-scale introduction into the England of French culture, including French customs and manners, medieval French literature and the literature of Italy and other European countries, as well as the extensive use of the Norman-French language, particularly
in the cities and the big manors where the Norman nobility lived. For almost two hundred years after 1066, two languages, native English and Norman-French, existed side by side in England, together with Latin. While the native English tongue, descended form Anglo-Saxon or old English, was the common speech of the overwhelming majority of the people, especially of the peasant in the countryside and among the lower ranks of the trades people and artisans in the towns. French for quiet a long time prevailed at the king’s court, in the big manors, in the law courts and in the bigger schools where Latin was also taught, and the clergy and many scholars made use of Latin in the churches and monasteries and ecclesiastical courts. By the mid-14th century the English language finally gained absolute supremacy in the whole country, particularly with the passage in parliament in 1362 of the statute of pleading, according to which it was required that court proceedings be conducted henceforth in English. But by then the English language had already been totally differently form old English, for in the three centuries after 1066 the language had undergone gradual but radical and extensive changes, as not only were borrowed in the course of time thousands of words from French and through French from Latin and also Greek, but many old inflectional forms of native English words had been dropped and formal grammar of the past had become considerably simplified. The English language in this traditional stage from old English to modern English, through some four centuries (from 12th to 15th) of development and change, has generally been known Middle English.
2. At first the new literature was remarkably varied, but of small intrinsic worth; and very little of it is now read. In our study we have noted (a) Geoffrey’s history, which is valuable as a source book of literature, since it contains the native Celtic
legends of Arthur. (b) The work of the French writers, who made the Arthurian legends popular. (c) Riming chronicles i. e. History in doggerel verse, like Laysmon’s Brut. (d) metrical romances, or tales inverse.
These were numerous, and of three classes:(a) the matter of France, tales centering about Charlemagne and his peers, chief of which is the Chanson De Roland; (b) matter of Greece and Rome, an endless series of fabulous tales about Alexander, and about the fall of troy; (c) matter of Britain tales having for their heroes Arthurian and his knights of the round table.
3. The brief summary of the action of the poem reveals that it is concerned with the rights and wrongs of conduct. Its theme is a series of tests on faith, courage, purity and human weakness for self-preservation. The story presents a profoundly Christian view of ma’s character and his destiny. By placing self-protection before honour and deceit before his trust in the love of god, Gawain has sinned and fallen and become an image of Adam. Human excellence is marred by original sin and courtly values alone are no protection. Though Gawain can hope to be excused, the girdle itself remains a perpetual reminder of his weakness, the motif of the green knight’s head-cutting might originate in ancient vegetation myth in which the beheading would have been a ritual death to ensure a rebirth in the following spring. There is a very clear structure in the poem with a prologue, an epilogue and its main body. Sir Gawain and the green knight is undoubtedly a romance told with the purpose of portraying ideal character in action. With a preference for irony, suggestion and implication, the unknown author tries to make his romance the vehicle of a wise morality in which the humorously grotesque merges with the morally serious.
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