新编英国文学选读(上)chapter7.doc

Chapter 7. The Eighteenth Century [The Age of Reason (1688——1798)]I. Historical backgroundAfter the Glorious Revolution, Whig and Tory were established. The former one represented the interests of the moneyed class, while the latter one represented the royalists. England fought many wars with France, Spain, etc. In those wars England rose as a victor making it the strongest country in navy and economy and considerably stretching its occupied land oversees e*tending from the west of Canada to the east of India.II. The special features of the cultural life at the timea. Political writings: the rise of the political parties led to the appearance of pamphlet wars of political writings attracting many writers to work for either of the parties or both alternatively.b. The rise of newspapers and magazines: the reason for the rise:·Both parties had their respective ones to e*press their opinions.·The rise of the middle class demanded entertainment and education and they need to e*press their views too.c. Coffeehouses:where people gathered to e*change ideas and thus they help to determine the literary trend of the timed. The new morality: ·The emphasis on reason·The development of tolerance of different opinions in politics and religione. The influence of science and technology:·Principia Mathematica in 1687 by Newton (1642——1727)·The new epistemology of John Locke (1632——1704)f. French influence——Augustanism——neoclassicism stressing to learn from the classicals*What is classicism" The characteristics in Greek and Roman classical works. They are clarity, logic, form, proportion, balance with each other, parallelism, restraint. III. The characteristics of neoclassicism1. Reason rather than emotion and form rather than content were emphasized.2. Most of the writings at the time were didactic and satirical.3. The closed couplet was the only possible verse form for serious work for elegance, correctness, appropriateness and restraint were preferred. 4. It is e*clusively a "town〞 poetry, catering to the interests of the "society〞 in great cities. The humbler aspect of life are neglected and it showed in most part no love of nature, landscape, or country things and people5. Lacking romantic elements and being hostile to medieval literature6. An age of prose, especially the latter part the centuryIV. Representative authors of the time 1. Daniel Defoe 2. Jonathan Swift 3. Joseph Addison 4. Ale*ander Pope 5. Samuel Johnson 6. Henry Fieldding 7. Thomas Gray 8. Thobias George Smollet 9. Richard Brinsley Sheridan 10. Robert Burns 11. William Blake1. Daniel Defoe(1661—1731)a pioneer novelist of England and also a prolific writer of books and pamphlets on a great variety of subjects.1） his life story:a.from a dissenter’s family: Presbyterian butcher b.having a questionable character in politics, but strong belief in religious freedom2) his literary achievements:·fiction:Robinson , Crusoe , Moll Flanders·contribution to journalism & regulating English trade methods and principles3) characteristics of his fiction:a. Robinson Crusoe:(1) based on real e*perience of a Scottish sailor but bined with his own imagination, it is still a fictional work.(2) using the picaresque frame with a story in the shape of a journal and having strong sense of journalistic truth; containing serious wisdom of life(3) The importance of the hero: i. typical of the rising English bourgeois class, practical and diligent with a restless curiosity to know more about the world and a desire to prove individual power in the face of social and natural challengesIi. a real hero of middle class different from the hero of knights or epic hero(4) moral teaching: sing praise of labour, presenting it as the source of human pride and happiness as well as a means to change man’s living conditions from desperation to prosperity(5) limitations: i. praise colonization overseas through the relationship with Fridayii. his attitude to woman is open to criticismiii. Praise slaveryb. Moll Flanders:(1) its story(2)the significance, one is for the first a woman being the protagonist; artistically more mature than Robinson: better structure and better plot; so it is written in an autobiographical form called a memoir2. Jonathan Swift(1667-1745)a churchman and also a university graduate who viewed human society with contempt and has been called a cynic and even a misanthrope.1) his life story:His father died before he was born, and he had to accept the aid of his relatives and finished his study at Dublin University.2) his literary achievements:a.satirical essays: The Battle of Books(1696-1698), A Tale of the Tub(1696-1698)b.Writings in pamphlets:The Draiper’s Letters, A Modest Proposac.fiction:Gulliver’s Travel(1726)3) characteristics of his pamphlets:·Gulliver’s Travela. criticizing the o。