The typical authors during this period
1. The bibliography
William Shakespeare is one of the most remarkable playwrights and poets the world has ever known.
2. Viewpoints
Viewpoints on politics: necessity of mighty and just sovereign, and the condemn to the anti-nature and anti-humanism of the feudal wars—anti-feudalism.
Viewpoints on religion: against the religious persecution and racial discrimination, against the social inequality and the corrupting influence of the gold and money---anti-Catholicism.
Viewpoint on literature: literature should be a combination of beauty, kindness and truth, and should reflect nature and reality---humanism
3. The major contributions
38 plays (historical plays, tragedies and comedies)
2 narrative poems: Venus, The Rape of Lucrece
154 sonnets
4. four stages for his play-creation
1The first stage: his dramatic career is one of the apprenticeships:
Five historical plays: Henry VI, part I, II, and III; Richard III; and Titus Andronicus(泰特斯, 提图斯).
Four Comedies, including: The Comedy of Errors; The Two Gentlemen of Verona(维罗纳); The Taming of the Shrew(驯悍记), and Love’s Labor’s Lost(爱 的徒劳)
2The second stage, his style became highly individualized:
Five historical: Richard II, King John, Henry IV, part I, II, Henry V Six comedies: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, As You like(皆大欢喜), Twelfth Night, and the Merry Wives of Windsor(温莎公爵的快乐情妇)
Two tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar
3The Third stage is the peak of his creation, included his greatest tragedies and his so-called dark comedies:
Seven tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatr(a 克 利奥帕特拉), Troilus and Cressida(特洛伊罗斯和克雷西达), Coriolanus(科里 奥兰纳斯) Two comedies: All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure
4The last period of Shakespeare’s includes his principal romantic tragicomedies:
Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest Two final plays: Henry III, and The Two Noble Kinsmen
5. About his dramas
1historical plays
Shakespeare’s historical plays are mainly written under the principle that national unity under a mighty and just sovereign is a necessity. The three historical plays in the reign of Henry VI are the beginning of Shakespeare’s epic treatment of English history.
2Romantic Comedies
In his romantic comedies, Shakespeare takes an optimistic attitude toward love and youth, and the romantic elements are brought into full play. They are The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You like It, Twelfth Night, but the most important one is The Merchant of Venice.
3Tragedies
The successful romantic tragedy is Romeo and Juliet, which eulogizes the faithfulness of love and the spirit of pursuing happiness. Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies are Hamlet,--the first of greatest tragedies, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth(麦克白.) They have some characteristics in common. William Shakespeare’s four great tragedies are Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. They have some characteristics in common. Each portrays some noble hero, who faces the injustice of human life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of the whole nation. Each hero has his weakness of nature: Hamlet, the melancholic scholar prince, faces the dilemma between action and mind; Othello’s inner weakness is made use of by the outside evil force; the old king Lear who is unwilling to totally give up his power makes himself suffer from treachery and infidelity; and Macbeth’s lust for power stirs up his ambition leads him to incessant crimes.
4Romantic tragicomedies
The Tempest is a typical example of his pessimistic view towards human life and society in his late year.
6. About his sonnets
1Lyric: A poem, usually a short one, which expresses a speaker’s personal thoughts or feelings. The elegy, ode, and sonnet are all forms of the lyric.
2The theme: most of the sonnets concerns with the flying of the time, and the youth, beauty, belief and the love are also gone.
7. Shakespeare’s writing characteristics
The progressive significance of the theme--humanism
The successful character portrayal—women’s characters
The masterhand in constructing the plot
The ingenuity of his poetry
The mastery of his language
II. John Milton
1. Personal introduction
1 Milton’s life
Born in puritan family in London, Mother interested in religion and local charity, Father a well-to-do scrivener and musician.
2 Educated at Cambridge
Graduated: study and writing of poetry. Began traveling abroad in 1638, returned London to write pamphlets and tracts to support the revolution.
3In 1649 Latin secretary corresponding foreign government.
4In 1652 went blind completely and incurably at 43 due to hard work day and night.
5King Charles II restoration: Keeping writing against kingship
Arrested and fined and released. Left in peace to produce his poetic works In 1674 died peacefully in a small house.The greatest English poet after Shakespeare, polemicist (辩论家).
2. Literature achievements
Milton’s literary achievements can be divided into three groups: the early poetic works, the middle prose pamphlets & the last great poems.
1 Early Poetry
Lycidas (利西达斯)is a collection of elegies dedicated to Edward king, a fellow undergraduate of Milton’s at Cambridge, who was drowned in the Irish Sea. The poem begins with grief & a feeling of immaturity; then the grief is deepened by the sense of irrecoverable loss in the silencing of a young poet. With this bitter sense of loss, Milton asks why the just & good should suffer. These emotions swell to a passionate call for the consolation of art. The poem moves from a sad apprehension of death, through regret, to passionate questioning, rage, sorrow & acceptance. The feelings begin in a low key but move on to the large questions of divine justice & human accountability. The climax of the poem is the blistering attack on the clergy, i.e. the “Shepherds,” who are corrupted by self-interest.
2 Middle Period & Prose Pamphlets
3 Later Years & Major Poetry
After the Restoration in 1660, Milton was imprisoned. His release was brought about mainly through the efforts of his friends, notably the poet Andrew Marwell, after that time he devoted himself to his 3 major poetical works: Paradise Lost (1667), Paradise Regained (1671), & Samson Agonistes (1671). Among the three, the first is the greatest, indeed the only generally acknowledged epic in English literature since Beowulf; & the last one is the most perfect example of the verse drama after the Greek style in English.
Paradise Regained
Main plot: show how mankind, in the person of Christ, withstands the tempter and is established once more in the divine favor.
Theme: Christ’s temptation in the wilderness
Samson Agonistes
Milton’s last important work was the magnificent poetic drama Samson Agonistes, which presents the Biblical story of Samson in the form of a Greek tragedy. The blind & suffering Samson is strongly reminiscent of Milton himself. The theme of Samson Agonistes is a more vital & personal one. The picture of Israel’s mighty champion, blind, alone, afflicted by thoughtless enemies but preserving a noble ideal to the end, is a fitting close to the life work of the poet himself. The poet’s aim was to present in English a pure tragedy, with all the passion & restraint which marked the old Greek dramas. The whole poem strongly suggests Milton’s passionate longing that he too could bring destruction down upon the enemy at the cost of his own life. In this sense, Samson is Milton.
18.character ['kæ rəktə] n. 性格，品质;特性;角色;[计] 字符 vt. 印，刻;使具有特征 E.g. Main character 主要角色 E.g. The major characters in Hamlet are Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, and the Ghost. 哈姆雷特中的主要人物有哈姆雷特，
19. eternal [ɪ'tɜːn(ə)l] adj. 永恒的;不朽的 E.g. Sonnet 18 is one of the most beautiful sonnets written by Shakespeare, in which he has a profound meditation on the destructive power of time and the eternal beauty. 十四行诗第 18 首是莎士比亚最优美的一首诗，他对诗中时间的毁灭性力量和永恒的美 有深入的思考。
20. expansion [ɪk'spæ nʃ(ə)n] n. 膨胀;阐述;扩张物 E.g. The Renaissance is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events such as the new discoveries in geography & astrology, the religious reformation & the economic expansion.文艺复兴是一场由一系列历史事件，如地理天文大发现，席卷欧洲的宗教改革和经济扩张等所激起的一场运动。
21. humanism ['hjuːmənɪz(ə)m] n. 人文主义 adj. 人文主义的;人道主义的 E.g. Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance.人文主义是文艺复兴的核心。
22. humanist ['hjuːmənɪst] 人文主义者 E.g. The best representatives of the English humanists are Thomas More, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. 英国人文主义的优秀代表是托马斯·莫 尔，克里斯托弗·马洛和威廉·莎士比亚。
23. humanity [hjʊ'mæ nɪtɪ] n. 人类;人道;仁慈;人文学科 E.g. That’s a crime before God and humanity.对上帝和人类来说，那都是犯罪的行为。E.g. Greed suffocates humanity and intuitive knowledge. 贪婪可以灭绝人性和良知。
24. metaphysical [metə'fɪzɪk(ə)l] adj. 形而上学的;超自然的;玄学派诗歌的 E.g. The term “metaphysical poetry” is commonly used to name the work of the 17th century writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne. 玄学派诗歌通常 被用来指 17 世纪受约翰邓恩影响的作家的作品。
25. mighty ['maɪtɪ] adj. 有力的;强有力的;有势力的 adv. 很;极;非常 n. 有势 力的人 E.g. Almighty God 万能的上帝;全能真神;全能的神 E.g. Shakespeare’s viewpoints on politics: necessity of mighty and just sovereign, and the condemn to the anti-nature and anti-humanism of the feudal wars—anti-feudalism. 莎士比亚的政治观点:强大公正的统治权，谴责反自然和反人文主义的封建战争——反封建。
26. movement ['muːvm(ə)nt] n. 运动;活动 E.g. The Renaissance first started in Italy, with the flowering of painting, sculpture & literature. From Italy the movement went to embrace the rest of Europe.文艺复兴随着绘画，雕塑和文学的繁荣最早兴起于意大利，然后从意大利开始慢慢渗透到整个欧洲。
27. noble ['nəʊb(ə)l] adj. 高尚的;贵族的;惰性的;宏伟的 n. 贵族 E.g. Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies are: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. They have some characteristics in common. Each portrays some noble heroes. 莎士比亚的四大悲剧是:《哈姆雷特》《奥赛罗》《李尔王》《麦克白》。它们的共同点是， 讲的都是一些高贵的英雄。
28. pamphlet [ˈpæ mflɪt] n. 小册子 E.g. Milton’s literary achievements can be divided into three groups: the early poetic works, the middle prose pamphlets and the last great poems.弥尔顿的文学作品可分 为三类:早期诗作，中期的散文小册子和后期的伟大诗作。
29. passionate ['pæ ʃ(ə)nət] adj. 热情的;热烈的，激昂的;易怒的 E.g. The whole poem (Samson Agonistes) strongly suggests Milton’s passionate longing that he too could bring destruction down upon the enemy at the cost of his own life. In this sense, Samson is Milton.力士参孙表达了弥尔顿誓死毁灭敌人的强烈愿 望。从这个意义上来说，参孙就是弥尔顿。
30. religious [rɪ'lɪdʒəs] adj. 宗教的;虔诚的;严谨的;修道的 E.g. The Renaissance is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events such as the new discoveries in geography & astrology, the religious reformation & the economic expansion.文艺复兴是一场由一系列历史事件，如地理天文大发现，席卷欧洲 的宗教改革和经济扩张等所激起的一场运动。
31.religion [rɪ'lɪdʒ(ə)n] n. 宗教;宗教信仰 freedom of religion 宗教自由 Christian religion 基督教=Christianity E.g. Their interest focused on the subject of religion. 他们的兴趣集中在宗教问题上。
32. stanza ['stænzə] n. 演出期;局;场;诗的一节 E.g. Spenserian stanza was invented by Edmund Spenser. It is a stanza of nine lines, with the first eight lines in iambic pentameter & the last line in iambic hexameter, rhyming ababbcbcc.斯宾塞诗节是由埃德蒙·斯宾塞创造的。斯宾塞体每诗节九行，诗格数不限;前八行是抑扬格五音步(十音节)，第九行是抑扬格六音步(十二音节)，韵律是 ababbcbcc。
33. testament ['testəm(ə)nt] n.圣约;[法] 遗嘱;确实的证明 E.g. The story of Paradise Lost is taken from Old Testament.《失乐园》取自于旧约。
34. viewpoint ['vjuːpɒɪnt] n. 观点，看法;视角 E.g. Shakespeare’s viewpoints on politics: necessity of mighty and just sovereign, and the condemn to the anti-nature and anti-humanism of the feudal
wars—anti-feudalism. 莎士比亚的政治观点:强大公正的统治权，谴责反自然和反人文 主义的封建战争——反封建。
35. criticize ['krɪtɪsaɪz] vt. 批评;评论;非难 vi. 批评;评论;苛求 E.g. In King Lear, Shakespeare has not only made a profound analysis of the social crisis in which the evils can be seen everywhere, but also criticized the bourgeois egoism. 在《李尔王》中，莎士比亚不仅对罪恶随处可见的社会危机进行了深刻分析，同时也批评了资产阶级的利己主义。
