poetry - tsinghua university

Poetry

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In the history of English literature, the Medieval Ages (7 AD–15 AD) actually

covered two different periods: the Old English and the Middle English,

with Norman Conquest (1066) as the historic dividing line. As a result of the

Conquest, English language and culture experienced dramatic changes. So the

English medieval period was composed of three periods: Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-

Norman, and the 14th to the 15th century.

In the 5th century, Anglo-Saxon’s invasion of the island of Britain

commenced the English history and the history of English literature. Living

a grim barbarous life, Anglo-Saxons believed in fatalism, yet they were

compensated with endurance and intellectual seriousness. Anglo-Saxons were

finally Christianized in the 7th century. Their conversion to Christianity had a

far-reaching influence upon English literature.

Pagan poetry, an English verse literature in oral form was prevalent before

Anglo-Saxons’ Christianization, and Beowulf, The Seafarer, Deor’s Lament and

The Battle of Maldon are representative works of pagan poetry. After Anglo-

Saxons’ conversion to Christianity, Christian poetry embarked on English literary

stage. Among others, Caedmon, noted for his first poem entitled Hymn in praise

of the Creator, has been regarded as the father of English songs. While Christ,

Juliana, the Fates of the Apostles and Elene made Cynewulf a prominent Anglo-

Saxon poet.

The Norman Conquest brought the feudal system to English society and

transformed English into a hierarchical language with Norman-French being the

official language of the Conquerors on the top, and English being the tongue

of ordinary mass at the bottom; and Latin, being the evocable medium of the

English Poetry Before Renaissance Period

Part 1

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English Poetry Before Renaissance PeriodPoetry

clergy in the midst of the two. Meanwhile, a more civilized Continental Europe

gradually came into being. Romance, a dominant literary form during Anglo-

Norman period, flourished for about three hundred years (1200–1500), and its

subject matters mainly fell on the Matter of France, the Matter of Rome and the

Matter of Britain.

The 14th century was traditionally called the Age of Chaucer. Widely

acclaimed as the founding father of English poetry, Geoffrey Chaucer established

English as the language of English literature. The Canterbury Tales, the

monumental work of English poetry, written in iambic pentameter, ushers in

humanistic ideals. Besides, William Langland and John Gower were two other

leading poets in the 14th century. Piers Plowman, written in the form of a dream

vision, shows Langland’s severe satire toward the corruption of the church, his

deep sympathy for the suffering of the poor and his eulogy of the honest labor.

Immersed in a series of wars, many nobles responsible for patronizing art

and literature got killed on the battlefield, which led to the damage of the 15th-

century literature. However, a group of poets following Chaucer, including

John Lydgate, John Skelton, James I, the king of Scotland, and William Dunbar

deserve our attention. Meanwhile, folk literature, especially ballads enjoyed a

high popularity, and Ballads of Robin Hood, a series of stories focusing on a

legendary outlaw named Robin Hood are doubtlessly the most renowned of this

kind.

Chapter 1 Anglo-Saxon Poetry

1. BeowulfPagan poetry dominated the Anglo-Saxon poetry writing before they were Christianized

in the 7th century, and Beowulf has been generally recognized as the greatest of Germanic epics that survived and the masterpiece of Pagan poetry. Written by Anglo-Saxons before their invasion of England, the epic of 3182 lines comes from the folk legends of the primitive Germanic tribes, and is divided into two parts.

The first part is about Beowulf’s triumph over the monster Grendel and his mother in Hrothgar’s hall. Beowulf is the nephew of Hygelac, King of the Geats, and hearing from Hrothgar, King of the Danes, that the land is devastated by a cruel monster named

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英国文学简史与选读A Short History of British Literature and Selected Readings

Grendel who visits the hall made by Hrothgar and kills thirty warriors within twelve years, Beowulf, with fourteen companions, sails to Denmark and promises to get rid of the monster. At night, Grendel appears and kills one of Beowulf’s men. The monster is immune from weapon, so Beowulf has to fight against him barehanded. With extraordinary strength, Beowulf finally wrenches off one of Grendel’s arms, and the monster dies soon. However, on the following night, Grendel’s mother breaks into the hall to take revenge for her son’s death. Carrying away Hrothgar’s best friend, the female monster inevitably leaves a bloody trail through which Beowulf and his warriors come to the edge of a lake. Jumping into the lake, Beowulf finds the female monster and ultimately slays her with a huge sword he happens to find. Richly

and generously rewarded by the Danes, Beowulf and his courageous men go back to their motherland in triumph. The second part of the epic depicts Beowulf’s glory over the fire dragon. Now, Beowulf has reigned over his kingdom as the king for fifty years. Then an evil fi re dragon comes out of its den and sets out its fi re to burn the land and people living there. Hearing the sad news, though aged, Beowulf again embarks on his journey to fi ght against the dragon with eleven chosen warriors. Tragically, all his companions run for their lives except his nephew Wiglaf. With Wiglaf’s help, Beowulf defeats the dragon; however, he is seriously injured, too. After his death, people come round to mourn and commemorate Beowulf, the greatest king, and Wiglaf becomes the new king of this land.

A masterpiece of epic, Beowulf highly praises the heroic deeds of ancient brave men, and refl ects the features of the tribal society of ancient times. In terms of poetic form, Beowulf is full of alliterations with emphatic stress. Besides, Beowulf displays mastery of a metaphor and understatement.

2. Christian PoetryChristian poetry came into horizon after Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity, and

Anglo-Saxon poetry is particularly Christian. Caedmon and Cynewulf are two literary giants of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Caedmon, the fi rst known poet in English literary history, has been acknowledged the father of English songs. Venerable Bede’s Historic Ecclesiastic offers an elaborate documentary of Caedmon’s biography including how he wrote his fi rst poem Hymn, a eulogy of the Creator in nine lines. Cynewulf, the second greatest Anglo-Saxon poet, was neglected for a long time and it was in the mid-19th century that the great value of his work was discovered, and among others Christ, Juliana, The Fates of the Apostles and Elene are probably the best known.

Approximate central regions of tribes mentioned in Beowulf, with the location of the Angles in Angeln. See Scandza for details of Scandinavia’s political fragmentation in the 6th century.

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Chapter 2 Anglo-Norman Poetry: The RomanceWilliam Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, defeated the English at Hastings in 1066.

England was thus subjected to the ruling of William. The Norman Conquest brought about substantial changes to England. Politically, England became a feudal kingdom; culturally, English language was transformed into a blending co-existence among three different languages, which echoes the existing hierarchies in the society on the one hand, and multiplies English vocabulary on the other hand. More importantly, infl uenced by the dominant French Cultural, England became more civilized and sophisticated in various ways.

During the Anglo-Norman period, Romance enjoyed a high popularity between the 12th century and the 15th century. The subject-matters of the Romance mainly came from three sources: first, the Matter of France, focusing on Charlemagne and his twelve peers and Chanson de Roland being the best known; second, the Matter of Rome, centering on the heroic deeds of Alexander the Great and the tales of Trojan War and tales of Thebes; fi nally, the Matter of Britain, drawing inspiration from the legendary stories about king Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight being the most famous of this type of Romance.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1370), written in the form of verse of more than 2,500 lines, talks about Sir Gawain’s adventure to the Green Chapel and his fi ghting with the Green Knight. On New Year’s Day, while King Arthur entertaining his knights, a knight in green riding a horse enters the hall with a battle-axe in hand to challenge these knights whoever dares to blow him with the battle-axe with a premise that a return stroke should be given at the Green Chapel on next New Year’s Day. At fi rst no knight dares to answer the challenge, and then Sir Gawain, the nephew of King Arthur accepts it, and sends the head of the Green Knight rolling through the hall. Then the Green Knight, who turns out to be a magician, picks up his head and rises on his horse leaving a warning that Sir Gawain should keep promise to come to the Green Chapel next New Year’s day, where he will return the blow.

According to their appointment, before the next New Year’s Day comes, Sir Gawain embarks on the journey for the Green Chapel and the Green Knight, a journey full of dangers. However, he neither fi nds the chapel nor the knight. What’s worse, he gets lost in a forest on Christmas Eve. Fortunately, he is received by a warm-hearted family living in a big green castle, and the host and the hostess are so hospitable that they invite Sir Gawain to stay in the castle for three days. Then the host makes a three-day compact with him. According to the compact, the host goes out hunting each day, while Gawain entertains the hostess in the castle, and in the evening, they exchange their gains during the day. On the fi rst day when the host goes out hunting, the charming hostess seduces Gawain, yet gets refused. So, she kisses Gawain instead. At night, the host gives Sir Gawain his quarry and Gawain gives the hostess’ kiss back to her husband. On the second day, the same thing takes place again, so in the evening Gawain returns the kiss to the host. On the last day, the

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hostess gives Sir Gawain three things: a kiss, a ring and a magic girdle. Gawain refuses the ring, but accepts the other two, for the hostess tells Gawain that the girdle can save his life if he wears it. At night, Gawain returns the kiss to the host, but says nothing about the girdle as he promised to the hostess.

On the fourth day, the host brings Gawain to the Green Chapel, but the host disappears once they arrive at the chapel. When Gawain approaches it, he fi nds that the Green Knight is sharpening his new axe. Keeping faithful to their appointment, Gawain protrudes his neck for the stroke; however, twice he cannot be wounded. When the third stroke hits on his shoulder, he is slightly injured. Then the Green Knight reveals the truth to Gawain that he is actually the host of the Green Castle, and Gawain is twice saved from the blows because of his faithfulness to the compact and twice giving back the kiss. However, Gawain broke the compact and did not return the girdle, so he is doomed to get hurt by the last stroke. Full of shame, Gawain throws back the girdle to compensate for his cheating. But the Green Knight advises him to keep the girdle as a gift. So when Sir Gawain returns to his kingdom, King Arthur orders each knight to wear a green girdle to keep Gawain’s lesson in mind.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is characterized by sophisticated and chivalrous emotion, delicate description of landscape, and sympathetic understanding of human feeling. It is written in an elaborate stanza combining meter and alliteration. At the end of each stanza, there is a rhyming refrain.

Chapter 3 Geoffrey Chaucer

1. Life story and worksG e o f f r e y C h a u c e r ( 1 3 4 0 – 1 4 0 0 , 杰弗里 •乔

叟), regarded as the father of English poetry, was versat i le and gained fame as poet, phi losopher, alchemist and astronomer. His father was a wine merchant. His early life was nothing extraordinary. At the age of nineteen, he went to France for one of the campaigns of the Hundred Years’ War, and was taken prisoner. Luckily, he got released with the ransom paid by the king. In the following years, Chaucer made a wide travelling in Europe, especially to France, Spain, and Flanders. Around 1366, he married Philippa and became connected with the noble. Chaucer studied law, and then in 1367 he became a member of the royal court of Edward III. The Book of

the Duchess (1369–1374), Chaucer’s fi rst representative work, was an elegy for Blanche of Lancaster who died in 1369. In 1373, his Italian trip provided an opportunity for him to

Geoffrey Chaucer

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contact with Petrarch or Boccaccio. Chaucer made a living by serving as a comptroller of the customs for the port of London between 1374 and 1386, and completed Anelida and Arcite and The House of Fame. Around 1380s, Chaucer began his writing on The Canterbury Tales, a series of stories narrated by various fi ctional pilgrims on the way to the cathedral at Canterbury. He became a Member of Parliament for Kent in 1386 and was granted an annual pension of twenty pounds by Richard II in 1394. However, with the overthrow of his patron, Richard II, in 1399, Chaucer’s name faded from the historical record. After his death in 1400, he was buried in Westminster Abbey, thus founding the “Poets’ Corner”.

2. CommentsCoinciding with his rich life experiences, Chaucer’s literary career sometimes can be

neatly divided into three periods. Firstly, the French phase represented by The Romaunt of the Rose, a translation from French, shows Chaucer’s focus on meter, language and subject. Secondly, the Italian phase represented by Troilus and Criseyde, an adaption from the Italian literary trend, shows his creativeness by borrowing foreign themes. Thirdly, the English phase with the creation of The Canterbury Tales in English with distinctive subject, description of characters and intriguing plot establishes his reputation. As the founding father of English poetry, his effort to establish English as the language of literature is an indispensible part in shaping the English vernacular tradition. Meanwhile, his introduction of various French rhymed stanzas, especially the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter is of importance to the development of English poetry. The Canterbury Tales, the monumental work of English poetry, is exemplary of iambic pentameter. More importantly, The Canterbury Tales with its strikingly realistic color in narrative praises such spirit of the rising bourgeoisie as its advocating men’s right to pursue earthly happiness, and the ideas of humanism.

3. Selected poemThe General Prologue1

(excerpt)

When the sweet showers of April fall and shootDown through the drought of March to pierce the root,Bathing every vein2 in liquid powerFrom which there springs the engendering3 of the flower,When also Zephyrus4 with his sweet breath 5Exhales an air in every grove and heathUpon the tender shoots, and the young sun

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His half-course in the sign of the Ram has run,5 And the small fowls are making melodyThat sleep away the night with open eye 10(So nature pricks6 them and their heart engages)The people long to go on pilgrimagesAnd palmers7 long to seek the stranger strandsOf far-off saints, hallowed in sundry8 lands, And specially, from every shire’s end9 15In England, down to Canterbury10 they wend11

To seek the holy blissful martyr12, quickIn giving help to them when they were sick.

It happened in that season that one dayIn Southwark13, at The Tabard14, as I lay 20Ready to go on pilgrimage and startFor Canterbury, most devout at heart,At night there came into that hostelry15

Some nine and twenty in a companyOf sundry folk happening then to fall 25In fellowship, and they were pilgrims allThat towards Canterbury meant to ride. The rooms and stables of the inn were wide16,They made us easy17, all was of the best. And shortly, when the sun had gone to rest, 30By speaking to them all upon the tripI was admitted to their fellowshipAnd promised to rise early and take the wayTo Canterbury, as you heard me say.

But none the less, while I have time and space, 35Before my story takes a further pace18,It seems a reasonable thing to sayWhat their condition was, the full array19,

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Of each of them, as it appeared to me, According to profession and degree20, 40And what apparel21 they were riding in; And at a knight I therefore will begin.

Notes 1 The excerpt taken here is the first 42 lines of the Prologue. What follows is the introduction

to the individual pilgrims. This is a modern verse translation by Nevill Coghill faithfully preserving Chaucer’s original form—the heroic couplet (lines of iambic pentameter in rhymed couplet). Please read some original lines and compare Coghill’s translation:

Whan that April with his showeres soote The droughte of March has perced to the And bathed every reine in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flowr. 2 vein: rib of a leaf.3 engendering: budding or springing up.4 Zephyrus: the west wind.5 the young sun / His half-course in the sign of the Ram has run: It is the time after

the eleventh of April. 6 pricks: stimulates.7 palmers: pilgrims to foreign countries.8 sundry: (archaic) diverse, diff erent.9 from every shire’s end: from the farthest place in every shire (county).10 Canterbury: a town southeast of London; on the road to Dover. Canterbury became a shrine

after Thomas à Becket was murdered. 11 wend: (archaic) go. 12 the holy blissful martyr: Thomas à Becket, a close friend of HenryⅡbefore becoming the

archbishop of Canterbury. He later quarreled with king HenryⅡwho wanted to deprive the church courts of some power. At the hint of HenryⅡ, four knights went to Canterbury and murdered Thomas. Thomas was later regarded as a martyr and saint. His tomb at Canterbury became a shrine.

13 Southwark: a suburb of London. 14 The Tabard: an inn at Southwark.15 hostelry: an inn. 16 wide: spacious.17 easy: feel comfortable.18 takes a further pace: proceeds or goes further.19 the full array: dress and appearance.20 degree: social rank.21 apparel: (archaic) clothing.

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Appreciation “The General Prologue”, as a general framework of The Canterbury Tales, offers the

background knowledge of the coming events which would be given a detailed and vivid description in this long poem, and provides striking sketches of the typical medieval figures. Meanwhile, it also bridges each individual story.

Chinese translation

序言

四月喜雨降落，渗透万物，

赶走三月干旱，直抵植物根部，

液体伟力把叶子每一脉络浇灌，

使得百花顿开，令春意盎然。

西风徐来，清香横溢，

园林复苏，荒野变绿，

嫩叶青青，红日初升，

显示已是四月中旬。

小鸟儿们啼声婉转，

夜里睡觉也睁着双眼——

大自然激发万物，占据心房，

人们渴望去朝拜焚香。

朝圣者渴望远征异地，

那里圣人神化并遥居。

尤其是，从英格兰东西南北，

他们赶往坎特伯雷，

去朝圣神圣的殉道者旧教主，

他毫不犹豫地帮助病人康复。

就是那个季节的那么一天，

我投宿萨瑟克的泰巴旅店，

准备去赶路，出发去朝圣，

就去坎特伯雷，心里最虔诚，

那天夜里又来了好多人，

他们共有二十九人，

他们来自各行和各业，

碰巧结伴，他们都是朝圣者，

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