just for fun

　　為什麼某羽會自找麻煩來寫這個東西呢？

　　原因有二：一、太無聊想找自己碴　二、想知道自己這一年到底學了啥鬼東西　

　　在進入正題之前，先來談談英國文學這個東西。

　　什麼是英國文學呢？相信大家只要wiki一下都可以輕鬆找到答案，對於某羽來說，這幾乎是大二必修一堂課時在是相當的擾人。當然，這跟某羽對文學沒啥興趣有幾分的關係。也因為如此，某羽在上課時只能用「混」字形容，到後來甚至連課本都索性不帶了，期中期末考什麼的還得靠班上的大神相就能免於不被當的命運（當時真的很扯啊，基本上考前才知道那段時間上過什麼

　　基於上述這個原因，基本上課本除了之前直屬們的筆記之外，幾乎沒有敝人所留下的任何痕跡，所以如果有有緣人經過的話，也不用太期待下面會出現多麼精美詳細的東西出現，但如果是想臨時抱佛腳的話，我想......或許勉強可以吧（ps:看過後，還是得自己去查證一下，免得被拐了都不知道。

Middle ages

先附上一張時間表

p  43-ca. 420 Roman Invasion and occupation of Britain

p  Ca. 450 Anglo-Saxon Conquest

p  597: St. Augustine arrives in Kent; Beginning of Anglo-Saxon conversion to Christianity

p  871-899 Reign of King Alfred

p  1066: Norman Conquest

p  1154-1189: Reign of Henry II

p  Ca. 1200: Beginnings of Middle English Literature

p  1360-1400: Geoffrey Chaucer; Piers Plowman; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

p  1485 William Caxton’s printing of Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur,

基本上，前面講歷史的地方都會很想要跳過，不過這一年下來發現，考試（選擇部分）不出點歷史的東西，好像也快沒東西可以出了，所以啊，歷史的部分大致還是要了解一下

何謂中古世紀？

Middle Ages(medium devum<Latin>)

From the collapse of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance and Reformation. It rooted in the Christian culture.

Renaissance：It is an outburst of creativity, rebirth or revival of Latin and Greek learning and literature. Italy(14)→spread

Reformation：The powerful religious movement. Germany→

Middle Ages and later time= Early Modern Period

簡單來說呢，中古世紀就是指羅馬滅亡～文藝復興和宗教改革這段時間，也可以被稱做「黑暗時代」，詳細可以參考維基

The Medieval Literature

　The medieval literature ranged from Caedmon’s Hymn, at the end of the 7th century to Everyman at the beginning of the 16th century.

這時期的文學分成三個階段，如下：

Anglo-Saxon Literature (The 5^{th Century} to 1066) ：Old English

Anglo-Norman Literature (1066-the 14th Century)： Four languages—Old French, Middle English, Latin, Celtic

Middle English Literature in the 14th and 15th Centuries：English became the language of official business

下面則是三個時期的對照表格

那接下來，來看看各個時期的差別

the Anglo-Saxon：

1. From the 1st to the 5th Century, England was a province of the Roman Empire and was name Britannia, after its Celtic-speaking inhabitants, the Britons.
2. Three Germanic tribes invaded Britain after the collapse of Roman Empire in the 5th Century—the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes.
3. The Britons were converted to Christianity in the 4th century after the conversion of Emperor Constantine.
4. The Anglo-Saxons began their conversion to Christianity after the arrival of St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597.
5. The impact of Christianity—book production.

(the structure of the “nation”)

• Nations are groups of people related by kinship rather than by geographical areas. Kinship is the basis of the heroic code, and the tribe is ruled by a chieftain who is called king, with “kin” as its root. The lord surrounds himself with a band of retainers (many of them his blood kindred) who are members of his household. The king leads his men in battle and rewards them with the spoils. Royal generosity is one of the most important aspects of heroic behavior. The retainers, in return, are obligated to fight for their lord to the death. And if he is slain, they have to avenge him or die in the attempt.

• Blood vengeance is regarded as a sacred duty, and in poetry, everlasting shame awaits those who fail to observe it.

這時候的國家是建立在一個親屬的關係下，而在這個時期血債血還是當時的信念

the Anglo-Saxon（literature）：

•   Also known as Old English Literature, the language is closely related to other Germanic languages—German and Dutch
•   Literature created by the Anglo-Saxon who invaded Britain around 450.
•   Major literary work: Beowulf

(The condition of writing)

• Before the conversion, there was only a tradition of oral poetry, no written records. After the conversion: the earliest records in English are produced in monasteries. Literature was mainly restricted to servants of God.
• Old English Literature deals with religious subjects, mostly drawn from Latin sources.

(Germanic heroic poetry)

• Germanic heroic poetry (written by Christian) continued to be performed in alliterative verse and was at times used to describe current events. It often writes the heroic world of their ancestors in Northern Europe
•  These poems show that the aristocratic heroic and kinship values of German society continued to inspire both clergy and laity in the Christian era.
• The ways in which Old English poetry demonstrates Christianity overlaps with Germanic heroic codes of conduct are our focus of study, and the pagan’s code of conducts of their ancestors are often in conflict with Christian teaching. (vengeance vs. forgiveness). Heroic acts of vengeance were regarded with both admiration and sympathy.
• Heroic verses are used to describe God, Christ and Moses.
• The Wanderer and The Wife’s Lament blend Christian and heroic ideals.

(特色)

•    Most of Old English poetry is contained in 4 manuscripts
•  Elegiac tone pervades the world of Old English poetry.
•  War is always looming even at times of merry.
•  Lack of romantic love
•  The debased role of women in Old English poetry
•  Multiple terms referring to lord, warrior, spear, shield, and so on.
•  Synecdoche(部分代全部): “keel” is used for ship; Metonymy(換喻): “iron” for sword. ; Kenning: a compound of two words in pace of another: Sea—”whale road”; body—”life house” ; Irony: A grim irony pervades heroic poetry—fighting is called “battle-play” (要回答三個的話則寫前三個)
• The overall effect of the language is to formalize and elevate speech. Instead of being straight forward, it moves at a slow and stately pace with steady indirection.

the Anglo-Norman：

•   After the battle of Hasting (1066), the Normans took possession of England. The earlier Norman Kings of England were often absentee rulers as much concerned with defending their Continental possessions as with ruing over their English possession. Henry II, the first of England’s Plantagenet kings increased his French territories through marriage.
  
• The Normans were descendants of Germanic adventurers, who seized a wide part of northern France at the beginning of the 10th century and they adopted the French language and the Christian religion of the land they settled in.
  
•  Norman—short for “Horsemen”
• Great builders of castle
  

(Linguistic and Cultural Exchange)the four language

•   Latin: the international language of learning, used for theology, science, and history. A lingua franca in different nationalities. (In church and the newly founded universities.
•    French: used by Norman aristocrats, who through intermarriage with the native English nobility become bilingual.  
• (Middle)English used by the native English nobility and commoners.
• Different branches of Celtic language were spoken in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, and Britanny

(Three Romance Writers)

•    Marie de France: Marie wrote a series of short romance called “lays” originally told by bretons.
•   Lanval and Chevrefoil.
•    Thomas of England: Tristran and Isolt
•    Chretien de Troyes

(Anglo-Norman Literature)

•    Anglo-Norman fascination with the legend of King Arthur. He and his knights became a staple subject of medieval French, English and German Literatures.
• Romance was the most important genre at the time, and it was initially applied in French to a work written in the French vernacular.
• It is about love and adventure, Psychological interiority
•    The court of King Arthur was made popular by Marie’s Lanval and Chretien’s romances.
• Geoffrey of Monmouth’s The History of the King of Britain (in Latin, 1136-38) told the reign of King Arthur, who defeats the roman armies but is forced to return to Britain to counter the treachery of his nephew Mordred. His source came from Celtic oral tradition
•   Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain (1136-1138) in Latin
• Wace (An Anglo-Norman poet) translated Monmouth’s work into French rhyme in 1155. 
• Around 1200, Layamon (an English priest) turned Layaman’s translation into English alliterative verse with sporadic rhyme
•   The ethos of romance involves a knight proving his worthiness through nobility of character and brave deeds rather through high birth.

the Middle English literature：

• One-hundred-year war: starting by Edward III in 1336 to enforce his claims to the throne of France, and the result of their defeat in the war intensified the nobility’s identification with England.
•   At the end of the 14th century, English began to replace French as the language for conducting business in Parliament and official correspondence.   
• poem and prose were being written for sophisticated and well educated readers whose primary language was English
• Chaucer writes his works in vernacular (English) indicating the rise of the status of English.

(14^th )

•    There is the Black Death
• Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron; Dante’s The Divine Comedy
•    The church had become the target of popular resentment because it was among of the oppressive landowners and because of the wealth, worldliness and venality of many if the higher clergy
•  Rise of capitalism

Book production and Publication

•    Before Caxton introduced moveable type to England, manuscripts were written on parchment. 
• In the Anglo-Saxon period, monasteries were the main centers of book production and storage. 
• Until their dissolution in the 1530s by Henry VIII, monastic and other religious houses continued to produce books. 
•    But from the early 15th century, commercial book-making business came into being, particularly in London.   

先這樣吧，或許哪天想不開了會想加點中文......基本上在這部分，最主要得掌握的地方就是三個不同時期的差別，以及各個階段的特色。