PART ONE EARLY AND MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LITERATURE 1
CHAPTERS 1
1.The Making of England 1
The Britons， 1
The Roman Conquest， 1
The English Conquest， 2
The Social Condition of the Anglo-Saxons， 2
Anglo-Saxon Religious Belief and Its Influence， 2
2.Beowulf 3
Anglo-Saxon Poetry， 3
The Story of Beowulf， 3
Analysis of Its Content， 4
Features of Beowulf， 5
3.Feudal England 5
The Danish Invasion， 5
The Norman Conquest， 5
The Influence of the Norman Conquest on the English Language， 6
Social Feature of the Feudal England， 6
The Miseries of the Peasants， 7
The Rising of 1381， 7
The Content of the Romance， 8
The Romance Cycles， 8
The Class Nature of the Romance， 9
Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur， 9
4.Langland 11
Piers the Plowman and Its Author， 11
A Picture of Feudal England， 11
Artistic Features， 15
5.The English Ballads 16
Oral Literature， 16
The Ballads， 17
The Robin Hood Ballads， 17
6.Chaucer 19
Life， 19
Chaucer’s Literary Career， 21
Troilusand Criseyde， 21
The Canterbury Tales（1387—1400）， 22
PART TWO THE ENGLISH RENAISSANCE 27
CHAPTERS 27
1.Old England in Transition 27
The New Monarchy， 27
The Reformation， 27
The English Bible， 28
The Enclosure Movement， 29
The Commercial Expansion， 30
The War with Spain， 30
The Renaissance and Humanism， 30
William Caxton， 31
The Beginning of the English Renaissance， 32
2.More 32
Life， 32
Utopia， 33
Utopia，Book One， 33
Utopia，Book Two， 35
More’s Limitations， 37
Engels on the Renaissance， 37
3.The Flowering of English Literature 38
The Flourishing of Literature， 38
Sidney and Raleigh， 39
Edmund Spenser， 40
John Lyly， 43
Francis Bacon， 44
4.Drama 46
The Miracle Play， 46
The Morality Play， 47
The Interlude， 47
The Classical Drama， 47
The London Theatre， 47
The Audience， 48
The Playwrights， 49
5.Marlowe 50
Life， 50
Work， 51
Doctor Faustus， 52
Social Significance of Marlowe’s Plays， 54
Marlowe’s Literary Achievement， 55
6.Shakespeare 55
Life， 55
A Chronological List of Shakespeare’s Plays， 59
Periods of Shakespeare’s Dramatic Composition， 60
The Great Comedies， 67
The Mature Histories， 70
The Great Tragedies， 80
Hamlet， 84
The Later Comedies， 89
The Poems， 90
Features of Shakespeare’s Drama， 91
7.Ben Jonson 93
PART THREE THE PERIOD OF THE ENGLISH BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION 97
CHAPTERS 97
1.The English Revolution and the Restoration 97
The Weakening of the Tie Between Monarchy and Bourgeoisie， 97
The Clashes Between the King and Parliament， 97
The Outburst of the English Revolution， 98
The Split within the Revolutionary Camp， 98
The Bourgeois Dictatorship and the Restoration， 98
The Religious Cloak of the English Revolution， 99
Literature of the Revolution Period， 99
2.Milton 100
Life and Work， 100
Paradise Lost， 107
Samson Agonistes， 110
Brief Summary， 111
3.Bunyan 112
Life， 112
The Pilgrim’s Progress， 114
4.Metaphysical Poets and Cavalier Poets 116
John Donne， 116
George Herbert， 118
Andrew Marvell， 118
Henry Vaughan， 119
5.Some Prose-Writers 120
Robert Burton， 120
Thomas Browne， 120
Jeremy Taylor， 121
IzaakWalton， 121
6.Restoration Literature 122
Restoration Comedy， 122
John Dryden， 124
PART FOUR THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 126
CHAPTERS 126
1.The Enlightenment and Classicism in English Literature 126
The Enlightenment and 18th Century England， 126
Classicism， 128
2.Addison and Steele 128
Steele and The Tatler， 128
Addison and The Spectator， 130
3.Pope 134
Life， 134
Work， 135
Workmanship and Limitation， 137
4.Swift 138
Early Life， 138
A Tale of a Tub and The Battle of the Books， 139
Bickersta f f Almanac（1708）， 140
Gulliver’s Travels， 140
Pamphlets on Ireland， 143
Illness and Death， 144
Swift’s Style， 145
5.Defoe and the Rise of the English Novel 146
The Rise of the English Novel， 146
Defoe， 147
Defoe’s Novels， 149
Robinson Crusoe， 150
6.Richardson 153
7.Fielding 156
Life， 156
Fielding as a Playwright， 157
Joseph Andrews， 159
Jonathan Wild， 162
Tom Jones， 164
Summary， 168
8.Smollett and Sterne 171
Smollett， 171
Sterne， 174
9.18th Century Drama and Sheridan 176
18th Century English Drama， 176
Sheridan， 178
10.Johnson 180
Life， 180
Johnson’s Dictionary， 181
Boswell’s Life of Johnson， 183
11.Goldsmith 183
Life， 183
Work， 184
12.Gibbon 189
Life， 189
The Decline and Fall o f the Roman Empire， 190
13.Sentimentalism and Pre-Romanticism in Poetry 192
Sentimentalism in English Poetry， 192
Pre-Romanticism， 193
14.Blake 195
Life， 195
Songs o f Innocence（1789）and Songs of Experience（1794）， 197
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell（1790）， 200
Blake’s Position in English Literature， 201
15.Burns 201
Life， 201
The Poetry of Burns， 203
Features of Burns’ Poetry， 208
PART FIVE ROMANTICISM IN ENGLAND 210
CHAPTERS 210
1.The Romantic Period 210
2.Wordsworth 212
3.Coleridge and Southey 217
Coleridge， 217
Southey， 221
4.Byron 222
Life， 222
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage， 226
Don Juan， 228
5.Shelley 232
Life， 232
Queen Mab， 235
The Revolt o f Islam， 237
Prometheus Unbound， 238
The Masque of Anarchy and Other Political Lyrics， 239
Lyrics on Nature and Love， 240
A Defence of Poetry， 243
6.Keats 244
Life， 244
Long Poems， 246
Short Poems， 250
7.Lamb 253
Life， 254
Lamb’s Literary Career， 255
The Essays of Elia， 256
8.Hazlitt and Leigh Hunt 258
Hazlitt， 258
Leigh Hunt， 262
9.De Quincey 263
10.Scott 265
Life， 265
His Historical Novels， 266
Features of Scott’s Historical Novels， 269
PART SIX ENGLISH CRITICAL REALISM 271
CHAPTERS 271
1.The Rise of Critical Realism in England 271
Social Background， 271
Chartist Movement and Chartist Literature， 272
English Critical Realism， 276
2.Dickens 277
Dickens’ Novels， 280
The First Period（1836—1841）， 280
The Second Period（1842—1850）， 287
The Third Period（1851—1870）， 295
Dickens：Man and Writer， 300
3.Thackeray 303
Life and Work， 303
Vanity Fair：A Novel Without a Hero， 305
4.Some Women Novelists 308
Jane Austen， 309
The Bronte Sisters， 310
Mrs.Gaskell， 314
George Eliot， 316
PART SEVEN PROSE-WRITERS AND POETS OF THE MID AND LATE 19TH CENTURY 321
CHAPTERS 321
1.Carlyle 321
Thomas Carlyle， 321
SartorResartus， 323
The French Revolution， 324
Heroes and Hero-Worship， 325
Past and Present， 325
Carlyle as a Literary Critic， 326
Engels on Carlyle， 326
2.Ruskin and Some Other Prose-Writers 327
Ruskin， 327
Arnold， 331
Macaulay， 334
3.Tennyson 336
Tennyson’s Life and Career， 336
In Memoriam， 337
The Idylls of the King， 339
4.The Brownings 341
Browning’s Early Life and Career， 341
Elizabeth Barrett （Mrs.Browning）， 342
Browning’s Main Achievement in Poetry， 344
Browning’s Short Lyrics， 345
5.The Rossettis and Swinburne 348
Dante Gabriel Rossetti， 348
Christina Georgina Rossetti（1830—1894）， 351
Fitzgerald’s Rubaiyat， 353
Algernon Charles Swinburne， 355
6.William Morris 356
Life， 357
A Dream o f John Ball， 359
News from Nowhere， 360
7.Literary Trends at the End of the Century 364
Naturalism， 364
Neo-Romanticism， 365
Aestheticism， 367
PART EIGHT TWENTIETH CENTURY ENGLISH LITERATURE 371
CHAPTERS 371
1.The New Century：Social and Historical Background 371
2.English Novel of Early 20th Century 372
The Realists， 373
Kipling，Bennett and Conrad， 374
Henry James， 376
Katharine Mansfield， 377
3.Hardy 378
Life and Work， 378
Tess of the D’Urbervilles， 379
Jude the Obscure， 380
4.Galsworthy 381
Life and Work， 381
The Forsyte Saga 382
5.The Irish Dramatic Movement 384
The Abbey Theatre and Lady Gregory， 384
J.M.Synge， 385
O’Casey， 385
6.Bernard Shaw 386
Life， 386
Dramatic Work， 388
Mrs.Warren’s Profession， 389
Major Barbara， 391
Heartbreak House， 393
7.Some Poets of Early 20th Century 394
8.Modernism in Poetry 396
Imagism， 396
W.B.Yeats， 396
T.S.Eliot， 399
9.The Psychological Fiction 402
D.H.Lawrence， 403
The “Stream of Consciousness” School of Novel， 405
James Joyce， 406
Virginia Woolf， 408
10.Robert Tressell：A Working-Class Novelist 411
11.Marxist Literary Criticism 415
Ralph Fox and The Novel and the People， 415
Christopher Caudwell， 418
Other Marxist Critics， 420
PART NINE POETS AND NOVELISTS WHO WROTE BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR 421
CHAPTERS 421
1.Social and Historical Background 421
2.W.H.Auden 423
3.Dylan Thomas 430
4.Hugh MacDiarmid 434
5.E.M.Forster 442
6.Evelyn Waugh 445
7.Graham Greene 448
8.Aldous Huxley 451
Point Counter Point， 452
Brave New World， 452
9.George Orwell 454
10.William Golding 456
11.Doris Lessing 459