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1、PartOneIntroductionChapterOneBriefIntroductiontoBritishandAmericanPoetryTheearliestEnglishpoemsappearedintheAnglo-SaxonperiodwhichexperiencedaBooklessAge.Englishliteraturewasalmostexclusivelyaverseliteratureinoralform.TheoldestspecimenswhichnowexistarefoundintheExeterBookcontainingth
2、efollowingpoemsWidsith,Doer’sLament,TheWandererandTheSea-Farer,TheBattleofMaldon.ByfarthemostsignificantpoemoftheAnglo-SaxonAge,however,isBeowulfwhichistheoldestpoemandtheoldestsurvivingepicintheEnglishlanguage.ItistherepresentativeworkofPaganpoetry.Thepoemdescendedfromgenerationtoge
3、nerationinoralform,sungbybardsattheendofthesixthcentury.Thepresentmanuscriptwaswrittendowninthe10thcenturyorattheendofthe9thcentury.ThecharacteristicsofAnglo-Saxonpoetryaretheabundantuseofmetaphor,understatementandalliterativemeter.AtthesametimeanumberofChristianpoetsappeared.Themost
4、well-knownwereCaedmonandCynewulf.TheychieflytooktheirsubjectmatterfromtheBible,buttheirwritingstyleswerealmostthesameasAnglo-Saxonpoetry.TheNormanConquestin1066broughtforwardaliteraryrevolution.ThankstotheFrenchinfluence,thelanguageandliterarytasteexperiencedanenormouschange.Anewlite
5、raryformnamed“romance”becameprevailing.Romancedealtmainlywithperilousadventuresaboutcourageousknights’devotiontothekingandchurch.SirGawainandtheGreenKnightisthemostcharmingandenduringexample.ThefirstharvestinEnglishliteraturewasinthe14thcentury,inwhichseveralremarkablepoetslived,such
6、asGeoffreyChaucer,WilliamLangland,JohnGowerandJohnWycliff.Amongthem,Chaucertoweredaboveallandbecametherepresentativeofthiscentury.Hehaswonthetitleof“theFatherofEnglishpoetry.”The15thcenturywasanagefullofwarswhichgreatlyaffectedthedevelopmentofliterature.Therewerenogreatnamesinpoetryb
7、utagroupofChaucerians.SothefifteenthcenturyinEnglishliteratureistraditionallydescribedasthebarrenage.Yetinthisbarrenage,balladsbecamepopular,forexample,LordRandal,GlasgerionandRobinHood.Englishpoetryinthe16thcenturyachievedanageofitsprosperity.UnderthereignofQueenElizabethpoetrywriti
8、ngbecameafas
