HUE UNIVERSITY HUE COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES A COURSE OF BRITISH LITERATURE 1 THUA THIEN HUE 2020 CONTENTS Introduction Instructions for using this book A survey of the British Literature UNIT ONE The Passionate Shepherd to His Love By Christopher Marlowe Literary lesson: Tone and Mood UNIT TWO The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd By Sir Walter Raleigh’s Literary lesson: Tone and Mood UINIT THREE Sonnet 18, Sonnet 29 By William Shakespeare Literary lesson: Themes UNIT FOUR Sonnet 43 By Elizabeth Browning Literary lesson: Themes UNIT FIVE Macbeth (Act I, Scene 1) (Act V, Scene 1, Scene 5) By William Shakespeare Literary lesson: dramatic voices UNIT SIX Robinson Crusoe (Chapter 11) By Daniel Defoe Literary lesson: Point of View UNIT SEVEN Frankenstein By Mary Shelley Literary lesson: Irony UNIT EIGHT A Red, Red Rose By Robert Burns Literary lesson: Imagery, Figurative language References INTRODUCTION Rationale Literature is perhaps best seen as a complement to other materials used to increase the foreign learner’s insight into the country whose language is being learnt. The aim of this book, therefore, is to devise ways of making literature a more significant part of a language teaching class and of developing the EFL leaners’ cultural knowledge, language practice, and personal involvement. It can be said that through this book, students have more opportunities to improve their language skills and analysis ability as well as critical thinking. Special features in this book direct students’ attention to the language of literature and the specific literary skills used by the authors.
Scope of the book In the scope of this book, which is designed for 30 - period syllabus, students will have an opportunity to explore a range of eight literary works including five poems, two novels, and a play written by seven famous English authors. These works are chosen both for their literary excellence and for their proven appeal to readers. Particularly, each work is suited to illustrate a literary element taught in the accompanying lessons. It is crucial for students to read a survey of the British literature at the beginning of this book, which will provide more specific literary features and literary movements ranging from the Elizabethan age to the Pre-romantic Age in the history of the British Literature.
This book is followed by the book of British Literature 2- which is designed for 45 period sylabus. The learners are the senior EFL students who have completed the basic language skill courses and may cope with the British Culture Course simultaneously. Objectives The primary purpose of literature teaching in this book is to promote the use of literature as a resource for language teaching with four major objectives: 1. To help EFL students improve four language learning skills, especially reading comprehension skill and critical reading skill.
To provide students with the basic structure and the elements of the literary genres including fiction and poetry. To give students an opportunity to introduce elements of literary style into their own writing. To encourage students to reflect their personal response to what they have learned in the literary works. Compiled by Tran Thanh Ngoc Nguyen Thi Ha Uyen Nguyen Hai Thuy 1 Unit 1: Poem: The Passionate Shepherd to His Love Author: Christopher Marlowe Literary Lesson: Tone and Mood Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was a poet and playwright at the forefront of the 16th- century dramatic renaissance.
His works influenced William Shakespeare and generations of writers to follow. Marlowe was born to John Marlowe and Elizabeth Archer in the cathedral city of Canterbury, and baptised on 26 February 1564. John was a shoemaker, and a notably argumentative man, a characteristic he shared with his son, who was involved in several violent confrontations. In 1589 Marlowe got into a fight, in which a man was killed, and he was briefly imprisoned; in May 1592 he was arrested after a street fight.
In 1578, at about 14, Marlowe was enrolled as a scholar of King’s School in Canterbury, and in 1580 he went to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, on a scholarship given to able scholars who could also, if possible, ‘make a verse’. Around 1585, it is said he started working as a government agent. Marlowe’s theatrical career kicked off in the later 1580s with Tamburlaine the Great, first performed in London in about 1587 to great popular success. A sequel was quickly produced, and the plays were printed together in 1590.
The chronology of the rest of Marlowe’s plays is uncertain, but the first recorded performance of The Jew of Malta was in 1592, and The Massacre at Paris in 1593. The sophisticated and poetic Edward II may be one of Marlowe’s last works. This play’s depiction of a love relationship between two men has often been taken as evidence of Marlowe’s own homosexuality. Another major work from the 1590s is the sensual, homoerotic poem Hero and Leander.
Rumours about Marlowe’s unconventional religious and political beliefs intensified before his death. On 30 May Marlowe was stabbed to death during a fight at a house in Deptford, apparently after an argument about a bill. The real circumstance of Marlowe’s death was not clear so it was considered as a mysterious death in British history.uk/people/christopher-marlowe) 2 The Passionate Shepherd to His Love BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove, That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain yields. And we will sit upon the Rocks, Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow Rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing Madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of Roses And a thousand fragrant posies, A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle; A gown made of the finest wool Which from our pretty Lambs we pull; Fair lined slippers for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold; A belt of straw and Ivy buds, With Coral clasps and Amber studs: And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me, and be my love. The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each May-morning: If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me, and be my love. 3 Comprehension questions For each of the following statements or questions, select the most correct option.How does the shepherd begin his confession of love to the nymph? a. “And we will all the pleasures prove” means: a.
we will prove our love with pleasures b. we will experience our love in pleasures c. we will enjoy all the pleasures together in nature d. we will prove our experience in love 3.
What will they enjoy in their common life if the girl agrees? a. a wealthy and prosperous life b. a happy life forever c. beautiful scenery in the countryside d.
a carefree life full of pleasures and gifts 4. What is the season as implied in the shepherd’s description of the “shallow rivers” and “melodious madrigals”? a. spring or early summer b. the end of summer c.
What literary device is used in the line “Melodious birds sing Madrigals”? a. What is the shepherd most passionate about? a. convincing the girl b. the pleasures in rural life c.
the beauty of nature d. offering gifts to the girl 7. Which of his promises seems far-fetched and unachievable? a. beds of roses b.
thousands of fragrant posies c. a gown made of the finest wool d. gold buckle slippers 4 8. What effect do the superlative adjectives in “the finest wool” and “the purest gold” create? a.
to emphasize the value of his gifts b. to prove his ability to make the girl happy c. to show his passion in love d. to prove that he is rich 9.
Why does the shepherd repeat the pronoun “me” and the possessive determiner “my” in the line: “Then live with me and be my love”? a. to imply how he deserves her b. to emphasize his desire to possess her c. to ensure that she will accept his love d.
to say how much he needs her 10. What does the shepherd NOT mention in his seduction? a. the pleasures they will enjoy together b. the beautiful scenery of nature c.
the consequences of their carefree life d. the way he delights her in May Literary Lesson: Tone and Mood How a poet feels from time to time about the poem he is writing is called the poet’s mood. The poet imparts this mood to readers through the tone he depicts the poem. Tone is called the poet’s attitude, or the reflection of his attitude toward the ideas he is expressing in the poem.
Mood refers to the atmosphere that surrounds a scene. Tone and mood are interactive because both involve feelings. Discussing tone and mood 1. Identify the mood of the speaker.
Marlowe uses rhymes at the end of each pair of lines. What effect does this use of rhymes have on the tone of the poem? 3. What might Marlowe be trying to emphasize with his rhymes? Discussing literary genre 1. Why is Marlowe called a pastoral lyric? How do you picture the shepherd and his love? 2.
What does a pastoral lyric exaggerate? 3. Besides describing the ideal life in the countryside, what else does the poem celebrate? 5 Discussing themes 1. What lifestyle does the shepherd promise to offer his beloved? 2. Do you think the shepherd is a practical person or is he living in illusion? 3.
What does the shepherd not mention in his seductive courtship? 4. What effect is the repetition of the condition said by the shepherd in stanza 5 and 6? (Source:https://quizlet.com/232551582/the-passionate-shepherd-to-his-love-christopher- marlowe-flash-cards/) Writing exercise 1. Describe the attitudes of the shepherd in the poem toward love and toward the future. Support your ideas with reference to the poem.
Compare Marlowe’s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love with the Vietnamese folk poem Tát Nước Đầu Đình in terms of the culture of courtship and the significance of gifts in love. 6 Unit 2: Poem: The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd Author: Walter Raleigh Literary Lesson: Tone and Mood Walter Raleigh (1552? - 1618) was an adventurer, courtier to Elizabeth I, navigator, author and poet. Walter Raleigh was born into a well-connected gentry family at Hayes Barton in Devon in around 1552. He attended Oxford University for a time, fought with the Huguenots in France and later studied law in London.
In 1578, Raleigh sailed to America with explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert, his half brother. This expedition may have stimulated his plan to found a colony there. In 1585, he sponsored the first English colony in America on Roanoke Island (now North Carolina). The colony failed and another attempt at colonisation also failed in 1587.
Raleigh has been credited with bringing potatoes and tobacco back to Britain, although both of these were already known via the Spanish. Raleigh did help to make smoking popular at court. Raleigh first came to the attention of Elizabeth I in 1580, when he went to Ireland to help suppress an uprising in Munster. He soon became a favourite of the queen, and was knighted and appointed captain of the Queen's Guard (1587).
He became a member of parliament in 1584 and received extensive estates in Ireland. In 1592, the queen discovered Raleigh's secret marriage to one of her maids of honour, Elizabeth Throckmorton. This discovery threw Elizabeth into a jealous rage and Raleigh and his wife were imprisoned in the Tower. On his release, in an attempt to find favour with the queen, he set off on an unsuccessful expedition to find El Dorado, the fabled 'Golden Land', rumoured to be situated somewhere beyond the mouth of the Orinoco river in Guiana (now Venezuela).
Elizabeth's successor, James I of England and VI of Scotland, disliked Raleigh, and in 1603 he was accused of plotting against the king and sentenced to death.