第3章　杰弗里?喬叟 (1340～1400)

3.1　復(fù)習筆記

1Chaucer(1340-1400) （喬叟）

(1) Life（生平）

Geoffrey Chaucer, born about in 1340 in London, is the founder of English poetry. He was the son of a wine merchant who had connections with the Court.

Chaucer’s learning was wide in scope. He obtained a good knowledge of Latin, French and Italian. He had broad and intimate acquaintance with persons high and low in all walks of life, and knew well the whole life of his time, which left great impressions upon his works and particularly upon the variegated picture of the English society of his time.

He died in 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, thus founding the “Poets’ Corner”.

杰弗里·喬叟于1340年出生于倫敦，他是英語詩歌的創(chuàng)始者。他是一個與宮廷有聯(lián)系的酒商的兒子。

喬叟知識淵博。他精通拉丁語，法語和意大利語。他結(jié)交廣泛且易與人深交，無論是貴族還是貧民,因此他深諳所處世事。這尤其有益于他的作品中的英國社會的刻畫。

他逝于1400年，被葬在威斯敏斯特教堂，由此建立了“詩人角”。

(2) Chaucer’s Literary Career（文學生平）

Chaucer’s literary career can be divided into three periods, which is closely related to his life experiences. The first period consists of works translated from French; the second consists of works adapted from the Italian, as Troilus and Criseyde. The third period includes The Canterbury Tales, which is purely English.

喬叟的文學生平可劃分為三個階段，這三個階段與其個人生活經(jīng)歷有關(guān)。第一階段喬叟的作品主要是從法語翻譯過來的，第二階段則改編于意大利，如《特洛伊羅斯與克瑞西達》。第三階段包括《坎特伯雷故事集》，這是純英語創(chuàng)作階段。

(3) Chaucer’s Major Works（主要作品）

Troilus and Criseyde《特洛伊羅斯與克瑞西達》

The Canterbury Tales (1387—1400) 《坎特伯雷故事集》

(4) Analysis of Major Works（主要作品分析）

◆Canterbury Tales (1387-1400)《坎特伯雷故事集》

A. Main Plot of The Canterbury Tales（主要情節(jié)）

Twenty-nine travelers set off for Canterbury on a pilgrimage. When they met at the inn, they decided to tell stories one by one. This becomes the content of the story. In The Canterbury Tales, there are 24 tales written, covering all the major types of medieval literature. The stories which the pilgrims tell are well suited to their different characters, ranging from the knight, the monk, the pardoner etc.

29名朝圣者前往坎特伯雷去朝圣。當他們在酒館相遇，他們決定每個人輪流講故事。這些故事就構(gòu)成了《坎特伯雷故事集》中的故事。共有24個故事被寫進故事集，故事涵蓋了中世紀文學的各個方面。每個故事都與講述者的身份相符，講述者包羅各種階層的人，有武士，僧侶，赦罪僧等。

B. Important Parts of The Canterbury Tales（重要部分）

☆“The Prologue”《總序》

The Prologue provides a framework for the tales. All classes of the English feudal society, except the royalty and the poorest peasant, are represented by these pilgrims in the Prologue.

《總序》提供了故事的框架。《總序》的朝圣者中囊括了當時英國封建社會中除了皇族和最底層的農(nóng)民以外的形形色色的人物。

☆“The Wife of Bath”《巴斯婦人》

Chaucer’s keen observation and his unsurpassed talent for characterization are especially showed in his famous “The Wife of Bath”. She is the owner of a cloth factory, lighthearted, merry, vulgar and talkative. She relates the whole story of her married life. She has married five husbands and she expects one or two more.

Through this Bath woman, we may see a very vivid sketch of a woman of the middle class, and a colourful picture of the domestic life of that class in Chaucer’s own day.

通過《巴斯婦人》，讀者可以盡情感受喬叟的細致入微的無人可比的人物塑造天賦。這位婦人是布店的經(jīng)營者，為人開朗樂觀，有時略帶粗俗，喜歡講話。她所講述的是她與五位丈夫的婚史。

通過這位巴斯婦人，我們能夠了解當時中層階級的婦女及家庭生活。

C. Social Significances of The Canterbury Tales（社會影響）

a. It shows a true-to-life picture of Chaucer’s time.

b. Taking from the stand of rising bourgeoisie, Chaucer affirms men and opposes the dogma of asceticism preached by the Church.

c. He praises man’s energy, intellect, quick wit and love of life.

d. His tales expose and satirize the evils of his time, attack degeneration of the noble, the corruption of the Church.

a. 展示喬叟時代的真實生活畫面。

b. 站在發(fā)展中的小資產(chǎn)階級的立場，喬叟肯定了人的力量，反對教會宣揚的禁欲主義。

c. 贊揚了人的力量，智慧和對生活的熱愛。

d. 展現(xiàn)并批判了時代的罪惡，批判了貴族和教會的墮落。

(5) Chaucer’s Language（喬叟的語言）

a. Chaucer’s language, now called Middle English, is vivid and exact. He is a master of word-pictures. His verse is among the smoothest in English.

b. Chaucer’s contribution to English poetry lies chiefly in the fact that he introduced from France the rhymed stanza of various types, especially the heroic couplet to English poetry.

c. Chaucer did much in making the dialect of London the standard for the modern English speech.

d. Chaucer is good at the terza rima, which makes his language a high style. This is what other poets cannot reach.

a. 喬叟的語言屬于中英語，非常形象準確。他是用語言構(gòu)建圖畫的大師。他的詩歌位列最順暢的英語中。

b. 喬叟對英語詩歌的貢獻主要在于他將法國的韻腳重復(fù)的詩節(jié)（尤其是英雄雙韻體）介紹到英國。

c. 喬叟在使倫敦方言成為現(xiàn)代英語的標準中發(fā)揮了重要作用。

d. 喬叟善于使用三行體，這種詩體使他的語言很高雅。這是其他詩人無法匹敵的。

2Ballads（歌謠）

(1) Ballads are oral literature of the English people.

(2) A ballad is a story told in song, usually in 4-line stanzas, with the second and fourth lines rhymed.

(3) The subjects of ballads are various such as the struggle of young lovers against their feudal-minded families, the conflict between love and wealth, the cruelty of jealousy, and the criticism of the civil war.

(4) “Robin Hood” is the most important ballad of that time.

(1) 歌謠是英國人民大眾的口頭文學。

(2) 歌謠是以歌的形式講述的故事，通常由4行組成一節(jié)，其中第二和第四行押韻。

(3) 歌謠內(nèi)容多樣，有關(guān)于年輕愛侶反對封建家長的，有愛情和財富沖突的，有關(guān)于嫉妒殘忍行動的，有批判國內(nèi)戰(zhàn)亂的。

(4) 其中，羅賓漢歌謠是最重要的。

◆Robin Hood（羅賓漢）

① Main Content of the Story（故事主要內(nèi)容）

Robin Hood Ballads have various kinds of types and stories, but in general these ballads deal with Robin Hood and his men in their struggle against the oppressors of one kind or another, for example, bishops, barons and so on.

羅賓漢歌謠有很多版本與故事，但主要的就是羅賓漢與他的伙伴與某一壓迫勢力斗爭的故事，比如與主教，男爵等。

② Analysis of Robin Hood（人物分析）

The character of Robin Hood is many—sided. Strong, brave and clever, he is at the same time tender-hearted and affectionate. He is a man with a twinkle in his eye, a man fond of a very joke and a hearty laugh. But the dominant Key in his character is his hatred for he cruel oppressors and his love for the poor and downtrodden.

羅賓漢是一個具有多面性的角色。他勇敢強壯并且機智，同時他又多情善良。他有雙明亮的眼睛，誠摯的笑容又有幽默感。但角色中最重要的就是他憎恨殘暴的壓迫者，熱愛貧窮的被壓迫者。