a. The part one is organized as dialogue with mariner depicting his philosophy.
b. The part two is a description of the island kingdom where gold and silver are worn by criminal, religious freedom is total and no one owns anything.
c. the nature of the book: attackigogo time.
d. the book and the Republic: an attempt to describe the Republic in a new way, but it possesses an modern character and the resemblance is in externals.
e. it played a key role in the Humanist awakening of the 16th century which moved away from the Medieval otherworldliness towards Renaissance secularism.
f. the Utopia
(3) the significance.
a. it was the first champion of national ideas and national languages; it created a national prose, equally adapted to handling scientific and artistic material.
b. a elegant Latin scholar and the father of English prose: he composed works in English, translated from Latin into English biography, wrote History of Richard III.
2. Francis Bacon: writer, philosopher and statesman
(1) life: Cambridge - humanism in Paris – knighted - Lord Chancellor – bribery - focusing on philosophy and literature.
(2) philosophical ideas: advancement of science—people:servants  and interpreters of nature—method: a child before nature—facts and observations: experimental.
(3) “Essays”: 57.
a. he was a master of numerous and varied styles.
b. his method is to weigh and balance maters, indicating the ideal course of action and the practical one, pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of each, but leaving the reader  to make the final decisions. (arguments)
IV.                 English Drama
1. A general survey.
(1) Everyman marks the beginning of modern drama.
(2) two influences.
a. the classics: classical in form and English in content;
b. native or popular drama.
(3) the University Wits.
2. Christopher Marlowe: greatest playwright before Shakespeare and most gifted of the Wits.
(1) Life: first igogoical poetry—then in drama.
(2) Major works
a. Tamburlaine;
b. The Jew of Malta;
c. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.
(3) The significance of his plays.
V.                 William Shakespeare
        1. Life
(1) 1564, Stratford-on-Avon;
(2) Grammar School;
(3) Queen visit to Castle;
(4) marriage to Anne Hathaway;
(5) London, the Globe Theatre: small part and proprietor;
(6) the 1st Folio, Quarto;
(7) Retired, son—Hamnet; H. 1616.
2. Dramatic career
3. Major plays-men-centered.
(1) Romeo and Juliet--tragic love and fate
(2) The Merchant of Venice.
Good over evil.
Anti-Semitism.
(3) Henry IV.
National unity.
Falstaff.
(4) Julius Caesar
Republicanism vs. dictatorship.
(5) Hamlet
Revenge
Good/evil.
(6) Othello
Diabolic character
jealousy
gap between appearance and reality.
(7) King Lear
Filial ingratitude
(8) Macbeth
Ambition vs. fate.
(9) Antony and Cleopatra.
Passion vs. reason
(10) The Tempest
Reconciliation; reality and illusion.
3. Non-dramatic poetry
(1) Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece.
(2) Sonnets:
   a. theme: fair, true, kind.
  b. two major parts: a handsome young man of noble birth; a lady in dark complexion.
   c. the form: three quatrains and a couplet.
d. the rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg.
VI.         Ben Jonson
1. life: poet, dramatist, a Latin and Greek scholar, the “literary king” (Sons of Ben)
2.contribution:
(1) the idea of “humour”.
(2) an advocate of classical drama and  a forerunner of classicism in English literature.
3. Major plays
(1) Everyone in His Humour—”humour”; three unities.
(2) Volpone the Fox
Chapter 4 English Literature of the 17th Century(王政复辟时期)
I.        A Historical Background
II.     The Overview of the Literature (1640-1688)
1. The revolution period
(1) The metaphysical poets;
(2) The Cavalier poets.
(3) Milton: the literary and philosophical heritage of the Renaissance merged with Protestant political and moral conviction
2. The restoration period.
(1) The restoration of Charles II ushered in a literature characterized by reason, moderation, good taste, deft management, and simplicity. (school of Ben Jonson)