Part Five: Romanticism in England
the Age of Poetry
Teaching Arrangement:
I. Historical Background
II. Romanticism
III. A. poets
1. Escapist romanticists / Lake Poets(湖畔派诗人) (William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey)
2. active romanticists /demonic group/Satanic school (撒旦派) (George Gordon Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats)
B. essayists (Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, Thomas De Quincey)
C. novelist (Walter Scott)
I. Historical Background
(1) Industrial Revolution —transformed Britain from agricultural to industrial country, responsible for the change in the pattern of social life and the worsening of social contradictions;?
(2) American revolution in 1775— the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, with its emphasis on individual rights;
(3) The French revolution in 1789 —introduced the democratic ideals: liberty, equality and fraternity for everybody;
(4)the abolition of slavery in the British colonies;
(5) the introduction of system of national education;
(6)the Factory Acts《工厂法案》 by which the employment of children under nine was forbidden by the law.
(7) Lyrical Ballads, 《抒情歌谣集》 a collection of poem by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, published in 1798, which marked the start of Romanticism as a literary trend.
II. English Romanticism
1. definition—English Romanticism is generally said to have began in 1798 with the publication of Wordsworth & Coleridge‘s Lyrical Ballads and to have ended in 1832 with Sir Walter Scott’s death and the passage of the first Reform Bill《改革法案》 in the Parliament.
English Romanticism is a revolt of the English imagination against the neoclassical reason. The French Revolution of 1789-1794 and the English Industrial Revolution exert great influence on English Romanticism.
Romanticists show in their works their profound dissatisfaction with the social reality and their deep hatred for any political tyranny, economic exploitation and any form of oppression, feudal or bourgeois. In the realm of literature, they revolt against reason, rules, regulation, objectivity, common senses, etc. and emphasize the value of feelings, intuition, freedom, nature, subjectivism, individuality, originality, imagination, etc.
2. The features of the Romantic writings:
1)? Dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society.
2) Their writings filled with strong-willed heroes or even titanic images, formidable events and tragic situations, powerful conflicting passions and exotic pictures.
3) pay attention to spiritual and emotional life of man. Most works are supernatural and full of imagination.
4) interest in the past, the unusual, the unfamiliar, the bizarre
5) strong desire to escape from the reality.
6) concerned much about the influence of nature.
7) Their writings free from any rules, they fight against the tenure of new classicism: order, harmony, balance, reason. They ask for the freedom of expression.
8) A feeling of loneliness & a note of melancholy
8) The glorification of the commonplace--- the aim of good poetry is “to choose incidents and situations from common life” and to use a “selection of language really spoken by men”, and to awaken in the reader “freshness of sensation” in the presentation of “familiar objects”.
9) characterized by 5 “I”s: Imagination, Intuition, Idealism, Inspiration, Individuality.
3. Two schools of Romanticism
A. escapist romanticists, “the Lake Poets”湖畔派, represented by William Wordsworth华兹华斯, Samuel Taylor Coleridge柯勒律治 and Robert Southey骚塞.
B. active romanticists, “the Satanic school”撒旦派, with Byron拜伦, Shelly雪莱 and Keats济慈 as representatives
湖畔派Lake Poets
18～19世纪的英国浪漫主义诗歌流派。主要成员有华兹华斯、柯尔律治和骚塞。由于他们三人曾一同隐居于英国西北部的昆布兰湖区，先后在格拉斯米尔和文德美尔两个湖畔居住，以诗赞美湖光山色，所以有“湖畔派诗人”之称。
在诗歌题材上，他们主张写下层人民的日常生活，强调诗人的内心探索和感情的自然流露；在诗体方面，主张发展民间诗歌的艺术传统，采用民间口语，发挥诗人的想象力。他们的理论和实践结束了英国古典主义诗学的统治，对英国诗歌的改革和发展起了很大作用。但是他们否定诗歌的社会作用，美化中世纪的田园生活，提倡唯心主义、唯灵主义、神秘主义；把“听天由命”看成是人的“天性的永恒部分”；拜伦和雪莱对此进行过激烈的批评。
湖畔派诗人起初都同情法国革命，随着革命的深入，由害怕革命而退却，进而逃避现实，迷恋过去，美化中世纪的宗法制，幻想从古老的封建社会中去寻找精神的安慰与寄托。当湖畔派诗人的消极倾向日益明显的时候，青年诗人拜伦、雪莱开始登上文坛，向湖畔派诗人展开论争。拜伦在一八O九年完成的讽刺长诗《英格兰诗人和苏格兰评论家》中，不仅回答了消极浪漫主义者操纵的刊物《爱丁堡评论》对拜伦诗作的攻击，而且还严厉地谴责了湖畔派诗人的消极倾向。由于他们敢于向湖畔派诗人作斗争，因而被英国绅土们斥之为撒旦(恶魔)，所以文学史上称拜伦、雪莱和济慈为“撒旦派”。
一般说，湖畔派诗人代表消极浪漫主义倾向，撒旦派代表积极浪漫主义精神。虽然湖畔派诗人在与古典主义的斗争中有过贡献，在诗歌的艺术上有较深的造诣，但其历史地位远不及撒旦派重要。
III. poets—Lake Poets
1. William Wordsworth威廉·华兹华斯(重点)
1.1 life
Born in 1770 in a lawyer’s family
Orphaned when he was 14
Went to school in Hawkshead, developed a deep love for nature
1787-1791 Studied at Cambridge--political enthusiasm roused
1790-1792 visited France twice
In 1797, moved to Somerset with his sister Dorothy and made friends with Coleridge, all devoting their time writing poetry
Published Lyrical Ballads together with Coleridge.
Two periods of his literary career
A revolutionist with liberal politics idea and ambiguous religion
A conservative, coming to believe that man’s wild spirit is needed taming by the church
1.2 major works:
1) Lyrical Ballads 《抒情歌谣集》
followed by “The Preface to the Lyrical Ballads”—served as the manifesto of the English Romantic Movement in poetry.
2) famous short poems：
About nature: “I wondered Lonely as a Cloud” “独自漫游似浮云”，or “The Daffodils” “咏水仙”
“Intimation of Immortality” “不朽颂”
“Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” “丁登寺” ; “To the Cuckoo” “致布谷鸟”; “My Heart Leaps up When I Behold” “我心雀跃” ; “To a Butterfly” “致蝴蝶” “An Evening Walk” “黄昏漫步 ”
About human life:--sympathy for the poor
Lucy Poems 《露西组诗》
“The Solitary Reaper” “孤独的收割者”
“The Old Cumberland Beggar” “康伯兰的老乞丐”
“Michael” “迈克尔”
“We are Seven” “我们七个”
3) “The Prelude” “序曲”--Wordsworth’s autobiographical poem in 14 books published after his death, a spiritual record of his mind, showing his own thought and sentiment.
1.3 Comment on Wordsworth
A. The poet of nature
Nature---medium---revelation (启示)
Nature--- entity--- communicating with God, learning more about God, and enjoying the holy and awesome feelings
Nature--- purest, most uncorrupted form, a manifestation of God’s creation power
B. Wordsworth’s definition to poetry
Good poetry must speak “the real language of man” and write about the life of common people in an imaginative way.
Good poetry is “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”诗是强烈情感的自然流露。
Poetry “takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility”. 诗源于情感，但在平静中回忆。
The objects which excited these emotions were to be ordinary ones.
The style selected for the new poetry was also to be simple.
A poet should give pleasure and reveal universal truth.
Poetry is “the most philosophic of all writing”
1.4 “I wondered Lonely as a Cloud”
我好似一朵孤独的流云，
高高地飘游在山谷之上，
突然我看到一大片鲜花，
是金色的水仙遍地开放。
它们开在湖畔，开在树下
它们随风嬉舞，随风飘荡
它们密集如银河的星星，
像群星在闪烁一片晶莹；
它们沿着海湾向前伸展，
通往远方仿佛无穷无尽；
一眼看去就有千朵万朵，
万花摇首舞得多么高兴。
粼粼湖波也在近旁欢跳，
却不如这水仙舞得轻俏；
诗人遇见这快乐的旅伴
又怎能不感到欢欣雀跃；
我久久凝视--却未领悟
这景象所给予我的精神至宝。
后来多少次我郁郁独卧，
感到百无聊赖心灵空漠；
这景象便在脑海中闪现，
多少次安慰过我的寂寞
我的心又随水仙跳起舞来，
我的心又重新充满了欢乐。
The poem contains 4 six-lined stanzas of Iambic tetrameter with the rhyme scheme of ababcc in each stanza.
Theme: eulogy颂词 for the harmony between things in nature and the harmony between nature and man
Analysis of “I wondered Lonely as a Cloud” :
A. the first and the second stanza--- a vivid picture of a host of golden daffodils dancing happily in the breeze
B. the third stanza --- the happiness brought to the poet’s soul by the dancing daffodils
C. the last stanza --- the happiness brought by the daffodils lasts forever in the poet’s memory.
孤独的割麦女
看，一个孤独的高原姑娘，
在远远的田野间收割，
一边割一边独自歌唱，
请你站住。或者俏悄走过！
她独自把麦子割了又捆，
唱出无限悲凉的歌声，
屏息听吧！深广的谷地
已被歌声涨满而漫溢！
?
还从未有过夜莺百啭，
唱出过如此迷人的歌，
在沙漠中的绿荫间
抚慰过疲惫的旅客；
还从未有过杜鹃迎春，
声声啼得如此震动灵魂，
在遥远的赫布利底群岛
打破过大海的寂寥。
她唱什么，谁能告诉我？
忧伤的音符不断流涌，
是把遥远的不幸诉说？
是把古代的战争吟咏？
也许她的歌比较卑谦，
只是唱今日平凡的悲欢，
只是唱自然的哀伤苦痛——
昨天经受过，明天又将重逢？
姑娘唱什么，我猜不着，
她的歌如流水永无尽头；
只见她一边唱一边干活，
弯腰挥镰，操劳不休……
我凝神不动，听她歌唱，
然后，当我登上了山岗，
尽管歌声早已不能听到，
它却仍在我心头缭绕。
Homework：
Give an analysis of “The Solitary Reaper”, which should include:
Metrical pattern(格律):
Rhyme scheme(押韵):
General meaning of each stanza:
The theme of the poem
(deliver your homework through the online teaching system)
Lucy Poems--
“She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways”《她住在人迹罕至的地方 》
她住在人迹罕至的地方,
圣洁的小溪在身边流淌,
没有谁把这少女赞颂,
少有人为她挂肚牵肠。
她是紫罗兰身影半露,
生苔的墓碑将她遮挡;
美丽如一颗孤星,
在夜空里闪闪发亮。
没有谁了解她曾活在世上,
少有人知道她何时夭亡;
躺在墓中的露西啊,
唯有我与别人都不一样。
（国际关系学院06考研题）
Questions:
(1) What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?
(2) Are there any images in this poem? Please point them out.
(3) Can the second stanza be omitted? What role does it play in this poem?
(4) Please paraphrase the poem in less than 100 words.
(1)The rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef
(2) Yes, there are images in this poem: “a half hidden violet” and “a star shining in the sky”.
(3) No. the image of the violet shows that she is so modest, shy and unknown that no one will pay attention to her; the image of the star shining in the sky indicates that in her lover’s eyes, she is like the single star shining brightly and beautifully in the sky.
(4) She lived in an isolated place beside the springs of Dove,
Nobody praised her and few people loved her.
She is like a violet beside a mossy tone, unnoticed by people.
She is like a star shinning in the sky, fair and loving in her lover’s heart.
When she is alive, nobody knows her; thus when she dies, few people feel sad about her.
But for me it is different to know her death( because I loved her so much and I feel so sad).
2. Samuel Taylor Coleridge（了解）
2.1 life
born into a clergyman’s family, a genius.
At 6, read the Bible, Robinson Crusoe and Arabian Nights.
full of fantasy and dreams.
made friends with Charles Lamb, the great essayist of English Romanticism in his Cambridge years.
ran away from the university and enlisted in the army;
returned to Cambridge without getting a degree;
joined Robert Southey in a utopian plan of establishing an ideal democratic community in America in 1749 which didn’t come to any fruition;
Split with Southey and married Sara Fricker, but an unhappy and short-lived marriage;
In 1796, addicted to opium with a view to relieving his headache and depression;
In 1797, began his friendship with Wordsworth;
In 1798, published The Lyrical Ballads with Wordsworth;
In 1810, quarreled seriously with Wordsworth. Reconciled later;
In later years, turned conservative and resorted to theology for his spiritual support.
2.2 major works:
Demonic Poems: 魔幻诗
The Rime of the Ancient Marine《古舟子咏》
Kubla Khan 《忽必烈汗》
Christabel 《克里斯塔贝尔》
Conversational poems 对话诗
Frost at Morning《午夜寒霜》
Dejection: An Ode 《沮丧：一首颂歌》
Essays
Biographia Literaria 《文学传记》
Lectures on Shakespeare between 1808 and 1815
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
《古舟子咏》
It is Coleridge’s contribution to The Lyrical Ballads. It is a long poem, telling a story in the form of ballad. Three guests are on their way to a wedding party when an ancient mariner stopped one of them. The mariner tells of his adventures on the sea. His story is full of horrors. When his ship sails towards the South Pole, an albatross (信天翁） comes through the snow-fog and alights on the rigging.
Outline of the Story:
A. pointless slaughter of an albatross-- omen of bad luck
B. awful punishment that his crime brought about
C. realization of the sacredness of life
Theme
It is a psychologically profound study of guilt, of remorse, of the nature of evil.
Kubla Khan《忽必烈汗》
Kubla Khan is a dream-poem. During an illness in 1797 Coleridge retired to a lonely farmhouse. One day he fell asleep while he was reading a passage about Kubla Khan from a book of travels. While dreaming he composed a poem about 200 or 300 lines. On waking he began to write down the poem. But he was interrupted by a person and the vision faded. He left a fragment of only 54 lines and never finished the poem.
第一节：
忽必烈汗忽必烈汗建立“上都”，
修起富丽的逍遥宫，
那儿有神河阿尔浮
流经深不可测的岩洞，
注入不见太阳的海中。
那儿有十哩方圆的沃土，
城墙、高塔四面围绕，
明媚的花园，曲折的小溪，
丁香、豆蔻芳华四溢，
树林像山丘一样古老，
环抱着阳光灿烂的草地。
第二节：
但沿着松柏苍苍的山坡
急转直下，却是悬崖深谷！
一片荒芜！好像施过魔术，
会有女子在下弦月下出没，
为她的恶魔情人哀哭！
深谷里煮沸了一锅骚乱，
仿佛大地在急促地气喘，
一股强大的喷泉不时腾空，
在它一阵阵爆发之中
巨石弹起，如同冰雹，
如同谷粒在连枷之下蹦跳！
在这些石块的狂舞中，
有时神河也被高高抛起，
它扭成五哩蜿蜓的迷宫，
它穿过森林和谷地，
到达深不可测的岩洞，
喧哗着沉入死水洋底。
忽必烈汗远远谛听，在喧哗中
听到祖先的声音在预言战争！
第三节
逍遥宫的影子青幽，
在波浪之中漂流，
喷泉与岩洞交响，
构成韵律的重奏。
奇迹在此汇集，鬼斧神工，
阳光灿烂的宫和冰的岩洞！
第四节：
我梦幻中看见
一个操琴的女郎——
阿比西尼亚姑娘，
她轻轻拨动琴弦，
把阿波拉山吟唱。
啊，但愿我能在心底
把她的乐曲和歌声复制。
那时我就会如醉如痴，
我只消用那悠扬的仙乐
就能重建那天宫瑶池，
那阳光灿烂的宫和冰的洞窟！
凡是聆听者都将目睹，
大家都将高呼：“当心！当心！
瞧他飘扬的头发，闪亮的眼睛！
我们要绕他巡行三圈，
在神圣的恐惧中闭上双眼，
因为他尝过蜜的露水，
饮过乐园里的乳泉。”
(1) identify the author
(2) What is his theory of poems?
(3) What kind of philosophy is behind the italic words “His flashing eyes….milk of paradise”? （北航08考研题）
Answer:
(1) Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(2) Coleridge believed in the “feeling heart,” in the spiritual power of the individual imagination, the completeness and harmonious beauty of God’s creation.
though Coleridge shared with Wordsworth a desire to return poetry to the ordinary, the concrete, and the language of speech, he was also desirous of discovering the spiritual, supernatural and exotic.
Coleridge expresses his conception of poetry in terms of a synthesis of imaginative vision and of actual perception, of “outer” and “inner,” or of “object” and “subject.”
a poem is a growing unity, the parts related to one another and all comprising a whole. The “end” of poetry is pleasure, not instruction, and yet a poem tells a higher truth.
(3) The poet says that he once saw an Abyssinian maid who played her dulcimer and sang of Mount Abora. The song of the Abyssinian maid can be the poet’s source of inspiration. If he could receive “her symphony and song” within him, he could rebuild his own dome of pleasure in the air. And all who saw him would cry “Beware of ‘his flashing eyes, his floating hair!’ ”. The listeners would circle him and close their eyes with “holy dread”, knowing that he had tasted honeydew, and “drunk the milk of Paradise”. The poet wants to express that people have certain awe and even fear for nature and enjoys its beauty with utmost piety.
注：《忽必烈汗》一诗中既无故事情节，也没有明确的主旨，而只是传达了一种幻觉或印象，虽然以忽必烈汗为题目，但并没有刻意描写或赞颂这位中国帝王的伟业，而是将这位传奇人物当作寄情表意的媒介充分发挥诗人的想象力。这里，诗人的情感与豪华的宫殿、仙女的爱情、少女的琴声和中国的忽必烈汗交织在一起，创造了一种优美的旋律和超凡的意境。初看起来，全诗的确缺乏一种逻辑统一性，但读起来并不感到杂乱无章。倒是诗中所迸发的那种神秘的异国情调常常让读者遐思不已。另外，这首诗在叙述方面的确具有独创性，开拓了西方诗歌的新视野。诗人在叙述过程中不断出现语义断裂和不连贯现象可以使读者更加关注诗歌的形式，充分领略其神奇而优美的韵律。今天，该诗与《古舟子咏》一样已成为英国文学中的瑰宝。
Christabel 《克里斯塔贝尔》
Another of Coleridge’s unfinished poem written in ballad meter. It tells a story of a sorcerer (男巫） who casts a spell over a pure young girl. Its mysterious atmosphere and the Gothic horror may freeze our blood.
Biographia Literaria《文学传记》
A literary autobiography. Point of view:
(1) The task of literary criticism is not to judge but to appreciate and interpret.
(2) The poet is a creator and the critic is an assistant to the work of creation. The critic must enter into the poet’s purpose and art, and interpret ideas and beauty for the benefit of the reader.
(3) The poet, as a man endowed with imaginative genius and fine perception, must be allowed to present the truth in his own way without regard to rules or models.
2.3 artistic features：
(1) Mysticism神秘主义 and demonism魔鬼信仰with strong imagination;
(2) Depiction of unusual and supernatural images.
(3) pay close attention to language of poetry. He maintains that the true end of poetry is to give pleasure “through the medium of beauty”, not to instruct.
3. Robert Southey
罗伯特·骚塞(了解)
3.1 One of the “Lake Poets”
Expelled from Westminster School for his outspoken composition against corporal punishment
In Oxford, made acquaintance of Coleridge and Wordsworth, and shared their revolutionary ardor in the 1790s
Radicalism faded at the turn of the century, changed from a revolutionist to a Tory, made Poet Laureate
3.2 major Works
epic— Joan of Arc 《圣女贞德》
Drama– Wat Tyler 《瓦特·泰勒》
Short poems— The Inchcape Rock《因尺角之石》
The Battle of Blenheim《布莱尼姆之战》
My Days among the Dead Are Passed《我与死者做伴的日子已结束》
Prose— The Life of Nelson《纳尔逊传》
Poetical romances--
Thalaba the Destroyer 《萨拉巴》
Madoc《麦道克》
The Curse of Kehama《克哈马的诅咒》
Roderick, the Last of the Goths 《罗德里克，最后的高斯人》
1.1 life
Born in an aristocratic family
Became Lord Byron after inheriting the title and estate of his grand-uncle
a radical supporter of worker’s movement.
In 1811, took seat in the House of Lords(贵族院/上议院). He made vehement speeches to attack English government’s policy for the Luddites (workers who destroy machinery).
Byron left England for ever in 1816.
He first visited Switzerland, where he made acquaintance with Shelley.
Then he moved to Italy, where he finished Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage 《恰尔德·哈罗德游记》and wrote his masterpiece Don Juan《唐璜》.
Upon hearing the news of the Greek revolt against the Turks, Byron plunged himself into the struggle. The Greeks made him commander in chief (总司令) of their forces in 1824. Due to months’ hard work under bad weather, he fell ill and died. April 19, 1824, Byron died with “ Forward! Forward! Follow me!” The Greek people mourned over his premature death.
Byron was regarded as the “satanic poet” by the English government when he died. It was not until 1969 that a white marble memorial to Byron was erected in Westminster Abbey.
Nowadays his name is put in the Poets’ Corner.
1.2 major works:
(1). Hours of Idleness 《闲散的时刻》 --his first collection of poems composed in college dealing with childish recollections and early friendship, but was mercilessly criticized by Edinburgh Review, a blow to the young man, but didn’t discourage him;
(2). English Bards and Scotch Reviewers《英国诗人和苏格兰评论家》--a satirical poem against Edinburgh Review, in which Wordsworth, Southey and some other celebrities of the day were satirized;
(3) Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage 《恰尔德·哈罗德游记》
an autobiographical narrative poem written in Spenserian stanzas. It tells the travels and the reflections of a pilgrim, Childe Harold, who is tired of the empty life of pleasure and is now seeking spiritual rebirth.
In this poem, Childe Harold was the poet himself. They both lamented over the corrupted reality and wanted to make a change; they loved freedom and were eager to build a marvelous career. The poem is an imaginative and romantic presentation of the poet’s disturbing emotion and eagerness for freedom. It also emphasizes individualism.
(4) Don Juan《唐·璜》
Byron’s masterpiece, an epic satire in ottava rima(八行体) , A stanza of poem consisting of 8 lines in iambic pentameter rhyming abababcc. 16,000 lines long in 16 cantos.
Don Juan is an aristocratic libertine, amiable and charming to ladies—a great lover and seducer of women. In the conventional sense, Juan is immoral, yet Byron takes this poem as the most moral. And Byron invests in Juan the moral positives like courage, generosity and frankness, which, according to Byron, are virtues neglected by the modern society.
The unifying principle in Don Juan is the basic ironic theme of appearance and reality, or what things seem to be and what they actually are.
The third canto of the poem is different from the rest of the poem metrically. It consists of sixteen 6-lined stanzas of iambic tetrameter, the rhyme scheme being ababcc.
《唐璜》是拜伦后期最重要的一部长诗。唐璜原是一名西班牙家传户晓的一名传说人物，他并不是一个英雄，相反他却是一个因为诱骗了某贵族少妇而被驱逐并到处流亡的青年无赖式的人物。但在拜伦的笔下得以重新塑造，成为一个“极美貌、骄傲、大胆而又运气好的人” 。虽然他屡次身陷险境，但又每次都能从死神的身边安全逃开；虽然他经受过无数与情人生离死别的痛苦煎熬，但总有新的爱情给他带来新的幸福。他热情冲动、敏感正直，在遭遇饥饿的恐怖和沉船的厄运后，遇见了美丽的希腊少女海蒂。正陶醉于爱情和大自然时，一个游吟诗人的吟唱将唐璜带到了残酷的现实。这块如海蒂一般美丽的土地正饱受着土耳其的侵扰，并面临着即将灭亡的噩运。这段吟唱带给唐璜以巨大的震撼，诗人拜伦对这一切当然也感同身受。因为种种原因，作为希腊异族人的拜伦在他后来的生命岁月里选择了与希腊人民站在一起、并共同抵御外辱。而这段在《唐璜》中并不太起眼的第三章中的一节就在诗内和诗外的世界里也因此具有了特殊的意义。
Selective reading P 305
From Don Juan, Canto III— “The Isles of Greece”《哀希腊》（read the first 6 stazas）
Background: in the early 19th century, Greece was under the rule of Turks.
Task:
What techniques? What effect?
What theme?
1.3 Contribution:
chief contribution -- “Byronic hero” (拜伦式英雄)
Byronic hero-- Byron’s poetry is based on his own experience. His hero is known as “Byronic Hero”, a proud, mysterious rebel figure of noble origin. For such a hero, the conflict is usually one of rebellious individual against outworn social systems and conventions. Such a hero appears first in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, and then further developed in later works such as the Oriented Tales《东方故事集》，Manfred, 《曼弗雷德》 and Dan Juan in different guises.
2. Percy Bysshe Shelley （雪莱）(1792-1822)
2.1 life
born in Sussex; father a conservative narrow-minded country gentleman; though gentle by nature, he could not stand any injustice
In 1811, expelled from Oxford for an anti-religion pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism《无神论的必然》
at 19, alone in London, homeless. married a 16-year-old schoolgirl Harriet
in 1812, went to Ireland, Address to the Irish People 《告爱尔兰人民书》
in 1813, back in England wrote Queen Mab《麦布女王》
in 1814, broke with Harriet
in 1816, married Mary Godwin, daughter of radical philosopher Godwin
in 1818, Shelley’s happy marriage was broken by the sudden death of Harriet who jumped into a river. The scandal made by political enemies compelled Shelley to leave England again, then he lived in Italy to support the independence wars of Italy, Spain and Greece.
in 1816 met Byron
In 1818 The Revolt of Islam 《伊斯兰的反叛》
in 1819, Prometheus Unbound 《解放了的普罗米修斯》，Ode to the West Wind《西风颂》 Masque of Anarchy 《专制魔王的化妆旅行》,The Cenci 《钦契》A Defense of Poetry《诗辩》
In 1820, To a Skylark 《致云雀》
in 1822. July 8th, a sudden tempest struck his boat, drowned. Inscription on his tombstone: “ P. B. Shelley. COR CORDIUM” = the heart of hearts 众心之心
他的一切并没有消逝
只是经历过海的变异
已变得丰富而且神奇
2.2 major works
A . “Queen Mab” 1813 《麦布女王》
A revolutionary poem condemning tyranny and exploitation and the unjust war waged by the rich to plunder wealth
B. “ The Revolt of Islam” 1818 《伊斯兰的反叛》
a revolutionary epic--a brother and a sister are united in their common ideal of liberty, equality and fraternity；they arouse the spirit of revolt among their Islam people against their tyrants.
“a sister-comrade” --women’s position
C. “Prometheus Unbound” 《解放了的普罗米修斯》1820
lyrical drama in 4 acts.
Greek myth--Prometheus is reconciled to Zeus.
But Shelley reinterpreted it. Prometheus is supported by public. He refuses to yield to the tyrant in heaven. At last Zeus is overthrown. Prometheus is released and throws off his fetters.
The figure of Prometheus has been symbolic of those noble-hearted revolutionaries, who devote themselves to the just cause of the people and suffer great pains at the hands of tyrants.
D. Ode to the West Wind 《西风颂》(重点)
best of Shelley’s lyrics
Expression of poet’s envy of the boundless freedom of the west wind
Melancholy in tune
But optimistic and resolute in theme
Poet’s conviction --- the good will certainly defeat the evil
frequently quoted epigram: “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”
《西风颂》是秋天的歌，是时代的声音。《西风颂》不免带有“婉转而忧愁”的调子。但雪莱对革命前途和人类命运始终保持着乐观主义的坚定信念，他坚信正义必定战胜邪恶，光明必定代替黑暗。诗人以“天才的预言家”的姿态向全世界大声宣告：
如果冬天来了，春天还会远吗？
Selective reading: P312 《西风颂》
(1) Form:
The poem is divided into 5 parts. Each part consists of four stanzas of terza rima and one couplet lines, rhymed aba bcb cdc ded ee
(2) content: the poet describes vividly the activities of the west wind on the earth, in the sky and on the sea, and expresses his envy for the boundless freedom of the west wind, and his wish to be free like the wind and to scatter his words among mankind.
(3) Theme:
Revolutionary spirit.
Wish to destroy the old and build up a new.
(4) In what way is the west wind both a destroyer and a preserver? (南京大学07)
The west wind is considered the “destroyer” for driving the last signs of life from the trees; it is considered the “preserver” for scattering the seeds which come to life in the spring.
Definition:
terza rima(三行体)—verse form consisting of stanzas of three lines (tercets); the first and third lines rhyming with one another and the second rhyming with the first and third of the following tercet.
五个小节格律完整，可以独立成篇。从内容来看，它们又熔为一体，贯穿着一个中心思想。第一节描写西风扫除林中残叶，吹送生命的种籽。(大地)第二节描写西风搅动天上的浓云密雾，呼唤着暴雨雷电的到来。（天空）第三节描写西风掀起大海的汹涌波涛，摧毁海底花树。（海上）三节诗三个意境，诗人幻想的翅膀飞翔在树林、天空和大海之间，飞翔在现实和理想之间，形象鲜明，想象丰富，但中心思想只有一个，就是歌唱西风扫除腐朽、鼓舞新生的强大威力。从第四节开始，由写景转向抒情，由描写西风的气势转向直抒诗人的胸臆，抒发诗人对西风的热爱和向往，达到情景交融的境界，而中心思想仍然是歌唱西风。因此，结构严谨，层次清晰，主题集中，是《西风颂》一个突出的艺术特点。
《西风颂》采用象征手法，从头至尾环绕着秋天的西风作文章，无论是写景还是抒情，都没有脱离这个特定的描写对象，没有使用过一句政治术语和革命口号。然而读过后，我们却深深感受到，雪莱不完全是歌唱西风，诗人实质上是通过歌唱西风来歌唱革命。诗中的西风、残叶、种籽、流云、暴雨雷电、大海波涛、海底花树等等，都不过是象征性的东西，它们包含着深刻的寓意，大自然风云激荡的动人景色，乃是人间蓬勃发展的革命斗争的象征。从这个意义上说，《西风歌》不是风景诗，而是政治抒情诗，虽然没有一句直接描写革命，但整首诗都是在反映革命。尤其是结尾脍炙人口的诗句，既概括了自然现象，也深刻地揭示了人类社会的历史规律，指出了革命斗争经过艰难曲折走向胜利的光明前景。
本文来源：https://www.2haoxitong.net/k/doc/51bfec08f78a6529647d5342.html
文档为doc格式