英国文学史浪漫主义时期复习笔记Notes on English literature Romantic Period.doc

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1、Notes on English literature: Romantic Period 第一部分 Wordsworth Lines Written in Early SpringBy William WordsworthI heard a thousand blended (和谐的)notes, While in a grove（小树林） I sat reclined（斜倚）, In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts Bring sad thoughts to the mind. To her fair works did Nature link

2、The human soul that through me ran; And much it grieved my heart to think What man has made of man. Through primrose tufts（报春花丛）, in that green bower（闺房）, The periwinkle（蔓长春花） trailed its wreaths（花环）; And tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes. The birds around me hopped（蹦跳） and p

3、layed, Their thoughts I cannot measure: But the least motion which they made It seemed a thrill of pleasure. The budding twigs（嫩树枝） spread out their fan, To catch the breezy air; And I must think, do all I can, That there was pleasure there. If this belief from heaven be sent, If such be Natures hol

4、y plan, Have I not reason to lament What man has made of man?赏析:威廉华兹华斯（17701850）是英国19世纪著名的浪漫派诗人，他对自然的热爱以及他大部分人生所度过的地方-湖区的湖光山色对他的性格和作品有着深远的影响。早春诗行描写了诗人坐在树荫下享受大自然美景的情景。诗中三，四和第五小节描绘了一幅欢乐的“花鸟树草”图。诗人虽然无法知道樱草花，常春藤，鸟儿和花蕾有何真实感受，但从花儿鲜艳的色彩和鸟儿欢快的叫声中，他感受到世间万物都在享受大自然的清新和美丽，每一个姿态和动作都展示它们正在迸发的兴奋和快乐。 在这样欢乐的气氛中，诗人本应

5、投入大自然的怀抱，尽情享受自然的美丽，然而，在这充满春的欢乐的季节里，诗人想到的却是“人怎样对待着人”。从万物的欢乐中，华兹华斯想到了人间的痛苦和悲伤。他认为，人本为大自然的一部分，理应加入大自然欢乐的海洋，但是人间的情况却不是如此，是人类自身造成了人间的痛苦和悲伤。诗歌含蓄地表达了作者对世间不平的抗议和对公平社会的渴望。写于早春华兹华斯我躺卧在树林之中，听着融谐的千万声音，闲适的情绪，愉快的思想，却带来的忧心忡忡。大自然把她的美好事物通过我联系人的灵魂，而我痛心万分，想起了人怎样对待着人。那边绿荫中的樱草花丛，有长春花在把花圈编制，我深信每朵花不论大小，都能享受它呼吸的空气。四周的鸟儿跳了又

6、耍，我不知道他们想写什么，但他们每个细微的动作，似乎都激起心头的欢乐。萌芽的嫩枝张膊如扇，捕捉那阵阵的清风，使我没发不深切地感受到，它们也自有欢欣，如果上天叫我这样相信，如果这是大自然的用心，难道我没有理由悲叹人怎样对待着人？王佐良译Comments1:In Lines Written in Early Spring, Wordsworth achieves the goal he sets for himself in his Preface to the Lyrical Ballads - to choose situations from common life, and to rela

7、te or describe them.in a selection of language really used by men, and at the same time to throw over them a certain colouring of imagination. Wordsworth describes Nature as being a composer, creating a symphony of blended notes. The scene appears to be entirely sweet and pleasant, and yet gives way

8、 to sad thoughts in the speakers mind. The speaker observes that all of Natures creations appear to be enjoying themselves - the flowers enjoy the air they breathe, the birds take pleasure in their movements, as do the budding twigs. The speaker recognizes that man is also one of Natures creations -

9、 To her fair works did Nature link/The human soul that through me ran (lines 5-6). However, man is also a creator, and can create himself (What man has made of man - line 8). Mans self creation goes against Natures plan that all natural things should enjoy themselves, as man does not necessarily tak

10、e pleasure in every moment of life. This thought causes the speaker himself to grieve - thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Comments2:The opening stanza of William Wordsworths “Lines Written in Early Spring” sets the tone for the underlying theme of the poem: Wordsworths narrator reclining in

11、a grove where his thoughts are allowed to flow uninterrupted in what Wordsworth describes as “In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts / Bring sad thoughts to the mind.” (3-4). Importantly, these last two lines of the first quatrain easily catch a reader off guard. The quiet and descriptively seren

12、e setting seems to have brought Wordsworths narrator to a state of uninhibited inward contemplation of the external civilized world, and found this subject of thought emotionally disturbing. Indeed, one of Romanticisms greatest virtues is found in its appreciation for intimate and emotional delibera

13、tion, and Wordsworth, staying true to what seems to be an inherit disposition, finds himself overtaken by his otherwise distracted worries thanks to the peaceful setting in which he finds himself in “Lines Written in Early Spring”. It is the second stanza of William Wordsworths “Lines Written in Ear

14、ly Spring” that we are given the theme of the poem when Wordsworth writes “And much it grieved my heart to think / What man has made of man.” (7 and 8). Wordsworth, in his reflection of “What man has made of man” (8), is describing how mankind, though civilized, has an innate spiritual connection to

15、 “Nature” and “her fair works” (4). Essentially, Wordsworths “Lines Written in Early Spring” revolves around this Romantic theme of how beautiful and essential our intrinsic connection to nature is, and how unfortunate and painful our self-inflicted disconnection has become. Wordsworth writes in “Li

16、nes Written in Early Spring” of how nature offers a wholesome and natural lifestyle that Wordsworth feels has been lost to the pointlessness and monotonous of civilization and the pursuit of contemporary capitalistic gain. The following three stanzas of William Wordsworths “Lines Written in Early Sp

17、ring” describe the natural scenery around Wordsworths narrator as he sits in his emotionally sensitive mood, contemplating how life in the forest seems so beautiful and satisfying compared to life in civilization. Wordsworth goes on to describe what he sees as “pleasure” as “every flower / Enjoys th

18、e air it breathes” (11-12), and the birds that hopped and played around him were written with every “least motion which they made” (15) “seemed a thrill of pleasure” (16). Wordsworth goes so far as to describe “pleasure” in the very “budding twigs” (17) that spread their leaves to catch the “breezy

19、air” (18). Wordsworth sees blissful life and vitality all around him as he sits in the glade, so ignorant of factories, human waste and conflict, that these natural creatures have achieved a state of paradise by simply existing as nature had intended: free of civilization and in a state of natural g

20、race. It is this lifestyle that Wordsworth is jealous of and wishes that mankind could somehow return to in much the same way he would later describe in “The World is Too Much With Us” (1807). It is also this lifestyle that gives Wordsworth reason to pity mankind for their empty pursuits and meaning

21、less lifestyles. The final stanza concludes William Wordsworths “Lines Written in Early Spring” with the lines “If such be Natures holy plan, / Have I not reason to lament / What man has made of man?” (22-24); not only repeating the eighth line of “What man has made of man” (8) in the last, but also

22、 driving home Wordsworths main theme of “Lines Written in Early Spring”. To Wordsworth, “Natures holy plan” (22) is for mankind to live as an intricate part of nature, surrendering to quiet cottages and subsistence farming, away from the bleak and pointless miseries of city life. Man, in “Lines Writ

23、ten in Early Spring”, has successfully perverted his nature and is so condemned to the incomplete and aimless existence of civilization. Wordsworth “lament(s) / What man has made of man” (23-24) because “Nature”, a divine and motherly deity-like figure, had intended much more for mankind, pleasure a

24、nd happiness in a wonderful natural lifestyle, but they have estranged themselves from their natural roots and have so essentially destroyed themselves in their pointless aims of contemporary pursuits. William Wordsworths “Lines Written in Early Spring” was one of Wordsworths first Romantic poems, b

25、ut, thanks to its depth and spirited writing, “Lines Written in Early Spring” could also be argued as not only one of Wordsworths best works of literary Romanticism, but also possessing some of the greatest lines of Romantic philosophy (i.e. “What man has made of man” (8 and 24). “Lines Written in E

26、arly Spring” encompasses Romanticism almost entirely, and Wordsworths writing would continue for a lifetime afterwards. In many ways, “Lines Written in Early Spring” would set the tone for Wordsworths poety; Wordsworth thereafter wrestling with the same theme of “Lines Written in Early Spring” and l

27、amenting civilization and “What man has made of man.”Comment3INTRODUCTIONThis poem is a ballad which is included in the collection named Lyrical Ballads, a volume published in 1798 along with Coleridge, who had become his friend, although this volume neither had Coleridges nor Wordsworths name as au

28、thors. A second edition was published in 1800 under Wordsworth name which supposed a problem between both authors which threw them apart for a while. In the edition of 1802 Wordsworth wrote a preface as well as some more poems were included. In this preface Wordsworth attempts to explain the poems c

29、ontained as experiments in which the use of language is different from the classic poems and the complexity and highness of it. He talks about writing poetry for men in the language of men. As he expresses in his preface to the third edition:“Whats a poet? He is a man speaking to men. ” . Lyrical Ba

30、llads, 1802 Volume I, preface.His aim with these poems was to talk about situations in common life, that is why he chose to communicate with an easy language as well as he preferred rural life as, this, was part of his idea that nature surroundings are the ideal place where man could find himself an

31、d his essence, and because in this rural environment these passions could be framed in the beautiful Nature. In Nature ambits, far from social vanity, men communicate their thoughts and feelings in a simple language, without the ornamentation used in previous times in poetry where deep human questio

32、ns where dealt with. It is possible then, that, under Wordsworths look, philosophical language, the one used to express human desires and thoughts is more suitable as easier it is since it tries to communicate emotions men have experienced in their inner beings before expressing them. The purpose of

33、 the poems is: “namely to illustrate the manner in which our feelings and ideas are associated in a state of excitement”. Lyrical Ballads, 1802 Volume I, preface. Understanding this state of excitement as the state reached by human mind in contact with nature, the representation of what may be seen

34、as God. And a poet is that who knows well about this Nature, the universe, and what surrounds human kind and expresses the passions and emotions it causes on men in a pleasant way to others. Because he “considers man and nature as essentially adapted to each other and the mind of man as naturally th

35、e mirror of the fairest and most interesting qualities of nature.” Lyrical Ballads, 1802 Volume I, preface. ANALYSIS/ASSESSMENTThe poem we have here is a ballad composed in six quatrains; six stanzas of four lines, being each line composed by four iambic feet. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, G

36、HGH, DIDI, JDJD.I HEARD a thousand blended notes, AWhile in a grove I sate reclined, BIn that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts ABring sad thoughts to the mind. BIn the first quatrain Wordsworth looks at Nature and through his views sad thoughts come to his mind. Here he expresses his conviction in

37、that knowledge of reality is reached through emotions and intuitions that Nature generates at being observed by man. Being Nature the real representation of reality and godliness as well. To her fair works did Nature link CThe human soul that through me ran; DAnd much it grieved my heart to think CW

38、hat man has made of man. DIn the second stanza the poet uses a figure of speech called personification by which he gives Nature the ability to create at her will elements, what he calls “her fair works”, and make the human soul that lives in the poet feel linked with them. This is a way of humanizin

39、g Nature by giving her the feature of being a creator which could be seen as an attribution to the Nature of the concept of God, understood as that who performs reality at his own will. In third and fourth verses, the poet expresses the affliction this knowledge causes to his soul, and he wonders ab

40、out the direction taken by mankind, as he does again at the end of the poem.Through primrose tufts, in that green bower, EThe periwinkle trailed its wreaths; F And tis my faith that every flower EEnjoys the air it breathes. FIn the third quatrain he observes Nature, at its peak, in all its splendour

41、 and beauty. He tells about its dynamic development when he describes how the periwinkle trains its branches through the grass. He also displays his implication in this development of natural events expressing his desire for the flowers to rejoice at their existence.In the third and fourth verses we

42、 can see a personification again, when flowers are endowed with particular human abilities such breathing and enjoying.The birds around me hopped and played, GTheir thoughts I cannot measure:- HBut the least motion which they made GIt seemed a thrill of pleasure. He continues to observe nature and d

43、escribes the birds playing and hopping around him, he says he cannot measure their thoughts. This again shows how Wordsworth gives human attributes to the elements of Nature being the action of thinking and making elaborate thoughts part of the human condition. But it shows too, how, through his onl

44、y observation, he cannot reach the knowledge of their thinking. Although by his observations he supposes his last movement was one expressing pleasure.The budding twigs spread out their fan, DTo catch the breezy air; IAnd I must think, do all I can, DThat there was pleasure there. I 20Again, he prov

45、ides will to events occurring in Nature: the newborn branches expand to get the air they need, and, once more, attributes to elements the capacity to feel, and enjoy their existence. These opinions derive from his long observations of this place and its nature.If this belief from heaven be sent, JIf

46、 such be Natures holy plan, DHave I not reason to lament JWhat man has made of man? DHe wonders if the will and the ability to enjoy the simple development of life by every natural element which he observes are sent from heaven, and next he considers whether it may be as well a holy plan of Nature.

47、He gives again, as seen in the second stanza, godly attributes to Nature, as creator of life and death, as the force compelling the world. She is able to plan and, moreover, to develop a holy plan. If this holy plan is created deliberately, with its harmony and beauty, the humankind, with their wars

48、 and their unnatural activities, have moved away from what stills can be glimpsed in natural events, and it is because of this he regrets what man has made of man.ACCORDING TO WORDSWORTH MOMENTWordsworth wrote this poem while he went for a walk in a spot near the village of Alford, he describes the moment and the place as a natural scene in motion, branches looking for the sun trying to escape from the water where its tree had fallen and had remained as a natural bridge and water falling down a sloping rock. Through this image