英国文学简读教程

高等学校英语专业系列教材
主审摇张剑( 北京外国语大学教授、博士生导师)
英国文学简读教程
主摇编摇宫玉波摇郭海云
副主编摇张军学摇朱岩岩摇王摇泉
摇摇摇摇王般若摇姬晓彬
清 华 大 学 出 版 社
北京交通大学出版社
・北京・
内容简介
本书共 远章。每章以英国文学史各历史阶段为主线,精选了英国文学中公认的经典作品作为选读材料,
每篇选读都配有对该选读材料的简单介绍和文学评论、英语的注释和针对该选读材料进行的提问。每个章
节前还附有该文学历史阶段的纲要、文学术语、作家、作品及重要作品的简单扼要的评价。
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高等学校英语专业系列教材编委会
主摇任:郭海云( 北京交通大学)
总主编:宫玉波( 北京交通大学)
委摇员:杨若东( 北京交通大学)
摇摇摇摇吴中东( 北京国际关系学院)
摇摇摇摇孔庆华( 青岛大学)
摇摇摇摇滕继萌( 北京外国语大学)
摇摇摇摇陈摇英( 北京交通大学)
摇摇摇摇戴建东( 太原师范大学)
摇摇摇摇纪墨芳( 山西大学)
摇摇摇摇田金平( 山西师范大学)
摇摇摇摇何琦光( 中北大学)
摇摇摇摇刘文革( 吉林大学)
摇摇摇摇赵摇新( 北京交通大学)
摇摇摇摇梁亚平( 阜阳师范学院)
摇摇摇摇杜广华( 山西农业大学)
摇摇摇摇刘晓红( 太原科技大学)
摇摇摇摇张摇晶( 对外经济贸易大学)
摇摇摇摇马建华( 长春师范学院)
摇摇摇摇潘克建( 广西民族学院)
摇摇摇摇张子宏( 中国青年政治学院)
摇摇摇摇刘剑英( 包头师范学院)
摇摇摇摇关兴华( 广东金融学院)
摇摇摇摇邱国旺( 北京信息科技大学)
摇摇摇摇陈光明( 安庆师范学院)
Ⅰ
前 言
“ 高等学校英语专业系列教材” 是北京交通大学外语系联合全国近二十所高校英语专业
的同行共同倾力编写的一套供英语专业本科生使用的教材 。《 英国文学简读教程 》 是该系列
教材之一,是《 美国文学简读教程 》 的姊妹篇。 本书的读者对象为英语专业高年级学生,
同时也可供非英语专业高年级英美文学辅修课程使用 。本书还可作为报考英语专业英美文学
方向的硕士生入学考试的参考教材使用 。本书精选了英国文学中公认的经典作品作为选读材
料,每篇选读材料都配有简单的介绍和文学评论 、 难点注释及针对该选读材料进行的提问。
每个章节前还附有该文学历史阶段的纲要 、文学术语、作家、代表作品及对重要作品简明扼
要的评价。本书在参考国内几乎所有的英美文学教材的基础上 ,同时根据参编兄弟院校的教
学特点精心编写而成。在选读作品的筛选上,编者们尽其所能在浩如烟海的英国文学中采撷
最美丽的浪花奉献给亲爱的读者。
本书的编写者都是英美文学专业的教授 、副教授和博士。他们都有多年的文学授课的经
历。该书在此前一直作为自编讲义使用 ,很受学生欢迎。
由于编者水平所限,错误和不当之处诚望广大同仁和学生批评指正 。
编摇者
圆
园园
苑年 苑月于北京
Contents
Chapter 1 Old and Medieval English Literature ………………………………(员)
摇摇I. An Outline of the Literature of This Period …………………………………………(员)
摇摇II. Beowulf ………………………………………………………………………………(猿)
摇摇III. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight …………………………………………………(缘)
摇摇IV. Geoffrey Chaucer ……………………………………………………………………(远)
The Canterbury Tales( Excerpt) ………………………………………………………(远)
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period
……………………………………………(员员)
摇摇I. An Outline of the Literature of This Period
摇摇II. Christopher Marlowe
………………………………………(员员)
………………………………………………………………(圆园)
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love ………………………………………………(圆园)
摇摇III. William Shakespeare ………………………………………………………………(圆圆)
Hamlet,Prince of Denmark( Excerpt) ………………………………………………(圆圆)
The Merchant of Venice( Excerpt) …………………………………………………(圆缘)
Macbeth( Excerpt) ……………………………………………………………………(圆苑)
Sonnet 员愿 ……………………………………………………………………………(圆愿)
Sonnet 圆怨 ……………………………………………………………………………(圆怨)
摇摇IV. Francis Bacon ………………………………………………………………………(猿园)
Of Studies ……………………………………………………………………………(猿园)
摇摇V. John Donne …………………………………………………………………………(猿猿)
A Valediction:Forbidding Mourning ………………………………………………(猿猿)
Death,Be Not Proud
………………………………………………………………(猿缘)
摇摇VI. John Milton …………………………………………………………………………(猿苑)
Ⅱ
Paradise Lost( Excerpt) ………………………………………………………………(猿苑)
On His Blindness ……………………………………………………………………(猿怨)
摇摇VII. John Bunyan ………………………………………………………………………(源园)
The Pilgrims Progress( Excerpt) ……………………………………………………(源园)
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment …………………………………………(源猿)
摇摇I. An Outline of the Literature of This Period
摇摇II. Daniel Defoe
………………………………………(源猿)
………………………………………………………………………(缘园)
Robinson Crusoe( Excerpt) ……………………………………………………………(缘园)
Moll Flanders( Excerpt) ………………………………………………………………(缘缘)
摇摇III. Jonathan Swift ………………………………………………………………………(远缘)
Gullivers Travels( Excerpt) …………………………………………………………(远缘)
A Modest Proposal …………………………………………………………………(苑圆)
摇摇IV. Thomas Gray ………………………………………………………………………(苑怨)
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard( Excerpt) …………………………………(苑怨)
Ode on the Spring
摇摇V. Alexander Pope
…………………………………………………………………(愿源)
……………………………………………………………………(愿苑)
An Essay on Criticism( Excerpt) ……………………………………………………(愿苑)
摇摇VI. Richard Bringsley Sheridan
………………………………………………………(怨圆)
The School for Scandal( Excerpt)
摇摇VII. Samuel Johnson
…………………………………………………(怨圆)
园源)
…………………………………………………………………(员
Letter to the Right Honorable the Earl of Chesterfield …………………………(员
园源)
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period
园苑)
………………………………………………(员
摇摇I. An Outline of the Literature of This Period ………………………………………(员
园苑)
摇摇II. William Blake ………………………………………………………………………(员
员远)
The Chimney Sweeper
The Chimney Sweeper
The Tyger
员远)
……………………………………………………………(员
员愿)
……………………………………………………………(员
员怨)
…………………………………………………………………………(员
摇摇III. Robert Burns ………………………………………………………………………(员
圆圆)
A Red,Red Rose …………………………………………………………………(员
圆圆)
My Hearts in the Highlands ………………………………………………………(员
圆源)
摇摇IV. William Wordsworth
圆缘)
……………………………………………………………(员
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud ……………………………………………………(员
圆缘)
Ⅲ
Composed Upon Westminster Bridge
圆怨)
……………………………………………(员
The Solitary Reaper ………………………………………………………………(员
猿员)
摇摇V. Samuel Taylor Coleridge …………………………………………………………(员
猿缘)
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner( Excerpt) ………………………………………(员
猿缘)
Kubla Khan …………………………………………………………………………(员
猿怨)
摇摇VI. George Gordon Byron ……………………………………………………………(员
源圆)
源圆)
………………………………………………………………(员
The Isles of Greece
She Walks in Beauty ………………………………………………………………(员
源愿)
摇摇VII. Percy Bysshe Shelley ……………………………………………………………(员
缘员)
Ode to the West Wind ……………………………………………………………(员
缘员)
To a Skylark( Excerpt) ……………………………………………………………(员
缘远)
摇摇VIII. John Keats
远园)
………………………………………………………………………(员
Ode on a Grecian Urn ……………………………………………………………(员
远园)
Ode to a Nightingale
远缘)
……………………………………………………………(员
To Autumn ………………………………………………………………………(员
远怨)
摇摇IX. Jane Austen
苑圆)
………………………………………………………………………(员
摇摇X. Walter Scott
苑远)
………………………………………………………………………(员
Pride and Prejudice( Excerpt) ………………………………………………………(员
苑圆)
Ivanhoe( Excerpt) ……………………………………………………………………(员
苑远)
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age ……………………………………………………(员愿员)
摇摇I. An Outline of the Literature of This Period ………………………………………(员
愿员)
摇摇II. William Makepeace Thackeray
Vanity Fair( Excerpt)
摇摇III. Alfred Tennyson
Ulysses
怨猿)
…………………………………………………(员
怨猿)
………………………………………………………………(员
怨远)
…………………………………………………………………(员
怨远)
……………………………………………………………………………(员
摇摇IV. Robert Browning …………………………………………………………………(员
怨怨)
My Last Duchess
怨怨)
…………………………………………………………………(员
摇摇V. Charles Dickens ……………………………………………………………………(圆
园圆)
Oliver Twist( Excerpt) ………………………………………………………………(圆
园圆)
David Copperfield( Excerpt)
摇摇VI. Charlotte Bront
Ⅳ
园缘)
………………………………………………………(圆
园愿)
…………………………………………………………………(圆
Jane Eyre( Excerpt) …………………………………………………………………(圆
园愿)
摇摇VII. Emily Bront ………………………………………………………………………(圆
员缘)
Wuthering Heights( Excerpt) ………………………………………………………(圆
员缘)
摇摇VIII. George Eliot
圆圆)
……………………………………………………………………(圆
Adam Bede( Excerpt) ……………………………………………………………(圆
圆圆)
摇摇IX. Thomas Hardy ……………………………………………………………………(圆
圆怨)
Tess of the DUrbervilles( Excerpt)
圆怨)
………………………………………………(圆
摇摇X. Matthew Arnold ……………………………………………………………………(圆
猿缘)
Dover Beach
猿缘)
………………………………………………………………………(圆
Chapter 6 The Modern Period …………………………………………………(圆猿愿)
摇摇I. An Outline of the Literature of This Period ………………………………………(圆
猿愿)
摇摇II. George Bernard Shaw
源愿)
……………………………………………………………(圆
Mrs. Warrens Profession( Excerpt)
摇摇III. W郾B郾Yeats
源愿)
………………………………………………(圆
缘愿)
………………………………………………………………………(圆
The Lake Isle of Innisfree …………………………………………………………(圆
缘愿)
The Second Coming ………………………………………………………………(圆
缘怨)
Sailing to Byzantium ………………………………………………………………(圆
远员)
摇摇IV. Edward Morgan Forster
远猿)
…………………………………………………………(圆
A Passage to India( Excerpt) ………………………………………………………(圆
远猿)
摇摇V. Virginia Woolf
远远)
……………………………………………………………………(圆
Mrs. Dalloway( Excerpt) ……………………………………………………………(圆
远远)
摇摇VI. James Joyce
苑源)
………………………………………………………………………(圆
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man( Excerpt) ………………………………(圆
苑源)
Ulysses( Excerpt)
摇摇VII. D郾H郾Lawrence
苑愿)
…………………………………………………………………(圆
愿园)
…………………………………………………………………(圆
Sons and Lovers( Excerpt)
愿园)
………………………………………………………(圆
摇摇VIII. T郾S郾Eliot …………………………………………………………………………(圆
愿源)
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
摇摇IX. William Golding
愿源)
…………………………………………(圆
怨园)
…………………………………………………………………(圆
Lord of the Flies( Excerpt) …………………………………………………………(圆
怨园)
References ………………………………………………………………………………(圆怨缘)
Ⅴ
Chapter 1
Old and Medieval English Literature
I. An Outline of the Literature of This Period
蕴蚤
贼
藻
则
葬则
赠栽藻
则
皂泽
月则
蚤
藻
枣阅藻
泽
糟
则
蚤
责贼
蚤
燥
灶
(员)月葬
造
造
葬
凿is a story in poetic form to be sung or recited.
Ballad
( 民谣)
(圆)Ballads were passed down from generation to generation.
(猿)Robin Hood is a famous ballad singing the goods of Robin Hood.
Coleridges The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a 员怨th century English
ballad.
(员)耘责蚤
糟
,in poetry,refers to a long work dealing with the actions of
Epic
( 史诗)
gods and heroes.
(圆)Beowulf is the greatest national epic of the AngloSaxons. John
Milton wrote three great epics:Paradise Lost,Paradise Regained and
Samson Agonistes.
藻is a popular literary form in the medieval England.
(员)砸燥皂葬灶糟
Romance
(圆)It sings knightly adventures or other heroic deeds.
( 罗曼史 / 骑士文学) (猿) Chivalry ( such as bravery, honor, loyalty, generosity, and
kindness to the weak and poor)is the spirit of romance.
(员)粤造
造
蚤
贼
藻
则
葬
贼
蚤
燥
灶means a repetition of the initial sounds of several words
Alliteration
( 押头韵)
in a line or group.
(圆)Alliteration is a traditional poetic device in English literature.
(猿)Robert Frosts poem Acquainted with the Night is a case in point:
“I
have stood still and stopped the sound of feet”.
摇圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
晕葬皂藻燥枣贼
澡藻宰则
蚤
贼
藻
则
宰燥
则
噪泽
月则
蚤
藻
枣阅藻
泽
糟
则
蚤
责贼
蚤
燥
灶
( 员) Beowulf,a typical example of
Old English poetry,is regarded as the
greatest national epic of the Anglo
Saxons.
Beowulf
《 贝尔武甫》
(圆)The epic describes the heroic deeds
of a Scandinavian hero,Beowulf,in
fighting against the monster Grendel,his
revengeful mother,and a firebreathing
dragon.
(猿)The poem conveys a hope that the
righteous will triumph over the evil.
Geoffrey Chaucer
(员
猿源猿原员源
园园)
( 乔叟)
(员)The Canterbury Tales is Chaucers
monumental success.
(圆)It is a collection of stories told
)He is regarded as the father
(员
by a group of pilgrims on their way
of English poetry.
to Canterbury.
(圆)The Canterbury Tales is
his masterpiece.
The Canterbury Tales (猿)It was influenced by Boccaccios
(猿)He presents,for the first 《 坎特伯雷故事集》 ( 薄迦丘)Decameron(《 十日谈》).
time in English literature, a
(源)In the poem Chaucer presents,
comprehensive realistic picture
Troilus and Criseyde
for the first time in English
of the medieval English society
《 特罗勒斯和科丽西德》 literature,a comprehensive realistic
and creates a whole gallery of
picture of the medieval English
vivid characters from all walks
The Romaunt of the Rose society and creates a whole gallery
of life.
of vivid characters from all walks of
《 玫瑰罗曼史》
(源)Chaucer introduced from
France rhymed stanzas of
life.
various types(heroic couplet)
The House of Fame
(缘)In this work Chaucers realism,
into English poetry to replace
《 声誉之堂》
trenchant irony and freedom of
the Old English alliterative
views reached a high level of
verse.
power.
(缘
)It was Chaucer who made
(远)The poem shows Chaucers
London dialect the foundation
humanism and anticipates a new
for modern English speech.
( 远) His characterization is
era to come.
vivid.
Chapter 1 Old and Medieval English Literature 摇 摇猿
(员)Piers Plowman is a poem that
William Langland
(员
猿猿员原员源
园园)
( 威廉・兰格伦)
gives a picture of the life in feudal
Piers Plowman
《 农夫皮尔斯》
England.
(圆)It is a protest against the then
social injustice.
II. Beowulf
员
月藻
燥憎怎造
枣
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
One of Hygelacs圆 thanes猿,Beowulf by name,
renowned among the Geats for his great bravery
heard in his own country of Grendels crimes;
he was the strongest man alive,
princely and powerful.
He gave order that a good ship should be prepared,
said he would sail
over the sea to assist the famous leader,
the warrior king,since he needed hardy men.
Wise men admired his spirit of adventure.
Dear to them though he was,they encouraged
the warrior and consulted the omens.
Beowulf searched out the bravest of the Geats源,
asked them to go with him;that seasoned sailor
led fourteen thanes to the ship at the shore.
Days went by the boat was on the water,
moored under the cliff. The warriors,all prepared,
stepped onto the prow the water streams eddied,
stirred up sand the men stowed
gleaming armor,noble wargear
deep within the ship;then those warriors launched
the wellbuilt boat and began their journey.
Foaming at the prow and most like a seabird,
the boat sped over the waves,urged on by the wind
摇源
摇
英国文学简读教程
until next day,at the expected time,
so far had the curved prow come
that the travellers sighted land,
shining cliffs,steep hills,
broad headlands. So did they cross the sea
their journey was at its end. Then the Geats
disembarked,lost no time in tying up
the boat — their corslets clanked
the warriors gave thanks to God
for their safe passage over the sea.
员. Beowulf is regarded as Englands national epic consisting of 猿员
愿
圆lines. It tells of two major
adventures in the life of the Geatish hero Beowulf:the first adventure takes place in his youth
when he fights and kills a monster Grendel and his revengeful mother,a sea monster;the
second adventure occurs after Beowulf has long been king of the Geats. It happens that his
kingdom is attacked by a fire dragon and his people suffer tremendously. A horrible fighting
comes between Beowulf and the dragon. At long last both are mortally wounded. The dragon
is killed and Beowulf dies. The selection is a part of modern version of Beowulf. It describes
Beowulf and his warriors who are well prepared and ready to go abroad by sea to assist the
Danish king who is harassed by Grendels crimes.
圆. Hygelac:a kingdom of ancient Sweden
猿. thane:lord
源. Geats:a tribe of Hygelac
员. What is Beowulf renowned for?
圆. What are Beowulf and his warriors going to do?
猿. What figure of speech is typical of the poem?
Chapter 1 Old and Medieval English Literature 摇 摇缘
III. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
员
杂蚤
则郧葬
憎葬蚤
灶葬灶凿贼
澡藻郧则
藻
藻
灶运灶蚤
早澡贼
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
The Green knight upon ground girds him with care
Bows a bit with his head,and bares his flesh:
His long lovely locks he laid over his crown,
Let the naked nape for the need be shown.
Gawain grips to his ax and gathers it aloft—
The left foot on the floor before him he set—
Brought it down deftly upon the bare neck,
That the shock of the sharp blow shivered the bones
And cut the flesh cleanly and clove it in twain,
That the blade of bright steel bit into the ground.
The head was hewn off and fell to the floor;
Many found it at their feet,as forth it rolled;
The blood gushed from the body,bright on the grin.
Yet fell not the fellow,nor faltered a whit,
But stoutly he starts forth upon stiff shanks,
And as all stood staring he stretched forth his hand,
Laid hold of his head and heaved it aloft.
Then goes to the green steed,grasps the bridle,
Steps into the stirrup,bestrides his mount,
And his head by the hair in his hand holds,
And as steady he sits in the stately saddle
As he had met with no mishap,nor missing were his head.
His bulk about he haled圆,that fearsome body that bled
There were many in the court that quailed
Before all his say was said.
员. Romance is a dominant form of the Medieval English literature. The word roman in Old French
摇远
摇
英国文学简读教程
was applied to the popular courtly stories in verse which dealt with three traditional subjects:
the legends about Arthur,Charlemagne and his knights,and stories of classical heroes,
especially Alexander. It mainly tells of adventures of knights. The principles that knights cling
to are termed chivalry. The essence of chivalry emphasizes such virtues as courage,honor,
courtesy and concern for the weak and helpless. King Arthur and His Knights of the Round
Table is one of the most popular romances. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a famous one
of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. The selection describes the fierce combat
between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
圆. haled:hauled
员. How do you describe the appearance of the Green Knight?
圆. What kind of person is the Green Knight?
猿. Who has won at last?Sir Gawain or the Green Knight?
源. How did Sir Gawain win the Green Knight?
IV. Geoffrey Chaucer
员
栽澡藻悦葬灶贼
藻
则
遭怎则
赠栽葬
造
藻
泽
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
郧砸韵哉孕粤
栽澡藻孕则
燥
造
燥早
怎藻
When the sweet showers of April fall and shoot
Down through the drought of March to pierce the root,
Bathing every vein in liquid power
From which there springs the engendering圆 of the flower,
When also Zephyrus猿 with his sweet breath
Exhales an air in every grove and heath
Upon the tender shoots,and the young sun源
His halfcourse in the sign of the Ram缘 has run,
And the small fowl are making melody
Chapter 1 Old and Medieval English Literature 摇 摇苑
That sleep away the night with open eye
( So nature pricks远 them and their heart engages苑)
Then people long to go on pilgrimages
And palmers long to seek the stranger strands愿
Of faroff saints,hallowed in sundry lands,
And specially,from every shires end
In England,down to Canterbury they wend
To seek the holy blissful martyr怨,quick
In giving help to them when they were sick.
It happened in that season that one day
In Southwark,at The Tabard,as I lay
Ready to go on pilgrimage and start
For Canterbury,most devout at heart,
At night there came into that hostelry
Some nine and twenty in a company
Of sundry folk happening then to fall
In fellowship,and they were pilgrims all
That towards Canterbury meant to ride.
The rooms and stables of the inn were wide;
They made us easy,all was of the best.
And shortly,when the sun had gone to rest,
By speaking to them all upon the trip
I was admitted to their fellowship
And promised to rise early and take the way
To Canterbury,as you heard me say.
But none the less,while I have time and space,
Before my story takes a further pace员园,
It seems a reasonable thing to say
What their condition was,the full array
Of each of them,as it appeared to me.
According to profession and degree员员,
And what apparel they were riding in;
And at a Knight I therefore will begin.
…
摇愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
There also was a Nun,a Prioress;
Simple her way of smiling was and coy员圆.
Her greatest oath was only By St Loy员猿!
And she was known as Madam Eglantyne员源.
And well she sang a service,with a fine
Intoning through her nose,as was most seemly,
After the school of StratfordatteBowe员缘;
French in the Paris style she did not know.
At meal her manners were well taught withal;
No morsel from her lips did she let fall,
Nor dipped her fingers in the sauce too deep;
But she could carry a morsel up and keep
The smallest drop from falling on her breast.
For courtliness she had a special zest.
And she would wipe her upper lip so clean
That not a trace of grease was to be seen
Upon the cup when she had drunk;to eat,
She reached a hand sedately for the meat.
She certainly was very entertaining,
Pleasant and friendly in her ways,and straining
To counterfeit a courtly kind of grace,
A stately bearing fitting to her place员远,
And to seem dignified in all her dealings.
As for her sympathies and tender feelings,
She was so charitably solicitous
She used to weep if she but saw a mouse
Caught in trap,if it were dead or bleeding.
And she had little dogs she would be feeding
With roasted flesh,of milk,or fine white bread.
Sorely she wept if one of them were dead
Or someone took a stick and made it smart员苑;
She was all sentiment and tender heart.
Her veil was gathered in a seemly way,
Her nose was elegant,her eyes glassgrey;
Chapter 1 Old and Medieval English Literature 摇 摇怨
Her mouth was very small,but soft and red,
And certainly she had a wellshaped head,
Almost a span across the brows,I own;
She was indeed by no means undergrown.
Her cloak,I noticed,had a graceful charm.
She wore a coral trinket on her arm,
A set of beads,the gaudies tricked in green员愿,
Whence hung a golden brooch of brightest sheen
On which there first was graven a crowned A员怨,
And lower,Amor vincit onmia圆园.
…
员. The Canterbury Tales is Geoffrey Chaucers masterpiece. The predominant form of the poem is
源stories such as The Knights Tale,The
the rhyming heroic couplet. It contains altogether 圆
Millers Tale,The Wife of Baths Tale,The Friars Tale,The Merchants Tale,and The
Parsons Tale,etc. In this monumental work Chaucer gives us a faithful picture of the society
of his time. Taking the standard of the rising bourgeoisie,he affirms men and opposes the
dogma of asceticism preached by the Church. As a forerunner of humanism,he praises mans
energy,intellect,quick wit and love of life. His tales expose and satirize the evils of his time.
They attack the degeneration of the noble,the heartlessness of the judge,and the corruption of
the Church,etc. The General Prologue that provides a framework for the tales realistically
describes the meeting of 圆
怨pilgrims from all walks of life of the then England. These pilgrims
ride out on a fine spring morning,intent on making a pilgrimage to Canterbury where a saint
named Thomas Becket was buried. They meet in the Tabard Inn in Southwark of London,and
they agree to tell a story each on their way to Canterbury and another when back. The best
storyteller will be handsomely entertained by the owner of the Tabard Inn. Chaucer,in the
tale of a Prioress,portrays ironically and humorously a nun whose seemingly elegant and
refined speaking and eating manner proves artificial and pretentious. Her nickname leaves
readers a wild imagination as regards her personality.
圆. engendering:originating
猿. Zephyrus:the west wind
摇员园
摇
英国文学简读教程
源. the young sun:the sun of the spring time
缘. Ram:sign of the Zodiac( 白羊宫). The sun is in the Ram from March 员
圆to April 员
员and it is
springtime.
远. pricks:urges
苑. engage:attract
愿. stranger strands:foreign shores
怨. the holy blissful martyr:St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury who was murdered in 员
员
苑园when he
was in conflict with Henry II
员
园. Before my story takes a further pace:While I have time and space.
员
员. degree:social status
员
圆. coy:pretending to be shy
员
猿. By St Loy:a famous craftsman of the sixthcentury France
员
源. Eglantyne:eglantine( a type of wild rose)
员
缘. After the school of StratfordatteBowe:speaking French in the manner of StratfordatteBowe
员
远. place:position
员
苑. made it smart:beat it with a whip
员
愿. tricked in green:ornamented in green
员
怨. A:Latin word Amor( love)
圆
园. Amor vincit omma( Latin):Love conquers all.
员. In what season does the story take place?
圆. What are these pilgrims going to do in Canterbury?
猿. Is the nun in the poem an elegant woman?Why or why not?
源. What does the nickname of the nun imply about her?
Chapter 2
The Renaissance Period
I. An Outline of the Literature of This Period
蕴蚤
贼
藻
则
葬则
赠栽藻
则
皂泽
月则
蚤
藻
枣阅藻
泽
糟
则
蚤
责贼
蚤
燥
灶
(员)The word“砸藻
灶葬
蚤
泽
泽
葬
灶糟
藻
”means“rebirth”. It meant the reintroduction
into Western Europe of the full cultural heritage of Greece and Rome.
Renaissance
( 文艺复兴)
(圆)The essence of the Renaissance is Humanism. Attitudes and feelings
which had been characteristic of the 员
源
th and 员
缘th centuries persisted well
down into the era of Humanism and Reformation.
(猿)The real mainstream of the English Renaissance is the Elizabethan
drama with William Shakespeare being the leading dramatist.
灶蚤
泽
皂 is the essence of the Renaissance.
(员)匀怎皂葬
Humanism
( 人文主义)
(圆)It emphasizes the dignity of human beings and the importance of the
present life. Humanists voiced their beliefs that man was the center of the
universe and man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of the
present life,but had the ability to perfect himself and to perform wonders.
(员)杂责藻
灶泽
藻
则
蚤
葬
灶泽
贼
葬
灶扎
葬is the creation of Edmund Spenser.
Spenserian stanza
( 斯宾塞诗节)
(圆)It refers to a stanza of nine lines,with the first eight lines in
iambic pentameter and the last line in iambic hexameter( 六 音 步 ),
rhyming ababbcbcc.
(猿)Spensers The Faerie Queene was written in this kind of stanza.
Conceit
( 奇特的比喻)
灶糟
藻
蚤
贼is a farfetched simile or metaphor,a literary conceit
(员) 悦燥
occurs when the speaker compares two highly dissimilar things.
(圆)Conceit is extensively employed in John Donnes poetry.
摇员圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
贼
葬
责澡赠泽
蚤
糟
葬造责燥藻
贼
则
赠is commonly used to name the work of the
(员)酝藻
员苑thcentury writers who wrote under the influence of John Donne.
(圆)With a rebellious spirit,the metaphysical poets tried to break away
Metaphysical poetry
( 玄学派诗歌)
from the conventional fashion of the Elizabethan love poetry.
(猿)The diction is simple as compared with that of the Elizabethan or the
Neoclassical periods,and echoes the words and cadences of common
speech.
(源)The imagery is drawn from actual life.
(员)杂燥灶灶藻
贼is the one of the most conventional and influential forms of
Sonnet
( 十四行诗)
poetry in Europe.
(圆) A sonnet is a lyric consisting of 员
源 lines,usually in iambic
pentameter,restricted to a definite rhyme scheme.
(猿)Shakespeares sonnets are wellknown.
Blank verse
( 无韵体诗)
葬
灶噪增
藻
则
泽
藻is verse written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.
(员)月造
(圆)It is the verse form used in some of the greatest English poetry,
including that of William Shakespeare and John Milton.
(员)The word“ 皂藻
贼
藻
则”is derived from the Greek word“ metron”,
Meter
( 格律)
meaning“ measure”.
(圆)In English when applied to poetry,it refers to the regular pattern
of stressed and unstressed syllables.
(猿)The analysis of the meter is called scansion( 格律分析).
造
藻
早
燥
则
赠is a story told to explain or teach something,especially a
(员)粤造
long and complicated story with an underlying meaning different from
the surface meaning of the story itself. In other words,an allegory is a
Allegory
( 寓言)
story with two meanings,a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
(圆) Allegorical novels use extended metaphors to convey moral
meanings or attack certain social evils. Characters in these novels often
stand for different values such as virtue and vice.
(猿)Bunyans The Pilgrims Progress,Goldings Lord of the Flies and
Melvilles Moby Dick are three examples of this kind.
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇员猿
(员) 杂贼
葬
灶扎
葬is a group of lines of poetry,usually four or more,
Stanza
( 诗节)
arranged according to a fixed plan.
(圆)The stanza is the unit of structure in a poem and poets do not vary
the unit within a poem.
增
藻
则
泽
蚤
贼
赠宰蚤
贼
泽refer to a group of scholars during the Elizabethan
(员)哉灶蚤
Age who graduated from either Oxford or Cambridge. They came to
London with the ambition to become professional writers. Some of
University Wits
( 大学才子)
them later became famous poets and playwrights. They were called
“ university wits”.
(圆)Thomas Greene,Thomas Kyd,John Lily and Christopher Marlowe
were among them.
(猿)They paved the way,to some degree,for the coming of Shakespeare.
(员)云燥
则
藻
泽
澡葬
凿燥
憎蚤
灶早
,in drama,means a method used to build suspense
Foreshadowing
( 预兆)
by providing hints of what is to come.
(圆)In Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet,Romeos expression of fear in
Act 员,Scene 源foreshadows the catastrophe to come:I fear too early;
for my mind misgives;Some consequence yet hanging in the stars 郾郾
郾
(员)杂燥造
蚤
造
燥
择怎赠,in drama,means a moment when a character is alone
and speaks his or her thoughts aloud.
Soliloquy
( 独白)
(圆)In the line“ To be,or not to be,that is the question”,which
begins the famous soliloquy from Act 猿,scene 员of Shakespeares
Hamlet. In this soliloquy Hamlet questions whether or not life is worth
living,and speaks of the reasons why he does not end his life.
Narrative Poem
( 叙述诗)
晕葬皂藻燥枣贼
澡藻宰则
蚤
贼
藻
则
Philip Sidney
(员
缘
缘
源原员
缘
愿
远)
则
则
葬
贼
蚤
增
藻孕燥
藻
皂 refers to a poem that tells a story.
(员)粤晕葬
(圆)It may consist of a series of incidents,as in Homers The Iliad and
The Odysseus,and John Miltons Paradise Lost.
宰燥
则
噪泽
Arcadia
《 阿卡狄亚》
( 菲利普・锡尼爵士)
(员)He stands for the
Astrophel and Stella
《 阿斯特罗菲尔与斯特拉》
月则
蚤
藻
枣阅藻
泽
糟
则
蚤
责贼
蚤
燥
灶
(员) Arcadia is a prose romance filled
with lyrics.
(圆)It is regarded as a forerunner of the
modern world.
摇员源
摇
英国文学简读教程
spirit of the Elizabethan
Age.
(圆)In many ways he
Defense of Poetry
represents the Renais
《 为诗歌辩护》
sance ideal of “ the
complete man”.
Edmund Spenser
(员)The Faerie Queene is Spensers masterpiece,
(员
缘
缘
圆原员
缘
怨
怨
)
a great poem of its age.
(埃德蒙・斯宾塞)
(圆)The fairy queen in the poem stands for
both the Queen Elizabeth and glory.
(员)He is acclaimed
(猿)In the poem Spenser speaks of 员
圆virtues
as“ the poets poet ”
of a perfect gentleman.
in English literature.
(圆)His poetry is noted
for such qualities as a
The Faerie Queene
《 仙后》
perfect melody,a rare
sense of beauty, a
splendid imagination,
The Shepherd Calendar
《 牧羊人日记》
a lofty moral purity
(源)This allegorical poem is distinguished for
its rich content and exquisite style.
(缘)The poem is written in the form of the
Spenserian Stanza.
(远)The Redcross Knight in the poem represents
the Church of England.
and seriousness,and a
The Shepherd Calender records and expresses
dedicated idealism.
( 猿) He created the
the poets laments over the loss of Rosalind.
Spenserian stanza.
(源
)His masterpiece is
The Faerie Queene.
Thomas More
(员)Utopia describes an ideal commonwealth
(员源苑
愿原员缘
猿缘)
in which property is shared in common and
( 托马斯・莫尔)
poverty does not exist.
(员)He is the greatest
Utopia
of the English human
《 乌托邦》
ists.
( 圆)He authored
“ Utopia”.
(圆)The name“ Utopia”is derived from two
Greek words meaning“ no place”.
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇员缘
( 员) Tamburlaine is a play about an
Christopher Marlowe
ambitious and cruel Tartar conqueror in the
(员
缘
远
源原员
缘
怨
猿)
fourteenth century who rose from a shepherd
( 克里斯托弗・马洛)
to an overpowering king.
)As the most gifted
(员
(圆)It voiced the supreme desire of the man
the “ University
of the Renaissance for infinite power and
of
authority.
Wits”, Marlowe au
thored six plays within
(员) Dr. Faustus is a play based on the
his short lifetime.
(圆)The most impor
German legend of a magician aspiring for
tant ones are:Tambur
knowledge and finally meeting his tragic end
laine, Dr.
Faustus,
The Jew of Malta.
(猿) Marlowes great
est
literary
achieve
ment lies in that he
perfected
the
Tamburlaine
《 铁木耳大帝》
Dr. Faustus
《 浮士德的悲剧》
blank
verse and made it the
principal medium of
The Jew of Malta
《 马耳他的犹太人》
as a result of selling his soul to the Devil.
(圆) It celebrates the human passion for
knowledge and happiness.
( 猿) It also reveals mans frustration in
realizing the high aspirations in a hostile
moral order.
(源) And the confinement to time is the
cruelest fact of mans condition.
English drama.
(源)Marlowes second
achievement consists in
his creation of the Re
The Passionate
Shepherd to His Love
《 多情的牧羊人致情人》
The Jew of Malta expresses mans desire for
wealth.
for
(员)The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is
English drama. Such
considered to be one of the most beautiful
hero is always indivi
lyrics in English literature.
naissance
hero
dualistic and full of
(圆)It is composed in the tradition of the
ambition,facing bravely
pastoral tradition, in which the shepherd
the
enjoys an ideal country life,cherishing a
challenge
from
both gods and men.
pastoral and pure affection for his love.
Such a hero embodies
(猿)Strong emotion is conveyed through the
Marlowes humanistic
beauty of nature when lovers are not
ideal of human dignity
disturbed by worldly concern.
and capacity. With the
(源)The rhyme scheme of the poem is aabb.
摇员远
摇
英国文学简读教程
endless aspiration for
power, knowledge,
and glory, the hero
embodies
the
true
Renaissance spirit.
William Shakespeare
(员
缘
远
源原员
远
员
远)
( 威廉・莎士比亚)
Henry VI
《 亨利六世》
(员
)He is the greatest
of
all
Elizabethan
Richard III
《 理查德三世》
dramatists.
(圆
)His literary career
falls into four periods.
Henry IV
He wrote 猿
苑plays and
《 亨利四世》
(猿
)Shakespeares great
Henry V
tragedies are associated
《 亨利五世》
员
缘
源sonnets.
with a period of gloom
and sorrow in his life.
Henry VIII
These plays express a
《 亨利八世》
profound
dissatisfac
tion with life. They
A Midsummer
show the struggles and
Nights Dream
conflicts between good
《 仲夏夜之梦》
and evil of the time,
(员)Hamlet
is
the
greatest
tragedy
of
Shakespeares.
(圆)Hamlet,the melancholic scholarprince,
faces the dilemma between action and mind.
(猿)His famous monologue is“ To be or not
to be”.
(员)Othello is a tragedy of humanism.
(圆)His inner weakness is made use of by the
outside evil force.
(员) Macbeth is a tragedy of all ambitious
adventurers who become the prey of their
ambition.
(圆) Macbeths lust for power stirs ups his
ambition and drives him to incessant crimes.
( 员) King Lear is based on an old British
legend.
(圆)The old King Lear is a selfwilled ruler
between justice and The Merchant of Venice
who suffers from treachery and infidelity on
《 威尼斯商人》
injustice. In these trag
account of his irresponsibility and vanity.
edies Shakespeare con
(猿)The climax of the play is Act III,Scene 源
As You Like it
demns the dark and
where images of such animals as bear,wolf,
《 皆大欢喜》
evil sides of human
fox,dog,monkey,rat and worm stand out.
nature.
These images reflect the jungle law of the age
Twelfth Night
(源)His sonnets repre
of primitive accumulation.
《 第十二夜》
sent the finest poetic
(源)In King Lear,Shakespeare has not only
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇员苑
craftsmanship of Eliz
made a profound analysis of the social crisis in
abethan poetry.
which the evils can be seen everywhere,but
( 缘) The themes of
also criticized the bourgeois egoism.
(缘)Shakespeare points out that a king or ruler
his sonnets are about
love,friendship,the
Hamlet
destructive effects of
《 哈姆雷特》
(员)The Merchant of Venice is a play eulogizing
time, the quickness
of
physical
decay,
and the loss of beau
must be responsible to his people.
Othello
the friendship between Antonio and Bassanio,
《 奥赛罗》
idealizing Portia as a heroine of great beauty,
ty,vigor,and love.
wit and loyalty, and exposing the insatiable
King Lear
《 李尔王》
greed and brutality of the Jew represented by
Shylock.
(圆
)But people today tend to regard the play as
Macbeth
a satire of the Christians hypocrisy and their
《 麦克白》
false standards,their cunning ways of pursuing
worldliness and their unreasoning prejudice
Romeo and Juliet
against Jews.
《 罗密欧与朱丽叶》 (猿)The allusion“a pound of flesh”comes from
this comedy.
The Tempest
《 暴风雨》
(员)Sonnet 员
愿is one of Shakespeares most
beautiful sonnets.
In the poem he has a
Timon of Athens
profound meditation on the destructive power
《 雅典的泰门》
of time and the eternal beauty brought forth by
poetry to the one he loves. A nice summers
Sonnet 员愿
day is usually transient, but the beauty in
poetry can last for ever. Thus Shakespeare has
a faith in the permanence of poetry.
(圆)The rhyme of the poem is abab cdcd efef
gg.
Francis Bacon
(员
缘
远
员原员
远
圆
远)
( 弗兰西斯・培根)
Essays
《 培根论说文集》
(员) The Advancement of Learning is a great
tract on education.
(圆)Here Bacon highly praises knowledge,refuting
摇员愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
(员)He is a philoso
the objections to learning and outlining the
pher, a scientist and
problems with which his plan is to deal.
(猿)Also he answers the charge that learning
the first English essay
ist.
(圆)He lays the foun
dation for modern sci
ence with his insist
ence on scientific way
of thinking and fresh
observation rather than
authority as a basis for
obtaining knowledge.
(猿)He is best known
for his Essays that is
the first example of
that genre in English
literature.
Of Studies
《 谈读书》
The Advancement of
Learning
《 论学问的进步》
Novum Organum(The
New Instrument)
《 论新工具》
New Atlantics
《 新大西岛》
is against religion.
(员)Novum Organum( The New Instrument)
is a successful treatise written in Latin on
methodology.
(圆)The argument is for the use of inductive
method of reasoning in scientific study.
(员)Of Studies is the most popular of Bacons
essays.
(圆)It analyzes what studies chiefly serve for,
the different ways adopted by different people
to pursue studies, and how studies exert
influence over human character.
( 猿) Forceful and persuasive, compact and
precise, the essay reveals to us Bacons
mature attitude towards learning.
(员) The Songs and Sonnets is probably his
John Donne
(员
缘
苑
圆原员
远
猿
员
)
(约翰・邓恩)
The Sun Rising
《 升起的太阳》
physical school”.
( 圆) Love is the basic theme. John Donne
holds that the nature of love is the union of
(员)He is the leading
figure of the “ meta
bestknown lyrics.
The Holy Sonnets
soul and body.
《 神圣体十四行诗》
(员)In A Valediction:Forbidding Mourning
(圆)The most striking
feature of Donnes
The Songs and Sonnets
John Donne resents too much display of
poetry is his frequent
《 歌谣与十四行诗》
emotion when two lovers part.
(圆) In this poem we are familiarized with
use of conceit.
(猿)He is a religious
poet obsessed with
death.
Death,Be Not Proud
John Donnes famous conceit:the two lovers
《 死亡,你别骄傲》 ( he and his wife ) are likened to the two
points of a compass. The wife stays at home.
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇员怨
(源) The Songs and
Sonnets is probably his
bestknown
Love
is
theme.
lyrics.
the
She is the fixed foot and the husband“ roams”
The Flea
《 跳蚤之歌》
basic
Donne holds
around,but never deviates from the center.
(猿)In a word,John Donne seems to emphasize
the importance of Platonic love.
A Valediction:
that the nature of love
Forbidding Mourning
is the union of soul
《 分别:莫忧伤》
and body.
(员)Paradise Lost is the greatest of John Miltons
John Milton
(员
远
园
愿原员
远
苑
源)
epics.
( 约翰・弥尔顿)
(圆)It is the only generally acknowledged epic
in English literature since Beowulf.
(员
)As a real revolu
(猿)The story is taken from the Bible. The
tionary,a master poet
and a great prose writ
er, Milton holds an
theme of the epic is mans disobedience and
Paradise Lost
《 失乐园》
important place in the
history of English liter
ature.
(圆
)He produced three
epics: Paradise Lost,
Paradise Regained and
the loss of Paradise,with its prime cause —
Satan who rebels against Gods authority and
tyranny.
Paradise Regained
《 复乐园》
Paradise Regained is a long narrative poem
telling how man, in the person of Christ,
Samson Agonistes
《 力士参孙》
Samson Agonistes.
Areopagitica
《 论出版自由》
Lycidas
《 列西达斯》
withstands the tempter and is established once
more in the divine favor.
(员)Samson Agonistes is the most perfect example
of the verse drama after the Greek style in English.
(圆)In this epic Milton presents to us a picture
of how Samson,the Israels mighty champion,
brings destruction down upon the enemy at the
cost of his own life.
(猿)The whole poem strongly suggests Miltons
passionate longing like Samsons that he too
could bring destruction down upon the enemy at
the cost of his own life. In this sense,Samson is
Milton.
摇圆园
摇
英国文学简读教程
(员)The Pilgrims Progress is John Bunyans
John Bunyan
(员远圆
愿原员远
愿愿)
masterpiece. It is the most successful religious
( 约翰・班扬)
allegory.
(圆) It tells of the experience of a devout
(员)He is a religious
novelist whose style
was modeled after that
of the English Bible.
(圆
) His language is
concrete and vivid.
Christian the Pilgrim with a neighbor named
The Pilgrims Progress
《 天路历程》
Faithful in a world full of vice and wickedness.
(猿)It is a prose allegory depicting the pilgrimage
of a human soul in search of salvation.
The Life and Death of (源) The novel is not only about something
摇摇Mr. Badman
spiritual but also bears much relevance to the
(猿) His masterpiece,
《 贝德曼先生的一生》 time.
The Pilgrims Pro
(缘)Its predominant metaphor is the metaphor
gress,is the most suc
of life as a journey.
cessful religious alle
(远)The most famous scene in the novel is
gory.
Vanity Fair.
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇圆员
II. Christopher Marlowe
员
栽澡藻孕葬
泽
泽
蚤
燥灶葬贼
藻杂澡藻
责澡藻
则
凿贼
燥匀蚤
泽蕴燥
增藻
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove圆
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猿
And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies源,
A cap of flowers,and a kirtle缘
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle远;
摇圆圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
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;
Come live with me,and be my love.
The shepherds swains苑 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.
员. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love is one of Marlowes most beautiful lyrics. Here,the
shepherd is courting the girl he loves and showing her the great happiness and ease they can
enjoy in nature. It is written in the pastoral tradition in which the shepherd finds himself in
perfect harmony with nature. The speaker in the poem cherishes a pastoral and pure passion for
his ideal love. He provides his love with everything that comes from nature. He says that
nothing worldly will disturb them because they live in the beauty of nature. Strong romanticism
runs through the poem.
圆. prove:go through;experience
猿. madrigals:short love songs
源. posies:flowers
缘. kirtle:a long dress
远. myrtle:a kind of small tree with shiny green leaves and sweetsmelling white flowers
苑. swains:male suitors
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇圆猿
员. What kind pleasures does the shepherd in the poem think he will experience with his love?
圆. Do you think the shepherd is a person of romantic state of mind?
猿. In what literary tradition is the poem composed?Can you provide some examples to prove that?
III. William Shakespeare
匀葬
皂造
藻
贼
,孕则
蚤
灶糟
藻燥枣阅藻
灶皂葬则
噪员
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
[ 粤糟
贼陨
陨
陨
]
[ 杂糟
藻
灶藻陨— 粤则
燥
燥皂 蚤
灶贼
澡藻糟
葬
泽
贼
造
藻
]
…
Hamlet:
To be,or not to be圆:that is the question:
Whethertis nobler in the mind to suffer猿
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them源. To die,to sleep缘—
No more—and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache,and the thousand natural shocks
The flesh is heir to远!Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished . To die,to sleep—
To sleep—perchance to dream:ay,theres the rub苑,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil愿,
Must give us pause. Theres the respect怨
That makes calamity of so long life:
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Thoppressors wrong,the proud mans contumely,
The pangs of despised love,the laws delay,
The insolence of office,and the spurns
摇圆源
摇
英国文学简读教程
The patient merit of thunworthy takes员园,
When he himself might his quietus员员 make
With a bare bodkin?Who would fardels员圆 bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country,from whose bourn员猿
No traveler returns,puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience员源 does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied员缘 oer with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch员远 and moment,
With this regard their currents turn awry员苑,
And lose the name of action员愿.
员. Hamlet is the greatest of Shakespeares tragedies. The selection is Hamlets famous soliloquy of
profoundly meditative deliberation on thinking and action. Here,Hamlet is seen to ponder on
revenging or taking passively what it may come. He seems constantly suspended between the
real world and the imaginary one. The“ to be,or not to be”dilemma he faces carries universal
significance for his subtle questioning monologue possesses deep insight into human nature.
Some people say Hamlet is a coward on account that he retreats to a shadow world as a way to
relieve his anguish instead of killing Claudius when the due occasion arises. In fact,Hamlet is
a great Renaissance man in that his melancholy meditation on the possibility of his action shows
his real concern for the welfare of his country. To commit suicide is easy,but does it solve all
the problems?It is likely that this hesitation kills Hamlets action. Hamlet has none of the
singleminded blood lust of the earlier revengers. It is not because he is incapable of action,
but because the cast of his mind is so speculative,so questioning,and so contemplative that
action,when it finally comes,seems almost like defeat,diminishing rather than adding to the
stature of the hero. Trapped in a nightmare world of spying,testing and plotting,and
apparently bearing the intolerable burden of the duty to revenge his fathers death,Hamlet is
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇圆缘
obliged to inhabit a shadow world,to live suspended between fact and fiction,language and
action. His life is one of constant roleplaying,examining the nature of action only to deny its
possibility for he is too sophisticated to degrade his nature to the conventional role of a stage
revenger. For such a figure,soliloquy is a natural medium,a necessary release of his anguish;
and some of his questioning monologues possess surpassing power and insight,which have
survived centuries of being torn from their context. Hamlets dilemma carries a universal
dilemma in that each human being has to face it at certain time in his life. Robert Frosts The
Road Not Taken bears a thematic resemblance to Hamlets poignant soliloquy.
圆. To be,or not to be:to commit suicide or not
猿. in the mind to suffer:to suffer passively
源. by opposing end them:to end them by fighting
缘. To die,to sleep:to die is to sleep
远. flesh is heir to:flesh is exposed to
苑. the rub:the difficulty
愿. shuffled off this mortal coil:get rid of trouble of mortal life
怨. respect:consideration
员
园. the spurns / the patient merit of thunworthy takes:patient merit takes the spurns of the
unworthy
员
员. quietus:settle ones own account( 清账);to die
员
圆. fardels:burdens
员
猿. bourn:boundary
员
源. conscience:consideration
员
缘. sicklied:covered with sick color
员
远. pitch:importance
员
苑. turn awry:turn in the wrong direction
员
愿. lose the name of action:lose the honor that comes from action
员. Whats Hamlets dilemma?What has caused his dilemma?
圆. Whats Hamlets conception of life and death reflected in this soliloquy?
猿. Why does Hamlet refrain from taking action?
源. Do you think Hamlet is justified in his hesitation?Why or why not?
摇圆远
摇
英国文学简读教程
员
栽澡藻酝藻
则
糟
澡葬灶贼燥枣灾藻
灶蚤
糟
藻
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
[ 粤糟
贼陨
灾]
[ 杂糟
藻
灶藻陨
援灾藻
灶蚤
糟
藻
,粤悦燥
怎则
贼燥
枣允
怎泽
贼
蚤
糟
藻
]
Portia:
摇摇The quality of mercy is not straind圆,
摇摇It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
摇摇Upon the place beneath:it is twice blest.
摇摇It blesseth him that gives,and him that takes:
摇摇Tis mightiest in the mightiest:it becomes
摇摇The throned monarch better than his crown;
摇摇His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
摇摇The attribute to awe and majesty猿,
摇摇Wherein doth sit源 the dread and fear of kings;
摇摇But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
摇摇It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
摇摇It is an attribute to God himself;
摇摇And earthly power doth then show likest Gods
摇摇When mercy seasons justice. Therefore,Jew,
摇摇Though justice be thy plea,consider this,
摇摇That,in the course of justice,none of us
摇摇Should see salvation:we do pray for mercy;
摇摇And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
摇摇The deeds of mercy. I have spoke缘 thus much
摇摇To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
摇摇Which if thou follow,this strict court of Venice
摇摇Must needs give sentence against the merchant there.
员. The Merchant of Venice is Shakespeares famous comedy. Antonio borrowed money from
Shylock for the sake of his friend Bassanio who suits the rich heiress Portia at Belmont.
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇圆苑
Antonio fails to pay Shylock in due time and this puts him at the mercy of Shylock who
lawfully claims a pound of flesh. Antonio is in danger. The selection is a wellknown court
scene from the play when Portia who disguises herself as a lawyer comes to the court to defend
Antonio. In the court Portia first appeals to Shylock for mercy. Her persuasion is moving and
emotional. Portia compares mercy to gentle rain that drops from heaven. Mercy benefits both
the giver and the taker. It is more powerful than the power of kings. Mercy is similar to Gods
favor when it goes hand in hand with justice. In the play Shylock is a comic figure in that he
finally becomes the one punished by his own evil deed. He is a typical merchant to be made
fun of. He is avaricious. He accumulates as much wealth as he can and he even equates his
lost daughter with his lost money. He is also cruel. In order to revenge,he would rather claim
a pound of flesh from his enemy Antonio than get back his loan. However,on the other hand,
Shylock is also a tragic figure for he falls a victim of the society. He is a Jew. As a minor
nationality,he is not treated equally by the society. The law is harsh to him. He has to make
as much money as he can in order to protect himself. He is abused by Antonio,and therefore,
he desires to revenge. In the play the Christians hypocrisy is sharply exposed. The comedy
takes a step forward in its realistic presentation of human nature and human conflict. Also in
the play Shakespeare shows his ungrudging and equalitarian attitude toward women. His
respect for the dignity,honesty,wit,courage,determination and resourcefulness of women is
clearly revealed. Portia is Shakespeares ideal woman. In the play a brilliant picture of Portia is
exhibited. She is portrayed as a woman of the Renaissance,beautiful,prudent,cultured,
independent,optimistic,faithful,courteous,intelligent and capable of rising to an emergency.
Portia is a daughter of the Renaissance.
圆. straind:constrained
猿. The attribute to awe and majesty:the symbol of awe and majesty
源. sit:exist
缘. spoke:spoken
员. To what does Portia compare mercy?
圆. According to Portia why is mercy more powerful than the power of kings?
猿. In what way does mercy resemble Gods?
源. What figure of speech does Portia employ in her appeal?
摇圆愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
酝葬
糟
遭藻
贼
澡员
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
[ 粤糟
贼灾]
[ 杂糟
藻
灶藻灾]
…
There would have been a time for such a word.
Tomorrow,and tomorrow,and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day圆,
To the last syllable of recorded time猿;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out,out,brief candle!
Lifes but a walking shadow,a poor player
That struts and frets源 his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more:it is a tale
Told by an idiot,full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing—
员. Macbeth is one of Shakespeares greatest tragedies. This selection happens in Act V,Scene V
when Macbeth feels extremely tired of life and deplores the meaningless life he has spent. Once
a nobleminded,brave,and upright man Macbeth has finally become a ruthless tyrant who has
been driven by his ambition to incessant crimes. Caught in unfathomable abyss of crime and
guilt,Macbeth painfully and cynically comments on the futility of his vain life that has been
channeled in the wrong direction. Life has been compared to“ a walking shadow”and“ a tale
told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing ”. American writer, William
Faulkner,has employed this famous line and entitled his masterpiece Sound and Fury. While
Macbeths cynicism can be strongly felt,readers are forcefully impressed by Shakespeares
implied message that life must be cherished and be spent in a meaningful way.
圆. Creeps in this petty pace from day to day:Days pass slowly.
猿. the last syllable of recorded time:the last moment of human life
源. struts and frets:spends time noisily in a selfimportant way
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇圆怨
员. Macbeth has been cast into the abyss of agony and cynicism. What do you think has caused his
mental sufferings?
圆. How do you understand Mecbeths metaphor“ Life is a walking shadow”?
猿. What message can you draw from Macbeths tragedy?
杂燥灶灶藻
贼员愿员
Shall I compare thee to a summers day圆?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summers lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime猿 too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair源 from fair缘 sometime declines,
By chance,or natures changing course,untrimmed远;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst苑,
Nor shall Death brag thou wandrest in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou growst愿.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this,and this gives life to thee.
员. Sonnet was first employed in the hands of the Italian poets in the early period of the
Renaissance and was perfected by such literary giants as Dante and Petrarch. It was during the
sixteenth century that sonnet was introduced to England and widely used by English poets. As
regards the form of sonnet there exist two variants:the Italian / Petrachan sonnet and the
Shakespearean form. The two kinds of sonnet differ in their different rhyme schemes:abba,
abba,adadad or abba,abba,cdecde for the Italian / Petrarchan sonnet and abab,cdcd,efef,
摇猿园
摇
英国文学简读教程
gg for the Shakespearean form. Sonnet 员
愿is one of Shakespeares most anthologized sonnets.
In the sonnet Shakespeare dwells deeply on the destructive power of time and the permanent
beauty rendered by his poetry to the person he loves. In the poem Shakespeare expresses a very
bold idea:that beautiful things can rely on the force of literature to reach their eternity;and
literature is created by man,thus it declares mans eternity. Shakespeare implies in the sonnet
that physical beauty embodied by a summers day is transient whereas the beauty in poetry is
eternal. The last two lines show that Shakespeare firmly believes in the permanence of his
poetry. The poem carries the spark of the European Renaissance movement.
圆. a summers day:the best season in England
猿. sometime:sometimes
源. fair:beauty
缘. fair:something beautiful
远. untrimmed:caused to lose beauty
苑. owst:own
愿. in eternal lines to time thou growst:in this poem you become a part of time
员. Whats the theme of this sonnet?
圆. How does Shakespeare comment on physical beauty?
猿. In what way does Shakespeare think his poetry lasts forever?
杂燥灶灶藻
贼圆怨员
When,in disgrace with Fortune and mens eyes圆,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to猿 one more rich in hope,
Featured like him,like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this mans art源,and that mans scope,
With what I most enjoy缘 contented least;
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇猿员
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee,and then my state远,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth,sings hymns at heavens gate;
For thy sweet love remembred such wealth brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings苑.
员. Sonnet 圆
怨is one of Shakespeares wellknown sonnets. This sonnet eulogizes the power and
value of friendship. It is friendship and friends love that save the depressed and unfortunate
poet from the abyss of desperation and helplessness and uplift and brighten him so much that he
feels unwilling to exchange his condition with the kings.
圆. in disgrace with Fortune and mens eyes:out of favor with fate and people
猿. like to:like
源. art:ability
缘. what I most enjoy:poetry
远. my state:state of mind
苑. scorn to change my state with kings:be reluctant to change my condition with throne
员. In what mood is the poet at the beginning of the sonnet?
圆. Why does he complain?
猿. What has changed his state of mind at the end of the sonnet?Why?
IV. Francis Bacon
员
韵枣杂贼
怎凿蚤
藻
泽
Studies serve for delight,for ornament,and for ability. Their chief use for delight,is in
privateness and retiring圆;for ornament,is in discourse;and for ability,is in the judgment and
disposition猿 of business. For expert men can execute,and perhaps judge of particulars,one by
摇猿圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
one;but the general counsels,and the plots and marshalling of affairs源,come best from those that
are learned. To spend too much time in studies,is sloth;to use them too much for ornament,is
affectation;to make judgment only by their rules缘,is the humor远 of a scholar. They perfect
nature,and are perfected by experience:for natural abilities are like natural plants,that need
pruning by study;and studies themselves do give forth direction too much at large,except苑 they
be bounded in愿 by experience. Crafty men contemn studies,simple men怨 admire them and wise
men use them;for they teach not their own use;but that is a wisdom without员园 them,and above
them,won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute;nor to believe and take for
granted;nor to find talk and discourse;but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted,
others to be swallowed,and some few to be chewed and digested;that is,some books are to be
read only in parts;others to be read,but not curiously员员;and some few to be read wholly,and
with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy,and extracts made of them
by others;but that would be only in the less important arguments,and the meaner sort of books;
else distilled books员圆 are like common distilled waters,flashy things. Reading makes a full man;
conference a ready man;and writing员猿 an exact man. And therefore,if a man write little,he had
need have员源 a great memory,if he confer little,he had need have a present wit员缘;and if he read
little,he had need have much cunning,to seem to know that员远 he doth not. Histories make men
wise;poets,witty;the mathematics,subtile员苑;natural philosophy员愿,deep;moral员怨,grave,logic
and rhetoric,able to contend:Abeunt studia in mores圆园. Nay,there is no stond圆员 nor impediment
in the wit圆圆,but圆猿 may be wrought out圆源 by fit studies:like as圆缘 diseases of the body may have
appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins圆远;shooting for the lungs and breast;
gentle walking for stomach;riding for the head;and the like. So if a mans wit be wandering,let
him study the mathematics;for in demonstrations,if his wit be called away never圆苑 so little,he
must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences,let him study the
schoolmen圆愿;for they are cymini sectores圆怨. If he be not apt to beat over matters猿园,and to call up
one thing to prove and illustrate another,let him study the lawyers cases. So every defect of the
mind may have a special receipt猿员.
员. Bacons essays have a literary style peculiar to their own. They share such qualities as
clearness,brevity and forcefulness. Bacons chief concern is to convey his profound thoughts
concisely and economically. His sentences are short, pointed, incisive and balanced in
structure. His essays are of maxim and wisdom. Directness,terseness and forcefulness are
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇猿猿
typical of Bacons essays. Of Studies is the best known of Bacons Essays. It discusses the
main purpose of studies,the different ways people adopt to pursue studies and how studies
influence peoples personality. This essay is concise,eloquent,forceful and persuasive. It also
brings out Bacons mature conception of learning.
圆. privateness and retiring:in solitude
猿. disposition:management
源. plots and marshalling of affairs:arrangement and planning of things
缘. by their rules:according to the book
远. humor:temper
苑. except:unless
愿. bounded in:checked;
怨. simple men:ignorant men
员
园. without:outside
员
员. curiously:carefully
员
圆. distilled books:books retold
员
猿. writing:notetaking
员
源. had need have:need have
员
缘. a present wit:a ready mind
员
远. that:what
员
苑. subtile:subtle
员
愿. natural philosophy:natural science
员
怨. moral:moral philosophy
圆
园. Abeunt studia in mores:
( Latin)Studies have an influence upon the manners of those that are
conversant in them.
圆
员. stond:hindrance
圆
圆. in the wit:in the mind
圆
猿. but:but what
圆
源. wrought out:solved
圆
缘. like as:as
圆
远. stone and reins:结石和肾
圆
苑. never:ever
圆
愿. the schoolmen:philosophers of the middle age
圆
怨. cymini sectores:
( Latin)hairsplitters
猿
园. beat over matters:consider matters carefully
猿
员. receipt:recipe
摇猿源
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. According to Francis Bacon,how does learning benefit people?
圆. How should books be read according to Francis Bacon?
猿. What advice does Francis Bacon give to those who cannot concentrate on learning?
V. John Donne
粤灾葬
造
藻
凿蚤
糟
贼
蚤
燥灶:云燥
则
遭蚤
凿凿蚤
灶早酝燥怎则
灶蚤
灶早员
As virtuous men pass mildly away,
摇And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say
摇The breath goes now,and some say,No;
So let us melt,and make no noise,
摇No tearfloods,nor sigh tempests move,
Twere profanation圆 of our joys
To tell the laity猿 our love.
Moving of th earth brings harms and fears.
摇Men reckon what it did and meant;
But trepidation of the spheres源,
摇Though greater far,is innocent缘.
Dull sublunary远 lovers love
摇( Whose soul is sense)cannot admit
Absence,because it doth remove
摇Those things which elemented苑 it.
But we by a love so much refined
摇That our selves know not what it is,
Interassured of the mind愿,
摇Care less,eyes,lips and hands to miss.
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇猿缘
Our two souls therefore,which are one,
摇Though I must go,endure not yet
A breach怨,but an expansion,
摇Like gold to airy thinness beat.
If they be two,they are two so
摇As stiff twin compasses are two;
Thy soul,the fixed foot,makes no show
摇To move,but doth,it ths other do.
And though it in the center sit,
摇Yet when the other far doth roam,
It leans and hearkens after it,
摇And grows erect,as that comes home.
Such wilt thou be to me,who must
摇Like ths other foot,obliquely run;
Thy firmness makes my circle员园 just,
摇And makes me end where I begun.
员. A rumor goes that John Donne composed A Valediction:Forbidding Mourning to his wife on
the occasion of his trip to the Continent in 员
远员
圆. John Donne seemed to have forecast many
misfortunes. The first verification arose during his absence when his wife gave birth to a baby
who died when born. The word“ valediction ” means farewell said on serious occasions.
“ Forbidding Mourning”means“ Dont grieve over my leaving”. In the poem John Donne
displays his vast knowledge as regards alchemy and astronomy. He makes a perfect use of his
most famous poetic device,the conceit. Here,John Donne says earthquakes arouse fear and
awe,but they do us no harm. The parting of two lovers is like“ trepidation of the spheres”that
does true lovers no harm at all. John Donne argues that most people tend to base their love on
摇猿远
摇
英国文学简读教程
sensual things and if they are separated their love relationship will collapse. However,Donne
asserts that the love between him and his wife is a“ love of the mind”rather than a“ love of
the body”. The word“ melt”means the union of body and soul. Their love is more spiritual
than physical. Distance fails to affect such love. Donne uses analogy when he compares the
parting of two lovers to the death of a virtuous man. Donne implies that there is no pain even
if such two lovers are apart because their souls are true to each other. John Donne resents too
much display of emotion when two lovers part. In this poem we are familiarized with John
Donnes worldfamous conceit:the two lovers( he and his wife)are likened to the two points
of a compass. The wife stays at home. She is the fixed foot and the husband“ roams”around,
but never deviates from the center. In a word,John Donne seems to emphasize the importance
of Platonic love.
圆. profanation:act of treating sacred things with irreverence
猿. the laity:laymen or common people
源. trepidation of the spheres:movement of the earth or earthquake
缘. innocent:harmless
远. sublunary:beneath the moon or mundane
苑. elemented:composed
愿. Interassured of the mind:spiritually assured
怨. breach:separation
员
园. circle:a symbol of eternity and perfection
员. What does the poet say about the death of“ the virtuous men”?
圆. What figure of speech is typical of the poem?
猿. What noticeable poetic device does John Donne employ in this poem?Can you provide some
examples?
源. What kind of love does John Donne advocate in the poem?Do you agree or disagree?
阅藻
葬贼
澡,月藻晕燥贼孕则
燥怎凿员
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇猿苑
Death,be not proud,though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful,for thou art not so:
For those whom thou thinkst thou dost overthrow圆
Die not,poor Death,nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep,which but thy pictures猿 be,
Much pleasure;then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go源,
Rest of their bones,and souls delivery.
Thou art slave to fate,chance,kings,and desperate men缘,
And dost with poison,war,and sickness dwell,
And poppy远 or charms can make us sleep as well
And better苑 than thy stroke愿;why swellst怨 thou then?
One short sleep past,we wake eternally
And death shall be no more;Death,thou shalt die.
员. Death,Be Not Proud is one of John Donnes sonnets. The poem consists of 员
源lines of iambic
pentameter rhyming abba abba cddc ee. In the poem John Donne challenges and defies death in
the way that death is only transient and shortly after we die we will wake up( as from sleep)
and live eternally. Under Donnes pen,death is neither“ mighty”nor“ dreadful”,for men
may derive“ much pleasure”from death,and“ death”is a“ slave”to many things. The poem
ends with the claim“ Death,thou shalt die”. Here,John Donne personifies Death as a proud
man. The poem reveals the poets belief in life after death:death is but momentary while
happiness after death is eternal. Written in a specific sonnet form,the poem presents an
argument with its forcefulness,wit and dramatic comparisons.
圆. overthrow:destroy
猿. pictures:images
源. And soonest our best men with thee do go:Whom the gods love die young.
缘. desperate men:criminals
远. poppy:opium
苑. better:easier
愿. stroke:blow
怨. swellst:swells( be proud)
摇猿愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. To what John Donne compares Death?
圆. Why does John Donne declare that Death has no reason to be proud?
猿. According to John Donne what can good men derive from death?
源. According to John Donne what kind of people are subject to death?
缘. What does“ one short sleep”mean in the poem?
VI. John Milton
员
孕葬则
葬凿蚤
泽
藻蕴燥泽
贼
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
…
What though the field be lost圆?
All is not lost:the unconquerable will,
And study猿 of revenge,immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield,
And what is else not to be overcome?
That Glory never shall his wraught源 or might
Extort from mee缘. To bow and sue for grace远
With suppliant knee,and deifie苑 his power
Who,from the terror of this arm,so late
Doubted his Empire—that were low indeed;
That were an ignominy and shame beneath
This downfall;since by Fate the strength of Gods
And this Empyreal substance愿 cannot fail怨;
Since through experience员园 of this great event,
In Arms not worse,in foresight much advant,
We may with more successful hope resolve
To wage by force or guile eternal Warr,
Irreconcilable to our grand Foe员员,
Who now triumphs,and in the excess of joy
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇猿怨
Sole reigning holds员圆 the Tyranny of Heavn?
郾
郾郾
员. Paradise Lost,Miltons masterpiece,had been lingering in Miltons mind for a quarter of a
century before its actual writing. It is a long epic in 员
圆books composed in blank verse. The
stories are derived from the Bible:The creation;the rebellion in Heaven of Satan and his fellow
angels;their defeat and expulsion from Heaven;the creation of the earth and of Adam and Eve;
the fallen angels in hell plotting against God;Satans temptation of Eve;and the departure of
Adam and Eve from Eden. The finest thing in the epic is the portrayal of hell and the real hero
Satan. Like a conquered and banished giant,he remains obeyed and admired by his followers. It
is invariably from Satan that deep counsels,unexpected resourcefulness and indomitable courage
flow. It is Satan who,passing through the guarded gates of hell and boundless chaos,amid so
may dangers,and overcoming so many obstacles,makes man revolt against God. Though
defeated,he prevails for his rebellion has shaken God. Though wounded,he triumphs for his
heart remains unvanquished. The hero Satan is described as a revolutionary who rebels against
Gods authority and tyranny. Defeated by God Satan and his followers are driven to the hell.
The selection is a scene when Satan awakens in hell to find his followers in low spirits after
defeated. The passionate Satan makes an eloquent and forceful speech to rouse and cheer up the
spirits of the depressed angels. He argues that they are not defeated at all for they are not
deprived of“the unconquerable will”and the determination to revenge. Satans famous speech
brings out vividly the image of a revolutionary who is determined not to be reconciled with the
reactionary and his resolve to fight to the end. To Milton,the proud and unyielding Satan
represents the spirit of rebellion against unjust authority and power.
圆. what though the field be lost:it does not matter at all even if we lost the battle
猿. study:earnest intention
源. wraught:wrath
缘. mee:me
远. sue for grace:beg for favor
苑. deifie:deify( regard as holy)
愿. this Empyreal Substance:Satans army
怨. fail:be no more
员
园. experience:lessons
摇源园
摇
英国文学简读教程
员
员. our grand foe:God
员
圆. holds:rules
员. Do you think Satan admits his defeat?Why or why not?
圆. What really matters in Satans opinion in the battle against God?
猿. What lessons does Satan think they should draw from their defeat?
源. In what way does Satan resemble John Milton?
员
韵灶匀蚤
泽月造
蚤
灶凿灶藻
泽
泽
摇When I consider how my light圆 is spent
摇Ere half my days,in this dark world and wide
摇And that one talent,which is death to hide,
摇Lodged with me useless,though my soul more bent
摇To serve therewith my Maker猿,and present
摇My true account,lest he returning chide;
摇“ Doth God exact源 daylabor,light denied?”
摇I fondly缘 ask;but Patience to prevent
摇That murmur,soon replies,
“ God doth not need”
摇Either mans work or his own gifts;who best
摇Bear his mild yoke远,they serve him best. His state
摇Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
摇And post oer苑 land and ocean without rest:
摇They also serve who only stand and wait.
员. On His Blindness is John Miltons famous sonnet in which he laments over his blindness. He
lost his sight just in the prime of life,and this miserable fact pained Milton for he was eager to
work for his cause. He feels indignant at being deprived of sight. He complains to God about
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇源员
his being unfairly treated. Milton is a Puritan. At last,he finds himself reconciled with the fact
that whoever can bear Gods burden can serve him best. God needs neither mans work nor his
gifts. What God requires of man is only his patience. This poem reveals John Miltons mild
pessimism and resignation. This sonnet consists of octave and sestet. The rhyming scheme is
abba abba cdc dcd.
圆. light:eyesight or life
猿. Maker:God
源. exact:take away
缘. fondly:foolishly
远. mild yoke:burdensome restraint
苑. post oer:run errands
员. What is the rhyming scheme of the poem?
圆. Whats John Miltons original vision of blindness?
猿. How does John Milton find himself reconciled with his blindness?
源. Whats the theme of the poem?
缘. What figure of speech does John Milton employ in this poem?
VII. John Bunyan
员
栽澡藻孕蚤
造
早则
蚤
皂蒺
泽孕则
燥
早则
藻
泽
泽
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
…
Then I saw in my dream,that when they were got圆 out of the wilderness,they presently saw
a town before them,and the name of that town is Vanity;and at the town there is a fair kept,
called Vanity Fair. It is kept all the year long. It beareth猿 the name of Vanity Fair,because the
town where it is kept is lighter than vanity,and also because all that is there sold,or that cometh
thither,is vanity. As is the saying of the wise,
“ All that cometh is vanity源. ”
This fair is no newerected business,but a thing of ancient standing:I will show you the
original of it缘.
Almost five thousand years ago,there were pilgrims walking to the Celestial City远,as these
two honest persons are; and Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion苑 with their companions,
摇源圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
perceiving,by the path that the pilgrims made,that their way to the city lay through this town of
Vanity,they contrived here to set up a fair — a fair wherein should be sold all sorts of vanity;and
that it should last all the year long. Therefore at this fair are all such merchandise sold,as houses,
lands,trades,places,honours,preferments,titles,countries,kingdoms,lusts,pleasures;and
delights of all sorts,as harlots,wives,husbands,children,masters,servants,lives,blood,
bodies,souls,silver,gold,pearls,precious stones,and what not.
And,moreover,at this fair there are at all times to be seen jugglings,cheats,games,plays,
fools,apes愿,knaves,and rogues,and that of every kind.
Here are to be seen,too,and that for nothing,thefts,murders,adulteries,falseswearers,
and that of a bloodred colour怨.
And as,in other fair of less moment员园,there are the several rows and streets under their
proper员员 names,where such and such wares are vended;so here,likewise,you have the proper
places,rows,streets( viz. ,countries and kingdoms),where the wares of this fair are soonest to
be found. Here is the Britain Row,the French Row,the Italian Row,the Spanish Row,the
German Row,where several员圆 sorts of vanities are to be sold. But as in other fairs some one
commodity is the chief of all the fair,so the ware of Rome and her merchandise is greatly
promoted in this fair;only our English nation,with some others,have taken a dislike thereat员猿.
Now,as I said,the way to the Celestial City lies just through this town where this lusty fair
is kept;and he that will go to the city,and yet not go through this town,must needs go out of the
world. The Prince of princes himself,when here,went through this town to his own country,and
that upon a fair day too:yea?And,as I think,it was Beelzebub,the chief lord of this fair,that
invited him to buy of his vanities;yea,he would have made he went through the town;yea,
because he was such a person of honour,Beelzebub had him from street to street,and showed
him all the kingdoms of the world in a little time,that he might,if possible,allure that Blessed
One员源 to cheapen and buy some of his vanities. But he had no mind to the merchandise,and
therefore left the town,without laying out so much as a farthing upon these vanities. This fair,
therefore,is an ancient thing,of long standing,and a very great fair.
…
员. The Pilgrims Progress is John Bunyans masterpiece. The book takes the form of a dream by
the writer. The novel is also the most successful religious allegory in the English language. Its
purpose is to urge people to comply with Christian doctrines and seek salvation through constant
Chapter 2 The Renaissance Period 摇 摇源猿
struggles with their own weakness and all kinds of social evils. It is not only about something
spiritual but also bears much relevance to the time. Its recurrent metaphor—life as journey—is
simple and familiar. The metaphor is quite thoughtprovoking. In the dream the author sees
Christian,with a burden on his back and reading in a book,from which he learns that his city
will be burned with fire. The book mainly tells of his adventures on his way to the Celestial
City after he escapes the City of Destruction. The selection is a famous scene from the book in
which Christian and his neighbor Faithful come to a market called Vanity Fair. “ Vanity ”
means“ emptiness”or“ worthlessness”,and hence the fair is an allegory of worldliness and
corruption of the religious life through the attractions of the world. Commodities cover
everything except truth. Vanity Fair bears a strong resemblance to John Bunyans time. By
describing Vanity Fair Bunyan bitterly reveals and ironically satires the political corruption and
moral degeneration of his time.
圆. were got:had got
猿. beareth:bears
源. All that cometh is vanity:a proverb from the Bible
缘. the original of it:its origin
远. the Celestial City:the Heaven
苑. Beelzebub,Apollyon,and Legion:demons and followers of Satan
愿. apes:clowns
怨. a bloodred colour:very frightening
员
园. moment:importance
员
员. proper:own
员
圆. several:different
员
猿. thereat:at that place
员
源. the Blessed One:Jesus Christ
员. How do you understand that The Pilgrims Progress is a great allegory?
圆. What is special with Vanity Fair?
猿. What do you think that Bunyan intends to convey through Vanity Fair?
源. How do you interpret the meaning of Vanity Fair?
缘. What is implied in this passage about John Bunyans time?
远. To whom does“ the Prince of princes”refer?
Chapter 3
The Age of Enlightenment
I. An Outline of the Literature of This Period
蕴蚤
贼
藻
则
葬
则
赠栽藻
则
皂泽
月则
蚤
藻
枣阅藻
泽
糟
则
蚤
责贼
蚤
燥
灶
蚤
早
澡贼
藻
灶皂藻
灶贼酝燥
增
藻
皂藻
灶贼was a progressive intellectual
(员)栽澡藻耘灶造
movement that flourished in France and swept through Western
Europe in the 员
愿th century.
(圆)The movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance from
源th century to the mid员
苑th century.
the 员
(猿)Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light
The Enlightenment Movement
( 启蒙运动)
of modern philosophical and artistic ideas.
(源)It celebrated reason or rationality,equality and science. It
advocated universal education. Literature at the time became a
very popular means of public education.
(缘)Famous among the great enlighteners in England were those
great writers like John Dryden,Alexander Pope,Joseph Addison
and Sir Richard Steele,the two pioneers of familiar essays,
Jonathan Swift, Richard Bringsley Sheridan, Daniel Defoe,
Henry Fielding and Samuel Johnson.
(员) In the field of literature,the Enlightenment Movement
Neoclassicism
( 新古典主义)
brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works.
(圆)This tendency is known as 晕藻
燥
糟
造
葬
泽
泽
蚤
糟
蚤
泽
皂. The neoclassicists
held that forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical
works of the ancient Greek and Roman writers such as Homer
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇源缘
and Virgil and those of the contemporary French ones.
(猿) They believed that the artistic ideals should be order,
logic, restrained emotion and accuracy, and that literature
should be judged in terms of its service to humanity.
(员)栽澡藻郧则
葬
增
藻
赠
葬
则
凿杂糟
澡燥
燥
造refers to a school of poets of the
员
愿th century whose poems are mostly devoted to a sentimental
The Graveyard School
( 墓地派诗歌)
lamentation or meditation on life,past and present,with death
and graveyard as themes.
(圆)Thomas Gray is considered to be the leading figure of this
school and his“ Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”is its
most representative work.
The Heroic Couplet
( 英雄对偶句)
Elegy
( 挽歌)
栽澡藻匀藻
则
燥
蚤
糟悦燥
怎责造
藻
贼means a pair of lines of a type once
common in English poetry,in other words,it means iambic
pentameter rhymed in two lines.
藻
早
赠has typically been used to refer to reflective poems
(员)耘造
that lament the loss of something or someone.
(圆)In Memoriam by Alfred Tennyson is a famous elegy.
贼
蚤
则
藻means a kind of writing that holds up to ridicule or
(员)杂葬
contempt the weakness and wrongdoings of individuals,groups,
institutions,or humanity in general.
Satire
(圆)The aim of satirists is to set a moral standard for society,
( 讽刺)
and they attempt to persuade the reader to see their point of view
through the force of laughter.
(猿)Swifts Gullivers Travels is a great satire of the then English
society from different aspects.
(员)杂藻
灶贼
蚤
皂藻
灶贼
葬
造
蚤
泽
皂 is a pejorative term to describe false or
superficial emotion,assumed feeling,selfregarding postures of
Sentimentalism
( 感伤主义文学)
grief and pain.
(圆)In literature it denotes overmuch use of pathetic effects and
attempts to arouse feeling by“pathetic”indulgence.
(猿)The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith is a case in point.
摇源远
摇
英国文学简读教程
(员)阅蚤
凿葬
糟
贼
蚤
糟literature is said to be didactic if it deliberately
Didactic
( 说教的)
teaches some moral lesson. The use of literature for such
teaching is one of its traditional justifications.
( 圆) Most modern literary works during the Enlightenment
period tended to be didactic.
Farce
( 闹剧 / 滑稽剧)
Aside
( 旁白)
Denouement
( 戏剧)结局
晕葬皂藻燥枣贼
澡藻宰则
蚤
贼
藻
则
云葬
则
糟
藻refers to a play full of ridiculous happenings,absurd
actions,and unreal situations,meant to be very funny.
蚤
凿藻refers to words spoken by an actor which the other
(员)粤泽
actors are supposed not to hear.
(圆)An actors asides are usually spoken to the audience.
阅藻
灶燥
怎藻
皂藻
灶贼
,pronounced / deinum / , is that part of a
drama which follows the climax and leads to the resolution.
宰燥则
噪泽
(员)An Essay on Criticism is his masterpiece.
Alexander Pope
(员
远
愿
愿原员
苑
源
源)
( 亚历山大・蒲柏)
(员)He is a repre
sentative of the En
An Essay on Criticism
《 论批评》
The Rape of the Lock
《 夺发记》
lightenment and the
greatest poet of the
Neoclassical period.
(圆)He is the first to
introduce rationalism
to England. He strong
ly advocates neoclassic
ism, emphasizing that
literary works should
be judged by classical
rules of order,reason,
logic,restrained emo
tion, good taste and
decorum.
月则
蚤
藻
枣阅藻
泽
糟
则
蚤
责贼
蚤
燥灶
It is a didactic poem written in heroic
couplets.
(圆)It consists of 苑
源
源lines and is divided
into three parts.
(猿)It sums up the art of poetry as upheld
and practiced by the ancients like Aristotle,
The Dunciad
《 群愚史诗》
and the 员愿thcentury European classicists.
(源) Pope first laments the dearth of true
taste in poetic criticism of his day and calls
An Essay on Man
《 田园诗集》
on people to turn to the old Greek and
Roman writers for guidance.
(缘)It helps spread the neoclassicist tradition
Moral Essays
《 道德论》
in England.
In The Dunciad Pope writes a scathing
Windsor Forest
《 温莎林》
exposé of the bad writers and pseudo
intellectuals of his day.
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇源苑
(员)An Essay of Dramatic Poesy is John
John Dryden
(员远猿
员原员苑
园园)
( 约翰・德莱顿)
(员)He is called“ the
father of English criti
An Essay of Dramatic Poesy
《 论戏剧诗歌》
matic Poesy is his
(圆) In it he discusses the works of the
great playwrights of Greece and Rome,the
All for Love
《 一切为了爱》
cism”.
(圆)An Essay of Dra
Drydens best work.
English Renaissance, and contemporary
France.
(猿)He is called“ the father of English
Alexanders Feast
《 亚历山大的宴会》
criticism”.
masterpiece.
( 员) Elegy
Thomas Gray
(员苑员
远原员苑
苑员)
in
a
Country
Churchyard is the most representative
( 托马斯・格雷)
work of the Graveyard School.
( 圆) In this poem, Gray reflects on
He was the leading
death, the sorrows of life, and the
figure of the Graveyard
School.
Written
Elegy Written in a
Country Churchyard
mysteries of human life with a touch of
his personal melancholy.
《写在乡村教堂墓地的挽歌》(猿)The poet compares the common folk
with the great ones,wondering what the
commons could have achieved if they had
had the chance. Here he reveals his
sympathy for the poor and the unknown,
but mocks the great ones who despise the
poor and bring havoc on them.
(员
)Robinson Crusoe is Defoes masterpiece.
Daniel Defoe
(员
远
远
园原员
苑
猿
员)
(圆)In the novel,Defoe traces the growth
( 丹尼尔・笛福)
Robinson Crusoe
of Robinson from a nave and artless
(员
)He is remembered
《 鲁滨孙漂流记》
youth into a shrewd and hardened man,
tempered by numerous trials in his
chiefly for his novels.
The central idea of his
Moll Flanders
novels is that man is
《 摩尔・弗兰德斯》
good and noble by na
ture but may succumb
eventful life.
(猿)He is portrayed as the very prototype
of the empire builder and the pioneer
colonist.
摇源愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
(源)The novel eulogizes the hero of the
to an evil social environ
ment.
hardworking
(圆
)He deliberately a
class, and
shows
his
sympathy for the poor and the unfortunate
voids all art,all fine
in his society.
writing, so that the
(员)Moll Flanders is considered one of
reader should concen
trate on a series of
the great English novels.
The book
plausible events.
follows Moll Flanders as she struggles to
A
Journal
of
the
Plague
Year
avoid the deadly poverty of 员苑thcentury
( 猿) His novels take
《
》
大疫年的回忆
the form of memoirs or
England. From a prisonbirth to final
pretended
historical
narratives.
prosperity,Moll reckons love,theft and
Captain Singleton
prostitution in terms of profit and loss and
《 辛格顿船长》
emerges as an extraordinary character.
(圆
)This vivid saga of an irresistible and
notorious heroine—her high misdemeanors
and delinquencies,her varied careers as a
prostitute,a charming and faithful wife,a
thief,and a convict—endures today as one
of the liveliest,most candid records of a
womans progress through the hypercritical
labyrinth of society ever recorded.
(员)Gullivers Travels is Swifts masterpiece.
Jonathan Swift
(员远远
苑原员苑
源缘)
(圆)It contains four parts,each about one
( 乔纳森・斯威夫特)
Gullivers Travels
particular voyage during which Gulliver
( 员) He is a master
《 格列佛游记》
has extraordinary adventures on some
( 圆) He is almost
A Modest Proposal
remote island after he has met with
satirist.
unsurpassed
in
writing
simple,
of
the
direct,precise prose.
He defined a good
style as“proper words
in proper places”.
《 一个温和的建议》
shipwreck or
piracy
or
some
other
misfortune. The four places Gulliver visits
are: Lilliput, Brobdingnag, the Flying
A Tale of a Tub
Land and the Houyhnhnm land,where he
《 一个桶子的故事》
meets the Yahoos,hairy,wild,low and
despicable brutes,who resemble human
beings not only in appearance but also in
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇源怨
(猿) His
satire
is
The Battle of the Books
marked by outward
《 书籍的战斗》
gravity and an appar
ent earnestness.
The Drapiers Letters
《 德莱皮尔的信》
(员苑
园苑员苑
缘源)
( 亨利・菲尔丁)
《 汤姆・琼斯》
愿th
(员)Of all the 员
century novelists he
Joseph Andrews
was the first to set
《 约瑟夫・安德鲁斯》
out, both in theory
The History of Jonathan
in
prose”.
(圆)He was the first
novel its structure and
Amelia
《 阿米丽亚》
《 堂吉诃德在英国》
(圆)The novel presents a panoramic view
of the 员
愿thcentury English country and
city life.
(猿)In the novel Tom Jones stands for a
the paradise and has to undergo hard
( 源) The main characters are Tom and
Blifil who stand in sharp contrast. The
former embodies uprightness,frankness,
an embodiment of the social evils of his
time.
( 员)To the Right Honorable the Earl of
Samuel Johnson
( 塞缪尔・约翰逊)
scientifically,religiously,and morally.
kindness and youth whereas the latter is
Don Quixote in England
English novel”.
(员苑园
怨原员苑
愿源)
philosophically, socially, politically,
Wild the Great
style. He,therefore,
the “ Father of the
the then English and European life
experiences to gain some knowledge of
《 伟大的乔纳森・王尔德》 himself to approach perfection.
to give the modern
has been regarded as
satire and harsh criticism of all aspects in
drifting Everyman who is expelled from
and practice,to write
epic
(猿) As a whole,the novel is a bitter
(员)The History of Tom Jones,a Foundling
The History of Tom Jones, is Henry Fieldings masterpiece. It brings
a Foundling
him the name of“ Prose Homer”.
Henry Fielding
a “comic
almost every other way.
To the Right Honorable
Chesterfield is Samuel Johnsons famous
the Earl of Chesterfield
letter to the famefishing Chesterfield who
offered Johnson nothing while he compiled
He was the last great 《致切斯菲尔德伯爵的一封信》
A Dictionary of the English Language.
neoclassicist enlighten
(圆)The letter is written in a refined and
A Dictionary of the
er in the late eighteenth
very polite language, with a bitter
English Language
century. He was one
undertone of defiance and anger.
《 英语大辞典》
of Englands great
(猿)The letter reveals Johnsons indignation
est literary figures:a
摇缘园
摇
英国文学简读教程
poet, essayist, biogra
at the lords famefishing and his firm
pher,and often consid
resolution not to be reconciled to the
ered the finest critic of
hypocritical lord.
English literature.
He
was also a great wit and
Lives of the Poets
(源) It expresses explicitly the authors
《 诗人传》
assertion of his independence,signifying
prose stylist whose bon
mots are still frequently
quoted in print today.
the opening of a new era in the
Vanity of Human Wishes
development of literature.
《 人类欲望之虚幻》
He compiled the first English dictionary
by an Englishman—A Dictionary of the
English Language.
(员)The School for Scandal is Sheridans
Richard Bringsley Sheridan
(员苑缘
员原员愿
员远)
masterpiece. It mainly tells about two
(理查德・比・谢立丹)
brothers,the hypocritical Joseph Surface
and
(员)He is the only im
the
goodnatured, imprudent,
spendthrift Charles Surface.
portant English drama
(圆)It bitterly satirizes the moral degen
tist of the eighteenth
The School for Scandal
eracy,vanity,greed and hypocrisy of the
( 圆) His plays,espe
《 造谣学校》
upperclass society in the eighteenthcen
The School for Scan
The Rivals
dal,are generally con
《 情敌》
century.
tury England.
cially The Rivals and
sidered
as
important
links between the mas
terpieces of Shakespeare
and those of Bernard
Shaw.
(员)Pamela
Samuel Richardson
(员远愿
怨原员苑
远员)
( 塞缪尔・理查森)
He is often regarded
Pamela
《 帕米拉》
or
Virtue
Rewarded
is
Richardsons masterpiece.
(圆) It is a series of letters written by a
beautiful young damsel Pamela to her parents.
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇缘员
as the founder of the
English domestic no
(猿)Pamela suffers with dignity,but is
Clarissa
《 克拉丽莎》
rewarded at last.
vel.
(员)The Vicar of Wakefield is Goldsmiths
Oliver Goldsmith
(员苑猿
园原员苑
苑源)
( 奥利弗・格尔斯密)
The Vicar of Wakefield
《 威克菲尔德牧师》
masterpiece.
(圆
)It is about the ups and downs of Dr.
Primrose,the vicar,and his family.
He is the outstanding
representative of the
She Stoops to Conquer
English sentimentalist
《屈身求爱》
(猿)It is a typical novel of sentimentalist
school.
school.
II. Daniel Defoe
员
砸燥
遭蚤
灶泽
燥灶悦则
怎泽
燥藻
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬
责贼
藻
则苑
My thoughts were now wholly employed about securing myself against either savages,if any
should appear,or wild beasts,if any were in the island;and I had many thoughts of the method
how to do this,and what kind of dwelling to make;whether I should make me a cave in the
earth,or a tent upon the earth. And,in short,I resolved upon both;the manner and description
of which it may not be improper to give an account of.
I soon found the place I was in was not for my settlement,particularly because it was upon a
low moorish ground near the sea,and I believed would not be wholesome,and more particularly
because there was no fresh water near it;so I resolved to find a more healthy and more convenient
spot of ground.
I consulted several things in my situation,which I found would be proper for me:first,
health and fresh water I just now mentioned;secondly,shelter from the heat of the sun;thirdly,
security from ravenous creatures,whether man or beast;fourthly,a view to the sea,that if God
sent any ship in sight,I might not lose any advantage for my deliverance,of which I was not
willing to banish all my expectation yet.
In search of a place proper for this,I found a little plain on the side of a rising hill,whose
front towards this little plain was steep as a houseside圆,so that nothing could come down upon
摇缘圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
me from the top;on the side of this rock there was a hollow place worn a little way in like the
entrance or door of a cave,but there was not really any cave or way into the rock at all.
On the flat of the green,just before this hollow place,I resolved to pitch my tent. This plain
was not above a hundred yards broad,and about twice as long,and lay like a green before my
door,and at the end of it descended irregularly every way down into the low grounds by the
seaside. It was on the northnorthwest side猿 of the hill,so that I was sheltered from the heat every
day,till it came to a west and by south sun,or thereabouts,which in those countries is near the
setting.
Before I set up my tent,I drew a half circle before the hollow place,which took in about ten
yards in its semidiameter from the rock,and twenty yards in its diameter,from its beginning and
ending.
In this half circle I pitched two rows of strong stakes,driving them into the ground till they
stood very firm like piles,the biggest源 end being out of the ground about five foot and a half,and
sharpened on the top. The two rows did not stand above six inches from one another.
Then I took the pieces of cable which I had cut in the ship,and laid them in rows one upon
another,within the circle between these two rows of stakes,up to the top,placing other stakes in
the inside,leaning against them,about two foot and a half high,like a spur to a post;and this
fence was so strong that neither man nor beast could get into it or over it. This cost me a great
deal of time and labour,especially to cut the piles in the woods,bring them to the place,and
drive them into the earth.
The entrance into this place I made to be,not by a door,but by a short ladder to go over the
top,which ladder,when I was in,I lifted over after me,and so I was completely fenced in,and
fortified,as I thought,from all the world,and consequently slept secure in the night,which
otherwise I could not have done,though,as it appeared afterwards,there was no need of all this
caution from the enemies that I apprehended danger from缘.
Into this fence or fortress,with infinite labour,I carried all my riches,all my provisions,
ammunition,and stores,of which you have the account above;and I made me a large tent,
which,to preserve me from the rains that in one part of the year are very violent there,I made
double,viz. one smaller tent within,and one larger tent above it,and covered the uppermost
with a large tarpaulin远 which I had saved among the sails.
And now I lay no more for a while in the bed which I had brought on shore,but in a
hammock,which was indeed a very good one and belonged to the mate of the ship.
Into this tent I brought all my provisions,and every thing that would spoil by the wet,and
having thus enclosed all my goods,I made up the entrance,which till now I had left open,and so
passed and repassed,as I said,by a short ladder.
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇缘猿
When I had done this,I began to work my way into the rock,and bringing all the earth and
stones that I dug down out through my tent,I laid them up within my fence in the nature of a
terrace,so that it raised the ground within about a foot and a half;and thus I made a cave just
behind my tent,which served me like a cellar to my house.
It cost me much labour,and many days,before all these things were brought to perfection,
and therefore I must go back to some other things which took up some of my thoughts. At the
same time it happened,after I had laid my scheme for the setting up my tent and making the cave,
that a storm of rain falling from a thick dark cloud,a sudden flash of lightning happened,and
after that,a great clap of thunder,as is naturally the effect of it. I was not so much surprised with
the lightning,as I was with a thought which darted into my mind as swift as the lightning itself:O
my powder!My very heart sunk within me,when I thought,that at one blast all my powder
might be destroyed;on which,not my defence only,but the providing me food,as I thought,
entirely depended;I was nothing near苑 so anxious about my own danger,though had the powder
took fire,I had never known who had hurt me愿.
Such impression did this make upon me,that after the storm was over,I laid aside all my
works,my building and fortifying,and applied myself to make bags and boxes to separate the
powder,and keep it a little and a little in a parcel,in hope that whatever might come,it might not
all take fire at once,and to keep it so apart that it should not be possible to make one part fire
another. I finished this work in about a fortnight,and I think my powder,which in all was about
圆
源园pounds weight,was divided in not less than a hundred parcels;as to the barrel that had been
wet,I did not apprehend any danger from that,so I placed it in my new cave,which in my fancy
I called my kitchen,and the rest I hid up and down in holes among the rocks,so that no wet
might come to it,marking very carefully where I laid it.
In the interval of time while this was doing,I went out at least once every day with my gun,
as well to divert myself as to see if I could kill anything fit for food,and as near as I could to
acquaint myself with what the island produced. The first time I went out,I presently discovered
that there were goats in the island,which was a great satisfaction to me;but then it was attended
with this misfortune to me,viz. that they were so shy,so subtile,and so swift of foot that it was
the difficultest thing in the world to come at them. But I was not discouraged at this,not doubting
but I might now and then shoot one,as it soon happened;for after I had found their haunts怨 a
little,I laid wait in this manner for them:I observed,if they saw me in the valleys,though they
were upon the rocks,they would run away as in a terrible fright;but if they were feeding in the
valleys,and I was upon the rocks,they took no notice of me;from whence I concluded,that by
the position of their optics员园,their sight was so directed downward that they did not readily see
objects that were above them;so afterwards I took this method,I always climbed the rocks first,
摇缘源
摇
英国文学简读教程
to get above them,and then had frequently a fair mark员员. The first shot I made among these
creatures,I killed a shegoat which had a little kid by her which she gave suck to,which grieved
me heartily;but when the old one fell,the kid stood stock still by her till I came and took her up,
and not only so,but when I carried the old one with me upon my shoulders,the kid followed me
quite to my enclosure,upon which I laid down the dam and took the kid in my arms,and carried
it over my pale,in hopes to have bred it up tame,but it would not eat,so I was forced to kill it
and eat it myself;these two supplied me with flesh a great while,for I ate sparingly,and saved
my provisions( my bread especially)as much as possibly I could.
Having now fixed my habitation,I found it absolutely necessary to provide a place to make a
fire in,and fuel to burn;and what I did for that,as also how I enlarged my cave,and what
conveniences I made,I shall give a full account of in its place员圆. But I must first give some little
account of myself and of my thoughts about living,which it may well be supposed were not a few.
员. Robinson Crusoe(员苑员
怨)was based on the story of William Selkirk,who went to sea in 员
苑
园源
under William Dampier and was put ashore at his own request on an uninhabited island in the
Pacific,where he survived until his rescue in 员
苑园
怨by Woodes Rogers. As a journalist Defoe
must have heard Selkirks story and possibly interviewed him. Selkirk never did go back to the
Pacific island,as Defoe had Crusoe do in two sequels. Selkirk became known as a eccentric.
It is said he taught alley cats how to do strange dances. Robinson Crusoe is a mariner who
takes to the sea despite parental warnings. He suffers a number of misfortunes at the hands of
Barbary pirates and the elements. Finally Crusoe is shipwrecked off South America. With
salvaging needful things from the ship,Crusoe manages to survive in the island and come to
terms with his own spiritual listlessness. He stays in the island 圆
愿years,two months and
nineteen days.
Aided with his enterprising behaviour, Crusoe adapts into his alien
environment. After several lone years he sees a strange footprint in the sand. His horrified
discovery leads to encounter with savages and their prisoners,one of whom manages to
escape. Crusoe meets later the frightened native and christens him Man Friday. Finally they are
rescued by an English ship bound to England. Robinson marries and promises before end of the
novel to describe his adventures in Africa and China.
Robinson Crusoe,an adventure story very much in the spirit of the time,is universally
considered Daniel Defoes masterpiece. In the novel,Defoe traces the growth of Robinson
from a nave and simple youth into a mature and hardened man,tempered by numerous trials in
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇缘缘
his eventful life. The realistic presentation of the successful struggle of Robinson single
handedly against hostile nature proves the best part of the novel. Robinson is here a real hero:
a typical eighteenthcentury English middleclass man with a great capacity for work,
inexhaustible energy,courage,patience and persistence in overcoming obstacles,in struggling
against the hostile natural environment. He is the very prototype of the empire builder,the
pioneer colonist. In describing Robinsons life in the island,Defoe glorifies human labour and
the puritan fortitude, which save Robinson from despair and are a source of pride and
happiness . He toils for the sake of subsistence,and gets his reward. In this chapter,it is
essential to observe how careful Crusoe makes the measurement of things and places,which
becomes a very important tradition in English and American novels. It is also worth noticing
the minute descriptions of places and actions. In a large sense,Crusoes conflict and contact
with the wilderness on the island is of great ecocritical significance.
圆. houseside:wall
猿. northnorthwest side:north by northwest side
源. the biggest:the bigger
缘. 郾
郾
郾that I apprehended danger from:from which I sensed the coming of possible danger
远. tarpaulin:heavy cloth covered with wax,paint,or tar so that water will not pass through
苑. nothing near:in no way,not in the least
愿. I had never known who had hurt me:I would never have known who had hurt me.
怨. their haunts:the places and trails which they frequently stay and go through
员
园. optics:mechanisms for seeing,the way goats see things
员
员. had frequently a fair mark:hit the target most of the time
员
圆. in its place:in its proper place,that is,in the following account
员. What does Robinson Crusoe take into consideration when he is about to build his settlement on
the island?
圆. What has Crusoe measured in this chapter?Give an account of this method and figure out the
significance.
猿. What are the major images the author uses in this part of story to symbolize the start of human
civilization?
源. Robinson Crusoe is considered as a representative of the middleclass Englishman. How can
you justify this vision by what is described in this chapter?
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员
酝燥造
造云造
葬
灶凿藻
则
泽
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
My true name is so well known in the records,or registers at Newgate,and in the Old
Bailey圆,and there are some things of such consequence still depending there,relating to my
particular conduct,that it is not to be expected I should set my name,or the account of my family
to this work;perhaps,after my death it may be better known;at present it would not be proper,
no,not though a general pardon should be issued,even without exceptions and reserve of persons
or crimes.
It is enough to tell you,that as some of my worst comrades,who are out of the way of doing
me harm,having gone out of the world by the steps and the string猿,as I often expected to go,
knew me by the name of Moll Flanders,so you may give me leave to speak of myself under that
name till I dare own who I have been,as well as who I am.
I have been told,that in one of our neighbour nations,whether it be in France or,where
else,I know not,they have an order from the king,that when any criminal is condemned,either
to die,or to the galleys,or to be transported源,if they leave any children,as such are generally
unprovided for,by the poverty or forfeiture of their parents,so they are immediately taken into
the care of the Government,and put into a hospital called the House of Orphans,where they are
bred up,clothed,fed,taught,and when fit to go out,are placed out to trades,or to services,so
as to be well able to provide for themselves by an honest industrious behaviour.
Had this been the custom in our country,I had not been left a poor desolate girl without
friends,without clothes,without help or helper in the world,as was my fate;and by which,I
was not only exposed to very great distresses,even before I was capable either of understanding
my case,or how to amend it,nor brought into a course of life,which was not only scandalous in
itself,but which in its ordinary course,tended to the swift destruction both of soul and body.
But the case was otherwise here;my mother was convicted of felony for a certain petty theft,
scarce worth naming,viz. Having an opportunity of borrowing three pieces of fine holland缘,of a
certain draper in Cheapside:The circumstances are too long to repeat,and I have heard them
related so many ways,that I can scarce be certain which is the right account.
However it was,this they all agree in,that my mother pleaded her belly远,and being found
quick with child,she was respited for about seven months,in which time having brought me into
the world,and being about again,she was called down,as they term it,to her former judgment苑,
but obtained the favour of being transported to the plantations,and left me about half a year old;
and in bad hands you may be sure.
This is too near the first hours of my life for me to relate anything of myself,but by hearsay;
it is enough to mention,that as I was born in such an unhappy place,I had no parish to have
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇缘苑
recourse to for my nourishment in my infancy,nor can I give the least account how I was kept
alive,other,than that as I have been told,some relation of my mothers took me away for a
while as a nurse,but at whose expense or by whose direction I know nothing at all of it.
The first account that I can recollect,or could ever learn of myself,was,that I had wandered
among a crew of those people they call gypsies,or Egyptians;but I believe it was but a very little
while that I had been among them,for I had not had my skin discoloured,or blackened,as they
do very young to all the children they carry about with them,nor can I tell how I came among
them,or how I got from them.
It was at Colchester,in Essex,that those people left me;and I have a notion in my head,
that I left them there,
( that is,that I hid myself and would not go any farther with them)but I am
not able to be particular in that account;only this I remember,that being taken up by some of the
parish officers of Colchester,I gave an account that I came into the town with the gypsies,but
that I would not go any farther with them,and that so they had left me,but whither they were
gone that I knew not,nor could they expect it of me;for though they sent round the country to
inquire after them,it seems they could not be found.
I was now in a way to be provided for愿;for though I was not a parish charge upon this or that
part of the town by law,yet as my case came to be known,and that I was too young to do any
work,being not above three years old,compassion moved the magistrates of the town to order
some care to be taken of me,and I became one of their own,as much as if I had been born in the
place.
In the provision they made for me,it was my good hap to be put to nurse,as they call it,to
a woman who was indeed poor,but had been in better circumstances,and who got a little
livelihood by taking such as I was supposed to be,and keeping them with all necessaries,till they
were at a certain age,in which it might be supposed they might go to service,or get their own
bread.
This woman had also a little school,which she kept to teach children to read and to work;
and having,as I have said,lived before that in good fashion,she bred up the children she took
with a great deal of art,as well as with a great deal of care.
But that which was worth all the rest,she bred them up very religiously,being herself a very
sober pious woman,very housewifely and clean,and very mannerly,and with good behaviour:
so that in a word,excepting a plain diet,coarse lodging,and mean clothes,we were brought up
as mannerly and as genteelly as if we had been at the dancingschool.
I was continued here till I was eight years old,when I was terrified with news that the
magistrates,as I think they called them,had ordered that I should go to service;I was able to do
but very little service wherever I was to go,except it was to run of errands,and be a drudge to
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some cookmaid,and this they told me of often,which put me into a great fright;for I had a
thorough aversion to going to service,as they called it,that is to be a servant,though I was so
young;and I told my nurse,as we called her,that I believed I could get my living without going
to service if she pleased to let me;for she had taught me to work with my needle and spin
worsted,which is the chief trade of that city,and I told her that if she would keep me,I would
work for her,and I would work very hard.
I talked to her almost every day of working hard;and in short,I did nothing but work and
cry all day,which grieved the good kind woman so much,that at last she began to be concerned
for me,for she loved me very well.
One day after this,as she came into the room where all we poor children were at work,she
sat down just over against me,not in her usual place as mistress,but as if she set herself on
purpose to observe me,and see me work:I was doing something she had set me to as I
remember,it was marking some shirts which she had taken to make,and after a while she began
to talk to me:
“ Thou foolish child,”says she,
“ thou art always crying;
( for I was crying then)”
“ Prithee,what dost cry for?”
“ because they will take me away,”says I,
“ and put me to service,
and I cant work housework;”
“ Well,child,”says she,
“ but though you cant work housework,
as you call it,you will learn it in time,and they wont put you to hard things at first;”
“ yes they
will,”says I,
“ and if I cant do it,they will beat me,and the maids will beat me to make me do
great work,and I am but a little girl,and I cant do it”;and then I cried again,till I could not
speak any more to her.
This moved my good Motherly Nurse,so that she from that time resolved I should not go to
service yet,so she bid me not cry,and she would speak to Mr. Mayor,and I should not go to
service till I was bigger.
Well,this did not satisfy me,for to think of going to service was such a frightful thing to
me,that if she had assured me I should not have gone till I was twenty years old,it would have
been the same to me;I should have cried,I believe all the time,with the very apprehension of its
being to be so at last.
When she saw that I was not pacified yet,she began to be angry with me;
“ and what would
you have?”says she,
“ dont I tell you that you shall not go to service till your are bigger?”
“ Ay,”says I,
“ but then I must go at last;”
“ why,what?”said she,
“ is the girl mad?what,
would you be a Gentlewoman?”
“ Yes,”says I,and cried heartily,till I roared out again.
This set the old Gentlewoman alaughing at me,as you may be sure it would:“ Well,
Madam,forsooth,”says she,gibing at me,
“ you would be a Gentlewoman,and pray how will
you come to be a Gentlewoman?what,will you do it by your fingers end?”
“ Yes,”says I again,very innocently.
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇缘怨
“ Why,what can you earn,”says she,
“ what can you get at your work?”
“ Threepence,”said I,
“ when I spin,and fourpence when I work plain work. ”
“ Alas!poor Gentlewoman,”said she again,laughing,
“ what will that do for thee?”
“ It will keep me,”says I,
“ if you will let me live with you;”and this I said,in such a poor
petitioning tone,that it made the poor womans heart yearn to me,as she told me afterwards.
“ But,”says she,
“ that will not keep you,and buy you clothes too;and who must buy the
little Gentlewoman clothes,”says she,and smiled all the while at me.
“ I will work harder then,”says I,
“ and you shall have it all. ”
“ Poor child!it wont keep you,”says she,
“ it will hardly keep you in victuals. ”
“ Then I will have no victuals,”says I,again very innocently,
“ let me but live with you. ”
“ Why,can you live without victuals?”says she;
“ Yes,”again says I,very much like a
child,you may be sure,and still I cried heartily.
I had no policy怨 in all this,you may easily see it was all nature员园,but it was joined with so
much innocence,and so much passion,that in short,it set the good Motherly Creature aweeping
too,and she cried at last as fast as I did,and then took me,and led me out of the teachingroom.
“ Come”says she,
“ you shant go to service,you shall live with me”,and this pacified me for
the present.
Sometime after this,she going to wait on the Mayor,and talking of such things as belonged
to her business,at last my story came up,and my good Nurse told Mr. Mayor the whole tale:He
was so pleased with it,that he would call his lady,and his two daughters to hear it,and it made
mirth enough among them,you may be sure.
However,not a week had passed over,but on a sudden comes Mrs. Mayoress and her two
daughters to the house to see my old Nurse,and to see her school and the children:When they
had looked about them a little:
“ Well,Mrs —”says the Mayoress to my Nurse,
“ and pray which
is the little lass that intends to be a Gentlewoman?”I heard her,and I was terribly frighted at
first,though I did not know why neither;but Mrs. Mayoress comes up to me,
“ Well Miss,”says
“ And what are you at work upon?”The word Miss was a language that had hardly been
she,
heard of in our school,and I wondered what sad name it was she called me;However,I stood
up,made a curtsy,and she took my work out of my hand,looked on it,and said it was very
well;then she took up one of my hands;“ nay,” says she,“ the child may come to be a
Gentlewoman for aught anybody knows;she has a Gentlewomans hand,”says she;this pleased
me mightily you may be sure,but Mrs. Mayoress did not stop there,but giving me my work
again,she put her hand in her pocket,gave me a shilling,and bid me mind my work,and learn
to work well,and I might be a Gentlewoman for aught she knew.
Now all this while,my good old Nurse,Mrs. Mayoress,and all the rest of them did not
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英国文学简读教程
understand me at all,for they meant one sort of thing,by the word Gentlewoman,and I meant
quite another;for alas,all I understood by being a gentlewoman,was to be able to work for
myself,and get enough to keep me without that terrible bugbear going to service,whereas they
meant to live great,rich,and high,and I know not what.
Well,after Mrs. Mayoress was gone,her two daughters came in and they called for the
Gentlewoman too,and they talked a long while to me,and I answered them in my innocent way;
but always if they asked me whether I resolved to be a Gentlewoman,I answered Yes:At last one
of them asked me,what a Gentlewoman was?that puzzled me much;but however,I explained
myself negatively,that it was one that did not go to service,to do housework;They were pleased
to be familiar with me,and liked my little prattle to them,which it seems was agreeable enough
to them,and they gave me money too.
As for my money I gave it all to my Mistress Nurse,as I called her,and told her she should
have all I got for myself when I was a Gentlewoman,as well as now;by this and some other of
my talk,my old Tutoress began to understand me,about what I meant by being a Gentlewoman;
and that I understood by it no more than to be able to get my bread by my own work;and at last,
she asked me whether it was not so.
I told her yes,and insisted on it,that to do so,was to be a Gentlewoman;
“ for”says I,
“ there is such a one,”naming a woman that mended lace,and washed the ladies lacedheads员员,
“ she,”says I,
“ is a Gentlewoman,and they call her Madam. ”
“ Poor child,”says my good old Nurse,
“ you may soon be such a Gentlewoman as that,for
she is a person of ill fame,and has had two or three bastards. ”
I did not understand anything of that;but I answered,
“ I am sure they call her madam,and
she does not go to service nor do housework ”, and therefore I insisted that she was a
Gentlewoman,and I would be such a Gentlewoman as that.
The ladies were told all this again,to be sure,and they made themselves merry with it,and
every now and then the young ladies,Mr. Mayors daughters would come and see me,and ask
where the little Gentlewoman was,which made me not a little proud of myself.
This held a great while,and I was often visited by these young ladies,and sometimes they
brought others with them;so that I was known by it,almost all over the town.
I was now about ten years old,and began to look a little womanish,for I was mighty grave员圆
and humble;very mannerly,and as I had often heard the ladies say I was pretty,and would be a
very handsome woman,so you may be sure,that hearing them say so,made me not a little
proud;however,that pride had no ill effect upon me yet,only as they often gave me money员猿,
and I gave it my old Nurse,she honest woman,was so just to me,as to lay it all out again for
me,and gave me headdresses and linen,and gloves and ribbons,and I went very neat,and
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇远员
always clean;for that I would do,and if I had rags on,I would always be clean,or else I would
dabble them in water myself;but I say,my good Nurse,when I had money given me,very
honestly laid it out for me,and would always tell the ladies,this,or that,was bought with their
money;and this made them oftentimes give me more;Till at last,I was indeed called upon by the
magistrates as I understood it,to go out to service;but then I was come to be so good a
workwoman myself,and the ladies were so kind to me,that it was plain I could maintain myself,
that is to say,I could earn as much for my Nurse as she was able by it to keep me;so she told
them,that if they would give her leave,she would keep the Gentlewoman as she called me,to be
her assistant,and teach the children,which I was very well able to do;for I was very nimble at
my work,and had a good hand with my needle,though I was yet very young.
But the kindness of the ladies of the town did not end here,for when they came to understand
that I was no more maintained by the public allowance,as before,they gave me money oftener
than formerly;and as I grew up,they brought me work to do for them,such as linen to make,
and laces to mend,and heads to dress up,and not only paid me for doing them,but even taught
me how to do them;so that now I was a Gentlewoman indeed,as I understood that word,and as
I desired to be;for by the time,I was twelve years old,I not only found myself clothes,and paid
my Nurse for my keeping,but got money in my pocket too beforehand.
The ladies also gave me clothes frequently of their own,or their childrens,some stockings,
some petticoats,some gowns,some one thing,some another,and these my old Woman managed
for me like a mere mother员源,and kept them for me,obliged me to mend them,and turn them and
twist them to the best advantage,for she was a rare housewife.
At last one of the ladies took so much fancy to me that she would have me home to her house
for a month she said,to be among her daughters.
Now though this was exceeding kind in her,yet as my old good Woman said to her,unless
she resolved to keep me for good and all,she would do the little Gentlewoman more harm than
good:
“ Well,”says the lady,
“ thats true and therefore Ill only take her home for a week then,
that I may see how my daughters and she agree together,and how I like her temper,and then Ill
tell you more;and in the meantime,if anybody comes to see her as they used to do,you may
only tell them,you have sent her out to my house. ”
This was prudently managed enough,and I went to the ladys house,but I was so pleased
there with the young ladies,and they so pleased with me,that I had enough to do to come away,
and they were as unwilling to part with me.
However,I did come away,and lived almost a year more with my honest old Woman,and
began now to be very helpful to her;for I was almost fourteen years old,was tall of my age,and
looked a little womanish;but I had such a taste of genteel living at the ladys house,that I was
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not so easy in my old quarters as I used to be,and I thought it was fine to be a Gentlewoman
indeed,for I had quite other notions of a Gentlewoman now than I had before;and as I thought,
I say,that it was fine to be a Gentlewoman,so I loved to be among gentlewomen,and therefore
I longed to be there again.
About the time that I was fourteen years and a quarter old,my good old Nurse,Mother I
ought rather to call her,fell sick and died. I was then in a sad condition indeed,for as there is no
great bustle in putting an end to a poor bodys family when once they are carried to the grave,so
the poor good Woman being buried,the parish children she kept were immediately removed by the
churchwardens;the school was at an end,and the children of it had no more to do but just stay at
home till they were sent somewhere else;and as for what she left,her daughter,a married woman
with six or seven children,came and swept it all away at once,and removing the goods,they had
no more to say to me than to jest with me,and tell me that the little Gentlewoman might set up for
herself if she pleased.
I was frighted out of my wits almost,and knew not what to do,for I was,as it were,turned
out of doors to the wide world,and that which was still worse,the old honest Woman had two
and twenty shillings of mine in her hand员缘,which was all the estate the little Gentlewoman had in
the world;and when I asked the daughter for it,she huffed员远me and laughed at me,and told me,
she had nothing to do with it.
It was true the good poor Woman had told her daughter of it,and that it lay in such a place,
that it was the childs money,and had called once or twice for me to give it me,but I was
unhappily out of the way,somewhere or other,and when I came back she was past being in a
condition to speak of it:However,the daughter was so honest afterwards as to give it me,though
at first she used me cruelly about it.
Now was I a poor Gentlewoman indeed,and I was just that very night to be turned into the
wide world;for the daughter removed all the goods,and I had not so much as a lodging to go to,
or a bit of bread to eat. But it seems some of the neighbours who had known my circumstances,
took so much compassion of me,as to acquaint the lady in whose family I had been a week,as I
mentioned above;and immediately she sent her maid to fetch me away,and two of her daughters
came with the maid though unsent;so I went with them bag and baggage,and with a glad heart
you may be sure:The fright of my condition had made such an impression upon me,that I did not
want now to be a Gentlewoman,but was very willing to be a Servant,and that any kind of
Servant they thought fit to have me be.
But my new generous Mistress had better thoughts for me;I call her generous for she
exceeded the good Woman I was with before in everything,as well as in the matter of estate;I
say in everything except honesty;and for that,though this was a lady most exactly just,yet I
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇远猿
must not forget to say on all occasions,that the first though poor,was as uprightly honest as it
was possible for anyone to be.
I was no sooner carried away as I have said by this good Gentlewoman,but the first lady,
that is to say,the Mayoress that was,sent her two daughters to take care of me;and another
family which had taken notice of me when I was the little Gentlewoman,and had given me work
to do,sent for me after her,so that I was mightily made of,as we say;nay,and they were not
a little angry,especially,Madam the Mayoress,that her friend had taken me away from her as
she called it;for as she said,I was hers by right,she having been the first that took any notice of
me;but they that had me would not part with me;and as for me,though I should have been very
well treated with any of the others,yet I could not be better than where I was.
Here I continued till I was between seventeen and eighteen years old,and here I had all the
advantages for my education that could be imagined;the lady had masters home to the house to
teach her daughters to dance,and to speak French,and to write,and others to teach them music;
and as I was always with them,I learned as fast as they;and though the masters were not
appointed to teach me,yet I learned by imitation and inquiry,all that they learned by instruction
and direction. So that in short,I learned to dance and speak French as well as any of them,and to
sing much better,for I had a better voice than any of them;I could not so readily come at playing
on the harpsichord or spinet,because I had no instrument of my own to practice on,and could
only come at theirs in the intervals,when they left it,which was uncertain;but yet I learned
tolerably well too, and the young ladies at length got two instruments, that is to say, a
harpsichord,and a spinet too,and then they taught me themselves. But as to dancing they could
hardly help my learning countrydances,because they always wanted me to make up even
number;and on the other hand,they were as heartily willing to learn员苑 me everything that they
had been taught themselves,as I could be to take the learning.
By this means I had,as I have said above,all the advantages of education that I could have
had,if I had been as much a Gentlewoman as they were with whom I lived,and in some things,
I had the advantage of my ladies,though they were my superiors;but they were all the gifts of
nature,and which all their fortunes could not furnish. First,I was apparently handsomer than any
of them. Secondly,I was better shaped,and thirdly,I sang better,by which I mean,I had a
better voice;in all which you will,I hope,allow me to say,I do not speak my own conceit of
myself,but the opinion of all that knew the family.
I had with all these the common vanity of my sex. That being really taken for very
handsome,or if you please for a great beauty,I very well knew it,and had as good an opinion of
myself as anybody else could have of me;and particularly I loved to hear anybody speak of it,
which could not but happen to me sometimes,and was a great satisfaction to me.
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Thus far I have had a smooth story to tell of myself,and in all this part of my life,I not only
had the reputation of living in a very good family,and a family noted and respected everywhere,
for virtue and sobriety,and for every valuable thing;but I had the character too of a very sober,
modest,and virtuous young woman,and such I had always been;neither had I yet any occasion
to think of anything else,or to know what a temptation to wickedness meant.
员. The full title of Moll Flanders gives an apt summary of the plot:“ The Fortunes and
Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders,who was born in Newgate,and during a life of
continud Variety for Threescore Years,besides her Childhood,was Twelve Years a Whore,
five times a Wife( whereof once to her own brother),Twelve Years a Thief,Eight Years a
Transported Felon in Virginia,at last grew Rich,livd Honest and died a Penitent. Written
from her own Memorandums”. Moll Flanders is born to a mother who has been convicted of a
felony and who is transported to America soon after her birth. As an infant,Moll lives on
public charity,under the care of a kind widow who teaches her manners and needlework. She
grows into a beautiful teenager and is seduced at an early age. Abandoned by her first lover,
she is compelled to marry his younger brother. He dies after a few years,and she marries a
draper who soon flees the country as a fugitive from the law. She marries yet again and moves
to America,only to find out that her husband is actually her halfbrother. She leaves him in
disgust and returns to England,where she becomes the mistress of a man whose wife has gone
insane. He renounces his affair with Moll after a religious experience. Molls next marriage
offer is from a banker whose wife has been cheating on him. Moll agrees to marry him if he
can obtain a divorce,and meanwhile she travels to the country and marries a rich gentleman in
Lancashire. This man turns out to be a fraud—he is as poor as she is—and they part ways to
seek their fortunes separately. Moll returns to marry the banker,who by this time has
succeeded in divorcing his wife. He dies soon after,however,and Moll is thrown back upon
her own resources once again. She lives in poverty for several years and then begins stealing.
She is quite talented at this new“ trade”and soon becomes an expert thief and a local legend.
Eventually she is caught,imprisoned,and sentenced to death. In prison at Newgate,she
reunites with her Lancashire husband,who has also been arrested. They both manage to have
their sentences reduced,and they are transported to the colonies,where they begin a new life
as plantation owners. In America,Moll rediscovers her brother and her son and claims the
inheritance her mother has left her. Prosperous and repentant,she returns with her husband to
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇远缘
England at the age of seventy. If Crusoe is a naturally gregarious man,cast by fate into
prolonged isolation,then the heroine of Moll Flanders might be described as a natural loner
who is destined to float about on the tides of an alien society. Moll wants nothing more than to
achieve gentility,or at the very least the respectability:but first her sexual misadventures and
then her criminal escapades serve to drag her into a marginal condition. The force of the novel
derives from this collision in her being;her urge to conformity is cut across by the need to
survive in the desperate or unconventional ways. She was easily assimilated into the chapbook
versions of this story, since her lifestory has the diagrammatic clarity favored in such
moralistic narratives. But there is a mysterious dimension of her character, a depth of
personality in the acting Moll which has made the novel something of a cult in the 圆
园th
century:significantly it was the generation of Joyce and Virginia Woolf which first seized on
this added strain of psychological drama.
圆. Newgate:the largest and bestknown London prison of the time;OldBaily:a criminal court
adjoining Newgate Prison
猿. the steps and the string:colloquial for being hanged. “ Steps ” refer to ladder below the
gallows,and“ string”refers to hangmans rope.
源. In Defoes England there were more than 员
园园crimes that might lead to capital punishment. The
punishment for theft of 缘shillings value from a shop,for instance,could be death. Exile to
remote regions with harsh conditions,usually America,was a common alternative early in the
员
愿th century.
缘. borrowing:an euphemism for small theft;holland:a type of linen
远. my mother pleaded her belly:She asked that her sentence be postponed as she was pregnant.
苑. She was called down,as they term it,to her former judgment:Her former sentence was not
carried out in effect.
愿. to be provided for:to be taken care of
怨. policy:skills,craftiness
员
园. it was all nature:I( Moll)acted just spontaneously.
员
员. lacedheads:decorative heads of hair worn by ladies. Powdered and pomaded hair was drawn
up over a cushion of stuffing,and dressed with gauze,ribbons,and other ornaments.
员
圆. grave:this word was extensively used as a allpurpose term for serious religious attitudes in
early eighteenth century. It had the meanings of sober,serious,pious,pompous,etc.
员
猿. gave me money:note that the concept and preoccupation with money is considered a
reflection of Molls or Defoes Protestant ethic. Money is mentioned again and again
throughout the whole novel.
摇远远
摇
英国文学简读教程
员
源. like a mere mother:as if she were no less than a mother
员
缘. had 郾郾
郾in her hand:let her keep the money for me
员
远. huffed:treated with disdain
员
苑. learn:Here it means“ teach”.
员. Why did Defoe choose a woman to be his main character?Do you think she is a believable
character?Is Defoe commenting on the female gender in this novel,or humankind in general?
圆. In the above selected text,Molls childhood is depicted. What impact does it have on Molls
later views about herself,about women,about money and about society?
猿. What brings the sudden change or breaking of dreams in Moll?Before she was 员
苑,how was
she treated in different households or institutions?
源. There are some psychological analyses of Molls concept and conduct in this text. What are
they?
缘. Money is mentioned very frequently in the novel. What is the symbolic meaning it has to Moll
and to people in general in Defoes time?
III. Jonathan Swift
员
郧怎造
造
蚤
增
藻
则
蒺
泽栽则
葬增
藻
造
泽
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬
责贼
藻
则陨
陨
陨
My gentleness and good behavior had gained so far on the Emperor and his court,and indeed
upon the army and people in general,that I began to conceive hopes of getting my liberty in a
short time. I took all possible methods to cultivate this favorable disposition圆. The natives came
by degrees to be less apprehensive of any danger from me. I would sometimes lie down,and let
five or six of them dance on my hand. And at last the boys and girls would venture to come and
play at hideandseek in my hair. I had now made a good progress in understanding and speaking
their language. The Emperor had a mind one day to entertain me with several of the country
shows;wherein they exceed all nations I have known,both for dexterity and magnificence. I was
diverted with none so much as that of the ropedancers,performed upon a slender white thread,
extended about two feet,and twelve inches from the ground. Upon which I shall desire liberty猿,
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇远苑
with the readers patience,to enlarge a little.
This diversion is only practiced by those persons who are candidates for great employments,
and high favor,at court. They are trained in this art from their youth,and are not always of noble
birth,or liberal education. When a great office is vacant either by death or disgrace( which often
happens)five or six of those candidates petition the Emperor to entertain his Majesty and the court
with a dance on the rope,and whoever jumps the highest without falling,succeeds in the office.
Very often the chief ministers themselves are commanded to show their skill,and to convince the
Emperor that they have not lost their faculty. Flimnap,the Treasurer,is allowed to cut a caper源 on
the strait rope,at least an inch higher than any other lord in the whole empire. I have seen him do
the summerset缘 several times together upon a trencher远 fixed on a rope,which is no thicker than a
common packthread in England. My friend Reldresal,Principal Secretary for Private Affairs,is,
in my opinion,if I am not partial,the second after the Treasurer;the rest of the great officers are
much upon a par.
These diversions are often attended with fatal accidents,whereof great numbers are on
record. I myself have seen two or three candidates break a limb. But the danger is much greater
when the ministers themselves are commanded to show their dexterity;for,by contending to excel
themselves and their fellows,they strain so far,that there is hardly one of them who hath not
received a fall;and some of them two or three. I was assured,that a year or two before my
arrival,Flimnap would have infallibly broke his neck,if one of the Kings cushions,that
accidentally lay on the ground,had not weakened the force of his fall.
There is likewise another diversion,which is only shown before the Emperor and Empress,
and first minister,upon particular occasions. The Emperor lays on the table three fine silken
threads of six inches long. One is blue,the other red,and the third green. These threads are
proposed as prizes for those persons whom the Emperor hath a mind to distinguish by a peculiar
mark of his favor. The ceremony is performed in his Majestys great chamber of state;where the
candidates are to undergo a trial of dexterity very different from the former,and such as I have not
observed the least resemblance of in any other country of the old or the new world. The Emperor
holds a stick in his hands,both ends parallel to the horizon,while the candidates,advancing one
by one,sometimes leap over the stick,sometimes creep under it backwards and forwards several
times,according as the stick is advanced or depressed. Sometimes the Emperor holds one end of
the stick,and his first minister the other;sometimes the minister has it entirely to himself.
Whoever performs his part with most agility,and holds out the longest in leaping and creeping,is
rewarded with the bluecolored silk;the red is given to the next,and the green to the third,which
they all wear girt twice round about the middle苑;and you see few great persons about this court
who are not adorned with one of these girdles.
摇远愿
摇
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The horses of the army,and those of the royal stables,having been daily led before me,
were no longer shy,but would come up to my very feet,without starting. The riders would leap
them over my hand as I held it on the ground;and one of the Emperors huntsmen,upon a large
courser愿,took怨my foot,shoe and all;which was indeed a prodigious leap. I had the good fortune
to divert the Emperor one day after a very extraordinary manner. I desired he would order several
sticks of two feet high,and the thickness of an ordinary cane,to be brought me;whereupon his
Majesty commanded the master of his woods to give directions accordingly;and the next morning
six woodmen arrived with as many carriages,drawn by eight horses to each. I took nine of these
sticks,and fixing them firmly in the ground in a quadrangular figure,two feet and a half square,
I took four other sticks,and tied them parallel at each corner,about two feet from the ground;
then I fastened my handkerchief to the nine sticks that stood erect,and extended it on all sides till
it was as tight as the top of a drum;and the four parallel sticks,rising about five inches higher
than the handkerchief,served as ledges on each side. When I had finished my work,I desired the
Emperor to let a troop of his best horse,twentyfour in number,come and exercise upon this
plain. His Majesty approved of the proposal,and I took them up one by one in my hands,ready
mounted员园 and armed,with the proper officers to exercise them. As soon as they got into order,
they divided into two parties,performed mock skirmishes,discharged blunt arrows,drew their
swords,fled and pursued,attacked and retired;and in short discovered the best military discipline
I ever beheld. The parallel sticks secured them and their horses from falling over the stage;and
the Emperor was so much delighted,that he ordered this entertainment to be repeated several
days;and once was pleased to be lifted up,and give the word of command;and,with great
difficulty,persuaded even the Empress herself to let me hold her in her close chair员员 within two
yards of the stage,from whence she was able to take a full view of the whole performance. It was
my good fortune that no ill accident happened in these entertainments,only once a fiery horse that
belonged to one of the captains pawing with his hoof struck a hole in my handkerchief,and his
foot slipping,he overthrew his rider and himself;but I immediately relieved them both;for
covering the hole with one hand,I set down the troop with the other,in the same manner as I
took them up. The horse that fell was strained in the left shoulder,but the rider got no hurt,and
I repaired my handkerchief as well as I could;however,I would not trust to the strength of it any
more in such dangerous enterprises.
About two or three days before I was set at liberty,as I was entertaining the court with these
kinds of feats,there arrived an express to inform his Majesty that some of his subjects,riding near
the place where I was first taken up,had seen a great black substance lying on the ground,very
oddly shaped,extending its edges round as wide as his Majestys bedchamber,and rising up in the
middle as high as a man;that it was no living creature,as they at first apprehended,for it lay on
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇远怨
the grass without motion,and some of them had walked round it several times;that by mounting
upon each others shoulders,they had got to the top,which was flat and even;and stamping upon
it they found it was hollow within;that they humbly conceived it might be something belonging to
the ManMountain,and if his Majesty pleased,they would undertake to bring it with only five
horses. I presently knew what they meant;and was glad at heart to receive this intelligence员圆. It
seems upon my first reaching the shore after our shipwreck,I was in such confusion,that before I
came to the place where I went to sleep,my hat,which I had fastened with a string to my head
while I was rowing,and had stuck on all the time I was swimming,fell off after I came to land;
the string,as I conjecture,breaking by some accident which I never observed,but thought my hat
had been lost at sea. I entreated his Imperial Majesty to give orders it might be brought to me as
soon as possible,describing to him the use and the nature of it:and the next day the wagoners
arrived with it,but not in a very good condition;they had bored two holes in the brim,within an
inch and a half of the edge,and fastened two hooks in the holes;these hooks were tied by a long
cord to the harness;and thus my hat was dragged along for above half an English mile:but the
ground in that country being extremely smooth and level,it received less damage than I expected.
Two days after this adventure,the Emperor,having ordered that part of his army which
quarters in and about his metropolis to be in a readiness,took a fancy of diverting himself in a
very singular manner. He desired I would stand like a colossus,with my legs as far asunder as I
conveniently could. He then commanded his general( who was an old experienced leader,and a
great patron of mine)to draw up the troops in close order,and march them under me;the foot员猿
by twentyfour in a breast员源,and the horse by sixteen,with drums beating,colors员缘 flying,and
pikes advanced. This body consisted of three thousand foot,and a thousand horse. His Majesty
gave orders,upon pain of death员远,that every soldier in his march should observe the strictest
decency with regard to my person;which,however,could not prevent some of the younger
officers from turning up their eyes as they passed under me. And,to confess the truth,my
breeches were at that time in so ill a condition,that they afforded some opportunities for laughter
and admiration.
I had sent so many memorials and petitions for my liberty,that his Majesty at length
mentioned the matter first in the cabinet,and then in a full council;where it was opposed by
none,except Skyresh,who was pleased,without any provocation,to be my mortal enemy. But it
was carried against him by the whole board,and confirmed by the Emperor. That minister was
Galbet,or Admiral of the Realm;very much in his masters confidence,and a person well versed
in affairs,but of a morose and sour complexion. However,he was at length persuaded to
comply;but prevailed that the articles and conditions upon which I should be set free,and to
which I must swear,should be drawn up by himself. These articles were brought to me by
摇苑园
摇
英国文学简读教程
Skyresh Bolgolam员苑 in person, attended by two undersecretaries, and several persons of
distinction. After they were read,I was demanded to swear to the performance of them;first in
the manner of my own country,and afterwards in the method prescribed by their laws;which was
to hold my right foot in my left hand,to place the middle finger of my right hand on the crown of
my head,and my thumb on the tip of my right ear. But because the reader may perhaps be
curious to have some idea of the style and manner of expression peculiar to that people,as well as
to know the articles upon which I recovered my liberty,I have made a translation of the whole
instrument,word for word,as near as I was able;which I here offer to the public.
摇摇GOLBASTO MOMAREN EVLAME GURDILO SHEFIN MULLY ULLY GUE,most
mighty Emperor of Lilliput,delight and terror of the universe,whose dominions extend five
thousand blustrugs( about twelve miles in circumference)to the extremities of the globe;
Monarch of all Monarchs;taller than the sons of men;whose feet press down to the centre,
and whose head strikes against the sun;at whose nod the princes of the earth shake their
knees;pleasant as the spring,comfortable as the summer,fruitful as autumn,dreadful as
winter. His most sublime Majesty proposeth to the ManMountain员愿,lately arrived at our
celestial dominions,the following articles,which by a solemn oath he shall be obliged to
perform.
First,The ManMountain shall not depart from our dominions,without our license
under our great seal.
Secondly,He shall not presume to come into our metropolis,without our express
order员怨;at which time the inhabitants shall have two hours warning,to keep within their
doors.
Thirdly,The said ManMountain shall confine his walks to our principal high roads;and
not offer to walk or lie down in a meadow,or field of corn圆园.
Fourthly,As he walks the said roads,he shall take the utmost care not to trample upon
the bodies of any of our loving subjects,their horses,or carriages,nor take any of our
subjects into his hands,without their own consent.
Fifthly. If an express require extraordinary dispatch,the ManMountain shall be obliged
to carry in his pocket the messenger and horse,a six days journey once in every moon,and
return the said messenger back( if so required)safe to our Imperial Presence.
Sixthly,He shall be our ally against our enemies in the island of Blefuscu,and do his
utmost to destroy their fleet,which is now preparing to invade us.
Seventhly,That the said ManMountain shall,at his times of leisure,be aiding and
assisting to our workmen,in helping to raise certain great stones,towards covering the wall
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇苑员
of the principal park,and other our royal buildings.
Eighthly,That the said ManMountain shall,in two moons time,deliver in an exact
survey of the circumference of our dominions by a computation of his own paces round the
coast.
Lastly,That upon his solemn oath to observe all the above articles,the said Man
Mountain shall have a daily allowance圆员 of meat and drink sufficient for the support of 员郯
苑
圆愿
of our subjects;with free access to our Royal Person,and other marks of our favor圆圆. Given
at our palace at Belfaborac the twelfth day of the ninetyfirst moon of our reign.
I swore and subscribed to these articles with great cheerfulness and content,although some of
them were not so honorable as I could have wished;which proceeded wholly from the malice of
Skyresh Bolgolam the High Admiral:whereupon my chains were immediately unlocked,and I
was at full liberty:the Emperor himself in person did me the honor to be by at the whole
ceremony. I made my acknowledgments by prostrating myself at his Majestys feet:but he
commanded me to rise;and after many gracious expressions,which,to avoid the censure of
vanity,I shall not repeat,he added,that he hoped I should prove a useful servant,and well
deserve all the favors he had already conferred upon me,or might do for the future.
The reader may please to observe,that in the last article for the recovery of my liberty,the
Emperor stipulates to allow me a quantity of meat and drink,sufficient for the support of 员郯
苑
圆愿
Lilliputians. Some time after,asking a friend at court how they came to fix on that determinate
number,he told me,that his Majestys mathematicians,having taken the height of my body by
the help of a quadrant圆猿,and finding it to exceed theirs in the proportion of twelve to one,they
concluded from the similarity of their bodies,that mine must contain at least 员
郯
苑圆
愿of theirs,and
consequently would require as much food as was necessary to support that number of Lilliputians.
By which,the reader may conceive an idea of the ingenuity of that people,as well as the prudent
and exact economy of so great a prince.
员. Gullivers Travels is Jonathan Swifts bestknown fictional,allegorical and satirical work. It
contains four parts,each about one adventurous voyage to some remote island after Gulliver
has met with shipwreck or piracy or some other misfortune. As a whole the book is one of the
most effective and devastating criticisms and satires of all aspects in the then English and
European life—socially,politically,religiously,philosophically,scientifically,and morally.
摇苑圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
Its social significance is great and its exploration into human nature profound. Gullivers
Travels is also an artistic masterpiece. Here we find its author at his best as a master of prose.
In structure,the four parts make an organic whole,with each contrived upon an independent
structure,and yet complementing the others and contributing to the central concern of study of
human nature and society. The first two parts are generally devoted to the seemingly two
extremes:the elaborated smallness in Part One is just as effectively depicted as the exaggerated
largeness in Part Two. The similarities between human beings and the Lilliputians and the
contrast between the Brobdingnagians and human beings both bear reference to the possibilities
of human state. Part Three furthers the criticism of the western civilization and deals with
different malpractices and false illusions about science, philosophy, history and even
immortality. The last part, where comparison is made through both similarities and
differences,leads the reader to a basic question:what on earth is a human being?
In this chapter,there is a rich use of allegories and satirical images. The Lilliputian
officials are chosen by their skill at ropedancing,which the Lilliputians see as relevant but
which Gulliver recognizes as arbitrary and ridiculous. The wouldbe officials are almost
literally forced to jump through hoops in order to qualify for their positions. Clearly,Swift
intends for us to understand this chapter as a satire of Englands system of political
appointments and to infer that Englands system is similarly arbitrary. Gulliver,however,
never suggests that he finds the Lilliputians ridiculous. Instead,the author leaves us to infer all
of the satire based on the difference between how things appear to us and how they appear to
Gulliver.
圆. cultivate this favorable disposition:encourage and develop a general tendency of character
猿. desire liberty:beg leave or permission
源. cut a caper:jump about in a joyful manner
缘. summerset:somersault
远. trencher:a wooden plate or platter
苑. wear girt twice round about the middle:wear girdle which goes twice round the waist
愿. courser:a swift horse
怨. took:jump onto
员
园. ready mounted:placed on the horse in advance
员
员. close chair:an enclosed or sedan chair
员
圆. intelligence:news
员
猿. the foot:infantry( 步兵),the foot soldier
员
源. in a breast:in a rank( in which the members stand side by side)
员
缘. colors:the official flags of the army
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇苑猿
员
远. upon pain of death:with the punishment of death
员
苑. Skyresh Bolgolam:This is an indication to the earl Nottingham,an enemy of Swift
员
愿. ManMountain:Lilliputians reference to Gulliver
员
怨. express order:clearlystated order
圆
园. corn:such grains as wheat,rye,barley,oats
圆
员. allowance:something provided regularly,provision
圆
圆. marks of our favor:tokens of our good wills and kind treatment
圆
猿. quadrant:an instrument long used for measuring altitudes
员. Satire and indication are two very important features of Swifts works. What can you discover
from reading this chapter?
圆. In paragraph 远,Swift,like Defoe,gives a good account of measurements too. What effect
does it have in presenting the Lilliputians?
猿. What is the significance of the description the Lilliputian ropedancing?
源. How do you interpret the contract between the Lilliputians and the narrator?
缘. What rhetoric devices does the author use in this chapter?Analyse them.
员
粤酝燥凿藻
泽
贼孕则
燥责燥
泽
葬造
It is a melancholly object to those who walk through this great town圆 or travel in the country,
when they see the streets,the roads,and cabin doors,crowded with beggars of the female sex,
followed by three,four,or six children,all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms.
These mothers,instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood,are forced to employ all
their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their helpless Infants,who,as they grow up,either
turn thieves for want of work,or leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in
Spain猿,or sell themselves to the Barbados源.
I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of children in the arms,or on the
backs,or at the heels of their mothers,and frequently of their fathers,is in the present deplorable
state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance;and therefore whoever could find out a
fair, cheap and easy method of making these children sound, useful members of the
commonwealth would deserve so well of the public as to have his statue set up for a preserver of
摇苑源
摇
英国文学简读教程
the nation.
But my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the children of professed
beggars;it is of a much greater extent,and shall take in the whole number of infants at a certain
age who are born of parents in effect as little able to support them as those who demand our charity
in the streets.
As to my own part,having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject,
and maturely weighed the several schemes of other Projectors缘,I have always found them grossly
mistaken in their computation. It is true,a child just dropped from its dam远 may be supported by
her milk for a solar year,with little other nourishment;at most not above the value of two
shillings,which the mother may certainly get,or the value in scraps,by her lawful occupation of
begging;and it is exactly at one year old that I propose to provide for them in such a manner as,
instead of being a charge upon their parents or the parish苑,or wanting愿 food and raiment for the
rest of their lives,they shall on the contrary contribute to the feeding,and partly to the clothing,
of many thousands.
There is likewise another great advantage in my scheme,that it will prevent those voluntary
abortions,and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children,alas,too frequent
among us,sacrificing the poor innocent babes,I doubt怨,more to avoid the expense than the
shame,which would move tears and pity in the most savage and inhuman breast.
The number of souls in this kingdom being usually reckoned one million and a half,of these
I calculate there may be about two hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders;from
which number I subtract thirty thousand couples who are able to maintain their own children,
although I apprehend员园 there cannot be so many under the present distresses of the Kingdom;but
this being granted,there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand breeders. I again subtract
fifty thousand for those women who miscarry,or whose children die by accident or disease within
the year. There only remain an hundred and twenty thousand children of poor parents annually
born. The question therefore is,how this number shall be reared and provided for,which,as I
have already said,under the present situation of affairs,is utterly impossible by all the methods
hitherto proposed. For we can neither employ them in handicraft or agriculture;we neither build
houses( I mean in the country)nor cultivate land员员. They can very seldom pick up a livelihood by
stealing till they arrive at six years old,except where they are of towardly parts员圆;although I
confess they learn the rudiments much earlier,during which time they can however be looked
upon only as probationers,as I have been informed by a principal gentleman in the county of
Cavan,who protested to me that he never knew above one or two instances under the ages of six,
even in a part of the kingdom so renowned for the quickest proficiency in that art.
I am assured by our merchants that a boy or a girl before twelve years old is no salable
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇苑缘
commodity;and even when they come to this age they will not yield above three pounds,or three
pounds and half a crown at most on the exchange;which cannot turn to account either to the
parents or the kingdom,the charge of nutriment and rags having been at least four times that
value.
I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts,which I hope will not be liable to the
least objection.
I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London,that a
young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious,nourishing,and wholesome
food,whether stewed,roasted,baked,or boiled,and I make no doubt that it will equally serve
in a fricassee,or ragout员猿.
I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration that of the hundred and twenty thousand
children,already computed,twenty thousand may be reserved for breed,whereof only one fourth
part to be males,which is more than we allow to sheep,black cattle,or swine;and my reason is
that these children are seldom the fruits of marriage,a circumstance not much regarded by our
savages,therefore one male will be sufficient to serve four females. That the remaining hundred
thousand may at a year old be offered in sale to the persons of quality员源 and fortune through the
kingdom,always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month,so as to render
them plump and fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends,
and when the family dines alone,the fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish,and
seasoned with a little pepper or salt will be very good boiled on the fourth day,especially in
winter.
I have reckoned upon a medium that a child just born will weigh twelve pounds,and in a
solar year if tolerably nursed increases to twentyeight pounds.
I grant this food will be somewhat dear员缘,and therefore very proper for landlords员远,who,as
they have already devoured most of the parents,seem to have the best title to the children.
Infants flesh will be in season throughout the year,but more plentiful in March,and a little
before and after. For we are told by a grave author员苑,an eminent French physician,that fish being
a prolific diet,there are more children born in Roman Catholic countries about nine months after
Lent than at any other season;therefore,reckoning a year after Lent,the markets will be more
glutted than usual,because the number of popish infants is at least three to one in this kingdom;
and therefore it will have one other collateral advantage,by lessening the number of Papists among
us.
I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggars child( in which list I reckon all
cottagers,laborers,and four fifths of the farmers)to be about two shillings per annum,rags
included;and I believe no gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good
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fat child,which,as I have said will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat,when he has
only some particular friend or his own family to dine with him. Thus the squire will learn to be a
good landlord,and grow popular among the tenants;the mother will have eight shillings net
profit,and be fit for the work till she produces another child.
Those who are more thrifty( as I must confess the times require)may flay the carcass;the
skin of which artificially员愿 dressed will make admirable gloves for ladies,and summer boots for
fine gentlemen.
As to our city of Dublin,shambles员怨may be appointed for this purpose in the most convenient
parts of it,and butchers we may be assured will not be wanting,although I rather recommend
buying the children alive,and dressing them hot from the knife as we do roasting pigs.
A very worthy person,a true lover of his country,and whose virtues I highly esteem,was
lately pleased in discoursing on this matter to offer a refinement upon my scheme. He said that
many gentlemen of this kingdom,having of late destroyed their deer,he conceived that the want
of venison might be well supplied by the bodies of young lads and maidens,not exceeding
fourteen years of age nor under twelve,so great a number of both sexes in every county being
now ready to starve for want of work and service;and these to be disposed of by their parents,if
alive,or otherwise by their nearest relations. But with due deference to so excellent a friend and
so deserving a patriot,I cannot be altogether in his sentiments;for as to the males,my American
acquaintance assured me from frequent experience that their flesh was generally tough and lean,
like that of our schoolboys,by continual exercise,and their taste disagreeable;and to fatten them
would not answer the charge. Then as to the females,it would,I think with humble submission,
be a loss to the Public,because they soon would become breeders themselves;and besides,it is
not improbable that some scrupulous people might be apt to censure such a practice( although
indeed very unjustly)as a little bordering upon cruelty;which I confess,hath always been with
me the strongest objection against any project,how well soever intended.
But in order to justify my friend,he confessed that this expedient was put into his head by the
famous Psalmanazar圆园,a native of the island Formosa,who came from thence to london above
twenty years ago,and in conversation told my friend that in his country when any young person
happened to be put to death,the executioner sold the carcass to persons of quality as a prime
dainty;and that in his time the body of a plump girl of fifteen,who was crucified for an attempt
to poison the emperor,was sold to his Imperial majestys prime minister of state,and other great
mandarins圆员 of the court,in joints from the gibbet圆圆,at four hundred crowns. Neither indeed can I
deny that if the same use were made of several plump young girls in this town,who without one
single groat圆猿to their fortunes cannot stir abroad without a chair圆源,and appear at the playhouse and
assemblies in foreign fineries which they never will pay for,the kingdom would not be the worse.
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇苑苑
Some persons of a desponding spirit are in great concern about that vast number of poor
people who are aged,diseased,or maimed,and I have been desired to employ my thoughts what
course may be taken to ease the nation of so grievous an encumbrance. But I am not in the least
pain upon that matter,because it is very well known that they are every day dying and rotting by
cold and famine,and filth and vermin,as fast as can be reasonably expected. And as to the
younger laborers,they are now in almost as hopeful a condition. They cannot get work,and
consequently pine away for want of nourishment to a degree that if at any time they are
accidentally hired to common labor,they have not strength to perform it;and thus the country and
themselves are happily delivered from the evils to come.
I have too long digressed,and therefore shall return to my subject. I think the advantages by
the proposal which I have made are obvious and many,as well as of the highest importance.
For first,as I have already observed,it would greatly lessen the number of Papists,with
whom we are yearly overrun,being the principal breeders of the nation as well as our most
dangerous enemies,and who stay at home on purpose to deliver the kingdom to the pretender,
hoping to take their advantage by the absence of so many good Protestants圆缘,who have chosen
rather to leave their country than stay at home and pay tithes against their conscience to an
Episcopal curate.
Secondly,the poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own,which by law may
be made liable to distress圆远,and help to pay their landlords rent,their corn and cattle being
already seized and money a thing unknown.
Thirdly,whereas the maintainance of an hundred thousand children,from two years old and
upwards,cannot be computed at less than ten shillings a piece per annum,the nations stock will
be thereby increased fifty thousand pounds per annum,besides the profit of a new dish introduced
to the tables of all gentlemen of fortune in the kingdom who have any refinement in taste. And the
money will circulate among ourselves, the goods being entirely of our own growth and
manufacture.
Fourthly,The constant breeders,besides the gain of eight shillings sterling per annum by the
sale of their children,will be rid of the charge of maintaining them after the first year.
Fifthly,this food would likewise bring great custom to taverns,where the vintners will
certainly be so prudent as to procure the best receipts圆苑 for dressing it to perfection, and
consequently have their houses frequented by all the fine gentlemen,who justly value themselves
upon their knowledge in good eating;and a skillful cook,who understands how to oblige his
guests,will contrive to make it as expensive as they please.
Sixthly,this would be a great inducement to marriage,which all wise nations have either
encouraged by rewards or enforced by laws and penalties. It would increase the care and
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tenderness of mothers toward their children,when they were sure of a settlement for life to the
poor babes,provided in some sort by the public,to their annual profit instead of expense. We
should see an honest emulation among the married women,which of them could bring the fattest
child to the Market. Men would become as fond of their wives during the time of their pregnancy
as they are now of their mares in foal,their cows in calf,or sows when they are ready to farrow,
nor offer to beat or kick them( as is too frequent a practice)for fear of a miscarriage.
Many other advantages might be enumerated. For instance,the addition of some thousand
carcasses in our exportation of barreled beef,the propagation of swines flesh,and improvement
in the art of making good bacon,so much wanted among us by the great destruction of pigs,too
frequent at our tables,which are no way comparable in taste or magnificence to a wellgrown,
fat,yearling child,which roasted whole will make a considerable figure at a lord mayors feast or
any other public entertainment. But this and many others I omit,being studious of brevity.
Supposing that one thousand families in this city would be constant customers for infants
flesh,besides others who might have it at merry meetings,particularly weddings and christenings,
I compute that Dublin would take off annually about twenty thousand carcasses,and the rest of the
kingdom( where probably they will be sold somewhat cheaper)the remaining eighty thousand.
…
I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in
endeavoring to promote this necessary work,having no other motive than the public good of my
country,by advancing our trade,providing for Infants,relieving the poor,and giving some
pleasure to the rich. I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny;the youngest
being nine years old,and my wife past childbearing.
员. The full title of this essay is:A Modest Proposal—For Preventing the Children of Poor People
in Ireland from Being a Burden on Their Parents or Country,and for Making Them Beneficial
to the Public. Jonathan Swift wrote A Modest Proposal in 员
苑圆
园to call attention to abuses
inflicted on Irish Catholics by welltodo English Protestants. Swift himself was a Protestant,
but he was also a native of Ireland,having been born in Dublin of English parents. As many
Irishmen worked on farms owned by Englishmen who charged high rents—so high that the Irish
were frequently unable to pay them, many Irish farming families lived on the edge of
starvation. In A Modest Proposal,Swift satirizes the English landlords with outrageous humor,
proposing that Irish infants be sold as food at age one,when they are plump and healthy,to
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇苑怨
give the Irish a new source of income and the English a new food product to bolster their
economy and eliminate a social problem. He says that his proposal,if adopted,would also
result in a reduction in the number of Catholics in Ireland,since most Irish infants almost all of
whom were baptized Catholic would end up in stews and other dishes instead of growing up to
go to Catholic churches. Here,he is satirizing the rivalry and prejudice characterizing Catholic
Protestant relations in Britain. The main literary device Swift uses in A Modest Proposal is
verbal irony,that is,he proposes the opposite of what he really believes.
圆. town:Dublin
猿. The Pretender was the descendant of King James II of the House of Stuart,expelled from
Britain in 员远
愿怨. James and his descendants were Catholic,so they took refuge in Catholic
countries.
源. Many poor Irish were forced to seek a living in the New World.
缘. Projector:
“ one who forms schemes or designs”
( Johnson)
远. dam:
“ the mother:used of beasts,or other animals not human”,or“ a human mother:in
contempt or detestation”
( Johnson)
苑. Parishes were responsible for the support of those unable to work.
愿. wanting:lacking
怨. doubt:suspect or imagine
员
园. apprehend:fear
员
员. nor cultivate land:What is reflected here is the fact then that Britain imposed strict regulations
on Irish agriculture.
员
圆. towardly parts:ready abilities
员
猿. fricassee:
“ a dish made by cutting chickens or other small things in pieces,and dressing them
with strong sauce”
( Johnson);ragout:
“ meat stewed and highly seasoned”
( Johnson)
员
源. quality:
“ rank;superiority of birth or station”
( Johnson)
员
缘. dear:expensive
员
远. British landlords took much of the blame for Irelands condition,and generally with good reason.
员
苑. Swifts note:
“ Rabelais”.
员
愿. artificially:skillfully
员
怨. shambles:meat markets
圆
园. Psalmanazar:an impostor who claimed to be from Formosa( modern Taiwan). His Historical
and Geographical Description of Formosa(员
苑园
源)described their religious practices:every
year 员愿,园园园young boys were sacrificed to the gods,and the parishioners ate their raw
hearts.
圆
员. mandarin:
“ a Chinese nobleman or magistrate”
( Johnson)
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英国文学简读教程
圆
圆. gibbet:
“ a gallows;the post on which malefactors are hanged,or on which their carcases are
exposed”
( Johnson)
圆
猿. A groat is worth four pence;proverbially,any small amount
圆
源. chair:
“ a vehicle born by men;a sedan”
( Johnson)
圆
缘. Protestants:dissenters or nonconformists whose principles Swift rejected
圆
远. distress:arrest for debt
圆
苑. receipts:
“[ from recipe]prescription of ingredients for any composition”
( Johnson)
员. The use of children as“ a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food”is clearly not a
realistic solution to problems of overpopulation in Ireland. What then are Swifts intentions in
writing this piece and what reaction is his frank proposal meant to draw from the reader?
圆. What is Swifts purpose of using“ a very knowing American”in paragraph 怨?What other
techniques does the author use to add authenticity to his“ proposal”?
猿. Swift makes reference to the modesty and humbleness of his proposal,which strongly opposes
the ridiculous and bold solution he offers. Does this juxtaposition serve to initially mislead the
reader or is Swifts irony there to further enhance the absurdity of his proposal?
源. The speakers views become increasingly ridiculous as the text progresses,even stating this
solution will contribute to“ the improvement in the at of making good bacon. ”What is the
role such humor plays in this piece when examining the message Swift is trying to get
across?
缘. After outlining his points,Swift writes:
“ I can think of no one objection that will probably be
raised against this proposal. ”Are we as readers being confronted by Swift who seems to be
opposing the obvious or is this type of language meant to evoke some other response?
IV. Thomas Gray
耘造
藻
早
赠宰则
蚤
贼
贼
藻
灶蚤
灶葬悦燥怎灶贼
则
赠悦澡怎则
糟
澡赠
葬则
凿员
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
The curfew圆 tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly oer the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way猿,
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇愿员
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings源 lull the distant folds;
Save that from yonder ivymantled tower
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such,as wandering near her secret bower,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.
Beneath those rugged elms,that yew trees shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,
Each in his narrow cell forever laid,
The rude缘 forefathers of the hamlet sleep.
The breezy call of incensebreathing Morn,
The swallow twittering from the strawbuilt shed,
The cocks shrill clarion,or the echoing horn远,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.
For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care;
No children run to lisp their sires return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.
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Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe苑 has broke愿;
How jocund did they drive their team afield!
How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!
Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely怨 joys,and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals员园 of the poor.
The boast of heraldry,the pomp of power,
And all that beauty,all that wealth eer gave,
Awaits alike the inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
Nor you,ye proud,impute to these the fault,
If Memory oer their tomb no trophies员员 raise,
Where through the longdrawn aisle and fretted员圆 vault
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.
Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honors voice provoke员猿 the silent dust,
Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death?
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇愿猿
Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed,
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre.
But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page
Rich with the spoils of time did neer unroll;
Chill Penury repressed their noble rage员源,
And froze the genial current of the soul.
Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Some village Hampden员缘,that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell guiltless of his countrys blood.
The applause of listening senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty oer a smiling land,
And read their history in a nations eyes,
Their lot forbade:nor circumscribed alone
Their growing virtues,but their crimes confined;
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,
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The struggling pangs of conscious truth员远 to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muses flame.
Far from the madding crowds ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learned to stray;
Along the cool sequestered vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
Yet even these bones from insult to protect
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.
员. Thomas Grays Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard was first published in 员
苑
缘员. Gray may,
however,have begun writing the poem in 员
苑
源圆,shortly after the death of his close friend
Richard West. An elegy is a poem which laments the dead. Grays Elegy Written in a Country
Churchyard is noteworthy in that it mourns the death not of great or famous people,but of
common men. The speaker of this poem sees a country churchyard at sunset,which impels
him to meditate on the nature of human mortality. The poem invokes the classical idea of
memento mori,a Latin phrase which states plainly to all mankind,
“ Remember that you must
die. ”The speaker considers the fact that in death,there is no difference between great and
common people. He goes on to wonder if among the lowly people buried in the churchyard
there had been any natural poets or politicians whose talent had simply never been discovered
or nurtured. This thought leads him to praise the dead for the honest,simple lives that they
lived. Gray did not produce a great deal of poetry; the Elegy Written in a Country
Churchyard,however,has earned him a respected and deserved place in literary history. The
poem was written at the end of the Augustan Age and at the beginning of the Romantic period,
and the poem has characteristics associated with both literary periods. On the one hand,it has
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇愿缘
the ordered,balanced phrasing and rational sentiments of Neoclassical poetry. On the other
hand,it tends toward the emotionalism and individualism of the Romantic poets; most
importantly,it idealizes and elevates the common man.
Samuel Johnson makes the following comments on Grays poetry,
“ In the character of his
Elegy( Written in a Country Churchyard)I rejoice to concur with the common reader;for by
the common sense of readers uncorrupted with literary prejudices,after all the refinements of
subtlety and the dogmatism of learning,must be finally decided all claim to poetical honours.
The Churchyard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind,and with sentiments
to which every bosom returns an echo. The four stanzas beginning‘ Yet even these bones’are
to me original:I have never seen the notions in any other place;yet he that reads them here
persuades himself that he has always felt them. ”
圆. curfew:originally rung at eight oclock as a signal for extinguishing fires;after this practice had
ceased,the word was applied to an evening bell.
猿. weary way:The phrase not only defines the daily toil of the ploughman,but points to one of
the key ideas of the whole poem—the toil which was the lot of the unremembered dead in the
churchyard,and is also,by implication,the lot of mankind as a whole.
源. tinklings:made by sheepbells
缘. rude:unlearned
远. echoing horn:hunters horn
苑. glebe:soil,turf
愿. broke:old“ strong”form of the past participle—“ broken”
怨. homely:domestic
员
园. short and simple annals:parish registers of births,christenings,marriages,and deaths
员
员. trophies:memorials
员
圆. fretted:adorned with carved or embossed work.
员
猿. provoke:in its original sense,to call forth,to challenge
员
源. rage:as often in the poetry of the eighteenth century,poetic fire.
员
缘. Hampden:John Hampden( ca. 员缘
怨
缘原员
远
源猿),one of the noblest of English Parliamentary
statesmen;a central figure of the English revolution in its earlier stages
员
远. conscious truth:truthful awareness of inward guilt
员. The poems title implies that the poem was actually written in a country churchyard,not merely
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that it is an imaginative reconstruction of such a scene. Why is this claim significant to any
interpretation of the poems meaning?
圆. How does the pastoral environment affect the narrators emotional state?
猿. The purpose of this poem is to memorialize and reflect upon the otherwise unremarkable
people. What ties still bind the living and the dead in the churchyard?What does the speaker
most regret about their passing,and what lessons does he draw from that passing?
源. An elegy is by definition about someone else,but how does the speaker fold himself into this
poem,making himself as much an object of reflection as the scene and those buried in the
cemetery?
韵凿藻燥灶贼
澡藻杂责则
蚤
灶早员
Lo!where the rosybosomed Hours,
Fair Venus train,appear,
Disclose the longexpecting flowers,
And wake the purple圆 year!
The Attic warbler猿 pours her throat,
Responsive to the cuckoos note,
The untaught harmony of spring:
While whispring pleasure as they fly,
Cool zephyrs thro the clear blue sky
Their gatherd fragrance fling.
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇愿苑
Whereer the oaks thick branches stretch
A broader,browner shade;
Whereer the rude and mossgrown beech
Oercanopies the glade,
Beside some waters rushy brink
With me the Muse shall sit,and think
( At ease reclind in rustic state)
How vain the ardour of the crowd,
How low,how little are the proud,
How indigent the great!
Still is the toiling hand of Care:
The panting herds repose:
Yet hark,how thro the peopled air
The busy murmur glows!
The insect youth are on the wing,
Eager to taste the honied spring,
And float amid the liquid源 noon:
Some lightly oer the current skim,
Some show their gailygilded trim
Quickglancing to the sun.
To Contemplations sober eye
Such is the race of man:
And they that creep,and they that fly,
Shall end where they began.
Alike the busy and the gay
But flutter through lifes little day,
In fortunes varying colours drest:
Brushed by the hand of rough Mischance,
Or chilled by age,their airy dance
They leave,in dust to rest.
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摇
英国文学简读教程
Methinks I hear in accents low
The sportive kind reply:
Poor moralist!and what art thou?
A solitary fly!
Thy joys no glittering female meets,
No hive hast thou of hoarded sweets,
No painted缘 plumage to display;
On hasty wings thy youth is flown
Thy sun is set,thy spring is gone—
We frolic,while tis May.
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇愿怨
员. First published,anonymously,in Dodsleys Collection of Poems by Several Hands,员
苑
源愿. An
early copy of this poem in Grays handwriting is entitled“ Noontide,An Ode,”and at the end
there is a note written by Gray:
“ The beginning of June 员
苑源
圆,sent to Fav. :not knowing he
“ Fav. ”
( i. e. Favonius)refers to his friend Richard West,who died on June
was then dead. ”
员,员苑
源圆.
圆. purple:not with definite reference to this special colour,but to suggest what is brilliant in
colour here
猿. Attic warbler:The nightingale was called Attic by the ancient poets,probably because of the
story that Philomela,daughter of Pandion,a king of Athens,was changed into a nightingale.
源. liquid:Gray imitates Latin poetic usage in employing“ liquid”in the sense of limpid,with the
additional suggestion of fluidity.
缘. painted:another epithet derived from classic usage to suggest the colouring of birds.
员. What are the major images in this poem?What do they represent?Comment on them.
圆. What is the rhyme pattern of each stanza?
猿. What are the themes of the poem?
V. Alexander Pope
粤灶耘泽
泽
葬赠燥灶悦则
蚤
贼
蚤
糟
蚤
泽
皂员
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
摇怨园
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Tis hard to say,if greater want of skill
Appear in writing or in judging ill;
But of the two less dangerous is the offense
To tire our patience than mislead our sense. 圆
Some few in that,but numbers err in this,
Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss;
A fool might once himself alone expose,
Now one in verse makes many more in prose.
摇Tis with our judgments as our watches,none
Go just alike,yet each believes his own.
In poets as true genius is but rare,
猿
True taste as seldom is the critics share;
Both must alike from Heavn derive their light,
These born to judge,as well as those to write.
Let such teach others who themselves excel,
And censure freely who have written well.
Authors are partial to their wit源,tis true,
But are not critics to their judgment too?
摇Yet if we look more closely,we shall find
Most have the seeds of judgment in their mind:
Nature affords at least a glimmering light;
The lines,though touched but faintly,are drawn right.
But as the slightest sketch,if justly traced,
Is by ill coloring but the more disgraced,
缘
So by false learning is good sense defaced:
Some are bewildered in the maze of schools远,
And some made coxcombs Nature meant but fools.
In search of wit these lose their common sense,
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇怨员
And then turn critics in their own defence:
Each burns alike,who can,or cannot write,
Or with a rivals,or an eunuchs spite.
All fools have still an itching to deride,
And fain would be upon the laughing side.
If Maevius苑 scribble in Apollos spite,
There are who judge still worse than he can write.
摇Some have at first for wits,then poets passed,
Turned critics next,and proved plain fools at last.
Some neither can for wits nor critics pass,
As heavy mules are neither horse nor ass.
Those halflearnd witlings,numerous in our isle,
As halfformed insects on the banks of Nile;
Unfinished things,one knows not what to call,
Their generations so equivocal愿:
To tell them怨 would a hundred tongues require,
Or one vain wits,that might a hundred tire.
摇But you who seek to give and merit fame,
And justly bear a critics noble name,
Be sure yourself and your own reach to know,
How far your genius,taste,and learning go;
Launch not beyond your depth,but be discreet,
And mark that point where sense and dulness meet.
摇Nature to all things fixed the limits fit,
And wisely curbed proud mans pretending wit.
As on the land while here the ocean gains,
In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains;
Thus in the soul while memory prevails,
The solid power of understanding fails;
Where beams of warm imagination play,
The memorys soft figures melt away.
One science员园 only will one genius fit;
So vast is art员员,so narrow human wit.
Not only bounded to peculiar arts,
摇怨圆
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But oft in those confined to single parts.
Like kings we lose the conquests gained before,
By vain ambition still员圆 to make them more;
Each might his several province well command,
Would all but stoop to what they understand.
摇First follow nature,and your judgment frame
By her just standard,which is still the same;
Unerring Nature,still divinely bright,
One clear,unchanged,and universal light,
Life,force,and beauty must to all impart,
At once the source,and end,and test of art.
Art from that fund each just supply provides,
Works without show,and without pomp presides.
In some fair body thus the informing员猿 soul
With spirits员源 feeds,with vigor fills the whole,
Each motion guides,and evry nerve sustains;
Itself unseen,but in the effects remains.
Some,to whom Heavn in wit has been profuse,
Want as much more to turn it to its use;
For wit and judgment often are at strife员缘,
Though meant each others aid,like man and wife.
Tis more to guide than spur the Muses steed,
Restrain his fury than provoke his speed;
The winged courser员远,like a generous员苑 horse,
Shows most true mettle when you check his course.
…
员. Popes An Essay on Criticism is a didactic poem in heroic couplets,begun,perhaps,as early
as 员苑
园缘,and published,anonymously,in 员
苑员
员. The poetic essay was a relatively new genre,
and the Essay itself was Popes most ambitious work to that time. It was in part an attempt on
Popes part to identify and refine his own positions as poet and critic,and his response to an
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇怨猿
ongoing critical debate which centered on the question of whether poetry should be“ natural”or
written according to predetermined“ artificial”rules inherited from the classical past.
The poem commences with a discussion of the rules of taste which ought to govern
poetry,and which enable a critic to make sound critical judgements. In it Pope comments,
too,upon the authority which ought properly to be accorded to the classical authors who dealt
with the subject;and concludes( in an apparent attempt to reconcile the opinions of the
advocates and opponents of rules)that the rules of the ancients are in fact identical with the
rules of Nature:poetry and painting,that is,like religion and morality,actually reflect natural
law. The Essay on Criticism,then,is deliberately ambiguous:Pope seems,on the one hand,
to admit that rules are necessary for the production of and criticism of poetry,but he also notes
the existence of mysterious,apparently irrational qualities —“ Nameless Graces”,identified by
terms such as“ Happiness”and“ Lucky Licence”— with which Nature is endowed,and which
permit the true poetic genius,possessed of adequate“ taste”,to appear to transcend those same
rules. The critic,of course,if he is to appreciate that genius,must possess similar gifts. True
Art,in other words,imitates Nature,and Nature tolerates and indeed encourages felicitous
irregularities which are in reality( because Nature and the physical universe are creations of
God)aspects of the divine order of things which is eternally beyond human comprehension.
Only God,the infinite intellect,the purely rational being,can appreciate the harmony of the
universe,but the intelligent and educated critic can appreciate poetic harmonies which echo
those in nature. Because his intellect and his reason are limited,however,and because his
opinions are inevitably subjective,he finds it helpful or necessary to employ rules which are
interpretations of the ancient principles of nature to guide him—though he should never be
totally dependent upon them. We should note that in An Essay on Criticism Pope is frequently
concerned with“ wit”—the word occurs once,on average,in every sixteen lines of the poem.
What does he mean by it?
Pope then proceeds to discuss the laws by which a critic should be guided—insisting,as
any good poet would,that critics exist to serve poets,not to attack them. He then provides,
by way of example,instances of critics who had erred in one fashion or another. What,in
Popes opinion( here as elsewhere in his work),is the deadliest critical sin—a sin which is
itself a reflection of a greater sin?All of his erring critics,each in their own way,betray the
same fatal flaw.
The final section of the poem discusses the moral qualities and virtues inherent in the ideal
critic,who is also the ideal man—and who,Pope laments,no longer exists in the degenerate
world of the early eighteenth century.
圆. Lines 员原源mean that it is as great a fault to judge ill,as to write ill,and a more dangerous one
摇怨源
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to the public.
猿. Lines 员员原员圆mean that a true taste is as rare to be found,as a true genius.
源. wit:used in the poem in a great variety of meanings:
(员)here it seems to mean genius or
fancy,
(圆)in line 猿
远a man of fancy,
(猿)in line 缘
猿the understanding or powers of the mind,
(源)in line 愿员judgment
缘. Lines 圆猿原圆缘mean that most men are born with some taste,but spoiled by false education.
远. schools:different systems of doctrine or philosophy as taught by particular teachers
苑. Maevius:a minor poet of the Augustan age,ridiculed by Virgil in his third Eclogue and by
Horace in his tenth Epode
愿. equivocal:a technical term for spontaneous generation
怨. tell them:to count them
员
园. one science:one branch of knowledge
员
员. art:scholarship,learning,science
员
圆. still:always
员
猿. informing:moulding or animating
员
源. spirits:Renaissance physiology taught that subtle substances of three sorts( natural,animal,
and vital)permeated the blood and other organs.
员
缘. In lines 愿
园原愿圆there is a slight inaccuracy or inconsistency,since“ wit”has a different
meaning in the two lines:in line 愿
园,it means fancy,in line 愿员,judgment.
员
远. winged courser:Pegasus,Bellerophons winged horse,associated with the Muses and poetic
inspiration
员
苑. generous:thoroughbred
员.“ That tis as great a fault to judge ill,as to write ill,and a more dangerous one to the public”
is the introduction Pope writes for the first 愿lines. What does he mean by placing the critic and
writer with equal importance?
圆. How does Pope compare and contrast the role of a good critic and that of a good writer in lines
怨原员
愿?
猿. Why does Pope say that most men are born with some taste,but spoiled by false education in
lines 员怨原圆
缘?What does he mean by education?Do we still have this problem today?
源. How many types of critics has Pope summarized in this part from lines 圆
远原源
缘?What are the
causes he gives?
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇怨缘
缘. What are the limits of a critic,according to Pope in lines 源
远原远
苑?Read lines 缘
圆,缘
猿,远
园,and
远
员carefully and try to analyze the authors repetitious use of“ fit”and“ wit”. What effect
does he want to achieve?
远. What central ideas are expressed in lines 远
愿原愿苑?What does Pope mean by“ Nature”?What is
the role of nature in shaping and regulating the criteria of a critic?
VI. Richard Bringsley Sheridan
员
栽澡藻杂糟
澡燥燥造枣
燥则杂糟
葬灶凿葬
造
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
[ 粤糟
贼源]
[ 杂糟
藻
灶藻陨
陨
陨
]
A Library in JOSEPH SURFACES House
Enter JOSEPH SURFACE and SERVANT
Jos. Surf. No letter from Lady Teazle?
Ser. No,sir.
Jos. Surf.[ Aside郾]I am surprised she has not sent圆,if she is prevented from coming. Sir Peter
certainly does not suspect me. Yet I wish I may not lose the heiress猿,through the scrape I
have drawn myself into with the wife;however,Charles imprudence and bad character are
great points in my favour源.[ Knocking without. ]
Ser. Sir,I believe that must be Lady Teazle.
Jos. Surf. Hold缘!See whether it is or not,before you go to the door:I have a particular message
for you if it should be my brother.
Ser. Tis her ladyship,sir;she always leaves her chair at the milliners in the next street.
Jos. Surf. Stay, stay; draw that screen before the window—that will do; —my opposite
neighbour is a maiden lady of so curious a temper—[ SERVANT draws the screen,and
exit郾]I have a difficult hand to play in this affair. Lady Teazle has lately suspected my
views on Maria;but she must by no means be let into that secret,—at least,till I have her
more in my power.
Enter LADY TEAZLE
Lady Teaz. What sentiment in soliloquy远 now!Have you been very impatient?O Lud苑!dont
pretend to look grave. I vow I couldnt come before.
摇怨远
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Jos. Surf. O madam,punctuality is a species of constancy very unfashionable in a lady of
quality.[ Places chairs,and sits after LADY TEAZLE is seated. ]
Lady Teaz. Upon my word,you ought to pity me. Do you know Sir Peter is grown so illnatured
to me of late,and so jealous of Charles toothats the best of the story,isnt it?
Jos. Surf. I am glad my scandalous friends keep that up愿.[ Aside郾]
Lady Teaz. I am sure I wish he would let Maria marry him,and then perhaps he怨 would be
convinced;dont you,Mr. Surface?
Jos. Surf.[Aside郾]Indeed I do not. —[ Aloud. ]Oh,certainly I do!for then my dear Lady
Teazle would also be convinced how wrong her suspicions were of my having any design on
the silly girl.
Lady Teaz. Well,well,Im inclined to believe you. But isnt it provoking,to have the most ill
natured things said of one?And theres my friend Lady Sneerwell has circulated I dont know
how many scandalous tales of me,and all without any foundation too;thats what vexes me.
Jos. Surf. Ay,madam,to be sure,that is the provoking circumstance—without foundation;yes,
yes,theres the mortification,indeed;for when a scandalous story is believed against one,
there certainly is no comfort like the consciousness of having deserved it.
Lady Teaz. No,to be sure,then Id forgive their malice;but to attack me,who am really so
innocent,and who never say an illnatured thing of any body—that is,of any friend;and
then Sir Peter,too,to have him so peevish,and so suspicious,when I know the integrity of
my own heart—indeed tis monstrous!
Jos. Surf. But,my dear Lady Teazle,tis your own fault if you suffer it. When a husband
entertains a groundless suspicion of his wife,and withdraws his confidence from her,the
original compact is broken,and she owes it to the honour of her sex to endeavour to outwit
him.
Lady Teaz. Indeed!So that,if he suspects me without cause,it follows,that the best way of
curing his jealousy is to give him reason fort?
Jos. Surf. Undoubtedlyfor your husband should never be deceived in you:and in that case it
becomes you to be frail in compliment to his discernment员园.
Lady Teaz. To be sure,what you say is very reasonable,and when the consciousness of my
innocence—
Jos. Surf. Ah,my dear madam,there is the great mistake!tis this very conscious innocence that
is of the greatest prejudice to you. What is it makes you negligent of forms,and careless of
the worlds opinion?why,the consciousness of your own innocence. What makes you
thoughtless in your conduct,and apt to run into a thousand little imprudences?why,the
consciousness of your own innocence. What makes you impatient of Sir Peters temper,and
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇怨苑
outrageous at his suspicions?why,the consciousness of your innocence.
Lady Teaz. Tis very true!
Jos. Surf. Now,my dear Lady Teazle,if you would but once make a trifling faux pas,you cant
conceive how cautious you would grow,and how ready to humour and agree with your
husband.
Lady Teaz. Do you think so?
Jos. Surf. Oh,I am sure ont;and then you would find all scandal would cease at once,forin
short,your character at present is like a person in a plethora员员,absolutely dying from too
much health.
Lady Teaz. So,so;then I perceive your prescription is,that I must sin in my own defence,and
part with my virtue to preserve my reputation?
Jos. Surf. Exactly so,upon my credit,maam.
Lady Teaz. Well,certainly this is the oddest doctrine,and the newest receipt员圆 for avoiding
calumny!
Jos. Surf. An infallible one,believe me. Prudence,like experience,must be paid for
Lady Teaz. Why,if my understanding were once convinced—
Jos. Surf. Oh,certainly,madam,your understanding should be convinced. Yes,yes—Heaven
forbid I should persuade you to do any thing you thought wrong. No,no,I have too much
honour to desire it.
Lady Teaz. Dont you think we may as well leave honour out of the argument?
[ Rises. ]
Jos. Surf. Ah,the ill effects of your country education,I see,still remain with you.
Lady Teaz. I doubt they do indeed;and I will fairly own to you,that if I could be persuaded to
do wrong,it would be by Sir Peters ill usage sooner than your honourable logic,after all.
Jos. Surf. Then,by this hand,which he is unworthy of—[ Taking her hand. ]
Reenter SERVANT
Sdeath员猿,you blockhead—what do you want?
Ser. I beg your pardon,sir,but I thought you would not choose Sir Peter to come up without
announcing him.
Jos. Surf. Sir Peter!—Oons—the devil!
Lady Teaz. Sir Peter!O Lud!Im ruined!Im ruined!
Ser. Sir,twasnt I let him in.
Lady Teaz. Oh!Im quite undone!What will become of me?Now,Mr. Logic—Oh!mercy,
sir,hes on the stairs—Ill get behind here—and if ever Im so imprudent again—[ Goes
behind the screen. ]
摇怨愿
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英国文学简读教程
Jos. Surf. Give me that book.[ Sits down. SERVANT pretends to adjust his chair. ]
Enter SIR PETER TEAZLE
Sir Pet. Ay, ever improving himself—Mr. Surface, Mr. Surface—[ Pats JOSEPH on the
shoulder. ]
Jos. Surf. Oh,my dear Sir Peter,I beg your pardon. —[ Gaping,throws away the book. ]I
have been dozing over a stupid book. Well,I am much obliged to you for this call. You
havent been here,I believe,since I fitted up this room. Books,you know,are the only
things I am a coxcomb in.
Sir Pet. Tis very neat indeed. Well,well,thats proper;and you can make even your screen a
source of knowledgehung,I perceive,with maps.
Jos. Surf. Oh,yes,I find great use in that screen.
Sir Pet. I dare say you must,certainly,when you want to find any thing in a hurry.
Jos. Surf. Ay,or to hide any thing in a hurry either.[ Aside. ]
Sir Pet. Well,I have a little private business—
Jos. Surf. You need not stay.[ To SERVANT. ]
Ser. No,sir.[ Exit. ]
Jos. Surf. Heres a chair,Sir Peter—I beg—
Sir Pet. Well,now we are alone,there is a subject,my dear friend,on which I wish to unburden
my mind to you—a point of the greatest moment to my peace;in short,my good friend,
Lady Teazles conduct of late has made me very unhappy.
Jos. Surf. Indeed!I am very sorry to hear it.
Sir Pet. Tis but too plain she has not the least regard for me;but,whats worse,I have pretty
good authority to suppose she has formed an attachment to another.
Jos. Surf. Indeed!you astonish me!
Sir Pet. Yes!and,between ourselves,I think Ive discovered the person.
Jos. Surf. How!you alarm me exceedingly.
Sir Pet. Ay,my dear friend,I knew you would sympathize with me!
Jos. Surf. Yes,believe me,Sir Peter,such a discovery would hurt me just as much as it would
you.
Sir Pet. I am convinced of it. Ah!it is a happiness to have a friend whom we can trust even with
ones family secrets. But have you no guess who I mean?
Jos. Surf. I havent the most distant idea. It cant be Sir Benjamin Backbite!
Sir Pet. Oh no!What say you to Charles?
Jos. Surf. My brother!impossible!
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇怨怨
Sir Pet. Oh,my dear friend,the goodness of your own heart misleads you. You judge of others
by yourself.
Jos. Surf. Certainly,Sir Peter,the heart that is conscious of its own integrity is ever slow to
credit anothers treachery.
Sir Pet. True;but your brother has no sentiment—you never hear him talk so.
Jos. Surf. Yet I cant but think Lady Teazle herself has too much principle.
Sir Pet. Ay;but what is principle against the flattery of a handsome,lively young fellow?
Jos. Surf. Thats very true.
Sir Pet. And then,you know,the difference of our ages makes it very improbable that she should
have any great affection for me;and if she were to be frail,and I were to make it public,
why the town would only laugh at me,the foolish old bachelor,who had married a girl.
Jos. Surf. Thats true,to be sure—they would laugh.
Sir Pet. Laugh!ay,and make ballads,and paragraphs,and the devil knows what of me.
Jos. Surf. No,you must never make it public.
Sir Pet. But then again—that the nephew of my old friend,Sir Oliver,should be the person to
attempt such a wrong,hurts me more nearly.
Jos. Surf. Ay,theres the point. When ingratitude barbs the dart of injury,the wound has double
danger in it.
Sir Pet. Ay—I,that was,in a manner,left his guardian;in whose house he had been so often
entertained;who never in my life denied him—my advice!
Jos. Surf. Oh,tis not to be credited!There may be a man capable of such baseness,to be sure;
but,for my part,till you can give me positive proofs,I cannot but doubt it. However,if it
should be proved on him,he is no longer a brother of mine—I disclaim kindred with him:
for the man who can break the laws of hospitality,and tempt the wife of his friend,deserves
to be branded as the pest of society.
Sir Pet. What a difference there is between you!What noble sentiments!
Jos. Surf. Yet I cannot suspect Lady Teazles honour.
Sir Pet. I am sure I wish to think well of her,and to remove all ground of quarrel between us.
She has lately reproached me more than once with having made no settlement on her;and,in
our last quarrel,she almost hinted that she should not break her heart if I was dead. Now,as
we seem to differ in our ideas of expense,I have resolved she shall have her own way,and
be her own mistress in that respect for the future;and,if I were to die,she will find I have
not been inattentive to her interest while living. Here,my friend,are the drafts of two
deeds,which I wish to have your opinion on. By one,she will enjoy eight hundred a year
independent while I live;and,by the other,the bulk of my fortune at my death.
摇
员园园
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英国文学简读教程
Jos. Surf. This conduct,Sir Peter,is indeed truly generous. —[ Aside. ]I wish it may not corrupt
my pupil.
Sir Pet. Yes,I am determined she shall have no cause to complain,though I would have not have
her acquainted with the latter instance of my affection yet awhile.
Jos. Surf. Nor I,if I could help it.[ Aside. ]
Sir Pet. And now,my dear friend,if you please,we will talk over the situation of your hopes
with Maria.
Jos. Surf.[ Softly. ]Oh,no,Sir Peter;another time,if you please.
Sir Pet. I am sensibly chagrined at the little progress you seem to make in her affections.
Jos. Surf. [ Softly. ]I beg you will not mention it. What are my disappointments when your
happiness is in debate!—[ Aside. ]Sdeath,I shall be ruined every way!
Sir Pet. And though you are averse to my acquainting Lady Teazle with your passion,Im sure
shes not your enemy in the affair.
Jos. Surf. Pray,Sir Peter,now oblige me. I am really too much affected by the subject we have
been speaking of to bestow a thought on my own concerns. The man who is entrusted with
his friends distresses can never—
Reenter SERVANT
摇摇Well,sir?
Ser. Your brother,sir,is speaking to a gentleman in the street,and says he knows you are
within.
Jos. Surf. Sdeath,blockhead,Im not within—Im out for the day.
Sir Pet. Stay—hold—a thought has struck me:—you shall be at home.
Jos. Surf. Well, well, let him come up. —[ Exit SERVANT. ] Hell interrupt Sir Peter,
however.[ Aside. ]
Sir Pet. Now,my good friend,oblige me,I entreat you. Before Charles comes,let me conceal
myself somewhere,then do you tax him on the point we have been talking,and his answer
may satisfy me at once.
Jos. Surf. Oh,fie,Sir Peter!would you have me join in so mean a trick?—to trepan my brother
too?
Sir Pet. Nay,you tell me you are sure he is innocent;if so you do him the greatest service by
giving him an opportunity to clear himself,and you will set my heart at rest. Come,you
shall not refuse me:
[ Going up. ]here,behind the screen will be—Hey!what the devil!
there seems to be one listener here already—Ill swear I saw a petticoat!
Jos. Surf. Ha!ha!ha!Well,this is ridiculous enough. Ill tell you,Sir Peter,though I hold a
员园员
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇
man of intrigue to be a most despicable character,yet,you know,it does not follow that one
is to be an absolute Joseph either!Harkee,tis a little French milliner,a silly rogue that
plagues me;and having some character to lose,on your coming,sir,she ran behind the
screen.
Sir Pet. Ah,Joseph!Joseph!Did I ever think that you—But,egad,she has overheard all I have
been saying of my wife.
Jos. Surf. Oh,twill never go any farther,you may depend upon it!
Sir Pet. No!then,faith,let her hear it out. —Heres a closet will do as well.
Jos. Surf. Well,go in there.
Sir Pet. Sly rogue!sly rogue!
[ Goes into the closet. ]
Jos. Surf. A narrow escape,indeed!and a curious situation Im in,to part man and wife in this
manner.
Lady Teaz.[ Peeping. ]Couldnt I steal off?
Jos. Surf. Keep close,my angel!
Sir Pet.[ Peeping. ]Joseph,tax him home.
Jos. Surf. Back,my dear friend!
Lady Teaz.[ Peeping. ]Couldnt you lock Sir Peter in?
Jos. Surf. Be still,my life!
Sir Pet.[ Peeping. ]Youre sure the little milliner wont blab?
Jos. Surf. In,in,my dear Sir Peter!—Fore Gad,I wish I had a key to the door.
Enter CHARLES SURFACE
Chas. Surf. Holla!brother,what has been the matter?Your fellow would not let me up at first.
What!have you had a Jew员源 or a wench员缘 with you?
Jos. Surf. Neither,brother,I assure you.
Chas. Surf. But what has made Sir Peter steal off?I thought he had been with you.
Jos. Surf. He was,brother;but,hearing you were coming,he did not choose to stay.
Chas. Surf. What!was the old gentleman afraid I wanted to borrow money of him?
Jos. Surf. No,sir;but I am sorry to find,Charles,you have lately given that worthy man
grounds for great uneasiness.
Chas. Surf. Yes,they tell me I do that to a great many worthy men. But how so,pray?
Jos. Surf. To be plain with you,brother,he thinks you are endeavouring to gain Lady Teazles
affections from him.
Chas. Surf. Who,I?O Lud!not I,upon my word—Ha!ha!ha!so the old fellow has found out
that he has got a young wife,has he?—or,what is worse,Lady Teazle has found out she
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英国文学简读教程
has an old husband?
Jos. Surf. This is no subject to jest on,brother. He who can laugh—
Chas. Surf. True,true,as you were going to say—then,seriously,I never had the least idea of
what you charge me with,upon my honour.
Jos. Surf. Well,it will give Sir Peter great satisfaction to hear this.[ Raising his voice. ]
Chas. Surf. To be sure,I once thought the lady seemed to have taken a fancy to me;but,upon
my soul,I never gave her the least encouragement. Besides,you know my attachment to
Maria.
Jos. Surf. But sure,brother,even if Lady Teazle had betrayed the fondest partiality for you员远—
Chas. Surf. Why,lookee Joseph,I hope I shall never deliberately do a dishonourable action,but
if a pretty woman was purposely to throw herself in my way—and that pretty woman married
to a man old enough to be her father—
Jos. Surf. Well!
Chas. Surf. Why,I believe I should be obliged to—
Jos. Surf. What?
Chas. Surf. To borrow a little of your morality,thats all. But,brother,do you know now that
you surprise me exceedingly,by naming me with Lady Teazle;for i faith,I always
understood you were her favourite.
Jos. Surf. Oh,for shame,Charles!This retort is foolish.
Chas. Surf. Nay,I swear I have seen you exchange such significant glances—
Jos. Surf. Nay,nay,sir,this is no jest.
Chas. Surf. Egad员苑,Im serious!Dont you remember one day,when I called here—
Jos. Surf. Nay,prythee员愿,Charles—
Chas. Surf. And found you together—
Jos. Surf. Zounds员怨,sir,I insist—
Chas. Surf. And another time when your servant—
Jos. Surf. Brother,brother,a word with you!—[ Aside. ]Gad,I must stop him.
Chas. Surf. Informed,I say,that—
Jos. Surf. Hush!I beg your pardon,but Sir Peter has overheard all we have been saying. I knew
you would clear yourself,or I should not have consented.
Chas. Surf. How,Sir Peter!Where is he?
Jos. Surf. Softly,there!
[ Points to the closet. ]
Chas. Surf. Oh,fore Heaven,Ill have him out. Sir Peter,come forth!
Jos. Surf. No,no—
Chas. Surf. I say,Sir Peter,come into court. —[ Pulls in SIR PETER. ] What my old
员园猿
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇
guardian!—What!turn inquisitor,and take evidence incog圆园?Oh,fie!Oh,fie!
Sir Pet. Give me your hand,Charles—I believe I have suspected;you wrongfully;but you
mustnt be angry with Joseph—twas my plan!
Chas. Surf. Indeed!
Sir Pet. But I acquit you. I promise you I dont think near so ill of you as I did:what I have
heard has given me great satisfaction.
Chas. Surf. Ah,ay,that was a joke.
Sir Pet. Yes,yes,I know his honour too well.
Chas. Surf. But you might as well have suspected him as me in this matter,for all that. Mightnt
he,Joseph?
Sir Pet. Well,well,I believe you.
Jos. Surf. Would圆员 they were both out of the room.[ Aside. ]
Sir Pet. And in future,perhaps,we may not be such strangers.
Reenter SERVANT,and whispers JOSEPH SURFACE
Ser. Lady Sneerwell is below,and says she will come up.
Jos. Surf. Lady Sneerwell!Gads life!she must not come here.[ Exit SERVANT. ]Gentlemen,
I beg pardon—I must wait on you down stairs:here is a person come on particular business.
Chas. Surf. Well,you can see him in another room. Sir Peter and I have not met a long time,
and I have something to say to him.
Jos. Surf.[ Aside. ]They must not be left together. —[ Aloud. ]Ill send Lady Sneerwell away,
and return directly. —[ Aside to SIR PETER. ]Sir Peter,not a word of the French milliner.
Sir Pet.[ Aside to JOSEPH SURFACE. ]I!not for the world!—[ Exit JOSEPH SURFACE. ]
Ah,Charles,if you associated more with your brother,one might indeed hope for your
reformation. He is a man of sentiment. Well,there is nothing in the world so noble as a man
of sentiment.
Chas. Surf. Psha!he is too moral by half圆圆;and so apprehensive of his good name,as he calls
it,that I suppose he would as soon let a priest into his house as a wench.
Sir Pet. No,no,—come,come—you wrong him. No,no!Joseph is no rake,but he is no such
saint either,in that respect. —[ Aside. ]I have a great mind to tell him—we should have
such a laugh at Joseph.
Chas. Surf. Oh,hang him!hes a very anchorite圆猿,a young hermit!
Sir Pet. Harkee圆源—you must not abuse him:he may chance to hear of it again,I promise you.
Chas. Surf. Why,you wont tell him?
Sir Pet. No—but—this way.[ Aside. ]Egad,Ill tell him—[ Aloud. ]Harkee—have you mind
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英国文学简读教程
to have a good laugh at Joseph?
Chas. Surf. I should like it of all things.
Sir Pet. Then,i faith,we will!Ill be quit with him for discovering me. He had a girl with him
when I called.[ Whispers. ]
Chas. Surf. What!Joseph?you jest.
Sir Pet. Hush!—a little French milliner—and the best of the jest is—shes in the room now.
Chas. Surf. The devil she is!
Sir Pet. Hush!I tell you.[ Points to the screen. ]
Chas. Surf. Behind the screen!Slife,lets unveil her!
Sir Pet. No,no,hes coming:—you shant,indeed!
Chas. Surf. Oh,egad,well have a peep at the little milliner!
Sir Pet. Not for the world!—Joseph will never forgive me.
Chas. Surf. Ill stand by you—
Sir Pet. Odds,here he is!
[ CHARLES SURFACE throws down the screen. ]
Reenter JOSEPH SURFACE
Chas. Surf. Lady Teazle,by all thats wonderful.
Sir Pet. Lady Teazle,by all thats damnable!
Chas. Surf. Sir Peter,this is one of the smartest French milliners I ever saw. Egad,you seem all
to have been diverting yourselves here at hide and seek,and I dont see who is out of the
secret. Shall I beg your ladyship to inform me?Not a word!—Brother,will you be pleased
to explain this matter?What!is Morality dumb too?—Sir Peter,though I found you in the
dark,perhaps you are not so now!All mute!—Well—though I can make nothing of the
affair,I suppose you perfectly understand one another;so Ill leave you to yourselves. —
[ Going. ]Brother,Im sorry to find you have given that worthy man grounds for so much
[ Exit. ]
uneasiness. —Sir Peter!theres nothing in the world so noble as a man of sentiment!
Jos. Surf. Sir Peter—notwithstanding—I confess—that appearances are against me—if you will
afford me your patience—I make no doubt—but I shall explain every thing to your
satisfaction.
Sir Pet. If you please,sir.
Jos. Surf. The fact is,sir,that Lady Teazle,knowing my pretensions圆缘 to your ward Maria—I
say,sir,Lady Teazle,being apprehensive of the jealousy of your temper—and knowing my
friendship to the family—she,sir,I say—called here—in order that—I might explain these
pretensions—but on your coming—being apprehensive—as I said—of your jealousy—she
withdrew—and this,you may depend on it,is the whole truth of the matter.
员园缘
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇
Sir Pet. A very clear account,upon my word;and I dare swear the lady will vouch for every
article of it.
Lady Teaz. For not one word of it,Sir Peter!
Sir Pet. How!dont you think it worth while to agree in the lie?
Lady Teaz. There is not one syllable of truth in what that gentleman has told you.
Sir Pet. I believe you,upon my soul,maam!
Jos. Surf.[ Aside to LADY TEAZLE. ]Sdeath,madam,will you betray me?
Lady Teaz. Good Mr. Hypocrite,by your leave,Ill speak for myself.
Sir Pet. Ay,let her alone,sir;youll find shell make out a better story than you,without
prompting.
Lady Teaz. Hear me,Sir Peter!—I came here on no matter relating to your ward,and even
ignorant of this gentlemans pretensions to her. But I came,seduced by his insidious
arguments,at least to listen to his pretended passion,if not to sacrifice your honour to his
baseness.
Sir Pet. Now,I believe thee truth is coming,indeed!
Jos. Surf. The womans mad!
Lady Teaz. No,sir;she has recovered her senses and your own arts have furnished her with the
means. —Sir Peter,I do not expect you to credit me—but the tenderness you expressed for
me,when I am sure you could not think I was a witness to it,has so penetrated to my heart,
that had I left the place without the shame of this discovery,my future life should have
spoken the sincerity of my gratitude. As for that smooth—tongued hypocrite,who would
have seduced the wife of his too credulous friend,while he affected honourable addresses to
his war—I behold him now in a light so truly despicable,that I shall never again respect
myself for having listened to him.[ Exit. ]
Jos. Surf. Notwithstanding all this,Sir Peter,Heaven knows—
Sir Pet. That you are a villain!and so I leave you to your conscience.
Jos. Surf. You are too rash,Sir Peter;you shall hear me. The man who shuts out conviction by
refusing to—
Sir Pet. Oh,damn your sentiments!
[ Exeunt Sir Peter and Joseph Surface,talking. ]
员. Richard Brinsley Sheridans The School for Scandal is a comedy of manners,satirizing the
social values,virtues,and vices of its time. Brothers Joseph and Charles Surface,and their
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英国文学简读教程
cousin Maria,are orphans in the care of their uncle,Sir Peter Teazle. Both brothers wish to
marry Maria. Lady Sneerwell,a malicious gossip and founder of The School for Scandal,
wants to marry Charles and spreads false rumours about an affair between Charles and Lady
Teazle in an attempt to make Maria reject Charles. Meanwhile,Joseph is attempting to seduce
Lady Teazle. The brothers have a rich uncle,Sir Oliver,whom they have not seen in sixteen
years,and who visits them both incognito to test their characters before deciding which of them
shall inherit his fortune. He finds that Joseph is a sanctimonious hypocrite,and that Charles is
a generous libertine,and prefers Charles. In a farcical scene involving characters hiding behind
furniture,Sir Peter learns of the plotting between Joseph and Lady Sneerwell,that the rumours
about Charles and Lady Teazle are false,and that his wife is merely a victim of Josephs
flattery. He is therefore reconciled with his wife,and decides that Charles deserves to marry
Maria. Lady Teazle,who has had a narrow escape from ruin,delivers an epilogue warning of
the dangers of scandalmaking. The play is a brilliant exposition of the superimposed character
which an idle,overcivilised society develops. It shows not only how Sheridan uses a farcical
plot to portray the peculiar graces which elite society admired and the peculiar ineptitudes
which it despised,but also how he puts on the stage,in his own pregnant way,the psychology
of the overtrained world of fashion.
圆. sent:sent a message
猿. heiress:referring to Maria
源. great points in my favour:to my great advantage
缘. hold:wait;just a minute
远. what sentiment in soliloquy:how full of passion( you look)in soliloquy
苑. O Lud:O Lord
愿. keep that up:spread the scandal( that Charles is in love with Lady Teazle)
怨. he:here referring to Sir Peter Teazle
员
园. 郾
郾郾it becomes you to be frail in compliment to his discernment:it is justifiable for you to be
unchaste in order to punish him for his misjudging you.
员
员. plethora:excessive fullness of blood
员
圆. receipt:recipe,prescription
员
猿. Sdeath:Hell!
员
源. Jew:moneylender
员
缘. wench:woman,prostitute
员
远. betrayed the fondest partiality for you:displayed strong affection for you
员
苑. Egad:Oh,God.
员
愿. prythee:please
员园苑
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇
员
怨. Zounds:an expletive that expresses anger or amazement
圆
园. incog:incognito,hidden identity
圆
员. would:I wish.
圆
圆. too moral by half:paying too much attention to morality in a way that displeases people
圆
猿. anchorite:a person who lives alone and avoids company
圆
源. Harkee:Hark thee;Listen;Listen to me.
圆
缘. pretensions:affection,sentiment
员. What are the major features of a comedy of manners?Try to locate some examples in this
excerpt to reveal such features.
圆. Which characters in the play do you think are most vividly portrayed?Illustrate your point.
猿. Make a list of all the names in this scene and connect their words and behaviour with their
names so as to see what characteristics you can draw by such comparisons.
源. Compare the women characters in the play with other women characters in the previous novels
or plays. What are the differences between them?
VII. Samuel Johnson
蕴藻
贼
贼
藻
则贼
燥贼
澡藻砸蚤
早澡贼匀燥灶燥
怎则
葬遭造
藻贼
澡藻耘葬则
造燥枣悦澡藻
泽
贼
藻
则
枣
蚤
藻
造
凿员
My Lord,
February 苑,员
苑
缘缘
I have been lately informed by the Proprietor圆 of The World that two Papers in which my
Dictionary is recommended to the Public were written by your Lordship. To be so distinguished is
an honour which,being very little accustomed to favours from the Great,I know not well how to
receive,or in what terms猿 to acknowledge.
When upon some slight encouragement I first visited your Lordship I was overpowered like
the rest of Mankind by the enchantment of your address,and could not forbear to wish that I might
boast myself Le Vainqueur du Vainqueur de la Terre源,that I might obtain that regard for which I
saw the world contending缘,but I found my attendance so little encouraged,that neither pride nor
modesty would suffer远 me to continue it. When I had once addressed your Lordship in public,I
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英国文学简读教程
had exhausted all the Art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly Scholar can possess. I had done
all that I could,and no Man is well pleased to have his all neglected,be it ever so little苑.
Seven years,My lord have now past since I waited in your outward Rooms or was repulsed愿
from your Door,during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties of which
it is useless to complain,and have brought it at last to the verge of Publication without one Act of
assistance,one word of encouragement,or one smile of favour. Such treatment I did not expect,
for I never had a Patron before.
The Shepherd in Virgil怨 grew at last acquainted with Love,and found him a Native of the
Rocks. Is not a Patron,My Lord,one who looks with unconcern on a Man struggling for Life in
the water and when he has reached ground encumbers him with help. The notice which you have
been pleased to take of my Labours,had it been early,had been kind;but it has been delayed till
I am indifferent and cannot enjoy it,till I am solitary and cannot impart it,till I am known and do
not want it.
I hope it is no very cynical asperity员园 not to confess obligations where no benefit has been
received,or to be unwilling that the Public should consider me as owing that to a Patron,which
Providence has enabled me to do for myself.
Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favourer of Learning I
shall not be disappointed though I should conclude it,if less be possible,with less员员,for I have
been long wakened from that Dream of hope,in which I once boasted myself with so much
exultation,My lord,Your Lordships Most humble,most obedient Servant,
S. J.
员. This letter is addressed to Philip Dormer Stanhope,源th earl of Chesterfield(员
远
怨源原员
苑苑
猿),an
English statesman and author of Samuel Johnsons contemporary. In 员
苑
源苑,when Johnson
began his work on An Dictionary of the English Language,the Earl of Chesterfield had
expressed his willingness that he could be his patron,but when Johnson came to him for
concrete help,Chesterfield neglected him to the point of ignoring him. Johnson was insulted
and furious. In 员苑
缘缘,when Johnsons Dictionary was published and acclaimed,Chesterfield
openly recommended it,hoping to get some credit for it as Johnsons patron. Johnson at once
wrote this famous letter,openly denying Chesterfields patronage,and attacking him outright
for his behaviour. Note,however,that the attack is made in a circumlocutious way. The letter
员园怨
Chapter 3 The Age of Enlightenment 摇 摇
is written in a refined and very polite language,with a bitter undertone of defiance and anger.
The seemingly peaceful retrospection,reasoning and questioning express,to the best satiric
effect,the authors strong indignation at the lords famefishing and his firm resolution not to
be reconciled to the hypocritical lord. It expresses explicitly the authors assertion of his
independence,signifying the opening of a new era in the development of literature in England
and Britain.
圆. proprietor:owner
猿. terms:language,a particular way of expression
源. Le Vainqueur du Vainqueur de la Terre(French):the Conqueror of the Conqueror of the Earth
缘. contending:competing for
远. suffer:allow,permit
苑. be it ever so little:even if it should be so little
愿. repulsed:rejected
怨. Virgil(苑园原员
怨B. C. ):the greatest poet of ancient Rome
员
园. asperity:roughness of manner or temper
员
员. if less be possible,with less:
( I would like to carry on my work)with less obligations
( help)if less( help)is possible,i. e. I no longer need anybodys help
员. Why did Johnson write this letter?What had he been doing in the past 愿years?And what had
the Earl of Chesterfield done?
圆. This letter is a fine example of using rhetoric devices very effectively. What devices does
Johnson use?
猿. What type of person is Johnson as manifested in this letter?
源. What was the“ patronage”system in English history?
Chapter 4
The Romantic Period
I. An Outline of the Literature of This Period
蕴蚤
贼
藻
则
葬则
赠栽藻
则
皂泽
月则
蚤
藻
枣阅藻
泽
糟
则
蚤
责贼
蚤
燥
灶
(员) In the mid员愿th century, a new literary movement called
砸燥皂葬灶贼
蚤
糟
蚤
泽
皂 came to Europe and then to England.
(圆)It was characterized by a strong protest against the bondage of
neoclassicism, which emphasized reason, order and elegant wit.
Instead,romanticism gave primary concern to passion,emotion,and
natural beauty.
(猿)In the history of literature,romanticism is generally regarded as
Romanticism
( 浪漫主义)
the thought that designates a literary and philosophical theory that tends
to see the individual as the very center of all life and all experience.
(源)Romantic literature is characterized by such qualities as a deep
love of nature,an indulgence in the self and and the individual,and a
overwhelming interest in the supernatural, the mysterious and the
gothic.
(缘)The English Romantic Period is an age of poetry. Major romantic
poets include Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and
Keats. Romanticism prevailed in England from 员苑
怨
愿to 员
愿猿
苑.
(员) 蕴赠
则
蚤
糟is a short poem that expresses the poets thoughts and
Lyric
( 抒情诗)
emotion or illustrates some life principle.
(圆)Lyric often concerns love. A Red,Red Rose is Robert Burns
wellknown lyric.
员员员
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
(员)月赠
则
燥
灶蚤
糟匀藻
则
燥refers to a proud,mysterious rebel figure of noble
origin.
(圆)With immense superiority in his passions and powers,this Byronic
Byronic Hero
( 拜伦式英雄)
hero would carry on his shoulders the burden of righting all the wrongs
in a corrupt society,and would rise singlehandedly against any kind of
tyrannical rules either in government, in religion, or in moral
principles with unconquerable wills and inexhaustible energies.
(猿)Byrons chief contribution to English literature is his creation of
the“ Byronic hero”.
则
扎
葬砸蚤
皂葬is an Italian verse that consists of a series of three
(员)栽藻
Terza Rima
( 三行诗)
line stanzas in which the middle line of each stanza rhymes with the
first and third lines of the following stanza with the rhyming scheme a b
a,b c b,c d c,d e d,etc.
(圆)Shelleys Ode to the West Wind is a case in point.
Ottava Rima
( 八行诗)
Canto
( 诗章)
Gothic Novel
( 歌特式小说)
韵贼
贼
葬
增葬砸蚤
皂葬is a form of eightline iambic stanza rhyming abababcc.
Byrons Don Juan and William Butler Yeats Sailing to Byzantium are
outstanding examples.
(员)悦葬灶贼
燥is a section of division of a long poem.
(圆) The most famous cantos in literature are those that make up
源thcentury epic. In English poetry,
Dantes Divine Comedy, a 员
Alexander Popes The Rape of the Lock and Byrons Don Juan are
divided into cantos.
(员)郧燥
贼
澡蚤
糟晕燥增
藻
造is a type of romance very popular late in the 员
愿th
怨th century.
century and at the beginning of the 员
(圆)Gothic novel is a kind of story of mystery and horror set in lonely
places. It concerns things which are grotesque,violent,mysterious,
supernatural,desolate and horrifying.
(猿)Gothic,originally in the sense“ medieval,not classical,”was
applied by Horace Walpole to his novel The Castle of Otranto,A
苑远
缘.
Gothic Story,published in 员
(源)With its descriptions of the dark,irrational side of human nature,
Gothic novel has exerted a great influence over the writers of the Romantic
period. Works like The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe and
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley are typical Gothic romance.
摇
员员圆
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英国文学简读教程
High Comedy
( 正统喜剧)
匀蚤
早
澡悦燥
皂藻
凿赠is a comedy that deals with polite society and depends
more on witty dialogues and welldrawn characters than on comic
situations.
(员)韵凿藻is a dignified and elaborately structured lyric poem of some
Ode
( 颂歌)
length, praising and glorifying an individual, commemorating an
event,or describing nature intellectually rather than emotionally.
(圆)John Keats wrote great odes. His Ode on a Grecian Urn is a case
in point.
In English literature 蕴葬噪藻孕燥藻
贼
泽refer to such romantic poets as William
Lake Poets
Wordsworth,Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey who lived
( 湖畔派诗人)
in the Lake District. They came to be known as the Lake School or
“ Lakers”.
晕葬皂藻燥枣贼
澡藻宰则
蚤
贼
藻
则
宰燥
则
噪泽
William Blake
(员苑缘
苑原员愿
圆苑)
( 威廉・布莱克)
(员)He is one of major
English Romantic poets
in the 员
怨
th century.
( 圆) The distinctive
feature of his poetry
Songs of Innocence is a lovely volume of
Songs of Innocence
《 天真之歌》
wide range.
nocence and Songs of
《 经验之歌》
tral to Blakes concern
in these two volumes
of poems.
Songs of Experience presents a different
world, a world of misery, poverty,
Poetical Sketches
《 素描诗集》
The Tyger
《 老虎》
disease, war and repression with a
melancholy tone.
The Tyger is also a famous poem by
Blake. Lamb in the poem is a symbol of
peace and purity whereas tyger a symbol
The French Revolution
《 法国革命》
Experience.
(源)Childhood is cen
world,though not without its evils and
sufferings.
his two volumes of
poems:Songs of In
poems,presenting a happy and innocent
Songs of Experience
is the symbolism in
(猿)He is famous for
月则
蚤
藻
枣阅藻
泽
糟
则
蚤
责贼
蚤
燥
灶
The Marriage of Heaven
and Hell
《 天堂与地狱的合婚》
of dread and violence.
员员猿
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
(员)A Red,Red Rose is one of Robert
Robert Burns
(员苑缘
怨原员苑
怨远)
( 罗伯特・彭斯)
(员)He is the greatest
Scottish poet in the
late 员愿th century.
(圆)In his poetry he
glorifies
a
natural
man— a healthy,joy
Burns wellknown love songs.
Milton
《 弥尔顿》
The
poem is marked by its rhythmic simplicity
and strong passion for love.
(圆)The most famous lines are:
“ And I
America
《 美国》
will luve thee still,my dear,Till a the
seas gang dry”and“ Till a the seas gang
dry,my dear,And the rocks melt wi the
A Red,Red Rose
《 一朵红红的玫瑰》
sun”.
ous and clever Scotch
peasant.
(猿)He wrote in Scott
My Hearts in the Highland
《 我的心在高原》
ish dialect,drawing his
inspiration
treasury
from
of
the
Scottish
Auld Lang Syne
《 友谊地久天长》
folklore.
(源)His poetry is rich
in such qualities as
The Tree of Liberty
《 自由树》
love, humor, pathos
and love of nature. All
these qualities suggest
Scots Wha Hae
《 苏格兰人》
the coming of English
Romanticism.
William Wordsworth
(员苑苑
园原员愿
缘园)
Lyrical Ballads
Lyrical Ballads is generally regarded as the
《 抒情歌谣集》
symbol of the beginning of the Romantic
( 威廉・华兹华斯)
period in England.
I Wandered Lonely
(员)He is the leading
as a Cloud
(员) I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is
figure of the English
《 湖滨独步如云烟》
perhaps the most anthologized poem in
Romantic poetry,and
English literature,and one that takes us
he is regarded as a
Composed upon
to the core of Wordsworths poetic
“worshipper of nature”
.
Westminster Bridge
beliefs. The poem is also called The
《 写于威斯敏斯特桥上》
Daffodils.
摇
员员源
摇
英国文学简读教程
( 圆) His Lyrical Bal
lads,written with Cole
ridge,marked the be
ginning of Romantic
ism in English poetry.
(猿)He defined poetry
as “ the spontaneous
overflow of powerful
feelings, which origi
nates in emotion re
collected in tranquili
ty. ”
( 源) He changed the
course of English poet
ry by using ordinary
speech
of
the
lan
guage.
( 缘) He was one of
“ Lake Poets”.
Lucy Poems
《 露茜组诗》
The Solitary Reaper
《 孤独的收割者》
My Heart Leaps Up
《 我心荡漾》
To a Highland Girl
《 高原女孩》
To the Cuckoo
《 致布谷鸟》
She Dwelt Among the
Untrodden Ways
《她居住在人迹罕至的地方》
The Prelude
《 序曲》
(员苑苑
圆原员愿
猿源)
(员)He is one of the
major Romantic poets
in
the
England.
员怨thcentury
( 圆) His actual a
chievement as poet can
be divided into two
man beings in their diverse circumstances.
It is nature that gives him“ strength and
knowledge full of peace. ”
(猿)The poet thinks that it is a bliss to
recollect the beauty of nature in his mind
while he is in solitude.
Composed upon
Westminster Bridge
describes a vivid picture of a beautiful
morning in London.
(员)The Solitary Reaper shows that the
girls singing deeply moved the traveler
and kept lingering in his heart.
( 圆) The poem conveys the poets
admiration and deep sympathy for the
country girl.
She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways
is one of his famous“ Lucy poems”,in
which the lover tells that she( his lover)
lived unknown and died unknown.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner tells an
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(塞・特・柯勒律治)
(圆)To Wordsworth,nature embodies hu
The Rime of the
adventurous story of a sailor,who killed
Ancient Mariner
an albatross,suffered from his sin and
《 老水手之行》
repented what he did and was finally
saved.
Christabel
《 克里斯塔贝尔》
Christabel tells an old tale of a serpent
disguised as a beautiful lady to victimize
Kubla Khan
an innocent maiden.
《 忽必烈汗》
Kubla Khan was composed in a dream
员员缘
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
remarkably
diverse
groups: the demonic
and the conversational.
(猿) He and Words
The Fall of the Bastille
worth composed Lyri
《 巴士底狱的倒塌》
cal Ballads.
( 源) He is one of
These three poems belong to the demonic
“ Lake Poets”.
group.
(员)Don Juan is Byrons masterpiece,a
George Gordon Byron
(员苑愿
愿原员愿
圆源)
( 乔治・戈登・拜伦)
great comic epic of the early 员
怨th
Childe Harolds Pilgrimage
He is a leading Roman 《 恰尔德・哈罗德游记》
tic poet whose chief
contribution is his crea
Don Juan
tion of the “ Byronic
《 唐璜》
ble origin.
century.
(圆)It is a poem based on a traditional
Spanish legend of a great lover and
seducer of women.
(猿) Traditionally
speaking, Juan
is
immoral,but Byron deems Don Juan as
hero”,a proud,myste
rious rebel figure of no
after the poet took the opium. The poet
was reading about Kubla Klan when he
fell asleep. When he awoke,he wrote
down the images of the river, of the
magnificent palace and a girl playing a
dulcimer and singing.
Cain
《 该隐》
the most moral because Byron places in
Juan the moral positives like courage,
generosity
Song for the Luddites
《 为路德党人歌唱》
The Isles of Greece
《 哀希腊》
《 东方叙事诗》
frankness, which,
according to Byron,are virtues neglected
by modern society.
(员)Song for the Luddites shows Byrons
support of Luddites,who destroyed the
machines
Oriental Tales
and
in
their
protest
against
unemployment. He urges the workers to
stage a lifeordeath struggle against the
capitalists.
Manfred
《 曼弗雷德》
(圆) The poets great sympathy for the
workers in their struggle against the
capitalists is clearly shown.
(员)The Isles of Greece is taken from Don
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员员远
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英国文学简读教程
Juan,Canto III,which is sung by a
Greek singer at the wedding of Don Juan
and Haidee.
(圆)In the early 员怨th century,Greece
was under the rule of Turk.
contrasting the
freedom
of
By
ancient
Greece and the present enslavement,the
poet appealed to people to struggle for
national liberty and independence.
(员)A Song:Men of England is one of
Percy Bysshe Shelley
(员
苑
怨
圆原员
愿
圆
圆)
( 伯・比・雪莱)
(员)He is regarded as
Shelleys greatest political lyrics.
A Song:Men of England (圆)It is not only a war cry calling upon
all working people of England to rise up
《 致英国人之歌》
against their political oppressors, but
one of the greatest of all
English poets.
(圆)His lyrics such as
Ode to the West Wind
《 西风颂》
also an address to point out to them the
intolerable
injustice
of
economic
exploitation.
The Cloud,To a Sky
lark,Adonai and Ode
Ode to a Skylark
(猿)The poet warns the working people
to the West Wind are
《 云雀颂》
that if they should give up their
struggle,they would be digging graves
bestknown.
Prometheus Unbound
for themselves with their own hands.
《 解放了的普罗米修斯》
(员)Ode to the West Wind is Shelleys
most famous lyric.
Queen Mab
( 圆) In the poem the west wind
《 麦布女王》
symbolizes both destroyer of the old and
preserver of the new.
A Defense of Poetry
(猿) The poem is written in the terza
《 诗辩》
rima and rich in a wealth of symbolism.
( 源) The poem is also typical of a
The Necessity of Atheism structural art and metrical orchestration.
《 无神论的必然》
It describes vividly the activities of the
west wind on the earth,in the sky and
on the sea.
员员苑
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
(缘) Famous lines:“ I fall upon the
Adonais
《 阿多尼斯》
The Cenci
《 钦契》
thorns of life!I bleed!”and“ If Winter
comes,can Spring be far behind?”
(员) Prometheus Unbound is Shelleys
greatest poetic drama.
(圆)The drama celebrates mans victory
over tyranny and oppression.
John Keats
(员苑怨
缘原员愿
圆员)
( 约翰・济慈)
(员)He is one of the
major English Roman
Ode on a Grecian Urn
《 希腊古瓮颂》
Ode to a Nightingale expresses the con
Ode to a Nightingale
《 夜莺颂》
loveliness and human world of agony.
Ode to Autumn
《 秋颂》
awakened in Keats his
Ode on Melancholy
《 忧郁颂》
dormant poetic gift.
( 圆) He wrote best
odes in English litera
ture.
Ode to Psyche
《 心灵颂》
Hyperion
《 许佩里翁》
Endymion
《 安底弥翁》
Isbella
《 伊莎贝拉》
Robert Southey
(员苑苑
源原员愿
源猿)
( 罗伯特・骚塞)
He is one of “ Lake
Poets”and Poet Laureate.
Here,the nightingale symbolizes the nat
ural and ethereal world of beauty. This
ticists in the 员怨th cen
tury. Spensers poetry
trast between the happy world of natural
Joan of Arc
《 圣女贞德》
beauty reminds Keats of human miseries
in the society in which he lived. The po
em shows that Keats longs for eternal
happiness.
(员)Ode on an Grecian Urn shows the
contrast between the permanence of art
and the transience of human passion.
(圆)In the urn Keats found the timeless
beauty that has stood the test of time.
The famous line from this ode is
“ Beauty is truth,truth beauty. ”
摇
员员愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility
(员苑苑
缘原员愿
员苑)
《 理智与情感》
( 简・奥斯)
( 员) Pride and Prejudice,which was
originally drafted as First Impressions,
mainly tells of the love story between a
She was a woman novel
ist of the 员
愿thcentury,
Pride and Prejudice
《 傲慢与偏见》
century for her works
nance of reason over
and
intelligent
Elizabeth
Nonthanger Abbey
(圆)In this novel,Darcy stands for Pride
《 诺桑觉寺》
and Elizabeth represents Prejudice. In the
end false pride is humbled and prejudice
show clearly her firm
belief in the predomi
beautiful
Bennet.
though she lived main
ly in the nineteenth
rich,proud young man Darcy and the
Mansfield Park
dissolved.
《 曼斯菲尔德花园》
passion, the sense of
responsibility,
good
manners
clear
and
Emma
《 爱玛》
sighted judgment over
the Romantic tenden
cies of emotion and in
Persuasion
《 劝告》
dividuality.
Mary Shelly
Frankenstein is a Gothic novel.
(员苑怨
苑原员愿
缘员)
Frankenstein
( 玛丽・雪莱)
《 弗兰肯斯坦》
She was the wife of
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Waverley
《 威弗利》
Walter Scott
(员苑苑
员原员愿
猿圆)
( 沃尔特・司各特)
(员)He is the creator
The Black Dwarf
《 黑侏儒》
torical
chief
novel
is
contribution
English literature.
his
to
(圆) It is a novel of English subject
covering the days after the Norman
Conquest.
(猿)Ivanhoe seems to be the hero of the
and a master of the his
torical novel. His his
(员)Ivanhoe is Scotts masterpiece.
Rob Roy
《 罗伯・罗伊》
novel,but in fact he acts only as a link
between the various characters and
events in the novel.
Old Mortality
《 清教徒》
员员怨
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
(圆)His historical no
Ivanhoe
vels concern the histo
《 艾凡赫》
ry of Scotland,English
history and the history
The Lady of the Lake
of European countries.
《 湖上夫人》
Woodstock
《 皇家猎园》
摇
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摇
英国文学简读教程
II. William Blake
员
栽澡藻悦澡蚤
皂灶藻
赠杂憎藻
藻
责藻
则
( From Songs of Innocence)
When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry“ weep!weep!weep!weep!”
So your chimneys I sweep,& in soot I sleep.
Theres little Tom Dacre,who cried when his head,
That curld like a lambs back,was shavd:so I said
“ Hush,Tom!never mind it,for when your heads bare
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair. ”
And so he was quiet,& that very night,
As Tom was asleeping,he had such a sight!—
That thousand of sweepers,Dick,Joe,Ned,& Jack,
Were all of them lockd up in coffins of black.
And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he opend the coffins & set them all free;
Then down a green plain leaping,laughing,they run,
And wash in a river,and shine in the Sun.
员圆员
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
Then naked & white,all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind;
And the Angel told Tom,if hed be a good boy,
Hed have God for his father,& never want joy.
And so Tom awoke;and we rose in the dark,
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho the morning was cold,Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.
员. William Blake wrote two poems named The Chimney Sweeper separately in his Songs of
Innocence and Songs of Experience. In past centuries,people would gather stray children
( orphans and the homeless)or buy them from impoverished parents,some as young as five
and six years old,to sweep the chimney. Because of their size,they could climb inside the
narrow chimneys. The children were underfed,poorly clothed,abused and sometimes suffered
the burning of their feet along with other prodding sources to induce them to climb. A bill to
stop the practice was proposed in Londons Parliament in 员
愿员
苑,but it was defeated. Even
though a sweeping machine had been in use for some fourteen years to eliminate the need of
climbing boys,life of the children remained just the same. The latter version of The Chimney
Sweeper in his Songs of Experience illustrates the writers significant change upon what he
witnessed in his time. Both poems describe the life of a little chimney sweeper. ( Small
children were hired to do the job because their body was little enough to get into the chimney
and sweep from inside. )But the two poems end in totally different tones. The one in Songs of
Innocence promises a bright future,whereas William Bake utters the deep sympathy with those
little sweepers and his complete disappointment with the British Government and the Church in
Songs of Experience. The child here stands for the poets dissatisfaction with society and his
belief in the power of uncorrupted feeling and imagination. In Songs of Innocence,the boy in
The Chimney Sweeper sees his situation through the eyes of innocence and does not understand
the social injustice. In Songs of Experience,the boy in the poem sees the injustice and speaks
against the establishments that left him where he is. Different aspects of one poem illuminate
摇
员圆圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
opposing aspects of the other poem. Ideas addressed in Innocence contrast the different views
of Experience,as Experience does for Innocence,emphasizing the need for a balance of the
two. The fact that these poems can influence the readers interpretation of one another confirms
Blakes notion that neither innocence nor experience is a correct view and that one completes
the other.
However,in Songs of Experience,many of the ideas are more realistic in some ways.
The chimney sweeper understands that he has been placed in a situation where he is isolated
from society and will almost certainly die young because of the hazards of his profession.
Some related institutions could have used their power to improve life for the chimney
sweepers,but they have made little if any effort to do so. The understanding that this
particular sweeper emphasizes the naiveté of the speaker in The Chimney Sweeper of Songs of
Innocence,who believes that everything will be fine if he is obedient even though his
obedience will eventually cost him his own life. Through the images of childhood, he
dramatizes the conflict between nature and social order,between natural innocence and the
pressures of social experience.
员. Can you characterize the boy who speaks in the poem in your own words?
圆. How do the meanings of the poet and the speaker differ in lines 猿,苑,愿,and 圆源of this poem?
员
栽澡藻悦澡蚤
皂灶藻
赠杂憎藻
藻
责藻
则
( From Songs of Experience)
员圆猿
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
A little black thing among the snow,
Crying“ weep,weep,”in notes of woe!
“ Where are thy father & mother?say?”
“ They are both gone up to the church to pray. ”
“ Because I was happy upon the heath,
And smild among the winters snow;
They clothed me in the clothes of death圆,
And tought me to sing the notes of woe. ”
“ And because I am happy,and dance and sing猿,
They think they have done me no injury,
And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King,
Who make up a heaven of our misery源. ”
员. In Songs of Experience,what we see is Blakes sharp criticism of both the British Government
and the Church. Strong anger dominates this collection. From these songs,we hear Blakes
disappointed voice,expressing his disillusionment with the possibility of human perfection.
The sound“ sweep,sweep”is very like“ weep,weep”.
圆. in the clothes of death:in black color. The work of the chimney sweeper was extremely
dangerous. Many of them fell down from the chimney and many others were choked to death
by the soot in the chimney. So“ the clothes of death”also means their dangerous work.
猿. because I am happy and dance and sing:It was the custom of the time that the chimney
sweepers danced and sang in the streets on May Day festivals to get alms from the rich.
源. Who make up a heaven of our misery:Who make a heaven out of our misery. Who live as if
they were in heaven out of our misery.
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员圆源
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. What makes the little black chimney sweeper cry“ in notes of woe”?
圆. What social evils are exposed and attacked by the poet?Compare the above two chimney poems
and explain why it is included in Songs of Innocence,while the other,in Songs of Experience.
猿. What does the poet intend to show in the line“ because I am happy and dance and sing”?
源. How to elaborate the meaning of“ Who make up a heaven of our misery”?
员
栽澡藻栽赠早
藻
则
( From Songs of Experience)
Tyger!Tyger!burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame圆 thy fearful symmetry猿?
In what distant deeps源 or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he缘 aspire远?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder苑,and what art愿,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart怨?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread员园 hand?and what dread feet?
员圆缘
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
What the hammer?what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil?what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And waterd heaven with their tears员员,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger!Tyger!burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
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员圆远
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. William Blake(员
苑
缘苑原员
愿
圆
苑)wrote The Tyger as part of volume II,Songs of Experience,
which is perhaps the most famous of all Blakes lyric poems. It has been an academic
controversy for over 圆
园园years as to its meaning. Whether the poem is simply a delightful lyric
for children or a political allegory of the French Revolution remains a hotbed of discussion.
Whatever the case,it remains an evocative piece by Blake as his most inspired. But most of
critics believe that the poem reflects the dark side of human life,in which evil force and great
pain become its main themes. In the poem the poet seems to question that God not only created
the innocent represented by the Lamb,but the violent symbolized by the Tyger as well. Some
people explain that the poem reflects Blakes progressive idea in that the tyger embodies
revolutionary force.
In both form and subject matter the poem closely follows his earlier work The Lamb which
was part of his Songs of Innocence collection. He alludes to this work in the fifth stanza with
the question“ Did He who made the lamb make thee?”While The Lamb lauds a noble and
gentle God,The Tyger looks at the God who created death and misery in the world. The poem
is an exploration of agnostic thought,which very much interested Blake. This is heavily
inspired by the works of John Milton, of whom Blake sometimes considered himself a
successor. The lines“ On what wings dare he aspire?/ What the hand dare seize the fire?”can
be seen as a reference to the story of Prometheus or that of Paradise Lost and prompt the
speculation that Lucifer may also have played a role in creating the universe. The lines from
the fifth stanza“ When the stars threw down their spears / And watered heaven with their tears”
are also often considered to be a reference to Paradise Lost. Critical attention has often been
drawn to “ the arrival of a Great Fiery meteor ” over London in the summer of 员
苑愿
猿,
undoubtedly interpreted by Blake as an agnostic symbol of divine presence and fertility. Blake
was one of the most noted romantic poets and like them he saw the pastoral countryside as
idyllic and viewed industrialization as a blight. The Tyger uses many images of the industrial
world:fire,hammers,anvils,and furnaces all convey an image of the“ satanic mills”of the
nineteenth century.
The Tyger was published as a part of Songs of Experience and the poem can also be seen
as dealing with the growing knowledge of the world as one ages. While The Lamb is grounded
in the pastoral settings of Blakes youth,The Tyger is set in the industrialized modernity. The
Tyger reflects that evil exists in the world and that benevolence is not omnipresent.
Some critics believe that Blake specifically chose the already archaic Englich spelling of
员圆苑
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
“ tyger”
( over the standard English“ tiger”)because that particular version of the word evoked
a more terrifying image and deeper emotional reaction from the reader.
圆. frame:construct by putting parts together
猿. fearful symmetry:The different parts of the body of the tiger are so well proportioned in shape
that the tiger arouses fear.
源. deeps:seas
缘. he:the maker of the tiger
远. aspires:mounts up,rises up
苑. shoulder:referring to the strength of the maker
愿. art:skill
怨. twist the sinews of thy heart:bend the tendons of your heart
员
园. dread:dreadful,terrible. It means that what powerful hands or feet can control the tiger when
it is made.
员
员. When the stars threw down their spears / And waterd heaven with their tears:The line is
subject to different interpretations. It may refer to the fact that in the process of making the
tiger,the blacksmith waved the hammer on the redhot iron and light shot out in all directions
like the angels tears( meteors). The stars may also refer to the French aristocrats who,
defeated by the people,laid down their spears,and cried bitterly for their loss.
员. In the poem The Tyger Blake does not capitalize the word“ he”in stanza five,though he
seems to be referring to God. How do you account for this?
圆. For what purpose did he write the poem The Tyger,since Blake couldnt really say or know
who created such a thing as evil?
猿. Do you think the poem show any political inclination of the poet?
III. Robert Burns
员
粤砸藻
凿砸藻
凿砸燥
泽
藻
O my luve圆 is like a red,red rose,
Thats newly sprung in June;
O my luve is like the melodie猿,
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员圆愿
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英国文学简读教程
Thats sweetly played in tune源.
As fair缘 art thou,my bonie lass远,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still苑,my dear,
Till a the seas gang dry愿.
Till a the sea gang dry,my dear,
And the rock melt wi the sun;
And I will luve thee still,my dear,
While the sands o life shall run怨.
And fare thee weel员园,my only luve,
And fare thee weel a while员员;
And I will come again,my luve,
Tho员圆 it were ten thousand mile!
员. A Red,Red Rose is a 员苑怨
源song in Scotish by Robert Burns based on traditional sources. The
song is also referred to by the title My Love is Like A Red,Red Rose or A Red,Red Rose and
is often published as a poem. Robert Burns worked for the final ten years on projects to
preserve traditional Scottish songs for the future. In all,Burns had a hand in preserving over
猿
园
园songs for posterity,Auld Land Syne being the most famous. He worked on this project for
James Johnsons The Scots Musical Museum(员
苑
愿苑原员
愿
园猿)and for George Thomsons five
volume A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice. Burns is known as the Poet
Bard of Scotland. He often wrote in the Old Gaelic,because he loved the beauty of it.
Although it may be a bit confusing at times,it adds a timeless charm of its own to his work.
The poem is one of Robert Burns bestloved love lyrics,which is filled with a mans hearty,
generous and sincere love for his dear lass. Burns processed its once folk lyric version. After
his record of a native folk singers chant,Burns estimated the art of folk as follows:
“ Light be
the turf on the breast of the heaveninspired Poet who composed this glorious fragment!There
is more of the fire of native genius in it, than in half a dozen of modern English
Bacchanalians. ”
( Letter to Mr. Dunlop,苑th December,员
苑愿
愿)
员圆怨
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
The lyrics of the song are simple but effective. The lines“ My luves like a red,red rose /
Thats newly sprung in June”describe a love that is both fresh and long lasting. David Daiches
in his work describes Burns as“ the greatest songwriter Britain has produced”for his work in
refurbishing and improving traditional Scots songs including A Red,Red Rose which he
described as a“ combination of tenderness and swagger. ”
圆. luve:love
猿. melodie:melody
源. in tune:in harmony
缘. fair:pretty
远. bonie lass:pretty girl
苑. still:always
愿. Till a the seas gang dry:Till all the seas go dry.
怨. While the sands o life shall run:as long as I live.“Sands”refers to the sand in the sandglass,
which was used for measuring time by the running of sand that is similar to an hourglass.
员
园. fare thee weel:farewell to you
员
员. a while:a short time
员
圆. tho:though
员. What does the“ red rose”stand for?
圆. Give some reasons for the popularity of this poem.
猿. How folk heritage nourished Burns?
源. What characteristics differentiate William Black from Robert Burns?
摇
员猿园
摇
英国文学简读教程
员
酝赠匀藻
葬
则
贼
蒺
泽蚤
灶贼
澡藻匀蚤
早澡造
葬灶凿泽
My hearts in the Highlands,my heart is not here,
My hearts in the Highlands achasing圆 the deer—
Achasing the wild deer,and following the roe;
My hearts in the Highlands,wherever I go.
Farewell to the Highlands,farewell to the North
The birth place of valour猿,the country of Worth;
Wherever I wander,wherever I rove源,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.
Farewell to the mountains high coverd with snow;
Farewell to the straths缘 and green valleys below;
Farewell to the forests and wildhanging woods远;
Farewell to the torrents and loudpouring floods.
My hearts in the Highlands苑,my heart is not here,
My hearts in the Highlands achasing the deer
Chasing the wild deer,and following the roe;
My hearts in the Highlands,wherever I go.
员. In My Hearts in the Highlands,as a traveler far away from home,the poet calls to mind the
unforgettable beautiful scenery and the past happy days in the highlands. He keenly expresses
his love for his homeland,and declares that wherever he goes his heart will be forever with it.
圆. achasing:chasing( akind of prefix used before verbs)
猿. valour:bravery,esp. in war
源. rove:roam,wander
缘. straths:low grasslands along the wide valley
远. wildhanging woods:wood covering steep mountain slopes or reaching the edge of precipices
苑. Highlands:the mountainous northern part of Scotland
员猿员
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
员. What kind of feeling does the poem express?
圆. Burns use of dialect brings a stimulating,muchneeded freshness and raciness into English
poetry,but his greatness extends beyond the limits of dialect. Try to illustrate where Burns
greatness lies in.
猿. Judging by his poems,what do you think is Burns personality?
IV. William Wordsworth
陨宰葬灶凿藻
则
藻
凿蕴燥灶藻
造
赠葬泽葬悦造
燥
怎凿员
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high oer vales and hills,
When圆 all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of 猿golden daffodils;
Beside the lake,beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way源,
They stretched in neverending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly缘 dance.
摇
员猿圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
The waves beside them danced;but they
Outdid远 the sparkling waves in glee苑:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft,when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood愿,
They flash upon that inward eye怨
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
员. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,written in 员
愿园
源,describes the poets own experience based on
his recollection in tranquility. In the poem Wordsworth sings of the harmony between things in
nature and the harmony between nature and the poet himself. He also compares the appearance
of the daffodils with human behavior. The poem reflects the principles of the English
Romanticism. Firstly,Romanticism insists that good poetry is“ the spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings. ” This kind of powerful feeling does not mean an emotional outburst
contrived on the spur of the moment, but emotion recollected in tranquility, feelings
experienced in the past and contemplated later by the poet until those feelings were
imaginatively recalled. The poet wrote the poem two years after he saw the daffodils.
Secondly,the objects that excite these emotions are to be ordinary ones. In this poem,it is the
daffodil. Thirdly,the style for the poetry is simple. William Wordsworth fell in love with
nature at an early age. He learned to appreciate every little thing and to see the beauty in
simplicity. In his early childhood he was surrounded by art and literature. This may have had
an impact on his interest in writing later in life. Romanticism is all about detail,written with a
particular fervor that either brought the reader wonderful feelings or depressing ones. The
员猿猿
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
imagery was so vivid that you could see the scenes rolling out before you. His poems were
descriptive and detailed. They used beautiful imagery to evoke emotions,thoughts,and
feelings in their readers. He wanted the reader to feel what he felt. The four sixline stanzas of
this poem follow a quatraincouplet rhyme scheme:ababcc. Each line is metered in iambic
tetrameter. This simple poem,one of the loveliest and most famous in the Wordsworth canon,
revisits the familiar subjects of nature and memory,this time with a particularly spare,musical
eloquence. The plot is extremely simple,depicting the poets wandering and his discovery of a
field of daffodils by a lake,the memory of which pleases him and comforts him when he is
lonely,bored,restless,or in solitude. The characterization of the sudden occurrence of a
memory—the daffodils “ flash upon the inward eye / Which is the bliss of solitude ”—is
psychologically acute,but the poems main brilliance lies in the reverse personification of its
early stanzas. The speaker is metaphorically compared to a natural object,a cloud—“ I
wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high 郾
郾
郾”,and the daffodils are continually
personified as human beings,dancing and“ tossing their heads”in“ a crowd,a host”. This
technique implies an inherent unity between man and nature,making it one of Wordsworths
most basic and effective methods for instilling in the reader the feeling the poet so often
describes himself as experiencing.
摇摇摇The poem is Wordworths interpretation of an experience that his sister,Dorothy,had.
Dorothy Wordsworth says in her journals that the day to which the poem refers to was full of
furious winds and heavy rain,in which they tried to run away from. This running away
symbolizes mans general running away from nature. The poem by William Wordsworth
matures from this thought and contains numerous similarities that classify what we know and
distinguish today as a lyrical poem. Wordsworth absorbs his sisters experience and gains his
own:one of beauty and understanding versus his sisters running away. To him and other
lyrical poets,in order for man to grow and mature,he / she must race nature. When this balance
is gained,the poet has been successful. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is a perfect example of
what Romantic poets sought,the primacy of imagination over reason. The poem begins with the
evidence of an error,resolves the problem,and shows at the end a proof of authenticity. The
poem begins with someone wandering. The person is lost,not literally,but philosophically and
spiritually. The person has subjected himself / herself to the restrictions and classifications that
society has placed on certain ways of life. The person does not yet see nature as being anything
more than societys interpretation,and therefore,nature,is not yet a part of man.
摇摇摇 In the third line,the person sees for the first time the“ crowd”of“ golden daffodils”that
are“ beside the lake,beneath the trees”are“ fluttering and dancing in the breeze”. Before,
the metaphors of the daffodils“ fluttering and dancing”are just those—mere metaphors—but,
摇
员猿源
摇
英国文学简读教程
soon enough,through experience,they will transform into much more. The metaphors were
dead to the reader,but come alive at the end of the poem. In the second stanza,the poet
begins to see more and more as stars begin to“ shine”and“ twinkle”. The poet continues to
see—still at a glance—the stars dancing. In the third stanza,the waves also begin to dance.
The poet is now“ gay”with such“ a jocund company”. He begins to have the experience,as
he“ gazed—and gazed,but little thought”.
摇摇摇Although the poet is authentically experiencing nature,he is not yet actively involved in it.
He is drawing a blank of rationality,falling in love,and not thinking,but feeling. In the last
stanza,the poet becomes part of nature. The poets imagination now takes over when he is
outside of nature. The poet now sees the dancing flowers through his mind and heart,and his
“ heart with pleasure fills,and dances with the daffodils”. The poet is now one with nature.
The poet does not run from it,but enjoys it,even when away from it physically. He is
transformed;his mind changes,not the nature around him. He is filled with pleasure derived
from being in solitude. When in solitude and tranquility,the rational mind is stopped so that
unregulated emotion can begin. The imagination to which the speaker refers in the last stanza,
does not displace reason—it has priority over it . The presence of joy in this poem provides
basis for another important comment on Romantic literature.
摇In this poem,Wordsworths speaker has frequent feelings of joy that he attains through his
experience of nature. The presence of joy is an important part of Romantic literature,
especially Wordsworths delightful diction highlights the joy of this poem. He claims the
flowers outshine the waves in“ glee”,that they make the poet“ gay”,and that they are
“jocund company”. Even later,when he thinks in“ blissful solitude,”the flowers bring him
“ pleasure. ”Rebelling against earlier literature that reasoned away individual happiness and felt
quite depressing,Romantics felt that an idealized human existence was possible and that the
world should bring humanity great joy.
圆. when:and then,just then
猿. a host of:a large number of
源. milky way:the galaxy containing the solar system,visible as a broad band of faint light in the
night sky
缘. sprightly:lively,brisk
远. outdid:did better,surpassed
苑. glee:jubilant delight,joy
愿. in vacant or in pensive mood:in an unthinking mood or in a seriously thoughtful mood
怨. inward eye:the minds eye,the imagination,soul
员猿缘
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
员. Imagery is important in understanding the theme of this poem.
Analyze the images in this poem to see how they are used effectively.
圆. Read the poem aloud and try to grasp the emotional state the poet was in while writing this poem.
猿. Explain the implications of“ that inward eye / Which is the bliss of solitude. ”
员
悦燥皂责燥泽
藻
凿哉责燥灶宰藻
泽
贼
皂蚤
灶泽
贼
藻
则月则
蚤
凿早藻
( 杂藻
责贼
藻
皂遭藻
则猿,员
愿
园
圆)
Earth has not anything to show more fair圆:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty猿:
This City now doth,like a garment,wear
The beauty of the morning源;silent,bare缘
Ships,towers远,domes,theatres,and temples lie
Open unto the fields,and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep苑
In his first splendour valley,rock,or hill;
Neer saw I,never felt,a calm so deep愿!
The river怨 glideth员园 at his own sweet will:
Dear God!the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
摇
员猿远
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. In Upon Westminster Bridge William Wordsworth describes a touching,tranquil and vigorous
sight of a morning in London. The objects that the writer points out are static. And the
adjective words like“ silent,bare,smokeless,calm,asleep and still”express the meanings of
serenity. Besides,we can sense the vigor in the tranquil and serene morning in London. The
rising sun steeps its splendor. The river glides. And the houses seem asleep. The sun shines
upon them. The sonnet shows Wordsworth is appreciating the beauty of London and
demonstrating it as“ emotion recollected in tranquility. ”Solitude is felt in the early morning
when there is no bustle and noise. The poet is in awe at the scenic beauty of the morning sun
radiating from Londons great architectural marvels. However,there are numerous religious
connotations throughout this poem. This poem is truly a new insight into the buildings and
shape of London at the time. Wordsworth really turns the city into a romantic dreamland but
luckily doesnt just focus on the monarchy,he looks at where the real people live and do things
and he sees them as humans and not slaves.
摇The speaker reflects upon a beautiful view of the city by using such literary devices as
rhyme,personification,hyperbole,and imagery. The speaker manages to create a vision in the
readers mind that is so vivid that one can picture oneself on that very bridge. This poem is
another example of Wordsworths desire to create poetry using nature as inspiration. Earth is
personified in the first line as a being that has possessions that he can show off,for example,
its cities. The city is then personified in line four,as a person wearing a fine robe. The sixth
line contains the breathtaking imagery of a primitive skyline in a clear,morning sky. The
imagery in line eight,
“ All bright and glittering in the smokeless air”,calls to mind the image
of endless clearness and endless purity.
摇Throughout the poem Wordsworth uses his trademark references to nature,painting the
awesome picture in the readers mind. The river is personified in line twelve:
“ The River
glideth at his own sweet will”,showing relatedness in the view of the city. The houses are
asleep in line thirteen,a definite personification. The mighty heart lying still in the last line is
hyperbole as well as personification:it serves to show that in the tranquility of the city,there
cannot be a worry stirring in the heart,only peace. The speaker,here,is Wordsworths sister.
She also experienced this vision with him,and wrote about it in her journal. She wrote:
“ It
was a beautiful morning. The city,St. Pauls with the river and a multitude of little boats,
made a most beautiful sight as we crossed Westminster Bridge. The houses were not overhung
by their cloud of smoke,and they were spread out endlessly,yet the sun shone so brightly,
员猿苑
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
with such a fierce light,that there was even something like the purity of one of natures own
grand spectacles. ”This journal entry does not resemble its corresponding poem as much as the
one for I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,but there is still a lot of his sisters influence on his
work. Again,their close relationship helped him to capture her feelings in his poetry.
摇 The poem depicts a vivid scene that is yet another fond memory shared between
Wordsworth and his sister. He uses beautiful language and clever literary devices,especially
imagery,to make the city come alive before the readers eyes. The passionate picture that the
poem paints is a memory that calms and placates. Everything is of vitality. Even the mighty
heart( London)is waiting to be awakened.
圆. Earth has not anything to show more fair:Earth has not anything more fair to show.
猿. Dull would he be of soul who could pass by / A sight so touching in its majesty:He who could
pass by a sight so touching in its majesty would be of dull soul.
pass by:people passes by paying no attention to,take no notice of
dull:slow in learning
源. This City now doth like a garment wear / The beauty of the morning:The city of London does
wear the beauty of the morning like a garment.
缘. silent,bare:uncovered
远. towers:Towers of London,St. Pauls Cathedral,Westminster Abbey
苑. steep:soak,immerse
愿. Neer saw I,never felt,a calm so deep:I never saw,never felt so deep a calm.
怨. the river:the Thames River
员
园. glideth:glides,move smoothly and noiselessly
员. What does“ mighty heart”refer to?
圆. What feeling is created by the poem?
猿. Upon what central thought is this poem constructed?
员
栽澡藻杂燥
造
蚤
贼
葬
则
赠砸藻
葬
责藻
则
Behold圆 her,single in the field,
Yon猿 solitary Highland Lass!
摇
员猿愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here,or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen!for the vale profound源
Is overflowing with the sound.
No Nightingale did ever chaunt缘
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt远,
Among Arabian sands苑:
A voice so thrilling neer was heard
In springtime from the Cuckoobird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides愿.
Will no one tell me what she sings?—
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old,unhappy,faroff things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay怨,
Familiar matter of today?
Some natural sorrow,loss,or pain,
That has been,and may be again?
Whateer the theme,the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And oer the sickle bending;—
I listend,motionless and still;
And,as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.
员猿怨
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
员. The Solitary Reaper is one of the few poems not based on Wordsworths own experience.
Wordsworth believes that the function of poetry lies in its power to give an unexpected splendor
to familiar and commonplace things and “ incidents and situations from common life. ”
Ordinary peasants,children,even outcasts,all may be used as subjects in poetical creation.
The Solitary Reaper may best exemplify this theory. The picture evoked by the poem is simple
and common:a solitary highland lass reaping in the field,yet the poets rich imagination
arouses the readers profound feelings. Wordsworth makes us see that everything in life can be
possibly made poetic and what we need is a poetic heart to observe.
摇In this poem,the poet meets a solitary girl reaping in the fields,singing as she does so.
The poem focuses more on the song rather than on the girl. The poet says that the song is of a
melancholy nature and the strenth of the song is so great that it is filling up the valley and even
stays with him as he leaves the valley,a long time after he last heard it. The poet compares the
song to the song of the nightingale,soothing his sorrows and easing his weariness. It is also
compared to the song of a cuckoo bird,which is a harbinger of summer and a bringer of
happiness. The poet is unable to comprehend its meaning,but is able to gauge from its sad
tone that it is most probably related to some unhappy memory or pain that the reaper has had to
face.
摇Wordsworths preface to Lyrical Ballads argues that poetry contains a natural delineation of
human passions,human characters,and human incidents and that it ought not to be judged by
the presence of artificial,poetic diction. Rather,the language of conversation in the middle
and lower classes of society can be its medium. The Solitary Reaper exemplifies these beliefs.
Wordsworth said that the poem was suggested by a beautiful sentence in Wilkinsos Tours to
the British Mountains:
“ Passes a female who was reaping alone:she sung in Erse,as she
bended over her sickle;the sweetest human voice I ever heard:her strains were tenderly
melancholy,and I felt delicious long after they were heard no more”. Wordsworths form
consists of four stanzas,each rhymed in iambic pentameter. These eightlined stanzas also
mimic nature,in that each one represents a different season passing. Each stanza“ overflows”
seemingly into the next with a smooth,rocking style of the iambic pentameter,mimicking the
girls flowing song and the“ breaking of the silent seas. ”
摇The Solitary Reaper is by no means one of Wordsworths most complex poems. It is rather
straightforward and contains none of the philosophical themes found in some of his other
poems,such as Intimations of Immortality. However, it has a charm that is uniquely
摇
员源园
摇
英国文学简读教程
Wordsworths and is a good example of certain elements commonly found in his poetry. The
speaker watches as the girl reaps,and listens as she sings sweetly to herself,apparently
unaware of his presence. Though her song has a melancholy tone,the poet compares it to the
songs of the nightingale,and concludes that her song is by far more beautiful. The speaker is
unable to understand the meaning of her words,perhaps because he is too far away to hear
clearly,or perhaps because they are sung in some Scottish dialect unfamiliar to him. He is left
to speculate as to the meaning of her song. “ Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow / For old,
unhappy,faroff things,And battles long ago. ”The reader feels a sense of some tragedy and
sadness in her song,but tragedy far removed from the girl reaping in the field,and the man
watching her. Finally,the speaker moves on,leaving the girl alone again.
摇Wordsworth wrote this poem in 员
愿
园猿,after a trip to Scotland. The images of the beautiful
serene countryside are typical of his style,and leave the reader with a sense of peace and
tranquility.
圆. behold:see
猿. yon:yonder;over there
源. the vale profound:the profound vale
缘. chaunt:chant
远. shady haunt:oasis
苑. Arabian sands:deserts in Arabia
愿. Hebrides:a group of islands off the northwest coast of Scotland
怨. humble lay:ballad free from pretence
员. The description of solitary soul is characteristics of romantic poetry. How does the first stanza
of the second poem emphasize the solitary state of the reaper?
圆. Wordsworth and Tao Yuanming choose the same road of returning to nature. However,the
difference of their cultural backgrounds gives rise to different sense of returning. Can you find
any trace between these two sorts of hermitic life?
员源员
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
V. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
员
栽澡藻砸蚤
皂藻燥枣贼
澡藻粤灶糟
蚤
藻
灶贼酝葬则
蚤
灶藻
则
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
粤则
早
怎皂藻
灶贼
How a ship,having first sailed to the Equator,was driven by storms to the Cold Country towards
the South Pole;how the Ancient Mariner cruelly and in contempt of the laws of hospitality killed
a seabird and how he was followed by many and strange judgments;and in what manner he came
back to his own Country.
孕葬则
贼贼
澡藻云蚤
则
泽
贼
It is an ancient Mariner,And he stoppeth one of three.“ By thy long
grey beard and glittering eye,Now wherefore stoppst thou me?
“ The Bridegrooms doors are opened wide,And I am next of kin;The
guests are met,the feast is set:Mayst hear the merry din. ”
He holds him with his skinny hand,
“ There was a ship,”quoth he.
“ Hold off!unhand me,greybeard loon!”Eftsoons圆 his hand dropt he.
He holds him with his glittering eye—The WeddingGuest stood still,
And listens like a three years child:The Mariner hath his will.
The WeddingGuest sat on a stone:He cannot chuse but hear;And thus
spake on that ancient man,The brighteyed Mariner.
The ship was cheered,the harbour cleared,Merrily did we drop Below
the kirk猿,below the hill,Below the lighthouse top.
The Sun came up upon the left,Out of the sea came he!And he shone
bright,and on the right Went down into the sea.
Higher and higher every day,Till over the mast at noon源— The
WeddingGuest here beat his breast,For he heard the loud bassoon.
The bride hath paced into the hall,Red as a rose is she;Nodding their
heads before her goes The merry minstrelsy.
The WeddingGuest he beat his breast,Yet he cannot chuse but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,The brighteyed Mariner.
And now the STORMBLAST came,and he Was tyrannous and strong:
He struck with his oertaking wings,And chased south along.
摇
员源圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
With sloping masts and dipping prow,As who pursued with yell and
blow Still treads the shadow of his foe And forward bends his head,The
ship drove fast,loud roared the blast,And southward aye we fled.
And now there came both mist and snow,And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice,masthigh,came floating by,As green as emerald.
And through the drifts the snowy clifts Did send a dismal sheen:Nor
shapes of men nor beasts we ken—The ice was all between.
The ice was here,the ice was there,The ice was all around:It cracked
and growled,and roared and howled,Like noises in a swound缘!
At length did cross an Albatross:Thorough the fog it came;As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in Gods name.
It ate the food it neer had eat,And round and round it flew. The ice did
split with a thunderfit;The helmsman steered us through!
And a good south wind sprung up behind;The Albatross did follow,
And every day,for food or play,Came to the mariners hollo!
In mist or cloud,on mast or shroud远,It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night,through fogsmoke white,Glimmered the white Moonshine.
“ God save thee,ancient Mariner!From the fiends,that plague thee
thus!—Why lookst thou so?”—With my crossbow I shot the ALBATROSS.
孕葬则
贼贼
澡藻杂藻
糟
燥
灶凿
The Sun now rose upon the right苑:Out of the sea came he,Still hid愿in
mist,and on the left Went down into the sea.
And the good south wind still blew behind But no sweet bird did
follow,Nor any day for food or play Came to the mariners hollo!
And I had done an hellish thing,And it would work em woe:For all
averred,I had killed the bird That made the breeze to blow. Ah wretch怨!
said they,the bird to slay That made the breeze to blow!
Nor dim nor red,like Gods own head,The glorious Sun uprist员园:Then
all averred,I had killed the bird That brought the fog and mist. Twas员员 right,
said they,such birds to slay,That bring the fog and mist.
The fair breeze blew,the white foam flew,The furrow followed free:
We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea.
Down dropt the breeze,the sails dropt down,Twas sad as sad could be;
And we did speak only to break The silence of the sea!
员源猿
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
All in a hot and copper sky,The bloody Sun,at noon,Right up above
the mast did stand,No bigger than the Moon.
Day after day,day after day,We stuck,nor breath nor motion;As idle
as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean.
Water,water,every where,And all the boards did shrink;Water,water,
every where,Nor any drop to drink.
The very deep员圆 did rot:O Christ!That ever this should be!Yea,slimy
things did crawl with legs Upon the slimy sea.
About,about,in reel and rout The deathfires danced at night;The
water,like a witchs oils,Burnt green,and blue and white.
And some in dreams assured were Of the spirit that plagued us so:
Nine fathom deep he had followed us From the land of mist and snow.
And every tongue,through utter drought员猿,Was withered at the root;We
could not speak,no more than if We had been choked with soot.
Ah!well aday员源!what evil looks Had I from old and young!Instead of
the cross,the Albatross About my neck was hung.
员. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in Seven Parts was published in 员
苑怨
愿. It tells an adventurous
story of a sailor,who killed an albatross,suffered from his sin and repented what he did and
was finally saved. The plot of it is based on a dream of Coleridges friend Cruikshank and was
originally collaboration with Wordsworth to pay for a walking tour they would take with
苑
怨苑. Although Wordsworth dropped out later on,his
Dorothy Wordsworth in November 员
suggestions( the shooting of the Albatross and the navigation of the ship by the dead sailors)
remain. In a Latin epigraph added to the poem in its second edition,Coleridge quoted from
Thomas Burnet,
“ I readily believe that there are more invisible than visible Natures in the
universe it is helpful sometimes to contemplate in the mind,as on a tablet,the image of a
greater and better world,lest the intellect,habituated to the petty things of daily life,narrow
itself and sink wholly into trivial thoughts. ”
摇The whole poem,like many of Wordsworths,is written in a form recalling that of a
medieval ballad. In essence,it is a story of sin and penances as the mariner wanders the earth,
unable to find rest in conventional religion. Despite its framework of Catholic Christian faith
and ritual,the mariner appears to discover a series of meanings concerning the interdependency
摇
员源源
摇
英国文学简读教程
of life,not merely the consequences of breaking taboos. His route back to the place from
which he started requires suffering,but his pain is explored in the context of benevolence,and
the truths he perceives stretch beyond mere religious formulas into an affirmation of universal
harmony. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is written in loose,short ballad stanzas usually
either four or six lines long but,occasionally,as many as nine lines long. The meter is also
somewhat loose,but odd lines are generally tetrameter,while even lines are generally trimeter.
( There are exceptions:In a fiveline stanza,for instance,lines one,three,and four are likely
to have four accented syllables—tetrameter—while lines two and five have three accented
syllables. )The rhymes generally alternate in an abab or ababab scheme,though again there
are many exceptions;the nineline stanza in Part III,for instance,rhymes aabccbddb. Many
stanzas include couplets in this way—fiveline stanzas,for example,are rhymed abccb,often
with an internal rhyme in the first line,or abaab,without the internal rhyme.
摇The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is unique among Coleridges important works—unique in
its intentionally archaic language,its length,its bizarre moral narrative,its strange scholarly
notes printed in small type in the margins,its thematic ambiguity,and the long Latin epigraph
that begins it,concerning the multitude of unclassifiable“ invisible creatures”that inhabit the
world. Its peculiarities make it quite atypical of its era;it has little in common with other
Romantic works. Rather,the scholarly notes,the epigraph,and the archaic language combine
to produce the impression that the“ Rime ” is a ballad of ancient times,reprinted with
explanatory notes for a new audience. Coleridge creates tension between the ambiguous poem
and the unambiguousbutridiculous notes,exposing a gulf between the“ old”poem and the
“ new”attempt to understand it. The message would be that,though certain moral lessons from
the past are still comprehensible—“ he liveth best who loveth best”is not hard to understand—
other aspects of its narratives are less easily grasped.
圆. Eftsoons:at once
猿. the kirk:church
源. Till over the mast at noon:The ship has reached the Equator.
缘. swound:swoon
远. shroud:the rope supporting the mast
苑. The Sun now rose upon the right:The ship now heads north and enters the Pacific.
愿. Still hid:always hidden
怨. wretch:a worthless or vile fellow
员
园. uprist:uprose
员
员. Twas:it was
员
圆. deep:sea
员源缘
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
员
猿. drought:thirst
员
源. well aday:alas
员. Why is The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner sometimes said to be“ an inner experience projected
onto a fantastic adventure”?What“ inner experience”does it possibly describe?
圆. Since the poem in Coleridges own judgment contains“ too much moral”,what do you think is
the moral of the poem?
猿. Which of the following words can best characterize the style?Exemplify with evidence from the
poem.( Grand,musical,economical,simple)
源. How can you see the difference between Coleridge and his friend Wordsworth in terms of their
writing style and personal philosophy?
运怎遭造
葬运澡葬灶员
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan圆
A stately pleasuredome decree:
Where Alph猿,the sacred river,ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles源 of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incensebearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh!that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place!as holy and enchanted
As eer beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demonlover!
摇
员源远
摇
英国文学简读教程
And from this chasm,with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift halfintermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the threshers flail:
And mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure缘
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasuredome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid远,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora苑.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome!those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry,Beware!Beware!
His flashing eyes,his floating hair!
员源苑
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread愿,
For he on honeydew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise怨.
员. Kubla Khan was written in 员
苑
怨苑and was first printed in 员
愿员
远. It spawned powerful emotions
deep within the hearts of those who read it and as if with one voice,they all responded to it
with a resounding:
“ What the hell is this?”In 员
愿
员苑the Monthly Review said,
“ The poem
itself is below criticism,”and in 员
愿
圆愿the London Weekly Review said,
“ We cannot name one
considerable poem of his that is likely to remain on the threshfloor of fame”. Due to the early
reviewers relative inexpenience with this unique new style of poetry,there were very few
worthwhile interpretations given of the poem. Today,with years of academic analysis behind
us,we now know that it is indeed one of Coleridges masterpieces. Coleridges actual
achievement as a poet can be divided into remarkably diverse masterpieces of The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner, Christabel and Kubla Khan.
Mysticism and demonism with strong
imagination are the distinctive features of this group. The poems are set in a strange territory of
the poets memory and dream.
摇Kubla Khan was composed in a dream after the poet took the opium. The poem was about
Kubla Klan,a Chinese emperor who appeared when he fell asleep. When Coleridge awoke,he
wrote down the images of the river,of the magnificent palace and a girl playing a dulcimer and
singing. This masterpiece tells a strange story in the form of a ballad. Coleridge is one of the
first critics to pay close critical attention to language,maintaining that the true end of poetry is
to give pleasure“ through the medium of beauty ”. Coleridge emphasizes the philosophical
aspect,reading more into the subject than the text and going deeper into the inner reality than
only caring for the outer form. Kubla Khan is full of horror and the poem introduces to the
reader a supernatural realm,but it manages to create a sense of reality. The poem opens with a
basic contrast between the River Alph,a potentially destructive force,and the pleasuredome,
a source of deep perception and understanding. The poem famously remains a“ fragment”
because it was reported that Coleridge had composed two to three hundred lines in a profound
sleep,and when he was writing it down after waking,a visitor interrupted him. Coleridge
successfully combines the natural with the supernatural,the ordinary with the extraordinary,
which makes Kubla Khan one of the masterpieces of romantic poetry.
摇
员源愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
圆. Kubla Khan(员圆员
缘原员圆怨
源):Mongol emperor of China,founder of the Mongol Dynasty in
China and grandson of Genghis Khan,who made Peking the capital of his empire. The
celebrated traveler Marco Polo was said to have spent some years at his court.
Khan:the title of a sovereign in Tartar countries
猿. Alph:a fictitious river existing in the poets dream probably derived from the Greek river
Alpheus,which flows into the Ionian Sea
源. twice five miles:a circumference of five miles
缘. mingled measure:harmonious music;
“ measure”means“ rhythm”
远. Abyssinian maid:a maid from Abyssinia,a place near the Red Sea,now called Ethiopia
苑. Mount Abora:apparently a reminiscence of Paradise Lost 源. 圆
愿
园原源. 圆愿
圆:
“ where Abassin
Kings their issue guard,/ Mount Amara,though this by some supposed / True Paradise under the
Ethiop Line. ”
愿. Weave a circle round him thrice / And close your eyes with holy dread:According to ancient
superstition,when a person was possessed by God or demon,he should be separated from the
other people,and the way to do so was to weave a circle thrice with his eyes closed.
怨. And drunk the milk of Paradise:The inspired poet is compared to“ the Bacchic maidens who
drank milk and honey from the rivers when they are under the influence of Dionysus but not
when they are in their right mind. ”
( Platos Ion,缘
猿
猿原缘猿
源)
员. Why has Kubla Khan enclosed the lush romantic landscape in a dome?
圆. Discuss the unity of the poem,paying special attention to the strands of imagery that connect
its two parts. What is the relation of the world inside the dome to the world outside it?
猿. What may remind you of the poets being ever nourished by ancient Greek literature in the lines
“Where Alph,the sacred river,ran through caverns measureless to mandown to a sunless sea”?
VI. George Gordon Byron
员
栽澡藻陨
泽
造
藻
泽燥枣郧则
藻
藻
糟
藻
( From Don Juan,Canto the Third)
员
The Isles of Greece,the Isles of Greece!
员源怨
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
Where burning圆 Sappho猿 loved and sung,
Where grew the arts of War and Peace,
Where Delos源 rose,and Phoebus缘 sprung!
Eternal summer gilds them yet,
But all,except their Sun,is set.
圆
The Scian and Teian远 muse,
The Heros harp,the Lovers lute,
Have found the fame your shores refuse:
Their place of birth alone is mute
To sounds which echo further west
Than your Sires“ Islands of the Blest. ”
猿
The mountains look on Marathon苑—
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dreamed that Greece might still be free;
For standing on the Persians grave,
I could not deem myself a slave.
源
A King愿 sate on the rocky brow
Which looks oer seaborn Salamis怨;
And ships,by thousands,lay below,
And men in nations;—all were his!
He counted them at break of day—
And,when the Sun set,where were they?
缘
And where are they?And where art thou,
My country?On thy voiceless shore
摇
员缘园
摇
英国文学简读教程
The heroic lay is tuneless now—摇摇
The heroic bosom beats no more!摇摇
And must thy Lyre,so long divine,摇摇
Degenerate into hands like mine?摇摇
远
Tis something,in the dearth of Fame,
Though linked among a fettered race,
To feel at least a patriots shame,
Even as I sing,suffuse my face;
For what is left the poet here?
For Greeks a blush—for Greece a tear.
苑
Must we but weep oer days more blest?
Must we but blush?—Our fathers bled.
Earth!render back from out thy breast
A remnant of our Spartan dead!
Of the three hundred grant but three,
To make a new Thermopylae员园!
愿
What,silent still?and silent all?
Ah!no;—the voices of the dead
Sound like a distant torrents fall,
And answer,
“ Let one living head,
But one arise,—we come,we come !”
Tis but the living who are dumb.
怨
In vain—in vain:strike other chords;
Fill high the cup with Samian wine!
Leave battles to the Turkish hordes,
员缘员
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
And shed the blood of Scios vine!
Hark!rising to the ignoble call—
How answers each bold Bacchanal!
员
园
You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet,
Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx gone?
Of two such lessons,why forget
The noblier and manlier one?
You have the letters Cadmus gave—
Think ye he meant them for a slave?
员
员
Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
We will not think of themes like these!
It made Anacreons song divine:
He served—but served Polycrates—
A Tyrant;but our masters then
Were still,at least,our countrymen.
员
圆
The Tyrant of the Chersonese
Was Freedoms best and bravest friend;
That tyrant was Miltiades!
Oh!that the present hour would lend
Another despot of the kind!
Such chains as his were sure to bind.
员
猿
Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
On Sulis员员 rock,and Pargas shore,
Exists the remnant of a line
Such as the Doric mothers bore;
摇
员缘圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
And there,perhaps,such seed is sown,
The Heracleidan员圆 blood might own.
员
源
Trust not for freedom to the Franks员猿—
They have a king who buys and sells;
In native swords,and native ranks,
The only hope of courage dwells;
But Turkish force,and Latin fraud,
Would break your shield,however broad.
员
缘
Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
Our virgins dance beneath the shade—
I see their glorious black eyes shine;
But gazing on each glowing maid,
My own the burning teardrop laves,
To think such breasts must suckle slaves.
员
远
Place me on Suniums marbled steep,
Where nothing,save the waves and I,
May hear our mutual murmurs sweep;
There,swanlike员源,let me sing and die;
A land of slaves shall neer be mine—
Dash down yon
员. Don Juan was written in Italy during 员愿
员
愿原员
愿
圆猿. It is 员
远,
园园
园lines long in sixteen cantos. In
Don Juan,Byron displayed his genius as a romanticist and a realist simultaneously. The story
of the poem takes place in the late 员
愿th century. Don Juan is a Spanish youth of noble birth.
员缘猿
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
The vicissitudes of life and his adventures in many countries are described against varied social
backgrounds,and he is seen to take part in different historical events,thus projecting a
panoramic view of contemporary life. Don Juan,written in the prime of Byrons creative
power,showed what he could achieve when he was at his best. “ Almost all Don Juan,”he
wrote,
“ is real life,either my own,or from people I know. ”The poems essence is the
restless,amorous adventures of Don Juan,but there are departures from the main plot line so
that Byron,as narrator,can advance his own ideas on a range of subjects and can satirize
many aspects of his contemporaries. Byron himself insisted that the poetry is a satire on abuses
of the present states of society,but unlike Pope,whose satires are based on a vision of positive
values. This selected material is a song sung by a singer. The versification of the song is
different from the rest of the long poem. The song is composed of 员远stanzas,each stanza
consisting of 远lines of iambic tetrameter,with a rhyme scheme ababcc.
摇The poem tries to call the Greek people to rise up against the invasion by the Turks and
defend their national liberty by contrasting the glory of Greek history with the disgrace of the
existing condition in Greece and insists that the pleasureseeking life can not solve any problem
but only make themselves slaves forever and their freedom lies only in their struggling instead
of depending on some foreign countries. There is no writer in nineteenthcentury Europe who
crossed geographical borders more than George Gordon Byron;nor is there any writer who did
more to break down boundaries. Byron energetically defended his approach to Don Juan,
suggesting that the scenes in it were real,that the whole was a sublime representation of life,
and that the poem would be eventually be known for what it was“ a satire on abuses of the
present states of society. ” The fact that Don Juan was“ now and then voluptuous ” was
incidental to the aim of the poem. Juan was one of Byrons pretty boys:innocent and sweet,
the pawn of libidinous princesses and queens( it has been argued that Byrons heroines are
among the most sexually empowered in British literature). Drifting from Spain to Greece to
Turkey to Russia to England,Don Juan is made the occasion for a hilarious sendup of the
manners of many countries—something Byron claimed,quite rightly,that he could never have
written had he not led quite so itinerant a life. Byron is regarded today as the ultimate
Romantic,whose name has entered the language to describe a man of brooding passion.
Although his private life shocked his contemporaries his poetry was immensely popular and
influential,especially in Europe.
圆. burning:passionate ardent
猿. Sappho:Greek poetess( about 远
园
园B. C郾),who was renowned for her love lyrics
源. Delos:a small island in the Aegean Sea,the birthplace of Apollo according to Greek mythology
缘. Phoebus:epithet of Apollo,the Greek sungod and god of music and poetry
摇
员缘源
摇
英国文学简读教程
远. Scian and Teian:pertaining to Scio an Teos. Scio,a small Greek island,was supposed to be
the birthplace of Homer,and Teos,one of the ancient Ionian cities on the coast of Asia Minor,
the birthplace of Anacreon,a famous lyric poet(缘远
猿?B. C. 原源
苑
愿B. C. )
苑. Marathon:a plain in Greece,where the Persian invaders were completely annihilated by the
Creeks in 源怨园B. C.
愿. a King:referring to Xerxes,king of Persia(源愿
远原源
远
缘B. C. ),who invaded Greece by sea and
land in 源愿
园B. C.
怨. Salamis:a Greek island in the Gulf of Aegina. In the Battle of Salamis( 源
愿
园B. C. )the
Greeks,by outmaneuvering the Persian fleet which numbered 圆
园
园园vessels as against 猿
愿园
Greek ships,succeeded in completely destroying it.
员
园. Thermopylae:a narrow mountain passes in Greece,where three hundred valiant Spartans
fought against the whole army of the Persian invaders(源愿
园
园B. C. )
员
员. Suli:a mountain district in Albania,the home of a militant people,who were among the first
to take up arms against the Turks
员
圆. Heracleidan:referring to Hercules,one of the most celebrated heroes in Greek mythology.
The Spartans claimed to be his descendants.
员
猿. the Franks:the Western Europeans in general
员
源. swanlike:the fable that the swan sings beautifully just before its death is very ancient,
though baseless
员. In this poem,Byron contrasted the glorious past of Greece with her submissive and servile
status at present. Do you think the contrasts are effective?
圆. Comment on the last two lines of this poem. What emotion is aroused by such an ending?How?
猿. To what extent did Byron write himself into this poem?Find instances where Juans life and
character resemble those of its author?
杂澡藻宰葬造
噪泽蚤
灶月藻
葬
怎贼
赠员
员
She walks in beauty,like the night
员缘缘
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
Of cloudless climes圆and starry skies;摇摇摇
And all thats best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect猿 and her eyes:
Thus mellowd源 to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy缘 day denies远.
圆
One shade the more,one ray the less
Had half impaird苑 the nameless愿 grace
Which waves in every raven tress怨,
Or softly lightens oer her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure,how dear their dwellingplace员园.
猿
And on that cheek,and oer that brow,
So soft,so calm,yet eloquent员员,
The smiles that win员圆,the tints that glow,
But员猿 tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent员源!
员. She Walks in Beauty is by far,the most quoted poem of Lord Byrons. It was inspired by Mrs.
Wilmot,Byrons cousin,when he saw her wearing a spangled dress at Lady Sitwells party in
June,员愿
员源. It is one of the lyrics in Hebrew Melodies(员
愿
员
缘),written to be set to adaptations
of traditional Jewish tunes by the young musician Isaac Nathan. Lord Byrons opening couplet
to She Walks in Beauty is among the most memorable and most quoted lines in romantic
poetry. The opening lines are effortless,graceful and beautiful,a fitting match for his poem
about a woman who possesses effortless grace and beauty. This lyric is reminiscent of the
Renaissance love lyric,in which the ladys physical beauty is seen as an indication of her inner
摇
员缘远
摇
英国文学简读教程
beauty and purity of soul. The poem was inspired by Byrons meeting his cousin when she was
wearing a black mourning dress. With dark hair and fair face,the lady is a mingling of various
lights and shades,comparable to the light and darkness of a night sky with stars. In the final
stanza,the mingled“ tints”are signs of goodness,peace,and innocence. The calm,chaste
tone of the poem is like the character of the lady. She Walks in Beauty is counted among the
best known of Byrons lyrics,and is the most famous of the verses published in his 员
愿
员缘
volume,Hebrew Melodies. While critics have admired the poem for its gracefulness,lyricism,
and masterful use of internal rhyme—William Dick,for example,writing in Byron and His
Poetry,calls it a work of“ peculiar sweetness and beauty”;in his essay George Gordon,
Byron,Northrop Frye remarks on the works“ caressing rhythm ”. Unlike common love
poetry,which makes the claim that its subject is filled with beauty,this poem describes its
subject as being possessed by beauty. The first couple of lines can be confusing if not read
properly. Too often,readers stop at the end of the first line where there is no punctuation.
This is an enjambed line,meaning that it continues without pause onto the second line. That
she walks in beauty is like the night that may not make sense as it represents darkness.
However,as the line continues,the night is a cloudless one with bright stars to create a
beautiful mellow glow. The first two lines bring together the opposing qualities of darkness and
light that are at play throughout the three verses. The remaining lines of the first stanza employ
another set of enjambed lines that tell us that her face and eyes combine the best of darkness
and brightness. No mention is made here or elsewhere in the poem of any other physical
features of the lady. The focus of the vision is upon the details of the ladys face and eyes
which reflect the mellowed and tender light. She has a remarkable quality of being able to
contain the opposites of darkness and brightness. The third and fourth lines are not only
enjambed,but the fourth line begins with an irregularity in the meter called a metrical
substitution. The fourth line starts with an accented syllable followed by an unaccented one,
rather than the iambic meter of the other lines,an unaccented syllable followed by an accented
one. The result is that the word“ Meet”receives attention,an emphasis. The ladys unique
feature is that opposites“ meet”in her in a wonderful way. The second verse tells us that the
glow of the ladys face is nearly perfect. The shades and rays are in just the right proportion,
and because they are,the lady possesses a nameless grace. This conveys the romantic idea that
her inner beauty is mirrored by her outer beauty. Her thoughts are serene and sweet. She is
pure and dear. The last stanza is split between three lines of physical description and three lines
that describe the ladys moral character. Her soft,calm glow reflects a life of peace and
goodness. This is a repetition,an emphasis,of the theme that the ladys physical beauty is a
reflection of her inner beauty.
员缘苑
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
圆. climes:climate
猿. aspect:look,facial expression
源. mellowd:mellowed,softness,sweetness
缘. gaudy:showy
远. to gaudy day denies:denies to gaudy day
苑. had half impaird:would have half impaired
愿. nameless:defying description,inexpressible
怨. raven tress:black and shiny hair
员
园. dwellingplace:mind
员
员. eloquent:vividly or movingly expressive
员
圆. win:charming
员
猿. but:only
员
源. innocent:simple,unsophisticated
员. How does“ she”walk in beauty?
圆. Why“ One shade the more,one ray the less”would impair“ the nameless grace”?
猿. What does“ she”impress you most after reading the poem?
摇
员缘愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
VII. Percy Bysshe Shelley
韵凿藻贼
燥贼
澡藻宰藻
泽
贼宰蚤
灶凿员
员
O wild West Wind,thou breath of Autumns being圆
Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing猿,
Yellow,and black,and pale,and hectic red源,
Pestilencestricken multitudes缘!O thou
Who cariotest to their dark wintry bed
The winged seeds,where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave,until
Thine azure sister of the Spring远 shall blow
Her clarion苑 oer the dreaming earth,and fill
( Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill;
Wild Spirit,which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and preserver愿;hear,O hear!
员缘怨
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
圆
Thou on whose stream,mid the steep skys commotion,
Loose clouds like earths decaying leaves are shed,
Shook怨 from the tangled boughs of heaven and ocean员园,
Angels员员 of rain and lightning:there are spread
On the blue surface of thine airy surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head
Of some fierce Maenad员圆,even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zeniths height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge
Of the dying year,to which this closing night
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,
Vaulted with all thy congregated might
Of vapours,from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain,and fire,and hail,will burst:O hear!
猿
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean,where he lay,
Lulled by the coil员猿 of his chrystalline streams,
摇
员远园
摇
英国文学简读教程
Beside a pumice isle员源 in Baiaes bay员缘,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the waves intenser day员远,
All overgrown with azure moss,and flowers
So sweet,the sense faints picturing them!Thou
For whose path the Atlantics level powers员苑
Cleave themselves into chasms,while far below
The seablooms and the oozy woods which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean,know
The comrade of thy wanderings over heaven,
Thy voice,and suddenly grow gray with fear,
And tremble and despoil员愿 themselves:O hear!
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇源
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power,and share
The impulse of thy strength,only less free
Than thou,O uncontrollable!If even
I were as in my boyhood,and could be
员远员
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
As then,when to outstrip thy skiey speed员怨
Scarce seemed a vision—I would neer have striven
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need. 圆园
O!lift me as a wave,a leaf,a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life!I bleed!
A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed
One too like thee圆员—tameless,and swift,and proud.
缘
Make me thy lyre圆圆,even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own圆猿!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies圆源
Will take from both a deep autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou,Spirit fierce,
My spirit!Be thou me,impetuous one!
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe,
Like withered leaves,to quicken a new birth;
And,by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter,as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks,my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened earth
The trumpet of a prophecy!O Wind,
If Winter comes,can Spring be far behind?
摇
员远圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. Ode to the West Wind was written in 员
愿员
怨,which is considered both as a political poem and
one of Shelleys best lyrics. The poet is skillful at expressing his emotion through the
description of all kinds of natural phenomena. A similar possibility for renewal and resurrection
arises in the concluding line of the poem,
“ If Winter comes,can Spring be far behind?”The
wind of this poem is both“ Destroyer and Preserver. ”A world oppressed and numbed by
incompetent government,by the Congress of Vienna,by massacres like Peterloo can be
awakened through the“ trumpet of a prophecy,”the words of the poet prophet. The strong
wind is a destructive force;it brings misery to the outmoded world. What we hear is not only
a sad song in nature;it is also the knell for tyranny. Ode to the West Wind is a poem of
spiritual power. The power is demonstrated through the use of visual,auditory,and kinetic
( motion)imagery. The poem was written on a day that the“ tempestuous wind”,the west
wind acts as a driving force for change and rejuvenation in the human and natural world.
Shelley views winter not just as last phase of vegetation,but as the last phase of life in the
individual,the imagination,civilization and religion. The poem is set in autumn and in it,
Shelley observes the changing of the weather and its effects on the internal and external
environment.
摇By examining this poem,the reader will see that Shelley can reach his sublime state by
having the wind carry his“ dead thoughts”which through an apocalyptic destruction,will lead
to a rejuvenation of the imagination,the individual and the natural world. The poem uses terza
rima to portray a very rhythmic rhyming pattern. This pattern is used to describe five very
distinct and different stanzas,which describe:autumn,rainstorms,the sea,man merging with
the wind,and man being the sound of the wind. Throughout all five stanzas,Shelley uses
three types of imagery in Ode to the West Wind. He uses visual imagery,which is the thought
portrayed by the vision of an object. He uses auditory imagery,which is the thought of
something through a sound,and he uses kinetic imagery,which is a vision of something by
motion,or a powerful force. The use of imagery in this poem creates a feeling that the poem is
alive. By using the three types of imagery the wind is given such powers that it feels like the
reader is a simple object in the path of such a great force.
圆. being:life,existence
猿. enchanter fleeing:feeling from an enchanter
源. hectic red:unhealthy,morbid red,feverish
员远猿
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
缘. pestilencestricken multitudes:the dead leaves
远. sister of the Spring:the south wind,which is the“ sister”of the west wind
苑. clarion:the trumpet which produces clear,sharp and thrill tones
愿. Destroyer and preserver:The west wind is considered the“ destroyer”,for it drives the last
signs of life from the trees;it is also considered the“ preserver”,for it scatters the seeds which
will come to life in the spring.
怨. shook:shaken
员
园. the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean:the huge,accumulated mass of clouds between the
sky and the stormy sea
员
员. angels:the messengers( of rain and lightning)
员
圆. Maenad:a priestess of Bacchus,the Greek and Roman God of wine and revelry,a very
frenzied woman in Greek mythology
员
猿. coil:the noise of the tide
员
源. pumice isle:an isle near Naples,Italy
员
缘. Baiaes bay:an ancient Roman resort,ten miles to the west of Naples
员
远. intenser day:
“ day”refers to“ daylight”,the translucency of the water is more intense than
the dazzling daylight above its surface
员
苑. the Atlantics level powers:the waves of the Atlantic Ocean surging and moving forcefully
员
愿. despoil:strip of their leaves
员
怨. skiey speed:speed through skies
圆
园. As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need:I pray to you in my great need.
圆
员. thee:referring to Shelley himself
圆
圆. lyre:a stringed instrument which produces musical sounds when the wind passes over it
圆
猿. like its own:like its own leaves,like the leaves of the forest itself
圆
源. thy mighty harmonies:the music which has or shows great strength,force and intensity
员. In what sense is the west wind a“ destroyer and preserver”?
圆. Whose“ new birth” do you think the poet wishes to bring about?
猿. What significance does the wind,in Ode to the West Wind,have for Shelley and for the
Romantic period?
源. How do you appreciate the poem from the aesthetic perspective?
摇
员远源
摇
英国文学简读教程
栽燥葬杂噪赠造
葬则
噪员
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
Hail to thee,blithe Spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
That from Heaven,or near it,
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
Higher still and higher
From the earth thou springest
Like a cloud of fire;
The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar,and soaring ever singest.
In the golden lightning
Of the sunken sun
Oer which clouds are brightning,
Thou dost float and run,
Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.
The pale purple even
Melts around thy flight;
Like a star of Heaven
In the broad daylight
Thou art unseen,but yet I hear thy shrill delight:
员远缘
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
Keen as are the arrows
Of that silver sphere圆,
Whose intense lamp narrows
In the white dawn clear
Until we hardly seewe feel that it is there.
郾
郾郾
What thou art we know not;
What is most like thee?
From rainbow clouds there flow not
Drops so bright to see
As from thy presence showers a rain of melody猿.
Like a poet hidden
In the light of thought
Singing hymns unbidden,
Till the world is wrought
To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not源:
Like a highborn maiden
In a palace tower,
Soothing her loveladen
Soul in secret hour
With music sweet as love,which overflows her bower:
摇
员远远
摇
英国文学简读教程
Like a glowworm golden缘
In a dell of dew,
Scattering unbeholden
Its aerial hue
Among the flowers and grass,which screen it from the view:
Like a rose embowered
In its own green leaves,
By warm winds deflowered,
Till the scent it gives
Makes faint with too much sweet these heavywinged thieves远.
Sound of vernal showers
On the twinkling grass,
Rainawakened flowers,
All that ever was
Joyous,and clear,and fresh,thy music doth surpass.
Teach us,sprite苑 or bird,
What sweet thoughts are thine:
I have never heard
Praise of love or wine
That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.
员远苑
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
Chorus hymeneal愿
Or triumphal chaunt
Matched with thine,would be all
But an empty vaunt—
A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.
郾郾郾
Whith thy clear keen joyance
Languor cannot be:
Shadow of annoyance
Never came near thee:
Thou lovest,but neer knew loves sad satiety.
郾郾郾
Teach me half the gladness
That thy brain must know,
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow
The world should listen then,as I am listening now!
员. To a Skylark was written in the summer of 员
愿圆
园and remains the best known of all Shelleys
lyrics. The European skylark is usually heard but not seen because it flies very high. Shelley
makes the bird,which is free from the bonds of earth and too high for physical reach,into an
摇
员远愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
emblem of nonmaterial spirit of pure joy,beyond the possibility of empirical knowledge. To a
Skylark expresses Shellys understanding dialectic reasoning. He understands that in order for
certain conceptual parts of our lives to exist there must be opposing forces that enable us to
define these forces. The poem expresses the idea that happiness and joy is defined because of
its equal and opposite forces. It is clearly stated in this poem that one cannot exist without the
other. The imagery of the skylark drifting through the air is truly sublime. Shelly makes
heaven appear more heavenly than can be. The opening line to Percy Shellys Ode to a Skylark
is one of the most famous lines in English poetry and the song of the skylark has been an
inspiration to many. Shelley is using the skylark both rhetorically and metaphorically. The
skylark transcends the ordinary;it is a nexus of idealism and Shelleys own radical thought. Its
message has the power to raise the political consciousness and promote the chance that the poet
desires. The “ unbodied joy ” of “ that silver sphere ” contains centuries of philosophical
thought. Whatever emotions To a Skylark invokes,Shelley was,as he himself believed,a
philosopher first and a poet second. As we find in the words of Leonard Cohen“ Like a bird on
a wire,like a drunk in a midnight choir,I have tried in my way to free”. Shelley tried in his
way to be free,to be free from the complacency of his contemporaries and free to express his
observations through his poetical message. The bellowing tones of the“ skylark”echo this
message resonantly almost two hundred years from the date it was written.
圆. silver sphere:the morning star
猿. From rainbow 郾郾
郾a rain of melody:Drops that flow from rainbow clouds are not so bright to
see as the rain of melody,those showers from the presence.
源. Till the world 郾
郾郾it heeded not:sympathy
缘. glowworm golden:golden glowworm
远. these heavywinged thieves:warm wind
苑. sprite:spirit
愿. Chorus Hymeneal:Marital. Hymen is the Greek god of marriage.
员. What character of the bird does To a Skylark emphasize?
圆. In what ways is the skylark similar to the morning star,the moon,the poet,the highborn
maiden,and the glowworm?
猿. What conclusion does the poem draw in relation to the birds joy?
员远怨
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
VIII. John Keats
韵凿藻燥灶葬郧则
藻
糟
蚤
葬灶员 哉则
灶圆
员
Thou still unravishd bride of quietness猿,
Thou fosterchild of Silence and slow Time,
Sylvan historian源,who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaffringed legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals,or of both缘,
In Tempe远 or the dales of Arcady苑?
What men or gods are these?What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit?What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels?What wild ecstasy?
圆
Heard melodies are sweet,but those unheard
Are sweeter;therefore,ye soft pipes,play on;
Not to the sensual ear,but,more endeard,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone愿:
Fair youth,beneath the trees,thou canst not leave
Thy song,nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold lover,never,never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal怨—yet,do not grieve;
She cannot fade,though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love,and she be fair!
猿
Ah,happy,happy boughs!that cannot shed
Your leaves,nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And,happy melodist,unwearied,
摇
员苑园
摇
英国文学简读教程
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love!more happy,happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoyd,
For ever panting,and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart highsorrowful and cloyd,
A burning forehead,and a parching tongue.
源
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar,O mysterious priest,
Leadst thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest员园?
What little town by river or seashore,
Or mountainbuilt with peaceful citadel员员,
Is emptied of its folk,this pious morn?
And,little town,thy streets for evermore
Will silent be;and not a soul,to tell
Why thou art desolate,can eer return.
员苑员
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
缘
O Attic shape!fair attitude!with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought员圆,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou,silent form!dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity员猿:Cold Pastoral员源!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain,in midst of other woe
Than ours,a friend to man,to whom thou sayst,
“ Beauty is truth,truth beauty员缘,”—that is all
Ye know on earth,and all ye need to know.
员. Grecian:Greek( rarely used except for referring to architecture,pottery,culture and features
of the human race)
圆. Ode on a Grecian Urn is written in 员
愿员
怨,published in 员
愿
圆
园. This ode,together with Ode to
the Nightingale,has often been celebrated as the height of Keats achievement in poetry. Keats
created a beautiful world of imagination as opposed to the sordid reality of his day. His
exquisite sensibility as a poet enabled him to perceive readily the beauty of the world at large
and his brilliant fancy turned the impressions thus obtained into palpable images of enduring
beauty which he described through verbal music and wordpainting. In this poem,the poet
gave his commentary on a Greek vase,which,as a relic of ancient culture,caught his
imagination. Images had been taken out of time and remembered eternally only by the
intervention of art. The Grecian Urn and the artistic carvings on it represent the permanence of
art and celebrate the power of the artist to immortalize human activity,to make it permanent,
preserving it against mortality and the passing of time. The beauty of art is seeing the real truth
of existence. The urn remains forever a testimony that“ beauty is truth,truth beauty”,for its
silent loveliness has the profound stability of the eternal. Keats uses various poetic techniques
and themes to emphasize these ideas of romanticism:“ the strange,the sensual and the
dream”. These themes and techniques are the backbone of the ode which allow the reader to
feel and use their imagination,which was the main reason Keats wrote his poems. Keats uses
incredibly sensual language to illustrate how he feels and what he imagines which gives the ode
摇
员苑圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
a sensual feeling of being alive. No Greek vase has been found which corresponds to Keats
description;it is supposed to be based rather on his general recollection of various works of
Greek art as found in the British Museum and as depicted in engravings. Ode on a Grecian Urn
represents a historical object of Greek civilization,an urn painted with the scenes from Greek
life.
摇At the beginning of the ode,the poet is standing before an urn,and speaks to it as if it
were alive. He treats the urn not as a subject but as if it is a human. He wanders about the
figures on the side of the urn,and asks what legend they portray,and where they are from.
Keats uses a phrase“ unravishd bride”meaning a virgin bride,a bride who has not been taken
though she is married. The poet is turning the vase and sees the picture on the urn that shows
musicians and lovers in a setting of country beauty. The author tries to identify with the
characters because to him they represent the timeless perfection that only art can capture.
Unlike the reality of living,which in Keats Ode to a Nightingale is characterized by“ the
weariness,the fever,and the fret”brought on by humans awareness of their own transience,
the urns characters are frozen in time. The lovers will always love,though they will never
consummate their desire. The musicians will always play beneath trees that will never lose their
leaves. The speaker admires this state of existence,but in the end it leaves his“ heart high
sorrowful. ”This is because the urn,while beautiful and seemingly eternal,is not life. The
lovers,while forever young and happy in the chase,can never engage in the act of fertility that
is the basis of life,and the tunes,while beautiful in the abstract,do not play to the“ sensual
ear”and are in fact“ of no tone. ”Filled with dualities—time and timelessness,silence and
sound,the static and the eternal—the urn in the end is a riddle that has“ teased”the speaker
into believing that“ beauty is truth”. In life,however,beauty is not necessarily truth,and the
urns message is one appropriate only in the rarefied,timeless world of art. Understanding
some lines in this poem is a challenge to any reader,particularly the last two lines:
“ Beauty is
truth,truth beauty,”—“ that is all Ye know of earth,and all ye need to know. ”John Keats
seems to explain that all anyone ever really needs to know is that truth and beauty are one and
the same. And yet much critical analysis has boiled down on the meaning of those final lines
and whether they actually coincide with Keats views expressed in the poem up to that point.
猿. Thou still unravishd bride of quietness. Thou fosterchild of silence and slow time:These two
lines refer to the urn which,as a work of art,has been wedded to quietness and brought up by
silence and slow time,and therefore,suffers no change,implying that in contrast with the
transitoriness of human life,art is immortal.
unravishd:not seized or carried away by force. Here it means the secret of the urn has not yet
been disclosed.
员苑猿
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
slow time:time moves slowly so far as the urn is concerned
源. Sylvan historian:historian of the woods. Here it refers to the story of the pastoral life as
represented by the figures on the urn.
缘. What leaffringd legend haunts about thy shape / Of deities or mortals,or of both:What kinds
of legend about the woodland does your shape of gods or men or of both bring to ones mind?
leaffringd legend:legend that is leaffringed because the sculpture on the urn has a border of
leaves about it and therefore suggests a woodland scene
远. Tempe:a beautiful valley in Greece,anciently regarded as a sacred place to Apollo,the God
of Poetry. Now it has come to represent supreme rural beauty.
苑. the dales of Arcady:the valleys of Arcadia,a state in ancient Greece often used as symbol of
the pastoral ideal
愿. Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:Play on the pipe to serve as musical accompaniment to the
song which exists only in a spiritual way and therefore is toneless. It suggests that the singing
and the piping on the urn can produce their effect on ones spirit only and not on ones senses.
怨. though winning near the goal:though getting near to act of kissing his beloved
员
园. silken flanks with garlands drest:both sides of the body of the cow which are smooth and
glossy as silk are adorned with wreaths of flowers
员
员. Or mountainbuilt with peaceful citadel:Or( a town)built on the mountain and protected by
a fortress that looks so calm and quiet.
员
圆. with brede / Of marble men and maidens overwrought:adorned with sculptured men and
maidens that are cold and hard as if made of marble brede( archaic)embroidery or braiding.
Here it means something added as an ornament.
overwrought:ornamented all over,with the surface adorned
员
猿. Thou,silent form!dost tease us out of thought / As doth eternity:Though a silent form,you
( referring to the urn ) do puzzle us and lead us to transcend human thoughts as does
something that is immortal. This means that silent as the urn is,it is pregnant with meaning
and communicates a wonderful message to the poet.
员
源. Cold Pastoral:The pastoral scene on the urn lacks the warmth of reality.
员
缘.“ Beauty is truth,truth beauty”:The quotation marks around this phrase are found in the
volume of poems Keats published in 员
愿
圆园;but there are no quotation marks in the version
printed in Annals of the Fine Arts,that same year,or in the four transcripts of the poem made
by Keats friends. This discrepancy has encouraged the diversity of critical interpretations of
the last two lines. Some critics say the whole of these lines is said by the urn,others say only
the phrase is said by the urn and the rest by Keats of someone else. “ ye”can refer to the
readers,the urn,the lyric speaker,or the figures on the urn.“ all ye need to know”also can
摇
员苑源
摇
英国文学简读教程
explained as“ beauty is truth”.
员. In what way is the urn a“ sylvan historian”?
圆. Who is the“ ye”of the final line?
猿. How do you interpret the controversial line“ Beauty is truth,truth beauty”?
员
韵凿藻贼
燥葬晕蚤
早澡贼
蚤
灶早葬
造
藻
员
My heart aches,and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense,as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains圆
One minute past,and Lethewards猿,had sunk;
Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness—
That thou,lightwinged Dryad源 of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in fullthroated ease.
摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇圆
O,for a draught of vintage!that hath been
Cooled a long age in the deepdelved earth,
Tasting of Flora缘 and the country green,
Dance,and Provencal song远,and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South苑,
Full of the true,the blushful Hippocrene愿,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purplestrained mouth;
员苑缘
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
That I might drink,and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim;
摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇猿
Fade far away,dissolve,and quite forget
What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness,the fever,and the fret
Here,where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few,sad,last gray hairs,
Where youth grows pale,and specterthin,and dies;
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
And leadeneyed despairs,
Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new Love pine at them beyond tomorrow.
摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇源
Away!away!for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards怨,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee!Tender is the night,
And haply the Queen Moon is on her throne,
Clustered around by all her starry Fays;
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.
摇
员苑远
摇
英国文学简读教程
摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇缘
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But,in embalmed darkness,guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass,the thicket,and the fruit tree wild;
White hawthorn,and the pastoral eglantine;
Fastfading violets covered up in leaves;
And midMays eldest child,
The coming musk rose,full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.
摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇远
Darkling I listen;and,for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Called him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing,and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇苑
Thou wast not bonr for death,immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperors and clown员园;
Perhaps the selfsame song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth员员,when,sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that ofttimes hath
员苑苑
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
Charmed magic casements,opening on the foam
Of perilous seas,in faery lands forlorn.
摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇愿
Forlorn!the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu!the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is famed to do,deceiving elf.
Adieu!adieu!thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows,over the still stream,
Up the hillside;and now tis buried deep
In the next valley glades.
Was it a vision,or a waking dream?
Fled is that music—Do I wake or sleep?
员. Ode to a Nightingale was written in 员
愿员
怨,published in 员
愿圆
园. Keats friend Charles Brown
relates that a nightingale had nested near his house in Hampstead( now known as Keats
House),and that one morning Keats sat under a plum tree in the garden composing his ode on
“ some scraps of paper”. The poem takes as its subject the vocal presence of a nightingale,and
the contrast of the“ fullthroated ease”of its singing with the aching“ numbness”of human
observer,the rapt and meditative poet. The ode progresses through a series of precisely
delicate evocations of opposed moods and ways of seeing,some elated,some depressed,but
each serving to return the narrator to his“ sole self”and to his awareness of the temporary
nature of the release from the unrelieved contemplation of temporal suffering which the birds
song has offered. Briefly,the poem is a meditation on the immortal beauty of the nightingales
song and the sadness of the observer,who must in the end accept sorrow and mortality. The
casual reader of John Keats poetry would most certainly be impressed by the exquisite and
abundant detail of its verse,the perpetual freshness of its phrase and the extraordinarily rich
sensory images scattered throughout its lines. But,without a deeper,more intense reading of
his poems as mere parts of a larger whole,the reader may miss specific themes and ideals
which are not as readily apparent as are the obvious stylistic hallmarks. Through Keats eyes,
摇
员苑愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
the world is a place full of idealistic beauty, both artistic and natural, whose inherent
immortality is to him a constant reminder of that man is irrevocably subject to decay and death.
This theme is one which dominates a large portion of his late poetry and is most readily
apparent in three of his most famous Odes:Ode to a Nightingale,Ode to Autumn and Ode on
a Grecian Urn. In the Ode to a Nightingale,it is the ideal beauty of the Nightingales song—
as permanent as nature itself—in the Ode on a Grecian Urn,it is the perfection of beauty as
art.
圆. emptied some dull opiate to the drains:drank up to the last drop of some sleepinducing drug
containing opium;to the drains:to the last drop in the cup
猿. Lethewards:towards Lethe,the river of forgetfulness,in the underworld,according to the
mythology of the ancient Greeks
源. Dryad:woodnymph,here referring to the nightingale
缘. Flora:the goddess of Spring and flowers in Roman mythology here referring to flowers
远. Provencal song:the poetry of the troubadours of Provence,a part of southeast France,famous
during the Middle Ages for chivalry and poetry
苑. O,for a beaker full of the warm South:Here again the poet expressed his wish for a drink of
wine. the warm South:wine brewed in the warm climate of southern Europe
愿. Hippocrene:a fountain on Mt. Helicon,the supposed residence of Apollo and the Muses in
Greek Mythology. The fountain was supposed to impart poetical inspiration.
怨. Bacchus and his pards:the god of wine who was fabled to have driven a team of tigers or
lynxes;pards( archaic):leopards
员
园. by emperors and clown:by all persons high and low
员
员. Ruth:the name of a woman in The Book of Ruth of the Old Testament. After the death of her
husband in a great famine,she went voluntarily to live with her motherinlaw in a foreign
country. But here the poet assumes that she was sad at heart while she gleaned the ears of corn
in a strange land.
员. Why,in Ode to a Nightingale,is the pleasure of listening to the bird described in terms of
“ aches”and“ pains”?
圆. What emotion can readers get from what Keats has transformed in the third part?
猿. What do you think of the“ escapism”of the poet?
源. Whats the poets inner contradiction in this ode?Please give some examples.
员苑怨
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
栽燥粤怎贼
怎皂灶员
员
Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosomfriend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him圆 how to load and bless
With fruit猿 the vines that round the thatcheaves run;
To bend with apples the mossd cottagetrees源,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd,and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel;to set budding more,
And still more,later flowers缘 for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has oerbrimmd远 their clammy cells.
摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇圆
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad苑may find
Thee sitting careless愿 on a granary floor,
Thy hair softlifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a halfreapd furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies,while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a ciderpress,with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings,hours by hours.
摇
员愿园
摇
英国文学简读教程
猿
Where are the songs of Spring?Ay,where are they?
Think not of them,thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the softdying day,
And touch the stubbleplains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows,borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And fullgrown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn怨;
Hedgecrickets sing;and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a gardencroft,
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
员. To Autumn was John Keats latest ode and one of his many that were written in the September
员怨. When published the poems were not well appreciated,until much later in the
of 员愿
Victorian Era. On 圆
圆nd,September 员
愿员
怨,Keats wrote a letter to his friend John Hamilton
“ How beautiful the season is now—How fine
Reynolds with this poem attached. Keats said:
the air. A temperate sharpness about it. Really,without joking,chaste weatherdian skies—I
never liked stubblefields so much as now—Aye,better than the chilly green of the Spring.
Somehow,a stubblefield looks warm—in the same way that some pictures look warm. This
struck me so much in my Sundays walk that I composed upon it. ”It has been praised as the
“ perfect”among his odes. The theme is a celebration of the warmth and richness of autumn
and an elegy for the passing of summer and the transience of life,and its mood has been
generally taken to be one of acquiescence. In To Autumn, tensions, oppositions, and
conflicting emotions are diminished amid a series of dense impressions of season whose beauty
contains both fulfillment and incipient decay,both an intensification of life and an inevitable,
but natural process of aging and dying. Life is a beautiful thing that should not be wasted. Life
must be lived without warning;it is not to be taken for granted. We will never fully understand
life,not even in a million years. The theme of John Keats“ To Autumn”is to enjoy life,
even as you grow old and it begins to move away from you. He spreads his message through
the time frame,imagery,and diction of the stanzas. The first stanza is set in early autumn and
员愿员
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
the morning. This is shown in passages from the poem. For example,season of mists and
warm days will never cease to show this time setting. Season of mists prove morning because
mist forms in the early morning. Warm days will never cease to prove early autumn because
this is the hottest and most humid time of the year.
摇The threestanza poem seems to create three distinct stages of Autumn:growth,harvest,
and death. The theme going in the first stanza is that Autumn is a season of fulfilling,yet the
theme ending the final stanza is that Autumn is a season of dying. However,by using the
stages of autumn as a metaphor for the process of death,Keats puts the concept of death in a
different,more favorable light. To Autumn is one of the most famous,and perfect odes written
by John Keats,and any modern writer. However,this ode has some significant differences to
the other odes that he has written. Firstly,there is no flight from reality,of deviation into
imagination of dream, in fact there is no narrative voice at all. Secondly, it has an
unprecedented emphasis and commemoration of change and progress, not only through
autumn,but through all mortal events. While the title implies a progression through autumn,
the ode also has references to an aging day,and even personal maturity.
摇Keats uses a large amount of sensual language to try and take readers to the place in his
mind,his choice of words are hugely important for making Autumn a sensual ode. He uses the
sensory language to generate an atmosphere he wants the reader to feel. From the very
beginning of To Autumn,sound appears to be an important aspect of Keats technique. When
the words are studied,there is an even mixture of loud and soft sounds. Some soft sounding
words—words that use consonant sounds that are soft when spoken such as an s—include
mists,close,son,bless,mossed,and trees. There are also the hard sounding words—words
that use consonant sounds that are loud when spoken such as a b or t—like maturing,round,
thatch,and budding. In the first stanza he is focusing very much on the sense of taste and sight
to paint the picture of summer ready to explode into autumn with words like“ load”,
“ fill”,
“ ripeness”,
“ swell”and“ plump”,these words are all very senseorientated with the desire to
show the peak point before all rots and turns to autumn.
圆. conspiring with him:
“ him”refers to the sun
猿. bless with fruit:make happy with fruit
源. mossd cottagetrees:mossd 越mossed
缘. later flowers:to set later flowers budding more,still more
远. oerbrimmd:overbrimmed
苑. seeks abroad:goes out of ones house,abroad:outdoors
愿. careless:without cares
怨. hilly bourn:hilly boundary or hilly stream
摇
员愿圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. Discuss the theme of the poem.
圆. What gender did John Keats render the season of“ autumn”?
猿. In what mood did John Keats compose this poem?
源. Whats the function of“ bee”in the lines“ And still more,later flowers for the bees / Until they
think warm days will never cease”?
IX. Jane Austen
员
孕则
蚤
凿藻葬灶凿孕则
藻
躁
怎凿蚤
糟
藻
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬
责贼
藻
则员
It is a truth universally acknowledged,that a single man in possession of a good fortune,
must be in want of a wife.
However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a
neighbourhood,this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families,that he is
considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.
“ My dear Mr. Bennet,”said his lady to him one day,
“ have you heard that Netherfield
Park圆 is let at last?”
Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.
“ But it is,”returned she;
“ for Mrs. Long猿has just been here,and she told me all about it. ”
Mr. Bennet made no answer.
“ Do you not want to know who has taken it?”cried his wife impatiently.
“ YOU want to tell me,and I have no objection to hearing it. ”
This was invitation enough.
“ Why,my dear,you must know,Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man
of large fortune from the north of England;that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four源 to
see the place,and was so much delighted with it,that he agreed with Mr. Morris缘 immediately;
that he is to take possession before Michaelmas远,and some of his servants are to be in the house
by the end of next week. ”
“ What is his name?”
员愿猿
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
“ Bingley. ”
“ Is he married or single?”
“ Oh!single,my dear,to be sure!A single man of large fortune;four or five thousand a
year. What a fine thing for our girls!”
“ How so?How can it affect them?”
“ My dear Mr. Bennet,”replied his wife,
“ how can you be so tiresome!You must know
that I am thinking of his marrying one of them. ”
“ Is that his design in settling here?”
“ Design!Nonsense,how can you talk so!But it is very likely that he may fall in love with
one of them,and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes. ”
“ I see no occasion for that. You and the girls may go,or you may send them by themselves,
which perhaps will be still better,for as you are as handsome as any of them,Mr. Bingley may
like you the best of the party. ”
“ My dear,you flatter me. I certainly have had my share of beauty,but I do not pretend to
be anything extraordinary now. When a woman has five grownup daughters,she ought to give
over thinking of her own beauty. ”
“ In such cases,a woman has not often much beauty to think of. ”
“ But,my dear, you must indeed go and see Mr. Bingley when he comes into the
neighbourhood. ”
“ It is more than I engage for,I assure you. ”
“ But consider your daughters. Only think what an establishment it would be for one of them.
Sir William and Lady Lucas苑 are determined to go,merely on that account,for in general,you
know,they visit no newcomers. Indeed you must go,for it will be impossible for us to visit him
if you do not. ”
“ You are overscrupulous,surely. I dare say Mr. Bingley will be very glad to see you;and
I will send a few lines愿 by you to assure him of my hearty consent to his marrying whichever he
chooses of the girls;though I must throw in a good word for my little Lizzy. ”
“ I desire you will do no such thing. Lizzy怨 is not a bit better than the others;and I am sure
she is not half so handsome as Jane员园,nor half so goodhumoured as Lydia员员. But you are always
giving her the preference. ”
“ They have none of them much to recommend them,”replied he;
“ they are all silly and
ignorant like other girls;but Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters. ”
“ Mr. Bennet,how can you abuse your own children in such a way?You take delight in
vexing me. You have no compassion for my poor nerves. ”
“ You mistake me,my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends.
摇
员愿源
摇
英国文学简读教程
I have heard you mention them with consideration these last twenty years at least. ”
Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts员圆,sarcastic humour,reserve,and caprice,
that the experience of threeandtwenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand
his character. Her mind was less difficult to develop. She was a woman of mean understanding,
little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented, she fancied herself
nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married;its solace was visiting and
news.
员. Pride and Prejudice was written in 员
愿员
猿and remains as the most popular of Jane Austens
novels. The characters are remarkably portrayed and they come alive under her pen. Reader
enjoys Jane Austens quiet irony and her simple delicate analysis of character. She made the
heroine Elizabeth captivate her man with intellectual wit and her righteous personality instead of
physical beauty. Thus Austen idealized a type of new heroine that was not common in previous
English literature. She preferred her characters downtoearth. Austens style can be described
as simple,suggestive and halfironic. In writing the novel,Austen adopts a realistic and
ordinary settings about reconciliation of the claims of the individual and of society,and in
which the concluding marriage is symbol that that harmony has been reached. Pride and
Prejudice is a novel written by Jane Austen and is probably one of the most famous and best
loved novels in the English language. Jane Austen uses the elements of both pride and
prejudice to develop the satire in her novel. Austen presents pride as both a vice and a virtue.
Austen first introduces pride as a vice of arrogance and prejudice,but as the characters in the
novel develop so does the concept of pride. Towards the end of the novel pride becomes the
vehicle for many of the noble actions taken by the main characters. Austen skillfully
interweaves the two parts of pride,the plot,and the main characters so that they develop
together in the book. When we get to the end of the novel,we are left with a fuller
understanding of the complexities of pride. The opening chapter of the novel gives us a brief
introduction to the lives of the Bennets. Mrs. Bennets sole purpose in life is to marry her
daughters to wealthy young men. It begins with Mr. and Mrs. Bennet having a conversation
about marrying of their daughters as soon as possible. Mrs. Bennet tells her husband about a
young man who has taken possession of Netherfield and about how they should make it a point
to visit him and introduce their daughters to him so he can marry one of them. Mr. Bennet is
seemingly uninterested and is sarcastic about the idea,which partly angers his wife. The use of
员愿缘
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
humor in the opening chapter is brought out by Mr. Bennet through his responses to his wife,
and also through Austens own comments. This is first outlined after Mr. Bennet says to his
wife,
“ You want to tell me,and I have no objection to hearing it. ”Austen comments,
“ This
was invitation enough. ”This is a funny statement and in its humor Austen manages to bring
out character trait of both Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Throughout the first part of the novel pride is
seen as negative and destructive. It is characterized as being conceited and arrogant. The
actions of the main characters seem to be guided by selfish pride. It is this kind of pride that
leads the main characters to act in ways that cause themselves and others much distress and
suffering,which,in fact,are the tensions,misunderstandings,and hostilities.
圆. Netherfield Park:the name of an estate in neighborhood of the home of the Bennets
猿. Mrs. Long:a neighbor of the Bennets
源. a chaise and four:a lightweight carriage drawn by four horses
缘. Mr. Morris:the owner of Netherfield park
远. Michaelmas:September 圆怨,church festival in honor of the archangel Michael
苑. Sir William and Lady Lucas:Sir William Lucas and his wife,neighbors of the Bennets
愿. a few lines:short note,a short letter
怨. Lizzy:Mr. Bennets second daughter
员
园. Jane:Mr. Bennets eldest daughter
员
员. Lydia:Mr. Bennets youngest daughter
员
圆. quick parts:wit
员. The opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice is probably one of the most famous first sentences
found in diction. What has this sentence to do with the tone of the whole novel?What are the
implied meanings of this sentence?
圆. In this chapter,what methods does the author use to portray the characters of Mr and Mrs
Bennet?
猿. How does Jane Austens novel show a wealth of humor with delicate satire?
X. Walter Scott
员
陨
增葬灶澡燥
藻
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
摇
员愿远
摇
英国文学简读教程
悦澡葬
责贼
藻
则员
Thus communed these;while to their lowly dome,
The fullfed swine returnd with evening home;
Compelld,reluctant,to the several sties,
With din obstreperous,and ungrateful cries.
摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇摇—Popes Odyssey圆
In that pleasant district of merry England猿 which is watered by the River Don,there extended
in ancient times a large forest,covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie
between Sheffield and the pleasant town of Doncaster源. The remains of this extensive wood are
still to be seen at the noble seats of Wentworth,of Warncliffe Park,and around Rotherham缘.
Here haunted of yore the fabulous Dragon of Wantley;here were fought many of the most
desperate battles during the Civil Wars of the Roses;and here also flourished in ancient times
those bands of gallant outlaws远,whose deeds have been rendered so popular in English song.
Such being our chief scene,the date of our story refers to a period towards the end of the
reign of Richard I苑,when his return from his long captivity had become an event rather wished
than hoped for by his despairing subjects,who were in the meantime subjected to every species of
subordinate oppression. The nobles,whose power had become exorbitant during the reign of
Stephen,and whom the prudence of Henry the Second had scarce reduced to some degree of
subjection to the crown,had now resumed their ancient license愿 in its utmost extent;despising the
feeble interference of the English Council of State,fortifying their castles,increasing the number
of their dependents,reducing all around them to a state of vassalage,and striving by every means
in their power to place themselves each at the head of such forces as might enable him to make a
figure in the national convulsions which appeared to be impending.
The situation of the inferior gentry,or Franklins,as they were called,who,by the law and
spirit of the English constitution,were entitled to hold themselves independent of feudal tyranny,
became now unusually precarious. If,as was most generally the case,they placed themselves
under the protection of any of the petty kings in their vicinity,accepted of feudal offices in his
household,or bound themselves by mutual treaties of alliance and protection to support him in his
enterprises,they might indeed purchase temporary repose;but it must be with the sacrifice of that
independence which was so dear to every English bosom,and at the certain hazard of being
involved as a party in whatever rash expedition the ambition of their protector might lead him to
undertake. On the other hand,such and so multiplied were the means of vexation and oppression
possessed by the great Barons怨,that they never wanted the pretext,and seldom the will,to harass
and pursue,even to the very edge of destruction,any of their less powerful neighbours who
员愿苑
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
attempted to separate themselves from their authority,and to trust for their protection,during the
dangers of the times,to their own inoffensive conduct,and to the laws of the land.
A circumstance which greatly tended to enhance the tyranny of the nobility and the sufferings
of the inferior classes, arose from the consequences of the Conquest by Duke William of
Normandy. Four generations had not sufficed to blend the hostile blood of the Normans and
AngloSaxons,or to unite,by common language and mutual interests,two hostile races,one of
which still felt the elation of triumph,while the other groaned under all the consequences of
defeat. The power had been completely placed in the hands of the Norman nobility by the event of
the battle of Hastings,and it had been used,as our histories assure us,with no moderate hand.
The whole race of Saxon princes and nobles had been extirpated or disinherited,with few or no
exceptions;nor were the numbers great who possessed land in the country of their fathers,even as
proprietors of the second,or of yet inferior classes员园. The royal policy had long been to weaken,
by every means,legal or illegal,the strength of a part of the population which was justly
considered as nourishing the most inveterate antipathy to their victor. All the monarchs of the
Norman race had shown the most marked predilection for their Norman subjects;the laws of the
chase,and many others equally unknown to the milder and more free spirit of the Saxon
constitution,had been fixed upon the necks of the subjugated inhabitants,to add weight,as it
员
员
were,
to the feudal chains with which they were loaded. At court,and in the castles of the great
nobles,where the pomp and state of a court was emulated,NormanFrench was the only language
employed;in courts of law,the pleadings and judgments were delivered in the same tongue. In
short,French was the language of honour,of chivalry,and even of justice,while the far more
manly and expressive AngloSaxon was abandoned to the use of rustics and hinds,who knew no
other. Still,however,the necessary intercourse between the lords of the soil,and those oppressed
inferior beings by whom that soil was cultivated,occasioned the gradual formation of a dialect,
compounded betwixt the French and the AngloSaxon,in which they could render themselves
mutually intelligible to each other;and from this necessity arose by degrees the structure of our
present English language,in which the speech of the victors and the vanquished have been so
happily blended together;and which has since been so richly improved by importations from the
classical languages,and from those spoken by the southern nations of Europe.
…
Wamba seemed to feel the force of this appeal,and accompanied his companion,who began
his journey after catching up a long quarterstaff which lay upon the grass beside him. This second
Eumus strode hastily down the forest glade,driving before him,with the assistance of Fangs,the
whole herd of his inharmonious charge.
摇
员愿愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. Walter Scotts novels were written to represent different stages of English history,covering the
days after the Norman Conquest,the life during the Tudor Dynasty and the Stuart rule,the
English Revolution and the Restoration Period. In this group the bestknown is“ Ivanhoe”.
The plot of Ivanhoe is set in the late 员圆th century,when the English people,or AngloSaxons,
had led a hard life under the rule of their Norman Conquerors. A Saxon lord was passionately
devoted to the cause of restoring the Saxon kingdom of England. He led the Saxons to oppose
the Normans. But after obstinate struggles he found it impossible to drive away the Normans.
Finally some compromise was reached between the AngloSaxon lords and the Norman King
Richard I. This brought about the union of the two peoples into the new English nation. In the
novel,Richard is depicted as a chivalric knight,a brave and just man,representing those of
the Norman lords who are farsighted and sympathetic with the Saxon peoples aspirations for a
peaceful life and who are in favor of the union of the Normans and Saxons. Richards brother
John is described as a treacherous man who plots to take the throne from Richard. There is a
description of the great tournament at Ashby,which forms a natural gathering ground for
persons of different stations in feudal England. Richard,winning the support of the Saxons,
triumphs over John,who refuses to compromise with the Saxons. The greatest strengths of
Ivanhoe were the themes of the novel. All the characters in Ivanhoe were in some way affected
by the major theme of the hatred between the Saxons and Normans. The novel also answers
many of the great questions of life. It is mainly a love triangle and of betrayal.
In this novel,as in Scotts other novels,there are descriptions of various strata of people.
There are vivid pictures of the swineherd Gurth,the poor fool Wamba and the peasant hero
Robin Hood,the outlaw. Beside these lively images of people,Ivanhoe,the hero of the
novel,is a rather pale figure who acts only as a link between the various characters and events
in the novel. Walter Scott illustrates this by devoting his attention to keeping the rules of the
Code of Chivalry,which consisted of love of adventure,integrity,and loyalty to the king,to
name a few. Respect and loyalty are two of character traits that Ivanhoe not only clings to but
also helps the reader to see their important for an idealistic life philosophy. For instance,in the
beginning of the book Ivanhoe as a knight disinherited by his father,Cedric of Saxon,he still
respects and be loyal to him despite being abandoned. These character traits of Ivanhoe coupled
with strong characters and a realistic setting allow the reader to understand the importance of a
strong set of moral guidelines to all individuals of all time periods in spite of Scotts excessive
员愿怨
Chapter 4 The Romantic Period 摇 摇
detail and confusing subplot.
Ivanhoe,for its realistic description of the life of feudal England,is the high watermark of
Scotts fame as an author of historical novels.
Scott is the first novelist to recreate the past. He has an outstanding gift of vivifying the
past. His novels,which combine historical fact with romantic imagination,give a picturesque
representation of many historical personages and events.
In Scotts novels,historical events are closely interwoven with the fates of individuals.
The plot unfolds itself through the interaction between historical life and individual life,thus
giving a view“ of individuals as they are affected by the public strife and social divisions of the
age”. For example,the plot of Ivanhoe develops through the interaction of the national
struggle between the Saxons and Normans on the one hand,and Ivanhoes personal adventures
on the other. The nominal heroes of Scotts novels,usually young men of noble birth,are
often thrown into close companionship with the ordinary people and go through a series of
hardships and adventures. But these heroes are usually pale figures,whose actual function in
the novels is to hold together the numerous incidents of the plot and introduce other characters
far more interesting than themselves. Scotts novels are the developments of the realistic novels
by Fielding and Smotllett. They paved the way for the development of the realistic novel of the
员怨th century. In a sense,Scotts literary career marks the transition from romanticism to
怨th century.
realism in English literature of the 员
圆. Popes Odyssey:Alexander Pope translated into English from Homers epic Odyssey in 员
愿th
century.
猿. merry England:the pleasant England
源. Sheffield,Doncaster:two cities in the central England
缘. Wentworth,Wharncliff Park,Rotherham:names of the cities
远. bands of gallant outlaws:the greenwoods with their representative of Robinhood
苑. Richard I:Richard the Lionhearted
愿. their ancient license:the unchained freedom
怨. On the other hand,such and so multiplied were the means of vexation and oppression possessed
by the great Barons:The means of vexation and oppression possessed by the great Barons were
such and so multiplied.
员
园. of yet inferior classes:
“ yet”means the same with“ still”.
员
员. as it were:as if it were actually so
摇
员怨园
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. How do you understand that Sir Walter Scott is the initiator of the Scotch and English historical
novel?
圆. Why people say that Scotts novel is the combination of realism and romanticism?
猿. Why did Scott employ the diction seemingly so obsolete even in the early 员
怨th century ?Did he
do it deliberately?
Chapter 5
The Victorian Age
I. An Outline of the Literature of This Period
蕴蚤
贼
藻
则
葬
则
赠栽藻
则
皂泽
月则
蚤
藻
枣阅藻
泽
糟
则
蚤
责贼
蚤
燥灶
蚤
贼
蚤
糟
葬
造砸藻
葬造
蚤
泽
皂 is a term applied to the realistic fiction in the
(员)悦则
late 员怨th and early 圆
园th centuries.
(圆)It means the tendency of writers and intellectuals in the period
Critical Realism
( 批判现实主义)
between 员愿
苑
缘and 员
怨
圆园to apply the methods of realistic fiction to
the criticism of society and the examination of social issues.
(猿)Realist writers were all concerned about the fate of the common
people and described what was faithful to reality. They are more
objective and sympathetic towards the untrodden.
(源)Charles Dickens is the most important critical realist.
Dramatic Monologue
( 戏剧独白)
Psychological novel
( 心理小说)
(员)阅则
葬
皂葬
贼
蚤
糟酝燥
灶燥造
燥
早怎藻
,in literature,refers to the occurrence of
a single speaker saying something to a silent audience.
(圆)Robert Brownings My Last Duchess is a typical example in
which the duke,speaking to a nonresponding audience,reveals not
only the reasons for his disapproval of the behavior of his former
duchess,but some tyrannical and merciless aspects of his own
personality as well.
赠
糟
澡燥
造
燥早
蚤
糟
葬造灶燥
增藻
造refers to a kind of novel that dwells on a
(员)孕泽
complex psychological development and presents much of the
narration through the inner workings of the characters mind.
( 圆) Thackerays characterization of Rebecca Sharp is very much
psychological.
摇
员怨圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
(员)孕燥
蚤
灶贼燥枣灾蚤
藻
憎can be divided by the narrators relationship with
the character, represented by the grammatical person: the first
person narrative,the thirdperson narrative,and omniscient narrator.
Point of View
( 叙述角度)
(圆)In the firstperson narrative,the narrator appears in the novel as
“ I”or“ me”. In the thirdperson narrative,the narrator does not
actually appear and all the characters are referred to as“ he ” or
“ they ”. If the speaker knows everything including the actions,
motives and thoughts of all the characters,the speaker is referred to
as omniscient narrator.
(员)孕造
燥
贼refers to the structure of a story or the events that make up
Plot
( 情节)
a story.
(圆) The plot of a literary work includes the rising action,the
climax,the falling action and the resolution. It has a protagonist
who is opposed by an antagonist,creating what is called conflict.
葬泽
澡遭葬
糟
噪 refers to an event which took place prior to the
(员) 云造
beginning of a story or play.
Flashback
( 倒叙)
( 圆) Flashback is used in Emily Bronts Wuthering Heights. In
Hemingways The Snow of Kilamanjaro, the protagonist, Harry
Street,has been injured on a hunt in Africa. Dying,his mind
becomes preoccupied with incidents in his past. In a flashback Street
remembers one of his wartime comrades dying painfully on barbed
wire on a battlefield in Spain.
造
怎泽
蚤
燥
灶means a reference to a person,a place,an event,or a
(员)粤造
literary work that a writer expects the reader to recognize and
respond to.
Allusion
( 暗指 / 典故)
(圆)An allusion may be drawn from history,geography,literature,
or religion.
(猿)Thackerays Vanity Fair serves as a literary example. The name
of the novel is borrowed from the famous scene in John Bunyans
The Pilgrims Progress.
员怨猿
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
燥贼
葬早
燥
灶蚤
泽
贼refers to the hero or central
(员) In a literary work 孕则
Protagonist
character who is often hindered by some opposing force either human
or animal( 粤灶贼
葬早
燥
灶蚤
泽
贼
)in accomplishing his or her objective.
( 正面人物)
( 圆) For example, Captain Ahab is the protagonist in Herman
Antagonist
( 反面人物)
Melvilles MobyDick whereas the white whale( MobyDick)is the
antagonist.
晕葬
皂藻燥
枣贼
澡藻宰则
蚤
贼
藻
则
宰燥则
噪泽
Charles Dickens
月则
蚤
藻
枣阅藻
泽
糟
则
蚤
责贼
蚤
燥
灶
Oliver Twist tells the story of a poor child
(员
愿
员
圆原员
愿
苑
园)
Oliver Twist
( 查尔斯・狄更斯)
《 雾都孤儿》
named Oliver Twist.
It criticizes the
dehumanizing workhouse system and the
dark,criminal underworld life.
(员) He is one of the
greatest critical realist
David Copperfield
writers of the Victorian
《 大卫・科波菲尔》
David
Copperfield
masterpiece.
Age.
is
regard
as
his
It is about the debtors
(圆)His works are in
Dombey and Son
prison. The story is told in the first
tended to expose and
《 董贝父子》
person,through the mouth of the hero.
Dickens makes good use of his own life
criticize all the poverty,
injustice,hypocrisy and
A Tale of Two Cities
experiences to expose the social evils of his
corruptness of the 员
怨th
《 双城记》
day.
ticularly London.
Bleak House
Dombey and Son exposes the money
《 荒凉山庄》
worship that dominates peoples life,
century England,par
(猿) All his works are
corrupts the young and brings tragedy to
characterized by a ming
ling of humor and pa
Hard Times
《 艰难时世》
thos.
Bleak House attacks the legal system and
(源)He is a master of
storytelling
and
his
characterization is vividly
impressive.
Mr. Dombeys family.
Great Expectations
《 远大前程》
practices that aim at devouring every penny
of the clients.
Characters
in his novels are both
Our Mutual Friends
Hard Times lashes the Utilitarian principle
very individualistic and
《 我们共同的朋友》
that rules over the English education system
very typical of his class.
and destroys young hearts and minds.
摇
员怨源
摇
英国文学简读教程
They also create a very
Great
deep impression in the
Friends expose the overwhelming social
readers mind by their
environment which brings moral degenera
peculiarities
tion and destruction to people.
in
their
Expectations
and
Our
Mutual
physical appearances or
in their manners of
(员)A Tale of Two Cities is about revolution.
speech. His characters
Here Dickens takes the French Revolution
are also very represent
as the background of this novel,and the
ative of his time as is
“ two cities”are Paris and London in the
defined
as “ typical
characters under typi
circumstances ”.
cal
Those characters be
come
proverbial
or
typical of their group
of similar people. For
example,Dombey be
comes a spokesman of
The Old Curiosity Shop
《 老古玩店》
Little Dorrit
《 小杜丽》
The Pickwick Papers
《 匹克威克外传》
time of that revolution.
In this novel
Dickens takes the side of the common
people against the privileged classes.
(圆)The famous opening sentence of the
“ It was the best of
novel runs as follows:
times,it was the worst of times;it was the
age of wisdom, it was the age of
foolishness;it was the epoch of belief,it
was the epoch of incredulity;it was the
those coldblooded self
season of Light, it was the season of
ish people who consider
Darkness;it was the spring of hope,it was
everything in terms of
the winter of despair;we had everything
their
property, and
before us,we had nothing before us;we
Micawber is a repre
were all going directly to Heaven,we were
sentative of exaggerat
all going the other way. ”
ed optimism despite
all the difficulties.
(员)Vanity Fair,A Novel Without a Hero
William Makepeace
Thackeray
(员
愿
员
员原员
愿
远
猿
)
(威廉・麦克皮斯・萨
克雷)
(员)He is one of the
is Thackerays masterpiece.
Vanity Fair
(圆)The subtitle of the novel implies the
《 名利场》
fact that the novelists intention was not to
portray individuals,but the bourgeois and
aristocratic society as a whole.
员怨缘
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
(猿)The name of the novel was borrowed
most important writers
of the English critical
from
John
realism.
Progress.
Bunyans
The
Pilgrims
(圆)Through his Vanity
(源)The heroine is Rebecca Sharp who is
Fair Thackeray sharply
a perfect embodiment of the spirit of
exposes the vices of his
Vanity Fair as her only aspiration in life is
society:hypocrisy,money
to gain wealth and position by any means
worship, and moral
fair or foul.
(缘)Sharp is charming and pretty,but she
degradation.
(猿) It gives a pano
is ambitious. Driven by her ambition,she
ramic view of English
has become a merciless social climber. As
society in early 员
怨th
her name
suggests, Becky
Sharp
is
century which the novel
determined to carve out a place for herself
ist compares with the
in
Vanity Fair described
establishing herself in Vanity Fair at the
in Bunyans book The
cost of the lives of two men and the
Pilgrims Progress.
alienation of all her friends and family.
( 源) The novel traces
Vanity
Fair.
She
succeeds
in
But she enjoys the battle.
chiefly the lifelong ca
reers of its two hero
ines,Rebecca(Becky)
Sharp and Amelia Sed
ley, beginning from
their graduation from
their school.
Charlotte Bront
Jane Eyre
(员愿员
远原员愿
缘缘)
《 简・爱》
(员)She is one of the
Shirley
( 夏洛特・勃朗特)
three Bront sisters.
(员)Jane Eyre is Charlottes masterpiece,
and also one of the most popular and
important novels of the Victorian Age.
《 雪丽》
(圆)It is noted for its sharp criticism of the
existing society,e. g. the religious hypocrisy
of charity institutions such as Lowood
(圆)Her works are all
about the struggle of an
Professor
individual consciousness
《 教师》
School.
(猿)It traces the passionate love between
Jane Eyre and Rochester.
摇
员怨远
摇
英国文学简读教程
selfrealiza
(源)The success of the novel is also due to
tion,about some lone
its introduction to the English novel the
ly and neglected young
first governess heroine,Jane Eyre.
towards
women with a fierce
(缘)Jane Eyre is an orphan child with a
longing for love, un
fiery spirit and a longing to love and be
derstanding and a full,
loved,a poor,plain,little governess who
happy life.
dares to love her master,a man superior to
(猿) All her heroines
Villette
highest joy arises from
《 维莱特》
some sacrifice of self
or some human weak
her in many ways,and even is brave enough
to declare to the man her love for him.
( 远) In the novel Charlotte shapes a
completely new woman image,a woman
ness overcome.
with the spirit of independence and self
dignity.
(苑) The novel is a song of womens
struggle for recognition of their basic rights
and equality as a human being.
(员) Wuthering Heights is a morbid and
Emily Bront
(员愿员
愿原员愿
源愿)
stormy love story between Catherine and
( 艾米莉・勃朗特)
Heathcliff.
(圆)It is also the story about two families
She is a poet,novel
the Earnshaw family and the Linton family
ist, and one of the
three Bront
and an intruding stranger,Heathcliff,an
sisters.
orphan adopted by Mr. Earnshaw.
Critics think she is the
most gifted of the three
sisters.
(猿)It is also a story about the oppressed
Wuthering Heights
《 呼啸山庄》
turnedoppressor. As a waif,the lowest
social
stratum, Heathcliff, eager
for
friendship and love,is looked down upon
and bullied by his social betters.
(源)The ghostly novel suggests some signs
of Gothic romance.
(缘)The narrative technique is also very
brilliant. The story is told in an unusual
way. The story is mainly told by Nelly,
员怨苑
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
Catherines old nurse,to Mr. Lockwood,
a temporary tenant at Grange and the se
quence of the development of the story is
frequently distorted by flashbacks, with
some
supplementary
materials
like
Catherines diary.
(远)“ Wuthering”is Yorkshire dialect for
“ weathering ”,suggesting the strong and
passionate love between Heathcliff and
Catherine.
(苑) The novel is a bitter attack on the
bourgeois marriage system.
Anne Bront
(员愿圆
园原员愿
源怨)
( 安妮・勃朗特)
She is a novelist and
Agnes Grey
《 艾格尼丝・格雷》
one of the three Bront
sisters.
(员)In Memoriam is an elegy on the death
Alfred Tennyson
(员愿园
怨原员愿
怨圆)
of Hallam. The poet here does not merely
(阿尔弗雷德・丁尼生)
(员)He was the most
prolific poet
员怨thcentury
in
the
English
In Memoriam
《 悼念》
show all the qualities of
《 国王叙事诗》
dreaminess
of
Spenser, the majesty
of Milton,the natural
simplicity of Wordsworth,
philosophical and religious thoughts — his
doubts about the meaning of life, the
existence of the soul and the afterlife,and
Break,Break,Break
《 拍吧,拍吧,拍吧》
Englands great poets:
the
poetic diary,the poem is also an elaborate
and powerful expression of the poets
Idylls of the King
literature.
(圆)His wonderful works
dwell on the personal bereavement. As a
his faith in the power of love and the
souls instinct and immortality.
(圆)The real attraction of the poem lies in
Crossing the Bar
《 过沙洲》
its profound feeling and artistic beauty.
The
familiar
trancelike
experience,
musical rhythm and pictorial descriptions
摇
员怨愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
the fantasy of Blake
and Coleridge, the
melody of Keats and
Shelley,and the narra
tive vigor of Scott and
Byron.
make it one of the best elegies in English
literature.
(员)Break,Break,Break is a short lyric
written in memory of Tennysons best
friend,Arthur Hallam,whose death has a
lifelong influence on the poet.
(圆)In it the poets own feelings of sadness
are contrasted with the carefree,innocent
joys of the children and the unfeeling
movement of the ship and the sea waves.
(猿)The beauty of the lyric is to be found
in the musical language and in the
association of sound and images with
feelings and emotions.
Ulysses
(
源) It contains four quatrains, with
《 尤利西斯》
combined iambic and anapaestic feet( 抑
Poems by Two Brothers 抑扬格 ). The rhyme scheme is a b c b.
《 两兄弟诗集》
(员)Crossing the Bar conveys the poets
fearlessness towards death, his faith in
The Princess
God
and an afterlife.
《 公主》
(圆)
“ Crossing the bar”means leaving this
world and entering the next world.
(猿)Sunset,evening star and twilight are
images of the end of life. Sea,tide and
flood are symbols of life. Pilot refers to
God.
(员) Ulysses was written in the form of
dramatic monologue.
(圆) It not only expresses, through the
mouth of the heroic Ulysses,Tennysons
own determination and courage to brave
the struggle of life but also reflects the
restlessness and aspiration of the age.
员怨怨
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
(员) My Last Duchess is his bestknown
Robert Browning
(员愿员
圆原员愿
愿怨)
( 罗伯特・布朗宁)
My Last Duchess
《 我已故的公爵夫人》
(员) He is considered
as the most original
Meeting at Night
poet of the Victorian
《 月夜相会》
Age.
(圆)The name of Brown
Parting at Morning
ing is often associated
《 晨别》
dramatic monologue.
(圆)In the poem,the speaker is the duke,
who talks about his “ last duchess ”,
reveals himself as a selfconceited,cruel
and tyrannical man. The wife the duke
wants must be submissive.
(猿)“ Neptune ”is used to symbolize the
Duke himself,
“a sea horse”his next wife.
with the term“dramatic
monologue”.
The Ring and the Book
《 指环与书》
Home Thoughts from
Abroad
《 异国乡思》
Meeting at Night tells of the man in the
poem, a
lover, who
describes
the
whereabouts of their meeting place.
Parting at Morning is a short poem in
which by describing sunrise the poet
unconsciously expresses his helplessness in
having to face up his duty as a man.
Mathew Arnold
(员愿圆
圆原员愿
愿愿)
( 马修・阿诺德)
(员)He is a great Vic
torian poet and as well
as a leading social crit
ic.
( 圆) His poetry fore
shadows the “ waste
land”of the twentieth
century.
(员)Dover Beach is Arnolds masterpiece.
It touches the major concerns of mid
Victorian writing. It has a memorable
theme: the crisis of faith in the mid
Dover Beach
Victorian world,which was generated by
《 多拂海滩》
German biblical scholarship of the Higher
Criticism and the unsettling revolution of
Culture and Anarchy
Darwinism.
《 文化与无政府状态》 (圆) The poem is filled with a sense of
sadness, expressing the poets bitter
disappointment over modern civilization in
Essays in Criticism
which meaningless wars are fought for
《 文学评论集》
meaningless causes.
(猿)The poet finally turns to love as the
saving emotion in the poem when he says:
“ Love,let us be true to one another”.
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(员) Middlemarch,a Study of Provincial
George Eliot
(员愿员
怨原员愿
愿园)
Life,has been known as one of the most
( 乔治・艾略特)
mature works in English literature.
(圆
)It provides a panoramic view of life in a
(员) She is a woman
small English town,Middlemarch,and its
writer of the latter half
surrounding countryside in the mid员
怨
th
of the 员怨th century.
century.
Her real name is Mary
(猿)It is mainly centered on the lives of
Ann Evans.
Dorothea Brooke,the heroine,and Tertius
(圆)D. H. Lawrence
Lydgate,both of whom are shown to have
regarded George Eliot
great potentials and ambitions,but both fail
as the first novelist that
“ started putting all the
The Mill on the Floss
《 弗洛斯河上的磨坊》
actions inside”.
have two features:moral
Silas Marner
teaching and psycho
《 织工马南》
(源)As a woman of ex
ceptional
intelligence
and
experience,
Middlemarch
《 米德尔马契》
well
as
their
own
(员
)The Mill on the Floss is about a brother
Adam Bede
particular concern for
《 亚当・比德》
the destiny of women,
especially those with
great intelligence,po
tential and social aspi
rations. In her mind,
the pathetic tragedy of
women lies in their
very birth. Their infe
and
limited social life de
termine that they must
of a welltodo miller. Maggie is lovely,
bright,and full of aspirations and ideals,but
the people around her are silly and narrow
George Eliot shows a
education
as
Torn and a sister Maggie. They are children
logical realism.
rior
environment
vulnerabilities.
(猿)Most of her novels
life
in achieving their goals owing to the social
minded. They cannot understand her noble
ideals. A misunderstanding arises between
Tom and Maggie. Maggie is driven away by
his brother. Then there is a flood and
Maggie comes back to save her brother.
They get reconciled before they are drowned
in the flood.
(圆)Maggies tragedy shows the irreconci
lability of a gifted and nobleminded
personality with these dull and narrow
minded people.
圆园员
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
depend on men for sus
tenance and realization
of their goals, and
they have only to fulfill
the domestic duties ex
pected of them by the
society. Their opportu
nities of success are
not even increased by
wealth.
(员) Tess of the D Urbervilles tells the
Thomas Hardy
(员
愿
源
园原员
怨
圆
愿)
tragic life story of a beautiful,innocent
( 托马斯・哈代)
peasant girl,Tess.
(圆)It is a fierce attack on the hypocritical
)Thomas Hardy is a
(员
great poet as well as a
The Return of the Native
morality of the bourgeois society and the
great critical and natu
《 还乡》
capitalist invasion into the country and
ralistic novelist. His no
destruction
of
the
English
peasantry
towards the end of the century.
vels reveal a profound The Mayor of Casterbridge
(猿)The subtitle of the novel is A Pure
《 卡斯特桥市长》
pessimistic sense of hu
Woman. It shows Hardys deep sympathy
man subjection to fate
Tess of the D Urbervilles for Tess.
and circumstance.
(源)In Tess,man is portrayed as not being
《 德伯家的苔丝》
(圆)Most of his novels
able to control his own fate.
are set in Wessex, a
(缘)Darwininism and determinism( Natu
Jude the Obscure
fictional primitive re
ralism)prevail in Tess and other works.
《 无名德裘德》
gion. They are known
(远)There is bitter and sharp criticism and
for the vivid descrip
open challenge of the irrational,hypocritical
Far from the Madding
tion of the vicissitudes
and unfair Victorian institutions,conventions
Crowd
of people who live in
and morals which strangle the individual will
《 远离尘嚣》
an agricultural setting
and destroy natural human emotions and
threatened by the forces
relations.
of invading capitalism.
( 苑) Tesss tragedy is closely linked
(猿)These works are
with the final disintegration of peasantry in
known as“ novels of
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character and environ
England,and it exposes the cruel capitalist
ment”.
exploitation in the English country side as
(源) He not only ex
well as
the
hypocritical
morality
in
bourgeois society.
posed and criticized all
sorts of social prob
(愿) Hardys pessimism is fully revealed
lems,but finally came
when Tesss tragedy is attributed to chance
to question and attack
and fate.
the Victorian conven
tions and morals.
(缘)Hardy experienced
a change from being
cheerful and optimistic
to despairing and pessi
mistic in his writing
career.
Oscar Wilde
(员愿缘
源原员怨
园园)
An Ideal Husband
《 一个理想的丈夫》
( 奥斯卡・王尔德)
He is a spokesman for
the “ aesthetic move
The Picture of Dorain Gray is a story
about a handsome young man and his
selfish pursuit of sensual pleasures.
The Importance of
Being Earnest
《 认真的重要性》
ment ”. He advocated
the theory of“ art for The Picture of Dorain Gray
《 道林・格雷的画像》
arts sake”.
A Woman of No Importance
《 一个无足轻重的女人》
Lady Windermeres Fan
《 温德米尔夫人的扇子》
The Happy Prince and
Other Tales
《 快乐王子故事集》
圆园猿
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
Treasure Island
Robert Stevenson
《 金银岛》
( 罗伯特・史蒂文森)
Kidnapped
(员愿缘
园原员愿
怨源)
《 诱拐》
II. William Makepeace Thackeray
员
灾葬灶蚤
贼
赠云葬蚤
则
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬
责贼
藻
则员
悦澡蚤
泽
憎蚤
糟
噪酝葬造
造
郾郾
郾
So that when the day of departure came,between her two customs of laughing and crying,
Miss Sedley was greatly puzzled how to act. She was glad to go home,and yet most woefully sad
at leaving school. For three days before,little Laura Martin,the orphan,followed her about like
a little dog. She had to make and receive at least fourteen presents—to make fourteen solemn
promises of writing every week:
“ Send my letters under cover to my grandpapa,the Earl of
Dexter,”said Miss Saltire( who,by the way,was rather shabby).“ Never mind the postage,but
write every day,you dear darling,”said the impetuous and woollyheaded,but generous and
affectionate Miss Swartz;and the orphan little Laura Martin( who was just in roundhand),took
her friends hand and said,looking up in her face wistfully,
“ Amelia,when I write to you I shall
call you Mamma. ”All which details,I have no doubt,JONES圆,who reads this book at his
Club,will pronounce to be excessively foolish,trivial,twaddling,and ultrasentimental. Yes;I
can see Jones at this minute( rather flushed with his joint of mutton and half pint of wine),taking
out his pencil and scoring under the words“ foolish,twaddling,”etc. ,and adding to them his
own remark of“ QUITE TRUE. ”Well,he is a lofty man of genius,and admires the great and
heroic in life and novels;and so had better take warning and go elsewhere.
Well,then. The flowers,and the presents,and the trunks,and bonnetboxes of Miss Sedley
having been arranged by Mr. Sambo in the carriage,together with a very small and weatherbeaten
old cowsskin trunk with Miss Sharps card neatly nailed upon it,which was delivered by Sambo
with a grin,and packed by the coachman with a corresponding sneer — the hour for parting came;
and the grief of that moment was considerably lessened by the admirable discourse which Miss
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Pinkerton addressed to her pupil. Not that the parting speech caused Amelia to philosophise,or that
it armed her in any way with a calmness,the result of argument;but it was intolerably dull,
pompous,and tedious;and having the fear of her schoolmistress greatly before her eyes,Miss
Sedley did not venture,in her presence,to give way to any ebullitions of private grief. A seedcake
and a bottle of wine were produced in the drawingroom,as on the solemn occasions of the visits of
parents,and these refreshments being partaken of,Miss Sedley was at liberty to depart.
“ Youll go in and say goodbye to Miss Pinkerton,Becky!”said Miss Jemima to a young
lady of whom nobody took any notice,and who was coming downstairs with her own bandbox.
“ I suppose I must,”said Miss Sharp calmly,and much to the wonder of Miss Jemima;and
the latter having knocked at the door,and receiving permission to come in,Miss Sharp advanced
in a very unconcerned manner,and said in French,and with a perfect accent,
“ Mademoiselle,je
viens vous faire mes adieux猿. ”
Miss Pinkerton did not understand French;she only directed those who did:but biting her
lips and throwing up her venerable and Romannosed head( on the top of which figured a large
and solemn turban),she said,
“ Miss Sharp,I wish you a good morning. ”As the Hammersmith
Semiramis spoke,she waved one hand,both by way of adieu,and to give Miss Sharp an
opportunity of shaking one of the fingers of the hand which was left out for that purpose.
Miss Sharp only folded her own hands with a very frigid smile and bow,and quite declined
to accept the proffered honour;on which Semiramis tossed up her turban more indignantly than
ever. In fact,it was a little battle between the young lady and the old one,and the latter was
worsted.“ Heaven bless you,my child,”said she,embracing Amelia,and scowling the while
over the girls shoulder at Miss Sharp. “ Come away,Becky,”said Miss Jemima,pulling the
young woman away in great alarm,and the drawingroom door closed upon them for ever.
Then came the struggle and parting below. Words refuse to tell it. All the servants were there
in the hall—all the dear friend—all the young ladies—the dancingmaster who had just arrived;
and there was such a scuffling,and hugging,and kissing,and crying,with the hysterical YOOPS
of Miss Swartz,the parlourboarder,from her room,as no pen can depict,and as the tender heart
would fain pass over. The embracing was over;they parted—that is,Miss Sedley parted from her
friends. Miss Sharp had demurely entered the carriage some minutes before. Nobody cried for
leaving HER.
Sambo of the bandy legs slammed the carriage door on his young weeping mistress. He
sprang up behind the carriage.“ Stop!”cried Miss Jemima,rushing to the gate with a parcel.
“ Its some sandwiches,my dear,”said she to Amelia. “ You may be hungry,you know;
and Becky,Becky Sharp,heres a book for you that my sister—that is,I —Johnsons Dixonary,
you know;you mustnt leave us without that. Goodby. Drive on,coachman. God bless you!”
圆园缘
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
And the kind creature retreated into the garden,overcome with emotion.
But,lo!and just as the coach drove off,Miss Sharp put her pale face out of the window and
actually flung the book back into the garden.
This almost caused Jemima to faint with terror. “ Well,I never”— said she —“ what an
audacious—”Emotion prevented her from completing either sentence. The carriage rolled away;
the great gates were closed;the bell rang for the dancing lesson. The world is before the two
young ladies;and so,farewell to Chiswick Mall.
员. The title,Vanity Fair,or A Novel Without a Hero(员
愿源
苑原员
愿源
愿),is borrowed from John
Bunyans The Pilgrims Process. In Bunyans book,vanity fair is a place where everything can
be bought and sold including honor,wives,positions,cheat,adultery and other various forms
of evil are commonly seen there. Thackerays Vanity Fair reflects the English society of his
time which is just a broad vanity fair. The book gives a satire:the human relationships are
only an extension of money and wealth. It exposes the hypocrisy,injustice and other evils of
the upper class and reveals the suffering and misery of the lower class. The upper class shows
a snobbish attitude towards the poor while the lower class tries to climb social ladders by all
possible means. This scene is about the farewell to the school. Because of her rich family,
Amelia was flattered by all the people while Sharp,due to her poverty and humbleness,did
not receive any attention. The most snobbish representative is the headmaster. The following
selected passage shows the protagonist is very clever,determined,practical and of strong
personality. As a strongminded girl, Becky will not yield to the powerful majestic
schoolmaster. She only does what she is obliged to do,no more at all unless she is rewarded.
So there is a kind of bargain between her and the majestic mistress of the school.
圆. JONES:a common English name,refers to a common reader in general sense
猿.“ Mademoiselle,je viens vous faire mes adieux. ”:
( French)Madame,I come to say goodbye
to you.
员. How does Miss Pinkerton treat Amelia and Rebecca differently?What personality do her words
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and acts reveal?Whats Rebeccas reaction?
圆. How does the author portray Amelia and Rebecca respectively?How are they different from
each other?
猿. Illustrates the authors use of humor and satire.
III. Alfred Tennyson
员
哉造
赠泽
泽
藻
泽
It little profits that an idle King圆,
By this still hearth,among these barren crags,
Matched with an aged wife猿,I mete and dole源,
Unequal laws unto a savage race缘
That hoard,and sleep,and feed,and know not me远.
摇摇I cannot rest from travel;I will drink
Life to the lees苑:all times I have enjoyed
Greatly,have suffered greatly,both with those
That loved,me and alone;on shore,and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vexed the dim sea. I am become愿 a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known—cities of men
And manners,climates,councils,governments,
Myself not least,but honored of them all怨—
And drunk delight of battle with my peers员园,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough员员
Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades
Forever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause,to make an end,
To rust unburnished,not to shine in use!
As though to breathe were life. Life piled on life
Were all to little,and of one to me,
圆园苑
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
Little remains员圆;but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence,something more,
A bringer of new things;and vile it were
For some three suns员猿 to store and hoard myself,
And this grey spirit员源 yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
摇摇This is my son,mine own Telemachus员缘,
To whom I leave the scepter and the isle员远—
Wellloved of me,discerning to fulfill
This labor员苑,by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people,and through soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he,centered in the sphere
Of common duties,decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness,and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work,I mine.
摇摇There lies the port;the vessel puffs her sail;
There gloom the dark,broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toiled,and wrought,and thought with me—
That ever with a frolic员愿 welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine,and opposed
Free hearts,free foreheads—you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.
Death closes all;but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note,may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove员怨 with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;
The long day wanes;the slow moon climbs;the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come,my friends,
Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off,and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows;for my purpose holds
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To sail beyond the sunset,and the baths
Of all the western stars,until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles圆园,
And see the great Achilles,whom we knew.
Though much is taken,much abides;and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven,that圆员 which we are,we are—
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate,but strong in will
To strive,to seek,to find,and not to yield.
员. Ulysses(员
愿源圆)is actually in the form of a dramatic monologue of Ulysses,whose story is
taken from Dantes Inferno XXVI. According to Dante,after Ulysses had turned home to
Ithaca and had settled down to rule his land kingdom,he became restless and desired to set out
on another voyage of exploration to the west. At old age he persuaded a band of his followers
to accompany him on such a voyage. “ Consider your origin”,he addressed them,
“ ye were
not formed to live like brutes,but to follow virtue and knowledge( Inferno XXVI)”. This
poem was composed after the death of Arthur Henry Hallam,Tennysons intimate friend,in
员
愿
猿猿. Tennyson said it“ was written under the sense of loss,and that all had gone by,but that
still life must be fought out to the end. ”This poem not only shows Tennyson in his mood of
great courage,but also reflects the unrest and the common aspirations of the period.
圆. an idle King:refers to Ulysses,the king of Ithaca
猿. an aged wife:refers to Penelope,Ulysses wife
源. mete and dole:measure and give
缘. a savage race:the people of the Ithaca
远. know not me:dont know me
苑. the lees:the bitter undrinkable thick matter( sediment)at the bottom of a wine bottle
愿. I am become:I have become
怨. Myself not least,but honored of them all:I am not the least but honored.
员
园. peers:companions
员
员. wherethrough:through which
圆园怨
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
员
圆. of one to me / little remains:little of one remains to me
员
猿. three suns:three years
员
源. this grey spirit:the old spirit,here refers to Ulysses himself
员
缘. Telemachus:the son of Ulysses
员
远. the isle:the isle of Ithaca
员
苑. this labor:to make a rugged people mild
员
愿. frolic:happy,merry,full of fun
员
怨. strove:struggled,competed
圆
园. Happy Isles:Elysium,the bliss world after death
圆
员. that:refers to“ One equal temper of heroic hearts”
员. What kind of life does Ulysses lead now on the Island of Ithaca?What was his life like in the
past before he returned home from the Trojan war?What is Ulysses attitude toward life?
圆. In Ulysses,there are images recalling the epic world of adventure such as“ the ringing plains of
windy Troy”. Find other examples of such imagery in the poem and explain them.
猿. At the end of the poem,Ulysses decides not to yield. What does he not yield to?
IV. Robert Browning
员
酝赠蕴葬泽
贼阅怎糟
澡藻
泽
泽
( Ferrara圆)
Thats my Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder,now:Fra Pandolfs猿 hands
Worked busily a day,and there she stands.
Willt please you sit and look at her源?I said
“ Fra Pandolf”by design,for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned( since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you,but I)
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And seemed as they would ask me,if they durst缘,
How such a glance came there;so,not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus远. Sir,twas not
Her husbands presence only,called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess cheek:perhaps
Fra Pandolf chanced to say,
“ Her mantle laps
Over my ladys wrist too much,”or“ Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Halfflush that dies along her throat”:such stuff
Was courtesy,she thought,and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad
Too easily impressed;she liked whater
She looked on,and her looks went everywhere.
Sir,twas all one!My favour苑 at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her,the white mule
She rode with round the terrace—all and each
Would draw from her like the approving speech,
Or blush,at least. She thanked men —good!But thanked
Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked
My gift of a ninehundredyearsold name
With anybodys gift. Whod stoop to blame
This sort of trifling?Even had you skill
In speech—( which I have not)—to make your will
“ Just this
Quite clear to such an one愿,and say,
Or that in you disgusts me;here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark”—and if she let
Herself be lessoned so,nor plainly set
Her wits to yours,forsooth怨,and made excuse
—Een then would be some stooping;and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh sir,she smiled,no doubt,
Whenere I passed her;but who passed without
圆员员
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
Much the same smile?This grew;I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Willt please you rise?Well meet
The company below,then. I repeat,
The Count员园 your masters known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretense员员
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughters self,as I avowed
At starting,is my object. Nay,well go
Together down,sir. Notice Neptune员圆,though,
Taming a sea horse,thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck员猿 cast in bronze for me!
员. My Last Duchess is one of the best known of Brownings dramatic monologues. The speaker in
this poem is apparently a certain duke of Ferrara. This feudal ruler who had ruthlessly put to
death his first wife is negotiating with an agent from a certain Count for the hand of the Counts
daughter,and in this monologue the duke is represented as trying to tell the agent very frankly
about his“ last duchess ” whose portrait they have been looking at in the course of the
interview. Browning regards dramatic monologue as an ingenious way to explore his literary
gift without getting too personal. In fact,he keeps a good distance from the characters. Just as
is expressed in My Last Duchess, through the Dukes selfjustification, his cruelty and
callousness are revealed step by step.
圆. Ferrara:a famous city in Italy
猿. Fra Pandolf:Brother Pandolf
源. Willt please you sit and look at her:Will it please you to sit and look at her?
缘. durst:dared
远. not the first / Are you to turn and ask thus:You are not the first to turn and ask the question.
苑. my favour:the ornament I give to her
愿. such an one:the Duchess
怨. forsooth:indeed
员
园. the Count:the Count of Tyrol who will marry his daughter to the Duke
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圆员圆
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英国文学简读教程
员
员. pretense:claim
员
圆. Neptune:the sea god
员
猿. Claus of Innsbruck:the legendary sculptor
员. What sentences in the poem suggest that the Duke is an intelligent,cultivated Renaissance
nobleman?What sentences suggest that he is egotistical,tyrannical,and ruthless?
圆. Why was the Duke dissatisfied with his last Duchess?What do you get of the Duchess
personality from the Dukes monologue?Whats the Dukes opinion of the Duchess?
猿. Why does the Duke show the agent a bronze sculpture at the end of the poem?What does this
work of art suggest about the theme of the poem as a whole?
V. Charles Dickens
员
韵造
蚤
增藻
则栽憎蚤
泽
贼
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬
责贼
藻
则陨
陨
郾郾
郾
For the first six months after Oliver Twist was removed,the system was in full operation. It
was rather expensive at first,in consequence of the increase in the undertakers bill,and the
necessity of taking in the clothes of all the paupers,which fluttered loosely on their wasted,
shrunken forms,after a week or twos gruel. But the number of workhouse inmates got thin as
well as the paupers;and the board were in ecstasies.
The room in which the boys were fed,was a large stone hall,with a copper at one end:out
of which the master,dressed in an apron for the purpose圆,and assisted by one or two women,
ladled the gruel at mealtimes. Of this festive composition each boy had one porringer,and no
more—except on occasions of great public rejoicing猿,when he had two ounces and a quarter of
bread besides. The bowls never wanted washing. The boys polished them with their spoons till
they shone again;and when they had performed this operation( which never took very long,the
spoons being nearly as large as the bowls),they would sit staring at the copper,with such eager
eyes,as if they could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed;employing
themselves,meanwhile,in sucking their fingers most assiduously,with the view of 源catching up
圆员猿
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
any stray splashes of gruel that might have been cast thereon. Boys have generally excellent
appetites. Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three
months:at last they got so voracious and wild with hunger,that one boy,who was tall for his
缘
age,and hadnt been used to that sort of thing(
for his father had kept a small cookshop),hinted
darkly to his companions,that unless he had another basin of gruel per diem远,he was afraid he
might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next him,who happened to be a weakly youth
of tender age. He had a wild,hungry eye;and they implicitly believed him. A council was held;
lots were cast who should walk up to the master after supper that evening,and ask for more;and
it fell to Oliver Twist.
The evening arrived;the boys took their places. The master,in his cooks uniform,stationed
himself at the copper;his pauper assistants ranged themselves behind him;the gruel was served
out;and a long grace was said over the short commons. The gruel disappeared;the boys
whispered each other,and winked at Oliver;while his next neighbours nudged him. Child as he
was,he was desperate with hunger,and reckless with misery. He rose from the table;and
advancing to the master,basin and spoon in hand,said;somewhat alarmed at his own temerity:
“ Please,sir,I want some more. ”
The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupified
astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds,and then clung for support to the copper. The
assistants were paralysed with wonder;the boys with fear.
“ What!”said the master at length,in a faint voice.
“ Please,sir,”replied Oliver,
“ I want some more. ”
The master aimed a blow at Olivers head with the ladle;pinioned him in his arm;and
shrieked aloud for the beadle.
The board were sitting in solemn conclave苑,when Mr. Bumble rushed into the room in great
excitement,and addressing the gentleman in the high chair,said,
“ Mr. Limbkins,I beg your pardon,sir!Oliver Twist has asked for more!”
There was a general start. Horror was depicted on every countenance.
“ For more!”said Mr. Limbkins. “ Compose yourself,Bumble,and answer me distinctly.
Do I understand that he asked for more,after he had eaten the supper allotted by the dietary?”
“ He did,sir,”replied Bumble.
“ That boy will be hung,”said the gentleman in the white waistcoat. “ I know that boy will
be hung. ”
Nobody controverted the prophetic gentlemans opinion. An animated discussion took place.
Oliver was ordered into instant confinement;and a bill was next morning pasted on the outside of
the gate,offering a reward of five pounds to anybody who would take Oliver Twist off the hands
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英国文学简读教程
of the parish愿. In other words,five pounds and Oliver Twist were offered to any man or woman
who wanted an apprentice to any trade,business,or calling.
“ I never was more convinced of anything in my life,” said the gentleman in the white
waistcoat,as he knocked at the gate and read the bill next morning:
“ I never was more convinced
of anything in my life,than I am that that boy will come to be hung. ”
As I purpose to show in the sequel whether the whitewaistcoated gentleman was right or
not,I should perhaps mar the interest of this narrative( supposing it to possess any at all),if I
ventured to hint just yet,whether the life of Oliver Twist had this violent termination or no.
员. Oliver Twist,which is considered Dickens first novel,began to appear in a monthly magazine
愿猿苑. The novel is famous for its vivid descriptions of the workhouse and life of the
in 员
underworld in the 员怨th century London. The excerpt is about the famous classic scene of
“ asking for more. ”Because of his severe hunger,Oliver cant help asking for more gruel and
then he is punished for this audacious and rebellious behavior and is sold away. It shows the
cruelty and inhumanity of charity school.
圆. for the purpose:to have a meal
猿. occasions of great public rejoicing:occasions of celebrating festivals
源. with the view of:for the purpose of
缘. that sort of thing:the tortures of slow starvation
远. per diem:each day
苑. sitting in solemn conclave:having a secret meeting
愿. take Oliver Twist off the hands of the parish:take Oliver Twist away from the parish
员. Why is the boy punished just for asking for more?
圆. Which passage in this chapter shows Dickens humor in expression?
猿. Discuss how the writer tells the story from the boys viewpoint.
圆员缘
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
阅葬
增蚤
凿悦燥责责藻
则
枣
蚤
藻
造
凿员
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬
责贼
藻
则陨
灾
...
There had been some talk on occasions圆 of my going to boardingschool. Mr. and Miss
Murdstone had originated猿 it,and my mother had of course agreed with them. Nothing,however,
was concluded on the subject yet. In the meantime,I learnt lessons at home.
Shall I ever forget those lessons!They were presided over nominally by my mother,but
really by Mr. Murdstone and his sister,who were always present,and found them a favourable
occasion for giving my mother lessons in that miscalled firmness源,which was the bane of both our
lives. I believe I was kept at home for that purpose. I had been apt enough to learn,and willing
enough,when my mother and I had lived alone together. I can faintly remember learning the
alphabet at her knee. To this day,when I look upon the fat black letters in the primer,the
puzzling novelty of their shapes缘,and the easy goodnature of O and Q and S,seem to present
themselves again before me as they used to do. But they recall no feeling of disgust or reluctance.
On the contrary,I seem to have walked along a path of flowers as far as the crocodilebook,and
to have been cheered by the gentleness of my mothers voice and manner all the way. But these
solemn lessons which succeeded those,I remember as the deathblow of my peace,and a grievous
daily drudgery and misery. They were very long, very numerous, very hard—perfectly
unintelligible,some of them,to me—and I was generally as much bewildered by them as I
believe my poor mother was herself.
Let me remember how it used to be,and bring one morning back again.
I come into the secondbest parlour after breakfast,with my books,and an exercisebook,
and a slate. My mother is ready for me at her writingdesk,but not half so ready as Mr.
Murdstone in his easychair by the window( though he pretends to be reading a book),or as Miss
Murdstone,sitting near my mother stringing steel beads. The very sight of these two has such an
influence over me,that I begin to feel the words I have been at infinite pains to get into my head,
all sliding away,and going I dont know where. I wonder where they do go,by the by?
I hand the first book to my mother. Perhaps it is a grammar, perhaps a history, or
geography. I take a last drowning look at the page as I give it into her hand,and start off aloud at
a racing pace while I have got it fresh. I trip over a word. Mr. Murdstone looks up. I trip over
another word. Miss Murdstone looks up. I redden,tumble over halfadozen words,and stop. I
think my mother would show me the book if she dared,but she does not dare,and she says
softly:
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英国文学简读教程
“ Oh,Davy,Davy!”
“ Now,Clara远,”says Mr. Murdstone,
“ be firm with the boy. Dont say,
‘ Oh,Davy,
Davy!’Thats childish. He knows his lesson,or he does not know it. ”
“ He does not know it,”Miss Murdstone interposes awfully.
“ I am really afraid he does not,”says my mother.
“ Then,you see,Clara,”returns Miss Murdstone,
“ you should just give him the book back,
and make him know it. ”
“ Yes,certainly,”says my mother;
“ that is what I intend to do,my dear Jane苑. Now,
Davy,try once more,and dont be stupid. ”
I obey the first clause of the injunction by trying once more,but am not so successful with
the second,for I am very stupid. I tumble down before I get to the old place,at a point where I
was all right before,and stop to think. But I cant think about the lesson. I think of the number of
yards of net in Miss Murdstones cap,or of the price of Mr. Murdstones dressinggown,or any
such ridiculous problem that I have no business with,and dont want to have anything at all to do
with. Mr. Murdstone makes a movement of impatience which I have been expecting for a long
time. Miss Murdstone does the same. My mother glances submissively at them,shuts the book,
and lays it by as an arrear to be worked out when my other tasks are done.
There is a pile of these arrears very soon,and it swells like a rolling snowball. The bigger it
gets,the more stupid I get. The case is so hopeless,and I feel that I am wallowing in such a bog
of nonsense,that I give up all idea of getting out,and abandon myself to my fate. The despairing
way in which my mother and I look at each other,as I blunder on,is truly melancholy. But the
greatest effect in these miserable lessons is when my mother( thinking nobody is observing her)
tries to give me the cue by the motion of her lips. At that instant,Miss Murdstone,who has been
lying in wait for nothing else all along,says in a deep warning voice:
“ Clara!”
My mother starts,colours,and smiles faintly. Mr. Murdstone comes out of his chair,takes
the book,throws it at me or boxes my ears with it,and turns me out of the room by the
shoulders.
Even when the lessons are done,the worst is yet to happen,in the shape of an appalling
sum. This is invented for me,and delivered to me orally by Mr. Murdstone,and begins,
“ If I go
into a cheesemongers shop,and buy five thousand doubleGloucester cheeses at fourpence—
halfpenny each,present payment”—at which I see Miss Murdstone secretly overjoyed. I pore
over愿 these cheeses without any result or enlightenment until dinnertime,when,having made a
Mulatto of myself by getting the dirt of the slate into the pores of my skin,I have a slice of bread
to help me out with the cheeses,and am considered in disgrace for the rest of the evening.
圆员苑
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
It seems to me,at this distance of time怨,as if my unfortunate studies generally took this
course. I could have done very well if I had been without the Murdstones;but the influence of the
Murdstones upon me was like the fascination of two snakes on a wretched young bird员园. Even
when I did get through the morning with tolerable credit,there was not much gained but dinner;
for Miss Murdstone never could endure to see me untasked,and if I rashly made any show of
being unemployed,called her brothers attention to me by saying,Clara,my dear,theres
nothing like work give your boy an exercise;which caused me to be clapped down to some new
labour,there and then. As to any recreation with other children of my age,I had very little of
that;for the gloomy theology of the Murdstones made all children out to be a swarm of little
vipers( though there was a child once set in the midst of the Disciples),and held that they
contaminated one another.
The natural result of this treatment,continued,I suppose,for some six months or more,was
to make me sullen,dull,and dogged. I was not made the less so by my sense of being daily more
and more shut out and alienated from my mother. I believe I should have been almost stupefied
but for one circumstance.
郾郾
郾
员. David is a posthumous son and his mother remarries Mr. Murdstone. His stepfather is very
merciless towards the mother and the child. The excerpt is about Davids childhood and it
vividly shows the subtle psychology of a child:fearful and worried. The whole reciting scene
is described from the point of view of an innocent child.
圆. on occasions:sometimes
猿. originate:initiate,suggest
源. that miscalled firmness:according to the author,that firmness is wrong.
缘. the puzzling novelty of their shapes:The new shapes of the letters make the little boy puzzled.
远. Clara:the name of Davids mother
苑. Jane:the name of Miss Murdstone
愿. pore over:ponder;think over
怨. at this distance of time:after long time had passed
员
园. like the fascination of two snakes on a wretched young bird:This is a metaphor. Mr.
Murderstone and Miss Murderstone are like two snakes which nearly scare the little boy( who
is like a wretched young bird)to death.
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圆员愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. Dickens is a master at creating comic and unforgettable characters. Cite examples to show how
Dickens portrays Mr. and Miss Murderstone.
圆. Comment on the authors language. Which passage impresses you most in this chapter?Why?
猿. Discuss the writers writing techniques in describing the boys nervousness.
VI. Charlotte Bront
员
允
葬灶藻耘赠则
藻
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬责贼
藻
则灾
...
The afternoon came on wet and somewhat misty:as it waned into dusk,I began to feel that
we were getting very far indeed from Gateshead:we ceased to pass through towns;the country
changed;great grey hills heaved up round the horizon:as twilight deepened,we descended a
valley,dark with wood,and long after night had overclouded the prospect,I heard a wild wind
rushing amongst trees.
Lulled by the sound,I at last dropped asleep;I had not long slumbered when the sudden
cessation of motion awoke me;the coachdoor was open,and a person like a servant was standing
at it:I saw her face and dress by the light of the lamps.
“ Is there a little girl called Jane Eyre here?”she asked. I answered“ Yes”,and was then
lifted out;my trunk was handed down,and the coach instantly drove away.
I was stiff with long sitting,and bewildered with the noise and motion of the coach:
gathering my faculties圆,I looked about me. Rain,wind,and darkness filled the air;nevertheless,
I dimly discerned a wall before me and a door open in it;through this door I passed with my new
guide:she shut and locked it behind her. There was now visible a house or houses—for the
building spread far—with many windows,and lights burning in some;we went up a broad pebbly
path,splashing wet,and were admitted at a door;then the servant led me through a passage into
a room with a fire,where she left me alone.
I stood and warmed my numbed fingers over the blaze,then I looked round;there was no
candle,but the uncertain light from the hearth showed,by intervals,papered walls,carpet,
curtains,shining mahogany furniture:it was a parlour,not so spacious or splendid as the drawing
圆员怨
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
room at Gateshead,but comfortable enough. I was puzzling to make out the subject of a picture
on the wall,when the door opened,and an individual carrying a light entered;another followed
close behind.
The first was a tall lady with dark hair,dark eyes,and a pale and large forehead;her figure
was partly enveloped in a shawl,her countenance was grave,her bearing erect猿.
“ The child is very young to be sent alone,”said she,putting her candle down on the table.
She considered me attentively for a minute or two,then further added—
“ She had better be put to bed soon;she looks tired:are you tired?”she asked,placing her
hand on my shoulder.
“ A little,maam. ”
“ And hungry too,no doubt:let her have some supper before she goes to bed,Miss Miller.
Is this the first time you have left your parents to come to school,my little girl?”
I explained to her that I had no parents. She inquired how long they had been dead:then how
old I was,what was my name,whether I could read,write,and sew a little:then she touched my
cheek gently with her forefinger,and saying,
“ She hoped I should be a good child,”dismissed
me along with Miss Miller.
The lady I had left might be about twentynine;the one who went with me appeared some
years younger:the first impressed me by her voice,look,and air. Miss Miller was more
ordinary;ruddy in complexion,though of a careworn countenance;hurried in gait and action,
like one who had always a multiplicity of tasks on hand源:she looked,indeed,what I afterwards
found she really was,an underteacher缘. Led by her,I passed from compartment to compartment,
from passage to passage,of a large and irregular building;till,emerging from the total and
somewhat dreary silence pervading that portion of the house we had traversed,we came upon the
hum of many voices,and presently entered a wide,long room,with great deal tables远,two at
each end,on each of which burnt a pair of candles,and seated all round on benches,a
congregation of girls of every age,from nine or ten to twenty. Seen by the dim light of the dips,
their number to me appeared countless, though not in reality exceeding eighty; they were
uniformly dressed in brown stuff frocks of quaint fashion,and long Holland pinafores苑. It was the
hour of study;they were engaged in conning over their tomorrows task,and the hum I had heard
was the combined result of their whispered repetitions.
Miss Miller signed to me to sit on a bench near the door,then walking up to the top of the
long room she cried out—
“ Monitors,collect the lessonbooks and put them away!”
Four tall girls arose from different tables,and going round,gathered the books and removed
them. Miss Miller again gave the word of command—
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英国文学简读教程
“ Monitors,fetch the suppertrays!”
The tall girls went out and returned presently, each bearing a tray, with portions of
something,I knew not what,arranged thereon,and a pitcher of water and mug in the middle of
each tray. The portions were handed round;those who liked took a draught of the water,the mug
being common to all. When it came to my turn,I drank,for I was thirsty,but did not touch the
food,excitement and fatigue rendering me incapable of eating;I now saw,however,that it was a
thin oaten cake shared into fragments.
The meal over,prayers were read by Miss Miller,and the classes filed off,two and two,
upstairs. Overpowered by this time with weariness,I scarcely noticed what sort of a place the
bedroom was,except that,like the schoolroom,I saw it was very long. Tonight I was to be
Miss Millers bedfellow;she helped me to undress:when laid down I glanced at the long rows of
beds,each of which was quickly filled with two occupants;in ten minutes the single light was
extinguished,and amidst silence and complete darkness I fell asleep.
The night passed rapidly:I was too tired even to dream;I only once awoke to hear the wind
rave in furious gusts,and the rain fall in torrents,and to be sensible that Miss Miller had taken her
place by my side. When I again unclosed my eyes,a loud bell was ringing;the girls were up and
dressing;day had not yet begun to dawn,and a rushlight or two burned in the room. I too rose
reluctantly;it was bitter cold,and I dressed as well as I could for shivering,and washed when
there was a basin at liberty愿,which did not occur soon,as there was but one basin to six girls,on
the stands down the middle of the room. Again the bell rang;all formed in file,two and two,
and in that order descended the stairs and entered the cold and dimly lit schoolroom:here prayers
were read by Miss Miller;afterwards she called out—
“ Form classes!”
A great tumult succeeded怨 for some minutes,during which Miss Miller repeatedly exclaimed,
Silence!
“ and Order!”When it subsided,I saw them all drawn up in four semicircles,before
four chairs,placed at the four tables;all held books in their hands,and a great book,like a
Bible,lay on each table,before the vacant seat. A pause of some seconds succeeded,filled up by
the low,vague hum of numbers;Miss Miller walked from class to class,hushing this indefinite
sound.
A distant bell tinkled:immediately three ladies entered the room,each walked to a table and
took her seat;Miss Miller assumed the fourth vacant chair,which was that nearest the door,and
around which the smallest of the children were assembled:to this inferior class I was called,and
placed at the bottom of it.
Business now began:the days Collect员园 was repeated,then certain texts of Scripture员员 were
said,and to these succeeded a protracted reading of chapters in the Bible,which lasted an hour.
圆圆员
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
By the time that exercise was terminated,day had fully dawned. The indefatigable bell now
sounded for the fourth time:the classes were marshalled and marched into another room to
breakfast:how glad I was to behold a prospect of getting something to eat!I was now nearly sick
from inanition,having taken so little the day before.
The refectory was a great,lowceiled,gloomy room;on two long tables smoked basins of
something hot,which,however,to my dismay,sent forth an odour far from inviting员圆. I saw a
universal manifestation of discontent when the fumes of the repast met the nostrils of those destined
to swallow it;from the van of the procession,the tall girls of the first class,rose the whispered
words—
“ Disgusting!The porridge is burnt again!”
“ Silence!”ejaculated a voice;not that of Miss Miller,but one of the upper teachers,a little
and dark personage,smartly dressed,but of somewhat morose aspect员猿,who installed herself at
the top of one table,while a more buxom lady presided at the other. I looked in vain for her I had
first seen the night before;she was not visible:Miss Miller occupied the foot of the table where I
sat,and a strange,foreignlooking,elderly lady,the French teacher,as I afterwards found,took
the corresponding seat at the other board. A long grace员源 was said and a hymn sung;then a
servant brought in some tea for the teachers,and the meal began.
Ravenous,and now very faint,I devoured a spoonful or two of my portion without thinking
of its taste;but the first edge of hunger blunted,I perceived I had got in hand a nauseous mess;
burnt porridge is almost as bad as rotten potatoes;famine itself soon sickens over it员缘. The spoons
were moved slowly:I saw each girl taste her food and try to swallow it;but in most cases the
effort was soon relinquished. Breakfast was over,and none had breakfasted. Thanks being
returned for what we had not got员远,and a second hymn chanted,the refectory was evacuated for
the schoolroom员苑. I was one of the last to go out,and in passing the tables,I saw one teacher take
a basin of the porridge and taste it;she looked at the others;all their countenances expressed
displeasure,and one of them,the stout one,whispered—
“ Abominable stuff!How shameful!”
A quarter of an hour passed before lessons again began,during which the schoolroom was in
a glorious tumult;for that space of time it seemed to be permitted to talk loud and more freely,
and they used their privilege. The whole conversation ran on the breakfast,which one and all
abused roundly. Poor things员愿!It was the sole consolation they had. Miss Miller was now the only
teacher in the room:a group of great girls standing about her spoke with serious and sullen
gestures. I heard the name of Mr. Brocklehurst pronounced by some lips;at which Miss Miller
shook her head disapprovingly;but she made no great effort to check the general wrath;doubtless
she shared in it.
摇
圆圆圆
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英国文学简读教程
A clock in the schoolroom struck nine;Miss Miller left her circle,and standing in the middle
of the room,cried—
“ Silence!To your seats!”
Discipline prevailed:in five minutes the confused throng was resolved into order,and
comparative silence quelled the Babel clamour of tongues员怨. The upper teachers now punctually
resumed their posts:but still,all seemed to wait. Ranged on benches down the sides of the room,
the eighty girls sat motionless and erect;a quaint assemblage they appeared,all with plain locks
combed from their faces,not a curl visible;in brown dresses,made high and surrounded by a
narrow tucker about the throat, with little pockets of holland (shaped something like a
Highlanders purse圆园)tied in front of their frocks,and destined to serve the purpose of a work
bag:all,too,wearing woollen stockings and countrymade shoes,fastened with brass buckles.
Above twenty of those clad in this costume were fullgrown girls,or rather young women;it
suited them ill,and gave an air of oddity even to the prettiest.
I was still looking at them,and also at intervals examining the teachers—none of whom
precisely pleased me;for the stout one was a little coarse,the dark one not a little fierce,the
foreigner harsh and grotesque,and Miss Miller,poor thing!looked purple,weatherbeaten,and
overworked—when, as my eye wandered from face to face, the whole school rose
simultaneously,as if moved by a common spring.
What was the matter?I had heard no order given:I was puzzled. Ere I had gathered my
圆
员
wits ,the classes were again seated:but as all eyes were now turned to one point,mine followed
the general direction,and encountered the personage who had received me last night. She stood at
the bottom of the long room,on the hearth;for there was a fire at each end;she surveyed the two
rows of girls silently and gravely. Miss Miller,approaching,seemed to ask her a question,and
having received her answer,went back to her place,and said aloud—
“ Monitor of the first class,fetch the globes!”
While the direction was being executed,the lady consulted moved slowly up the room. I
suppose I have a considerable organ of veneration圆圆,for I retain yet the sense of admiring awe
with which my eyes traced her steps. Seen now,in broad daylight,she looked tall,fair,and
shapely;brown eyes with a benignant light in their irids,and a fine pencilling of long lashes
round,relieved the whiteness of her large front;on each of her temples her hair,of a very dark
brown,was clustered in round curls,according to the fashion of those times,when neither smooth
bands nor long ringlets were in vogue圆猿;her dress,also in the mode of the day,was of purple
cloth,relieved by a sort of Spanish trimming of black velvet圆源;a gold watch( watches were not so
common then as now)shone at her girdle. Let the reader add,to complete the picture,refined
features;a complexion,if pale,clear;and a stately air and carriage圆缘,and he will have,at least,
圆圆猿
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
as clearly as words can give it,a correct idea of the exterior of Miss Temple圆远—Maria Temple,as
I afterwards saw the name written in a prayerbook intrusted to me to carry to church.
The superintendent of Lowood( for such was this lady)having taken her seat before a pair of
globes placed on one of the tables,summoned the first class round her,and commenced giving a
lesson on geography;the lower classes were called by the teachers:repetitions in history,
grammar,etc. ,went on for an hour;writing and arithmetic succeeded,and music lessons were
given by Miss Temple to some of the elder girls. The duration of each lesson was measured by the
clock,which at last struck twelve. The superintendent rose—
“ I have a word to address to the pupils,”said she.
The tumult of cessation from lessons was already breaking forth,but it sank at her voice. She
went on—
“ You had this morning a breakfast which you could not eat;you must be hungry:—I have
ordered that a lunch of bread and cheese shall be served to all. ”
The teachers looked at her with a sort of surprise.
“ It is to be done on my responsibility,”she added,in an explanatory tone to them,and
immediately afterwards left the room.
The bread and cheese was presently brought in and distributed,to the high delight and
refreshment of the whole school. The order was now given“ To the garden!”Each put on a
coarse straw bonnet,with strings of coloured calico,and a cloak of grey frieze,I was similarly
equipped,and,following the stream,I made my way into the open air.
员. Jane Eyre(员
愿源苑)is Charlotte Bronts major literary work. It not only reflects the authors
criticism of the moneyhunt in love and marriage,but contains an expose of the inhuman
treatment of poor girls and orphans in the charity schools of mid员
怨thcentury England. The
excerpt is about Janes first day at Lowood. The charity school is of religious hypocrisy. It
tortures children both physically and spiritually. Physically,the children are served with bad
food. It is quite clear that food being served is always in extremely sour condition and children
are suffering starvation all the time. Spiritually,the school suppresses any intellectual and
original thinking. The girls are trained through starvation and humiliation to be humble slaves
and to show their gratitude toward the rich who donate to the charity school,which is a biting
irony.
The author portrays the greatness of Jane Eyre in the following ways:
(员)In the story,a
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new and strong woman image is created. The heroine,Jane Eyre,is an orphan with a fiery
spirit and a longing to love and to be loved. As a plain,poor little governess,she dares to
express her passionate love for her master who is both socially and economically superior to
her,and she is even brave enough to declare her love before him.(圆)As a new woman who
dares to hate and to love,she creates a strong woman image,quite different from the
traditional weak woman image. Jane Eyre represents the middleclass working women who are
struggling to gain their basic rights and equality as human beings.“ Do you think I can stay to
become nothing to you?Do you think I am an automaton?—a machine without feelings?And
can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from lips,and my drop of living water dashed
from my cup?Do you think,because I am poor,obscure,plain and little,I am soulless and
heartless?—You think wrong!—I have as much soul as you—and full as much heart!And if
God had gifted me with some beauty,and much wealth,I should have made it as hard for you
to leave me,as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium
of custom,conventionalities,or even of mortal flesh:—it is my spirit that addresses your
spirit;just as if both had passed through the grave,and we stood at Gods feet,equal—as we
are!”
( from Chapter XXIII)
圆. gathering my faculties:summoning up my powers of sight,feeling,reasoning,etc.
猿. her bearing erect:carrying herself in an upright manner
源. a multiplicity of tasks on hand:a great number of tasks that needed to be done
缘. an underteacher:an assistant teacher
远. deal tables:tables made of fir or pine wood
苑. Holland pinafores:pinafores made of a strong coarse linen manufactured in Holland
愿. a basin at liberty:a washing basin which is used by any one at the time
怨. succeeded:followed
员
园. Collect:a short prayer in the Common Prayer Book
员
员. Scripture:the Bible
员
圆. inviting:tempting,alluring
员
猿. somewhat morose aspect:a more or less gloomy countenance
员
源. a long grace:a long prayer of thanks to God
员
缘. famine itself soon sickens over it:Even a famished person feels sick upon smelling and tasting
the burnt porridge.
员
远. Thanks being returned for what we had not got:Though we had really had no breakfast,yet
we gave our prayer of thanks to God for it.
员
苑. the refectory was evacuated for the schoolroom:we left the refectory for the schoolroom.
员
愿. poor things:referring to the girls in the charity school
圆圆缘
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
员
怨. the Babel clamour of tongues:a confusion of noises because many people are speaking
simultaneously. According to the Bible,
“ Babel”is a tower in Shinan or Babylonia where
there was a confusion of many languages uttered at the same time.
圆
园. a Highlanders purse:the purse of a person from the Highlands,a mountainous district in the
north of Scotland
圆
员. my wits:the powers of my mind
圆
圆. I have a considerable organ of veneration:I have much mental power of entertaining profound
respect for some one.
圆
猿. in vogue:in fashion
圆
源. relieved by a sort of Spanish trimming of black velvet: set off by contrast with the
ornamentation of black velvet in the Spanish fashion
圆
缘. a stately air and carriage:a dignified appearance and bearing
圆
远. a correct idea of the exterior of Miss Temple:a true conception of the outward appearance of
Miss Temple
员. How were the girls including Jane repressed at Lowood?What was Janes struggle?
圆. Cite examples to show the language features of this novel.
猿. Comment on Janes personality described in this chapter.
VII. Emily Bront
员
宰怎贼
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则
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)
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Another week over—and I am so many days nearer health,and spring!I have now heard all
my neighbours history,at different sittings圆,as the housekeeper猿 could spare time from more
important occupations. Ill continue it in her own words,only a little condensed. She is,on the
whole,a very fair narrator,and I dont think I could improve her style.
In the evening,she said,the evening of my visit to the Heights源,I knew,as well as if I saw
him,that Mr. Heathcliff was about the place缘;and I shunned going out,because I still carried his
letter in my pocket,and didnt want to be threatened or teased any more. I had made up my mind
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not to give it till my master went somewhere,as I could not guess how its receipt would affect
Catherine. The consequence was,that it did not reach her before the lapse of three days. The
fourth was Sunday,and I brought it into her room after the family were gone to church. There
was a manservant left to keep the house with me,and we generally made a practice of locking the
doors during the hours of service;but on that occasion the weather was so warm and pleasant that
I set them wide open,and,to fulfill my engagement远,as I knew who would be coming,I told
my companion that the mistress wished very much for some oranges,and he must run over to the
village and get a few,to be paid for on the morrow. He departed,and I went upstairs.
Mrs. Linton sat in a loose,white dress,with a light shawl over her shoulders,in the recess
of the open window,as usual. Her thick,long hair had been partly removed at the beginning of
her illness,and now she wore it simply combed in its natural tresses over her temples and neck.
Her appearance was altered,as I had told Heathcliff;but when she was calm,there seemed
unearthly beauty in the change. The flash of her eyes had been succeeded by a dreamy and
melancholy softness;they no longer gave the impression of looking at the objects around her:they
appeared always to gaze beyond,and far beyond—you would have said out of this world. Then
the paleness of her face—its haggard aspect having vanished as she recovered flesh—and the
peculiar expression arising from her mental state,though painfully suggestive of their causes,
added to the touching interest which she awakened;and—invariably to me,I know,and to any
person who saw her,I should think—refuted more tangible proofs of convalescence,and stamped
her as one doomed to decay.
A book lay spread on the sill before her,and the scarcely perceptible wind fluttered its leaves
at intervals. I believe Linton had laid it there:for she never endeavoured to divert herself with
reading,or occupation of any kind,and he would spend many an hour in trying to entice her
attention to some subject which had formerly been her amusement. She was conscious of his aim,
and in her better moods endured his efforts placidly,only showing their uselessness by now and
then suppressing a wearied sigh,and checking him at last with the saddest of smiles and kisses. At
other times,she would turn petulantly away,and hide her face in her hands,or even push him off
angrily;and then he took care to let her alone,for he was certain of doing no good.
Gimmerton chapel苑 bells were still ringing;and the full,mellow flow of the beck in the
valley came soothingly on the ear. It was a sweet substitute for the yet absent murmur of the
summer foliage,which drowned that music about the Grange when the trees were in leaf. At
Wuthering Heights it always sounded on quiet days following a great thaw or a season of steady
rain. And of Wuthering Heights Catherine was thinking as she listened:that is,if she thought or
listened at all;but she had the vague,distant look I mentioned before,which expressed no
recognition of material things either by ear or eye.
圆圆苑
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
“ Theres a letter for you,Mrs. Linton,”I said,gently inserting it in one hand that rested on
her knee.“ You must read it immediately,because it wants an answer. Shall I break the seal?”
“Yes,”she answered,without altering the direction of her eyes. I opened it—it was very
short.“ Now”,I continued,
“ read it. ”She drew away her hand,and let it fall. I replaced it in
her lap,and stood waiting till it should please her to glance down;but that movement was so long
delayed that at last I resumed:
“ Must I read it,maam?It is from Mr. Heathcliff. ”
There was a start and a troubled gleam of recollection,and a struggle to arrange her ideas.
She lifted the letter,and seemed to peruse it;and when she came to the signature she sighed:yet
still I found she had not gathered its import愿,for,upon my desiring to hear her reply,she merely
pointed to the name,and gazed at me with mournful and questioning eagerness.
“ Well,he wishes to see you,”said I,guessing her need of an interpreter. “ Hes in the
garden by this time,and impatient to know what answer I shall bring. ”
As I spoke,I observed a large dog lying on the sunny grass beneath raise its ears as if about to
bark,and then smoothing them back,announce,by a wag of the tail,that someone approached
whom it did not consider a stranger. Mrs. Linton bent forward,and listened breathlessly. The
minute after a step traversed the hall;the open house was too tempting for Heathcliff to resist
walking in:most likely he supposed that I was inclined to shirk my promise,and so resolved to
trust to his own audacity. With straining eagerness Catherine gazed towards the entrance of her
chamber. He did not hit the right room directly,she motioned me to admit him,but he found it out
ere I could reach the door,and in a stride or two was at her side,and had her grasped in his arms.
He neither spoke nor loosed his hold for some five minutes,during which period he bestowed
more kisses than ever he gave in his life before,I dare say:but then my mistress had kissed him
first,and I plainly saw that he could hardly bear,for downright agony,to look into her face!The
same conviction had stricken him as me,from the instant he beheld her,that there was no
prospect of ultimate recovery there—she was fated,sure to die.
“ Oh,Cathy!Oh,my life!how can I bear it?”was the first sentence he uttered,in a tone
that did not seek to disguise his despair. And now he stared at her so earnestly that I thought the
very intensity of his gaze would bring tears into his eyes;but they burned with anguish:they did
not melt怨.
“What now?”said Catherine,leaning back,and returning his look with a suddenly clouded
brow:her humour was a mere vane for constantly varying caprices.“ You and Edgar have broken
my heart,Heathcliff!And you both came to bewail the deed to me,as if you were the people to
be pitied!I shall not pity you,not I. You have killed me—and thriven on it,I think. How strong
you are!How many years do you mean to live after I am gone?”
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Heathcliff had knelt on one knee to embrace her;he attempted to rise,but she seized his
hair,and kept him down.
“ I wish I could hold you,”she continued bitterly,
“ till we were both dead!I shouldnt care
what you suffered. I care nothing for your sufferings. Why shouldnt you suffer?I do!Will you
forget me?Will you be happy when I am in the earth员园?Will you say twenty years hence,
‘ Thats
the grave of Catherine Earnshaw. I loved her long ago,and was wretched to lose her;but it is
past. Ive loved many others since:my children are dearer to me than she was;and at death,I
shall not rejoice that I am going to her:I shall be sorry that I must leave them! Will you say so,
Heathcliff?”
“ Dont torture me till I am as mad as yourself,”cried he,wrenching his head free,and
grinding his teeth.
The two,to a cool spectator,made a strange and fearful picture. Well might Catherine deem
that heaven would be a land of exile to her,unless with her mortal body she cast away her moral
character also. Her present countenance had a wild vindictiveness in its white cheek,and a
bloodless lip and scintillating eye;and she retained in her closed fingers a portion of the locks she
had been grasping. As to her companion,while raising himself with one hand,he had taken her
arm with the other;and so inadequate was his stock of gentleness to the requirements of her
condition,that on his letting go I saw four distinct impressions left blue in the colourless skin.
“ Are you possessed with a devil,”he pursued savagely,
“ to talk in that manner to me when
you are dying?Do you reflect that all those words will be branded on my memory,and eating
deeper eternally after you have left me?You know you lie to say I have killed you:and,
Catherine,you know that I could as soon forget you as my existence!Is it not sufficient for your
infernal selfishness,that while you are at peace I shall writhe in the torments of hell?”
“ I shall not be at peace,”moaned Catherine,recalled to a sense of physical weakness by the
violent,unequal throbbing of her heart,which beat visibly and audibly under this excess of
agitation. She said nothing further till the paroxysm was over;then she continued,more kindly—
“ Im not wishing you greater torment than I have,Heathcliff. I only wish us never to be
parted:and should a word of mine distress you hereafter, think I feel the same distress
underground,and for my own sake,forgive me!Come here and kneel down again!You never
harmed me in your life. Nay,if you nurse anger,that will be worse to remember than my harsh
words!Wont you come here again?Do!”
Heathcliff went to the back of her chair,and leant over,but not so far as to let her see his
face,which was livid with emotion. She bent round to look at him;he would not permit it:
turning abruptly,he walked to the fireplace,where he stood,silent,with his back towards us.
Mrs. Lintons glance followed him suspiciously:every movement woke a new sentiment in her.
圆圆怨
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
After a pause and a prolonged gaze, she resumed; addressing me in accents of indignant
disappointment—
“ Oh,you see,Nelly,he would not relent a moment to keep me out of the grave. That is
how Im loved!Well,never mind. That is not my Heathcliff. I shall love mine yet;and take him
with me:hes in my soul. And”,added she,musingly,
“ the thing that irks me most in this
shattered prison,after all. Im tired,tired of being enclosed here. Im wearying to escape into
that glorious world员员,and to be always there:not seeing it dimly through tears,and yearning for
it through the walls of an aching heart;but really with it,and in it. Nelly,you think you are
better and more fortunate than I;in full health and strength:you are sorry for me—very soon that
will be altered. I shall be sorry for you. I shall be incomparably beyond and above you all. I
wonder he wont be near me!”She went on to herself.“ I thought he wished it. Heathcliff,dear!
you should not be sullen now. Do come to me,Heathcliff. ”
In her eagerness she rose and supported herself on the arm of the chair. At that earnest appeal
he turned to her,looking absolutely desperate. His eyes,wide and wet,at last flashed fiercely on
her;his breast heaved convulsively. An instant they held asunder员圆,and then how they met I
hardly saw,but Catherine made a spring,and he caught her,and they were locked in an embrace
from which I thought my mistress would never be released alive:in fact,to my eyes,she seemed
directly insensible. He flung himself into the nearest seat,and on my approaching hurriedly to
ascertain if she had fainted,he gnashed at me,and foamed like a mad dog,and gathered her to
him with greedy jealousy. I did not feel as if I were in the company of a creature of my own
species:it appeared that he would not understand,though I spoke to him;so I stood off,and held
my tongue,in great perplexity.
A movement of Catherines relieved me a little presently:she put up her hand to clasp his
neck,and bring her cheek to his as he held her;while he,in return,covering her with frantic
caresses,said wildly—
“ You teach me now how cruel youve been—cruel and false. Why did you despise me?Why
did you betray your own heart,Cathy?I have not one word of comfort. You deserve this. You
have killed yourself. Yes,you may kiss me,and cry;and ring out my kisses and tears:theyll
blight you—theyll damn you. You loved me—then what right had you to leave me?What
right—answer me—for the poor fancy you felt for Linton?Because misery and degradation,and
death,and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us,you,of your own will,
did it. I have not broken your heart—you have broken it;and in breaking it,you have broken
mine. So much the worse for me,that I am strong. Do I want to live?What kind of living will it
be when you—oh,God!would you like to live with your soul in the grave?”
“ Let me alone. let me alone,”sobbed Catherine.“ If I have done wrong,Im dying for it.
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It is enough!You left me too:but I wont upbraid you!I forgive you. Forgive me!”
“ It is hard to forgive,and to look at those eyes,and feel those wasted hands,”he answered.
“ Kiss me again;and dont let me see your eyes!I forgive what you have done to me. I love my
murderer—but yours !How can I?”
They were silent—their faces hid against each other,and washed by each others tears. At
least,I suppose the weeping was on both sides;as it seemed Heathcliff could weep on a great
occasion like this.
I grew very uncomfortable,meanwhile;for the afternoon wore fast away,the man whom I
had sent off returned from his errand,and I could distinguish,by the shine of the westering sun up
the valley,a concourse thickening outside Gimmerton chapel porch.
“ Service is over,”I announced.“ My master will be here in half an hour. ”
Heathcliff groaned a curse,and strained Catherine closer:she never moved.
Ere long I perceived a group of the servants passing up the road towards the kitchen wing.
Mr. Linton was not far behind;he opened the gate himself and sauntered slowly up,probably
enjoying the lovely afternoon that breathed as soft as summer.
“ Now he is here,”I exclaimed.“ For Heavens sake,hurry down!Youll not meet anyone
on the front stairs. Do be quick;and stay among the trees till he is fairly in. ”
“I must go,Cathy,
”said Heathcliff,seeking to extricate himself from his companions arms.
“But if I live,Ill see you again before you are asleep. I wont stray five yards from your window. ”
“You must not go!
”she answered,holding him as firmly as her strength allowed.“You shall
not,I tell you. ”
“ For one hour,”he pleaded earnestly.
“ Not for one minute,”she replied.
“ I must—Linton will be up immediately,”persisted the alarmed intruder.
He would have risen,and unfixed her fingers by the act—she clung fast,gasping:there was
mad resolution in her face.
“ No!”she shrieked. “ Oh,dont,dont go. It is the last time!Edgar will not hurt us.
Heathcliff,I shall die!I shall die!”
“Damn the fool!There he is,
”cried Heathcliff,sinking back into his seat. “ Hush,my
darling!Hush,hush,Catherine!Ill stay. If he shot me so,Id expire with a blessing on my lips. ”
And there they were fast again员猿. I heard my master mounting the stairs—the cold sweat ran
from my forehead:I was horrified.
“ Are you going to listen to her ravings?”I said passionately.“ She does not know what she
says. Will you ruin her,because she has not wit to help herself?Get up!You could be free
instantly. That is the most diabolical deed that ever you did. We are all done for—master,
圆猿员
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
mistress,and servant. ”
I wrung my hands,and cried out;Mr. Linton hastened his step at the noise. In the midst of
my agitation,I was sincerely glad to observe that Catherines arms had fallen relaxed,and her
head hung down.
“ Shes fainted or dead,”I thought:
“ so much the better. Far better that she should be dead,
than lingering a burden and a miserymaker to all about her. ”
Edgar sprang to his unbidden guest,blanched with astonishment and rage. What he meant to
do,I cannot tell;however,the other stopped all demonstrations,at once,by placing the lifeless
looking form员源 in his arms.
“Look there!
”he said;
“unless you be a fiend,help her first—then you shall speak to me!
”
He walked into the parlour,and sat down. Mr. Linton summoned me,and with great
difficulty,and after resorting to many means,we managed to restore her to sensation;but she was
all bewildered;she sighed,and moaned,and knew nobody. Edgar,in his anxiety for her,forgot
her hated friend. I did not. I went,at the earliest opportunity,and besought him to depart;
affirming that Catherine was better,and he should hear from me in the morning how she passed
the night.
“I shall not refuse to go out of doors,”he answered;
“ but I shall stay in the garden:and,
Nelly,mind you keep your word to morrow. I shall be under those larch trees. Mind!or I pay
another visit,whether Linton be in or not. ”
He sent a rapid glance through the halfopen door of the chamber,and,ascertaining that
what I stated was apparently true,delivered the house of his luckless presence.
员. Wuthering Heights(员愿源
苑)is the only novel written by Emily Bront. The excerpt is about the
famous scene of the last meeting between Catherine and Heathcliff just before her death. In the
passage,readers are deeply impressed by the tremendously tumultuous emotion and passionate,
loveinhatred dialogues between the two lovers. On the very verge of physical and spiritual
breakdown, the lovers insist on their inseparability, and with horrible yet poignant
perverseness swear to torture each other until the moment in which they can be eternally
together in death. The savagery and brutality of both the characters and the simple and naked
language in the description are among the most moving in the history of English literature. Just
as E. L. Gilbert put it,
“ Nowhere else in the novel is Emily Bront so completely the lyric and
dramatic poet. One would have to turn to Richard Wagners opera,Tristan and Isolde,where,
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too,the lovers pray for night and death to unite them forever,to find so musical a treatment of
human passion and despair. ”
圆. at different sittings:in several conversations
猿. the housekeeper:Nelly Dean,Catherines maid
源. the Heights:Wuthering Heights
缘. Mr. Heathcliff was about the place:Heathcliff was nearby the Heights,waiting for the chance
to visit Catherine.
远. to fulfill my engagement:to fulfill my promise to Heathcliff,that is,to send his letter to Catherine
苑. Gimmerton chapel:the name of a church
愿. gathered its import:tried to understand the content in the letter
怨. they did not melt:Heathcliff did not cry;no tear was shed.
员
园. in the earth:in the grave
员
员. that glorious world:the world after death
员
圆. held asunder:kept away from each other
员
猿. they were fast again:They embraced each other again.
员
源. the lifelesslooking form:referring to Catherine
员. What in your opinion might be the causes for the tragic ending of the love between Heathcliff
and Catherine?
圆. In this chapter, can you detect any distortions in human nature caused by unfavorable
environment?Analyze the personalities of Heathcliff and Catherine.
猿. If possible,can you rewrite the last chapter of the novel and end it in another way.
VIII. George Eliot
员
粤凿葬皂 月藻
凿藻
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬责贼
藻
则载载灾陨
陨
粤悦则
蚤
泽
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泽
...
The buildings of the Chase Farm lay at one extremity of the Chase,at about ten minutes
圆猿猿
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
walking distance from the Abbey. Adam had come thither on his pony,intending to ride to the
stables and put up his nag on his way home. At the stables he encountered Mr. Craig,who had
come to look at the captains new horse,on which he was to ride away the day after tomorrow;
and Mr. Craig detained him to tell how all the servants were to collect at the gate of the courtyard
to wish the young squire luck as he rode out;so that by the time Adam had got into the Chase,
and was striding along with the basket of tools over his shoulder,the sun was on the point of
setting,and was sending level crimson rays among the great trunks of the old oaks,and touching
every bare patch of ground with a transient glory that made it look like a jewel dropt upon the
grass. The wind had fallen now,and there was only enough breeze to stir the delicatestemmed
leaves. Any one who had been sitting in the house all day would have been glad to walk now;but
Adam had been quite enough in the open air to wish to shorten his way home,and he bethought
himself圆 that he might do so by striking across the Chase and going through the Grove,where he
had never been for years. He hurried on across the Chase,stalking along the narrow paths
between the fern,with Gyp猿 at his heels,not lingering to watch the magnificent changes of the
light—hardly once thinking of it—yet feeling its presence in a certain calm happy awe which
mingled itself with his busy workingday thoughts. How could he help feeling it?The very deer
felt it,and were more timid.
Presently Adams thoughts recurred to what Mr. Craig had said about Arthur Donnithorne,
and pictured his going away,and the changes that might take place before he came back;then
they travelled back affectionately over the old scenes of boyish companionship,and dwelt on
Arthurs good qualities,which Adam had a pride in,as we all have in the virtues of the superior
who honours us. A nature like Adams,with a great need of love and reverence in it,depends for
so much of its happiness on what it can believe and feel about others!And he had no ideal world
of dead heroes;he knew little of the life of men in the past;he must find the beings to whom he
could cling with loving admiration among those who came within speech of him. These pleasant
thoughts about Arthur brought a milder expression than usual into his keen rough face:perhaps
they were the reason why,when he opened the old green gate leading into the Grove,he paused
to pat Gyp and say a kind word to him.
After that pause,he strode on again along the broad winding path through the Grove. What
grand beeches!Adam delighted in a fine tree of all things;as the fishermans sight is keenest on
the sea,so Adams perceptions were more at home with trees than with other objects. He kept
them in his memory,as a painter does,with all the flecks and knots in their bark,all the curves
and angles of their boughs,and had often calculated the height and contents of a trunk to a nicety,
as he stood looking at it. No wonder that,notwithstanding his desire to get on,he could not help
pausing to look at a curious large beech which he had seen standing before him at a turning in the
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road,and convince himself that it was not two trees wedded together,but only one. For the rest
of his life he remembered that moment when he was calmly examining the beech,as a man
remembers his last glimpse of the home where his youth was passed,before the road turned,and
he saw it no more. The beech stood at the last turning before the Grove ended in an archway of
boughs that let in the eastern light;and as Adam stepped away from the tree to continue his walk,
his eyes fell on two figures about twenty yards before him.
He remained as motionless as a statue,and turned almost as pale. The two figures were
standing opposite to each other,with clasped hands about to part;and while they were bending to
kiss,Gyp,who had been running among the brushwood,came out,caught sight of them,and
gave a sharp bark. They separated with a startone hurried through the gate out of the Grove,and
the other,turning round,walked slowly,with a sort of saunter,towards Adam who still stood
transfixed and pale,clutching tighter the stick with which he held the basket of tools over his
shoulder,and looking at the approaching figure with eyes in which amazement was fast turning to
fierceness.
Arthur Donnithorne looked flushed and excited;he had tried to make unpleasant feelings
more bearable by drinking a little more wine than usual at dinner today,and was still enough
under its flattering influence to think more lightly of this unwishedfor rencontre with Adam than
he would otherwise have done. After all,Adam was the best person who could have happened to
see him and Hetty together—he was a sensible fellow,and would not babble about it to other
people.
Arthur felt confident that he could laugh the thing off and explain it away. And so he
sauntered forward with elaborate carelessness—his flushed face,his evening dress of fine cloth and
fine linen,his hands halfthrust into his waistcoat pockets,all shone upon by the strange evening
light which the light clouds had caught up even to the zenith,and were now shedding down
between the topmost branches above him.
Adam was still motionless,looking at him as he came up. He understood it all now—the
locket and everything else that had been doubtful to him:a terrible scorching light showed him the
hidden letters that changed the meaning of the past. If he had moved a muscle,he must inevitably
have sprung upon Arthur like a tiger;and in the conflicting emotions that filled those long
moments,he had told himself that he would not give loose to passion源,he would only speak the
right thing. He stood as if petrified by an unseen force,but the force was his own strong will.
“ Well,Adam,”said Arthur,
“ youve been looking at the fine old beeches,eh?Theyre not
to be come near by the hatchet,though;this is a sacred grove. I overtook pretty little Hetty Sorrel
as I was coming to my den—the Hermitage,there. She ought not to come home this way so late.
So I took care of her to the gate,and asked for a kiss for my pains. But I must get back now,for
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this road is confoundedly damp缘. Goodnight,Adam. I shall see you tomorrow—to say good
bye,you know. ”
Arthur was too much preoccupied with the part he was playing himself to be thoroughly aware
of the expression in Adams face. He did not look directly at Adam,but glanced carelessly round
at the trees and then lifted up one foot to look at the sole of his boot. He cared to say no more—
he had thrown quite dust enough into honest Adams eyes远—and as he spoke the last words,he
walked on.
“ Stop a bit,sir,”said Adam,in a hard peremptory voice,without turning round.“ Ive got
a word to say to you. ”
Arthur paused in surprise. Susceptible persons are more affected by a change of tone than by
unexpected words,and Arthur had the susceptibility of a nature at once affectionate and vain. He
was still more surprised when he saw that Adam had not moved,but stood with his back to him,
as if summoning him to return. What did he mean?He was going to make a serious business of
this affair. Arthur felt his temper rising. A patronising disposition always has its meaner side,and
in the confusion of his irritation and alarm there entered the feeling that a man to whom he had
shown so much favour as to Adam was not in a position to criticize his conduct. And yet he was
dominated,as one who feels himself in the wrong always is,by the man whose good opinion he
cares for. In spite of pride and temper,there was as much deprecation as anger in his voice when
he said,
“ What do you mean,Adam?”
“ I mean,sir”—answered Adam,in the same harsh voice,still without turning round—“ I
mean,sir,that you dont deceive me by your light words. This is not the first time youve met
Hetty Sorrel in this grove,and this is not the first time youve kissed her. ”
Arthur felt a startled uncertainty how far Adam was speaking from knowledge,and how far
from mere inference. And this uncertainty,which prevented him from contriving a prudent
answer,heightened his irritation. He said,in a high sharp tone,
“ Well,sir,what then?”
“ Why,then,instead of acting like th upright,honourable man weve all believed you to
be,youve been acting the part of a selfish lightminded scoundrel. You know as well as I do
what its to lead to when a gentleman like you kisses and makes love to a young woman like
Hetty,and gives her presents as shes frightened for other folks to see. And I say it again,youre
acting the part of a selfish lightminded scoundrel though it cuts me to th heart to say so苑,and Id
rather ha lost my right hand. ”
“ Let me tell you,Adam,”said Arthur,bridling his growing anger and trying to recur to his
careless tone,
“ youre not only devilishly impertinent愿,but youre talking nonsense. Every pretty
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girl is not such a fool as you,to suppose that when a gentleman admires her beauty and pays her
a little attention,he must mean something particular. Every man likes to flirt with a pretty girl,
and every pretty girl likes to be flirted with. The wider the distance between them,the less harm
there is,for then shes not likely to deceive herself. ”
“ I dont know what you mean by flirting,”said Adam,
“ but if you mean behaving to a
woman as if you loved her,and yet not loving her all the while,I say thats not th action of an
honest man,and what isnt honest does come t harm. Im not a fool,and youre not a fool,and
you know better than what youre saying. You know it couldnt be made public as youve behaved
to Hetty as y have done without her losing her character and bringing shame and trouble on her
and her relations. What if you meant nothing by your kissing and your presents?Other folks wont
believe as youve meant nothing;and dont tell me about her not deceiving herself. I tell you as
youve filled her mind so with the thought of you as itll mayhap怨 poison her life,and shell never
love another man as ud make her a good husband员园. ”
Arthur had felt a sudden relief while Adam was speaking;he perceived that Adam had no
positive knowledge of the past,and that there was no irrevocable damage done by this evenings
unfortunate rencontre. Adam could still be deceived. The candid Arthur had brought himself into a
position in which successful lying was his only hope. The hope allayed his anger a little.
“ Well,Adam,”he said,in a tone of friendly concession,
“ youre perhaps right. Perhaps
Ive gone a little too far in taking notice of the pretty little thing and stealing a kiss now and then.
Youre such a grave,steady fellow,you dont understand the temptation to such trifling. Im sure
I wouldnt bring any trouble or annoyance on her and the good Poysers on any account if I could
help it. But I think you look a little too seriously at it. You know Im going away immediately,
so I shant make any more mistakes of the kind. But let us say goodnight”—Arthur here turned
round to walk on—“ and talk no more about the matter. The whole thing will soon be forgotten. ”
“ No,by God!”Adam burst out with rage that could be controlled no longer,throwing down
the basket of tools and striding forward till he was right in front of Arthur. All his jealousy and
sense of personal injury,which he had been hitherto trying to keep under,had leaped up and
mastered him. What man of us,in the first moments of a sharp agony,could ever feel that the
fellowman who has been the medium of inflicting it did not mean to hurt us?In our instinctive
rebellion against pain,we are children again,and demand an active will to wreak our vengeance
on. Adam at this moment could only feel that he had been robbed of Hetty—robbed treacherously
by the man in whom he had trusted—and he stood close in front of Arthur,with fierce eyes
glaring at him,with pale lips and clenched hands,the hard tones in which he had hitherto been
constraining himself to express no more than a just indignation giving way to a deep agitated voice
that seemed to shake him as he spoke.
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“No,itll not be soon forgot,as youve come in between her and me,when she might ha
loved me—itll not soon be forgot as youve robbed me o my happiness,while I thought you was
my best friend,and a nobleminded man,as I was proud to work for. And youve been kissing
her,and meaning nothing,have you?And I never kissed her i my life—but Id ha worked hard
for years for the right to kiss her. And you make light of it员员. You think little o doing what may
damage other folks,so as you get your bit o trifling,as means nothing. I throw back your
favours,for youre not the man I took you for. Ill never count you my friend any more. Id
rather youd act as my enemy,and fight me where I stand—its all th amends you can make me. ”
Poor Adam,possessed by rage that could find no other vent,began to throw off his coat and
his cap,too blind with passion to notice the change that had taken place in Arthur while he was
speaking. Arthurs lips were now as pale as Adams;his heart was beating violently. The
discovery that Adam loved Hetty was a shock which made him for the moment see himself in the
light of Adams indignation,and regard Adams suffering as not merely a consequence,but an
element of his error. The words of hatred and contempt—the first he had ever heard in his life—
seemed like scorching missiles that were making ineffaceable scars on him. All screening self
excuse员圆,which rarely falls quite away while others respect us,forsook him for an instant,and he
stood face to face with the first great irrevocable evil he had ever committed. He was only twenty
one,and three months ago—nay,much later—he had thought proudly that no man should ever be
able to reproach him justly. His first impulse,if there had been time for it,would perhaps have
been to utter words of propitiation;but Adam had no sooner thrown off his coat and cap than he
became aware that Arthur was standing pale and motionless,with his hands still thrust in his
waistcoat pockets.
“ What!”he said,
“ wont you fight me like a man?You know I wont strike you while you
stand so. ”
“ Go away,Adam,”said Arthur,
“ I dont want to fight you. ”
“ No,”said Adam,bitterly;
“ you dont want to fight me—you think Im a common man,as
you can injure without answering for it. ”
“ I never meant to injure you,”said Arthur,with returning anger.“ I didnt know you loved
her. ”
“ But youve made her love you,”said Adam. “ Youre a doublefaced员猿 man—Ill never
believe a word you say again. ”
“ Go away,I tell you,”said Arthur,angrily,
“ or we shall both repent. ”
“ No,”said Adam,with a convulsed voice,
“ I swear I wont go away without fighting you.
Do you want provoking any more?I tell you youre a coward and a scoundrel,and I despise
you. ”
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The colour had all rushed back to Arthurs face;in a moment his right hand was clenched,
and dealt a blow like lightning,which sent Adam staggering backward.
His blood was as thoroughly up as Adams now员源,and the two men,forgetting the emotions
that had gone before,fought with the instinctive fierceness of panthers in the deepening twilight
darkened by the trees. The delicatehanded gentleman was a match for the workman in everything
but strength,and Arthurs skill enabled him to protract the struggle for some long moments. But
between unarmed men the battle is to the strong,where the strong is no blunderer,and Arthur
must sink under a wellplanted员缘 blow of Adams as a steel rod is broken by an iron bar. The blow
soon came,and Arthur fell,his head lying concealed in a tuft of fern,so that Adam could only
discern his darkly clad body.
He stood still in the dim light waiting for Arthur to rise. The blow had been given now,
towards which he had been straining all the force of nerve and muscleand what was the good of
it?What had he done by fighting?Only satisfied his own passion,only wreaked his own
vengeance. He had not rescued Hetty,nor changed the pastthere it was,just as it had been,and
he sickened at the vanity of his own rage.
But why did not Arthur rise?He was perfectly motionless,and the time seemed long to
Adam. Good God!had the blow been too much for him?Adam shuddered at the thought of his
own strength,as with the oncoming of this dread he knelt down by Arthurs side and lifted his
head from among the fern. There was no sign of life:the eyes and teeth were set. The horror that
rushed over Adam completely mastered him,and forced upon him its own belief. He could feel
nothing but that death was in Arthurs face,and that he was helpless before it. He made not a
single movement,but knelt like an image of despair gazing at an image of death.
员. Adam Bede(员愿
缘怨)is one of George Eliots best known novels. It deals with English rural life
toward the end of the 员
愿th century and satirizes the hypocrisy and social inequality in the feudal
bourgeois society in England. Adam Bede,a young village carpenter,is the central character
of the novel. He is an upright and industrious man,always ready to help the weak and the
miserable. His character is contrasted with that of Arthur Donnithorne,a lightminded and
selfish squire. The selection is from the 圆
苑th chapter of the book,in which the author describes
the scene in which Adam challenges Arthur in their quarrel over Hetty,a girl Adam loves,and
fights with the wicked landlord.
圆. he bethought himself:he reflected
圆猿怨
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
猿. Gyp:name of Adams dog
源. would not give loose to passion:would not give free expression to his passion
缘. confoundedly damp:terribly damp,extremely damp
远. he had thrown quite dust enough into honest Adams eyes:He had done enough to mislead
honest Adam by the misrepresentation of facts.
苑. it cuts me to th heart to say so:It grieves me very much to say so.
愿. devilishly impertinent:extremely impertinent
怨. mayhap( archaic):perhaps,maybe
员
园. as ud make her a good husband:who would be a good husband to her
员
员. you make light of it:you consider it as of little importance
员
圆. all screening selfexcuse:all the excuse he might make in defence of himself
员
猿. doublefaced:insincere,hypocritical
员
源. his blood was as thoroughly up as Adams now:He was now as completely roused emotionally
as Adam was.
员
缘. a wellplanted blow:a blow that hit the mark,a blow that was well aimed
员. What is in your opinion of Adams personality in this chapter?
圆. What is the authors attitude toward Adams fighting with Arthur?
猿. Comment on Eliots writing style in this chapter.
IX. Thomas Hardy
员
栽藻
泽
泽燥枣贼
澡藻阅蒺
哉则
遭藻
则
增蚤
造
造
藻
泽
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬责贼
藻
则猿缘
栽澡藻宰燥皂葬
灶孕葬
赠泽
Her narrative ended;even its reassertions and secondary explanations were done. Tesss
voice throughout had hardly risen higher than its opening tone;there had been no exculpatory
phrase of any kind,and she had not wept.
But the complexion even of external things seemed to suffer transmutation as her
announcement progressed. The fire in the grate looked impish—demoniacally funny,as if it did
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not care in the least about her strait. The fender grinned idly,as if it too did not care. The light
from the waterbottle was merely engaged in a chromatic problem. All material objects around
announced their irresponsibility with terrible iteration. And yet nothing had changed since the
moments when he had been kissing her;or rather,nothing in the substance of things. But the
essence of things had changed.
When she ceased the auricular impressions from their previous endearments seemed to hustle
away into the corners of their brains,repeating themselves as echoes from a time of supremely
purblind foolishness.
Clare performed the irrelevant act of stirring the fire;the intelligence had not even yet got to
the bottom of him. After stirring the embers he rose to his feet;all the force of her disclosure had
imparted itself now. His face had withered. In the strenuousness of his concentration he treadled
fitfully on the floor. He could not,by any contrivance,think closely enough;that was the
meaning of his vague movement. When he spoke it was in the most inadequate,commonplace
voice of the many varied tones she had heard from him.
“ Tess!”
“ Yes,dearest. ”
“ Am I to believe this?From your manner I am to take it as true. O you cannot be out of your
mind!You ought to be!Yet you are not . . . My wife,my Tess—nothing in you warrants such a
supposition as that?”
“ I am not out of my mind,”she said.
“ And yet—”He looked vacantly at her,to resume with dazed senses:
“ Why didnt you tell
me before?Ah,yes,you would have told me,in a way—but I hindered you,I remember!”
These and other of his words were nothing but the perfunctory babble of the surface while the
depths remained paralyzed. He turned away,and bent over a chair. Tess followed him to the
middle of the room where he was,and stood there staring at him with eyes that did not weep.
Presently she slid down upon her knees beside his foot,and from this position she crouched in a
heap.
“ In the name of our love,forgive me!”she whispered with a dry mouth. “ I have forgiven
you for the same!”
And,as he did not answer,she said again—
“ Forgive me as you are forgiven!I forgive you,Angel. ”
“ You—yes,you do. ”
“ But you do not forgive me?”
“ O Tess,forgiveness does not apply to the case!You were one person;now you are
another. My God—how can forgiveness meet such a grotesque—prestidigitation as that!”
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He paused,contemplating this definition;then suddenly broke into horrible laughter—as
unnatural and ghastly as a laugh in hell.
“ Dont—dont!It kills me quite,that!” she shrieked. “ O have mercy upon me—have
mercy!”
He did not answer;and,sickly white,she jumped up.
“ Angel,Angel!what do you mean by that laugh?”she cried out.
“ Do you know what this is to me?”
He shook his head.
“ I have been hoping,longing,praying,to make you happy!I have thought what joy it will
be to do it,what an unworthy wife I shall be if I do not!Thats what I have felt,Angel!”
“ I know that. ”
“ I thought,Angel,that you loved me—me,my very self!If it is I you do love,O how can
it be that you look and speak so?It frightens me!Having begun to love you,I love you for ever
in all changes,in all disgraces,because you are yourself. I ask no more. Then how can you,O
my own husband,stop loving me?”
“ I repeat,the woman I have been loving is not you. ”
“ But who?”
“ Another woman in your shape. ”
She perceived in his words the realization of her own apprehensive foreboding in former
times. He looked upon her as a species of impostor;a guilty woman in the guise of an innocent
one. Terror was upon her white face as she saw it;her cheek was flaccid,and her mouth had
almost the aspect of a round little hole. The horrible sense of his view of her so deadened her that
she staggered;and he stepped forward,thinking she was going to fall.
“ Sit down,sit down,”he said gently.“ You are ill;and it is natural that you should be. ”
She did sit down,without knowing where she was,that strained look still upon her face,and
her eyes such as to make his flesh creep.
“ I dont belong to you any more,then;do I,Angel?”she asked helplessly.“ It is not me,
but another woman like me that he loved,he says. ”
The image raised caused her to take pity upon herself as one who was illused. Her eyes
filled as she regarded her position further;she turned round and burst into a flood of self
sympathetic tears.
Clare was relieved at this change,for the effect on her of what had happened was beginning
to be a trouble to him only less than the woe of the disclosure itself. He waited patiently,
apathetically,till the violence of her grief had worn itself out,and her rush of weeping had
lessened to a catching gasp at intervals.
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“ Angel,”she said suddenly,in her natural tones,the insane,dry voice of terror having left
her now.“ Angel,am I too wicked for you and me to live together?”
“ I have not been able to think what we can do. ”
“ I shant ask you to let me live with you,Angel,because I have no right to!I shall not write
to mother and sisters to say we be married,as I said I would do;and I shant finish the good
hussif圆 I cut out and meant to make while we were in lodgings. ”
“ Shant you?”
“No,I shant do anything,unless you order me to;and if you go away from me I shall not
follow ee;and if you never speak to me any more I shall not ask why,unless you tell me I may. ”
“ And if I do order you to do anything?”
“ I will obey you like your wretched slave,even if it is to lie down and die. ”
“ You are very good. But it strikes me that there is a want of harmony between your present
mood of selfsacrifice and your past mood of selfpreservation. ”
These were the first words of antagonism. To fling elaborate sarcasms at Tess,however,was
much like flinging them at a dog or cat. The charms of their subtlety passed by her unappreciated,
and she only received them as inimical sounds which meant that anger ruled. She remained mute,
not knowing that he was smothering his affection for her. She hardly observed that a tear
descended slowly upon his cheek,a tear so large that it magnified the pores of the skin over which
it rolled,like the object lens of a microscope. Meanwhile reillumination as to the terrible and total
change that her confession had wrought in his life,in his universe,returned to him,and he tried
desperately to advance among the new conditions in which he stood. Some consequent action was
necessary;yet what?
“Tess,
”he said,as gently as he could speak,
“I cannot stay—in this room—just now. I will
walk out a little way. ”
He quietly left the room,and the two glasses of wine that he had poured out for their supper—
one for her,one for him—remained on the table untasted. This was what their Agape猿 had come to.
At tea,two or three hours earlier,they had,in the freakishness of affection,drunk from one cup.
The closing of the door behind him,gently as it had been pulled to,roused Tess from her
stupor. He was gone;she could not stay. Hastily flinging her cloak around her she opened the
door and followed,putting out the candles as if she were never coming back. The rain was over
and the night was now clear.
She was soon close at his heels,for Clare walked slowly and without purpose. His form
beside her light gray figure looked black,sinister,and forbidding,and she felt as sarcasm the
touch of the jewels of which she had been momentarily so proud. Clare turned at hearing her
footsteps,but his recognition of her presence seemed to make no difference in him,and he went
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Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
on over the five yawning arches of the great bridge in front of the house.
The cow and horse tracks in the road were full of water,the rain having been enough to
charge them,but not enough to wash them away. Across these minute pools the reflected stars
flitted in a quick transit as she passed;she would not have known they were shining overhead if
she had not seen them there—the vastest things of the universe imaged in objects so mean.
The place to which they had travelled today was in the same valley as Talbothays,but some
miles lower down the river;and the surroundings being open she kept easily in sight of him.
Away from the house the road wound through the meads,and along these she followed Clare
without any attempt to come up with him or to attract him,but with dumb and vacant fidelity.
At last,however,her listless walk brought her up alongside him,and still he said nothing.
The cruelty of fooled honesty is often great after enlightenment,and it was mighty in Clare now.
The outdoor air had apparently taken away from him all tendency to act on impulse;she knew that
he saw her without irradiation—in all her bareness;that Time was chanting his satiric psalm at her
then—
Behold,when thy face is made bare,he that loved thee shall hate;Thy face shall be no more
fair at the fall of thy fate. For thy life shall fall as a leaf and be shed as the rain;And the veil of
thine head shall be grief,and the crown shall be pain.
He was still intently thinking,and her companionship had now insufficient power to break or
divert the strain of thought. What a weak thing her presence must have become to him!She could
not help addressing Clare.
“What have I done—what have I done!I have not told of anything that interferes with or belies
my love for you. You dont think I planned it,do you?It is in your own mind what you are angry at,
Angel;it is not in me. O,it is not in me,and I am not that deceitful woman you think me!
”
“ Hm—well. Not deceitful,my wife;but not the same. No,not the same. But do not make
me reproach you. I have sworn that I will not;and I will do everything to avoid it. ”
But she went on pleading in her distraction;and perhaps said things that would have been
better left to silence.
“ Angel!—Angel!I was a child—a child when it happened!I knew nothing of men. ”
“ You were more sinned against than sinning源,that I admit. ”
“ Then will you not forgive me?”
“ I do forgive you,but forgiveness is not all. ”
“ And love me?”
To this question he did not answer.
“ O Angel—my mother says that it sometimes happens so!—she knows several cases where
they were worse than I,and the husband has not minded it much  has got over it at least. And yet
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英国文学简读教程
the woman has not loved him as I do you!”
“ Dont,Tess;dont argue. Different societies,different manners. You almost make me say
you are an unapprehending peasant woman,who have never been initiated into the proportions of
social things. You dont know what you say. ”
“ I am only a peasant by position,not by nature!”
She spoke with an impulse to anger,but it went as it came.
“ So much the worse for you. I think that parson who unearthed your pedigree would have
done better if he had held his tongue. I cannot help associating your decline as a family with this
other fact—of your want of firmness. Decrepit families imply decrepit wills,decrepit conduct.
Heaven,why did you give me a handle for despising you more by informing me of your descent!
Here was I thinking you a newsprung child of nature;there were you,the belated seedling of an
effete aristocracy!”
“ Lots of families are as bad as mine in that!Rettys family were once large landowners,and
so were Dairyman Billetts. And the Debbyhouses,who now are carters,were once the De
Bayeux family. You find such as I everywhere;tis a feature of our county,and I cant help it. ”
“ So much the worse for the county. ”
She took these reproaches in their bulk simply,not in their particulars;he did not love her as
he had loved her hitherto,and to all else she was indifferent.
员. Tess of the DUrbervilles(员愿
怨
员)is one of Hardys last and most important novels. Tess,a
poor peasant girl who is sent by her mother to claim kindred with a more prosperous branch of
the DUrberville family,is seduced by the young master of the house,Alec. After giving birth
to a child who dies in infancy,she goes to work as wagelaborer at a dairy farm at Talbothays
where she meets Angel Clara,son of a clergyman. He falls in love with her and marries her.
On their wedding night Tess confesses her past to Angel. The selection is the scene about Tess
revelation of her loss of virginity and the ensuing emotional conflicts between Angel and Tess.
The circumstances havent changed,but the essence of love has changed. Angel can not
forgive Tess because her loss of virginity makes her a different person in the eyes of Angel.
Tess,a girl with traditional virtue,is completely destroyed by Angel. He breaks Tess heart
and destroys her spirit. Also on that issue,we readers can detach a double standard of
Victorian society. Angel himself has also sexual affairs with other women and he expects Tess
forgiving which Tess does give. But when he hears the loss of Tess virginity,he just can not
圆源缘
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
bear it. He deserts her and escapes to other country. Here,the sarcastic flavor in Angels name
clearly reveals itself. He turns out to be not divine at all as Tess has expected,but a hypo
critical man. Angel,in fact,is a representative of the moral codes of Victorian society.
圆. goodhussif:
( Dial. )bag holding needle and thread
猿. Agape:
( Greek)lovefeast,as held by the early Christians
源. more sinned against than sinning:cf. Shakespeares King Lear,Act III
员. What causes the dramatic change of Angels attitude toward Tess?
圆. What helps Tess come to her final determination of telling Clare about her past?
猿. What in your opinion might be the reasons that Angel is reluctant to forgive Tess?
X. Matthew Arnold
阅燥增
藻
则月藻
葬糟
澡员
The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full,the moon lies fair
Upon the straits圆—on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone;the cliffs猿 of England stand,
Glimmering and vast,out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window,sweet is the night air!
Only,from the lone line of spray
Where the sea meets the moonblanched源 land,
Listen!you hear the grating roar缘
Of pebbles which the waves draw back,and fling,
At their return,up the high strand远,
Begin,and cease,and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow,and bring
The eternal note of sadness in苑.
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圆源远
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英国文学简读教程
Sophocles愿 long ago
Heard it on the Aegean怨,and it brought
Into his mind the turbid员园 ebb and flow
Of human misery;we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.
The Sea of Faith
Was once,too,at the full,and round earths shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furld员员.
But now I only hear its melancholy,long,withdrawing roar,
Retreating,to the breath
Of the nightwind,down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles员圆 of the world.
Ah,love,let us be true
To one another!For the world,which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various员猿,so beautiful,so new,
Hath really neither joy,nor love,nor light,
Nor certitude,nor peace,nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies员源clash by night.
员. Dover Beach is one of the finest short poems of the 员
怨th century,even one of most famous
poems written in the English language. First published in 员愿
远
苑,it mirrors a memorable theme:
圆源苑
Chapter 5 The Victorian Age 摇 摇
the crisis of faith in the midVictorian world, which was generated by German biblical
scholarship of the Higher Criticism and the unsettling revolution of Darwinism. The poem is
written in irregular metrical form and rhyme scheme. First in six lines the poet evokes the
moonlit seascape of the English Channel,tranquil and sweet,and the reassuring“ cliffs of
England”of the Strait of Dover. “ Only,”opening the seventh line,begins the transition,
unfolding through the“ tremulous cadence”of the waves to the“ eternal note of sadness. ”The
AngloGrecian connections of Sophocles and the Aegean are only momentarily relevant“ by
this distant northern sea,”for this is the Sea of Faith—or was,and that image withdraws in its
turn and the vision turns windy,vast,naked and drear.“ Ah,love . . . ”here the accumulated
line conveys the momentary view that love is the bulwark against the uncertainties of the
modern( Victorian)world—the solution the Victorian reader expected—“ only”. Arnold then
undercuts this declaration with a powerful despairing litany of the failure of culture,to end with
the chilling prophetic imagery of the last three lines. Dover Beach represents Arnolds view on
the spiritual unrest of his time. On a moonlit night he enjoys a moment of calmness on the
Dover Beach with his wife by his side. But the flinging in and out of the pebbles makes him
think of the rise and fall of humans faith.
圆. the straits:the strait of Dover
猿. cliffs:shores
源. moonblanched:becomes white in the moon light
缘. grating roar:the rubbing pebbles give forth a rumbling sound
远. strand:shore
苑. bring / The eternal note of sadness in:The normal order of the sentence is“ bring in the eternal
note of sadness”.
愿. Sophocles:
(源
怨
远原源
园
缘B郾C. )a Greek dramatist and poet,author of Oedipus and Antigone
怨. Aegean:the Aegean Sea,the name used by the Greeks and Romans for that part of the
Mediterranean Sea between Asia Minor and Greece
员
园. turbid:confused
员
员. like the folds of a bright girdle furled:at high tide the water encircles the shore like the folds
of bright clothing which have been compressed
员
圆. shingles:beaches covered with pebbles
员
猿. various:different
员
源. ignorant armies:Some scholars think that it might refer to the revolutions of 员
愿源
愿
摇
圆源愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. Read the first stanza of the poem and comment on Line 员
猿. What brings the poet“ The eternal
note of sadness”in your opinion?
圆. Whats the poets attitude towards“ the sea of faith”in the second stanza?
猿. What does the poet refer to by“ ignorant armies”in the last stanza?
Chapter 6
The Modern Period
I. An Outline of the Literature of This Period
蕴蚤
贼
藻
则
葬
则
赠栽藻
则
皂泽
月则
蚤
藻
枣阅藻
泽
糟
则
蚤
责贼
蚤
燥
灶
(员)酝燥
凿藻
则
灶蚤
泽
皂 is an international movement in literature and arts,
especially in literary criticism,which began in the late 员怨th century
and flourished until 员
怨缘
园s.
(圆) Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of
Modernism
( 现代主义)
psychoanalysis as its theoretical base.
(猿) The modernist writers concentrate more on the private and
subjunctive than on the public and objective,mainly concerned with
the inner world of an individual.
(源)James Joyce,T. S. Eliot,Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner
are prominent modernist writers.
阅葬
凿葬
蚤
泽
皂 refers to a western European artistic and literary movement
Dadaism
( 达达主义)
(员
怨
员远原员怨
圆
猿)that sought the discovery of authentic reality through
the abolition of traditional cultural and aesthetic forms by a technique
of comic derision in which irrationality,chance,and intuition were
the guiding principles.
(员)杂贼
则
藻
葬
皂燥
枣悦燥灶泽
糟
蚤
燥
怎泽
灶藻
泽
泽has something to do with a method of
Stream of Consciousness storytelling in which the author tells the story through the freely
flowing thoughts and associations of one of the characters. It is used
( 意识流)
to depict the mental and emotional reactions of characters to external
摇
圆缘园
摇
英国文学简读教程
events, rather than the events themselves. Here, the traditional
chronological narrative is replaced by a seemingly jumbled collection
of things through the mind,forcing the reader to piece together the
“ plot”of an incident.
(圆)Among English writers,James Joyce and Virginia Woolf are two
major advocates of this technique.
葬贼
藻
则燥
枣粤遭泽
怎则
凿is a kind of drama that explains an
(员)栽澡藻栽澡藻
existential ideology and presents a view of the absurdity of the human
condition by the abandoning of usual or rational devices and the use of
The Theater of Absurd
( 荒诞派戏剧)
nonrealistic form.
(圆)The most original playwright of the Theater of Absurd is Samuel
Beckett,who wrote about human beings living a meaningless life in
an alien,decaying world. His play,Waiting for Godot,is regarded
as the most famous and influential play of the Theater of Absurd.
(员)In the mid员
怨
缘
园s and early 员
怨远
园s,there appeared a group of
young novelists and playwrights with lowermiddleclass or working
The Angry Young Men
( 愤怒的年轻人)
class background,who were known as“ 贼
澡藻粤灶早则
赠再燥
怎灶早酝藻
灶. ”
(圆)They demonstrated a particular disillusionment over the depressing
situation in Britain and launched a bitter protest against the outmoded
social and political values in their society.
(猿)Kingsley Amis is a leading figure of this group.
(员)耘曾
蚤
泽
贼
藻
灶贼
蚤
葬
造
蚤
泽
皂 is a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness
and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent
Existentialism
universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses
( 存在主义)
freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of ones
acts.
(圆)Its famous motto is“ existence precedes essence”.
(员)孕葬则
燥
凿赠means mimicry of a work or a style of expression.
Parody
(圆)Sometimes the mimicry is undertaken to make fun of what is
( 戏仿)
parodied;sometimes it is done in a sincere effort to gain the
understanding that comes from painstaking imitation.
圆缘员
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
(员)月造
葬糟
噪澡怎皂燥则is also known as Black Comedy. It is a kind of
writing that places grotesque elements side by side with humorous
ones in an attempt to shock the reader,forcing him or her to laugh at
the horrifying reality of a disordered world. It is humor out of despair
and laughter out of tears.
Black humor
( 黑色幽默)
(圆)Black humor conveys anguish and fury at conditions in which
institutionalized absurdity gets the upper hand. It intends to satirize
hypocrisy, materialism, racial prejudice, and above all, the
dehumanization of the individual by a modern society. Black humor
prevails in Modern American literature.
(猿)Joseph Hellers novel Catch圆圆is considered a superb example of
the use of black humor. Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse Five is also
a case in point.
(员)粤灶贼
蚤
鄄
澡藻
则
燥is a character who lacks the qualities needed for heroism.
(圆)An antihero does not possess nobility of life or mind and does
not have an attitude marked by high purpose and lofty aim.
(猿)Antiheroes typically distrust conventional values and are unable
to commit themselves to any ideals. They generally feel helpless in a
Antihero
( 小人物)
world,over which they have no control. Antiheroes usually accept,
succumb to,and often celebrate,their positions as social outcasts.
(源)Flauberts Emma Bovary( in Madame Bovary,员
愿
缘苑),Joyces
Leopold Bloom( in Ulysses,员
怨
圆圆),and Kingsley Amiss Jim Dixon
( in Lucky Jim,员
怨
缘源),Jimmy Porter( in John Osbornes play Look
Back in Anger,员
怨缘
远)and Yossarian( in Joseph Hellers novel Catch
圆圆,员
怨
远员),are outstanding examples of antihero.
round character
( 丰满的人物)
flat character
( 平淡的人物)
Oedipus Complex
( 俄狄浦斯情结 / 恋母
厌父情结)
粤 则
燥
怎灶凿 糟
澡葬
则
葬糟
贼
藻
则 is complex and undergoes development,
sometimes reaches the point that the reader is surprised.
粤枣
造
葬
贼糟
澡葬
则
葬
糟
贼
藻
则is relatively uncomplicated and does not change
throughout the course of a literary work.
( 员) 韵藻
凿蚤
责怎泽悦燥
皂责造
藻
曾 is a term coined by Sigmund Freud to
designate a sons subconscious feeling of love toward his mother and
jealousy and hatred toward his father.
(圆)D. H. Lawrences Sons and Lovers is a case in point.
摇
圆缘圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
Surrealism
( 超现实主义)
晕葬
皂藻燥
枣贼
澡藻宰则
蚤
贼
藻
则
杂怎则
则
藻
葬
造
蚤
泽
皂 is a 圆园th century literary and artistic movement that
attempts to express the workings of the subconscious by fantastic
imagery and incongruous juxtaposition of subject matter.
宰燥则
噪泽
(员)A Passage to India consists of three
E. M. Forster
(员愿苑
怨原员怨
苑园)
( E・M・福斯特)
(员)In his novels Forster
intermixes a sharp,
observant, and bitter
月则
蚤
藻
枣阅藻
泽
糟
则
蚤
责贼
蚤
燥
灶
parts:Mosque,Cave,and Temple.
A Passage to India
《 印度之行》
(圆)The novel concerns Aziz,a young
Muslin doctor, whose friendliness and
enthusiasm
A Room with a View
《 看得见风景的房间》
social comedy with di
for
the
British
turn
to
bitterness and disillusionment when his
pride is injured.
(猿)The novel is a story about the failure
Where Angels Fear to Tread to communicate doomed by race,class,
ence on the virtues of
《 天使却步的地方》
colonialism and religion.
tolerance and human
dactic narrative insist
decency.
(圆)He advocates break
Howards End
《 霍华德庄园》
ing down the barrier
between races and class
es.
(猿)Contrasts are typi
The Longest Journey
《 最漫长的旅程》
cal of his novels.
George Bernard Shaw
(员愿缘
远原员怨
缘园)
Widowers Houses
Widowers House is Shaws first play. It
《 鳏夫的房产》
is a grotesquely realistic exposure of slum
( 乔治・伯纳・萧)
landlordism. The play satirizes bourgeois
businessmen whose illgotten money is
(员) He is considered Mrs. Warrens Profession
squeezed out of poor,suffering people.
《 华伦夫人的职业》
to be the bestknown
English dramatist since
Shakespeare.
(圆)Most of his plays
Caesar and Cleopatra
《 恺撒和克莉佩特拉》
Mrs. Warrens Profession is a play about
the economic oppression of women.
can be termed as pro
blem plays.
Man and Superman
《 人与超人》
St. Joan is a history play.
圆缘猿
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
(猿)Thematically speak
The Apple Cart is a play about politics.
ing,he writes about the
relations between men
Man and Superman is a play about“ Life
and women, husband
Major Barbara
and wife,and parents
《 巴巴拉少校》
and children;the pro
force”.
Major Barbara explores the conflict and
blems of conscience,
Pygmalion
the ultimate mutual assent of a strong
character and disposi
《 匹格梅利翁》
willed father and his equally strong
minded daughter.
tion;the problems of
individual and society.
Back to Methuselah
《 回到麦修色拉》
Pygmalion is a carefully worked study of
the developing relationship between a
The Apple Cart
“ creator ” and his “ creation ”. It de
《 苹果车》
scribes the transformation of a flower
selling girl of lower class,Eliza Doolit
tle,into a duchess by a phonetician Pro
fessor Henry Higgins.
John Galsworthy
(员
愿
远
苑原员
怨
猿
猿
)
(员)The Forsyte Saga traces the ups and
downs of three generations of the Forsyte
(约翰・高尔斯华妥)
family.
The Forsyte Saga( trilogy)
(圆)The Man of Property is the best of
He is an important 《 福塞特世家》
( 三部曲)
the three. The theme of this novel is that
English playwright and
The Man of Property
of the predominant possessive instinct of
novelist of the Modern
《 有产业的人》
the Forsytes and its effects upon the
Period. His works give
In Chancery
personal relationships of the family with
a comprehensive pic
《 骑虎》
the underlying assumption that human
ture of contemporary
To Let
relationships of the contemporary English
England. His satire
《 出租》
society are reduced to property values.
and criticism are di
(猿)In this novel Galsworthy lays bare the
rected at the propertied
The Silver Box
oppressive nature of the bourgeois property
class.
《 银盒》
instinct,and criticizes its sense of property
because it stifles the natural and justifiable
human desire for art and beauty.
摇
圆缘源
摇
英国文学简读教程
(员)The Lake Isle of Innisfree is just such
William Butler Yeats
(员愿远
缘原员怨
猿怨)
(威廉・伯特勒・叶芝)
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
《茵尼斯弗利岛》
(员) He is considered
to be one of the great
The Second Coming
est poets in the English
《第二次降临》
literature.
(圆) He was awarded
Sailing to Byzantium
Nobel Prize for litera
《驶向拜占庭》
ture in 员
怨圆
猿.
( 猿) He believed that
history,and life,follow
Leda and the Swan
《丽达与天鹅》
ed a circular,spiral pat
tern consisting of long
The Countess Cathleen
cycles which repeated
《伯爵夫人凯瑟琳》
themselves over and over
on different levels. And
symbols 员
ike “ winding
The Land of Hearts Desire
《心愿之乡》
stairs”,
“spinning tops”,
“ gyres ” and “ spirals ”
The Tower
were part of his elaborate
《古堡》
theory of history,which
had obviously become
Down by the Sally Gardens
the central core of order
《 柳园深处》
in his great poems.
a kind of poem,singing a“ fairyland ”
where the protagonist can live as a
hermit.
(圆)The“ Innisfree”refers to a place of
hermitage.
( 员) The Second Coming is based on
Christian doctrine meaning the arrival of a
new God.
(圆)It blends Christs prediction of this
Second
Coming
and
St.
Johns
description of the beast of Apocalypse
( the end of the world)in Revelation.
(猿)The poets combination of these two
events vividly presents the potential crisis
of Europe. The coming of the new era is
not the peaceful world brought by Christ
but
a
warring
world
brought
by
Apocalypse.
Sailing to Byzantium is concerned with an
aged man ( the poet ) and his souls
longing to return to the holy city of
Byzantium as a symbol of artistic or
creative perfection.
T郾S郾Eliot
(员愿
愿愿员怨
远缘)
( T. S. 艾略特)
The Waste Land
《 荒原》
important verse dramatist
and a great prose writer.
landmark and a model of the 圆园th century
English poetry.
(圆)It explores various aspects of decay
(员) He is a great
modernist poet, an
( 员) The Waste Land is hailed as a
The Hollow Man
of culture in the modern Western world,
《 空心人》
expressing a sense of the disintegration of
life.
圆缘缘
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
(圆)He was awarded the
Nobel Prize for litera
ture in 员
怨
源
愿
.
Ash Wednesday
《 灰星期三》
( 猿) His poetry con
Four Quartets
《 四个四重奏》
view that the modern
Murder in the Cathedral
《 教堂里的谋杀案》
veys
his
pessimistic
world is chaotic and its
frustrated and disillu
sioned life. The modern
world is a
spiritual
“ wasteland”.
D. H. Lawrence
(员)He is one of the
The Rainbow
《 虹》
ists of the 圆园th centu
ry,and,perhaps,the
(圆)The major concern
of his novels consists
in the tracing of the
psychological develop
(源)The poem contains five parts:
“ The
Burial of the Dead ”,“ A Game of
Water”,and“ What the Thunder Said”.
)Sons
(员
and
Lovers
is
a
semi
autobiographical novel written by D. H.
Lawrence.
(圆)It tells the story of a coal miners
family with the third child Paul as the
central character.
Women in Love
《 恋爱中的女人》
greatest from a work
ing family.
emotionally,living a kind of death in the
Tradition and Individual Talent
《 传统与个人才华》
(员愿愿
缘原员怨
猿园)
greatest English novel
modern people who are,physically and
Chess”,
“ The Fire Sermon”,
“ Death by
The Love Song of
J. Alfred Prufrock
《 普鲁弗洛克的情歌》
Sons and Lovers
《 儿子和情人》
( D・H・劳伦斯)
spiritual wasteland,a land populated by
midst of their everyday lives.
life is futile and frag
mentary. Man lives a
( 猿) The poem depicts a cultural and
(猿)It is the first novel in the history of
English literature that has a truly working
class background.
Lady Chatterleys Lover
( 源) The novel certainly reflects the
《 查泰莱夫人的情人》
problems of Lawrences young age. It is
The White Peacock
《 白孔雀》
taken as a typical example and lively
manifestation of Oedipus Complex in
fiction,as the result of Lawrences long
The Daughter of the Vicar range study of psychoanalytic theories of
and in his energetic
《 牧师的女儿》
Sigmund Freud.
criticism of the dehuman
(缘)But the theme of the novel is usually
izing effect of the capi
The Horse Dealers
said to concern the effect of maternal love
talist industrialization
Daughter
on the development of a son.
《 马贩的女儿》
on human nature.
ment of his characters
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圆缘远
摇
英国文学简读教程
(猿)He holds that human
Women in Love is considered to be a
sexuality is the dominat
more profoundly ordered novel than any
ing “Life Force”
, and
other writings by him.
defiantly and frankly
describes
scenes
of
sex,which is the rea
son why Lawrence had
been accused of porno
graphic writing.
Dubliners is a collection of 员
缘 short
James Joyce
(员愿愿
圆原员怨
源员)
stories, the first important work of
( 詹姆斯・乔伊斯)
Joyces
lifelong
preoccupation
with
Dublin life,each presenting an accurate
(员) He is regarded as
the most prominent nove
Dubliners
list using the stream
《 都柏林人》
picture of the everyday occurrences of
different citizens of Dublin.
ofconsciousness techni
que.
A Portrait of the Artist
(圆)His use of stream of
as a Young Man
consciousness and allu
《 青年艺术家的肖像》
sions to different cul
tural periods influenced
the
AngloAmerican
Ulysses
《 尤利西斯》
modernist movement.
Finnegans Wake
《 芬尼根的觉醒》
Araby
《 阿拉伯集市》
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is
Joyces first novel. The novel can be read
as a
naturalistic
record
of
Stephen
Dedalus bitter experiences and his final
artistic and spiritual liberation.
(员)Ulysses has become a prime example
of modernism in literature. Stream of
consciousness predominates everywhere
in the book.
(圆)It is such an uncommon novel that
there arises the question whether it can be
called a“ novel”at all;for it seems to
lack almost all the essential qualities of
the novel in a traditional sense:there is
actually no story,no plot,almost no
action,and little characterization in the
圆缘苑
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
usual sense.
(猿)Broadly speaking,Ulysses gives an
account of mans life during one day(员远
June,员
怨
园源)in Dublin.
(源)In Ulysses,Joyce presents a realistic
picture of the modern wasteland in which
modern men are portrayed as vulgar and
trivial
creatures
with
splitting
personalities,disillusioned ideals,sordid
minds and broken families, who are
searching in vain for harmonious human
relationships and spiritual sustenance in a
decaying world. Thematically,it bears
much resemblance to T郾S. Eliots The
Waste Land.
(缘)The principal characters are Stephen
Dedalus,Leopold Bloom and his wife
Molly.
( 员) Araby is the third of the fifteen
stories in Dubliners.
(圆)This tale of the frustrated quest for
beauty in the midst of drabness is both
meticulously realistic in its handling of
details of Dublin life and the Dublin
scene and highly symbolic in that almost
every image and incident suggests some
particular aspects of the theme.
Virginia Woolf
Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs. Dalloway is about the life of a
(员
愿
愿
圆原员
怨
源
员)
《 达洛威夫人》
woman characters mind.
She is the most influen
To the Lighthouse
To the Lighthouse is much concerned with
《 到灯塔去》
the nature of art and artistic creation. It is
( 维吉尼亚・沃尔夫)
tial and probably the
摇
圆缘愿
most
摇
widely
英国文学简读教程
studied
woman writer in the
twentieth century.
considered as her best novel.
The Waves
《 海浪》
Orlando
《 奥兰多》
A Room of Ones Own
《 一间自己的房间》
(员)The Waves is regarded
as her
masterpiece.
(圆)It is her most experimental novel.
(猿) It traces the lives of a group of
friends from childhood to late middle
age.
A Room of Ones Own is a feminist tract
of enduring influence.
W. S. Maugham
(员愿苑
源原员怨
远缘)
The Moon and Six Pence
《 月亮与六便士》
( W・S・毛姆)
He is a novelist as well
as a playwright.
Bondage
describes
Philip
Careys lonely boyhood and his subsequent
Of Human Bondage
《 人性的枷锁》
(员怨园
猿原员怨
缘园)
He is a political novelist.
Animal Farm
《 动物农场》
( 乔治・奥威尔)
Human
adventures.
员
怨
愿源
《员
怨
愿源》
George Orwell
Of
William Golding
(员)Lord of the Flies is Goldings maste
( 威廉・格尔丁)
(圆)An plane carrying a party of school
(员
怨员员原?)
rpiece.
boys crashes on a desert island. The
He was awarded the
Nobel Prize in 员
怨
愿猿
and knighted in 员怨
愿
愿.
Lord of the Flies
《 蝇王》
boys attempts,led by Ralph and Piggy,
to establish a democratic community fail.
Terror triumphs under the dictator Jack,
and two boys are killed. It is only with
the arrival of a shocked rescue officer that
a mask of civilization returns.
圆缘怨
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
(猿) The story reflects postwar disillu
sionment with human nature.
(源)In it Golding shows how,when the
constraints of civilization are removed,
the essential nature and the original sin of
man are revealed.
(员)Heart of Darkness contrasts Western
Joseph Conrad
(员愿缘
苑原员怨
圆源)
( 约瑟夫・康拉德)
Heart of Darkness
《 黑暗的心灵》
his favorite theme.
in
Europe
with
what
civilization has done to Africa.
(圆)The theme of darkness leads to the
(员)His experience as
a sailor made the sea
civilization
Lord Jim
figure of Kurts,the central character,a
《 吉姆爷》
portrait of how the commercial and
material exploitation of colonial lands can
(圆)His works are con
make men morally hollow,and create a
cerned with the nature The Nigger of the Narcissus
permanent nightmare in the soul.
and effects of European 《 白水仙号上的黑家伙》
(猿)The name of the novel may suggest
Nostromo
imperialism,both eco
the geographical shape of Africa and the
《 诺斯特罗摩》
nomic and colonial.
degeneration of human soul.
II. George Bernard Shaw
酝则
泽
援宰葬则
则
藻
灶蒺
泽孕则
燥枣
藻
泽
泽
蚤
燥
灶员
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
[ 粤悦栽陨
陨
]
MRS WARREN[ resigning herself to an evening of boredom now that the men are gone圆]Did
you ever in your life hear anyone rattle on so猿?Isnt he a tease源?
[ She sits at the table].
Now that I think of it,dearie,dont you go encouraging him. Im sure hes a regular good
fornothing.
VIVIE[ rising to fetch more books]Im afraid so. Poor Frank!I shall have to get rid of him;but
I shall feel sorry for him,though hes not worth it. That man Crofts does not seem to me to
be good for much either:is he?
[ She throws the books on the table rather roughly].
摇
圆远园
摇
英国文学简读教程
MRS WARREN[ galled by Vivies indifference]What do you know of men,child,to talk that
way of them?Youll have to make up your mind to see a good deal of Sir George Crofts,as
hes a friend of mine.
VIVIE[ quite unmoved]Why?
[ She sits down and opens a book]. Do you expect that we shall
be much together?You and I,I mean?
MRS WARREN[ staring at her]Of course:until youre married. Youre not going back to
college again.
VIVIE. Do you think my way of life would suit you?I doubt it.
MRS WARREN. Your way of life!What do you mean?
VIVIE[ cutting a page of her book with the paper knife on her chatelaine]Has it really never
occurred to you,mother,that I have a way of life like other people?
MRS WARREN. What nonsense is this youre trying to talk?Do you want to show your
independence,now that youre a great little person at school?Dont be a fool,child.
VIVIE[ indulgently]Thats all you have to say on the subject,is it,mother?
MRS WARREN[ puzzled,then angry ] Dont you keep on asking me questions like that.
[ Violently]Hold your tongue. [ Vivie works on,losing no time,and saying nothing].
You and your way of life,indeed!What next?
[ She looks at Vivie again. No reply]. Your
way of life will be what I please,so it will.[ Another pause]. Ive been noticing these airs
in you ever since you got that tripos or whatever you call it. If you think Im going to put up
with them缘,youre mistaken;and the sooner you find it out,the better.[ Muttering]All I
have to say on the subject,indeed!
[ Again raising her voice angrily]Do you know who
youre speaking to,Miss?
VIVIE[ looking across at her without raising her head from her book]No. Who are you?What
are you?
MRS WARREN[ rising breathless]You young imp!
VIVIE. Everybody knows my reputation,my social standing,and the profession I intend to
pursue. I know nothing about you. What is that way of life which you invite me to share
with you and Sir George Crofts,pray?
MRS WARREN. Take care. I shall do something Ill be sorry for after,and you too.
VIVIE.[ putting aside her books with cool decision]Well,let us drop the subject until you are
better able to face it.[ Looking critically at her mother]You want some good walks and a
little lawn tennis to set you up远. You are shockingly out of condition苑:you were not able to
manage twenty yards uphill愿 today without stopping to pant;and your wrists are mere rolls
of fat. Look at mine.[ She holds out her wrists].
MRS WARREN[ after looking at her helplessly,begins to whimper]Vivie—
圆远员
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
VIVIE[ springing up sharply]Now pray dont begin to cry. Anything but that. I really cannot
stand whimpering. I will go out of the room if you do.
MRS WARREN[ piteously]Oh,my darling,how can you be so hard on me?Have I no rights
over you as your mother?
VIVIE. Are you my mother?
MRS WARREN. A m I your mother?Oh,Vivie!
VIVIE. Then where are our relatives?my father?our family friends?You claim the rights of a
mother:the right to call me fool and child;to speak to me as no woman in authority over
me at college dare speak to me;to dictate my way of life;and to force on me the
acquaintance of a brute whom anyone can see to be the most vicious sort of London man
about town怨. Before I give myself the trouble to resist such claims,I may as well find out
whether they have any real existence.
MRS WARREN[ distracted,throwing herself on her knees]Oh no,no. Stop,stop. I am your
mother:I swear it. Oh,you cant mean to turn on me—my own child!its not natural. You
believe me,dont you?Say you believe me.
VIVIE. Who was my father?
MRS WARREN. You dont know what youre asking. I cant tell you.
VIVIE[ determinedly]Oh yes you can,if you like. I have a right to know;and you know very
well that I have that right. You can refuse to tell me if you please;but if you do,you will
see the last of me tomorrow morning.
MRS WARREN. Oh,its too horrible to hear you talk like that. You wouldnt—you couldnt
leave me.
VIVIE[ ruthlessly ] Yes,without a moments hesitation,if you trifle with me about this.
[ Shivering with disgust]How can I feel sure that I may not have the contaminated blood of
that brutal waster in my veins员园?
MRS WARREN. No,no. On my oath its not he,nor any of the rest that you have ever met.
Im certain of that,at least.[ Vivies eyes fasten sternly on her mother as the significance of
this flashes on her员员. ]
VIVIE[ slowly]You are certain of that,at least. Ah!You mean that that is all you are certain
of. [ Thoughtfully]I see. [ Mrs. Warren buries her face in her hands]. Dont do that,
mother:you know you dont feel it a bit.[ Mrs. Warren takes down her hands and looks up
deplorably at Vivie,who takes out her watch and says]Well,that is enough for tonight. At
what hour would you like breakfast?Is halfpast eight too early for you?
MRS WARREN[ wildly]My God,what sort of woman are you?
VIVIE[ coldly ] The sort the world is mostly made of,I should hope. Otherwise I dont
摇
圆远圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
understand how it gets its business done. Come[ taking her mother by the wrist and pulling
her up pretty resolutely]:pull yourself together员圆. Thats right.
MRS WARREN[ querulously]Youre very rough with me,Vivie.
VIVIE. Nonsense. What about bed员猿?Its past ten.
MRS WARREN[ passionately]Whats the use of my going to bed?Do you think I could sleep?
VIVIE. Why not?I shall.
MRS WARREN郾You!youve no heart. [ She suddenly breaks out vehemently in her natural
tongue—the dialect of a woman of the people员源—with all her affectations of maternal
authority and conventional manners gone, and an overwhelming inspiration of true
conviction and scorn in her]Oh,I wont bear it:I wont put up with the injustice of it. What
right have you to set yourself up above me like this?You boast of what you are to me—to
me,who gave you a chance of being what you are. What chance had I?Shame on you for
a bad daughter and a stuckup prude员缘!
VIVIE[ sitting down with a shrug,no longer confident;for her replies,which have sounded
sensible and strong to her so far,now begin to ring rather woodenly员远 and even priggishly
against the new tone of her mother]Dont think for a moment I set myself above you in any
way. You attacked me with the conventional authority of a mother:I defended myself with
the conventional superiority of a respectable woman. Frankly,I am not going to stand any
of your nonsense;and when you drop it I shall not expect you to stand any of mine. I shall
always respect your right to your own opinions and your own way of life.
MRS WARREN. My own opinions and my own way of life!Listen to her talking!Do you think
I was brought up like you?Able to pick and choose my own way of life?Do you think I did
what I did because I liked it,or thought it right,or wouldnt rather have gone to college and
been a lady if Id had the chance?
VIVIE. Everybody has some choice,mother. The poorest girl alive may not be able to choose
between being Queen of England or Principal of Newnham;but she can choose between
ragpicking and flowerselling,according to her taste. People are always blaming circumstances
for what they are. I dont believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world员苑 are
the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want,and,if they cant find them,
make them.
MRS WARREN. Oh,its easy to talk,isnt it?Here!Would you like to know what my
circumstances were?
VIVIE. Yes:you had better tell me. Wont you sit down?
MRS WARREN. Oh,Ill sit down:dont you be afraid. [ She plants her chair farther forward
with brazen energy,and sits down. Vivie is impressed in spite of herself]. Dyou know
圆远猿
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
what your granmother was?
VIVIE. No.
MRS WARREN. No,you dont. I do. She called herself a widow and had a friedfish shop
down by the Mint,and kept herself and four daughters out of it. Two of us were sisters:
that was me and Liz;and we were both goodlooking and well made. I suppose our father
was a wellfed man:mother pretended he was a gentleman;but I dont know. The other
two were only half sisters:undersized,ugly,starved looking,hard working,honest poor
creatures:Liz and I would have halfmurdered them if mother hadnt halfmurdered us to
keep our hands off them. They were the respectable ones. Well,what did they get by their
respectability?Ill tell you. One of them worked in a whitelead factory twelve hours a day
for nine shillings a week until she died of lead poisoning. She only expected to get her hands
a little paralyzed;but she died. The other was always held up to us as a model because she
married a Government laborer in the Deptford victualling yard,and kept his room and the
three children neat and tidy on eighteen shillings a week—until he took to drink. That was
worth being respectable for,wasnt it?
VIVIE[ now thoughtfully attentive]Did you and your sister think so?
MRS WARREN. Liz didnt,I can tell you:she had more spirit. We both went to a church
school—that was part of the ladylike airs we gave ourselves to be superior to the children
that knew nothing and went nowhere—and we stayed there until Liz went out one night and
never came back. I know the schoolmistress thought Id soon follow her example;for the
clergyman was always warning me that Lizzied end by jumping off Waterloo Bridge. Poor
fool:that was all he knew about it!But I was more afraid of the whitelead factory than I
was of the river;and so would you have been in my place. That clergyman got me a
situation as a scullery maid in a temperance restaurant员愿 where they sent out for anything you
liked. Then I was a waitress;and then I went to the bar at Waterloo station:fourteen hours
a day serving drinks and washing glasses for four shillings a week and my board. That was
considered a great promotion for me. Well,one cold,wretched night,when I was so tired
I could hardly keep myself awake,who should come up for a half of Scotch员怨but Lizzie,in
a long fur cloak,elegant and comfortable,with a lot of sovereigns圆园in her purse.
VIVIE[ grimly]My aunt Lizzie!
MRS WARREN. Yes;and a very good aunt to have,too. Shes living down at Winchester now,
close to the cathedral,one of the most respectable ladies there. Chaperones girls at the
country ball,if you please. No river for Liz,thank you圆员!You remind me of Liz a little:
she was a firstrate business woman—saved money from the beginning—never let herself
look too like what she was—never lost her head圆圆 or threw away a chance. When she saw
摇
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摇
英国文学简读教程
Id grown up goodlooking she said to me across the bar“ What are you doing there,you
little fool?wearing out your health and your appearance for other peoples profit!”Liz was
saving money then to take a house for herself in Brussels;and she thought we two could
save faster than one. So she lent me some money and gave me a start;and I saved steadily
and first paid her back,and then went into business with her as a partner. Why shouldnt I
have done it?The house in Brussels圆猿 was real high class:a much better place for a woman
to be in than the factory where Anne Jane圆源got poisoned. None of the girls were ever treated
as I was treated in the scullery of that temperance place,or at the Waterloo bar,or at home.
Would you have had me stay in them and become a worn out old drudge圆缘 before I was
forty?
VIVIE[ intensely interested by this time]No;but why did you choose that business?Saving
money and good management will succeed in any business.
MRS WARREN. Yes,saving money. But where can a woman get the money to save in any other
business?Could you save out of four shillings a week and keep yourself dressed as well?
Not you. Of course,if youre a plain woman and cant earn anything more;or if you have
a turn for music,or the stage,or newspaperwriting:thats different. But neither Liz nor I
had any turn for such things at all:all we had was our appearance and our turn for pleasing
men. Do you think we were such fools as to let other people trade in our good looks by
employing us as shopgirls,or barmaids,or waitresses,when we could trade in them
ourselves and get all the profits instead of starvation wages?Not likely.
VIVIE. You were certainly quite justified—from the business point of view.
MRS WARREN. Yes;or any other point of view. What is any respectable girl brought up to do
but to catch some rich mans fancy and get the benefit of his money by marrying him?—as
if a marriage ceremony could make any difference in the right or wrong of the thing!Oh,
the hypocrisy of the world makes me sick!Liz and I had to work and save and calculate just
like other people;elseways we should be as poor as any goodfornothing drunken waster of
a woman that thinks her luck will last for ever.[ With great energy]I despise such people:
theyve no character;and if theres a thing I hate in a woman,its want of character.
VIVIE. Come now,mother:frankly!Isnt it part of what you call character in a woman that she
should greatly dislike such a way of making money?
MRS WARREN. Why,of course. Everybody dislikes having to work and make money;but they
have to do it all the same. Im sure Ive often pitied a poor girl,tired out and in low spirits,
having to try to please some man that she doesnt care two straws for圆远—some halfdrunken
fool that thinks hes making himself agreeable when hes teasing and worrying and disgusting
a woman so that hardly any money could pay her for putting up with it. But she has to bear
圆远缘
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
with disagreeables and take the rough with the smooth圆苑,just like a nurse in a hospital or
anyone else. Its not work that any woman would do for pleasure,goodness knows;though
to hear the pious people talk you would suppose it was a bed of roses.
VIVIE. Still,you consider it worth while. It pays.
MRS WARREN. Of course its worth while to a poor girl,if she can resist temptation and is
goodlooking and well conducted and sensible. Its far better than any other employment
open to her. I always thought that it oughtnt to be. It cant be right,Vivie,that there
shouldnt be better opportunities for women. I stick to that:its wrong. But its so,right or
wrong;and a girl must make the best of it. But of course its not worth while for a lady. If
you took to it youd be a fool;but I should have been a fool if Id taken to anything else.
VIVIE[ more and more deeply moved]Mother:suppose we were both as poor as you were in
those wretched old days,are you quite sure that you wouldnt advise me to try the Waterloo
bar,or marry a laborer,or even go into the factory?
MRS WARREN[ indignantly]Of course not. What sort of mother do you take me for!How
could you keep your selfrespect in such starvation and slavery?And whats a woman
worth?whats life worth?without selfrespect!Why am I independent and able to give my
daughter a firstrate education,when other women that had just as good opportunities are in
the gutter?Because I always knew how to respect myself and control myself. Why is Liz
looked up to in a cathedral town?The same reason. Where would we be now if wed
minded the clergymans foolishness?Scrubbing floors for one and sixpence a day and
nothing to look forward to but the workhouse infirmary. Dont you be led astray by people
who dont know the world,my girl. The only way for a woman to provide for herself
decently is for her to be good to some man that can afford to be good to her. If shes in his
own station of life,let her make him marry her;but if shes far beneath him she cant expect
it:why should she?it wouldnt be for her own happiness. Ask any lady in London society
that has daughters;and shell tell you the same,except that I tell you straight and shell tell
you crooked圆愿. Thats all the difference.
VIVIE. [ fascinated,gazing at her]My dear mother:you are a wonderful woman:you are
stronger than all England. And are you really and truly not one wee bit doubtful圆怨—or—
or—ashamed?
MRS WARREN. Well,of course,dearie,its only good manners to be ashamed of it:its
expected from a woman. Women have to pretend to feel a great deal that they dont feel.
Liz used to be angry with me for plumping out the truth about it. She used to say that when
every woman could learn enough from what was going on in the world before her eyes,
there was no need to talk about it to her. But then Liz was such a perfect lady!She had the
摇
圆远远
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英国文学简读教程
true instinct of it;while I was always a bit of a vulgarian. I used to be so pleased when you
sent me your photos to see that you were growing up like Liz:youve just her ladylike,
determined way. But I cant stand saying one thing when everyone knows I mean another.
Whats the use in such hypocrisy?If people arrange the world that way for women,theres
no good pretending its arranged the other way. No:I never was a bit ashamed really. I
consider I had a right to be proud of how we managed everything so respectably,and never
had a word against us,and how the girls were so well taken care of. Some of them did very
well:one of them married an ambassador. But of course now I darent talk about such
things:whatever would they think of us!
[ She yawns]. Oh dear!I do believe Im getting
sleepy after all. [ She stretches herself lazily,thoroughly relieved by her explosion,and
placidly ready for her nights rest].
VIVIE. I believe it is I who will not be able to sleep now.[ She goes to the dresser and lights the
candle. Then she extinguishes the lamp,darkening the room a good deal]. Better let in
some fresh air before locking up. [ She opens the cottage door,and finds that it is broad
moonlight]. What a beautiful night!Look!
[ She draws the curtains of the window. The
landscape is seen bathed in the radiance of the harvest moon rising over Blackdown].
MRS WARREN[ with a perfunctory glance at the scene]Yes,dear;but take care you dont
catch your death of cold from the night air.
VIVIE[ contemptuously]Nonsense.
MRS WARREN[ querulously]Oh yes:everything I say is nonsense,according to you.
VIVIE[ turning to her quickly]No:really that is not so,mother. You have got completely the
better of me tonight,though I intended it to be the other way. Let us be good friends now.
MRS WARREN[ shaking her head a little ruefully]So it h a s been the other way. But I suppose
I must give in to it. I always got the worst of it from Liz;and now I suppose itll be the
same with you.
VIVIE. Well,never mind. Come:goodnight,dear old mother. [ She takes her mother in her
arms].
MRS WARREN[ fondly]I brought you up well,didnt I,dearie?
VIVIE. You did.
MRS WARREN. And youll be good to your poor old mother for it,wont you?
VIVIE. I will,dear.[ Kissing her]Goodnight.
MRS WARREN[ with unction]Blessings on my own dearie darling!A mothers blessing!
[ She
embraces her daughter protectingly,instinctively looking upward for divine sanction猿园. ]
圆远苑
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
员. Mrs. Warrens Profession(员愿
怨
猿)was considered by the dramatist himself as“ much my best
play”although it was banned from the British stage as immoral by the censors because it dealt
with the theme of prostitution as big business in bourgeois society. Mrs. Warren,who comes
from a very poor family and after working for some time as waitress and barmaid,becomes a
prostitute and then is partowner and manager of a chain of brothels in different national
capitals of Central Europe. The excerpt is about the debate between Mrs. Warren and Vivie,
her daughter,over Mrs. Warrens profession. At first the daughter looks down upon her
mothers occupation of prostitution, however, after her mothers revelation of her hard
experience of her past,Vivie comes to understand her mothers dilemma. To work honestly
and hard only ensures final poverty or even death,as is shown by Warrens sister. Then there
seems no alternative left for her. That is also the social problem left there for us to ponder
over.
圆. now that the men are gone:
“ the men”here refer to the visitors who had just left Mrs. Warren
and Vivie that evening( immediately before Mrs. Warrens speech here).
猿. hear anyone rattle on so:hear anyone go on talking in such a lively and thoughtless way
( Here,Mrs. Warren is referring to Franks noisy talk in the preceding scene. )
源. “ Isnt he a tease?”:Isnt he a person always annoying others with jokes and questions?
(“ He”
here refers to Frank. )
缘. to put up with them:to tolerate them,to bear them
远. “ You want some good walks and a little lawn tennis to set you up. ”:You need much walking
and the playing of a little lawn tennis to restore you to health.
苑. You are shockingly out of condition:Youre in extremely poor health.
愿. to manage twenty yards uphill:to go uphill for twenty yards with much effort
怨. London man about town:a fashionable and idle man in London who spends much time in
amusing himself( referring here to Sir George Crofts)
员
园.“How can I feel sure that I may not have the contaminated blood of that waster in my veins?
”:
How can I feel sure that I may not be the child of that brutal waster?
“ waster”越 a dissolute
fellow,a goodfornothing person. By“that brutal waster”Vivie is here referring to Sir George
Crofts.
员
员. as the significance of this flashes on her:as the meaning of this suddenly becomes clear to her
员
圆. pull yourself together:regain your calmness,recover yourself from excitement
员
猿.“ What about bed?”:Shall we go to bed?
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圆远愿
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英国文学简读教程
员
源. a woman of the people:a woman of the streets,a prostitute
员
缘. a stuckup prude:a selfconceited woman of extreme modesty in conduct,speech,etc.
员
远. begin to ring rather woodenly:begin to sound flat and dull
员
苑. the people who get on in this world:the people who become famous or wealthy or rise to high
positions in this world
员
愿. a temperance restaurant:a restaurant where no alcoholic drinks are served to the customers
员
怨. come up for a half of Scotch:come up( to the bar at the Waterloo Station)to order a half
drink of Scotch whisky
圆
园. a lot of sovereigns:
“ Sovereign”here refers to a British gold coin of the value of a pound.
圆
员. no river for Liz,thank you:i. e. ,Liz didnt end her life by jumping into the river.(“ thank
you”is added here for sarcasm. )
圆
圆. never lost her head:never lost her presence of mind,never lost the use of her judgment
圆
猿. the house in Brussels:referring to the prostitution house in Brussels,Belgium,of which Mrs.
Warren was partowner and manager
圆
源. Anne Jane:name of Mrs. Warrens halfsister who died of lead poisoning in the white lead factory
圆
缘. a wornout old drudge:a tireout old person working hard in servile employment
圆
远. some man that she doesnt care two straws for:some man for whom she doesnt care a bit
圆
苑. take the rough with the smooth:take the unpleasant things together with the pleasant ones
圆
愿. I tell you straight and shell tell you crooked:I tell you in the straightforward way and shell
tell you in an indirect and roundabout way.
圆
怨. not one wee bit doubtful:not the least bit doubtful(“ wee”,Scottish dialect 越small,little;
here used for emphasis)
猿
园. looking upward for divine sanction:looking up to heaven for approval from God
员. Whats your comment on Mrs. Warrens defense of her profession?
圆. What would be the root of the misery of the working class women?
猿. What do you think of Shaws characterization and language features in this play?
圆远怨
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
III. W. B. Yeats
员
栽澡藻蕴葬噪藻陨
泽
造
藻燥枣陨
灶灶蚤
泽
枣
则
藻
藻
I will arise and go now,and go to Innisfree
And a small cabin build there,of clay and wattles made:
Nine beanbows will I have there,a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the beeloud glade圆.
And I shall have some peace there,for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnights all a glimmer,and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnets wings猿.
I will arise and go now,for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore源;
While I stand on the roadway,or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep hearts core缘.
员. The Lake Isle of Innisfree(员愿
怨
猿)is one of Yeats best known lyrics. It is one of the poets
怨th century England. The poem
early work under the influence of the PreRaphaelites in late 员
consists of three quatrains of iambic pentameter,with each stanza rimed abab. Innisfree is an
inlet in the lake in Irish legends. Here the author is referring to a place for hermitage. Like
Thoreau who has lived closely to nature near Walden Pond,Yeats also has this desire to escape
from society and isolate himself in a wooden cabin in the woods. There,free from earthly
worries and cares,the poet enjoys his peaceful life on this lake isle.
圆. the beeloud glade:an open place in the wood where bees buzz loudly
摇
圆苑园
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英国文学简读教程
猿. full of the linnets wings:here referring to the fact that lots of linnets fly here and there
源. lapping with low sounds by the shore:flowing against the shore
缘. in the deep hearts core:at the bottom of my heart
圆苑员
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
员. Scan the meter and rhyme. What are the effects of these musical elements upon you?
圆. What do“ roadway”and“ pavements grey”in line 员
员stand for?What is the meaning of the
last two lines?
猿. What does Innisfree symbolize in the poem?What emotions or ideas does the poem want to
convey through it?
栽澡藻杂藻
糟
燥灶凿悦燥皂蚤
灶早员
Turning and turning in the widening gyre圆
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart;the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blooddimmed tide is loosed,and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction,while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming!Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi猿
Troubles my sight:somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs,while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again;but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast,its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem源 to be born?
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英国文学简读教程
员. The Second Coming was written in February,员怨
员
怨. The title of the poem refers to the
Christian belief that Christ will return to this earth some day and reign over an age of peace
after a great war between Good and Evil has destroyed the old civilizations. This rebirth of
Christ at some future time is called“ the Second Coming”. When Yeats wrote this poem,his
motherland Ireland was in the midst of turmoil and bloodshed;the Western Hemisphere had
been severely shaken by World War I. A new Millennium seemed imminent,but unlike the
Christian idea of a future Christ who will be good,kind and perfect,Yeats gives us the
unsettled suggestion that the new historical age might be led by a“ rough beast”that refers to
the beast of Apocalypse in Revelation. It represents the antichrist,who is powerful and
destructive. Widening gyre is an important symbol often used by Yeats to indicate the journey
of life and history. Falcon and falconer indicate the situation of the modern world. The
modern world is out of control just as falcon is beyond the control of the falconer. Blood
dimmed tide may refer to WWI,Russian Revolution as well as the troubles in Ireland.
圆. gyre:Yeats called each cycle of history a“ gyre”,literally a circular or spiral turn.
猿. Spiritus Mundi:
( Latin)the Spirit of the Universe
源. Bethlehem:the town in Israel where Christ was born
员. There are several repetitions in the poem. Find them and explain the functions of each of them.
圆. According to Yeats in the second stanza,what will be characteristic of the new era symbolized
by the“ rough beast”that“ Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born”?According to Yeats,
what savage deity would next appear on earth?
猿. According to a Biblical prophecy,Christ is to return and establish a new era of peace and
prosperity. What does“ the Second Coming”refer to?What ironic use does Yeats make of the
phrase“ Second Coming”?
源. What images are used in the first stanza?What do they indicate respectively?
缘. Why do you think the poem ends with a question mark?
圆苑猿
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
杂葬蚤
造
蚤
灶早贼
燥月赠
扎
葬灶贼
蚤
怎皂员
I
That is no country for old men. The young
In one anothers arms,birds in the trees,
—Those dying generations—at their song,
The salmonfalls,the mackerelcrowded seas,
Fish,flesh,or fowl,commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten,born,and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
II
An aged man is but a paltry thing.
A tattered coat upon a stick,unless
Soul clap its hands and sing,and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress,
Nor is there singing school but studying
Monuments of its own magnificence;
And therefore I have sailed the seas and come
To the holy city of Byzantium.
III
O sages standing in Gods holy fire
As in the gold mosaic of a wall,
Come from the holy fire,perne in a gyre,
And be the singingmasters of my soul.
Consume my heart away;sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is;and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.
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摇
英国文学简读教程
IV
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past,or passing,or to come.
员. Sailing to Byzantium was composed by Yeats in 员
怨
圆远. It is a mark of Yeats artistic maturity.
The title of the poem refers to the ancient city of Byzantium,capital of the Byzantine ruled by
the Turkish Sultan. The city is now called Istanbul. In the first stanza Yeatspreoccupation with
old age is made clear. It also describes a picture of life teaming with vitality, youth,
sensuousness and reproduction. It asserts that life is transient and cannot escape decay and
death. The sensuous life is contrasted with the world of art embodied by the magnificence of
Byzantium,a world of ageless art full of vitality and freshness. This stanza vividly offers a
predicament Yeats faces when his body ages but his mind and intellect still remain young and
dynamic. Yeats seems to have found a way to avoid the sensual world by mentally
preoccupying himself with the permanent world of art. In the second stanza Yeats admits that
old age amounts to little. He says the best way to ward off the bodily constraint is to
concentrate ones soul on an artistic search. In the third stanza Yeats mentions some martyrs
whose death symbolizes a moving from mortality to immortality. The phrase“ perne in a gyre”
refers to a spinning wheel that serves as a symbol of continuity and permanence. The figures in
the Byzantine mosaic have stood the test of time and been frozen to moments of eternity. Yeats
desires to submerge himself into the world of permanent art represented by Byzantium. In the
final stanza Yeats declares that he would like to assume the form of a golden bird,a part of the
palace of Byzantium,as a way to enjoy eternally an intellectual and artistic life. Sailing to
Byzantium is,therefore,a metaphorical journey from the world of mortality and transience into
a world of timelessness and permanence of art represented by Byzantium.
圆苑缘
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
员. Explain the implication of“ those dying generations”in line 猿of the first stanza. Who are
“ those dying generations”?
圆. In the third stanza the poet prays for the sages to be“ masters”of his soul. What does he want
them to teach him?
猿. What,according to Yeats,are the purposes of art in general and motives that impel the artist?
源. In the last stanza what“ form”does the poet choose as a reflection of his soul?What does his
choice tell you of his feelings about old age and death?
IV. Edward Morgan Forster
粤孕葬
泽
泽
葬早
藻贼
燥陨
灶凿蚤
葬员
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬责贼
藻
则员
缘
Miss Quested and Aziz and a guide continued the slightly tedious expedition. They did not
talk much,for the sun was getting high. The air felt like a warm bath into which hotter water is
trickling constantly,the temperature rose and rose,the boulders said,
“ I am alive,”the small
stones answered,
“ I am almost alive. ”Between the chinks lay the ashes of little plants. They
meant to climb to the rockingstone on the summit,but it was too far,and they contented
themselves with the big group of caves. En route for these,they encountered several isolated
caves,which the guide persuaded them to visit,but really there was nothing to see;they lit a
match,admired its reflection in the polish,tested the echo and came out again. Aziz was“ pretty
sure they should come on some interesting old carvings soon”,but only meant he wished there
were some carvings. His deeper thoughts were about the breakfast. Symptoms of disorganization
had appeared as he left the camp. He ran over the menu:an English breakfast,porridge and
mutton chops,but some Indian dishes to cause conversation,and pan afterwards. He had never
liked Miss Quested as much as Mrs. Moore,and had little to say to her,less than ever now that
she would marry a British official.
Nor had Adela much to say to him. If his mind was with the breakfast,hers was mainly with her
marriage. Simla圆 next week,get rid of Antony猿,a view of Tibet,tiresome wedding bells,Agra源 in
October,see Mrs. Moore comfortably off from Bombay—the procession passed before her again,
blurred by the heat,and then she turned to the more serious business of her life at Chandrapore. There
摇
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摇
英国文学简读教程
were real difficulties hereRonnys limitations and her own—but she enjoyed facing difficulties,and
decided that if she could control her peevishness( always her weak point),and neither rail against
AngloIndia nor succumb to it,their married life ought to be happy and profitable. She mustnt be
too theoretical;she would deal with each problem as it came up,and trust to Ronnys common
sense and her own. Luckily,each had abundance of common sense and good will.
But as she toiled over a rock that resembled an inverted saucer,she thought,
“ What about
love?
”The rock was nicked by a double row of footholds,and somehow the question was suggested
by them. Where had she seen footholds before?Oh yes,they were the pattern traced in the dust by
the wheels of the Nawab Bahadurs car. She and Ronny—no,they did not love each other.
“ Do I take you too fast?”inquired Aziz for she had paused,a doubtful expression on her
face. The discovery had come so suddenly that she felt like a mountaineer whose rope had
broken. Not to love the man ones going to marry!Not to find out till this moment!Not even to
have asked oneself the question until now!Something else to think out. Vexed rather than
appalled,she stood still,her eyes on the sparkling rock. There was esteem and animal缘 contact at
dusk,but the emotion that links them was absent. Ought she to break her engagement off?She
was inclined to think not—it would cause so much trouble to others;besides,she wasnt
convinced that love is necessary to a successful union. If love is everything,few marriages would
survive the honeymoon. “ No,Im all right,thanks,”she said,and,her emotions well under
control,resumed the climb,though she felt a bit dashed. Aziz held her hand,the guide adhered
to the surface like a lizard and scampered about as if governed by a personal centre of gravity.
“ Are you married,Dr Aziz?”she asked,stopping again,and frowning.
“ Yes,indeed,do come and see my wife”—for he felt it more artistic to have his wife alive
for a moment.
“ Thank you,”she said absently.
“ She is not at Chandrapore just now. ”
“ And have you children?”
“ Yes,indeed,three,”he replied in firmer tones.
“ Are they a great pleasure to you?”
“ Why,naturally,I adore them”he laughed.
“ I suppose so. ”What a handsome little Oriental he was,and no doubt his wife and children
were beautiful too,for people usually get what they already possess. She did not admire him with
any personal warmth,for there was nothing of the vagrant in her blood,but she guessed he might
attract women of his own race and rank,and she regretted that neither she nor Ronny had physical
charm. It does make a difference in a relationship—beauty,thick hair,a fine skin. Probably this
man had several wives—Mohammedans always insist on their full four,according to Mrs Turton.
圆苑苑
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
And having no one else to speak to on that eternal rock,she gave rein to the subject,of marriage
and said in her honest,decent,inquisitive way:
“ Have you one wife or more than one?”
The question shocked the young man very much. It challenged a new conviction of his
community,and new convictions are more sensitive than old. If she had said,
“ Do you worship
one god or several?”he would not have objected. But to ask an educated India Moslem how many
wives he has—appalling,hideous!He was in trouble how to conceal his confusion.“ One,one in
my own particular case,”he spluttered,and let go of her hand. Quite a number of caves were at
the top of the track,and thinking,
“ Damn the English even at their best,”he plunged into one of
them to recover his balance. She followed at her leisure,quite unconscious that she had said the
wrong thing,and not seeing him,she also went into a cave,thinking with half her mind“ sight
seeing bores me”,and wondering with the other half about marriage.
员. A Passage to India was written in 员怨
圆
源. In this novel Forsters vision of unity and order in the
universe is fully revealed. In Forsters minds eye harmony is the core of the universe as well
as the human world. Keeping this ideal in mind,Forster observes the world with keen eyes.
However,the reality argues against his vision. What he sees is the gulf between nations and
races,and isolation and misunderstanding between people. In his A Passage to India Forster
conveys his ideal as well as his disillusionment. This book also examines colonialism and
racism in a microscopic manner in India during the period of English colonization. The selected
passage is about Adela and Dr. Azizs visit to the Caves. During their visit of the ancient caves
of India,Adela has a fantasy that Dr. Aziz wants to rape her. However,she is not sure about
the event,for the weather in the cave is very hot and suffocating and she could not think clearly.
圆. Simla:a city in the northern India
猿. Anthony:a servant of Mrs. Moore
源. Agra:a city in the northern India
缘. animal:physical,or of body
员. Describe some of the barriers to understanding between the British and the natives,as shown in
摇
圆苑愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
the selection.
圆. Compare the speeches of different characters in the selection,and tell what they reveal about
the characters.
V. Virginia Woolf
酝则
泽
援阅葬造
造
燥憎葬赠员
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬责贼
藻
则陨
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.
For Lucy圆 had her work cut out for her. The doors would be taken off their hinges;
Rumpelmayers men were coming. And then,thought Clarissa Dalloway,what a morningfresh as
if issued to children on a beach.
What a lark!What a plunge!For so it had always seemed to her,when,with a little squeak
of the hinges,which she could hear now,she had burst open the French windows and plunged at
Bourton into the open air. How fresh,how calm,stiller than this of course,the air was in the
early morning;like the flap of a wave;the kiss of a wave;chill and sharp and yet( for a girl of
eighteen猿 as she then was)solemn,feeling as she did,standing there at the open window,that
something awful was about to happen;looking at the flowers,at the trees with the smoke winding
off them and the rooks rising,falling;standing and looking until Peter Walsh源 said,
“ Musing
among the vegetables?”—was that it?—“ I prefer men to cauliflowers”—was that it?He must
have said it at breakfast one morning when she had gone out on to the terrace—Peter Walsh. He
would be back from India one of these days,June or July,she forgot which,for his letters were
awfully dull;it was his sayings one remembered;his eyes,his pocketknife,his smile,his
grumpiness and,when millions of things had utterly vanished—how strange it was!—a few
sayings like this about cabbages.
She stiffened a little on the kerb,waiting for Durtnalls van to pass. A charming woman,
Scrope Purvis thought her( knowing her as one does know people who live next door to one in
Westminster);a touch of the bird about her,of the jay,bluegreen,light,vivacious,though she
was over fifty,and grown very white since her illness. There she perched,never seeing him,
waiting to cross,very upright.
For having lived in Westminster—how many years now?over twenty,—one feels even in the
midst of the traffic,or waking at night,Clarissa was positive,a particular hush,or solemnity;an
indescribable pause,a suspense( but that might be her heart,affected,they said,by influenza)
圆苑怨
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
before Big Ben strikes. There! Out it boomed. First a warning, musical; then the hour,
irrevocable. The leaden circles dissolved in the air. Such fools we are,she thought,crossing
Victoria Street. For Heaven only knows why one loves it so,how one sees it so,making it up,
building it round one,tumbling it,creating it every moment afresh;but the veriest frumps,the
most dejected of miseries sitting on doorsteps( drink their downfall)do the same;cant be dealt
with,she felt positive,by Acts of Parliament for that very reason:they love life. In peoples
eyes,in the swing,tramp,and trudge;in the bellow and the uproar;the carriages,motor cars,
omnibuses,vans,sandwich men shuffling and swinging;brass bands;barrel organs;in the
triumph and the jingle and the strange high singing of some aeroplane overhead was what she
loved;life;London;this moment of June.
For it was the middle of June. The War缘 was over,except for some one like Mrs. Foxcroft at
the Embassy last night eating her heart out because that nice boy was killed and now the old Manor
House must go to a cousin;or Lady Bexborough who opened a bazaar,they said,with the telegram
in her hand,John,her favourite,killed;but it was over;thank Heaven—over. It was June. The
King and Queen were at the Palace. And everywhere,though it was still so early,there was a
beating,a stirring of galloping ponies,tapping of cricket bats;Lords,Ascot,Ranelagh and all
the rest of it;wrapped in the soft mesh of the greyblue morning air,which,as the day wore on,
would unwind the,and set down on their lawns and pitches the bouncing ponies,whose forefeet
just struck the ground and up they sprung,the whirling young men,and laughing girls in their
transparent muslins who,even now,after dancing all night,were taking their absurd woolly dogs
for a run;and even now,at this hour,discreet old dowagers were shooting out in their motor cars
on errands of mystery;and the shopkeepers were fidgeting in their windows with their paste and
diamonds,their lovely old seagreen brooches in eighteenthcentury settings to tempt Americans
( but one must economise,not buy things rashly for Elizabeth远),but she,too,loving it as she
did with an absurd and faithful passion,being part of it,since her people were courtiers once in
the time of the Georges,she,too,was going that very night to kindle and illuminate;to give her
party. But how strange,on entering the Park,the silence;the mist;the hum;the slowswimming
happy ducks;the pouched birds waddling;and who should be coming along with his back against
the Government buildings,most appropriately,carrying a dispatch box stamped with the Royal
Arms,who but Hugh Whitbread;her old friend Hughthe admirable Hugh!
“ Goodmorning to you,Clarissa!”said Hugh,rather extravagantly,for they had known
each other as children.“ Where are you off to?”
“ I love walking in London,”said Mrs. Dalloway. “ Really its better than walking in the
country. ”
They had just come up—unfortunately—to see doctors. Other people came to see pictures;
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go to the opera;take their daughters out;the Whitbreads came“ to see doctors. ”Times without
number Clarissa had visited Evelyn Whitbread in a nursing home. Was Evelyn ill again?Evelyn
was a good deal out of sorts,said Hugh,intimating by a kind of pout or swell of his very well
covered,manly,extremely handsome,perfectly upholstered body( he was almost too well
dressed always,but presumably had to be,with his little job at Court)that his wife has some
internal ailment, nothing serious, which, as an old friend, Clarissa Dalloway would quite
understand without requiring him to specify. Ah yes,she did of course;what a nuisance;and felt
very sisterly and oddly conscious at the same time of her hat. Not the right hat for the early
morning,was that it?For Hugh always made her feel,as he bustled on,raising his hat rather
extravagantly and assuring her that she might be a girl of eighteen,and of course he was coming
to her party tonight,Evelyn absolutely insisted,only a little late he might be after the party at the
Palace to which he had to take one of Jims boys,—she always felt a little skimpy beside Hugh;
schoolgirlish;but attached to him,partly from having known him always,but she did think him a
good sort in his won way,though Richard苑 was nearly driven mad by him,and as for Peter
Walsh,he had never to this day forgiven her for liking him.
She could remember scene after scene at Bourton—Peter furious;Hugh not,of course,his
match in any way,but still not a positive imbecile as Peter made out;not a mere barbers block.
When his old mother wanted him to give up shooting or to take her to Bath he did it,without a
word;he was rally unselfish,and as for saying,as Peter did,that he had no heart,no brain,
nothing but the manners and breeding of an English gentleman,that was only her dear Peter at his
worst;and he could be intolerable;he could be impossible;but adorable to walk with on a
morning like this.
( June had drawn out every leaf on the trees. The mothers of Pimlico gave suck to their
young. Messages were passing from the Fleet to the Admiralty. Arlington Street and Piccadilly
seemed to chafe the very air in the Park and lift its leaves hotly,brilliantly,on waves of that
divine vitality which Clarissa loved. To dance,to ride,she had adored all that. )
For they might be parted for hundreds of years,she and Peter;she never wrote a letter and
his were dry sticks;but suddenly it would come over her,if he were with me now what would he
say?—some days,some sights bringing him back to her calmly,without the old bitterness;which
perhaps was the reward of having cared for people;they came back in the middle of St. Jamess
Park on a fine morning—indeed they did. But Peter—however beautiful the day might be,and the
trees and the grass,and the little girl in pink—Peter never saw a thing of all that. He would put
on his spectacles,if she told him to;he would look. It was the state of the world that interested
him;Wagner,Popes poetry,peoples characters eternally,and the defects of her own soul. How
he scolded her!How they argued!She would marry a Prime Minister and stand at the top of a
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Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
staircase;the perfect hostess he called her( she had cried over it in her bedroom),she had the
makings of the perfect hostess,he said.
So she would still find herself arguing in St. Jamess Park,still making out that she had been
right—and she had too—not to marry him. For in marriage a little licence,a little independence
there must be between people living together day in day out in the same house;which Richard
gave her,and she him. ( Where was he this morning for instance?Some committee,she never
asked what. )But with Peter everything had to be shared;everything gone into. And it was
intolerable,and when it came to that scene in the little garden by the fountain,she had to break
with him or they would have been destroyed,both of them ruined,she was convinced;though she
had borne about with her for years like an arrow sticking in her heart the grief,the anguish;and
then the horror of the moment when some one told her at a concert that he had married a woman
met on the boat going to India!Never should she forget all that!Cold,heartless,a prude,he
called her. Never could she understand how he cared. But those Indian women did presumably—
silly,pretty,flimsy nincompoops. And she wasted her pity. For he was quite happy,he assured
her—perfectly happy,though he had never done a thing that they talked of;his whole life had
been a failure. It made her angry still.
She had reached the Park gates愿. She stood for a moment,looking at the omnibuses in
Piccadilly怨.
She would not say of any one in the world now that they were this or were that. She felt very
young;at the same time unspeakably aged. She sliced like a knife through everything;at the
same time was outside,looking on. She had a perpetual sense,as she watched the taxi cabs,of
being out,out,far out to sea and alone;she always had the feeling that it was very,very
dangerous to live even one day. Not that she thought herself clever,or much out of the ordinary.
How she had got through life on the few twigs of knowledge Fr ulein Daniels员园 gave them she
could not think. She knew nothing;no language,no history;she scarcely read a book now,
except memoirs in bed;and yet to her it was absolutely absorbing;all this;the cabs passing;and
she would not say of Peter,she would not say of herself,I am this,I am that.
Her only gift was knowing people almost by instinct,she thought,walking on. If you put her
in a room with some one,up went her back like a cats;or she purred. Devonshire House,Bath
House,the house with the china cockatoo员员,she had seen them all lit up once;and remembered
Sylvia,Fred,Sally Seton—such hosts of people;and dancing all night;and the wagons plodding
past to market;and driving home across the Park. She remembered once throwing a shilling into
the Serpentine员圆. But every one remembered;what she loved was this,here,now,in front of
her;the fat lady in the cab. Did it matter then,she asked herself,walking towards Bond Street,
did it matter that she must inevitably cease completely;all this must go on without her;did she
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resent it;or did it not become consoling to believe that death ended absolutely?But that somehow
in the streets of London,on the ebb and flow of things,here,there,she survived,Peter
survived,lived in each other,she being part,she was positive,of the trees at home;of the house
there,ugly,rambling all to bits and pieces as it was员猿;part of people she had never met;being
laid out like a mist between the people she knew best,who lifted her on their branches as she had
seen the trees lift the mist,but it spread ever so far,her life,herself. But what was she dreaming
as she looked into Hatchards shop windows?What was she trying to recover?What image of white
dawn in the country,as she read in the book spread open:
Fear no more the heart o the sun
Nor the furious winters rages员源.
This late age of the worlds experience had bred in them all,all men and women,a well of
tears. Tears and sorrows;courage and endurance;a perfectly upright and stoical bearing. Think,
for example,of the woman she admired most,Lady Bexborough员缘,opening the bazaar.
There were Jorrocks Jaunts and Jollities,there were Soapy Sponge and Mrs. Asquiths
Memoirs and Big Game Shooting in Nigeria员远,all spread open. Ever so many books there were;
but none that seemed exactly right to take to Evelyn Whitbread员苑 in her nursing home. Nothing
that would serve to amuse her and make that indescribably driedup little woman look,as Clarissa
came in,just for a moment cordial;before they settled down for the usual interminable talk of
womens ailments. How much she wanted itthat people should look pleased as she came in,
Clarissa thought and turned and walked back towards Bond Street,annoyed,because it was silly
to have other reasons for doing things. Much rather would she have been one of those people like
Richard who did things for themselves,whereas,she thought,waiting to cross,half the time she
did things not simply,not for themselves;but to make people think this or that;perfect idiocy she
knew( and now the policeman held up his hand)for no one was ever for a second taken in. Oh if
she could have had her life over again!She thought,stepping on to the pavement,could have
looked even differently!
She would have been,in the first place,dark like Lady Bexborough,with a skin of crumpled
leather and beautiful eyes. She would have been,like Lady Bexborough,slow and stately;rather
large;interested in politics like a man;with a country house;very dignified,very sincere.
Instead of which she had a narrow peastick figure;a ridiculous little face,beaked like a birds.
that she held herself well was true;and had nice hands and feet;and dressed well,considering
that she spent little. But often now this body she wore( she stopped to look at a Dutch picture),
this body,with all its capacities,seemed nothing—nothing at all. (She had the oddest sense of
being herself invisible;unseen;unknown;there being no more marrying,no more having of children
now,but only this astonishing and rather solemn progress with the rest of them,up Bond Street,this
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Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
being Mrs. Dalloway;not even Clarissa any more;this being Mrs. Richard Dalloway. )
Bond Street fascinated her;Bond Street early in the morning in the season;its flag flying;its
shops;no splash;no glitter;one roll of tweed in the shop where her father had bought his suits
for fifty years;a few pearls;salmon on an iceblock.
“ That is all,”she said,looking at the fishmongers.“ That is all,”she repeated,pausing for
a moment at the window of a glove shop where,before the War,you could buy almost perfect
gloves. He had turned on his bed one morning in the middle of the War. He had said,
“ I have
had enough. ” Gloves and shoes;she had a passion for gloves;but her own daughter,her
Elizabeth,cared not a straw for either of them.
Not a straw,she thought,going on up Bond Street to a shop where they kept flowers for her
when she gave a party. Elizabeth really cared for her dog most of all. The whole house this
morning smelt of tar. Still,better poor Grizzle员愿 than Miss Kilman员怨;better distemper and tar and
all the rest of it than sitting mewed in a stuffy bedroom with a prayer look!Better anything,she
was inclined to say. But it might be only a phase,as Richard said,such as all girls go through. It
might be falling in love. But why with Miss Kilman?Who had been badly treated of course;one
must make allowances for that,and Richard said she was very able,had a really historical mind.
Anyhow they were inseparable,and Elizabeth,her own daughter,went to Communion;and how
she dressed,how she treated people who came to lunch she did not care a bit,it being her
experience that the religious ecstasy made people callous( so did causes);dulled their feelings,
for Miss Kilman would do anything for the Russians,starved herself for the Austrians圆园,but in
private inflicted positive torture,so insensitive was she,dressed in a green mackintosh coat. Year
in year out she wore that coat;she perspired;she was never in the room five minutes without
making you fell her superiority,your inferiority;how poor she was;how rich you were;how she
lived in a slum without a cushion or a bed or a rug or whatever it might be,all her soul rusted
with that grievance sticking init,her dismissal from school during the War—poor embittered
unfortunate creature!For it was not her one hated but the idea of her,which undoubtedly had
gathered in to itself a great deal that was not Miss Kilman;had become one of those specters with
which one battles in the night;one of those specters who stand astride us and suck up half our life
blood,dominators and tyrants;for no doubt with another throw of the dice圆员,had the black been
uppermost and not the white,she would have loved Miss Kilman!But not in this world. No.
It rasped her,though,to have stirring about in her this brutal monster!To hear twigs
cracking and feel hooves planted down in the depths of that leafencumbered forest,the soul;
never to be content quite,or quite secure,for at any moment the brute would be stirring,this
hatred,which,especially since her illness,had power to make her feel scraped,hurt in her spine;
gave her physical pain,and made all pleasure in beauty,in friendship,in being well,in being
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loved and making her home delightful rock,quiver,and bend as if indeed there were a monster
grubbing at the roots,as if the whole panoply of content were nothing but self love!this hatred!
Nonsense,nonsense!she cried to herself,pushing through the swing doors of Mulberrys the
florists.
She advanced,light,tall,very upright,to be greeted at once by buttonfaced Miss Pym,
whose hands were always bright red,as if they had been stood in cold water with the flowers.
There were flowers:delphiniums,sweet peas,bunches of lilac;and carnations,masses of
carnations. There were roses;there were irises. Ah yes—so she breathed in the earthy garden
sweet smell as she stood talking to Miss Pym who owed her help,and thought her kind,for kind
she had been years ago;very kind,but she looked older,this year,turning her head from side to
side among the irises and roses and nodding tufts of lilac with her eyes half closed,snuffing in,
after the street uproar,the delicious scent,the exquisite coolness. And then,opening her eyes,
how fresh like frilled linen clean from a laundry laid in wicker trays the roses looked;and dark
and prim the red carnations,holding their heads up and all the sweet peas spreading in their
bowls,tinged violet,snow white,pale—as if it were the evening and girls in muslin frocks came
out to pick sweet peas and roses after the superb summers day,with its almost blueblack sky,its
delphiniums,its carnations,its arum lilies was over;and it was the moment between six and
seven when every flower—roses,carnations,irises,lilac—glows;white,violet,red,deep
orange;every flower seems to burn by itself,softly,purely in the misty beds;and how she loved
the greywhite moths spinning in and out,over the cherry pie,over the evening primroses.
And as she began to go with Miss Pym from jar to jar,choosing,nonsense,nonsense,she
said to herself,more and more gently,as if this beauty,this scent,this colour,and Miss Pym
liking her,trusting her,were a wave which she let flow over her and surmount that hatred,that
monster,surmount it all;and it lifted her up and up whenoh!a pistol shot in the street outside!
“ Dear,those motor cars,”said Miss Gym,going to the window to look,and coming back
and smiling apologetically with her hands full of sweet peas,as if those motor cars,those tyres of
motor cars,were all her fault.
员. Mrs. Dalloway(员
怨圆缘)is one of Woolfs successful novels. It records only the events of a
single day when Mrs. Dalloway was giving an evening party at her home in Westminster.
Devoid of traditional concept of plot,the whole novel is a detailed depiction of inner world of
Mrs. Dalloway. The selection is about her meandering thoughts on her way to Bond Street to
圆愿缘
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
buy flowers for the preparation of an evening party. Her interior monologue is interwoven with
the sights and sounds of the urban scene. In fact,it is also a wretched picture of the alienated
modern world with its destructive forces of powerstruggle,economic depression,and war.
圆. Lucy:a servant at the Dalloways
猿. for a girl of eighteen:when Mrs. Dalloway was a girl of eighteen
源. Peter Walsh:Mrs. Dalloways former lover
缘. the War:World War I
远. Elizabeth:Mrs. Dalloways daughter
苑. Richard:Richard Dalloway,Mrs. Dalloways husband
愿. Part gates:the gates of St. James Park in London
怨. Piccadilly:a street in London,a traditional centre of fashionable shops,clubs and hotels
员
园. Fr ulein Daniels:the German governess who taught Mrs. Dalloway in her childhood;
“ Fr
ulein”越German word for“ miss”
员
员. china cockatoo:a large crested parrot made of porcelain
员
圆. the Serpentine:ornamental water in Hyde Park,London
员
猿. ugly,rambling all to bits and pieces as it was:the ugly house,big but somewhat old and
dilapidated,where she lived
员
源. “ Fear no more the heat o the sun / Nor the furious winters rages. ”:the first two lines of the
dirge on Imogen in Shakespeares Cymbeline which Mrs. Dalloway remembered to have read
员
缘. Lady Bexborough:an aristocratic lady Mrs. Dolloway knew and admired,who was asked to
pen the bazaar( somewhere some time ago)
员
远. Jorrocks Jaunts and Jollities,Soapy Sponge,Mrs. Asquiths Memoirs and Big Game
Shooting in Nigeria:These are books for popular reading in the 员
怨圆
园s that came to Mrs.
Dalloways mind at the moment.
员
苑. Evelyn Whitbread:Mrs. Dalloways friend,wife of Hugh Whitbread,a coal merchant
员
愿. Grizzle:the dog at the Dalloways
员
怨. Miss Kilman:the servant at the Dalloways
圆
园. Miss Kilman would do anything for the Russians,starved herself for the Austrians:Miss
Kilman tried to show her charitable feelings to anybody whether the Russians or the Austrians.
圆
员. with another throw of the dice:i. e. ,if her fate should be otherwise
员. Explain in detail how the process of the mind is reflected and how the inner consciousness is
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shown.
圆. What are the language features when the author draws a vivid sketch of the chief character?
VI. James Joyce
粤孕燥则
贼
则
葬蚤
贼燥枣贼
澡藻粤则
贼
蚤
泽
贼葬
泽葬再燥
怎灶早酝葬灶员
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬
责贼
藻
则陨
陨
郾郾
郾
It was towards the close of his first term in the college when he was in number six. His
sensitive nature was still smarting under the lashes of an undivined and squalid way of life. His
soul was still disquieted and cast down by the dull phenomenon of Dublin. He had emerged from
a two years spell of revery to find himself in the midst of a new scene,every event and figure of
which affected him intimately,disheartened him or allured and,whether alluring or disheartening,
filled him always with unrest and bitter thoughts. All the leisure which his school life left him was
passed in the company of subversive writers whose jibes and violence of speech set up a ferment in
his brain before they passed out of it into his crude writings.
The essay was for him the chief labour of his week and every Tuesday,as he marched from
home to the school,he read his fate in the incidents of the way,pitting himself against some
figure ahead of him and quickening his pace to outstrip it before a certain goal was reached or
planting his steps scrupulously in the spaces of the patchwork of the pathway and telling himself
that he would be first and not first in the weekly essay.
On a certain Tuesday the course of his triumphs was rudely broken. Mr. Tate,the English
master,pointed his finger at him and said bluntly:
—This fellow has heresy in his essay.
A hush fell on the class. Mr Tate did not break it but dug with his hand between his thighs
while his heavily starched linen creaked about his neck and wrists. Stephen did not look up. It was
a raw spring morning and his eyes were still smarting and weak. He was conscious of failure and
of detection,of the squalor of his own mind and home,and felt against his neck the raw edge of
his turned and jagged collar.
A short loud laugh from Mr Tate set the class more at ease.
—Perhaps you didnt know that,he said.
—Where?asked Stephen.
Mr. Tate withdrew his delving hand and spread out the essay.
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Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
—Here. Its about the Creator and the soul. Rrm rrm rrm Ah!Without a possibility of ever
approaching nearer. Thats heresy.
Stephen murmured:
—I meant without a possibility of ever reaching.
It was a submission and Mr. Tate,appeased,folded up the essay and passed it across to
him,saying:
—O 郾郾
郾Ah!ever reaching. Thats another story.
But the class was not so soon appeased. Though nobody spoke to him of the affair after class
he could feel about him a vague general malignant joy.
A few nights after this public chiding he was walking with a letter along the Drumcondra
Road when he heard a voice cry:
—Halt!
He turned and saw three boys of his own class coming towards him in the dusk. It was Heron
who had called out and,as he marched forward between his two attendants,he cleft the air before
him with a thin cane in time to their steps. Boland,his friend,marched beside him,a large grin
on his face,while Nash came on a few steps behind,blowing from the pace and wagging his great
red head.
As soon as the boys had turned into Clonliffe Road together they began to speak about books
and writers,saying what books they were reading and how many books there were in their fathers
bookcases at home. Stephen listened to them in some wonderment for Boland was the dunce and
Nash the idler of the class. In fact,after some talk about their favourite writers,Nash declared for
Captain Marryat圆 who,he said,was the greatest writer.
—Fudge!said Heron. Ask Dedalus. Who is the greatest writer,Dedalus?
Stephen noted the mockery in the question and said:
—Of prose do you mean?
—Yes.
—Newman,I think.
—Is it Cardinal Newman猿?asked Boland.
—Yes,answered Stephen.
—The grin broadened on Nashs freckled face as he turned to Stephen and said:
—And do you like Cardinal Newman,Dedalus?
—O,many say that Newman has the best prose style,Heron said to the other two in
explanation,of course hes not a poet.
—And who is the best poet,Heron?asked Boland.
—Lord Tennyson源,of course,answered Heron.
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—O,yes,Lord Tennyson,said Nash. We have all his poetry at home in a book.
At this Stephen forgot the silent vows he had been making and burst out:
—Tennyson a poet!Why,hes only a rhymester!
—O,get out缘!said Heron. Everyone knows that Tennyson is the greatest poet.
—And who do you think is the greatest poet?asked Boland,nudging his neighbour.
—Byron,of course,answered Stephen.
Heron gave the lead and all three joined in a scornful laugh.
—What are you laughing at?asked Stephen.
—You,said Heron. Byron the greatest poet!Hes only a poet for uneducated people.
—He must be a fine poet!said Boland.
—You may keep your mouth shut,said Stephen,turning on him boldly. All you know about
poetry is what you wrote up on the slates in the yard and were going to be sent to the loft for.
Boland,in fact,was said to have written on the slates in the yard a couplet about a classmate
of his who often rode home from the college on a pony:
As Tyson was riding into Jerusalem He fell and hurt his Alec Kafoozelum.
This thrust put the two lieutenants to silence but Heron went on:
—In any case Byron was a heretic and immoral too.
—I dont care what he was,cried Stephen hotly.
—You dont care whether he was a heretic or not?said Nash.
—What do you know about it?shouted Stephen. You never read a line of anything in your
life except a trans远,or Boland either.
—I know that Byron was a bad man,said Boland.
—Here,catch hold of this heretic,Heron called out. In a moment Stephen was a prisoner.
—Tate made you buck up the other day,Heron went on,about the heresy in your essay.
—Ill tell him tomorrow,said Boland.
—Will you?said Stephen. Youd be afraid to open your lips.
—Afraid?
—Ay. Afraid of your life.
—Behave yourself!cried Heron,cutting at Stephens legs with his cane.
It was the signal for their onset. Nash pinioned his arms behind while Boland seized a long
cabbage stump which was lying in the gutter. Struggling and kicking under the cuts of the cane
and the blows of the knotty stump Stephen was borne back against a barbed wire fence.
—Admit that Byron was no good.
—No.
—Admit.
圆愿怨
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
—No.
—Admit.
—No. No.
At last after a fury of plunges he wrenched himself free. His tormentors set off towards
Joness Road,laughing and jeering at him,while he,half blinded with tears,stumbled on,
clenching his fists madly and sobbing.
员. A Portrait of the Artist as a Yong Man(员
怨园
源原员怨
员
源)is much directly autobiographical. The
book accounts Stephens hard experiences and his final spiritual epiphany. The story develops
around the life of a middleclass Irish boy,Stephen Dedalus,from his infancy to his departure
from Ireland some twenty years later. Stephen has an unhappy boyhood. At school he is ill
treated by his schoolmates and his masters. During his adolescence the sensitive boy gradually
becomes conscious of the oppressive pressures. He starts to rebel against the oppressive
pressures. But rebellion would only result in frustrations. Thus,he turns to seek sensual
pleasure as an outlet. Consequently he is tormented with his sense of moral sin and frightened
by the terrors of the Last Judgment. To remove the restless agony from his mind,he devotes
himself to religion;but finally he is repelled by the chilly church life and rejects the call to the
priesthood. At a moment of revelation on the seashore,Stephen suddenly realizes that the
artistic vocation is his true mission. To fulfill this mission,Stephen decides to leave Ireland,to
cast off all those that try to tie him down—“ his family,his religion,his country and his fleshly
desire. ”In his understanding,only in exile can we understand our own familiar environment
more clearly. The excerpt is about a fight between Stephen and other boys. Because Stephen
does not yield to their opinion,he is beaten by others. In reading this selection,readers can
sense the rebellious spirit of Stephen and his uncompromising integrity.
圆. Captain Marryat:Frederick Marryat(员苑
怨
圆原员愿
源
愿),the captain of Royal Navy,who writes
several novels about life on the sea
猿. Cardinal Newman:John Henry Newman(员
愿园
员原员
愿
怨
园),a scholar,religionist and essayist in
the 员怨th century in Britain
源. Lord Tennyson:Alfred Tennyson(员
愿
园怨原员
愿怨
圆),an English poet in the 员
怨th century
缘. Oh,get out:an exclamation of disbelief or surprise
远. trans:translated work
摇
圆怨园
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. What are Stephens characteristic features in this selection?
圆. What kind of writing techniques is the author employing in portraying Stephen?
员
哉造
赠泽
泽
藻
泽
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
孕藻
灶藻
造
燥
责藻
let me see if I can dose off 员圆猿源缘圆what kind of flowers are those they invented like the stars
the wallpaper in Lombard street was much nicer the apron he gave me was like that something only
I only wore it twice better lower this lamp and try again so as I can get up early Ill go to Lambes
there beside Findlaters and get them to send us some flowers to put about the place in case he brings
him home tomorrow today I mean no no Fridays an unlucky day first I want to do the place up
someway猿 the dust grows in it I think while Im asleep then we can have music and cigarettes I can
accompany him first I must clean the keys of the piano with milk whatll I wear shall I wear a white
rose or those fairy cakes in Liptons I love the smell of a rich big shop at 苑员/圆d a lb源or the other ones
with the cherries in them and the pinky sugar lid a couple of lbs of course a nice plant for the middle
of the table Id get that cheaper in wait wheres this I saw them not long ago I love flowers Id love to
have the whole place swimming in roses God of heaven theres nothing like nature the wild
mountains then the sea and the waves rushing then the beautiful country with fields of oats and
wheat and all kinds of things and all the fine cattle going about that would do your heart good to see
rivers and lakes and flowers all sorts of shapes and smells and colours springing up even out of the
ditches primroses and violets nature it is as for them saying theres no God I wouldnt give a snap of
my two fingers for all their learning why dont they go and create something I often asked him
atheists or whatever they call themselves go and wash the cobbles off themselves first then they go
howling for the priest and they dying and why why because theyre afraid of hell on account of their
bad conscience ah yes I know them well who was the first person in the universe before there was
anybody that made it all who ah that they dont know neither do I so there you are缘 they might as
well try to stop the sun from rising tomorrow the sun shines for you he said the day we were lying
among the rhododendrons on Howth head in the grey tweed suit and his straw hat the day I got him
to propose to me yes first I gave him the bit of seedcake out of my mouth and it was leapyear like
now yes 员
远years ago my God after that long kiss I near lost my breath yes he said was a flower of
圆怨员
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
the mountain yes so we are flowers all a womans body yes that was one true thing he said in his life
and the sun shines for you today yes that was why I liked him because I saw he understood or felt
what a woman is and I knew I could always get round him and I gave him all the pleasure I could
leading him on till he asked me to say yes and I wouldnt answer first only looked out over the sea
and the sky I was thinking of so many things he didnt know of Mulvey and Mr Stanhope and Hester
and father and old captain Groves and the sailors playing all birds fly and I say stoop and washing
up dishes they called it on the pier and the sentry in front of the governors house with the thing
round his white helmet poor devil half roasted and the Spanish girls laughing in their shawls and
their tall combs and the auctions in the morning the Greeks and the jews and the Arabs and the devil
knows who else from all the ends of Europe and Duke street and the fowl market all clucking outside
Larby Sharans and the poor donkeys slipping half asleep and the vague fellows in the cloaks asleep
in the shade on the steps and the big wheels of the carts of the bulls and the old castle thousands of
years old yes and those handsome Moors all in white and turbans like kings asking you to sit down
in their little bit of a shop and Ronda with the old windows of the posadas远 glancing eyes a lattice
hid for her lover to kiss the iron and the wineshops half open at night and the castanets and the night
we missed the boat at Algeciras the watchman going about serene with his lamp and O that awful
deepdown torrent O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and the
figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and pink and blue and yellow
houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl
where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls
used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as
well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would
I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down Jo
me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes
I will Yes.
员. Ulysses(员
怨圆圆)is regarded as the most important of James Joyces works. In the book,the
author presents an account of mans life during one day(员
远June,员怨
园
源)in Dublin. Three
major characters are:Leopold Bloom,an Irish Jew,his wife,Marion Tweedy Bloom,and
Stephen Dedalus,the protagonist in A Portrait of the Artist as a Yong Man. The whole novel is
divided into 员
愿episodes in correspondence with the 员
愿hours of the day. The first three
episodes are mainly concerned with Stephen Dedalus:he gets up at 愿oclock on this specific
摇
圆怨圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
day;he teaches a history class at a boys school;and then he walks along the strand to town
with random thoughts in mind. The next 员源episodes are largely about Leopold Bloom,who,
after breakfast,goes about Dublin on his days routine activities. During the course of the day,
Stephen also wanders aimlessly in the town,and visits a brothel in the“ Nighttown”where he
is rescued in a drunken fight by Bloom. Subsequently Bloom invites Stephen back to his home
for a late drink. Stephen leaves in the early hours of the morning and Bloom goes to bed. The
selection is the ending part of the novel—the famous monologue by Molly,who is musing in a
halfawake state over her past experiences as a woman. The events in the book are trivial,
insignificant,or even banal. However,this reveals the true movement of human beings real
mental activity like a stream. It seems to be desultory,fragmental,but beneath the surface of
the events,the natural flow of mental reflections,the shifting moods and impulses in the
characters inner world are richly presented in an unprecedentedly frank and penetrating way.
圆. 员圆猿源缘:Molly is counting numbers in order to fall asleep.
猿. to do the place up someway:to clean the room
源. at 苑员/圆d a lb:the price of the cake is 苑员/圆penny per pound
缘. who ah that they dont know neither do I so there you are:If with punctuations,this sentence
should be“ Who?Ah,that they dont know. Neither do I. So there you are. ”
远. posadas:
( Spanish)a small pub
员. Who is Penelope?In what way is Molly different from or similar to Penelope?What does the
parody imply?
圆. What happens to Molly and Bloom in the end?
VII. D. H. Lawrence
员
杂燥灶泽葬灶凿蕴燥增藻
则
泽
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬
责贼
藻
则员
栽澡藻耘葬则
造
赠酝葬
则
则
蚤
藻
凿蕴蚤
枣
藻燥枣贼
澡藻酝燥
则
藻
造
泽
郾郾
郾
The moon was high and magnificent in the August night. Mrs. Morel,seared with passion,
圆怨猿
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
shivered to find herself out there in a great white light,that fell cold on her,and gave a shock to
her inflamed soul. She stood for a few moments helplessly staring at the glistening great rhubarb
leaves near the door. Then she got the air into her breast. She walked down the garden path,
trembling in every limb,while the child boiled within her圆. For a while she could not control her
consciousness;mechanically she went over the last scene,then over it again,certain phrases,
certain moments coming each time like a brand redhot down on her soul;and each time she
enacted again the past hour,each time the brand came down at the same points,till the mark was
burnt in,and the pain burnt out,and at last she came to herself. She must have been half an hour
in this delirious condition. Then the presence of the night came again to her. She glanced round in
fear. She had wandered to the side garden,where she was walking up and down the path beside
the currant bushes under the long wall. The garden was a narrow strip,bounded from the road,
that cut transversely between the blocks,by a thick thorn hedge.
She hurried out of the side garden to the front,where she could stand as if in an immense
gulf of white light,the moon streaming high in face of her,the moonlight standing up from the
hills in front,and filling the valley where the Bottoms猿 crouched,almost blindingly. There,
panting and half weeping in reaction from the stress,she murmured to herself over and over
again:
“ The nuisance!the nuisance源!”
She became aware of something about her. With an effort she roused herself to see what it
was that penetrated her consciousness. The tall white lilies were reeling in the moonlight,and the
air was charged with their perfume,as with a presence. Mrs. Morel gasped slightly in fear. She
touched the big,pallid flowers on their petals,then shivered. They seemed to be stretching in the
moonlight. She put her hand into one white bin:the gold scarcely showed on her fingers by
moonlight. She bent down to look at the binful of yellow pollen;but it only appeared dusky.
Then she drank a deep draught of the scent. It almost made her dizzy.
Mrs. Morel leaned on the garden gate,looking out,and she lost herself awhile. She did not
know what she thought. Except for a slight feeling of sickness,and her consciousness in the
child,herself melted out like scent into the shiny,pale air. After a time the child,too,melted
with her in the mixingpot of moonlight,and she rested with the hills and lilies and houses,all
swum together in a kind of swoon.
When she came to herself she was tired for sleep. Languidly she looked about her;the
clumps of white phlox seemed like bushes spread with linen;a moth ricochetted over them,and
right across the garden. Following it with her eye roused her. A few whiffs of the raw,strong
scent of phlox invigorated her. She passed along the path,hesitating at the white rosebush. It
smelled sweet and simple. She touched the white ruffles of the roses. Their fresh scent and cool,
soft leaves reminded her of the morningtime and sunshine. She was very fond of them. But she
摇
圆怨源
摇
英国文学简读教程
was tired,and wanted to sleep. In the mysterious outofdoors she felt forlorn.
There was no noise anywhere. Evidently the children had not been wakened,or had gone to
sleep again. A train,three miles away,roared across the valley. The night was very large,and
very strange,stretching its hoary distances infinitely. And out of the silvergrey fog of darkness
came sounds vague and hoarse:a corncrake not far off,sound of a train like a sigh,and distant
shouts of men.
Her quietened heart beginning to beat quickly again,she hurried down the side garden to the
back of the house. Softly she lifted the latch;the door was still bolted,and hard against her. She
rapped gently,waited,then rapped again. She must not rouse the children,nor the neighbours.
He must be asleep,and he would not wake easily. Her heart began to burn to be indoors. She
clung to the doorhandle. Now it was cold;she would take a chill,and in her present condition!
Putting her apron over her head and her arms,she hurried again to the side garden,to the
window of the kitchen. Leaning on the sill,she could just see,under the blind,her husbands
arms spread out on the table,and his black head on the board. He was sleeping with his face lying
on the table. Something in his attitude made her feel tired of things. The lamp was burning
smokily;she could tell by the copper colour of the light. She tapped at the window more and
more noisily. Almost it seemed as if the glass would break. Still he did not wake up.
After vain efforts,she began to shiver,partly from contact with the stone,and from
exhaustion. Fearful always for the unborn child,she wondered what she could do for warmth.
She went down to the coalhouse,where there was an old hearthrug she had carried out for the
ragman the day before. This she wrapped over her shoulders. It was warm,if grimy. Then she
walked up and down the garden path,peeping every now and then under the blind,knocking,and
telling herself that in the end the very strain of his position must wake him.
At last,after about an hour,she rapped long and low at the window. Gradually the sound
penetrated to him. When,in despair,she had ceased to tap,she saw him stir,then lift his face
blindly. The labouring of his heart hurt him into consciousness. She rapped imperatively at the
window. He started awake. Instantly she saw his fists set and his eyes glare. He had not a grain
of physical fear. If it had been twenty burglars,he would have gone blindly for them. He glared
round,bewildered,but prepared to fight.
“ Open the door,Walter,”she said coldly.
His hands relaxed. It dawned on him what he had done. His head dropped,sullen and
dogged. She saw him hurry to the door,heard the bolt chock. He tried the latch. It opened—and
there stood the silvergrey night,fearful to him,after the tawny light of the lamp. He hurried
back.
When Mrs. Morel entered,she saw him almost running through the door to the stairs. He
圆怨缘
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
had ripped his collar off his neck in his haste to be gone ere she came in,and there it lay with
bursten buttonholes. It made her angry.
She warmed and soothed herself. In her weariness forgetting everything,she moved about at
the little tasks that remained to be done,set his breakfast,rinsed his pitbottle,put his pitclothes
on the hearth to warm,set his pitboots beside them,put him out a clean scarf and snapbag and
two apples,raked the fire,and went to bed.
He was already dead asleep. His narrow black eyebrows were drawn up in a sort of peevish
misery into his forehead while his cheeks downstrokes,and his sulky mouth,seemed to be
saying:
“ I dont care who you are nor what you are,I SHALL have my own way. ”
Mrs. Morel knew him too well to look at him. As she unfastened her brooch at the mirror,
she smiled faintly to see her face all smeared with the yellow dust of lilies. She brushed it off,and
at last lay down. For some time her mind continued snapping and jetting sparks,but she was
asleep before her husband awoke from the first sleep of his drunkenness.
员. Sons and Lovers(员怨
员猿)is semiautobiographical. It is regarded as a fictional study of the
“ Oedipus Complex”. It tells the story of a coal miners family with the second son Paul as the
central character. The thread of the story evolves around Pauls love for the two girls Miriam
and Clara as well as his love for his mother Mrs. Morel. The selection is about Mrs. Morels
quarrel with her husband in their early marriage.
圆. The child boiled within her:The fetus is moving in her womb.
猿. the Bottoms:the place where the miners live
源. the nuisance:referring to Walter
员. How does Mrs. Morel experience emotional change after quarreling with her husband when she
is indulging in natural beauty?
圆. What are the authors language features in presenting Mrs. Morels inner mind?
摇
圆怨远
摇
英国文学简读教程
VIII. T. S. Eliot
栽澡藻蕴燥增
藻杂燥
灶早燥
枣允援粤造
枣
则
藻
凿孕则
怎枣
则
燥糟
噪员
摇摇摇Sio credesse che mia risposta fosse
摇摇摇A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
摇摇摇Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
摇摇摇Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
摇摇摇Non torno vivo alcun,sIodo il vero,
摇摇摇Senza tema dinfamia ti rispondo圆.
摇摇摇Let us go then,you and I,
摇摇摇When the evening is spread out against the sky
摇摇摇Like a patient etherised猿 upon a table:
摇摇摇Let us go,through certain halfdeserted streets,
摇摇摇The muttering retreats
摇摇摇Of restless nights in onenight cheap hotels
摇摇摇And sawdust restaurants with oystershells:
摇摇摇Streets that follow like a tedious argument
摇摇摇Of insidious intent
摇摇摇To lead you to an overwhelming question 郾郾
郾
摇摇摇Oh,do not ask,
“ What is it?”
摇摇摇Let us go and make our visit.
摇摇摇In the room the women come and go
摇摇摇Talking of Michelangelo源.
圆怨苑
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the windowpanes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the windowpanes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace,made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house,and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the windowpanes;
There will be time,there will be time
To prepare a face缘 to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder,
“ Do I dare?”and,
“ Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
摇
圆怨愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—
( They will say:
“ How his hair is growing thin!”)
My morning coat,my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest,but asserted by a simple pin—
( They will say:
“ But how his arms and legs are thin!”)
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already,known them all:—
Have known the evenings,mornings,afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
And I have known the eyes already,known them all—
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase远,
And when I am formulated苑,sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the buttends of my days and ways愿?
And how should I presume?
圆怨怨
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
And I have known the arms already,known them all—
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
( But in the lamplight,downed with light brown hair!)
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table,or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
Shall I say,I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirtsleeves,leaning out of windows?
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
And the afternoon,the evening,sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep 郾
郾
郾tired 郾郾
郾or it malingers怨,
Stretched on the floor,here beside you and me.
Should I,after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted,wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head( grown slightly bald!)
brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophetand heres no greatmatter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat,and snicker,
And in short,I was afraid.
摇
猿园园
摇
英国文学简读教程
And would it have been worth it,after all,
After the cups,the marmalade,the tea,
Among the porcelain,among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile员园,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say:I am Lazarus,come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all,I shall tell you all—
If one,settling a pillow by her head,
Should say:That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it,at all.
And would it have been worth it,after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels,after the teacups,after the skirts that trail along the floor—
And this,and so much more?—
It is impossible to say just what I mean.
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one,settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window,should say:
“ That is not it at all,
That is not what I mean,at all. ”
No!I am not Prince Hamlet,nor was meant to be员员;
猿园员
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
Am an attendant lord,one that will do
To swell a progress,start a scene or two,
Advise the prince;no doubt,an easy tool,
Deferential,glad to be of use,
Politic,cautious,and meticulous;
Full of high sentence,but a bit obtuse;
At times,indeed,almost ridiculous—
Almost,at times,the Fool员圆.
I grow old 郾
郾郾I grow old 郾
郾
郾
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled员猿.
Shall I part my hair behind?Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers,and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing,each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By seagirls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us,and we drown员源.
员. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock( 员
怨
员员)is a sort of dramatic monologue in lines of
varying lengths and occasional rimes,so in the poem there is no sequence of events,nor
passage of time. There are random transitions from certain thoughts and feelings of the speaker
of the monologue to certain others,interrupted by descriptive passages of the external elements
摇
猿园圆
摇
英国文学简读教程
of the fog,the women in the room,etc. In spite of its title,the poem is not a love song in the
strict sense of the term. It contains references to the speaker Prufrocks love affairs,but the
theme of the poem is a much broader one:it deals with the thoughts of the central figure
Prufrock intermixed with random descriptions of his environment. To be more exact,the theme
of the poem is speakers incapability of facing up to love and to life in a sterile upperclass
world. The poem is rich in images to help bring out this theme. The extremely common name
of the speaker,as well as his bald hair,thin arms and aging appearance are contrasted with
“ the love song”. The decadent scene on the street is microcosmic of the modern society. The
party shows the vanity and emptiness of the upper class. The image of Hamlet is a satire
against the speakers pretended nobleness. Also crab suggests futility and growing old. The
image of cat reveals his disturbing heart and the sea drowning shows his downfall.
圆.“ Sio credessi che mia risposta fosse 郾郾
郾senza tema dinfamia ti rispondo”:a quotation from
Dantes Inferno,Canto XXVII,lines 远
员原远
远. The passages may be rendered into English as
follows:
“ If I thought that my answer were being made to someone who would ever return to
earth,this flame would remain without further movement;but since no one has ever returned
alive from this depth,if what I hear is true,I answer you without fear of infamy. ”The
speaker of these lines is Guido de Montefeltro who is placed in the eighth circle of hell for
giving evil counsel to a pope and,wrapped in a flame,is speaking from its trembling tip. This
quotation suggests that the poem that follows is likewise a confession and that the speaker
assumes the reader to be in the same hell he himself is in.
猿. etherized:anesthetized,with the application of ether on a patient,for a major surgical
operation. The simile of an etherized patient conveys the stillness of the evening.
源. Michelangelo:Buonarroti Michelangelo(员
源
苑缘原员缘
远
源),great Italian sculptor,painter and poet
of the Renaissance
缘. to prepare a face:to do ones facial makeup before going to meet friends
远. The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase:the eyes that reduce you to a formula,the eyes
that make an estimate of you with a phrase or a formula
苑. And when I am formulated:when I am estimated with a specific phrase or formula
愿. To spit out all the buttends of my days and ways:to utter vehemently all the deeplyembedded
thoughts reflecting my life and ways of living
怨. malingers:pretends to be sick
员
园. To have bitten off the matter with a smile:to break off his old ways of life and to do or say
something of importance.“ With a smile”indicates doing or saying the thing in a light,off
handed manner.
员
员. I am not Prince Hamlet,nor was meant to be:Here the speaker suggests that he is not and
猿园猿
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
cannot hope to be a great man.
员
圆. the Fool:referring to the fool as a character in Elizabethan drama,who is given the
permission not only to do the clowning but also to quibble with his superiors
员
猿. I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled:perhaps referring to the new fashion of trouser
cuffs
员
源. Till human voices wake us,and we drown:Here the speaker suggests that he is brought back
to reality from his wandering thoughts and visions. So he ends his monologue.
员. What is the theme of the poem?How does the poem develop the theme?
圆. In the poem,
“ there will be time”is repeated several times. In what way does the repetition
contribute to the description of the character?
猿. In line 圆愿,
“ murder”is juxtaposed with“ create”. What does it suggest?
IX. William Golding
员
蕴燥则
凿燥
枣贼
澡藻云造
蚤
藻
泽
( 耘曾糟
藻
则
责贼
)
悦澡葬
责贼
藻
则耘蚤
早澡贼
郧蚤
枣
贼枣
燥
则贼
澡藻阅葬则
噪灶藻
泽
泽
郾郾
郾
The pigs lay,bloated bags of fat,sensuously enjoying the shadows under the trees. There
was no wind and they were unsuspicious;and practice had made Jack silent as the shadows. He
stole away again and instructed his hidden hunters. Presently they all began to inch forward
sweating in the silence and heat. Under the trees an ear flapped idly. A little apart from the rest,
sunk in deep maternal bliss,lay the largest sow of the lot. She was black and pink;and the great
bladder of her belly was fringed with a row of piglets that slept or burrowed and squeaked.
Fifteen yards from the drove Jack stopped,and his arm,straightening,pointed at the sow.
he looked round in inquiry to make sure that everyone understood and the other boys nodded at
him. The row of right arms slid back.
“ Now!”
The drove of pigs started up;and at a range of only ten yards the wooden spears with fire
摇
猿园源
摇
英国文学简读教程
hardened points flew toward the chosen pig. One piglet,with a demented shriek,rushed into the
sea trailing Rogers spear behind it. The sow gave a gasping squeal and staggered up,with two
spears sticking in her fat flank. The boys shouted and rushed forward,the piglets scattered and the
sow burst the advancing line and went crashing away through the forest.
“ After her!”
They raced along the pigtrack,but the forest was too dark and tangled so that Jack,cursing,
stopped them and cast among the trees. Then he said nothing for a time but breathed fiercely so
that they were awed by him and looked at each other in uneasy admiration. Presently he stabbed
down at the ground with his finger.
“ There—”
Before the others could examine the drop of blood,Jack had swerved off,judging a trace,
touching a bough that gave. So he followed,mysteriously right and assured,and the hunters trod
behind him.
He stopped before a covert.
“ In there. ”
They surrounded the covert but the sow got away with the sting of another spear in her flank.
The trailing butts hindered her and the sharp,crosscut points were a torment She blundered into a
tree,forcing a spear still deeper;and after that any of the hunters could follow her easily by the
drops of vivid blood. The afternoon wore on,hazy and dreadful with damp heat;the sow
staggered her way ahead of them,bleeding and mad,and the hunters followed,wedded to her in
lust,excited by the long chase and the dropped blood. They could see her now,nearly got up
with her,out she spurted with her last strength and held ahead of them again. They were just
behind her when she staggered into an open space where bright flowers grew and butterflies danced
round each other and the air was hot and still.
Here,struck down by the heat,the sow fell and the hunters hurled themselves at her. This
dreadful eruption from an unknown world made her frantic;she squealed and bucked and the air
was full of sweat and noise and blood and terror. Roger ran round the heap,prodding with his
spear whenever pigflesh appeared. Jack was on top of the sow,stabbing downward with his knife.
Roger found a lodgment for his point and began to push till he was leaning with his whole weight
The spear moved forward inch by inch and die terrified squealing became a highpitched scream.
Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under
them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her. The butterflies still danced,preoccupied in the
center of die clearing.
At last the immediacy of the kill subsided. The boys drew back,and Jack stood up,holding
out his hands.
猿园缘
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
“ Look. ”
He giggled and flicked them while the boys laughed at his reeking palms. Then Jack grabbed
Maurice and rubbed the stuff over his cheeks. Roger began to withdraw his spear and the boys
noticed it for the first time. Robert stabilized the thing in a phrase which was received
uproariously.
“ Right up her ass!”
“ Did you hear?”
“ Did you hear what he said?”
“ Right up her ass!”
This time Robert and Maurice acted the two parts;and Maurices acting of the pigs efforts to
avoid the advancing spear was so funny that the boys cried with laughter.
At length even this palled. Jack began to clean his bloody hands on the rock. Then he started
work on the sow and paunched her,lugging out the hot bags of colored guts,pushing them into a
pile on the rock while the others watched him. He talked as he worked.
“ Well take the meat along the beach. Ill go back to the platform and invite them to a feast
That should give us time. ”
Roger spoke.
“ Chief—”
“ Uh—?”
“ How can we make a fire?”
Jack squatted back and frowned at the pig.
“ Well raid them and take fire. There must be four of you;Henry and you,Bill and
Maurice. Well put on paint and sneak up;Roger can snatch a branch while I say what I want.
The rest of you can get this back to where we were. Well build the fire there. And after that—”
He paused and stood up,looking at the shadows under the trees. His voice was lower when
he spoke again.
“ But well leave part of the kill for . . . ”
He knelt down again and was busy with his knife. The boys crowded round him. He spoke
over his shoulder to Roger.
“ Sharpen a stick at both ends. ”
Presently he stood up,holding the dripping sows head in his hands.
“ Wheres that stick?”
“ Here. ”
“ Ram one end in the earth. Oh—its rock. Jam it in that crack. There. ”
Jack held up the head and jammed the soft throat down on the pointed end of the stick which
摇
猿园远
摇
英国文学简读教程
pierced through into the mouth. He stood back and the head hung there,a little blood dribbling
down the stick.
Instinctively the boys drew back too;and the forest was very still. They listened,and the
loudest noise was the buzzing of flies over the spilled guts.
Jack spoke in a whisper.
Pick up the pig.
Maurice and Robert skewered the carcass,lifted the dead weight,and stood ready. In the
silence,and standing over the dry blood,they looked suddenly furtive.
Jack spoke loudly.
“ This head is for the beast. Its a gift. ”
The silence accepted the gift and awed them. The head remained there,dimeyed,grinning
faintly,blood blackening between the teeth. All at once they were running away,as fast as they
could,through the forest toward the open beach.
Simon stayed where he was,a small brown image,concealed by the leaves. Even if he shut
his eyes the sows head still remained like an afterimage. The halfshut eyes were dim with the
infinite cynicism of adult life. They assured Simon that everything was a bad business.
“ I know that. ”
Simon discovered that he had spoken aloud. He opened his eyes quickly and there was the
head grinning amusedly in the strange daylight,ignoring the flies,the spilled guts,even ignoring
the indignity of being spiked on a stick.
He looked away,licking his dry lips.
A gift for the beast. Might not the beast come for it?The head,he thought,appeared to
agree with him. Run away,said the head silently,go back to the others. It was a joke reallywhy
should you bother?You were just wrong,thats all. A little headache,something you ate,
perhaps. Go back,child,said the head silently.
Simon looked up,feeling the weight of his wet hair,and gazed at the sky. Up there,for
once,were clouds,great bulging towers that sprouted away over the island,grey and cream and
coppercolored. The clouds were sitting on the land;they squeezed, produced moment by
moment this close,tormenting heat. Even the butterflies deserted the open space where the
obscene thing grinned and dripped. Simon lowered his head,carefully keeping his eyes shut,then
sheltered them with his hand. There were no shadows under the trees but everywhere a pearly
stillness,so that what was real seemed illusive and without definition. The pile of guts was a black
blob of flies that buzzed like a saw. After a while these flies found Simon. Gorged,they alighted
by his runnels of sweat and drank. They tickled under his nostrils and played leapfrog on his
thighs. They were black and iridescent green and without number;and in front of Simon,the
猿园苑
Chapter 6 The Modern Period 摇 摇
Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned. At last Simon gave up and looked back;saw the
white teeth and dim eyes,the blood—and his gaze was held by that ancient,inescapable
recognition. In Simons right temple,a pulse began to beat on the brain.
摇
猿园愿
摇
英国文学简读教程
员. Lord of the Flies is a thoughtprovoking novel authored by William Golding in 员怨
缘
源. It
describes in detail the horrific exploits of a band of young children who make a striking
transition from civilized to barbaric. Lord of the Flies commands a pessimistic outlook that
seems to show that man is inherently tied to society,and without it,we would likely return to
savagery. In Chapter Eight“ Gift for the Darkness”,the boys now talk about how they are
now sure the beast exists after seeing it the previous night. Jack turns against Ralph and says
untrue things about Ralph to turn the others against him,which has the desired effect. Jack
proposes that he become chief but this idea is unpopular,so he goes off on his own,and urges
anyone else who wants to hunt, to come too. Ralph and the rest built another fire.
Meanwhile,Jack and a small group of boys were contented to hunt. They caught a pig and
Jack slit its throat. He decided to plant the head on a stake and leave it outside the beasts
“ lair”as a gift. Ralph planned a feast that night. He invited Ralphs group to come and eat
with them. In this chapter Jacks killing of the sow shows his terrible lack of foresight,because
killing the mother pig entails the possibility of losing all the other piglets who would have been
a sustainable source of food in the future source. Also the events involving Simon carry some
significant message. The Lord of the Flies basically confirms to Simon that the Beast—the evil
side of human nature really is“ inside”everyone.
员. Look closely at the description of the killing of the sow and her piglets. What do you notice?
What stands out?
圆. Why is the head called“ the lord of the flies?”
砸藻
枣
藻
则
藻
灶糟
藻
泽
[员] BAYM N. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 猿rd Shorter ed. New York:
W郾W郾Norton and Company,员
怨愿
怨.
[圆] BLAIR W. The Literature of the United States:Vol. 圆
郾猿
rd ed. Chicago:Heritage Press,员
怨
苑
园.
[猿] BOOZ E B. A Brief Introduction to Modern English Literature. Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign
Language Education Press,员怨
愿
源.
[源] BOOZ E B郾A Brief Introduction to Modern American Literature. Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign
怨
愿
圆.
Language Education Press,员
[缘] BROOKS C. American Literature:The Makers and the Making. New York:St. Martins Press,
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怨
苑
猿.
[远] CASSILL R V. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. W郾
W郾Norton & Company,Inc. ,员
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苑
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缘
源.
[愿] Doren C V,DOREN M V郾
American and British Literature Since 员
愿
怨
园. New York:Century,
员
怨
圆
缘.
[怨] DRABBLE M. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford:Oxford University
Press,员怨
愿缘.
[员
园] FULLER E. Adventures in American Literature. New York:Harcourt Brace & World,
Inc. 员怨
远猿.
[员
员] HART J D. The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 缘th ed. Oxford:Oxford
University Press,员怨
愿
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[员
圆] HIGH P B. An Outline of American Literature. Longman Group Limited,员
怨愿
远.
[员
猿] KEARNS George. American Literature. Macmillan Publishing Company,a division of
Macmillan,Inc. 员怨
愿
苑.
[员
源] LONG E H. The American Tradition in Literature. New York:Mc GrawHill Higher
Education,员怨园
园.
[员
缘] MACK M. Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. New York:Norton. 员
怨
愿远.
[员
远] Mcmichael G. Anthology of American Literature. 圆nd ed. London:Macmillan Publishing
Company,员怨
愿园.
[员
苑] THORNLEY G C,Roberts G. An Outline of English Literature. Longman Group Ltd. ,员
怨
愿
员.
摇
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摇
英国文学简读教程
[员
愿] VINON J. Great Writers of the English Language:Novelists and Prose Writers. New York:
St. Martins Press,员
怨
苑
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[员
怨] WARD A C. Longman Companion to Twentieth Century Literature. 猿rd ed. Harlow:
Lomgman,员怨愿员.
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