英语诗歌导读

英语诗歌导读(Introduction to the English Poetry)与用充分多的词句充分地表达内容的散文〔prose，即非韵文体〕不同，诗歌是语言文
学中难度最大的局部，也是最凝练、最精华和最优美的局部，用最少的或限定数量的词句表达尽可能多的内容。

英语诗歌常见的一些类型有ballad〔歌谣，民谣〕、epic〔史诗，即表达英雄事迹的长诗〕、lyric〔抒情诗〕、narrative poem〔叙事诗〕、ode〔颂诗，颂歌〕、sonnet 〔十四行诗〕等。

下面主要以本单元所选的诗为例，简要介绍英语诗歌的一些入门知识。

一、节奏〔rhythm〕和音步〔foot〕
节奏是音乐的根本要素之一，指的是音的长短和强弱有规律地反复出现。

最初，任何语言里大多数诗都是用来歌唱的，或者说诗歌起源于音乐，因此诗歌内在地具有音乐的特性和美感，并传衍至今。

与中国古诗有平声仄声之分相似，英诗有重读音节和轻读音节之分。

轻重音节按照一定模式进展组合构成音步
．．。

根．．；音步有规律地反复出现，构成英诗抑扬顿挫、悦耳动听的节奏
据音步和节奏的要求，有时一些原本重读的音节也要轻读，而一些原本轻读的音节也要重读。

最根本的音步类型有两种：
〔一〕抑扬格〔iambic〕。

如果一个音步有两个音节，前轻后重〔轻读为“抑〞，重读为“扬〞〕，就构成抑扬格音步，这是使用最频繁的音步类型，例如：That floats∣on high∣o’er vales∣and hills。

〔二〕扬抑格〔trochaic〕。

如果一个音步有两个音节，前重后轻，就构成扬抑格音步，它的使用较少。

例如，Tell me∣not in∣mournful∣numbers。

二、诗行〔verse/line〕
英语诗歌有时分为假设干诗节〔stanza〕，通常每行的首字母都要大写，无论它是不是单独的一句话。

有时一行是一句〔end-stopped〕，有时两行或几行是一句甚至一行分属两句，即跨行句〔enjambed〕。

对初学者而言，英诗的跨行句可能是阻碍理解的一个难点所在。

英诗诗行长度的计算单位是音步，有一音步〔monometer〕、二音步〔dimeter〕、三音步〔trimeter〕、四音步〔tetrameter〕、五音步〔pentameter〕、六音步〔hexameter〕、七音步〔heptameter〕和八音步〔octameter〕等。

其中出现最多的是四音步和五音步的诗行。

诗行中音步类型和音步数量进展组合，构成诗歌的格律
．．〔meter〕，音步是格律的
．．或韵律
根本单位。

最常见的格律如下：
抑扬格四音步〔iambic tetrameter〕：I wan∣dered lone∣ly as∣a cloud
抑扬格五音步〔iambic pentameter〕：Shall I∣compare∣thee to∣a sum∣mer’s day?
许多英语诗歌要求每行音节数量的一致；类似地，汉语诗歌要求字数一样其实也是音节数的一样。

英语诗人为了到达每行音节数量的一致，有时需要对某些词语的拼写进展调整，以减少某些多余的音节，比方because写成’cause，就减少了一个音节。

类似的还有：i’〔in〕、o’er〔over〕、oft〔often〕、reap’d〔reaped〕、who e’er〔whoever〕等。

三、押韵〔rhyme〕
和汉语诗歌一样，英语诗歌一般也押韵。

押在诗行最后一个音节上的韵，称为尾韵〔end rhyme〕，又称韵脚，这是英诗最重要的
押韵位置。

每节诗的尾韵具有押韵格式
．．〔rhyme scheme〕，通常用字母表示。

例
．．．．，简称韵式
如Robert Frost的“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening〞，其四节的韵式分别是aaba〔第一、二、三节〕和dddd〔第四节〕。

一行诗中间的音节与最后一个音节押韵的，称为行内韵〔internal rhyme〕，如：Spr ing, the sweet spr ing, is the year’s pleasant k ing。

一行诗中的一些词用一样的字母或声韵开头，称为头韵〔alliteration〕，如：The woods are lovely, d ark and d eep。

押韵还有男韵〔masculine rhyme〕和女韵〔feminine rhyme〕之分。

所押的韵在诗行最后的重读音节上，称为男韵或单韵，其特点是雄壮有力。

所押的韵在诗行最后的轻读音节上，称为女韵或双韵，其特点是轻快温婉。

也有一些英诗不押韵，称为无韵诗〔blank verse〕，它与压韵诗〔rhymed verse〕相对。

无韵诗虽然不压韵，但有固定的格律，这与自由诗〔free verse〕不同，因为自由诗既不押韵，也没有固定的格律。

四、英诗词汇的一些特点
英语诗歌为了到达某种艺术效果〔如古朴、典雅、保持每行音节数一致等〕，有时会使用一些古老词汇或诗歌专用词汇，例如vale〔valley〕、behold〔see〕、yon〔yonder, there〕、hark〔listen〕、clime〔climate〕等。

读者也需要注意一些具有中古英语拼写方式的词汇。

例如thou〔you的主格形式〕、thee 〔you的宾格形式〕、thy〔your〕、thine〔your，用在以元音字母或h开头的词语之前〕、art 〔are〕、hath〔has〕、dost〔do的第二人称现在式〕。

其中，与dost情形相似的还有莎士比亚第十八首十四行诗中的ow’st、grow’st、wander’st等。

五、英诗的省略和倒装
由于节奏、押韵等方面的需要，英语诗歌有时会在诗行中省略某些词语或句子成分〔主语、谓语、宾语等〕。

例如下面蒲伯的一节诗中，
Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.
第一行两个短句中间各省略了supply him；第四行行首省略了Whose trees，fire之前省略了yield him。

英语诗歌的句子，有时会使用倒装构造，以到达某种艺术效果，或者使句子压韵。

例如：Whose woods these are I think I know，意思是I think I know whose woods these are；every fair from fair sometimes declines，意思是every fair sometimes declines from fair。

Unit 12 English Poems
1. Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? [1]
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 too hot the eye of heaven shines
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines;
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in hi s shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Notes:
summer’s lease: the duration of summer
date: time
sometime: sometimes
the eye of heaven: the sun
every fair from fair sometimes declines: every beautiful thing sometimes loses its beauty. The first fair means a beautiful thing, and the second one means being beautiful.
eternal lines: immortal poetry
About the poet:
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was the most famous of all English writers. He was known as the best playwright in human history, who wrote 37 immortal plays, such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. His humanistic pursuits, his probation into human nature, and his superb mastery of English can always be found in his plays. His language is rich in meaning, vivid in images, and beautiful in artistic quality. He has been one of the most important influences upon the English language.
[1] In Britain, summer is the best season of the year with its mild climate and beautiful scenery, which is often described by poets.
Also being a poet, Shakespeare wrote two long poems and 154 sonnets. The poetic form of sonnet originated from 13th-century Italy, and was introduced into Britain in the early 16th century. It is a poem of 14 lines with a strict rhyme scheme and a sequence of meanings. Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains (four lines) and one couplet (two lines); the couplet usually embodies a sharp turn in theme or image. His famous rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg; and he employed iambic pentameter. Some of his sonnets were devoted to a handsome young man whom he admired, and others to a dark-skinned young lady whom he had a strong passion for.
Interpreting the poem:
This sonnet portrays the beauty of a young man by comparing him with natural scenes, emphasizing that nature’s beauty could not match his. The poet made immortal the young man and art (poetry) in this sonnet.
In quatrain 1, the speaker compares the young man with a summer’s day, and believes that he is more beautiful (“Thou art more lovely and more temperate〞). In lines 3 and 4, the speaker narrates that the flowers of May can be easily destroyed, and summer is too short.
In quatrain 2, the speaker continues to describe the transience of natural beauty: the shining, golden sun can be shaded by the cloud; every beautiful thing sometimes diminishes, which is caused by chances or by nature’s changing course.
In quatrain 3, the speaker stresses the young man’s eternal existence: his beauty will never vanish and he will never die, because he will live forever in this eternal poem.
The couplet comes to the conclusion: so long as man lives on the earth, this poem will live; so long as this poem lives, it will give everlasting life to the young man.
In summary, the poet described the eternal beauty of the young man; by doing so he conveyed a deeper meaning: art (poetry) is immortal. And this sonnet is immortal, too.
Comprehension questions:
1. The poet was to describe the young man’s beauty, but why did he write about the beauty of nature?
2. Why is the beauty of nature transient and that of the art everlasting?
Students’ activities:
Discuss with your partners: If you were to write about the relation between the beauty of nature and that of a person, what would you think of in your mind? Why?
2. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of 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,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousands saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
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,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Notes:
jocund: joyous
inward eye: eye of the soul
About the poet:
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was the establisher of the English literary Romantic Movement. He was born in the Lake District, where the landscape deeply appealed to him, helped nurture his love of nature, and provided a fountainhead for his poetic creation. Known as a “worshiper of nature,〞he always drew inspiration from and wrote about nature and ordinary life, and he integrated his profound thoughts, ingenious poetic gift, love of nature, and simple language in his poems, as he once said: “All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.〞He was known as one of the Lake Poets, together with Coleridge and Robert Southey.
In 1843, he became Poet Laureate. His masterpieces include Lyrical Ballads, “Prelude,〞“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,〞“Lines Composed a Few Miles above Titern Abbey,〞etc.
Interpreting the poem:
This is one of the best known English poems. The poet recorded his unexpected seeing of many daffodils during a lonely walk. The daffodils, a symbol of natural beauty, pleased his eyes then and enabled him to draw spiritual wealth two years later. With his careful choice of images, lovely rhetorical devices, and simple poetic language, he articulated that nature could inspire man when nothing else could. He made an excellent use of the musical quality of poetic language: employing a masculine rhyme scheme ababcc and writing his lines in iambic tetrameter.
In stanza 1, the speaker wandered dully and aimlessly “as a cloud;〞then he saw a lot of daffodils dancing in the breeze beside the lake.
In stanza 2, he described the daffodils’delightful dancing “in never-ending line.〞They seemed as joyous and numerous as the shining stars in the sky.
In stanza 3, he compared the daffodils with the waves: even the sparkling waves were not as joyous as them. The depressed speaker became cheered up “In such a jocund company〞, but did not realize what spiritual wealth the scene brought to him.
In stanza 4, when he was alone much later, he recollected the daffodils; then his soul felt happy and “dances with the daffodils.〞
There are three major images in the poem: the dancing daffodils, the wandering cloud, and the sparkling lake. The cloud and the daffodils stroke a contrast to make a change (from being depressed to being joyous), while the lake made a comparison with the daffodils in order to give prominence to the later.
In stanza 1, there was a strong tension between the lonely, depressed speaker (symbolic of man) and the joyous daffodils (symbolic of nature). But in stanza 4, the tension was dissolved: the speaker and the daffodiles (man and nature) achieved spiritual communication and became a whole.
Comprehension questions:
1. What is the theme of the poem? What is the relationship between the first three stanzas and the last one?
2. What is the relationship between man and nature in the poem?
3. Can you analyze the major rhetorical devices and images in the poem?
4. What is the long-term significance of the daffodils for the speaker?
Students’ activities:
1. Discuss with your partners: If you were to write about daffodils in a poem, what images
would you use, and what idea would you convey?
2. Write an essay about your understanding of the poem.
3. The Solitary Reaper
William Wordsworth
Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland lass!
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
Is overflowing with the sound.
No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travelers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
Will no one tell me what she sings?— [1]
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
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 listened, motionless and still;
[1] Wordsworth could not understand the dialect in which the girl sang.
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.
Notes:
lass: girl, young woman
strain: tone
Vale profound: deep valley
chaunt: chant, sing rhythmically and repeatedly
notes: songs
shady haunt: a horrifying place
sands: deserts
Hebrides: islands in Western Scotland
numbers: songs
lay: ballad, folk song
Interpreting the poem:
In this poem Wordsworth touched on a theme similar with that in “Cloud〞. He described vividly a girl working and singing in the field, revealing her and his own loneliness and sorrow, and conveying the beauty of the girl’s singing.
Pay attention to the musical quality of the poem: the poet used iambic tetrameter, with exceptions in the fourth line of each stanza; the rhyme scheme is ababccdd, with exceptions in the third line in stanzas 1 and 4.
In stanza 1, the speaker asks the reader to look at a peasant girl, who is singing while reaping. He stresses the girl’s sorrow by using the words single, solitary and melancholy; the Highland’s spacious depth contrasts with her solitude, which is different from the daffodils’ being joyous. The speaker can either “stop here〞to enjoy her singing, or to “gently pass〞so as not to disturb her. Obviously, he makes the first choice.
In stanza 2, the speaker compares the girl’s singing with that of a nightingale and a cuckoo, emphasizing that her singing is more beautiful. Her song can please weary travelers in horrible deserts and break the silence of remote seas. As in “Cloud,〞the speaker here is cheered up by the girl’s thrilling songs.
In stanza 3, the speaker wonders what the girl sings about—old stories and battles, or just matters of today? Her sadness is stressed once again by the words plaintive, unhappy, sorrow, loss and pain. She fills the speaker’s heart with both joy and sorrow.
In stanza 4, her singing had “no ending〞, and the speaker stayed “motionless and still〞to listen. He cherished it in heart “Long after it was heard no more〞and drew spiritual wealth from her singing. Pay attention to the change of tense here.
In summary, the girl is part of nature, and her singing is pure, sorrowful and heart-provoking.
Consequently, the speaker’s spirit is purified, and he becomes part of nature, too.
Comprehension questions:
1. Why is the poem entitled “The Solitary Reaper〞? What is its theme?
2. What images are employed in the poem? What meanings do they convey?
3. Compare this poem with “Cloud〞: what are similar and different between their themes,
and why did the poet always stress the girl’s sorrow, unlike the joyous daffodils?
Students’ activities:
1. Discuss with your partners: If you were to write about a girl reaping in the field in a poem,
how would you do it? What images would you use? What theme would you convey?
2. Write an essay about your understanding of the poem.
4．Ode on Solitude
Alexander Pope
Happy the man whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air,
In his own ground.
Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.
Blest, who can unconcernedly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,
Sound sleep by night; study and ease,
Together mixed; sweet recreation;
And innocence, which most does please
With mediation.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.
About the poet:
Alexander Pope (1688-1744), born in a rich family in London, was disabled in his childhood. But under his father’s encouragement, he immersed himself in books, cultivated his literary talent, and started writing poems very early. His achievement was mainly in his satiric poems, satirizing the ugliness of man and society, and voicing his pursuit of virtues and truth. His poetic form was traditional, and he often used heroic couplets (英雄偶句, lines of iambic pentameter that rhyme in pairs—aa, bb, cc). His language was brief, graceful and beautiful, which expressed maximal meanings. He was the most important English poet in the 18th century, and his masterpieces include The Rape of the Lock, Essay on Criticism, etc.
Interpreting the poem:
Pope wrote this poem when he was only 12. He loved nature and hated city, and this poem expressed his longing for a pastoral life. The poem’s rhyme scheme is regularly abab, and it uses iambic tetrameter (four feet), with exceptions in the fourth line of each stanza (two feet).
Stanza 1, if expressed in prose, reads: The man (a farmer) is happy whose wish and care are a few paternal acres (inherited from his father) bound and who is content to breathe his native air in his own ground.
In stanza 2, the speaker continues to describe the farmer’s self-sufficient life: he gets milk from herds, bread from fields, and attire (clothes) from flocks. His trees supply him with shade in summer and fire in winter.
In stanzas 3 and 4, the farmer leads a leisurely and carefree life. He is blessed to have his time gone (“Hours, days, and years slide softly away〞), which caters to his healthy body and peaceful mind. “Q uiet by day,/Sound sleep by night〞is one sentence: he enjoys tranquility day and night. He mixes his study and ease together and has sweet recreation; his innocence and meditation combine to please him.
The speaker describes an ideal pastoral life in the first four stanzas. In stanza 5, he longs to seclude himself from the maddening crowd and lead an “unseen, unknown〞life. Not only so; he even expects that after he dies, no one is to lament over him nor find a gravestone to tell where he is buried.
In short, Pope was determined to lead a secluded, pastoral life, for he believed that this life could bring peace to his mind and provide him with sources and environments for his writing. While in the vicious city, his spirit and poetic talent could die.
Comprehension questions:
1. What are the images in this poem, for what purposes?
2. Can you find similarities between this poem and Chinese pastoral poems, such as Tao
Yuanming’s?
Students’ activities:
Discuss with your partners: Can you understand why Pope hated city and loved country? What kind of life would you prefer, and why?
5. Home-Thoughts, from Abroad
Robert Browning
Oh, to be in England
Now that April’s there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England-now!
And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossomed peartree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops—at the bent spray’s edge—
That’s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children’s dower
—Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!
Notes:
sheaf: bundle
bole: trunk of a tree
spray: little branch
rapture: great delight
dower: gift
chaffinch, whitethroat, thrush: three kinds of birds
elm-tree, clover, buttercup: three kinds of plants
About the poet:
Robert Browning (1812-1889) was born in a middle-class family in suburban London. His father loved art and literature, under whose influence Browning nurtured an early, strong love of literature, and wrote poetry as a profession after he grew up. He once wrote drama unsuccessfully, but he did successfully create a unique poetic form “dramatic monolog〞—the use of dramatic monologs in writing poems. He often probed into his characters’inner world, and applied colloquial styles and discordant rhythms, making himself a unique poet in the Victorian Age and exerting influence in the 20th century. In 1845, he and the famous disabled woman writer Elizabeth Barret fell in love and eloped to Italy, making a beautiful love story in literary history. His masterpieces include The Ring & the Book, Men and Women, My Last Duchess, etc.
Interpreting the poem:
Interestingly, Browning wrote this poem before he went to live in Italy, in which he imagined how an expatriated English man misses his homeland in spring.
The poem is written in dramatic monologue. The lengths of the lines are uneven, and the accented and unaccented syllables are arranged in irregular ways. There are 8 lines in the first stanza and 12 lines in the second one, whose rhythm schemes are grotesquely ababccdd and aacdcdeeffgg, respectively.
In stanza 1, the first two lines are the speaker’s exclamation: what if I were in England now, since spring is there! Then in the following lines, he describes the beautiful early spring scenes there: anyone can see the tiny leaves growing and the birds singing gaily. Everything is fresh and beautiful, making a perfect English country scenery. Therefore the speaker misses his motherland eagerly.
In stanza 2, he imagines the scenes when the most lovely May comes: birds are singing delightfully and the orchard in attractive blossoms. Although there is still hoary (gray) dew, the warm sun will make the field gay. Then he makes a contrast. The “gaudy melon flower〞is a tropical flower in and a reference to Italy; in his mind, even the common buttercups are more beautiful than the gaudy flowers in Italy where he lives. This contrast gives prominence to the beauty of May in Britain and to his homesickness.
In summary, the speaker misses his homeland dearly, where everything is beautiful. This emotion is very much like that of a Chinese poet: “The moon in the hometown is brighter (than that in other places).〞
Comprehension questions:
1. What images and rhetorical devices are used in this poem, for what purposes?
2. Why did the poet portray British scenes in spring and May (early summer) instead of those
in other seasons?
Students’ activities:
Discuss with your partners: If you missed your hometown or motherland and wanted to write a poem about it, what scenes, things and people would you include?
6. Meeting at Night
Robert Browning
1
The gay sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand.
2
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!
Notes:
cove: small beach
prow: the front of a boat
Interpreting the poem:
This poem describes the reunion of two lovers: the time is a night, and the place a farmhouse near the beach. It is also written in dramatic monologue. The lengths of the lines are uneven (mainly 8 or 9 syllables), with irregular accented and unaccented syllables. The rhythm schemes are unusual: abccba for stanza 1, and abaaba for stanza 2.
In stanza 1, the speaker is traveling on the sea to meet his girl. His boat goes very fast and passes by many things: gray sea, black land, yellow half-moon, startled little waves, fiery ringlets, and slushy sand; when approaching the beach (“gain the cove〞), it is slowed down by the sand. These depressing images reflect the speaker’s joy mixed with uneasiness when he is eager to see his lover.
In stanza 2, he walks a long distance (“a mile of warm sea-scented beach〞and “Three fields
to cross〞) till his sweetheart’s farm appears. The scene is described in detail: he taps at the window; she scratches a match quickly to give a blue light, which shows that she is eager, too. They greet each other, while their voice is less loud than their excited “two hearts beating each to each.〞This is so because their joys are mixed with fears. What do they fear? Maybe the dark night, the girl’s parents, or their having sex for the first time.
In summary, the poem has a lot of images, and employs quite a few senses: smells, sights, and sounds. The lovers’ joy and fear at their meeting is described vividly.
Comprehension questions:
1. What are the images and rhetorical devices in this poem? For what purposes?
2. Why did the poet describe the speaker’s travel on the sea while his theme is the lovers’meeting?
Students’ activities:
Discuss with your partners: Imagine you were to meet your boyfriend or girlfriend, what would come into your mind—joy, excitement, fear, or anything else?
7. She Walks in Beauty
George Gordon Byron
1
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to the tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
2
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.
3
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
About the poet:
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) was born in London and inherited lordship from his great uncle. He was radically critical of the unjust society and sympathetic for the exploited workers. He found his poetic talent very early; in some of his poems, he created the well-known “Byronic hero〞, who had a strong passion, fought courageously with the evil society, and pursued his moral code. In 1816 when attacked for his notorious love affair, Byron exiled himself to Europe, where he established an enduring friendship with Shelley, a major English Romantic poet like himself. He participated in the Greeks’fighting against Turkish rulers, died of illness in Greece, and was regarded as a national hero there. His contribution lies in his description of exotic scenes and his rebellious Byronic hero. His masterpieces are Don Juan, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, etc.
Interpreting the poem:
Byron was famous for having affairs with women and being sensitive to their beauty. At a party, he met a cousin, who wore a black spangled mourning dress and had dark hair and a fair face, mingling various lights and shades. He immediate admired her beauty and then wrote this lyric.
The poem is written in iambic tetrameter; its rhythm scheme is ababab in stanzas 1 and 3, and aaaaaa in stanza 2.
In stanza 1, the speaker stresses the lady’s pure beauty: “like the night/Of cloudless climes and starry skies〞(the cloudless dark night and bright stars matching her dark hair, fair face and bright eyes), and the tender light collects in her, which even heaven denies the gaudy day.
In stanza 2, he points out that the lady’s beauty is perfect, as is shown in her dark hair (raven tress) and the soft lights in her face and eyes; one more shade or one less ray would damage her grace which is hard to express (This kind of description can also be found in Chinese literature—“增之一分那么太长，减之一分那么太短〞). Her serene thoughts originate from a pure, dear head (“H ow pure, how dear their dwelling place〞).
In stanza 3, the speaker goes on to describe her soft, calm, eloquent smiles and colors (tints), which reflect the goodness of her soul. Moreover, her mind is peaceful and her love is innocent. He admires her very much, therefore his tone is loving.
Night is a major image in the poem. It is not symbolic of darkness here; rather, it is cloudless and brightly starry in a dark background, symbolic of the beauty of mellow, tender light which matches the lady.
In summary, Byron in this lyric described female beauty, both outer and inner, and his。