《美国文学》课件4

8
Smit with those charms, that must decay, I grieve to see your future doom, They died—nor were those flowers less / more gay, The flowers that did in Eden bloom; Unpitying frosts, and Autumn’s power Shall leave no vestige of this flower.
2
the first important poet to turn his eyes to America; almost alone of his generation, he managed to evade the pervasive atmosphere of imitativeness, to see life around directly, and to appreciate the natural scenes on the New Continent and the native Indian civilization
20
quietly, goes, declining, repose, must decay, future doom, died, no vestige:
unavoidable result of the life in nature； unpitying frosts, and Autumn’s power:
16
Notes for the 4th stanza: From morning suns and evening dews / At first thy little being came: At first thy little being came from morning suns and evening dews; morning suns and evening dews: synecdoche, natural phenomena, nature; If nothing once, you nothing lose: If you have nothing when you come, you lose nothing when you go; The space between, is but an hour: hyperbole; the time between the birth and death is just an hour
9
From morning suns and evening dews At first thy little being came: If nothing once, you nothing lose, For when you die you are the same; The space between, is but an hour, The frail duration of a flower.
14
Notes for the 3rd stanza: smit with: past tense of “smite”; impressed by, stricken by; they died: the charms of the flower faded away; nor were those flowers less / more gay, The flowers that did in Eden bloom: Those flowers that did bloom in Eden were not less / more gay; not only the flowers hidden in the silent, dull retreat will die, but all flowers will die; vestige: trace
12
Notes for the 2nd stanza: Nature: personification (she) in white array’d: dressed in white; purity bade: past tense of “bid”; command, ask shun: avoid summer: metaphor repose: lie dead
LECTURE FOUR
Philip Freneau
(1752-1832)
1.Freneau’s position in American literature and his major poems: the most significant poet of the 18th century America; the “father of American poetry”;
5
"She Dwelt Among Untrodden Ways" by William Wordsworth
• She dwelt among the untrodden ways Beside the springs of Dove, Maid whom there were none to praise And very few to love: A violet by a mosy stone Half hidden from the eye! ---Fair as a star, when only one Ived unknown, and few could know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and, oh, The difference to me!
1
used his poetic talents in the service of a nation struggling for independence, writing verses for the righteous cause of his people and exposing British colonial savageries;
17
The 4th stanza: the poet’s views on the wild honeysuckle: little being, frail duration, nothing, nothing, duration but an hour
18
the 1st and 2nd stanzas: natural scenery in American (description) background the 3rd and 4th stanzas: feelings, views;
15
The 3rd stanza: the poet’s feelings: smit, grieve nature: unpitying frosts; Autumn’s power (nature’s destruction of the flower, cause) the suckle: decay, no vestige (the fate of the suckle, effect)
country
side
aim
19
fair, comely, hid, silent dull retreat, untouched, unseen, no crushing, in white arrayed, no vulgar eye, guardian shade:
unspoiled beauty, purity of nature; his idealization of nature; eulogy and adoration of the miraculous power of nature; romantic tendency;
6
The Wild Honey Suckle
By Philip Freneau Fair flower, that dost so comely grow, Hid in this silent, dull retreat, Untouch’d thy honey’d blossoms blow, Unseen thy little branches greet: No roving foot shall crush thee here, No busy hand provoke a tear.
11
The 1st stanza: ① the disadvantages of the suckle: fair, comely vs. 1 hid, silent, dull, retreat blow, greet vs. 2 untouched, unseen ② the advantages of the suckle: no . . . crushing; no . . . provoking
4
lyrics: “The Wild Honey Suckle” (1786); “The Indian Burying Ground” (1787): among the earliest literary works of the idealization of the American Indians, and of the celebration of the “Noble Savage.”
7
By Nature’s self in white array’d, She bade thee shun the vulgar eye, And planted here the guardian shade, And sent soft waters murmuring by; Thus quietly thy summer goes, Thy days declining to repose.