My Lost Youth赏析

The Slave’s Dream
• It is a poem published in Poems on Slavery, a collection of poems written to demonstrate Longfellow’s approval of the abolitionist(废奴主义 的) movement, motivated by his Unitarian (一位论派的)beliefs.
•
H w (Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow 1807-1882) 19
1807 2 27
界成绍语文德业多兰 美 朗
和为欧言学国后因城 国 费
1836 ,
社 交 界 的 重 要 人 物 。
新 英 格 兰 文 化 中 心 剑 桥 文 学
洲 文 化 和 浪 漫 主 义 作 家 的 作 品
• Longfellow begins discussing how humans must live their lives in constant anticipation for the next day under the belief that it will be better than each day before it: "But to act that each tomorrow / Find us farther than to-day."
• Longfellow values this dream of the afterlife immensely and seems to say that life can only be lived truly if one believes that the soul will continue to live long after the body dies. The second stanza continues with the same belief in afterlife that is present in the first.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, then part of Massachusetts, was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha and Evangeline. He was also the first American to translate Dante Alighieri'sThe Divine Comedy and was one of the five Fireside Poets. He died in 1882.
• Longfellow states this clearly when he writes, "And the grave is not its goal." Meaning that, life doesn't end for people simply because they die; there is always something more to be hopeful and optimistic for.
Major Works
• 《人生礼赞》A Psalm of Life, 1839 • 《箭和歌》the arrow and the song • 《金色夕阳》The golden sunset
• 《夜吟》（Voices of the Night） • 《海华沙之歌》The Song of Hiawatha
文 学 长 达 十 八 年 ， 致 力 于 介
。 年 开 始 在 哈 佛 大 学 讲 授
等 地 ， 研 究 这 些 国 家 的 语 言 和
去 过 法 国 、 西 班 牙 、 意 wk.baidu.com 利 和
学 院 ， 与 霍 桑 是 同 班 同 学 。 毕
1822
一 个 律 师 家 庭 。 年 进 入 博
年 月
日 出 生 于 缅 因 州 波 特
A Psalm of Life
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow begins his poem "A Psalm of Life" with the same exuberance and enthusiasm that continues through most of the poem. He begs in the first stanza to be told "not in mournful numbers" about life. He states here that life doesn't abruptly end when one dies; rather, it extends into another after life.
最 伟 大 的 浪 漫 主 义 诗 人 之 一 。
， 世 纪
罗 ， ． ．
，
comments & influnces
• Longfellow predominantly wrote lyric poems which are known for their musicality and which often presented stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and also had success overseas. He has been criticized, however, for imitating European styles and writing specifically for the masses.
summary
• 这首诗体现了乐观的人生态度,充满了无限 的生机。诗人歌颂了现实的生活,激励人们 不断进取。诗人断然否定了人生如梦的看 法,充分肯定了人生的意义,他告诫人们不要 沉湎于过去,也不要对将来抱有任何不切实 际的幻想,要脚踏实地地从现在做起。这首 诗直到今天仍有很大的现实意义。
more words
• The collection is dedicated to William Ellery Channing, and Longfellow allows the New England Anti-Slavery Tract Society to reprint and distribute the poems freely.
• 在创作手法上,诗人运用了祈使句 和语音修辞法,节奏轻快跳跃。如 催人奋进的号角,久久回荡在耳际, 读来不仅音美,意更美。
The rhythm of this poem is abab .
• Tell me not, in mournful numbers, • "Life is but an empty dream! " • for the soul is dead that slumbers, • And things are not what they seem. • Life is real! Life is earnest! • And the grave is not its goal; • "Dust thou art, to dust returnest, " • Was not spoken of the soul.
• In the subsequent stanza, Longfellow asserts that there is never an infinite amount of time to live, but art that is created during one's life can be preserved indefinitely and live on long after its creator dies.
• The next stanza, the second to last in the poem, continues with this same point. It describes how successful people in the past have their lives copied, while those who failed serve as examples of ways of life to avoid. The final lines of the poem echo the beginning ones and offer perhaps the most important advice in a poem that is chocked full of it. Longfellow encourages all to work and try their best to make their lives great and accomplish as much as they can.
• He advises people to seize the moments they have before them and act while thinking about their present situations. Longfellow continues his poem by citing the lives of great and important men who were able to lead incredible lives and leave their marks. He views these men as role models. So Longfellow encourages his readers to leave their own "footprints on the sands of time" and become important.
• 《伊凡杰兰》Evangline • 《迈尔斯-斯坦迪希求婚记》The courtship of Miles Standish • 《海外朝圣记》（Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea） • 《卡文那》（Kavanagh） • 《凯纳梅兹及其他（Kéramos and Other Poems）》 • 《天涯海角（Ultima Thule）》 • 《在港湾里（In the Harbor）》 • 《我逝去的青春》my lost youth
• In the next stanza, he believes that people should lead heroic and courageous lives and not sit idle and remain ineffectual while the world rapidly changes around them: "Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife!" His use of the word "strife" is especially interesting, since it clearly acknowledges that life is inherently difficult, is a constant struggle, and will never be easy. Longfellow then encourages everyone to have faith and trust the lord and not to rely on an unknown future to be stable and supportive.