Robert Frost 美国文学史 罗伯特·弗罗斯特

aaba bbcb ccdc dddd iambic tetrameter
Robert Frost Vs. Tao Yuanming
* The difference between the East and the West concerning pastoral poetry 入世 出世
The Road Not Taken
未选择的路

黄色的树林里分出两条路， 可惜我不能同时涉足， 我在那路口久久伫立， 我向着一条路极目望去， 直到它消失在树林深处。 但我却选择了另外一条路， 它荒草萋萋，十分幽寂， 显得更诱人，更美丽， 虽然在这两条小路上， 都很少留下旅人的足迹。

虽然那天清晨落叶满地， 两条路都未经脚步踩踏。 呵，留下一条路等改日再见！ 但我知道路径延绵无尽头， 恐怕我难以再返回。 也许多少年后在某个地方， 我将轻声叹息将往事回顾， 一片树林里分出两条路 —— 而我选择了人迹更少的一条， 从此决定了我一生的道路。
Pictures for Fun!
罗伯特· 弗洛斯特
Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Life
San Francisco (1874) Lawrence, Massachusetts (1885) Marriage with Elinor White (1896) Harvard (1897) New Hampshire (1899)
Analysis
Freudian Psychoanalysis village, horse --- civilization and order (superego) wood --- wildness and enjoyment (id) poet --- lured by id, but chooses superego (ego) the temptation of the wood --- siren’s song (death instinct ) * village/wood, day/night The Scarlet Letter Rhyme and Rhythm
中国文人对路的感悟
路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索 。
—— 屈原 其实地上本Fra Baidu bibliotek有路，走的人多了，也便成了 路。 —— 鲁迅
Solitary Travelers
Frost’s poetry demonstrates great respect
for the social outcast amidst the landscape of New England in the twentieth century. Able to engage with his surroundings using fresh eyes, the solitary traveler exists as both a part of the landscape and an observer of the landscape. “Acquainted with the Night” “Into My Own”
我知道谁是这林子的主人。 尽管他的屋子远在村中； 他也看不见我在此逗留， 凝视这积满白雪的树林。 我的小马想必感到奇怪 为何停在树林和冰封的湖边 附近既看不到一间农舍 又在一年中最黑暗的夜晚。 它轻轻地摇了一下佩铃 探询是否出了什么差错。 林中毫无回响一片寂静 只有微风习习雪花飘落。 这树林多么可爱、幽深， 但我必须履行我的诺言， 睡觉前还有许多路要走啊， 睡觉前还有许多路要赶。


“one and a half” (half farmer, half teacher, half poet) Gain fame in England (1912-1914) Back to New Hampshire (1914) Pulitzer Prize (1923,1930,1936,1942) Reading poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy (1960) funny anecdotes
The Gift Outright
very very popular
一直被阅读，从未被理解

Major Works
A Boy’s Will (1913) North of Boston (1914)
Mountain Interval (1916)
New Hampshire (1923), Pulitzer Prize Collected Poems (1930), Pulitzer Prize A Further Range (1936), Pulitzer Prize A Witness Tree (1942), Pulitzer Prize
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
雪夜林边驻脚

Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near, Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.
Themes
Youth and the Loss of Innocence
the physical and psychic wounding of entire generation of young people throughout the two world wars 青春的创伤，童真的失去 Self-Knowledge through Nature the encounter of a human speaker and a natural phenomenon, with nature always staying indifferent to the human world 神秘的自然，冷漠的天地 Communication and Isolation the contrast between the human capacity to connect to each other and to experience profound isolation, with isolation as the final answer 孤单是一个人的狂欢, 狂欢是一群人的孤单 ——阿桑《叶子》
Style
Wordsworthian style, plain speech of rural New
Englanders 语言朴实 symbols from everyday country life to express his deep ideas 借物咏情 A follower of traditional poetic modes, such as iambic pattern and pastoral mode of poetry 格式传统 He compares free-verse poetry to playing tennis without a net: “It might be fun, but it ain’t tennis.”
Analysis
Interpretation
a choice in life rather than a mere choice of roads one must accept the consequences, for he will not have a chance to go back the poet’s bravery to choose a road less traveled by, an unusual solitary life Rhyme and Rhythm abaab, cdccd, efeef, ghggh iambic tetrameter * a choice that makes no difference as there is no right path, just “seize the day”