Unit4Reading

William Shakespeare (Sonnet 18)

Shall I Compare Thee to a summer’s Day Notes:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? 1. thee: you

Thou art more lovely and more temperate. 2. thou: you; art: are

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date. 3. hath: has

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, 4. sometime: sometimes

And often is his gold complexion dimmed; 5. complexion: face

And every fair from fair sometime declines, 6. fair: beauty

By chance or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade, 7. thy: your; eternal: ever-lasting Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, 8. ow’st: own

Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade, 9. wand’rest: wander, walk about When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st. 10. grow’st: grow

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Think about the following questions:

1.How does the poet answer the question he put forward in the first line?

2.What makes the poet think that “thou” can be more beautiful(fair) than summer and immortal? Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ode to the West Wind

V

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: lyre：一种乐器，此处指传播者

What if my leaves are falling like its own! its own: 指森林里的落叶

The tumult of thy mighty harmonies tumult：喧嚣，吼叫；harmonies：和声

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, both：指我和森林

Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, Be … : 是表示愿望的虚拟形式之一My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! Impetuous: 猛烈的

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe

Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth! withered：枯萎的

And, by the incantation of this verse, incantation: 符咒；verse：诗Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth unextinguished hearth：未熄灭的炉灰Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! sparks：火花

Be through my lips to unawakened earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, prophecy: 预言

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Think about the following questions:

1. What is the relationship between the West wind and the poet?

2. As “the trumpet of prophecy”, what does the West Wind predict in physical reality?

How do you understand it symbolically?

Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, diverged: 道路分叉

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth; undergrowth：灌木丛

Then took the other, as just as fair, as just as: 正如，和......一样

And having perhaps the better claim claim：声誉

Because it was grassy and wanted wear; wear：践踏

Though as for that, the passing there 此两行的意思是：虽然是两条路，

Had worn them really about the same, 但是很难分辨彼此。

And both that morning equally lay