whitman-and-dickinson-美国文学课件.ppt

1、Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)* A major American poet* The second wave of feminism heralded her as the “greatest woman poet in English Language”* If nothing else had come out of our life but this strange poetry, we should feel that in the work of Emily Dickinson, America, or New England rather, had mad

2、e a distinctive addition to the literature of the world, and could not be left out of any record of it. - William Dean Howells 1. Life* Born in December 10, 1830, in a Calvinist family, the first girl in the three children; Austin, Emily, Lavinia* Father is stern, but passionate, mother is rather in

3、different * Attended Amherst Academy at ten, spending seven years there* After graduation she lived quietly at her fathers home until she was twenty-four years old. * Except a three-week travel in Washington D.C., spending all of her life reclusively, gardening and writing poets* Experienced success

4、ive deaths during her life, which affected her deeply *died at fifty-five, less than a dozen poems published out of nearly eighteen hundred“If fame belonged to me I could, not escape her.”2. Writing Styles Catch the instant charms of objects; even drop the thing itself A narrow Fellow in the Grass O

5、ccasionally rides You may have met Himdid you not His notice sudden is The Grass divides as with a Comb A spotted shaft is seen And then it closes at your feet And opens further on - A Narrow Fellow in the Grass a courageous experimentalista. the idiosyncratic vocabulary and imagery * The extensive

6、use of dashes and unconventional capitalization * abounds in telling images: “a bodying forth by means of concrete images” of an inspired thought; the precursor of Imagismb. economy of expression * the application of brevity, directness, plainest words * usually begin with a declaration or definitio

7、n in the first line which is followed by a metaphorical change of the original premise in the second line “The fact that Earth is Heaven Whether Heaven is Heaven or not”c. free verse, use of rhythm. Can be easily set to music3. Themes inner religious conflicts * Calvinism background tragic basic ton

8、e * religious uncertainty poetic sublimation (suspicious of God) “God gave a loaf to every bird, But just a crumb to me;” “God permit industrious angels Afternoons to play.” deathand immortality * Death leads to immortality. “Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me;” *skeptical

9、about achieving immortality. I heard a Fly buzzwhen I diedI heard a Fly buzzwhen I diedThe Stillness in the RoomWas like the Stillness in the AirBetween the heaves of StormThe Eyes aroundhad wrung them dryAnd Breaths were gathering firmFor that last Onsetwhen the KingBe witnessedin the RoomI willed

10、my keepsakessigned awayWhat portion of me beAssignableand then it wasThere interposed a FlyWith Blue-uncertain stumbling BuzzBetween the lightand meAnd then the Windows failedand thenI could not see to see original and idiosyncratic expressions of love Heart, We Will forget him Heart, we will forget

11、 him, You and I, tonight! You must forget the warmth he gave, I will forget the light. When you have done pray tell me, Then I, my thoughts, will dim. Haste! lest while youre lagging I may remember him! nature: benevolent as well as cruel Apparently with No SurpriseApparently with no surpriseTo any

12、happy FlowerThe Frost beheads it at its playIn accidental powerThe blonde Assassin passes onThe sun proceeds unmovedTo measure off another DayFor an Approving God a transcendental man George F. Whicher: “Her sole function was to test the Transcendental ethic in its application to the inner life.” *

13、immortal spirit satisfies the claim of Death. “Death is a Dialogue Between” *criticism on materialism I took my Power in my Hand I took my Power in my Hand-And went against the World-Twas not so much as David-had-But I-was twice as bold-I aimed by Pebble-but MyselfWas all the one that fell-Was it Go

14、liath-was too large-Or was myself-too small? beauty, truth and goodness “I died for Beautybut was scarce Adjusted in the Tomb When One who died for Truth, was lain In an adjoining Room” -I died for Beautybut was scarceWalt Whitman (1819-1892) an American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist part

15、 of the transition between Transcendentalism and realism: see the failure of democracy and the social as well as moral corruption in America one of the most influential poets in the American canon, “a mountain in American literary history. You may go around him if you like, but you cannot pretend th

16、at he is not there.” the father of free verse poem controversial for their overt sexuality, especially Leaves of Grass1. Life born on May 31, 1819, Long Island, the second of nine sons due to the poor economic status, his family moved frequently, an restless childhood started to work at 11, an offic

17、e boy to a lawyer and then apprenticed to a printer Taught school at 17, and several times later his life Editors of several newspaper, notably that of The Brooklyn Eagle, a respected newspaper, but was fired for his outspoken opposition to slavery. a Civil War nurse. life greatly influenced by Leav

18、es of Grass Friendship with Emerson “ I was simmering, simmering, simmering,” he said, “Emerson brought me to a boil.” Emerson called Leaves of Grass “the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that an American has yet contributed.” aesthetics shared with Emerson 1. “America is a poem” “I hear A

19、merica singing” 2. the poet is a “universal man”, “a seerindividual, complete in himself.” 3. the organic principle Art should derive from nature. 4. freedom of expressions I Hear America SingingI hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be

20、 blithe and strong,The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatte

21、r singing as he stands,The wood-cutters song, the ploughboys on his way in the mooring, or at noon intermission or at sundown,The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,The day what belo

22、ngs to the dayat night the Party of young fellows, robust, friendly,Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.2. Leaves of Grass nine editions: 1855 the first and 1892 the last The title Leaves of Grass was a pun. Grass was a term given by publishers to works of minor value and leaves is

23、 another name for the pages on which they were printed. notable for its delight in and praise of the senses during a time when such candid displays were considered immoral, exalting the body and the material world, while not diminishing the role of the mind or the spirit praises nature and the indiv

24、idual humans role in it severely criticized by its overt description of homosexualityinga. Father of free verse: A daring experimentalist parallelism, or a rhythm of thought phonetic recurrence, the systematic repetition of words and phrases at the beginning of the line, in the middle or at the end.

25、“Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.” - Song of Myself Free verse is a form of poetry which doesnt refrains from consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern. b. Miscellaneous themesSong of Myself1I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what

26、I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.I loafe and invite my soul,I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.My tongue, every atom of my blood, formd from this soil, this air,Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their p

27、arentsThe same,I, now thirty-seventy years old in perfect health begin,Hoping to cease not till death. the transcendental “I” “I”, a divine omniscience beholding nature and man alike. “I am deathless.”; “I exist as I am.”; “I am large, I contain multitudes.”Creeds and schools in abeyance,Retiring ba

28、ck a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgot-ten,I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,Nature without check with original energy. the cycle of lifeDeath is the beginning of a new life. Out of the Cradle Endlessly RockingOut of the cradle endlessly rocking,Out of the m

29、ocking-birds throat, the musical shuttle,Out of the Ninth-month midnight,Over the sterile sands and the fields beyond, where the childleaving his bed wanderd alone, bareheaded, barefoot,Down from the showerd halo,Up from the mystic play of shadows twining and twisting as if theywere alive,Out from t

30、he patches of briers and blackberries,From the memories of the bird that chanted to me,From your memories sad brother, from the fitful risings and fallings I heard,From under that yellow half-moon late-risen and swollen as if with tears,From those beginning notes of yearning and love there in the mi

31、st,From the thousand responses of my heart never to cease,From the myriad thence-arousd words,From the word stronger and more delicious than any,From such as now they start the scene revisiting,As a flock, twittering, rising, or overhead passing,Borne hither, ere all eludes me, hurriedly,A man, yet

32、by these tears a little boy again,Throwing myself on the sand, confronting the waves,I, chanter of pains and joys, uniter of here and hereafter,Taking all hints to use them, but swiftly leaping beyond them,A reminiscence sing. Once Paumanok,When the lilac-scent was in the air and Fifth-month grass w

33、as growing,Up this seashore in some briers,Two featherd guests from Alabama, two together,And their nest, and four light-green eggs spotted with brown,And every day the he-bird to and fro near at hand,And every day the she-bird crouchd on her nest, silent, with bright eyes,And every day I, a curious

34、 boy, never too close, never disturbing them,Cautiously peering, absorbing, translating. Shine! shine! shine!Pour down your warmth, great sun.While we bask, we two together Two together!Winds blow south, or winds blow north,Day come white, or night come black,Home, or rivers and mountains from home,

35、Singing all time, minding no time,While we two keep together. Till of a sudden,May-be killd, unknown to her mate,One forenoon the she-bird crouchd not on the nest,Nor returnd that afternoon, nor the next,Nor ever appeard again. And thenceforward all summer in the sound of the sea,And at night under

36、the full of the moon in calmer weather,Over the hoarse surging of the sea,Or flitting from brier to brier by day,I saw, I heard at intervals the remaining one, the he-bird,The solitary guest from Alabama.Blow! blow! blow!Blow up sea-winds along Paumanoks shore;I wait and I wait till you blow my mate

37、 to me. Yes, when the stars glistend,All night long on the prong of a moss-scallopd stake,Down almost amid the slapping waves,Sat the lone singer wonderful causing tears. He calld on his mate,He pourd forth the meanings which I of all men know. Yes my brother I know,The rest might not, but I have tr

38、easurd every note,For more than once dimly down to the beach gliding,Silent, avoiding the moonbeams, blending myself with the shadows,Recalling now the obscure shapes, the echoes, the sounds and sightsafter their sorts,The white arms out in the breakers tirelessly tossing,I, with bare feet, a child,

39、 the wind wafting my hair,Listend long and long. Listend to keep, to sing, now translating the notes,Following you my brother Soothe! soothe! soothe!Close on its wave soothes the wave behind,And again another behind embracing and lapping, every one close,But my love soothes not me, not me. Low hangs

40、 the moon, it rose late,It is lagging-O I think it is heavy with love, with love O madly the sea pushes upon the land,With love, with love. O night! do I not see my love fluttering out among the breakers?What is that little black thing I see there in the white? Loud! loud! loud!Loud I call to you, m

41、y love!High and clear I shoot my voice over the waves,Surely you must know who is here, is here,You must know who I am, my love. Low-hanging moon!What is that dusky spot in your brown yellow?O it is the shape, the shape of my mate.O moon do not keep her from me any longer. Land! land! O land!Whichev

42、er way I turn, O I think you could give me my mate back againif you only would,For I am almost sure I see her dimly whichever way I look. O rising stars!Perhaps the one I want so much will rise, will rise with some of you. O throat! O trembling throat!Sound clearer through the atmosphere!Pierce the

43、woods, the earth,Somewhere listening to catch you must be the one I want. Shake out carols!Solitary here, the nights carols!Carols of lonesome love! deaths carols!Carols under that lagging, yellow, waning moon!O under that moon where she droops almost down into the sea!O reckless despairing carols.

44、But soft! sink low!Soft! let me just murmur,And do you wait a moment you husky-noisd sea,For somewhere I believe I heard my mate responding to me,So faint, I must be still, be still to listen,But not altogether still, for then she might not come immediately to me. Hither my love! / Here I am! here!W

45、ith this just-sustaind note I announce myself to you,This gentle call is for you my love, for you. Do not be decoyd elsewhere,That is the whistle of the wind, it is not my voice,That is the fluttering, the fluttering of the spray,Those are the shadows of leaves. O darkness! O in vain!O I am very sic

46、k and sorrowful O brown halo in the sky near the moon, drooping upon the sea!O troubled reflection in the sea!O throat! O throbbing heart!And I singing uselessly, uselessly all the night. O past! O happy life! O songs of joy!In the air, in the woods, over fields,Loved! loved! loved! loved! loved!But

47、 my mate no more, no more with me!We two together no more. The aria sinking,All else continuing, the stars shining,The winds blowing, the notes of the bird continuous echoing,With angry moans the fierce old mother incessantly moaning,On the sands of Paumanoks shore gray and rustling,The yellow half-

48、moon enlarged, sagging down, drooping, the face ofthe sea almost touching,The boy ecstatic, with his bare feet the waves, with his hair theatmosphere dallying,The love in the heart long pent, now loose, now at last tumultuouslybursting,The arias meaning, the ears, the soul, swiftly depositing,The st

49、range tears down the cheeks coursing,The colloquy there, the trio, each uttering,The undertone, the savage old mother incessantly crying,To the boys souls questions sullenly timing, some drownd secret hissing,To the outsetting bard. Demon or bird! (said the boys soul,)Is it indeed toward your mate y

50、ou sing? or is it really to me?For I, that was a child, my tongues use sleeping, now I have heard you,Now in a moment I know what I am for, I awake,And already a thousand singers, a thousand songs, clearer, louderand more sorrowful than yours,A thousand warbling echoes have started to life within me