TheSense of English Poetry
英诗之义
This lecture we are going to enjoy thethird dimension of the beauty of poetry—the sense.
The sense of a poem, as the heart of it,comes from many aspects
Subjectmatters and themes Denotationsand connotations
Sense 1. Personification
2. Hyperbole
Figure of speech 3. Symbol
4.Metaphor
Our lecture today will not cover the specific meanings conveyed in apoem through denotations and connotations and techniques of presentationthrough figures of speech，and so on. Instead, the lecture focuses only on the larger scale ofits sense, its subject matters and themes.
The Subject Matter and the Theme of Poetry
Actually, poetry can shine into any subject matter and theme:
Reading 1 Richard Cory 理查-柯利
Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869 - 1935)赵毅衡 译
Whenever Richard Cory went down town, 每当理杳珂利走进闹市，
We people on the pavement looked at him: 我们，街上的人，两眼瞪圆:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown, 他从头到脚是地道的绅士，
Clean favored, and imperially slim. 潇洒纤瘦，风度翩翩。
And he was always quietly arrayed, 他衣着永远淡雅索静，
And he was always human when he talked; 他谈吐永远文质彬彬，
But still he fluttered pulses when he said, 当他向人问好，人们不禁
'Good-morning,' and he glittered when he walked. 怦然心动，他走路光彩照人
And he was rich - yes, richer than a king - 他有钱----是呵，富比王侯----
And admirably schooled in every grace: 令人钦佩地读遍各种学问，
In fine, we thought that he was everything 总而言之，他是无所不有，
To make us wish that we were in his place. 谁都盼望能有他的福份。
So on we worked, and waited for the light, 我们苦干，等有福光降瑞，
And went without the meat, and cursed thebread; 整月没肉吃，面包讨人嫌，
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, 而理査•珂利，在宁静的夏夜，
Went home and put a bullet through hishead. 回家朝自己脑袋放一颗子弹.
This poetry is about an ordinary person named Richard Cory. You canfeel there is a development. Have you found the development? At the beginning,you can see, that’s the rough idea. In the second stanza, you have “and, and”. “and,and” in the third stanza; the last stanza, “so”, that’s the conclusion. We aregoing to appreciate the poem with a very simple question “How many charactersare there in the poem?” “Richard Cory”, “we”. Throughout the development of thestory, the character “he” and “we” are always in sharply contrast with eachother all through the poem.
How he looked like?
“Richard Cory”, this name is very meaningful, it’s a name of power,strength and bravery.
Do you really think that he is powerful and strong? Maybe no, maybeyes. In what way? He was powerful, strong and brave. The last stanza can tellyou. “He put a bullet through his head.” That’s needs courage.
How about the character “we”?
Do the readers know what the name we had? No, so we arenameless. The reader have no idea of how we looked like, but we have very clearidea how “Richard Cory looked like”.
3. Can you find some words to tell me how he looked like?
He was agentlemen. “From solo to crown”, like “from top to toe”. Who usually wears acrown? The king. That’s to say, Richard Cory has climbed up to the socialladder to the top, as if he were the king of the world, that’s the word“crown”. Solo, the similar sound “soul”, from the last sentence of the poem, weknow that he is not rich in the soul.
4. What he looked like?
“clean favored”, he wasprivileged, he had special rights, not to work hard, but appeared clean all thetime.
“imperially slim”means not fat, not thin, just right.
“quietly arrayed” means he paid much attention to his appearance.
“he fluttered pulses”. It was not “he” who felt excited, actually“we” felt excited. Richard Cory must be a powerful person, very importantperson. That’s why “we” feel excited.
“admirably schooled” means he was very well educated.
We know that Richard Cory paid his attention to his manner, grace,that’s the external appearance.
Contrast
He was very rich. “glittering ” like a gold. He must be rich. “richerthan a king”; By contrast, look at the character “we”, we were poor.
“We people on the pavement looked at him” But still he flutteredpulses when he said. We thought that he was everything to make us wish that wewere in his place;“Richard Cory “had everything, rich, success. “We” hadnothing. “And went without the meat, and cursed the bread”, no money to buy thegood bread. “We” had nothing, we had no names, we were nobodies, but we werehardworking, hoping and also enduring, that is to say, were very poor outside,we were rich inside.
“Richard Cory”,although he had everything, one calm night, he ended his life. Why did he endedhis life not on a storming night or a very windy night but a calm summer night?Nothing great actually happened, no disasters, no crisis in life, he stillended his life.
The whole poem wasin the past tense, why?
Because it happened in the past. It implied Richard Cory had beendead. When Richard Cory died, he left nothing, even no footprint in the worldthat he had been here or he had lived this life.
1. How can Ileave my footprint here to tell other people I’ve been here? Such a casual incidence in life can bethought- provoking, so meaningful. What would be the verse of my life be?
2. The poetmakes no direct statement, he says nothing about life, and he just gave us a portraitof a young man called Richard Cory. He says nothing, but we can draw some largesense about life.
Conclusion: weneed to be rich both materially and spiritually.
When we aretalking about the beauty of the poetry, a classical poem needs to be rich ineverything, both external and internal in sound, in form, in sense, in imagery.A person also needs to be rich both outside and inside, materially intellectually,emotionally, and philosophically in whatever sense.
Notice the development of the story step bystep: “and” ••• “so”
1. The first stanza:
He was named Richard Cory.
We were nameless.
2. The second and the third stanzas:
He was a gentleman, powerful and rich.
We were humble and poor.
3. The last stanza: so...
The subject of apoem cannot be so casual from our daily life around us, it can be far frombeing casual, besides, more than that, theme would be deeper and extendfurther.
Reading2 Sonnet 18 第十八首十四行诗
Shall I compare thee to a summer'sday? 我可能把你和夏天相比拟？
Thou art more lovely and moretemperate: 你比夏天更可爱更温和；
Rough winds do shake the darling buds ofMay, 狂风会把五月的花苞吹落地，
And summer's lease hath all too short adate: 夏天也嫌太短促，匆匆而过：
Sometime too hot the eye of heavenshines, 有时太阳照得太热，
And often is his gold complexiondimm'd; 常常又遮暗他的金色的脸；
And every fair from fair sometimedeclines, 美的事物总不免要凋落，
By chance, or nature's changing course,untrimm'd; 偶然的，或是随自然变化而流转。
But thy eternal summer shall not fade 但是你的永恒之夏不会褪色；
Nor lose possession of that fair thouow'st; 你不会失去你的俊美的仪容；
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in hisshade, 死神不能夸说你在他的阴影里面走着，
When in eternal lines to time thougrow'st; 如果你在这不朽的诗句里获得了永生；
So long as men can breathe or eyes cansee, 只要人们能呼吸，眼睛能看东西，
So long lives this, and this gives life tothee. 此诗就会不朽，使你永久生存下去。
Enjoy the richness of the sense
In terms of sound: iambic pentameter (五步抑扬格)
Rhythm scheme 韵式abab cdcdefef gg
Sense: on the surface, this is a love poem (astatement of praise for your beloved women)
This sonnet begins with a question.
Unlike the summer in chizhou, which is unbearably hot, sometimes it’sscorching, but the summer in England is very enjoyable, green trees with bud,warm weather. In a word, everything is very beautiful. This is the best time ofthe year.
Many things innature may change, for example, buds of may be shaken by rough winds, summer’slease is too short, the beauty in nature transient, die away quickly.
The eye ofheaven—sun
Gold complexion---shinning face
Every beautifulthing in the nature may wither and die very quickly, the flowers would bloombut wither, the sun will rise but set, the beauty in nature die away quickly.
“But” is a veryimportant word, indicating transition. Even if the nature you dies one day,your summer will be here forever. You’re always so beautiful, as beautiful as Iwrote about you, even death can’t defeat you. In face of death, everybody mustdie, we become so powerless. Death will defeat everyone, but you’ll defeatdeath. You’ll stay together with the time, as long as you have the time, you’llbe here. Highlight the theme of the sonnet, because your beauty is kept freshforever in my poem, as long as we have humankind, as long as we can read, andyour beauty can live. This will give the life to you.
Wehave noticed that in William Shakespeare’s sonnet 18, actually, we have 3quatrains and a couplet, and from very beginning with a question, and then hegoes on to tell us how short every beauty in nature is. More and more examples,he is going on step by step until he comes to the end of the poem, because yourbeauty is kept forever here. As I mentioned just now, sometimes in the poem,the theme will go deeper.
1.On the surface: a love poem
2.At a deeper level: a poem on immortalityof love through verse (art)[we all know, I guess you have heard aboutShakespeare or you have read his works. He is a well-known dramatist. Can youname just a few? Romeo and Juliet, hamlet. At the same time, he is also a verywell-known sonneteer, he wrote altogether 154 sonnets, and sonnet 18 is one ofthem. And in this sonnets, William Shakespeare has been ever seeking for waysof immortality]
Shakespeare’s three means of immortality: 1.through life. [In some of his sonnets, he is urging his friend to get marriedand bear children, why? Because the children of the next generation can carryon both your looks and your name, especially family names, this is one way toachieve immortality]
2. throughlove. [You’ll be remembered. In one of our lectures about the beauty of theform, I mentioned the love story between Browning and Robert ]
3. ThroughVerse (art) [in this sonnet, we can find and fell the sense developing goingstep by step, deeper and deeper. Developing and progressing further and deeper.Because his nature love, that kind of nature love turns into art. Becoming morepowerful, the nature love through poetry, and powerful enough to conquer deathand grow to time. ]
Conclusion
Classical poems, with their silent yet rich appeal,沉静而巨大的力量，润物细无声。 will live on forever for generations and generations to read, 生生不息，世世代代toadmire and to appreciate.为人诵读，仰慕和鉴赏。 Now, let’s appreciate William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 again as theconclusion of our lecture today.
Bibliography:
Reading 1
1)Richard Cory is taken from Nina Baym, gen. ed., The NortonAnthology of American Literature, Vo. D (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003) 1106-7.
2)《理査德珂利》引自赵毅衡：《美国现代诗选》•北京：外国文学出版社，1985: 6。
Reading 2
1)Sonnet 18 is taken from M. H. Abrams, gen. ed., The NortonAnthology of English Literature, Vo. 1 (London: W. W. Norton, 2006) 1063.
2) 《第十八首十四行诗》引自梁实秋：《莎士比亚全集.40,十四行诗》.北京：中国广播电视出版社， 2001： 43.
