大学英语专业诗歌欣赏.doc

POETRY APPRECIATION
1. NATURE
By Longfellow
As a fond mother, when the day is o’er
Leads by the hand her little child to bed,
Half willing, half reluctant to be led,
And leave his broken playthings on the floor,
Still gazing at them through the open door, 5
Nor wholly reassured and comforted
By promises of others in their stead,
Which, though more splendid, may not please him more;
So nature deals with us,and takes away
Our playthings one by one, and by the hand 10
Leads us to rest so gently,that we go
Scarece knowing if we wish to go or stay,
Being too full of sleep to understand
How far the unknown transcneds the what we know.

Answer the following questions:
1) What’s the main idea of the poem?

2) What’s the rhyming scheme of the poem?

3) Why should the child should be half willing and half relunctant to go to bed(Line 3)?

4) What figure of speech (rehtoric device) is employed in the poem ?

5) What does the ‘broken playthings on the floor’ ine Line 4 indicate?

2. THE TIDE RISES, THE TIDES FALLS
By Longfellow
The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveller hastens toward the town,
And the tide rises, the tide falls. 5

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls. 10

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hoster calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveler to the shore,
And the tide rises, the tide falls. 15

Answer the following questions:
1) What’s the main idea of the poem?

2) What’s the rhyming scheme of the poem?

3) What does the poet mean by “ the footprints in the sands ”(L9) ?

4) What figure of speech (rehtoric device) is employed in “the steeds in their stalls”(Line 11) and in lines 8-9? And what’s the most conspicuous figure of speech employed in the whole poem ?

3 . 449
By Emily Dickinson
I died for Beauty-but was scarce
Adjusted in the Tomb
When One who died of Truth, was lain
In an adjoining Room—

He questioned softly “Why I failed”? 5
“For Beauty,”I replied—
“And I –- for Truth”—Themself are One—
We Brethjeren, are, “ He said –-

And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night —
We talked between the Rooms—
Until the Mosss had reached our lips—
And covered up —our names —

Answer the following questions:
1) What’s the main idea of the poem?

2) Whom does “I” in “Why I failed”(Line 5) refer to?

3) How do you account for the misspelling “Themself” in Line 7?

4. Down by the Salley Gardens  　        
My love and I did meet　　　           
She passed the Salley Gardens　   
With little snow-white feet　              
She bid me take love easy              
As the leaves grow on the tree        
But I being young and foolish　       
With her would not agree　　              

In a field by the river　　　              
My love and I did stand　                 
And on my leaning shoulder　          
She laid her snow-white hand           
She bid me take life easy　               
As the grass grows on the weirs　     
But I was young and foolish　            
And now am full of tears　                
Answer the following questions:
1) What’s the main idea of the poem?

2) What’s the rhyming scheme of the poem?

3) Whom does “I”actually represent?

Answers for Reference
Poem 1 Nature
Answer the following questions:
1) What’s the main idea of the poem?
The poem makes a vivid comparison between nature and the mother, between we and the child. Like the child we are lured by the present pleasures of life and are unwilling to calm ourselves.Like the mother , Nature tries to lead us to rest and offers new attractions in life.
2) What’s the rhyming scheme of the poem?
Abbaabba+ cdecde that is ,
Petrarchan style(Italian style): an octaverhyming + a sestet rhyming
3) Why should the child should be half willing and half relunctant to go to bed(Line 3)?
He is sleepy, so he is eager to have a sleep; he has not satisfied himself with the games,so he wants to linger on.
4) What figure of speech (rehtoric device) is employed in the poem ?
Analoge. The poet makes an analogy between nature and the mother, between we and the child.
5) What does the ‘broken playthings on the floor’ ine Line 4 indicate?
It indicates that the child must be a naughty one, for he has broken his playthings.
2. THE TIDE RISES, THE TIDES FALLS
1) What’s the main idea of the poem?
Time is eternal and nature is the most powerful.No matter what happens to man, time will go on with its endless circle.Man comes and goes, but nature remains and time will efface all human endeavours and achievements. In front of nature and time, manis trivial and a small part of it. No man is grea enough to change nature or to stop time. In the vast sea of history, man is only a small drop of water.
2) What’s the rhyming scheme of the poem?
aabba
3) What does the poet mean by “ the footprints in the sands ”(L9) ?
It’s a methor, referring ot human’s past and achievements.
4) What figure of speech (rehtoric device) is employed in “the steeds in their stalls”(Line 11) and in lines 8-9? And what’s the most conspicuous figure of speech employed in the whole poem ?
Alliteration; personification; repetition.

3 . 449 By Emily Dickinson
Answer the following questions:
1) What’s the main idea of the poem?
Beauty and truth are one organic whole which cannot be separated. (The same idea as Keats.)
2) Whom does “I” in “Why I failed”(Line 5) refer to?
The narrator, who died for Beauty.
3) How do you account for the misspelling “Themself” in Line 7?
It’s a deliberate misspelling. It is both plural(them)and singular (self). It’s plural because truth and beauty are two things.It is singular because they are ultimately one unity.
4. Down by the Salley Gardens 
Answer the following questions:
1) What’s the main idea of the poem?
The poem carries a flavor of romance, yet it is more a poem about the fundanmental question on life: how to live and enjoy. The speaker’s lover is like a wise person who knows all the rules of the game in life. Love, life, these two are surely the things every single human being can’t expect to bypass lightly.They are essential to every human being.Love and lif eare like leaves on the tree and grass on the weirs. Leaves and grass have their own rule of living –determined by nature.So here the poet seems to say love and life can be best enjoyed when we treat them in the natural way,that is, in accordance with the rule of nature. In this sense, the poem can be regarded as a manifestation of Yeats’ belief that there is too much human interference in modern life, which really against the rule of nature.

2) What’s the rhyming scheme of the poem?
Ababcbdb efefcgdg
3) Whom does “I”actually represent??
“I ” in the poem is actually of all individual beings.

译文：走进莎莉花园
    我和我的爱人相遇
 她穿越莎莉花园
踏著雪白的纤足
她请我轻柔的对待这份情
像依偎在树上的群叶
但我是如此年轻而无知
不曾细听她的心声

在河流畔的旷野
我和我的爱人并肩伫立
在我的微倾的肩膀
 她柔白的手倚靠
她请我珍重生命
像生长在河堰的韧草
但我是如此年轻而无知
现在只充满无用的泪水

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