Edgar Allan Poe 爱伦坡 美国文学选读

• II. Life and Career
• Born in an actor and actress’s family – his parents died when he was very young –adopted by a Virginia rich businessman John Allan – entered the Virginia University at 17 – West Point where he began to write poetry – then tales – editor of magazines. • at 27 he married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia who died very young in 1947
Science’s crime of destroying these beautiful myths is made all the worse by the poem’s harsh language. The vulture has not just nudged the mythical figures out of the picture, but has “dragged Diana from her car” and “torn the Naiad from her flood.”
险象环生的漂泊久已习惯， 你仙女的风姿伴我回到家园， 还有你紫蓝的秀发，典雅的容颜， 驶向昔日希腊的荣光美满， 奔赴古代罗马的辉煌灿烂。
• All the art and literature originated from one thing--beauty. Having taken Helen as the embodiment of beauty, the poet was confident that once he saw Helen, he was sure to be led by Helen to the home of beauty---fine and pure literature. Poe insisted that Greece and Rome were the homes of beauty, the treasure houses of fine art and literature.
III. Poe’s Major Works
• Poetry • Tales • The Raven 《乌鸦》 • The Black Cat《黑猫》 • The Cask of Amontillado • Annabel Lee《安娜贝尔·李》 《阿芒提拉多的酒》 • To Helen 《致海伦》 • The Gold-Bug 《金甲虫》 • The Bells《钟声》 • Ligeia 《莉姬亚》 • Tamerlane 《帖木尔》 • Purloined Letter 《失窃的信》 • A Dream Within A Dream 《梦中 • The Murders in the Rue Morgue 之梦》 《莫格街谋杀案》 》 • The Haunted Palace《闹鬼的宫殿》 • Other works • The Poetic Principle《诗歌原理》 • The Philosophy of Composition 《创作哲学》
看哪，那壁龛里金光闪闪， 你犹如婷婷玉立的塑像一般， 手中擎着玛瑙明灯一盏！ 啊，你是浦赛克女神下凡， 在圣地降生人间！
• The speaker saw Helen standing in the bright niche and holding in her hand an agate lamp. She was quite similar to goddess Psyche from Greek Myth. Through his description of his passion to Helen, Poe expressed his pursuit and sincere devotion to beauty.
Sonnet: To Science
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art! Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes. Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart, Vulture, whose wings are dull realities? How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise? Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies, Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing? Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car? And driven the Hamadryad from the wood To seek a shelter in some happier star? Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood, The Elfin from the green grass, and from me The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?
Stanza 3
Lo! In yon brilliant window-niche How statue-like I see thee stand, The agate lamp within thy hand! Ah, Psyche, from the regions which Are Holy-Land!
• Poe was a fascinating man of imagination. Poe was sensitive enough to feel the pressure of a world where science and reason reign supreme, where “there is neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help from pain.”
• IV. Poe’s aesthetics
• • • • • • • • • • • 1. Aesthetic writings: The Philosophy of Composition The Poetic Principle 2. Aesthetic ideas: A. Brevity: the poem should be short, readable at one sitting B. Beauty: the chief aim is beauty, namely to produce a feeling of beauty in the minds of the reader The melancholy is the most legitimate of all poetic tones; the death of a beautiful woman is the most poetic topic in the world. C. Purity: Poe is opposed to the heresy of the didactic and called for pure poetry. Besides, he stresses rhythm, defines true poetry as “the rhythmical creation of beauty” and declares that “music is the perfection of the soul, or ideas, of poetry.”
正如尼安色建造的古船， 在芬芳馥郁的大海徐徐扬帆， 海伦，你的美丽与此相仿， 承载我这游子的疲乏厌倦， 送我重返故土的彼岸。
Stanza 2
On desperate seas long wont to roam, Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face, The Naiad airs have brought me home To the glory that was Greece, And the grandeur that was Rome.
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Helen
• An allusion to Helen of Troy in Greek mythology. Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Greece, was the most beautiful woman in the world. After a Trojan prince named Paris abducted her, the Greeks declared war on the Trojans, fighting a 10-year battle that ended in victory and the restoration of Greek honor. Helen returned to Greece with Menelaus.
Edgar Allan Poe
(1809-1849) Rainy
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
• I. Literary Status
• Pioneer of American Horror Tales, American Detective Tales, American Southern writings, American PsychoAnalytic fiction • Editor, Poet and Professional literary critic
Stanza 1
Helen, thy beauty is to me Like those Nicean barks of yore, That gently, o'er a perfumed sea, The weary, way-worn wanderer bore To his own native shore • The poet first mentioned Helen, the most famous beauty in Greek mythology. Then Poe compared himself to Odysseus, who wandered for ten years over the sea to get home. As Odysseus, Poe was persistent in his chasing after fine arts with the sincere belief that art, or beauty and truth, was the ultimate aim, the home, for the wandering poet; while Helen, the embodiment of ancient beauty, was the guider to that dreamland.
十四行诗——致科学 致科学 十四行诗 科学哟！你是时间忠实的女儿！ 你变更一切，用你眼睛的凝视。 为何要这样蹂躏诗人的心坎儿， 兀鹰，你的翅膀是阴暗的现实？ 他何以爱你？何以认为你深奥， 你总是不愿任凭他去漂泊游荡， 不愿他去镶满钻石的天空觅宝， 纵令他展开无畏的翅翼去翱翔？ 你不是已把狄安娜拖下了马车？ 不是已把山林仙子逐离了森林， 让她去某颗幸运的星躲灾避祸？ 你不是已从水中撵走水泽女神， 把小精灵赶出绿茵，然后又从 凤眼果树下驱散我夏日的美梦？