Poetic justice

英美⽂学名词解释浪漫主义湖畔派诗⼈⼗四⾏诗拜伦式英雄⽆韵诗1.Romanticism浪漫主义1)a movement in literature, philosophy, music and art from late 18th century to early 19th century in Europe.2)emphasized individual values (个⼈价值）and aspirations（志向，抱负） above those of society.3)started from the ideas of Rousseau（卢梭） in France and from the Storm and Stress movement (“狂飙突进”⽂学运动) in Germany.4)the characteristics of Romanticism（浪漫主义⽂学特⾊）:Passion /emotion ,Individualism5)Representative writers(代表作家）:France:Hugo, Lamartine, George SandGermany: Geothe, SchillerRussia:Pushkin, LemontoveAmerica (30 years later): Irving, Cooper, Emerson, Thoreau/doc/3b53650179563c1ec5da71f1.html ke Poets湖畔派诗⼈Wordsworth，Coleridge and Southey were known as Lake Poets because they lived and knew one another in the last few years of the 18th century in the district of the great lakes in Northwestern England. The former two published The Lyrical Ballads (抒情诗谣)together in 1798, while all three of them had radical inclinations(主要的喜爱，倾向） in their youth but later turned conservative（保守的） and received pensions（退休⾦） and poet laureateships（桂冠诗⼈） from the aristocracy(贵族，统治阶级）.3.Sonnet⼗四⾏诗1)A sonnet is a 14 line poem that follows a very specific rhyme scheme(特殊的韵律组合）.2)Sonnets are traditionally love poems.3)There are two different types of sonnets:- Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet( 意⼤利诗⼈彼特拉克推⼴的彼特拉克⼗四⾏诗）:Named after Francesco Petrarch, an Italian poet from the 14th century–English or Shakespearean Sonnet:Created by Henry Howard in the 16th century4.Ballad meter民谣诗歌⾳节Ballad meter is a type of poetry that uses alternating (交替的，轮流的）lines of iambic（抑扬格的） tetrameter（四⾳部诗) and iambic trimeter(三⾳格，三⾳步）, with a rhyme scheme of A-B-C-B.5.Byronic hero拜伦式英雄1） The Byronic hero is an idealized （理想化的）but flawed (有缺陷的）character exemplified in the life and writings of Lord Byron, characterized by his ex-lover Lady Caroline Lamb as being "mad, bad, and dangerous to know".[1] The Byronic hero first appears in Byron's semi-autobiographical epic narrative poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-18).2）CharacteristicsThe Byronic hero typically exhibits the following characteristics: high level of intelligence and perception ，cunning and able to adapt ，sophisticated and educated self-critical and introspective ，mysterious, magnetic and charismatic ，struggling with integrity ，power of seduction and sexual attraction ，social andsexual dominance ，emotional conflicts, bipolar tendencies, or moodiness，a distaste for social institutions and norms，being an exile, an outcast, or an outlaw ，"dark" attributes not normally associated with a hero[citationneeded]，disrespect of rank and privilege ，a troubled past ，cynicism ，arrogance ，self-destructive behavior6.Blank verse⽆韵诗is poetry written in unrhymed（⽆韵律的）iambic pentameter(五⾳部诗⾏）. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century"and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The preeminent(卓越的）dramatic（戏剧的）and narrative（记叙的）verse form in English and also the standard form for dramatic verse in Italian and German. Its richness and versatility （多⾯性）depend on the skill of the poet in varying the stresses and the position of the caesura (pause停顿) in each line, in catching the shifting tonal （⾳调的）qualities and emotional overtones （弦外之⾳）of the language, and in arranging lines into thought groups and paragraphsThe first documented use of blank verse in the English language was by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey in his translation of the ?neid (c. 1554). He was possibly inspired by theLatin original, as classical Latin verse (as well as Greek verse) did not use rhyme; or he may have been inspired by the Italian verse form of Versi Sciolti , which also contained no rhyme. The play, Arden of Faversham (circa⼤约1590 by an unknown author) is a notable （显著的）example of end-stopped blank verse.Christopher Marlowe was the first English author to make full use of the potential ofblank verse, and also established it as the dominant verse form for English drama in the ageof Elizabeth I and James I. The major achievements in English blank verse were made by William Shakespeare, who wrote much of the content of his plays in unrhymed iambic pentameter, and Milton, whose Paradise Lost is written in blank verse. Miltonic blank verse was widely imitated in the 18th century by such poets as James Thomson (in The Seasons) and William Cowper (in The T ask). Romantic English poets such as William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats used blank verse as a major form. Shortly afterwards, Alfred Lord T ennyson became particularly devoted to blank verse, using it for example inhis long narrative poem "The Princess", as well as for one of his most famous poems: "Ulysses". Among American poets, Hart Crane and Wallace Stevens are notable for using blank verse in extended compositions at a time when many other poets were turning to free verse.。

拜伦诗集：浪漫主义精神与艺术自由的追求1. 引言拜伦（Lord Byron）是英国浪漫主义文学运动中最具代表性的诗人之一。

他的诗集以其对自然、个体情感和政治反抗的表达方式而广为人知。

本文将从拜伦诗集中选取几首代表作品，探讨其中蕴含的浪漫主义精神以及对艺术自由不懈追求的意义。

2. 拜伦和浪漫主义精神拜伦生活在18世纪末19世纪初，这个时期正是英国浪漫主义兴起的高潮。

浪漫主义强调情感、自然和超越现实的力量，它反对启蒙时代理性主义和工业革命带来的冷酷实用主义。

拜伦以其狂放不羁的个性和对冲突挑战态度表达了这种精神。

3. 拜伦诗集中的代表作品3.1《唐璜》《唐璜》是拜伦最著名也是最长的叙事诗之一。

它以一个英雄人物的形象展示了对无尽的追求和坚持自由的精神。

诗中唐璜固执地寻找真理，并不气馁于旅途的艰辛与挫折，最终成为一个永恒的传说。

3.2《浩劫》《浩劫》是拜伦回忆录体长诗，描述了希腊独立战争中亲身经历的场景和情感体验。

这首诗通过激烈的斗争情节和振奋人心的英勇形象，表达了对自由和人权等价值观念的追求。

3.3《骑士团长》《骑士团长》是拜伦最早也是最重要的作品之一，探讨了爱情、荣誉和个体自由等主题。

这首诗描绘了一个被动爱上一个女神（Theresa）并为之而生活在战乱年代中的骑士团长（Knight Templar），以此说明爱情与个体命运间存在冲突。

4. 艺术自由与拜伦拜伦不仅在他的诗歌中表达了个人和政治自由的渴望，他也在实践中追求艺术的自由。

他对古典文化和传统形式的变革以及对社会观念和禁忌的挑战，使他成为了英国浪漫主义运动中最代表性的艺术家之一。

5. 结论拜伦诗集体现了浪漫主义精神和对艺术自由的追求。

通过选取几首代表作品，我们可以深入理解拜伦作品中所包含的个体情感、对真理与自由的不懈探索，并且能够欣赏到他对古典传统形式的革新和对社会观念的跳脱挑战，这都是浪漫主义文学运动中独特而重要的贡献。

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Justice is a fundamental concept in human society,embodying the principles of fairness,equality,and righteousness.It is the cornerstone of social order and the safeguard of peoples rights and interests.The song of justice is a melody that resonates with the pursuit of a just society.The essence of justice is to ensure that every individual is treated fairly and that their rights are protected.It demands that laws are applied equally to all,without bias or discrimination.In a just society,the rule of law prevails,and people are judged based on their actions and merits,not their social status or wealth.The song of justice is also about the pursuit of truth and the exposure of falsehoods.It is the collective voice of the people demanding transparency and accountability from those in power.It is the call for the protection of the vulnerable and the marginalized,ensuring that their voices are heard and their needs are met.In the realm of education,justice is reflected in equal opportunities for learning and development.It means that every child,regardless of their background,has access to quality education and the chance to fulfill their potential.In the workplace,justice is about fair wages,safe working conditions,and the right to organize and collectively bargain.It is about recognizing the value of each workers contribution and ensuring that they are treated with respect and dignity.In the political sphere,justice is about the right to vote and participate in the democratic process.It is about the freedom of speech and the right to express ones opinions without fear of retribution.The song of justice is not just a call for individual rights but also a call for collective responsibility.It is about recognizing that we are all part of a larger community and that our actions have consequences for others.It is about striving for a society where everyone can live in harmony and contribute to the common good.However,the song of justice is not always a harmonious one.It is often met with resistance from those who benefit from the status quo and who seek to maintain their power and privilege.This resistance can take many forms,from subtle discrimination to overt oppression.But the song of justice is also a song of hope and perseverance.It is the anthem of those who believe in a better world and who are willing to fight for it.It is the melody that inspires people to stand up against injustice and to work towards a society that is fair,equitable,and just.In conclusion,the song of justice is a powerful and enduring melody that speaks to the human spirits yearning for fairness and righteousness.It is a call to action for all of us to contribute to the creation of a just society,where every individuals rights are respected, and their potential is realized.Let us all join in singing this song,and let our voices be heard in the pursuit of justice.。

名词解释1．Romance: a long composition, in verse or in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero, especially for the knight. The most popular theme employed was the legend of King Arthur and the round table knight.2．Renaissance: a revival or rebirth of the artistic and scientific revival which originated in Italy in the 14th century and gradually spread all over Europe. It has two features: a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature and keen interest in activities of humanity.3．Sonnet: 14-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter. 4．Enlightenment: a revival of interest in the old classical works, logic, order, restrained emotion and accuracy.5．Neoclassicism: the Enlightenment brought about a revival of interest in Greek and Roman works. This tendency is known as Neoclassicism.6．Romanticism: imagination, emotion and freedom are certainly the focal points of romanticism. The particular characteristics of the literature of romanticism include: subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism; freedom from rules; solitary life rather then life in society; the beliefs that imagination is superior to reason; and love of and worship of nature.7．Byronic Heroes: a variant of the Romantic heroes as a type of character( enthusiasm, persistence, pursuing freedom), named after the English Romantic Poet Gordon Byron. 8．Realism: seeks to portray familiar characters, situations, and settings in a realistic manner. This is done primarily by using an objective narrative point of view and through the buildup of accurate detail.9．Aestheticism: an art movement supporting the emphasis of aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, music and other arts.10．Stream-of-Consciousness: it is a literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur without any clarification by the author. It is a narrative mode. 11．Epic: a long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated.一、The Anglo-Saxon period (449-1066)1、这个时期的文学作品分类：pagan(异教徒) Christian(基督徒)2、代表作：The Song of Beowulf 《贝奥武甫》( national epic 民族史诗) 采用了隐喻手法3、Alliteration 押头韵（写作手法）例子：of man was the mildest and most beloved,To his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.二、The Anglo-Norman period (1066-1350)Canto 诗章1、romance 传奇文学2、代表作：Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (高文爵士和绿衣骑士) 是一首押头韵的长诗三、Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) 杰弗里.乔叟时期1、the father of English poetry 英国诗歌之父2、heroic couplet 英雄双韵体：a verse unit consisting of two rhymed(押韵) lines in iambic pentameter(五步抑扬格)3、代表作：the Canterbury Tales 坎特伯雷的故事(英国文学史的开端)大致内容：the pilgrims are people from various parts of England, representatives of various walks of life and social groups.朝圣者都是来自英国的各地的人,代表着社会的各个不同阶层和社会团体小说特点：each of the narrators tells his tale in a peculiar manner, thus revealing his own views and character.这些叙述者以自己特色的方式讲述自己的故事，无形中表明了各自的观点，展示了各自的性格。

英国文学简史期末考试资料英国文学简史英美文学史名词翻译Neoclassicism (新古典主义) Renaissance (文艺复兴)Metaphysical poetry (玄学派诗歌) Classism (古典主义)EnlighteXXXent (启蒙运动) Romanticism (浪漫主义)Byronic Hero (拜伦式英雄) Aestheticism（美学主义）Stream of consciousness (意识流) the Age of Realism (现实主义阶段) Naturalism (自然主义) Local Colorist (乡土文学)Imagism (意象主义) The Lost Generation (迷惘的一代)Surrealism (超现实主义) The Beat Generation (垮掉的一代) Metaphysical poets (玄学派诗人）New Criticism (新批判主义)Feminism(女权主义) Hemingway Code Hero (海明威式英雄) Impressionism (印象主义) Post modernity (后现代主义)Realism (现实主义) Allegory (寓言)Romance (传说) epic(史诗)Blank Verse (无韵诗) Essay (随笔)Masques or Masks (假面剧) Spenserian Stanza (斯宾塞诗节)Three Unities (三一.原则) Meter (格律)Soliloquy (独白) Cavalier poets (骑士派诗人)Elegy (挽歌) . Action/plot (情节)Atmosphere (基调) Epigram (警句)The Heroic Couplet (英雄对偶句) Sentimentalism (感伤主义文学)Aside (旁白) Denouement (戏剧结局)parable (寓言) Genre (流派)Irony (反讽) Satire (讽刺)Lyric (抒情诗) Ode (颂歌)Pastoral (田园诗) Canto (诗章)Lake Poets (湖畔诗人) Image (意象)Dramatic monologue（戏剧独白）Psychological novel (心理小讲)Allusion (典故) Protagonist and Antagonist (正面人物与反面人物) Symbolism (象征主义) Existentialism (存在主义)Anti-hero (反面人物) Rhyme (押韵)Round Character (丰满的人物) Flat character (平淡的人物)Oedipus complex (俄狄浦斯情结/蛮母厌父情结) Iambic pentameter (抑扬格五音步)Poetic license (诗的破格) Legend (传奇)Myth (神话) Pessimism (悲观主义)Tragicomedy (悲喜剧) Comedy of manners (风俗喜剧)Free Verse (自由体诗歌) Magic realism (魔幻现实主义) Autobiography (自传) Biography (传记)Foot (足注) Protagonist (正面人物)Psychological Realism (心理现实主义) Setting (背景)Chronicle《编年史》Ballads 民谣consonant(协调,一致) repetition (反复)repeated initial(开头的)一、中世纪文学（约5世纪—1485）《贝奥武甫》（Beowulf）《高文爵士和绿衣骑士》（Sir Gawain and the Green Knight )杰弗利·乔叟（Geoffrey Chaucer) ―英国诗歌之父（Father of English Poetry）《坎特伯雷故事》（The Canterbury Tales ）二、文艺复兴阶段文学（15世纪后期—17世纪初）托马斯·莫尔（Thomas More ）《乌托邦》（Utopia）埃德蒙·斯宾塞（Edmund Spenser）《仙后》（The Faerie Queene)弗兰西斯·培根（Francis Bacon）《论讲文集》（Essays)克里斯托弗·马洛（Christopher Marlowe）《帖木儿大帝》（Tamburlaine）《浮士德博士的悲剧》（The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus）《马耳他岛的犹太人》（The Jew of Malta ）威廉·莎士比亚(William Shakespeare ）四大悲剧: Hamlet（哈姆雷特）、Othello（奥瑟罗）、King Lear（李尔王）、Macbeth（麦克白）四大喜剧：A Midsummer Night's Dream《仲夏夜之梦》As you like it《皆大欢喜》Twelfth Night 《第十二夜》The merchant of Venice 《威尼斯商人》三、17世纪文学约翰·弥尔顿John Milton 《失乐园》（Paradise Lost）（诗人、政论家;失明后写《失乐园》、《复乐园》、《力士参孙》。

中世纪法国骑士抒情诗
中世纪法国骑士抒情诗是一种文学形式，主要描绘骑士对贵妇人的爱慕和崇拜。

这种抒情诗最常见的形式包括牧歌、破晓歌、夜歌和怨歌等。

其中，破晓歌最为著名，叙述了骑士和贵妇人在破晓时分依依惜别的情景。

这些诗歌通常充满了浪漫和悲伤的情感，反映了中世纪骑士文化的一部分。

这些抒情诗通常被认为是中世纪骑士文学的一部分，具有独特的风格和主题。

它们通常被用于表达骑士对贵妇人的爱慕之情，以及他们在战争和冒险中所经历的种种情感。

这些诗歌的语言通常充满了意象和象征，以传达深刻的情感和意境。

总的来说，中世纪法国骑士抒情诗是中世纪文学的重要组成部分，具有独特的历史和文化价值。

这些诗歌不仅反映了中世纪骑士文化的一部分，也为我们提供了了解中世纪社会和文化的窗口。

评《哀希腊》的音韵美
《哀希腊》是一首音韵美妙的诗歌，是英国著名作家查尔斯·狄
更斯1819年发表于《牛津艺术家》上的一首悲情叙事诗，也是写
给拿破仑帝国垮台的绝美赞歌。

这首诗歌完美地糅合了诗、音乐、心理和历史，它通过对拿破仑元首历史的叙述、吟唱和评论，使
得读者可以全面了解他那不息的国家兴衰。

《哀希腊》的音韵美源于它的诗体和韵律，诗的体裁是“英尺节”，它以一种特殊的韵律把整首诗编织在一起，诗中对拿破仑
的历史叙述吟唱出读者一种兼有凄美抒情又充满激昂表达的情感，给人以一种失落又强烈的诗意酝酿。

《哀希腊》诗中情绪和情感交杂，意境深邃，它唱出了一种绝望
深远的悲哀，历史沧桑之间，社会变迁之处，它犹如一支长篇悲
剧之歌，发人深省，读者仿佛置身于狄更斯写作的年代，拿破仑
的兴衰轮回，刹那间烙印入心，实在动人。

《哀希腊》诗中也采用了大量的比喻和象征，诗中“哀希腊”、“拿破仑”、“十字军旅行”等分别象征着希腊古老文明的不朽，拿破仑的兴衰，那段古老战役中十字军旅行的铭记。

诗歌通过比
喻和象征，使历史和现实交织在一起，使历史有了深刻而真实的
意义和灵魂，华丽的韵律犹如藉此把它们变作一首赞美诗。

从音韵美来看，《哀希腊》给读者带来的是狄更斯的情感和历史
的真实叙事。

它蕴含的深情抒情，令人动容，蕴涵的悲剧交融，更使人深刻，它的韵律组织、意境折射，令人着迷，彷佛生命中的一支绝美叙事。

因此，《哀希腊》可以说是一首能够永久体现拿破仑历史伟业，激荡人心的绝美诗篇，它无疑是狄更斯有史以来最伟大的诗篇之一。

（外研版）选修第六册英语模块四的单词表带音标Module 4relative /'relətiv/ adj.相对的；比较的；相关联的；n.亲戚；亲属；同类事物give concerts 举办音乐会；开音乐会；举行音乐会conservatory /kən'sə:vətəri/ n.音乐学院；（靠房屋一侧用玻璃建造的）温室，暖房；adj.保管人的soloist /'səʊləʊɪst/ n.独奏者；独唱者repertoire /'repə,twɑ:/ n.演奏曲目，演出节目interpret /in'tə:prit/ v.诠释，解释；翻译(be) true of/for 符合于；对……适用folk song n.民歌，民谣；仿民歌歌曲characteristic /, kærəktə’ristik/ n.特征，特性，特质poetry /'pəuitri/ n.诗；诗集；诗意；诗作；美好的品质；优雅的气质poetic /pəu'etik/ adj.诗的；诗歌的；富有诗意的；像诗一般的give life to 赋予生命；赋以生命给(be) the same with 适用于，与一样；适用于；等于combine /kəm'bain/ v.结合，联合depress /di'pres/ v.使沮丧，使意志消沉，使心灰意冷share feelings and ideas with 与……分享感受与想法make contact with 与……联络；和……取得联系master musician 音乐大师compose music 创作乐曲ambition /æm'biʃən/ n.追求的目标；雄心；抱负；志向；野心；夙愿；v.热望regarding /rɪ'gɑ:dɪŋ/ n.志气，抱负，雄心melody /'melədi/ n.旋律；曲调；（旋律简洁的）乐曲，歌曲；（尤指）主旋律rhyme /raim/ n.押韵；押韵词；同韵词；v.（词或音节）押韵，和……同韵passerby /pa:sə'baɪ/ n.过路人；经过者pedestrian /pe'destrɪən/ n.行人；步行者；adj.行人的；行人使用的semi-circle /ˈsemi ˈsɜːrkl/ n.半圆；半圆形interval /'intəvl/ n.间隔；（时间上的）间隙；间歇；休息时间plug /plʌg/ n.插头；（电源）插座；塞子；vt.堵塞；封堵；供给socket /'sɔkit/ n.（电源）插座；vt.把……装入插座；给……配插座regulate /'regju,leit/ v.规定，管理，整顿organ /'ɔ:gən/ n.风琴，手摇风琴echo /'ekəu/ n.回声；回音；回响；重复；v.回响；回荡side road n.一边；侧面；方面；边缘；v.支持；偏袒；adj.片面的quartet /kwɔ:'tet/ n.四重奏（曲）；四重唱（曲）；四部曲；四重奏乐团；四重唱组合suite /swi:t/ n.一套；套；组曲（由三个或更多相关部分组成）；一套家具session /'seʃən/ n.演奏会；adj.为录音的歌手或乐队伴奏的saucer /'sɔ:sə/ n.茶碟，茶托voluntary /'vɔləntəri/ adj.自愿的；志愿的；自愿性的；义务的；主动的；自发的；无偿的shrink /ʃriŋk/ v.收缩；缩小；（使）减少；（使）缩水；n.精神病学家；心理学家vacant /'veikənt/ adj.空闲的；（职位）空缺的；空着的；茫然的；未被占用的；呆滞的lid /lid/ n.盖子；（容器的）盖；vt.给……盖盖子barrel organ n.手摇风琴（街头卖艺常用）handle /'hændl/ n.手柄，柄，柄状物tap /tæp/ v.轻拍，轻敲，轻叩mop /mɔp/ v.擦，揩（脸、汗等）spotted /'spɒtɪd/ adj.有污迹的，有斑点的all of a sudden 突然地，出乎意料地popcorn / ˈpɑːpkɔːrn / n.爆（玉）米花dance to the music 随着音乐跳舞；跟着音乐跳舞；在乐声中起舞rockabilly /'rɑkə,bɪli/ n.乡村摇滚乐（融合了摇滚乐和乡村音乐的美国音乐）tunnel /'tʌnl/ n.隧道，地道relay /ri'lei/ v.转播，接转liveliness /'laivlinəs/ n.活泼，快乐，生动relief /ri'li:f/ n.（痛苦、忧虑等的）解除，减轻，调剂relax /ri'læks/ v.使放松，使轻松collection /kə'lekʃən/ n.收藏；收藏品charm /tʃɑ:m/ v.吸引，（使）陶醉arena /ə'ri:nə/ n.竞技场；活动场所；竞争舞台；圆形剧场；斗争场所；圆形运动场scene /si:n/ n.场景；景象；情景；镜头；事件；活动领域billboard /'bɪl,bɔ:d/ n.（大幅）广告牌；v.宣传draw upon 利用，凭借，依赖signify /'signifai/ v.代表，表示，象征；（通过某种行为）表示，表明；说明，意思是；预示symbolic /sɪmb'ɒlɪk/ adj.象征的，作为象征的numerology /, nju:mə'rɔlədʒi/ n.数字命理学（用数字预测未来）；数字占卜术mythology /mi'θɔlədʒi/ n.（统称）神话；神话学；某文化（或社会等）的神话；虚幻的想法hairpin /'heə,pɪn/ n.发卡，发夹chamber /'tʃeimbə/ n.室；腔，室；会议厅；adj.秘密的；在小厅内表演的；v.装（子弹）honour /'ɔnə/ n.荣誉；荣幸；尊敬；尊重；vt.信守，执行（承诺）；尊敬，尊重（某人）heritage /'heritidʒ/ n.遗产（指国家或社会长期形成的历史、传统和特色）present /pri'zent/ n.礼物；礼品；adj.当前的；现存的；vt.提出；提交；（使）发生；颁发；交付in addition to 除了；另外，加之，除……之外（还）statuette /‚stætju'et/n.小雕像；小塑像gramophone /'græməfəʊn/ n.留声机critic /'krɪtɪk/ n.评论家；批评者；批评家；评论员；挑剔的人therefore /'ðeəfɔ:/ adv.因此；所以；因而。

[转载]A Defence of Poetry 雪莱——《为诗辩护》原⽂地址：A Defence of Poetry 雪莱——《为诗辩护》作者：oliviaA Defence of PoetryPART IAccording to one mode of regarding those two classes of mentalaction, which are called reason and imagination, the former may beconsidered as mind contemplating the relations borne by one thoughtto another, however produced; and the latter, as mind acting uponthose thoughts so as to colour them with its own light, and composingfrom them, as from elements, other thoughts, each containing withinitself the principle of its own integrity. The one is the [wordin Greek], or the principle of synthesis, and has for its objectsthose forms which are common to universal nature and existenceitself; the other is the [word in Greek], or principle of analysis,and its action regards the relations of things, simply as relations;considering thoughts, not in their integral unity, but as thealgebraical representations which conduct to certain general results.Reason is the enumeration of quantities already known; imaginationis the perception of the value of those quantities, both separatelyand as a whole. Reason respects the differences, and imaginationthe similitudes of things. Reason is to the imagination as theinstrument to the agent, as the body to the spirit, as the shadowto the substance.Poetry, in a general sense, may be defined to be 'the expressionof the imagination': and poetry is connate with the origin of man.Man is an instrument over which a series of external and internalimpressions are driven, like the alternations of an ever-changingwind over an Aeolian lyre, which move it by their motion toever-changing melody. But there is a principle within the humanbeing, and perhaps within all sentient beings, which acts otherwisethan in the lyre, and produces not melody alone, but harmony,by an internal adjustment of the sounds or motions thus excitedto the impressions which excite them. It is as if the lyre couldaccommodate its chords to the motions of that which strikes them,in a determined proportion of sound; even as the musician canaccommodate his voice to the sound of the lyre. A child at playby itself will express its delight by its voice and motions; andevery inflexion of tone and every gesture will bear exact relationto a corresponding antitype in the pleasurable impressions whichawakened it; it will be the reflected image of that impression;and as the lyre trembles and sounds after the wind has died away,so the child seeks, by prolonging in its voice and motions theduration of the effect, to prolong also a consciousness of thecause. In relation to the objects which delight a child, theseexpressions are, what poetry is to higher objects. The savage (forthe savage is to ages what the child is to years) expresses theemotions produced in him by surrounding objects in a similar manner;and language and gesture, together with plastic or pictorial imitation,become the image of the combined effect of those objects, and ofhis apprehension of them. Man in society, with all his passions andhis pleasures, next becomes the object of the passions and pleasuresof man; an additional class of emotions produces an augmentedtreasure of expressions; and language, gesture, and the imitativearts, become at once the representation and the medium, the penciland the picture, the chisel and the statue, the chord and the harmony. The social sympathies, or those laws from which, as fromits elements, society results, begin to develop themselves fromthe moment that two human beings coexist; the future is contained within the present, as the plant within the seed; and equality, diversity, unity, contrast, mutual dependence, become the principles alone capable of affording the motives according to which thewill of a social being is determined to action, inasmuch as he is social; and constitute pleasure in sensation, virtue in sentiment, beauty in art, truth in reasoning, and love in the intercourse ofkind. Hence men, even in the infancy of society, observe a certain order in their words and actions, distinct from that of the objectsand the impressions represented by them, all expression being subject to the laws of that from which it proceeds. But let usdismiss those more general considerations which might involve an inquiry into the principles of society itself, and restrict ourview to the manner in which the imagination is expressed upon its forms.In the youth of the world, men dance and sing and imitate natural objects, observing in these actions, as in all others, a certainrhythm or order. And, although all men observe a similar, they observe not the same order, in the motions of the dance, in the melody of the song, in the combinations of language, in the seriesof their imitations of natural objects. For there is a certainorder or rhythm belonging to each of these classes of mimetic representation, from which the hearer and the spectator receivean intenser and purer pleasure than from any other: the senseof an approximation to this order has been called taste by modern writers. Every man in the infancy of art observes an order which approximates more or less closely to that from which this highest delight results: but the diversity is not sufficiently marked, asthat its gradations should be sensible, except in those instances where the predominance of this faculty of approximation to the beautiful (for so we may be permitted to name the relation between this highest pleasure and its cause) is very great. Those in whomit exists in excess are poets, in the most universal sense of the word; and the pleasure resulting from the manner in which they express the influence of society or nature upon their own minds, communicates itself to others, and gathers a sort or reduplication from that community. Their language is vitally metaphorical; thatis, it marks the before unapprehended relations of things and perpetuates their apprehension, until the words which represent them become, through time, signs for portions or classes of thoughts instead of pictures of integral thoughts; and then if no new poets should arise to create afresh the associations which have been thus disorganized, language will be dead to all the nobler purposes of human intercourse. These similitudes or relations are finely saidby Lord Bacon to be 'the same footsteps of nature impressed upon the various subjects of the world'; [Footnote: De Augment. Scient., cap. i, lib. iii.] and he considers the faculty which perceivesthem as the storehouse of axioms common to all knowledge. In the infancy of society every author is necessarily a poet, because language itself is poetry; and to be a poet is to apprehend thetrue and the beautiful, in a word, the good which exists in the relation, subsisting, first between existence and perception, and secondly between perception and expression. Every original language near to its source is in itself the chaos of a cyclic poem: the copiousness of lexicography and the distinctions of grammar are the works of a later age, and are merely the catalogue and the form ofthe creations of poetry.But poets, or those who imagine and express this indestructible order, are not only the authors of language and of music, of the dance, and architecture, and statuary, and painting; they are the institutors of laws, and the founders of civil society, and the inventors of the arts of life, and the teachers, who draw into acertain propinquity with the beautiful and the true, that partial apprehension of the agencies of the invisible world which iscalled religion. Hence all original religions are allegorical, or susceptible of allegory, and, like Janus, have a double face offalse and true. Poets, according to the circumstances of the age and nation in which they appeared, were called, in the earlier epochsof the world, legislators, or prophets: a poet essentially comprises and unites both these characters. For he not only beholds intensely the present as it is, and discovers those laws according to which present things ought to be ordered, but he beholds the future inthe present, and his thoughts are the germs of the flower and thefruit of latest time. Not that I assert poets to be prophets inthe gross sense of the word, or that they can foretell the form as surely as they foreknow the spirit of events: such is the pretenceof superstition, which would make poetry an attribute of prophecy, rather than prophecy an attribute of poetry. A poet participatesin the eternal, the infinite, and the one; as far as relates tohis conceptions, time and place and number are not. The grammatical forms which express the moods of time, and the difference of persons, and the distinction of place, are convertible with respect to the highest poetry without injuring it as poetry; and the choruses of Aeschylus, and the book of Job, and Dante's Paradise, would afford, more than any other writings, examples of this fact, if the limitsof this essay did not forbid citation. The creations of sculpture, painting, and music, are illustrations still more decisive. Language, colour, form, and religious and civil habits of action,are all the instruments and materials of poetry; they may be called poetry by that figure of speech which considers the effect as a synonym of the cause. But poetry in a more restricted sense expresses those arrangements of language, and especially metrical language, which are created by that imperial faculty; whose throne is curtained within the invisible nature of man. And this springs from the nature itself of language, which is a more direct representation of the actions and passions of our internal being, and is susceptibleof more various and delicate combinations, than colour, form, or motion, and is more plastic and obedient to the control of thatfaculty of which it is the creation. For language is arbitrarily produced by the imagination and has relation to thoughts alone;but all other materials, instruments and conditions of art, have relations among each other, which limit and interpose between conception and expression The former is as a mirror which reflects, the latter as a cloud which enfeebles, the light of which both are mediums of communication. Hence the fame of sculptors, painters, and musicians, although the intrinsic powers of the great mastersof these arts may yield in no degree to that of those who have employed language as the hieroglyphic of their thoughts, has never equalled that of poets in the restricted sense of the term, astwo performers of equal skill will produce unequal effects from a guitar and a harp. The fame of legislators and founders of religions, so long as their institutions last, alone seems to exceed that ofpoets in the restricted sense; but it can scarcely be a question, whether, if we deduct the celebrity which their flattery of thegross opinions of the vulgar usually conciliates, together withthat which belonged to them in their higher character of poets,any excess will remain.We have thus circumscribed the word poetry within the limits of that art which is the most familiar and the most perfect expression ofthe faculty itself. It is necessary, however, to make the circlestill narrower, and to determine the distinction between measured and unmeasured language; for the popular division into prose and verse is inadmissible in accurate philosophy.Sounds as well as thoughts have relation both between each other and towards that which they represent, and a perception of the order of those relations has always been found connected with a perception of the order of the relations of thoughts. Hence the language of poets has ever affected a certain uniform and harmonious recurrence of sound, without which it were not poetry, and which is scarcely less indispensable to the communication of its influence, than the words themselves, without reference to that peculiar order. Hence the vanity of translation; it were as wise to cast a violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its colourand odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into another the creations of a poet. The plant must spring again from its seed,or it will bear no flower--and this is the burthen of the curse of Babel.An observation of the regular mode of the recurrence of harmonyin the language of poetical minds, together with its relation to music, produced metre, or a certain system of traditional forms of harmony and language. Yet it is by no means essential that a poet should accommodate his language to this traditional form, so that the harmony, which is its spirit, be observed. The practice is indeed convenient and popular, and to be preferred, especially in such composition as includes much action: but every great poet must inevitably innovate upon the example of his predecessors in the exact structure of his peculiar versification. The distinctionbetween poets and prose writers is a vulgar error. The distinction between philosophers and poets has been anticipated. Plato was essentially a poet--the truth and splendour of his imagery, and the melody of his language, are the most intense that it is possibleto conceive. He rejected the measure of the epic, dramatic, and lyrical forms, because he sought to kindle a harmony in thoughts divested of shape and action, and he forbore to invent any regular plan of rhythm which would include, under determinate forms, the varied pauses of his style. Cicero sought to imitate the cadenceof his periods, but with little success. Lord Bacon was a poet. [Footnote: See the Filum Labyrinthi, and the Essay on Death particularly]. His language has a sweet and majestic rhythm, which satisfies the sense, no less than the almost superhuman wisdomof his philosophy satisfies the intellect; it is a strain which distends, and then bursts the circumference of the reader's mind, and pours itself forth together with it into the universal elementwith which it has perpetual sympathy. All the authors of revolutionsin opinion are not only necessarily poets as they are inventors,nor even as their words unveil the permanent analogy of thingsby images which participate in the life of truth; but as theirperiods are harmonious and rhythmical, and contain in themselves the elements of verse; being the echo of the eternal music. Nor are those supreme poets, who have employed traditional forms of rhythm on account of the form and action of their subjects, less capableof perceiving and teaching the truth of things, than those whohave omitted that form. Shakespeare, Dante, and Milton (to confine ourselves to modern writers) are philosophers of the very loftiestpower.A poem is the very image of life expressed in its eternal truth.There is this difference between a story and a poem, that a storyis a catalogue of detached facts, which have no other connexionthan time, place, circumstance, cause and effect; the other is the creation of actions according to the unchangeable forms of human nature, as existing in the mind of the Creator, which is itselfthe image of all other minds. The one is partial, and applies onlyto a definite period of time, and a certain combination of eventswhich can never again recur; the other is universal, and contains within itself the germ of a relation to whatever motives or actionshave place in the possible varieties of human nature. Time, which destroys the beauty and the use of the story of particular facts, stripped of the poetry which should invest them, augments that of poetry, and for ever develops new and wonderful applications of the eternal truth which it contains. Hence epitomes have been calledthe moths of just history; they eat out the poetry of it. A storyof particular facts is as a mirror which obscures and distorts thatwhich should be beautiful: poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted.The parts of a composition may be poetical, without the compositionas a whole being a poem. A single sentence may be a considered asa whole, though it may be found in the midst of a series of unassimilated portions: a single word even may be a spark of inextinguishable thought. And thus all the great historians, Herodotus, Plutarch,Livy, were poets; and although, the plan of these writers, especially that of Livy, restrained them; from developing this faculty inits highest degree, they made copious and ample amends for their subjection, by filling all the interstices of their subjects withliving images.Having determined what is poetry, and who are poets, let us proceedto estimate its effects upon society.Poetry is ever accompanied with pleasure: all spirits on which itfalls open themselves to receive the wisdom which is mingled withits delight. In the infancy of the world, neither poets themselvesnor their auditors are fully aware of the excellence of poetry:for it acts in a divine and unapprehended manner, beyond and above consciousness; and it is reserved for future generations to contemplate and measure the mighty cause and effect in all the strength and splendour of their union. Even in modern times, no living poet ever arrived at the fullness of his fame; the jury which sits in judgement upon a poet, belonging as he does to all time, must be composedof his peers: it must be impanelled by Time from the selectest ofthe wise of many generations. A poet is a nightingale, who sitsin darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds;his auditors are as men entranced by the melody of an unseen musician, who feel that they are moved and softened, yet know not whence or why. The poems of Homer and his contemporaries were the delight of infant Greece; they were the elements of that socialsystem which is the column upon which all succeeding civilizationhas reposed. Homer embodied the ideal perfection of his age in human character; nor can we doubt that those who read his verses were awakened to an ambition of becoming like to Achilles, Hector, and Ulysses the truth and beauty of friendship, patriotism, and persevering devotion to an object, were unveiled to the depths inthese immortal creations: the sentiments of the auditors must have been refined and enlarged by a sympathy with such great and lovely impersonations, until from admiring they imitated, and from imitation they identified themselves with the objects of their admiration.Nor let it be objected, that these characters are remote from moral perfection, and that they can by no means be considered as edifying patterns for general imitation. Every epoch, under names moreor less specious, has deified its peculiar errors; Revenge is the naked idol of the worship of a semi-barbarous age; and Self-deceitis the veiled image of unknown evil, before which luxury and satiety lie prostrate. But a poet considers the vices of his contemporariesas a temporary dress in which his creations must be arrayed, and which cover without concealing the eternal proportions of their beauty. An epic or dramatic personage is understood to wear them around his soul, as he may the ancient armour or the modern uniform around his body; whilst it is easy to conceive a dress more graceful than either. The beauty of the internal nature cannot be so far concealed by its accidental vesture, but that the spirit of itsform shall communicate itself to the very disguise, and indicatethe shape it hides from the manner in which it is worn. A majestic form and graceful motions will express themselves through the most barbarous and tasteless costume. Few poets of the highest class have chosen to exhibit the beauty of their conceptions in itsnaked truth and splendour; and it is doubtful whether the alloyof costume, habit, &c., be not necessary to temper this planetary music for mortal ears.The whole objection, however, of the immorality of poetry restsupon a misconception of the manner in which poetry acts to produce the moral improvement of man. Ethical science arranges the elements which poetry has created, and propounds schemes and proposes examples of civil and domestic life: nor is it for want of admirable doctrines that men hate, and despise, and censure, and deceive,and subjugate one another. But poetry acts in another and diviner manner. It awakens and enlarges the mind itself by rendering itthe receptacle of a thousand unapprehended combinations of thought. Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar; it reproduces allthat it represents, and the impersonations clothed in its Elysianlight stand thenceforward in the minds of those who have once contemplated them as memorials of that gentle and exalted content which extends itself over all thoughts and actions with which it coexists. The great secret of morals is love; or a going out of ourown nature, and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in thought, action, or person, not our own. A man,to be greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he must put himself in the place of another and of many others; the pains and pleasures of his species must become his own. The great instrument of moral good is the imagination; and poetry administersto the effect by acting upon the cause. Poetry enlarges the circumference of the imagination by replenishing it with thought of ever new delight, which have the power of attracting and assimilating to their own nature all other thoughts, and which form new intervals and interstices whose void for ever craves fresh food. Poetry strengthens the faculty which is the organ of the moral natureof man, in the same manner as exercise strengthens a limb. A poet therefore would do ill to embody his own conceptions of right and wrong, which are usually those of his place and time, in his poetical creations, which participate in neither By this assumption of the inferior office of interpreting the effect in which perhaps afterall he might acquit himself but imperfectly, he would resign aglory in a participation in the cause. There was little danger that Homer, or any of the eternal poets should have so far misunderstood themselves as to have abdicated this throne of their widest dominion. Those in whom the poetical faculty, though great, is less intense,as Euripides, Lucan, Tasso, Spenser, have frequently affected a moral aim, and the effect of their poetry is diminished in exact proportion to the degree in which they compel us to advert to this purpose.Homer and the cyclic poets were followed at a certain intervalby the dramatic and lyrical poets of Athens, who flourished contemporaneously with all that is most perfect in the kindred expressions of the poetical faculty; architecture, painting, musicthe dance, sculpture, philosophy, and, we may add, the forms ofcivil life. For although the scheme of Athenian society was deformed by many imperfections which the poetry existing in chivalry and Christianity has erased from the habits and institutions of modern Europe; yet never at any other period has so much energy, beauty, and virtue, been developed; never was blind strength and stubborn form so disciplined and rendered subject to the will of man, orthat will less repugnant to the dictates of the beautiful and thetrue, as during the century which preceded the death of Socrates.Of no other epoch in the history of our species have we recordsand fragments stamped so visibly with the image of the divinity in man. But it is poetry alone, in form, in action, or in language,which has rendered this epoch memorable above all others, and the storehouse of examples to everlasting time. For written poetry existed at that epoch simultaneously with the other arts, and it isan idle inquiry to demand which gave and which received the light, which all, as from a common focus, have scattered over the darkest periods of succeeding time. We know no more of cause and effect than a constant conjunction of events: poetry is ever found to coexistwith whatever other arts contribute to the happiness and perfectionof man. I appeal to what has already been established to distinguish between the cause and the effect.It was at the period here adverted to, that the drama had its birth;and however a succeeding writer may have equalled or surpassed those few great specimens of the Athenian drama which have been preserved to us, it is indisputable that the art itself never was understood or practised according to the true philosophy of it,as at Athens. For the Athenians employed language, action, music, painting, the dance, and religious institutions, to produce a common effect in the representation of the highest idealisms of passionand of power; each division in the art was made perfect in its kindby artists of the most consummate skill, and was disciplined intoa beautiful proportion and unity one towards the other. On the modern stage a few only of the elements capable of expressing the imageof the poet's conception are employed at once. We have tragedy without music and dancing; and music and dancing without the highest impersonations of which they are the fit accompaniment, and both without religion and solemnity. Religious institution has indeedbeen usually banished from the stage. Our system of divesting the actor's face of a mask, on which the many expressions appropriatedto his dramatic character might be moulded into one permanentand unchanging expression, is favourable only to a partial and inharmonious effect; it is fit for nothing but a monologue, whereall the attention may be directed to some great master of ideal mimicry. The modern practice of blending comedy with tragedy, though liable to great abuse in point of practice, is undoubtedlyan extension of the dramatic circle; but the comedy should beas in KING LEAR, universal, ideal, and sublime. It is perhaps the intervention of this principle which determines the balance infavour of KING LEAR against the OEDIPUS TYRANNUS or the AGAMEMNON, or, if you will, the trilogies with which they are connected; unlessthe intense power of the choral poetry, especially that of thelatter, should be considered as restoring the equilibrium. KINGLEAR, if it can sustain this comparison, may be judged to be themost perfect specimen of the dramatic art existing in the world;in spite of the narrow conditions to which the poet was subjectedby the ignorance of the philosophy of the drama which has prevailedin modern Europe. Calderon, in his religious AUTOS, has attemptedto fulfil some of the high conditions of dramatic representationneglected by Shakespeare; such as the establishing a relationbetween the drama and religion and the accommodating them to musicand dancing; but he omits the observation of conditions stillmore important, and more is lost than gained by the substitutionof the rigidly-defined and ever-repeated idealisms of a distortedsuperstition for the living impersonations of the truth of humanpassion.But I digress.--The connexion of scenic exhibitions with theimprovement or corruption of the manners of men, has been universally recognized: in other words, the presence or absence of poetry inits most perfect and universal form, has been found to be connectedwith good and evil in conduct or habit. The corruption which hasbeen imputed to the drama as an effect, begins when the poetryemployed in its constitution ends: I appeal to the history of mannerswhether the periods of the growth of the one and the decline of theother have not corresponded with an exactness equal to any exampleof moral cause and effect.The drama at Athens, or wheresoever else it may have approachedto its perfection, ever co-existed with the moral and intellectualgreatness of the age. The tragedies of the Athenian poets areas mirrors in which the spectator beholds himself, under a thindisguise of circumstance, stript of all but that ideal perfectionand energy which every one feels to be the internal type of all thathe loves, admires, and would become. The imagination is enlargedby a sympathy with pains and passions so mighty, that they distendin their conception the capacity of that by which they are conceived;the good affections are strengthened by pity, indignation, terror,and sorrow; and an exalted calm is prolonged from the satiety ofthis high exercise of them into the tumult of familiar life:evencrime is disarmed of half its horror and all its contagion by being represented as the fatal consequence of the unfathomable agenciesof nature; error is thus divested of its wilfulness; men can nolonger cherish it as the creation of their choice. In a drama ofthe highest order there is little food for censure or hatred; itteaches rather self-knowledge and self-respect. Neither the eyenor the mind can see itself, unless reflected upon that which itresembles. The drama, so long as it continues to express poetry, isas a prismatic and many-sided mirror, which collects the brightestrays of human nature and divides and reproduces them from thesimplicity of these elementary forms, and touches them with majestyand beauty, and multiplies all that it reflects, and endows it withthe power of propagating its like wherever it may fall.But in periods of the decay of social life, the drama sympathizeswith that decay. Tragedy becomes a cold imitation of the form ofthe great masterpieces of antiquity, divested of all harmonious accompaniment of the kindred arts; and often the very form。