诗歌欣赏英语论文

A Comparison between Two Nature Poems

Abstract: William Wordsworth, the representative of the romantic writers and great writers of nature. His great imagination, with the poet‟s philosophical and somewhat mystical thought, is deeply rooted in the poetical creation. …To Autu mn” written by John Keats also is an excellent poem about nature. In “To Autumn”, a superficial reading would suggest that John Keats writes about a typical day of this season, describing all kind of colourful and detailed images. In this paper, the two representative poems are examined in terms of figures of speech, imagery skills and theme to appreciate the nature poems.

Key words: William Wordsworth; daffodils; nature; to autumn

Nature poems are an important part of poetry. It chants all creatures great and small in the nature, such as four seasons, plants, animals, mountains and rivers and clouds and rains. Poem writers rooted their great imagination, philosophical and somewhat mystical thought in their creations. By analyzing nature poems, we can appreciate the beauty of poems.

1. Figures of Speech Used in Daffodils

Personification is successfully used in both poems. In the poem “I wandered lonely as a cloud”, the first line makes nice use of personification and simile. The poet assumes himself to be a cloud (simile) floating in the sky. When Wordsworth says in the second line 'I' (poet as a cloud) look down at the valleys and mountains and appreciate the daffodils; it's the personification, where an inanimate object (cloud)

possesses the quality of a human enabling it to see the daffodils. The line "Ten thousand saw I at a glance" is an exaggeration and a hyperbole, describing the scene of ten thousand daffodils, all together. Alliteration is the repetition of similar sounds, is applied for the word 'h', in the words - high and hills. In “To Autumn” personification is wildly used. Take the second stanza for example, autumn personified as a harvester, crosses a brook and watches a cider press. Otherwise autumn is listless and even falls asleep. The furrow is "half-reap'd," the winnowed hair refers to ripe grain still standing, and apple cider is still being pressed. However, the end of the cycle is near. The press is squeezing out "the last oozings." Find other words that indicate slowing down. Notice that Keats describes a reaper who is not harvesting and who is not turning the press. Personification here is very successful. It gives autumn a personality and the autumn is no longer abstract.

2. Imagery Skill

The poem“In Daffodils” paints images of lakes, fields, trees, stars in Ullswater. Wordsworth continuously praises the daffodils, comparing them to the Milky Way galaxy (in the second stanza), their dance (in the third stanza) and in the concluding stanza, dreams to join the daffodils in their dance. John Keats's “Ode to Autumn” is replete with imagery, each eleven-line stanza of iambic pentameter emphasizing different types of images and different times of day and periods of the personified season. John Keats's “Ode to Autumn” is replete with imagery, each eleven-line stanza of iambic pentameter emphasizing different types of images and different times of day and periods of the personified season. Take stanza one for example, it abounds with