（英语语言文学专业论文）约翰·邓恩神学诗中的三位一体.pdf

vi 摘要 约翰邓恩是 1 7世纪英国玄学派诗歌的开拓者和重要代表人物。邓恩一生 坎坷不平。他出生于虔诚的天主教家庭，为了避免迫害和维持生计，他不得不皈 依国教。他与安莫尔的婚姻也给他的生涯带来了毁灭性的打击。为了谋生并实 现自己的报复他背叛了自己的宗教信仰，却因为叛教而终生受到心灵的煎熬。 年轻的邓恩以其艳情诗而闻名；而邓恩的晚年以其全部的热忱追随上帝，这 一时期的作品主要是神学诗歌。邓恩的神学诗是诗人自我灵魂的剖析，是他对宗 教的沉思。诗歌的主题是关于罪孽、最终审判、死亡与救赎。邓恩的神学诗体现 了他内心的挣扎和焦虑。 从虔诚的天主教徒转变为英国国教徒的特殊经历让邓恩承受着内心和外部 的双重压力。但正是这种压力成就了邓恩的神学诗歌的创作。判教的经历使邓恩 陷入内心的矛盾中，极度忧郁。神学诗是邓恩的自我反省和自我克制的过程，这 个过程充满了诗人的内心矛盾。 除引言和结论外，本文共分三章，试图通过对约翰邓恩神学诗歌的分析来 展现诗人所面临的矛盾境地。 第一章通过对邓恩诗歌作品中留露出的对上帝的爱和对妻子安莫尔的爱， 来展现作为神职人员的邓恩身上所体现出的世俗性以及他的矛盾境地。 第二章通过对邓恩诗歌中所表达的对天主教上帝的依恋之情， 以及他皈依英 国国教后的内心挣扎来展现邓恩对上帝矛盾的依恋之情。 第三章通过分析邓恩诗歌中表达出的对三位一体的上帝的诚挚的依恋和邓 恩害怕上帝不肯原谅自己的罪孽的恐惧之情，展现邓恩备受折磨的矛盾心理。 关键词：约翰邓恩； 神学诗； 三位一体； 矛盾 iv abstract john donne is the most important representative of the english “ metaphysical poets” in the 17th century. life had never been easy for donne. he was born into a pious catholic family, but was forced to turn to an anglican to avoid persecution. at the same time his marriage with ann more made all his chances of a career at court vanish. in order to make a living and realize his political ambition donne changed his faith. he never felt comfortable with his changing of religion and even more badly he sank into an abysmal depression. young donne is well known for his erotic poetry; however in his later years donne occupied himself totally in the worship of god and is known for his divine poems. the divine poems are donne s religious meditations that penetrate into his inner world. these poems focus on sin, final judgment, death and resurrection; they represent a process of discovery and revision. for the special religious conversion from the roman catholic church to the church of england donne experienced, he had to bear the burdens from both his heart and the outside world. it was the burdens he had borne that make the production of so many brilliant divine poems become possible. the experience of having ever changed his original faith got himself into a contradictory situation. his divine poems are an evident expression of his intellectual self- introspection and self- abnegation. the contradictory feeling is infested in donne s divine poems. apart from the introduction and conclusion this thesis consists of three parts: attempting to exhibit the contradictory position of john donne by analyzing his divine poems. chapter one explores the deep emotion of donne for both god and his wife ann more and exhibits donne s secularity as a preacher, shows his incomputable thoughts as a clergyman. chapter two unfolds donne s paradoxical devotion to god, which is expressed through his attachment to catholic god and his transition to anglican god by v compulsion. chapter three examines the tortured inner heart of donne who is sincere to the trinal god, but at the same time has fear for god s will not to pardon him. donne s heart is filled with the contradictory feeling towards god, sin and death. key words: john donne; divine poems; trinity; contradictory position iii 学位论文原创性声明 本人所提交的学位论文约翰邓恩神学诗中的三位一体 (trinity in john donne s divine poems)，是在导师的指导下，独立进行研究工作所取得的原创性 成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发 表或撰写过的研究成果。对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中 标明。 本声明的法律后果由本人承担。 论文作者（签名） ： 指导教师确认（签名） ： 年 月 日 年 月 日 学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解河北师范大学有权保留并向国家有关部门或机构 送交学位论文的复印件和磁盘，允许论文被查阅和借阅。本人授权河北师范大学 可以将学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩 印或其它复制手段保存、汇编学位论文。 （保密的学位论文在 年解密后适用本授权书） 论文作者（签名） ： 指导教师（签名） ： 年 月 日 年 月 日 1 introduction religious belief is one of the most important factors that influence man s life. if someone sticks to only one belief in his whole life, he will be a person who enjoys peace in heart, and correspondingly his words and action will be consistent. on the contrary, if in his life whether willingly or forced he ever changed the religious belief, he will have a more complicated characteristic. to some extent, he will be a double- faced person. the spiritual peace will be deprived forever by his inner conflict. john donne (1572 一 1631) is such a person who ever changed his original faith and got himself into such a contradictory situation. as a poet, his poetry, especially his divine poems are an evident expression of his intellectual self- introspection and self- abnegation. shakespeare is usually believed to be the representative of elizabeth period, but if we consider it from the religious aspect, donne is a more typical representative of this age. throughout his career he was harassed by the uncertain feeling in religious belief as well as in his poetry. the private difficulties donne had experienced reveal the turbulent state in britain in the 16th and early 17th century. the religious reformation of england began by king henry viii and in the reign of queen elizabeth i, the daughter of henry viii, protestantism had become dominant. in 1534 the anglican church was made the national church of england, other religious faith were illegal. most of the elizabethans were not totally convinced that the form authorized by the queen is superior to other forms. they found that their catholicism and the allegiance to the sovereign were incompatible. on this respect, donne is the spokesman of the elizabethan life. john donne is destined to have some inseparable relationship with religion for both his family origin and his own achievement in the church. he was born in the reign of queen elizabeth i, the anti- catholic period, and his family was a traditional catholic one. at that time, catholics would have to pay a large fine if they refused to serve in the anglican church. and two third of their land and all their goods would be 2 taken away by the ruler if they had no money to pay. the catholics were also attacking subject of the queen s secret police. so the catholic identity was the biggest obstacle for donne s political career. after the queen s death in 1603, king james i (1566- 1625, reign 1603- 1625) became the king of the country. but donne s misfortunes did not end. the catholic background still prevented his advancement in politics. king james i appreciated his great learning in religion, but he turned down all the secular position requests of donne in order to persuade him to accept the holy post. he hesitated for several years. donne finally decided to accept it so as to escape the secular troubles in the society and get an ever- lasting shelter in the church. in 1615, donne finally accepted the ordination and was made a clergyman of the church of england. almost all of his religious poetry came into being after his marriage. in 1617, ann more died on giving birth to their 12th child. his wife s death made donne s religious feeling deeper. at last, donne was nominated the dean of st. paul s. he was a famous preacher, but his ambition in politics was never fulfilled. scholars claimed that there were two donnes. the first donne was fixated on the erotic verse and sensual pleasure. the second donne was fixated on death and religion subjects. after the death of his wife, donne s subject turned to death. then, his theme also included religion. but no matter what subject he wrote, the common feature of donne s works was his wit. with regards to donne s religious belief john carey pointed out in his life, mind and art: “ the first thing to remember about donne i s that he was a catholic; the second, that he betrayed his faith.” 1 the faith changing from a catholic to an anglican is an ever- lasting pang to donne. to study the works of donne, one should not escape the fact that he had betrayed his faith; and at the same time one should not forget the calvinistic influence on donne. he has seemingly contradictory views on the theme of death. donne s ideas of love, views of death and relationship with god show the complexity of his thought. in his whole life, donne was in the inner turmoil, always arguing with his ego. his life and work are usually understood in contrast. he appeared to be both a sensual 3 rake praised joy making in his secular verses and a severe christian humanist expecting morality and the subservience of humanity to god in his divine poems. the complexity of donne s personality affects his poetry writing greatly. his works shows different opinions that may agree or be contradictory with each other. the opposite views stand as one of the most attractive aspects of donne s poetry. donne s life and writing experience can be divided into two parts. when he was young, donne s life was lighthearted. he was eager for a political success, so the poems written in this period was usually full of hope and vigor concerning about love and secular desires. then the troubles came on him ended his carefree life and blasted his dream of smooth political career. when donne was 43 years old, he became ordained and things began to change. anne more s death made donne feel more frustrated, from then on all of his energy was put into religious truth. he turned to god to find answer and wrote divine poems on salvation, his poems in this period are concerned about life and death. donne s youth was typified by his sensual l ove poetry. his later career was characterized by the obsessive thoughts of sin and death. during his later years, donne s poems centered on the subjects like “ the shortcomings of this life, summarized by decay and death, contrasted with the divine to which it aspires.” 2 when one analyzes donne s individual poems, it seems that his views of death are paradoxical. however, to take all the poems as a whole, the main theme is the unity of body and soul as well as his glorification with god. among the 38 divine poems, the group of 19 divine meditation is the largest one. la corona is a set of sonnets, including 7 poems. and a litany is a 28- stanza poem, containing 9 lines in each stanza. in addition, there are several famous hymns. the majority of the divine poems were the product of donne s years of uncertainty and ill- health, when his pride and ambition for a position in court had been humbled. 3 his religious poems showed donne s state of mind in the secular world as well as his later period to become scared in the church. in donne s later period, he turned his concern into the scared world. he devoted himself into theology to closely examine his soul. in his divine poems, donne conjures up a picture of both 4 christ and his own struggling soul and links himself to that picture through word. 4 in the divine poems, donne talks about christ s mysterious life and crucifixion, praises his salvation of mankind with his own death. at the same time, donne expressed his fear for death and hell. he also showed his worry about the last judgment. so most of the divine poems are about donne s confession, regret for the committed sins and asking for god s pardon and salvation. in a word, the divine poems display donne s internal struggle for the religious truth. as mentioned by li zhengshuan in his defamiliarisation: the poetic art of john donne: his divine poems are far from being confined to singing praises of god. there is a mixture of human and divine love. there is respect for god. there is a kind of fear. there is also i magery in which god can ravish. even in his poems about human love the presence of the divinity can always be felt. between the lines, there hide a wounded and suffering heart. his poems, in one way or another, reveal his heart. his ideas, his understanding of the world, his meditation on life, religion, love, and many other things are all embodied in his poems. they even represent different aspects of ideology, politics, religion.5 no one can turn a blind eye to donne s reputation in our times. he is widely known as the leading poet of the “ metaphysical school” , the england s predominate poets school in the 17th century. donne s works are full of conceits, which usually connect two unrelated objects together in a surprising way. furthermore, there are paradoxical expressions, argumentative tone, irregular rhymes, unconventional punctuation, and stanza form unique to him as well as different poetic line lengths, which abound in donne s poems. all these characteristics and his defamiliarised images made donne s works difficult to understand at first glance. but with perseverance and patience, much pleasure can be obtained from the reading of his works. that is the reason why many scholars developed immense interest in him and 5 studied him on various topics through different approaches. the achievements on study of donne are prosperous and various. many articles explored donne s eccentric images and conceits in depth, as well as his wit and wide learning. the subjects about his faith in religion, professional life and literary influence are also critics studying area. the 20th century is the most flourishing period for the broadening and deepening study of donne s poetry. donne died in the year 1631 and the first edition of his collected poems was published until two years after his death. little of donne s works was published during his lifetime. in donne s life time, his reputation as a poet was mainly gained by the circulating of his manuscript among friends. when his works came out to the renaissance england in the seventeenth century, he was never taken seriously as a poet.6 at that time, the critics believed that donne s work followed the neo- classical rules, which puts empathies on reasons and pursues accurate reflection of the world in poetry. donne s contemporaries, walton, thomas carew and others wrote elegies in the preface of entitled poems. the most famous of these was written by thomas carew. he wrote: “ here lies a king, that rul d as hee thought fit the universal monarchy of wit” 7 carew recognized donne s innovation and praised him as “ the muse s garden was purg d by thee; the lazy seeds of servile imitation throw away, and fresh invention planted” 8 in the 17th and 18th centuries, donne and his poems were not well received and widely read. john dryden (1631- 1700) was the first one who used the term “ metaphysics” to comment on donne s poetry. donne s poetry was criticized as being faulty in choice of words and use of meter and cadence by him in a discourse concerning the origianl and progress of satire. in 1693, dryden commented: “ i may safely say it of this present age, that is we are not so great wit as donne, yet, 6 certainly, we are better poets.” 9 similar with dryden, alexander pope (1688- 1744) also regarded donne as having much more wit than any other writers. donne was mainly regarded as a satirist by the critics in the 17th century and his wit was much more studied by them. in the 18th century, “ metaphysical poets” was coined by samuel johnson in lives of english poets (1781) to refer to donne and his poetic followers. their conceits were described by johnson as “ a kind of discordia concors; a combination of dissimilar images, or discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike. the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together.” 10 donne was regarded by johnson as an “ unnatural poet of a great many offences against reason and nature: exhibiting artificiality instead of concealing art, the desire for originality at the expense of the mimesis of nature, unpolished stylistic carelessness” 11. in these two centuries, except his wit, donne s poetic genius was not correctly admitted. in the 19th century, when romanticism period thrived, donne s standing of wit was lost. people s attention turned from donne as a satirist to a poet. in the eyes of romanticists, donne s poems had not music or colors. the metaphysical poetry was condemned by hazlitt as “ dry matter- of- fact, decked out in a robe of glittering conceits and clogged with the halting shackles of verse” . 12 donne was not totally forgotten by the literary world, though the recognition is not a general one, it is an individual preference. samuel taylor coleridge, robert browning and thomas de quincy shed a favorable light on donne s works. they gave a just praise to him. donne s much criticized cadence is acclaimed by coleridge, who notes that “ to read donne you must measure time, and discover the time of each word by the sense of passion.13 according to de quincy, donne s poems have “ extraordinary compass of powers, for he combines the last sublimation of dialectical subtlety and address with the most impassioned majesty” .14 the conceits abound in donne s poems were studied by charles lamb and leigh hunt. donne s soul and generous feeling were valued by them. accordingly donne was considered as a love poet. then, it was the strength of personal feeling instead of wit of donne that attracted critics attention.15 donne s greatness was a discovery of the twentieth century after over two 7 hundred years of neglect. 16 his poems had great influence on the lyric poems of the early 20th century, especially the poems of t.s. eliot, ezra pound, dylan thomas and so on. it is said that “ the dramatic and colloquial qualities of donne s work together with his acute psychological insights- - - - all elements sought after by the modern idiom - - - - make it easy to regard the poet as our own contemporary, as a strangely modern figure ” 17 donne s fame as a poet is firmly established with the publication of grierson s collection of donne s complete poems and t. s. eliot s “ the metaphysical poets” .18 in 1912, the poems of john donne in old spelling was published by j.c. grierson (1866- 1960). this classic edition has a long introduction and detailed commentary on donne and gives him a standing with shakespeare, milton, dryden, and pope as a poet to engage the full power of scholarship.19 when studie