莎翁十四行诗赏析

1、2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun1 lSonnet: a definition lTypes of sonnet lTextual study: Sonnet 18 Sonnet 29 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun2 l A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun3 lThere are mainly three types of sonnet: The Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet Th

2、e English (Shakespearean, Elizabethan) sonnet The Spenserian sonnet 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun4 lStructure: an octave (an eight-line stanza) followed by an sestet (a six-line stanza) lRhyme scheme: abbaabba cdecde or: abbaabba cdcdcd lNote: This type of sonnet is constructed with a change of thou

3、ght or turn between the octave and the sestet, so that the content and the form are allied. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun5 lStructure three quatrains (a four-line stanza) followed by a couplet (a pair of rhymed lines) lRhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg Note Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. The first 126

4、sonnets are dedicated to a young man; sonnets 127152 are dedicated to a “dark lady”, and the final two are allegorical. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun6 lStructure three quatrains and a couplet, and the couplet introduces new rhyme sounds to the poem lRhyme scheme the rhyme scheme interconnects the so

5、und of the three quatrains: abab bcbc cdcd ee 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun7 lWhat is the structure? lWhat is the meter like? lWhat is its rhyme scheme? lWhat is the theme of this sonnet? 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun8 l“Thee” in this line means “you”. The sonnet begins with a question: how can I co

6、mpare you to a summers day? And the answer to the question follows up in the next line. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun9 lYou are more lovely, you are more gentle. The youths beauty is more perfect than the beauty of a summer day. lHere in this line, “more temperate” means more gentle, more restrained

7、. Why did the poet say you are more lovely and more gentle than the summers day? The following lines give the answer: 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun10 lToday, the month of “May” may be considered as a month in late spring, but in Shakespeares time, May was a summer month, because the calendar in use

8、lagged behind the true sidereal calendar by at least a fortnight. ldarling buds of May - the beautiful, much loved buds of the early summer; favorite flowers. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun11 lHere the word “lease” is a legal term. It means the duration of a contract granting use or occupation of pro

9、perty during a specified period in exchange for a specified rent. We two have a contract. You can use my pen for 10 days, and you will have to give me 2 yuan for the use of it. And the duration of this one week is called a lease. The overall meaning of this line is “summers time is too short.” 2021-

10、7-12Prepared by Tony Sun12 lSometime = on occasion, sometimes; lThe eye of heaven = the sun lSometimes the sun of heaven is so hot that it will scorch. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun13 lhis gold complexion = his (the suns) golden face, the golden sunshine. Quite often, the sunshine will be dimmed. Wh

11、en? - when it is cloudy or overcast. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun14 l“Every fair” in this line means “all the beautiful things” and the second “fair” in the phrase “from fair” means “the previous state of beauty”. This line tells us that “all of the beautiful things occasionally become inferior in

12、comparison with their essential previous state of beauty. They all decline from perfection.” 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun15 l“By chance” means “by chance accidents” l“By natures changing course” means “by the fluctuating tides of nature”. The fluctuating times of nature are not subject to control,

13、so the poet says “natures changing course untrimmed”. lThe word “untrimmed” in this line is ambiguous this can refer to the ballast (trimming) on a ship which keeps it stable; or to a lack of ornament and decoration. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun16 l“Thy eternal summer” refers forwards to the eterni

14、ty promised by the ever living poet in the next few lines, through his verse. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun17 lowst = ownest, possess. lYour eternal summer will not lose its hold on that beauty which you so richly possess. Nor shall you lose any of your beauty. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun18 l“brag

15、” means “boast”, and “his shade” means “the shade of death.” lIn classical literature the shade of death flitted helplessly in the underworld like gibbering ghosts. Here, Shakespeare says: death will not boasts of his conquests over your life. Death can not make you die. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Su

16、n19 lin eternal lines = in the undying lines of my verse. lto time thou growst you keep pace with time, you grow as time grows. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun20 lFor as long as humans live and breathe upon the earth, for as long as there are seeing eyes on the earth. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun21 l

17、“This”in this line refers to the poem by the poet. lAs long as this poem of mine will be there, it will give you life; it will make your beauty ever lasting. Summer is short, but my poem is immortal, my immortal poem will make you immortal. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun22 lHow can I compare you to a

18、 summers day? You are more lovely and more gentle: Wild wind take off the tender budding in the month of May, and summers time is too short: sometimes the sun is too hot in summer, and sometimes its cloudy. Every beautiful thing will decline from time to time, every beauty is accidentally or natural

19、ly stripped off gay apparel. But your eternal beauty will not fade away, or you still possess the beauty you own. Even Death cannot make you die, since you are living in my eternal poem. So long as there are people who can read of my poem about you, and so long as this poem of mine will be there, it

20、 will make your beauty ever lasting. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun23 lIn this sonnet, the poet is looking for a way of describing his loves beauty. The theme of the poem is to praise the power of poem, i.e., literature that will keep transient beauty ever lasting. Here Shakespeare is immortalizing t

21、he young man in this poem. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun24 lWhat is the structure? lWhat is the meter like? lWhat is its rhyme scheme? lWhat is the theme of this sonnet? 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun25 lTo be in disgrace with fortune is presumably to be not favoured by her (taking fortune to be the

22、goddess ) lTo be in disgrace (in) mens eyes - this possibly refers to some form of public disapprobation, either real or imaginary. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun26 lbeweep = weep for, bewail; Like bewail and beseem, the word has an archaic and biblical flavour. lmy outcast state = my condition of be

23、ing a social outcast. The condition is probably exaggerated for the sake of effect, and to emphasize that the speaker sees everything in a gloomy light. Fortune has turned against him and he feels that he does not belong any more to society. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun27 ldeaf heaven - Heaven (God

24、) turns a deaf ear to his complaints and laments. The parallel is drawn with Job in the Old Testament, who was cast out on a dung heap and bewept his mournful state. lbootless = to no avail, achieving nothing. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun28 lAnd look upon myself - as the outcast contemplates his ow

25、n fallen state. lcurse my fate - another echo from the Book of Job in the Bible: (Job.III.1-4.) After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. And Job spake and said: Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. Let that day be darkn

26、ess, let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun29 lWishing myself to be like one who is more richly endowed with all manner of blessings, including wealth. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun30 lFeatured like him, like him = with features like this

27、 person, like this second person having friends, like this third, desiring his skills (line 7) etc. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun31 lthis mans art = the skill that one particular person has; lthat mans scope = the capability, range, mental ability that another particular person has. 2021-7-12Prepare

28、d by Tony Sun32 lIt is unspecified what he most enjoys, but evidently, in his despondency, things which ought to give him enjoyment do not do so. The implication is that he no longer enjoys the love of his beloved, although that idea is countermanded by the final couplet. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony S

29、un33 lin these thoughts = while I am engaged in these thoughts lmyself almost despising - and almost considering myself to be despicable for being so cast down. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun34 lHaply = by chance, by a happy stroke of luck; lmy state = my mental state, with a suggestion also that his

30、 fortune, or the state of affairs in which he finds himself, improves. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun35 lThere is an echo of this in Cym.II.iii.20-1 Hark! hark the lark at heavens gate sings, And Phoebus gins arise. 2021-7-12Prepared by Tony Sun36 lsullen = gloomy, dark, miserable; lFrom sullen earth - the phrase may be taken both with this and with the preceding line. The lark rises from sullen earth, and it also sings hymns which