TSEliot艾略特美国文学

1、T.S. Eliot（ 1888-1965）Thomas Stearns EliotA poet, dramatist, literary critic, and modernist.He was born in Missouri on September 26, 1888. He lived in St. Louis during the first eighteen years of his life and attended Harvard University.In 1910, he left the United States for the Sorbonne, having ear

2、ned both undergraduate and masters degrees and having contributed several poems to the Harvard Advocate. After a year in Paris, he returned to Harvard to pursue a doctorate in philosophy, but returned to Europe and settled in England in 1914. LifeThe following year, he married Vivienne Haigh-Wood an

3、d began working in London, first as a teacher, and later for Lloyds Bank.It was in London that Eliot came under the influence of his contemporary Ezra Pound, who recognized his poetic genius at once, and assisted in the publication of his work in a number of magazines.In 1927 he became a British cit

4、izen . After a notoriously unhappy first marriage, Eliot separated from his first wife in 1933, and was remarried, to Valerie Fletcher, in 1956.In 1948 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature.In 1965 he died in London. His Aesthetic Views1. A poem should be an organic thing in itself, a made obje

5、ct. Once it is finished, the poet will no longer have control of it. It should be judged, analyzed by itself without the interference of the poets personal influence and intentional elements and other elements.2. Modern life is chaotic, futile,fragmentary, so poetry should reflect this fragmentary n

6、ature of life and this kind nature of life should be projected, not analyzed.3. The poet should draw upon tradition: use the past to serve the resent and future( the past, present, future interrelate), borrow from authors remote in time, alien in language, diverse in interest, use the past to unders

7、core what is missing from the present.1915: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock普鲁弗洛克的情歌 1922: The Wasteland荒原1935-1942: Four Quartets四个四重奏1935: Murder in the Cathedral 大教堂谋杀案 1939: Family Reunion 合家团聚 1949: The Cocktail Party鸡尾酒会Major WorksThe Waste Land （荒原） his masterpiece, published in 1922. It r

8、evealed the spiritual crisis of postwar Europe. It reads like the manifesto of the “lost generation” and established Eliots position as the leader not only of American poetry, but of a whole generation of writers later to be identified as “Waste Land Painters like Hemingway and Faulkner. The Waste L

9、anda 434-line modernist poem published in 1922It has been called “one of the most important poems of the 20th century.” The Waste Land consists of five discontinuous segments, each composed of fragments incorporating multiple voices and characters, literary and historical allusions, bits and pieces

10、of contemporary life, myths and legends. The central theme-desperation Although it gestured toward religious belief ,The Waste Land was not an affirmative or religious poem; the desperate quest for regeneration in a cacophonous, desolate landscape remains unfulfilled. SubtitlesThe Burial of the Dead

11、 死者葬礼 A Game of Chess 对弈 The Fire Sermon 火诫 Death by Water 水里的死亡 What Thunder Said 雷霆的话Quotation beneath the Title“With my own eyes I saw the Sibyl hanging in a cage, at Cumae, and when the boy said to her Sibyl, what do you want? she replied: I want to die.Sibyl: A woman in ancient times supposed t

12、o utter the prophecies of God/ Poetic or literary A woman able to foretell the future.库米西比尔是希腊神话中的著名女相士，在维吉尔的依尼德中，这个女相士带领依尼斯通过了地狱，阿婆罗准予她永生，但她忘记了要求永葆青春，所以她最后变成一个不生不死的干瘪的老太婆。这个女相士老太婆的形象本身就是现代“荒原”的化身。1. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD 死者的葬礼APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixi

13、ng Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers. Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade, And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgar

14、ten, 四月最残忍，从死了的 土地滋生丁香，混杂着 回忆和欲望，让春雨 挑动着呆钝的根。 冬天保我们温暖，把大地 埋在忘怀的雪里，使干了的 球茎得一点点生命。 夏天来得意外，随着一阵骤雨 到了斯坦伯吉西；我们躲在廊下， 等太阳出来，便到郝夫加登 17行：通过春天和冬天对比的描写，反映出荒原上已经没有生存的条件，即使是春天也依然是缺乏生机，毫无希望，人们挣扎在过去与未来的虚幻世界之中。1. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD 死者的葬礼And drank coffee, and talked for an hour. Bin gar keine Russin, stamm aus L

15、itauen, echt deutsch. And when we were children, staying at the archdukes, My cousins, he took me out on a sled, And I was frightened. He said, Marie, Marie, hold on tight. And down we went. In the mountains, there you feel free. I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter. 去喝咖啡，又闲谈了一点钟。 我

16、不是俄国人，原籍立陶宛，是纯德国种。 我们小时侯，在大公家做客， 那是我表兄，他带我出去滑雪撬， 我害怕死了。他说，玛丽，玛丽， 抓紧了呵。于是我们冲下去。 在山中，你会感到舒畅。 我大半夜看书，冬天去到南方。 818行：诗人在此反映了上流社会人们的生活。艾略特提到两个具体地点：斯坦伯格西和哈夫珈屯，它们代表欧洲中部的现代荒原。“我不是俄国人”说明这些人都是一战后的一些“无根”(rootless)的流浪者，他们毫无目的地从北到南，四季到处游山逛水，或进咖啡馆和咖啡，闲聊往事，或在山里滑雪，或夜里读书，寒冬就到温暖的南方去过冬。这些都是当时欧洲社会上有闲阶级或流浪者们生活的方式和全部内容。他们精

17、神空虚，毫无目的，生活无聊，只是沉浸在回忆之中。1. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD 死者的葬礼What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, You cannot say, or guess, for you know only A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And th

18、e dry stone no sound of water. Only There is shadow under this red rock, (Come in under the shadow of this red rock), And I will show you something different from either Your shadow at morning striding behind you Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; I will show you fear in a handful of dust

19、. 这是什么根在抓着，是什么树杈 从这片乱石里长出来？人子呵， 你说不出，也猜不着，因为你只知道 一堆破碎的形象，受着太阳拍击， 而枯树没有阴凉，蟋蟀不使人轻松， 干石头发不出流水的声音。只有 一片阴影在这红色的岩石下， （来吧，请走进这红岩石下的阴影） 我要指给你一件事，它不同于 你早晨的影子，跟在你后面走 也不象你黄昏的影子，起来迎你， 我要指给你恐惧是在一撮尘土里。 1. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD 死者的葬礼Frisch weht der Wind Der Heimat zu. Mein Irisch Kind, Wo weilest du? You gave me

20、hyacinths first a year ago; They called me the hyacinth girl. Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden, Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, Looking into the heart of light, the silence. Od und leer

21、das Meer. 风儿吹得清爽， 吹向我的家乡， 我的爱尔兰孩子， 如今你在何方？ “一年前你初次给了我风信子， 他们都叫我风信子女郎。” 可是当我们从风信子花园走回，天晚了， 你的两臂抱满，你的头发是湿的， 我说不出话来，两眼看不见，我 不生也不死，什么也不知道， 看进光的中心，那一片沉寂。 荒凉而空虚是那大海。 死者的葬礼“死者的葬礼”：小标题使我们想起埃及在每年春季举行的欧赛里斯繁殖仪式（Fertility Ritual of Osiris)。在古代埃及神话中，欧赛里斯原为自然神，秋收完毕就死去，来年春季随着谷物的生长又再生，后来他成为主管死者的“死者之神”（god of the de

22、ad)。因此，这个小标题实际上暗示了这一章的内容：荒原已死。第一章包括五小节，主要描写现代文明的荒原情景，特别是在伦敦，没有春天，没有活力，人们处于半死不活的状态，犹如行尸走肉。第一节：时间四月，它与埃及每年春季举行的欧赛里斯繁殖仪式的时间一致。四月应该是万物复苏，充满活力，欣欣向荣的月份，而且纪念耶稣的复活节(Easter)也正好在这个月，因此，四月应是让人们充满希望的时节，但作者却把它描写成是“最残酷的月份”，在这一片“死亡的土地”中孕育着的紫丁香没有生长的可能性；一切都沉浸在“记忆和欲望”之中，赋予生命的春雨也只能搅动着沉闷的根茎而已。相反，冰雪覆盖的冬天却是温暖的季节，干枯的根茎尚能提

23、供少许生命。第二节：中心思想是反映现代荒原上的人们失去了信仰，缺乏精神支柱的情景。到处是“石头垃圾”，“破碎的形象”，“死树”，和“干石头”，没有“树阴”，没有“宽慰”，尤其是“没有滴水声音”，“在这乱石堆中”，有什么“根”儿能抓得住？有什么“树枝”能生长？“红石”被看成是但丁炼狱第三章中的“炼狱山”(Mount of Purgatory)，这就暗示着荒原只是一座地狱，或只有经过炼狱，荒原才能获得新生。第三节：暗示当今人们为情欲和私利所驱使，到处存在着欺骗，背信弃义和互相厮杀的现象。四句轻快的歌词在瓦格纳的歌剧中原来是一个水手在特利斯坦和伊索尔德离开爱尔兰乘船到康尔去时唱的，内容是关于纯朴和幸

24、福的爱情，但特利斯坦和伊索尔德之间的爱情也包含了凶杀和欺骗，因为伊索尔德的未婚夫是被特利斯坦杀害的，而且伊索尔德也准备复仇，只是见了特利斯坦也受伤才不忍下手。特利斯坦伤愈后带着伊索尔德到康尔去，打算把她献给马克王为后。The Waste LandThe Waste Land is a long poem on the theme of sterility and chaos of the contemporary world, an expression of the despair of the post-war era. It is a very erudite（博学的）work, quo

25、ting from or alluding to 35 different writers and containing passages in 6 foreign languages, including Sanskrit（印度梵文）.T. S. Eliot composed The Waste Land in the autumn of 1921, while taking a vacation at Lausanne, western Switzerland. Before returning to London, he visited Pound at Paris and left t

26、he draft with him. Pound blue-penciled（修改）it and reduced its length which was nearly twice as long as its present form.Impressed by this editorial feat（功劳，功绩）, T. S. Eliot dedicated the poem to him.The epigraph（题词）of the poem represents the motif（主题）, the somber mood, of The Waste Land, emblematic o

27、f life in death, of a desperate struggle to attain salvation.The title of the poem draws its significance from the Fisher King story, which is a part of the Grail legend. As the story goes, the Fisher King sins against God, who then punishes him by making him sexually impotent. The disability of the

28、 King is reflected on his land, so that his kingdom becomes a waste land. Hence is the title.To restore the King to virility and his land to fertility, a quest is undertaken to search for the Holy Grail, the cup which is said to have been used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper and later brought to

29、Britain by Joseph of Arimathea. Thus the story of the Fisher King and the quest of the Holy Grail serve as the governing myth of The Waste Land. One of the major features of the poem is incidentally that sexual failure connotes（暗示，意味着）spiritual debilitation（贫乏，疲倦）.荒原“这首诗不仅标题，构局，而且许多零散的象征都受杰西L魏斯登女士（M

30、iss Jessie L. Weston）论圣杯传说的那本从祭礼到传奇（From Ritual to Romance, 1920) 的启发在更一般的意义上，我还得益于另一本人类学著作，一本深刻地影响了我们这一代的书；我指的是，金枝(The Golden Bough) 我特别使用了有关Adonis，Attis，Bough的两卷”从祭礼到传奇这本书讲的是有关渔王的故事，这个故事又与“圣杯”有联系。这个古老传奇原来是解释植物季节循环的故事。古埃及和古希腊人把季节的循环与神的死亡和复活联系在一起，冬天，植物随着神的死亡而死亡；春天植物又随着神的复活而再生。因此随着春天的到来，人们都要举行一定的宗教仪式

31、，象征性地把死神栽入土中让他复活，好像把谷物种子种入泥土等待发芽生长一样。这种仪式常常又与人类的牺牲和性繁殖联系起来，而冬季举行的仪式又与神的性功能丧失联系起来。Sir James Frazer 指出，这种仪式在基督教的仪式中也存在，但他们是把耶稣的受难和复活联系在一起。据说寻找圣杯的人到了一个国家，这个国家一片干旱荒芜，那里没有太阳，没有温暖，最主要的是没有水。他发现原来这是由于这个国家的渔王衰老与患病，需要一位少年英雄携一把利剑，历尽艰险，找到圣杯，把渔王的病治好，荒原才能复苏。也还有其他与性有关的传说，如在印度，传说有一年轻的婆罗门隐居山林，邻国土地忽逢干旱，庄稼不长，缺乏粮食，国王占卜

32、后得知，只要年轻的婆罗门保持一天贞洁，他的国土就保持一天干旱，后来，国王派了一个美丽少女去把他诱惑过来，并把女儿赐给他为妻，在他们结婚的那一天，他的国土又重获甘霖。语言特色在创作方法上，这首诗主要受法国象征派和英国17世纪玄学派传统的影响，同时也受超现实主义的影响。这首诗很长，全诗分为五章，涉及6种语言（包括梵文）和56部前人著作，诗中人物纷杂，时空交错，语气变化多端，比喻奇特，在结构上又缺乏外在的联系。艾略特自己在诗中的注释就多达50余处，由此可见此诗的晦涩难懂程度。艾略特“以无序的语言摹仿无序”，体现了他的创作思想，也是这首诗的语言的最大特点。主题是反映第一次世界大战前后西方世界呈现一片荒

33、原景象。The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is an early poem but is marked by an assurance in phrasing that has made many of its lines almost proverbial in our century. It is a dramatic monologue spoken by oneJ. Alfred Prufrock, whose very name seems to combine the di

34、gnity and absurdity of his social and private selves.The Love Song of J Alfred PrufrockThe most striking early achievement of T. S. Eliot. The trademark for the poet, both in theme and structure. Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon

35、a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question. . .Oh, do not ask, What

36、is it? Let us go and make our visit. In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo. The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening Lingered upon the pools that stand in dr

37、ains, Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys, Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap, And seeing that it was a soft October night Curled once about the house, and fell asleep. And indeed there will be time For the yellow smoke that slides along the street, Rubbing its back upon

38、 the window-panes; There will be time, there will be time To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet; There will be time to murder and create, And time for all the works and days of hands That lift and drop a question on your plate; Time for you and time for me, And time yet for a hundred ind

39、ecisions And for a hundred visions and revisions Before the taking of a toast and tea. I should have been a pair of ragged clawsScuttling across the floors of silent seas.We have lingered in the chambers of the seaBy sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brownTill human voices wake us, and we drow

40、n.那么我们走吧，你我两个人， 正当朝天空慢慢铺展着黄昏 好似病人麻醉在手术桌上； 我们走吧，穿过一些半清冷的街， 那儿休憩的场所正人声喋喋； 有夜夜不宁的下等歇夜旅店 和满地蚌壳的铺锯末的饭馆； 街连着街，好象一场讨厌的争议 带着阴险的意图 要把你引向一个重大的问题 唉，不要问，那是什么？ 让我们快点去作客。 在客厅里女士们来回地走， 谈着画家米开朗基罗。 黄色的雾在窗玻璃上擦着它的背， 黄色的烟在窗玻璃上擦着它的嘴， 把它的舌头舐进黄昏的角落， 徘徊在快要干涸的水坑上； 让跌下烟囱的烟灰落上它的背， 它溜下台阶，忽地纵身跳跃， 看到这是一个温柔的十月的夜， 于是便在房子附近蜷伏起来安睡。

41、呵，确实地，总会有时间 看黄色的烟沿着街滑行， 在窗玻璃上擦着它的背； 总会有时间，总会有时间 装一副面容去会见你去见的脸； 总会有时间去暗杀和创新， 总会有时间让举起问题又丢进你盘里的 双手完成劳作与度过时日； 有的是时间，无论你，无论我， 还有的是时间犹豫一百遍， 或看到一百种幻景再完全改过， 在吃一片烤面包和饮茶以前。 在客厅里女士们来回地走， 谈着画家米开朗基罗。 呵，确实地，总还有时间 来疑问，我可有勇气？我可有勇气？ 总还有时间来转身走下楼梯， 把一块秃顶暴露给人去注意 （她们会说：他的头发变得多么稀！） 我的晨礼服，我的硬领在腭下笔挺， 我的领带雅致而多彩，用一个简朴的别针固定

42、（她们会说：可是他的胳膊腿多么细！） 我可有勇气 搅乱这个宇宙？ 在一分钟里总还有时间 决定和变卦，过一分钟再变回头。 因为我已经熟悉了她们，熟悉了她们所有的人 熟悉了那些黄昏，和上下午的情景， 我是用咖啡匙子量走了我的生命； 我熟悉每当隔壁响起了音乐 话声就逐渐低微而至停歇。 所以我怎么敢开口？ Pruflock sets off to visit a polite tea party despite his great lack of self-confidence. The city, the streets, and the fog make him feel that he is i

43、n a timeless dream world. He intends to ask one of the women at the party a question he has put off for a long time, but he is terrified that he will be rejected and mocked behind his back. He laments his lack of courage and sees the smallness of his whole life.summary “The Love Song of J Alfred Pru

44、frock” is a poem full of images, symbols and allusions. The title of the poem is ironic in that the “Love Song” is in fact about the absence of love. It depicts a timid middle-aged man going or thinking of going to propose marriage to a lady but hesitating all the way there. It takes the form of sol

45、iloquy, an interior monologue like that of Brownings. Whether the man actually leaves his spot at all remains a question. Most probably he stays where he is all the while, allowing his imagination to run wild. He is the image of an ineffectual sorrowful, tragic 20th century Western man, possibly the

46、 modern intellectual who is divided between passion and timidity, between desire and impotence.Analysis of Prufrock1. Title2. His character3. Symbolic meaning and irony4. Major Themes of “Prufrock”5. Poetic Form1. TitleIn the drafts, the poem had the subtitle Prufrock among the Women. Eliot said The

47、 Love Song of portion of the title came from The Love Song of Har Dyal, a poem by Rudyard Kipling. The form of Prufrocks name is like the name that Eliot was using at the time: T.Stearns Eliot. It has been suggested that Prufrock comes from the German word Prfstein meaning touchstone. 2. His Charact

48、erhero: self-conscious,self-distrusting, timid, lacking in vitality and courage/coward.impotent physically and spiritually, tortured between desire and impotence.desire for love, yet afraid of being rejected and misunderstood, desires for true life, love, turn a new leaf , yet has not courage to act

49、/take action.3. Symbolic meaning of this character:archetypal modern man of the fog: dream world Prufrock walks through. There is an aimlessness about the fog that mirrors Prufrocks own condition.of the coffee spoons( line 51): trivial way Prufrock has lived his life.Irony in the poemThe title ”love

50、 song” sings of no love, but inability to love because of solipsism.He has clear insights into his sterile life but he is lacking in will to change that life.His strong desire for love and his hundred times of indecisions and revisions.The usual, common nature of his confession contrasts with the hy

51、perbole by which he defines the confession.4.Major Themes of “Prufrock”ParalysisRepetition and anxietyFragmentationMajor Themes of “Prufrock”Paralysis: Like Hamlet, Prufrock is paralyzed and unable to act, , but whether he should dare to eat a peach (122) in front of high-society women. “No! I am not Prince Hamlet” (111) makes the connection explicit. Prufrock is a modern tragic hero, that is to say he is a mock-hero whose concerns are pathetic yet