我为美而死 I died for beauty赏析

EmilyDickinsonIdiedforbeauty

——butwasscarceContentsIntroductionTheformandtherhymeTextanalysis&importantmetaphorsComparisonbetween《IDiedforBeauty——ButWasScarce》&《OdeonaGrecian》ThethoughtsandthethemeEnlightenment一、IntroductionofEmilyDickinsonEmilyDickinson“IfI

read

a

bookanditmakesmywholebodysocoldthatnofireevercanwarmme,Iknowthatispoetry.IfIfeelphysicallyasifthetopofmyheadweretakenoff,Iknowthatispoetry.”——EmilyDickinsonBriefIntroductionBeingconsideredapioneerinmodernpoetposthumously（于死后，于身后）.AlongwithWhitman,beingregardedasoneofthegreatestAmericanpoets.1830.12.10——1886.05.15BorninAmherst,Massachusetts&aprominentfamilyReligiousbeliefwasCalvinismthatruledthepoet’searlyyearsPublishedlessthan10poemsamong1800poemsbeforeherdeath.Knowingforbeingarecluse,shedidn’tleaveherfamily’shomesteadafterthelate1860s.After70yearsofherdeath,shebegantoreceiveseriousattentionoftheliterary.HadlittleformaleducationHadhighinterestsinworksofmanyfamouswriters(suchasShakespeare,ElizabethBrowning,Brontesister)whoaffectedherintellectualthinkingandworks.ThreeimportantmenBenjaminNewton,ayounglawyer,whoimprovedherliteraryandculturaltastes.Shereferstohim“afriend,whotaughtmeimmortality”.Hedirectedhertointellectualindependenceandultimatelytopoetry.(Emilywas18)CharlesWadsworth,amarriedministerwhoprovidedherwithintellectualchallengeandcontactwiththeoutsideworld.Dickinsonfeltanaffectionforhimthathecouldnotreturn.(Emilywas24)ThomasHigginson,apoetrycriticfortheAtlanticMonthly,wholaterhelpedgatheringherpoemsforpublications.(Emilywas33)thesourcesofherinspirationandguidancePoem’sThemesBasedonherownexperiences:joys,sorrowsandimagination.Religion——doubtandbeliefaboutreligioussubjectsDeathandimmortalityLove——sufferingandfrustrationcausedbylovePhysicalaspectofdesireNature——benevolent(kind)andcruelFreewillandhumanresponsibilityTheartisticfeaturesofDickinson’swriting●Notitles.●Dashesareusedasamusicaldevice.●Capitallettersasameansofemphasis.●Sheoftenusedpersona（人格面具）andpersonalification.Herpoetryisremarkableforitsvariety,subtletyandrichness.●Brevity,directnessandplainness.Herpoemsareusuallyshort,rarelymorethantwentylines,andmanyofthemarecenteredonasingleimageorsymbolandfocusononesubjectmatter.二、Theformandtherhyme（一）FormThefirstandthethirdlinesareiambictetrameter(抑扬格四音步）thesecondandthefourthlinesareiambictrimeter

(抑扬格三音步)IdiedforBeauty－butwasscarceAdjustedintheTombWhenonewhodiedforTruth,waslainInanadjoiningRoom－Hequestionedsoftly“WhyIfailed?”“ForBeauty,”Ireplied－“AndI－forTruth－ThemselfareOne－WeBrethren,are,”Hesaid－Andso,asKinsmen,metaNight－WetalkedbetweentheRooms－UntiltheMosshadreachedourlips－Andcoveredup－ournames－（二）RhymePerfectRhyme(完美押韵):Rhymeinwhichthefinalaccentedvowelandallsucceedingconsonantsorsyllablesareidentical,whiletheprecedingconsonantsaredifferent.SlantRhyme(缺陷押韵):Apartialorimperfectrhyme,oftenusingassonance(元韵)orconsonance(和韵)only.Alsocalledhalfrhyme(半韵),nearrhyme(邻韵),obliquerhyme(斜韵),andoffrhyme.Rhymescheme:abcbIdiedforBeauty－butwasscarceAdjustedintheTombWhenonewhodiedforTruth,waslainInanadjoiningRoom－Hequestionedsoftly“WhyIfailed?”“ForBeauty,”Ireplied－“AndI－forTruth－ThemselfareOne－WeBrethren,are,”Hesaid－Andso,asKinsmen,metaNight－WetalkedbetweentheRooms－UntiltheMosshadreachedourlips－Andcoveredup－ournames－PerfectrhymeTomb[tuːm]Room[ruːm]SlantrhymeRooms[ruːmz]

Names[neɪmz]SlantrhymeReplied[rɪˈplaɪd]

said[sed]

Rhymescheme

Evennumberlines:rhymeregularly

Oddlines:changefreely

Inpairsalone·Itmeansthatholdingontothefaithoftruthandbeautyisdoomedtobelonely.·Thereisnoabsolutefreedominthepursuitofbeautyandtruth.（三）ThedashesDashesareusedasmusicaldevicetocreatecadence(韵律).Whenfullstop(句号)meanstheend,thepoetusedthedashestoindicatethatthedeathisn’ttheendtopursuethetruthandbeauty.（四）ThefirstpersonnarrationThepoetisthenarrator,asiftodirectlytellthereaderherownexperienceandfeelings.Thecolloquial,conciseandnaturallanguageismoreimpressiveinauditions.三、TextAnalysis

&ImportantMetaphors:以大写字母开头的词作为强调的特点Beforewestartthispart,weshouldlearnthatthepoemsofDickinsonhaveanobviousartisticfeaturewhichisthatshetendstoapplythewordsbeginningwithcapitalletterforemphasis.Howtounderstand'scarce’?InDickinson'stime,fewwriterswouldchoosetosecludeinordertopursueBeauty&Truth,especiallywhenintheirgoldenageandintheascendantoftheircareer.↓

（与世俗格格不入的性格）Thefirststanza:IdiedforBeauty—butwasscarce(rare)我为美而死，但还不怎么AdjustedintheTomb适应坟墓里的生活WhenOnewhodiedforTruth,waslain这时一位为真理而死的人InaadjoiningRoom

(neighboringnextdoor)—被安放在隔壁墓室里MainIdeaofthe1ststanza:Dickinsondiedpursingthebeautyofartandimmediatelyasshebecameaccustomedtothenewcircumstanceofatomb,shewastoldthattherewasanotherwhodiedfortruthandarrivedinthenextroom.Tomb:referstotheroomshelivedduringherreclusionRoom:referstothelifeaftershesecluded(ReasonswhyDickinsonwasdeterminedtoseclude:①forbeauty②fortruth)Thesecondstanza:Hequestionedsoftly“WhyIfailed”?他柔声问道：“你为何而死”？“ForBeauty,”Ireplied—“为了美”，我回答说—“AndI—forTruth—ThemselvesareOne—“我，为真理—两者都一样WeBrethren，are,”（wearebrothers）Hesaid—我们俩是兄弟”，他说。“WhyIfailed”？---Dickinsonwasmurmuringtoherselfandactuallyitisaquestionsheaskedherself（P14最后一段倒数第三行）ShethoughtthatpeopleatthattimeconsideredshewasaloserbecauseshecouldnotcreatethegreatworksastheprominentwritersinRenaissancedid.---WhyDickinsoncompareherselfwiththefamousfiguresinRenaissance?①Beforethecivilwar,therewasAmericanRenaissancewhenmanyexcellentpoetsandwritersflooded,likeEmerson,Thoreau,Hawthorne（霍桑）andMelville（麦尔维尔）.TheywerepopularatthattimewhileDickinsonwasn’t.②Oneofthecharacteristicsofartisthat：TheAestheticNatureofArtisthecrystallizationoftruth,goodnessandbeauty.“艺术的审美性是真善美的结晶”

That’salsowhatDickinsonpursuedinherworks.areOne:BeautyisasimportantasTruthinDickinson’seyes.（美与真理的同一性）Brethren:referstopeoplewhohavethesamereligion（为了美和真理而奉献自我的人是同一种人）

Thethirdstanza:Andso,asKinsmen（relative亲人）,metaNight—就这样，像近亲在夜里相遇—WetalkedbetweentheRooms—我们隔墙而谈UntiltheMosshadreachedourlips—直到青苔爬到我们唇边Andcoveredup—ournames—将我们的名字掩埋Room:Dickinsonreplaces“tomb”appearedbeforewiththeword“room”,whichexpressesherfeelingofthe“tomb”.---The”tomb”isnotdarkorcheerless,instead,itisquietandsecluded,wheretherewasaconfidant知己

tochatwithallnight.Moss:

①elapse流逝of

time（theyhavetalkedforalongtime）

②themetaphorofdeath（Comparedwithman’slife,deathislengthy.Whenthemossreachedherlip,shewasforgottenbyhumanworldafterher“death”.Butshewould

keeponpursuingBeautyandTruth.）相对于生，死的时间漫长无期。当青苔蔓延上唇际，诗人在死亡中被遗忘，她仍会不懈地追求美与真。Whydidtheymeetat

Night?---①Nightisnotonlyaserenemomentbutagoodtimeforwriterstomeditate,createandgetinspired.②Ontheotherhand，Nightalsosetsoffthequietatmosphereofthe“tomb”.Dickinsonwas

notsolitaryinherreclusivelifebecauseshetooktruthandbeautyashercompanions.Dickinson’sattitude

towardsreclusion:peacefultowardsBeautyandTruth:persistent四、Comparisonbetween《IDiedforBeauty——ButWasScarce》&《OdeonaGrecianUrn》“Beauty”and“Truth”FindouttypicalwritingfeaturesofEmilyDickinsonIdiedforbeauty——EmilyDickinsonHequestionedsoftly“WhyIfailed?”“Forbeauty，”Ireplied－“AndI－forTruth－ThemselfareOne－WeBrethren，are，”Hesaid－OdeonaGrecianUrn

——JohnKeatsOAtticshape!Fairattitude!withbredeOfmarblemenandmaidensoverwrought,Withforestbranchesandthetroddenweed;Thou,silentform,dostteaseusoutofthoughtAsdotheternity:ColdPastoral!Whenoldageshallthisgenerationwaste,Thoushaltremain,inmidstofotherwoeThanours,afriendtoman,towhomthousay'st,"Beautyistruth,truthbeauty,"—thatisallYeknowonearth,andallyeneedtoknow.SameIdeaEventhoughKeats(1795~1821)andDickinson(1830~1886)didnotliveinthesameperiodorthesamecountry,theyheldthesameaestheticconception,regardingbeautyandtruthasawhole.Difference1IdiedforbeautyShorter3Stanzas×4LinesOdeonaGrecianUrnLonger5Stanzas×10LinesActually,EmilyDickinson’spoemsarealwaysshort,seldommorethan20lines.Difference2IdiedforbeautyPresentthetopicbytellingastoryofdeaths.Hequestionedsoftly“WhyIfailed?”“Forbeauty，”Ireplied－“AndI－forTruth－ThemselfareOne－WeBrethren，are，”Hesaid－他轻声问我“为什么倒下？”我回答他：“为了美”——他说：“我为真理，真与美——是一体，我们是兄弟”——OdeonaGrecianUrnPresentthetopicbydescribingthepatternofanurn.OAtticshape!Fairattitude!withbredeOfmarblemenandmaidensoverwrought,Withforestbranchesandthetroddenweed;Thou,silentform,dostteaseusoutofthoughtAsdotheternity:ColdPastoral!Whenoldageshallthisgenerationwaste,Thoushaltremain,inmidstofotherwoeThanours,afriendtoman,towhomthousay'st,"Beautyistruth,truthbeauty,"—thatisallYeknowonearth,andallyeneedtoknow.哦，希腊的形状！唯美的观照！上面缀有石雕的男人和女人，还有林木，和践踏过的青草；沉默的形体呵，你象是“永恒”使人超越思想：呵，冰冷的牧歌！等暮年使这一世代都凋落，只有你如旧；在另外的一些忧伤中，你会抚慰后人说：“美即是真，真即是美，”这就包括你们所知道、和该知道的一切。Dickinsonlikedwritingaboutdeath.Aboutone third of the total collection of her poems deal with death.Death, and the problem of life after death, obsessed her.Difference3IdiedforbeautyHequestionedsoftly“WhyIfailed?”“Forbeauty，”Ireplied—“AndI—forTruth—ThemselfareOne—WeBrethren，are，”Hesaid—OdeonaGrecianUrnOAtticshape!Fairattitude!withbredeOfmarblemenandmaidensoverwrought,Withforestbranchesandthetroddenweed;Thou,silentform,dostteaseusoutofthoughtAsdotheternity:ColdPastoral!Whenoldageshallthisgenerationwaste,Thoushaltremain,inmidstofotherwoeThanours,afriendtoman,towhomthousay'st,"Beautyistruth,truthbeauty,“—thatisallYeknowonearth,andallyeneedtoknow.1“—”5“—”Dickinsonusedmanydashes“—”inherpoems,to interrupt the flow.Difference4IdiedforbeautyIndirectPresenttheideabyaconversationoftwodeaths.“Forbeauty，”Ireplied－“AndI－forTruth－ThemselfareOne—WeBrethren，are，”Hesaid－我回答他：“为了美”——他说：“我为真理，真与美——是一体，我们是兄弟”——OdeonaGrecianUrnDirectPresenttheideadirectlybyatopicsentence.“Beautyistruth,truthbeauty,”“美即是真，真即是美。”ManyofEmilyDickinson’spoemsarebasedonasingleimage（意象）

orsymbol（象征）,whicharenotsodirect.五、Thethoughtsandthetheme（一）Thethoughts1.Thepursuitofbeautyandtruth.Whatisbeauty？Whatistruth？济慈：美即是真，真即是美。别林斯基：失去了真，同时也就失去了美。黑格尔：美与真是一回事，这就是说美本身必须是真的。法朗士：富于美之中的真要比真本身更高尚深奥。《致海伦》：