大学英语课件John Donne.doc.ppt

A Metaphysical poet of the seventeenth century A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,John Donne (1572-1631),Poetry of the Seventeenth Century,The Cavaliers The Metaphysical poets,The Cavalier,“carpe diem”: to seize the day (抓住今天，及时行乐。花开堪折只须折。) The Cavalier poetry persuades the young lovers, especially the girls to accept the love in case they would regret when in old age, missing the time to enjoy love and life. Therefore, their poems were sometimes called persuasive poem(劝诫诗)。,Poems of the Cavaliers,Gather ye rose-buds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying: And this same flower that smiles to-day, To-morrow will be dying.,Poems of the Cavaliers,Then be not coy, but use your time; and while ye may, go marry: For having lost but once your prime, you may for ever tarry. (Robert Herrick: Counsel to Girls),Poems of the Cavaliers,“An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze; Two hundred to adore your breast, But thirty thousand to the rest; An age at least to every part, And the last age should show your heart.”,Poems of the Cavaliers,“Thy beauty shall no more be found, Nor, in thy marble vault, shall try That long-preserved virginity, And your quaint honor turn to dust, And into ashed all my lust” (Andrew Marvell: To His Coy Mistress),The social background of the Cavaliers,The Cavaliers were royalists, lyrical poets, and dealt chiefly with the theme of love and “carpe diem”. Their poetry reflected the extravagance and moral looseness of the courtly life.,The metaphysical poetry,Origin: The Metaphysical poet was firstly used (disparagingly) by Dr. Johnson. He identifies them as a “race of writers” who display their learning, use far-fetched comparisons, and lack feeling, among whom John Done was regarded as the founder.,The metaphysical poetry,The main themes of the Metaphysical poets are love, death and religion.,The characteristics of a metaphysical poem,Conceits: startling comparisons or contrasts of a metaphysical (spiritual, transcendent, abstract) quality to a concrete (physical, tangible, sensible) object. Mockery of idealized, sentimental romantic poetry. Gross exaggeration (hyperbole). Presentation of a logical argument. Expression of personal, private feelings.,John Donne love poems of two kinds,Love poem of negative attitude: using cynical tone to satirize womens inconstancy. “SwearNo where, lives a woman true, and fair. (John Donne: Song),John Donne love poems of two kinds,Love poem of positive attitude: sanctifying love as holy to express his genuine sentiments of love, such as “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning.”,GO and catch a falling star, Get with child a mandrake root, Tell me where all past years are, Or who cleft the Devils foot; Teach me to hear mermaids singing, Or to keep off envys stinging, And find What wind Serves to advance an honest mind.,If thou best born to strange sights, Things invisible to see, Ride ten thousand days and nights Till Age snow white hairs on thee; Thou, when thou returnst, wilt tell me All strange wonders that befell thee, And swear No where Lives a woman true and fair.,If thou findst one, let me know; Such a pilgrimage were sweet. Yet do not; I would not go, Though at next door we might meet. Though she were true when you met her, And last till you write your letter, Yet she Will be False, ere I come, to two or three.,The Title of the Poem,“Valediction” is derived from the Latin verb valedicere, meaning to say farewell. “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning“ The title says, in essence, “When we part, we must not mourn.“,Rhyme Scheme and Meter,The last syllable in the first and third lines of each stanza rhyme, as do the second and fourth lines of each stanza: abab. The meter is iambic tetrameter, with eight syllables (four feet) per line. Each foot, or pair of syllables, consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. So let / us melt / and make / no noise No tear-/ floods nor / sigh-temp / ests-move,A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,Stanza 1 no tear: parting, a virtuous mans death Stanza 2 no tear: love is holy, like religion Stanza 3 no tear: parting, the trepidation of spheres Stanza 4 the earthly and physical love Stanza 5 the heavenly and spiritual love Stanza 6 the inseparable of two souls Stanza 7 their love is a compass Stanza 8 the soul of wife: the fixed point Stanza 9 the poet: the other point (the circle),Stanza 1,“AS virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of their sad friends do say, “Now his breath goes,“ and some say“ No.” The parting of the lovers is likened to the death of a virtuous man. A virtuous man knows that he has reconciled himself to God and will therefore be accepted into heaven. So a virtuous man accepts death in calm and peace. In the same way, when the virtuous lovers are part, there is no pain because they are mutually loved. The sad friends only concern about the flesh and breath.,Stanza 2,“So let us melt, and make no noise, No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ; Twere profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love.” Let us dissolve our being together and weep not, like the lovers of earthly love, who cry the storms of tears and sigh the signs of tempests.,Stanza 2,“Twere profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love.” Profanation: debasing and degradation Laity: common people Too much outward show of grief would debase our love because our love is spiritual and holy that the laity could not understand. So let us not grieve.,Stanza 3,“Moving of th earth brings harms and fears ; Men reckon what it did, and meant ; But trepidation of the spheres, Though greater far, is innocent.” “Moving of th earth”: the earthquake “trepidation of the spheres”: the trembling of the spheres, or planets. innocent: harmless reckon: calculate, or talk about,Stanza 3,The earthquake brings fear, worry and harm just as the parting brings grief and sadness to the ordinary lovers who fear the break of physical closeness. However, the departure of a spiritual lover like the poet and his wife resembles the trembling movement of the spheres (trepidation of the spheres) that though is greater, poses no harm. The trepidation of the spheres is peaceful and harmonious without peoples perceivance. So lets us not mourn.,Stanza 4,”Dull sublunary lovers love Whose soul is sensecannot admit Of absence, cause it doth remove The thing which elemented it.” “sublunary”: the world beneath the moon, earthly world “soul”: essence “admit”: tolerate, bear,Stanza 4,The earthly lover whose love is based on the sensual relation, can not bear the absence (departure) because absence means to destroy the basic element of their earthly love, namely, the sensual and physical love.,Stanza 5,“But we by a love so much refined, That ourselves know not what it is, Inter-assurd of the mind, Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.” “Inter-assurd”: mutually trusted and assured. We are mutually trusted by the spiritual love that is so refined, like gold refined from the minerals. Our love is therefore like the refined love from the earthly love, and thus cares little physical touches of eyes, lip and hands.,Stanza 6,“Our two souls therefore, which are one, Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion, Like gold to aery thinness beat.” The poet does not suffer a separation “Like gold to aery thinness beat”: the gold is beaten into very thin sheet, symbolizing the spirituality of their love (aery thinness ).,Stanza 7,“If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two; Thy soul, the fixd foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if th other do.” If the souls of the poet and his wife are two, they are the two stiff legs of a compass. And their souls remain together whether the legs move or not.,Stanza 8,“And though it in the centre sit, Yet, when the other far doth roam, It leans, and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home.” The soul of the wife is compared to the fixed point who remains at the center of the circle. The fixed point leans when the other point moves away, and it grows erect as the other point comes back.,Stanza 9,“Such wilt thou be to me, who must, Like th other foot, obliquely run ; Thy firmness makes my circle just, And makes me end where I begun.” The poet likes the other point that slanting run around the fixed point (wife). And the firmness of the fixed point makes the circle complete and comes the ending point where the poet begins.,Donnes most famous conceit is introduced by the use of compass.,The two lovers are likened to the two points of a compass. At first this seems ridiculous, but Donne shows how it makes sense. The idea of the wife staying and minding the house while the husband goes away is old-fashioned now, but we can still comprehend it.,A compass,1 Donne compares his wife to the fixed foot of a compass, while he himself to the other leg. 2 Also his journey is just like drawing a circle. The compass has been the emblem of firmitas while a circle the emblem of perfection.,Figures of Speech,The extended metaphor Stanza1: his separation from his wife- the separation of a mans soul from his body. Stanza2: however, Donne and his wife should let their physical bond “melt”. Stanza3: Donne follows that metaphor: they should not cry sentimental “tear-floods” or indulge in “sigh-tempests” when they part. Stanza4: Donne compares them to celestial spheres, the sun and the other stars, to indicate their love existing in a higher plane. Stanza9: Finally, Donne compares his relationship with his wife to that of the two legs of a drawing compass.,Simile The “expansion” of their spiritual unity is “like” gold to aery thinness beat.” (Stanza 6, line 24.) Alliteration “Whilst some of their sad friends so say?” (Stanza1,line 3.) “Thy firmness makes my circle just, / And makes me end where I begun.” (Stanza 9, lines35-36. ),Conceits used,Donne and wife celestial bodies the points of a compass. The wedding ring the path of a planet the alchemical symbol for gold the pa