mc小月The Diviner Republic Shelly Constructs in His A De

2020年12月14日发(作者：龚兴贵)
The Diviner Republic Shelly Constructs in His A
Defence of Poetry-英语论文

The Diviner Republic Shelly Constructs in His A Defence of Poetry
童鹏 黄芳
（南昌工学院民族教育学院，江西南昌330108） 摘要：本文主要阐述了雪莱在他的《诗辩》中，再次赋予诗歌的起源及灵感来源
以神性，证实诗歌的 创造性功能，明确了诗歌的主题和目的，并将诗人提高到了
仅次于上帝的位置，从而建构了一个比柏拉图 更神圣的理想国。
关键词：神性；诗歌；理想国
中图分类号：G633文献标识码：A文章 编号：1005-6351(2013)-10-0064-02
Since Plato banished poets from his Republic, the status of poetry has
been ever challenged. In England of the 19th century prevail science and
the utilitarian arts, and the Mountain Parnassus has the danger of
descending into the horizon at any time. P.B. Shelley develops Sir Philip
Sidney’s legacy with his A Defence of Poetry, which, standing as a pillar,
sustains Parnassus high above the horizon. He refutes Thomas Love
Peacock’s The Four Ages of Poetry from the four facets of poetry: the
origin, the process of creation, the theme, and the aim.
Peacock attributes the first appearance of poetry to the bards, who just
sing something panegyric to represent the fame and achievements of
kings. According to Shelley, “poetry is not subject to the control of the
active powers of the mind, and its birth and recurrence has no necessary
connection with consciousness or will” (715). In the far ancient Greek
period, there is the only Poet—Homer. Therefore, those banished by
Plato in his Republic are Poet- apes (a notion taken from Sidney’s An
Apology for Poetry), not real poets; they are just the performers of
Homer’s epics. In fact, Homer himself is a myth, because no one can put
him on a fixed identity. Besides, the source of his epics is too mysterious
to be made clear. Thus the origin of poetry is also a myth. Even before
the process of poetry’s creation exists some divine force—inspiration,
which is quite evanescent and elusive and cannot be easily resolvable in
to such three ingredients as “the rant of unregulated passion, the
whining of exaggerated feeling, and the cant of factitious sentiment”
(693). And the poets’ inspiration is from the spring Hippocrene, not
from their familiarity with the secret history of gods. Paradoxically, the
stronger purpose and consciousness one has in composition, the lower
inspiration there exists. This well illustrates the magic power of
inspiration
Peacock criticizes neoclassic poets for imitating the ancient Greek and
Roman myths and forms of verses. Since the range of imitation is limited,
if the stored food is eaten up, nothing will be left but cabbage served at a
second time, which eventually becomes quite wearisome and no one
shows any interest in it. Shelly thinks that “poetry enlarges the
circumference of the imagination by replenishing it with thoughts of ever
new delight, which has the power of attracting and assimilating to their
own nature all other thoughts, and which from intervals and interstices
whose void for ever craves fresh food”(700). Therefore, due to its
creative faculty, Poetry, like a legendary Arabic Phoenix, will never come
to an end.
Peacock also criticizes the romantic poets for their retiring from the
world and being absorbed into natural scenes while ignoring history,
society, and human nature. He even asserts that with the progress of
science and other utilitarian disciplines, poetry will be deserted by the
society for its non-realistic content. According to Shelly, “poetry is ever
found to coexist with whatever other arts contribute to the happiness
and perfection of man.” (701) In England of 19th century, people lack
the creative faculty to imagine the known things, the generous impulse
to act what they imagine, and the understanding of the poetry of life.
Therefore, the cultivation of poetry is most desired at this period. To
better cultivate the people, poets should infuse vices of their
contemporaries as a temporary dress, which can never conceal the
hidden beauty of the eternal truth. In the world filled with evils, many
things are distorted. Poetry with poetical justice is like a mirror, making
beautiful what is distorted. Moreover, poets should constantly acquire
the new observations of man’s condition, which means the continual
creation. Shelly advocates poets to teach the greatly good, which can
enable a man to imagine intensely and comprehensively, put himself in
the place of another and of many others, and take their pains and
pleasures as his own. Thus they could unite persons as one by using love
and equality as the theme in their poems.
Shelly also depicts the blueprint of constructing “a great poem”—(like
a fountain) “for ever overflowing with the waters of wisdom and delight;
and after one person and one age has exhausted all its divine effluence
which their peculiar relations enable them to share, another and yet
another succeeds, and new relations are ever developed, the source of an
unforeseen and an unconceived delight” (710). He praises his
companions for their contributing to “that great poem”, but still a lot
of work needs to be done. The highest aim of all poets is to build a world
peopled by the inhabitants of a diviner world, where life becomes
wonderful and heavenly.
Shelley’s defense of poetry endows again the poetry with the divinity of
its origin and inspiration. He justifies the creative faculty of poetry,
clarifies its theme, and explicitly draws the wonderful blueprint for all the
poets to fight for. In the ancient Greek period, Plato in his Republic has
banished “the poets”. However, in England of the 19th century, Shelley
in his A Defence of Poetry constructs a much diviner Republic. He
elevates the status of poets next only to God, which has brought the
contemporary poets courage and confidence to continue to devote to
“that yet unfinished poem” since the Genesis.
Abstract: In his A Defence of Poetry, Shelly endows again the poetry with
the divinity of its origin and inspiration, justifies the creative faculty of
poetry, clarifies its theme and aim, elevates the status of poets next only
to God and thus constructs a diviner Republic than Plato’s.
Key words: Divinity;Poetry;Republic
参考文献：
［1］Leitch, Vincent B., et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of Theory and
Criticism［M］.New York: W.W. Norton Company, 2001.
［2］章安祺.西方文论经典名著选读［M］.北京:中国人民大学出版社,2005.