美国文学期末考试 作品赏析

2021年1月22日发(作者：赵西华)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
1.

what is the location of this story?
atmosphere and the history of this area?
is the protagonist of this story?
is the main conflict?

collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in
Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820. With Irving's companion piece
Winkle
fiction still read today.

The story is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town, New York, in a secluded
glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky, and extremely
superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham
Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter
and sole child of a wealthy farmer. As Crane leaves a party he attended at the Van Tassel
home on an autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman, who is supposedly
the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during

scene of battle in nightly quest of his head
leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones, who was
the story of Ichabod was related

The dé
nouement of the fictional tale is set at the bridge over the Pocantico River in the
area of the Old Dutch Church and Burying Ground in Sleepy Hollow. The characters of
Ichabod Crane and Katrina Van Tassel may have been based on local residents known to
the author. The character of Katrina is thought to have been based upon Eleanor Van
Tassel Brush, in which case her name is derived from that of Eleanor's aunt Catriena
Ecker Van Tessel.

Although Irving knew an army colonel named Ichabod Crane from Staten Island, New
York (who was also once the Commanding Officer of Lieutenant Stonewall Jackson), the
character in
the local schoolhouse in Kinderhook, further north along the Hudson River, where Irving
spent several months in 1809.



the wild honey suckle
的分析

《野金银花》是< br>Freneau
在南卡罗莱纳州查尔斯顿散步时，看到一簇幽生的金银花，于是
便有感而 发，将这首短诗一气呵成。
诗人以敏锐的观察力、浅俗的词汇、优美的旋律和清晰
的意象，细腻 生动地描写了盛开于北美大地不为人们注意的野金银花。

此诗分为两大部分，前两节写景，后 两节抒情。写景以抒情为目的，抒情以写景为背景，两
部分互为烘托，
成为不可分割的整体。< br>诗人以惊喜的目光看到自然界神奇的产物时，
心中涌
动的是对大自然无限的崇拜之情。如 果说
“
绿荫
”
指的是未受人类文明侵犯的新大陆处女地的
话，那些< br>“
美丽的金银花
”
则应是大自然创作的生命的具体体现。诗人用浅显的文字勾画 出一

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片繁荣祥和的景象，
在对生命的赞叹中，
流露出返璞归真 、崇尚自然的情节，充满了浪漫主
义情调和理想主义色彩。

然而，
Fren eau
的过人之处，
不仅在于他具有诗人的敏感，
而且在于他同时具有哲人的睿智。< br>诗人先是描写外界景物，
然后直接联系到自己，联系到人类，
并将人与自然融为一体，< br>以自
然规律来感染读者。
所以，诗人从第三小节开始笔锋一转。显然，
诗人对大 自然的神奇力量
由崇拜转为迷惑，
怀着惋惜忐忑的心情联想到生命的无奈和大自然的无情，开始了对生命本
质的思考。因此，在第四小节，诗人对主题进一步挖掘。至此，
Frene au
借助金银花的荣枯
阐述了自己毫不掩饰的自然观：
万物有生必有死，
有荣 必有枯，花开花落，
四季转换乃自然
界的规律，
这一规律是不以人的意志为转移的，< br>是人类无法抗拒的。
自然界万物的生生息息
乃自然的神力所造就，是人类无法左右的。因 而，对于花的荣枯，人的生死，人类大可不必
为之伤情。
正如中国的一句古语，
人“
生不带来死不带去
”
。
诗人高歌：
“
不曾拥有，何曾失去
”
，
足以说明诗人对生命本质有了明确的认识后，走出困惑，最终达到一 种豁达乐观的境界。


Freneau
以他对美洲大地的深厚感情和洞若幽 微的感受力，
通过对金银花的生长环境及其盛
衰变迁的描述，
抒发了他对短暂人生的感 叹，
使本诗在清丽的意境和浓郁的美洲大地的乡土
气息中加入一层哲理的思考。诗歌的最后四句 ，似对花说，又似诗人自然自语，令人颇为回
味，乃整首诗歌的点睛之笔。人无异于花草，两者都发端于
“
一块共同的泥土
”
，并无法回避
“
一把黄土葬其身
”
的最终结局。美是那么短暂，人生或许亦莫过于此吧。言尽而意犹存，让
人怅然若失。诗人 记录了他对生命的感触，揭示生命的本质，
借此提醒读者，生命因其短暂
而宝贵无价。
虽然生命只是从生到死的一个过程，
但依然有许多令人心快的绮丽风光，
有许
多值得人 们为之奋斗拼搏的美好事物。珍惜生命才是真正地享受生命。尽管生命是有限的，
却要在这有限的生命中 ，
尽可能绽放它，
满怀热情，悟彻人生的实质。
就如同任何一种像野
金银花的 花卉不会因为最终的凋零而拒绝开放，
人类也不应该因为生命最终的结局是死亡就
放弃对生命的 珍爱。

这首诗中，
Freneau
以抒情的色调描绘和讴歌了大自然的瑰丽 ，
同时又揭示出自然界的萧杀
冷酷和生命无奈短暂的本质；
既有浪漫主义情调，
又不乏意象主义的意味，
的确不失为一首
上乘之作。



英文赏析：

The short lyric was written in 1786. Freneau was inspired by the beauty of the wild honey
suckle when he was walking at Chaeleston, South Carolina. It was virtually unread in the
poet’s lifetime, yet it deserves a place among major English and American works of poetry
of that time. This is one of the most quoted works of Freneau. Generally speaking, it is the
best of Freneau’s poems, and the best poem on nature before the appearance of the
verses of William Cullen Bryant, William Wordsworth, and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s The
Rhodora. But unlike those early writers who turned to look for themes outside America,
Freneau rooted his poem on this piece of land. He is one of the few early writers who
eulogize the country.

Before Freneau there had been some American poets who, however, wrote mostly on the
religious theme and either in style or structurally they imitated English poets. Freneau, the
first American-born poet, was one of the earliest who cast their eyes over the natural
surroundings of the New Continent and American subject matter.

As is displayed in this poem, honeysuckle, instead of rose of daffodil became the object of
depiction; it is “wild” just to convey the fresh perception of the natural scenes on the new
continent. The flowers, similar to the early Puritan settlers, used to believe they were the

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selects of God to be arranged on the abundant land, but now have to wake up from
fantasy and be more respectful to natural law. Time is constant but the time of a life is
short; any favor is relative but change is absolute; with or without the awareness, nature
develops; flowers were born, blossomed and declined to repose, and human beings
would exist in exactly the same way. A philosophical meditation is indicated by the
description of the fate of a trivial wild plant.

A quintessentially Romantic poet, Freneau demonstrated the best of his poetic art in the
melodious lyrics on Nature’s beauty. In this short poem about a flower, the poet describes
his thoughts over some much more grand topics including religion and life in general. The
w
ild honey suckle is, in the poet’s eye, no longer a common flower. To some extent,
Freneau’s poem is a longer expounding of William Blake’s poem: “To see the world in a
grain of sand,/And a heaven in a wild flower,/Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,/And
eternity in an hour.”

In the first two stanzas, to start with, Freneau devoted more attention to the environment
of the flower in which he found it than to the appearance of the flower per se. He
commented on the secluded nature of the place where the honey suckle grew, drawing a
conclusion that it was due to Nature’s protectiveness that the flower was able to lead a
peaceful life free from men’s disturbance and destruction.

But the next stanza immediately changed the tone from silent admiration and appreciation
to outright lamentation over the “future’s doom” of the flower
--- even Nature was unable to
save the flower from its death. Actually no flower, or no living being, can escape. Not even
the flowers that used to bloom in Eden. Thus from the flower in nature the poet started to
ponder over the fate of man, who was bound to fall from his innocence and suffer from the
despair of death as the result to his exile from Paradise. Just as kindly as nourished and
protected the honey suckle in spring and summer, Nature will destroy ruthlessly the flower
with its autumn and winter weapons.

Following the traditional European model, the lyric is written in regular 6-line tetrameter
stanzas, rhyming “ababcc”, and sounds just like music. But in order to accord wi
th the
change in tone and topic in Stanza 3, the rhythmic pattern is varied. Different from the rest
the poem which is written in smooth iambic tetrameter lines, the third line of the stanza ---
“They died”
---
begins with a “spondee” (two stressed beats i
n a row) and, after forcing the
reader to pause (the dash), continues in a highly irregular rhythm with an intensification of
stressed beats. The purpose is obvious: the speaker wants to drive the horrible message
home, to let the reader feel the impact acutely. But as we progress into the last stanza,
when a more mature view of life and death is adopted, the rhythms are restored to the
original regularity as the tone assumes a tempered serenity grown out of experience.

In this
poem, the
poet
expresses a keen awareness of the
loveliness and
transience
of
nature.
It
implies
that
life
and
death
are
inevitable
law
of
nature.
In
addition,
the poet writes with the strong implication that, though in the work no one is
presented
in
person,
human
beings
at
times
envy
the
flower.
This
is
seen
not
because
the “roving foot” would “crush”; nor that the “busy hand” would “provoke a
tear”; nor because of the “vulgar eye”, but because of the fact that the human
being has the ability to foresee his death. Whereas, the flower, with its happy
ignorance, lacks this consciousness and is completely unaware of its doom. Its

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innocence
left
it
happier
than
the
foreseeing
human
beings.
Unfortunately,
the
human
beings are quite unwilling to refuse this knowledge and that arouses all their
sufferings

the wild honey suckle
的分析

野忍冬花

菲利浦
·
弗瑞诺

(
黄杲炘译
)
美好的花呀，你长得：这么秀丽，

却藏身在这僻静沉闷的地方
——

甜美的花儿开了却没人亲昵，

招展的小小枝梢也没人观赏；

没游来荡去的脚来把你踩碎，

没东攀西摘的手来催你落泪。


大自然把你打扮得一身洁白，

她叫你避开庸俗粗鄙的目光，

她布置下树荫把你护卫起来，

又让潺潺的柔波淌过你身旁；

你的夏天就这样静静地消逝，

这时候你日见萎蔫终将安息。


那些难免消逝的美使我销魂，

想起你未来的结局我就心疼，

别的那些花儿也不比你幸运
——

虽开放在伊甸园中也已凋零，

无情的寒霜再加秋风的威力，

会叫这花朵消失得一无踪迹。


朝阳和晚露当初曾把你养育，

让你这小小的生命来到世上，

原来若乌有，就没什么可失去，

因为你的死让你同先前一样；

这来去之间不过是一个钟点
——

这就是脆弱的花享有的天年。


The Reaen
乌鸦


爱伦·坡


从前一个阴郁的子夜，我独自沉思，慵懒疲竭，

面对许多古怪而离奇、并早已被人遗忘的书卷；

当我开始打盹，几乎入睡，突然传来一阵轻擂，


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仿佛有人在轻轻叩击——轻轻叩击我房间的门环。

“有客来也”，我轻声嘟喃，“正在叩击我的门环，


惟此而已，别无他般。”

哦，我清楚地记得那是在风凄雨冷的十二月，

每一团奄奄一息的余烬都形成阴影伏在地板。

我当时真盼望翌日——因为我已经枉费心机

想用书来消除伤悲，消除因失去丽诺尔的伤感，

因那位被天使叫作丽诺尔的少女，她美丽娇艳，


在此已抹去芳名，直至永远。

那柔软、暗淡、飒飒飘动的每一块紫色窗布

使我心中充满前所未有的恐惧，我毛骨悚然；

为平息我心儿的悸跳．我站起身反复念叨

“这是有客人想进屋，正在叩我房间的门环，

更深夜半有客人想进屋，正在叩我房间的门环，


惟此而已，别无他般。”

于是我的心变得坚强；不再犹疑，不再彷徨，

“先生”，我说，“或夫人，我求你多多包涵；

刚才我正睡意昏昏，而你敲门又敲得那么轻，

你敲门又敲得那么轻，轻轻叩我房间的门环，

我差点以为没听见你”，说着我打开门扇——


但惟有黑夜，别无他般。

凝视着夜色幽幽，我站在门边惊惧良久，

疑惑中似乎梦见从前没人敢梦见的梦幻；

可那未被打破的寂静，没显示任何象征，

“丽诺尔？”便是我嗫嚅念叨的惟一字眼，

我念叨“丽诺尔”，回声把这名字轻轻送还；


惟此而已，别无他般。

我转身回到房中，我的整个心烧灼般疼痛，

很快我又听到叩击声，比刚才听起来明显。

“肯定”，我说，“肯定有什么在我的窗棂；

让我瞧瞧是什么在那儿，去把那秘密发现，

让我的心先镇静一会儿，去把那秘密发现；


那不过是风，别无他般！”

然后我推开了窗户，随着翅膀的一阵猛扑，

一只神圣往昔的乌鸦庄重地走进我房间；

它既没向我致意问候，也没有片刻的停留，

而是以绅士淑女的风度栖到我房门的上面，

栖在我房门上方一尊帕拉斯半身雕像上面；


栖息在那儿，仅如此这般。


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