英语专业毕业论文

外语学院英美文学（一）期末论文

“Nature” in the Poem—

A Comparative Study on Pastoral Poetry

by William Wordsworth and Tao Yuanming

诗歌中的大自然——威廉·华兹华斯与陶渊明的田园诗对比

学

院（系）：

外语学院

--

外国语学院

专

业：

英语

学

生

姓

名：

________

诗歌中的大自然——威廉·华兹华斯与陶渊明的田园诗对比

CONTENTS

1 The development of pastoral poetry in the east and the west...........................................3

1.1 Pastoral poetry in the east and the west................... ................................................3

1.2Achievements of Tao Y

uanming and William Wordsworth in pastoral poetry............4

2 Similarities between the pastoral poetry of Tao Yuanming and William Wordsworth......5

2.1 Ideology............... .................................................. .................................................. .5

2.2 Themes in pastoral poetry.......... .................................................. .............................5

.2.3 Language in pastoral poetry....... .................................................. ............................7

3 Differences between the pastoral poetry of Tao Yuanming and William Wordsworth.....8

3.1 Views of na ture.............................................. .................................................. ........8

3.2 Poetic conc eption............................................ .................................................. .......9

3.3 Ideological connotation .................................................. ........................................10

1

诗歌中的大自然——威廉·华兹华斯与陶渊明的田园诗对比

Although Tao Yuanming and William Wordsworth belong to different times and nations, they

do have the strong love for nature and rural life. They both choose the rural life to be their

poetry material (Di 197). Besides, they also have done a lot to the development of eastern and

western pastoral poetry and have great influence on those writers following them.

1 The development of pastoral poetry in the east and the west

1.1 Pastoral poetry in the east and west

In China, natural poetry is a very salient verse form. Several thousand years ago, in Pre-Qin

Dynasty, those poets had discovered the beauty of nature, such as:

Book of Songs

and

Chu Ci

,

all of which were written based on natural landscape and also were the harbinger and bud of

Chinese natural poetry (P. Chen 240). Xie Linyun living in Jin and Song dynasties was the

first

poet

to

depict

natural

landscape.

He

had

written

many

natural

poems

with

unique

characters

and

made

people

realize

that

there

are

spacious

and

attractive

natural

poetry

in

addition to those poems expressing individual will. Almost in the same time, Tao Yuanming

was considered as the first poet to write pastoral poetry. The simultaneous appearance of Tao

Yuanming and Xie Linyun is the sign of the beginning of natural poetry. In Song Dynasty, the

development

of

natural

poetry

entered

into

a

new

good

times,

therefore,

many

excellent

naturalistic poets appeared at that time, such as: Wang Wei, Men Haoran, Li Bai, Du Fu and

so on, among which Wang Wei

and Tao Yuanming are the most representative poets in the

field of natural poetry.

Until the 18th century, western Europeans began to show the beauty of nature in their poems.

The

Seasons

Song

of

Thomson,

a

British

poet,

is

the

earliest

and

integrated

pastoral

poem

aiming

to

describe

natural

landscape.

Compared

with

China,

there

are

less

natural

poetry

chanting natural scenery and those poetry are more concentrated in the romantic movement

between the 18th and 19th century (Geoffrey). During that period, many significant pastoral

poets appeared such as: Wordsworth, Coleridge, etc and some romantic poets, such as: Byron,

Shelley and so on (Matthew). Until Middle Ages, people regarded the nature as a present of

God and thought human beings must revere the nature whatever it would turn into may be a

beautiful

paradise

or

a

frightful

hell.

At

first,

poets

in

Renaissance

indistinctly

realized

the

meaning of appreciating nature landscape. Then, the Enlightenment started to further pursuit

2

诗歌中的大自然——威廉·华兹华斯与陶渊明的田园诗对比

the

simple

and

primitive

nature.

And

until

the

appearance

of

romantic

literature

in

19th

century,

poets

began

to

create

abundant

natural

lyrics

and

expressed

their

strong

inherent

emotions in poems. Thus, nature had become the only flame burning and warming poets

’

soul.

1.2 Achievements of Tao Yuanming and William Wordsworth in pastoral poetry

In Chinese literature, the great reputation acquired by Tao Yuanming mainly ascribes itself to

his

excellent

pastoral

poetry

by

which

he

could

make

readers

understand

the

hard

living

conditions of peasantry at that time. It is his pastoral poetry with natural language and secular

conception

that

endows

Tao

Yuanming

ability

to

open

a

new

path

for

Chinese

poetry,

in

addition, also has a great influence on the pastoral genre of Tang Dynasty. Tao Yuanming has

written the most number of pastoral poems during his lifetime and enjoys the highest status in

this field. The most important ones

“

Five Poems of Returning to the life of Farmers

”

express

the

most

enthusiastic

feelings

for

the

quite

farm

life

and

unveil

poet

’

s

romantic

feelings

of

pursuing

freedom

and

admiring

nature.

Tao

Yuanming

resorted

to

the

Yuefu

folk

songs

’

tradition

and

meanwhile

he

also

remained

his

own

natural

and

simple

style

to

express

his

hatred for the reality and love for pastoral life. All these riches of immaterial culture heritages

have

turned

into

our

valuable

spiritual

treasure

and

have

a

great

impact

on

the

following

generations.

As a significant English romantic poem, William Wordsworth is regarded as one of the most

important

poet

after Shakespeare and Chancer in English literature

’

s

history. He brought

in

the English Romantic Movement and was considered as Lake Poet along with Samuel Taylor

Coleridge and Robert Southey. Likewise with

Lyrical Ballads

’

publication, Wordsworth was

given

the

honor

of

“

Poet

Laureate

”

.

Lyrical

Ballads

stands

for

the

origin

of

the

romantic

arrival

in

England.

William

Wordsworth

holds

the

view

that

the

nature

can

enlighten

the

fraternity and goodness of humanity and if one can keep company with nature for a long time,

he will find the true meaning of happiness. In those poetry describing the nature, Wordsworth

shows

a

kind

of

ardent

love

for

the

tranquility

of

pastoral

life,

such

as:

Tintern

Abbey

and

Daffodils

which

are

representative

works

of

Wordsworth.

He

is

used

to utilize

the

simplest

and most natural language to make elaborate description of natural landscape with astonishing

beauty, from the moon to the cloud and from the forest to the lake. There is no any stroke in

his

poem

without

mapping

a

piece

of

idyllic

paintings.

Wordsworth

seeks

a

piece

of

3

诗歌中的大自然——威廉·华兹华斯与陶渊明的田园诗对比

ultra-mundane path from nature in which there still remains a special kind of humanity and

beauty that can not be found in our real society.

2

Similarities

between

the

pastoral

poetry

of

Tao

Yuanming

and

William

Wordsworth

2.1 Ideology

As a far-reaching poet and essayist, Tao Yuanming has given great contribution to classical

literature,

especially his

pastoral

poetry

which has

opened up a new realm for the classical

poetry. Pastoral poetry originated from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, which is closely related to the

cultural

and

social

background

at

that

time.

During

the

Wei,

Jin

Dynasties

when

the

metaphysics

prevails

in

the

field

of

ideology,

due

to

the

rapid

development

of

maniacal

economy, those voracious

landlords began to

grab the land madly

and then turned the land

into

pastorals,

which

expedited

the

class

divisions

(G

.

Chen).

Therefore,

some

literati

who

were

disgruntled

the

reality

felt

their

career

would

be

full

of

barricades

and

made

up

their

mind to go back to the nature to get away from the loyal and live on their own depending on

cultivation. Tao Yuanming is an outstanding representative among those literati.

William Wordsworth was born in a layer family and educated at Cambridge. After graduating,

he had a trip to Europe where he experienced the storm of the French revolution by himself.

He had a kind of strong passion for the revolution, because he held the opinion claiming that

it is the French revolution that really embodied the perception of humanity and saved those

ordinary

persons

who

were

in

dire

straits

controlled

by

monarchy

system.

So

in

1800,

Wordsworth

elaborated

the

theory

of

romantic

poetry

minutely

in

the

preface

of

second

edition

of

Lyrical

Ballads

:

using

civil

language

to

depict

the

civilian

life,

thoughts

and

emotions;

emphasizing

that

poetry

should

be

related

to

individual

dreams

(Harold).

More

importantly, he insisted that poetry be a way for poets to vent their emotions and also be the

natural revelation of strong feelings. Just as he once said poetry was a kind of truth that strong

passion

sent

to

people

’

s

heart.

Under

the

influence

of

this

theory,

Wordsworth

paid

great

attention to the study of poetry subjects. From then on, there always exists the implication in

Wordsworth

’

s poetry depicting natural landscape and ordinary things.

2.2 Themes in pastoral poetry

4