第4單元　17世紀英國詩人

4.1　復習筆記

1John Donne （1572-1631） （約翰·鄧恩）

(1) Life （生平）

John Donne, a most brilliant poet in the early years of 17th century, was born into a prosperous merchant family. He studied both at Oxford and Cambridge, but left without taking a degree because of his Roman Catholic background.

In 1598, Donne became private secretary to Sir Thomas Edgerton, the eminent Lord Keeper of the Great Seal （掌璽大臣）. His great prospects of the worldly success were ruined by his secret marriage with lady Egerton’s niece, Ann More in 1601. For over ten years from then on, Donne had been working hard, fighting against poverty. In 1615, after a final attempt at secular preferment, John Donne entered the Anglican Church and took orders. Donne was appointed the Dean of St. Paul’s in 1621 and kept that post until his death.

John Donne is the founder of the Metaphysical school of poetry. He lived and wrote during the succeeding reigns of Elizabeth, James I and Charles Ⅰ.

約翰·鄧恩，17世紀最偉大詩人，出生于一個富商家庭。他先后在牛津和劍橋大學學習，但由于他的天主教背景，均未獲得學位。1598年，鄧恩被任命為掌璽大臣伊格頓爵士的私人秘書。1601年，他秘密同伊格頓夫人的侄女結婚，并因此獲罪，并開始了他的貧困生活。1615年，成為王室牧師，1621年出任倫敦圣保羅大教堂教長。

約翰·鄧恩是玄學派的創(chuàng)始人。他經(jīng)歷了伊麗莎白女王，詹姆斯一世和查理一世的統(tǒng)治。

(2) Categories of Donne’s Poems （詩歌分類）

His poems can be divided into two categories: the youthful love lyrics, published after his death as Songs and Sonnets in 1633, and the later sacred verses, published in 1624 as Devotions upon Emergent Occasions.

他的詩歌可分為兩大類：青年愛情詩，代表作為他死后1633年發(fā)表的《歌與十四行詩》；和后期的宗教詩歌《突變引起的誠念》，于1624年發(fā)表。

(3) Major Works （主要作品）

Songs and Sonnets 《歌與十四行詩》

Elegies 《挽歌集》

Holy Sonnets 《圣十四行詩》

(4) Selected works （作品選讀）

◆The Flea《跳蚤》

This is a poem by John Donne in which he tries to persuade his female partner to make love to him. He uses a flea and the way it sucks both their bloods to try to convince the girl that it is not sinful to unit their bodies in the sexual act.

這是鄧恩被收錄最多的詩篇之一。詩作以詩人向情人求愛的說話體寫成，語氣富有調侃，比附出乎通常想象，推理和結論也超乎意料，典型反映了鄧恩式的奇想。

◆Holy Sonnet 10《圣十四行詩之10》

The sonnet takes the oblique reasoning and topsy-turvy symbolism of Donne’s metaphysical love poems and applies them to a religious theme, treating the personified figure of Death as someone not worthy of awe or terror but of contempt. Donne charts a line of reasoning that explores a different idea in each quatrain. His Holy Sonnet 10 reveals his belief in life after death. Death is momentarily while happiness after death is eternal.

這是一首意大利體的十四行詩。詩的起句突兀，表達了對死神的嘲笑和蔑視。死亡是人生的終結，許多人對死亡表現(xiàn)出極度的恐懼，把死亡同黑暗的地獄聯(lián)系在一起。然而，在多恩看來，死亡并沒有什么可怕之處。他把死亡看作睡眠，看作是通向“永遠覺醒”的必經(jīng)之路。死亡只是從有限的生命通向永恒的過程。

(5) Features of Donne’s Poems （詩歌特點）

Donne is a poet of peculiar conceits. In his poetry, sensuality is blended with philosophy, passion with intellect. But Donne is not only an analytical sensualist. His later poems are also touched with profound religious thoughts.

作品中充滿奇思妙喻。鄧恩的詩歌將感官享受和哲理，激情和智慧混合在一起。但他不僅是一位感官分析者，他后期的詩歌也觸及到深刻的宗教思想。

2Milton （1608-1674） （彌爾頓）

(1) Life （生平）

John Milton is the third greatest English poet after Chaucer and Shakespeare, and the greatest to emerge in the 17th century.

Born into a pious wealthy Puritan family, he had enjoyed the sweetest and the most sheltered period of adolescence of all. He retired to his father’s country house at Horton, rejecting working in the church after graduating from Cambridge University and subjected himself to a rigorous reading plan which covered Greek, Latin, and Italian classics, and Christian mythology. In 1652, he lost his sight. Milton was against monarchy. After he was thrown in prison and released by the domineering king Charles II, he began living a poor, lonely and dark life. During this phase, Milton completed his Paradise Lost (1667), Paradise Regained (1671), and a tragedy, Samson Agonistes (1671). In his last years he suffered more and more from gout （痛風） and he died of it in 1674.

約翰·彌爾頓是繼喬叟和莎士比亞之后英國第三位偉大的詩人，也是17世紀最偉大的作家。

彌爾頓出生在富裕、虔誠的清教徒家庭，擁有最甜蜜、最受庇護的青春時光。劍橋大學畢業(yè)后，他拒絕在教堂工作，退隱到他父親在霍頓的鄉(xiāng)間住所完成自己制定的嚴格的讀書計劃，所讀內(nèi)容涵蓋希臘、拉丁和意大利經(jīng)典著作和基督教神學。1652年，他完全失明。彌爾頓一直反對君主政體，王朝復辟時，因此入獄。獲釋后一直過著貧困、孤獨黑暗的生活，這一時期他創(chuàng)作了《失樂園》、《復樂園》和《力士參孫》。晚年他飽受痛風之苦，逝于1674年。

(2) Life Periods （生平階段）

His life can be roughly divided into three phases: from 1620 to 1638, the early phase of reading and lyric writing; from 1640-1660, the middle phase of service in the Bourgeois Revolution and pamphleteering; the last also the greatest phase of epic writing, from 1660-1674.

他的一生大致分為三個階段：早期（1620-1638），閱讀和抒情詩寫作階段；中期（1640-1660），支持資產(chǎn)階級革命，宣傳冊階段；晚期（1660-1674），最重要的史詩寫作階段。

(3) Major Works of Milton （主要作品）

“Areopagitica” （1644） 《論出版自由》

Paradise Lost （1667） 《失樂園》

Paradise Regained （1671） 《復樂園》

Samson Agonistes （1671） 《力士參孫》

(4) Selected Works （選讀作品）

◆Paradise Lost《失樂園》

A. Main Plot （主要情節(jié)）

Paradise Lost is Milton’s masterpiece. It is a long epic in 12 books, written in blank verse. The stories were taken from the Old Testament: the creation; the rebellion in Heaven of Satan and his fellow-angels; their defeat and expulsion from Heaven; the creation of the earth and of Adam and Eve; the fallen angels in hell plotting against God; Satan’s temptation of Eve; and the departure of Adam and Eve from Eden.

《失樂園》是彌爾頓的杰作。它是一首用無韻體寫的長達12卷的史詩。故事取材《舊經(jīng)》，內(nèi)容包括：創(chuàng)世紀；撒旦和天使同伴在天堂反叛；撒旦失敗并被逐出天堂；大地及亞當和夏娃的創(chuàng)造；地獄中的墮落天使陰謀反抗上帝；撒旦誘惑夏娃偷吃禁果；亞當和夏娃離開伊甸園。

B. Theme and Characterization （主題和人物刻畫）

The main idea of the poem is a revolt against God’s authority. In the poem, God is just a selfish despot, seated upon a throne with a chorus of silly angels eternally singing his praises. Satan, though defeated, still sought revenge, is the most striking character in the poem. Though feebler in force, he remains superior in nobility, since he prefers independence to happy servility. Satan is the spirit of questioning the authority of God. Adam and Eve embody Milton’s belief in the powers of man. Their craving for knowledge adds a particular significance to their characters.

The picture of God surrounded by his angels, who never think of expressing any opinions of their own, resembles the court of an absolute monarch, while Satan and his followers, who freely discuss all issues in council, bear resemblance to a republican Parliament.

詩歌的主題是對上帝權威的反叛。上帝被描繪成自私的專制者，總是高坐在王位上，身邊一群永久大唱贊詞的愚蠢的天使。然而撒旦，雖然戰(zhàn)敗，但總是想著報復，卻給人留下深刻印象。雖然力量不敵上帝，但他不愿卑躬屈膝，喜歡獨立自主，他代表了反上帝權威的精神。亞當和夏娃是彌爾頓對人類力量信仰的化身。他們對知識的渴望使其人物性格更具重要性。

詩中眾多不敢發(fā)表自己意見的天使圍繞著上帝的畫面，和撒旦和他的反叛天使朋友們一起暢所欲言的畫面形成鮮明對比，被認為是專制君主統(tǒng)治的王庭和共和議會的象征。

(5) Brief Summary of Milton （彌爾頓小結）

① Milton was political in both his life and his art.

② Milton wrote the greatest epic in English literature. He and Shakespeare have always been regarded as two patterns of English verse.

③ Milton is a master of the blank verse. He first used blank verse in non-dramatic works.

④ Milton is a great stylist. He is famous for his grand style, which is the result of his lifelong classical and biblical study.

⑤ Milton has always been admired for his sublimity of thought and majesty of expression.

① 彌爾頓生活和藝術中都具政治性。

② 彌爾頓創(chuàng)作了英國文學上最偉大的史詩。他和莎士比亞總是被視為英國詩歌的兩個類型。

③ 彌爾頓是無韻體大師。他率先將無韻體運用到非戲劇作品中。

④ 彌爾頓是偉大的文體學家。他以其高雅的文體著稱，這得益于他終生對經(jīng)典和圣經(jīng)作品的研究。

⑤ 彌爾頓向來以思想高深和表達氣勢宏偉著稱。