Lecture 9 William wordsworth

nullnull William Wordsworth （1770-1850）Teaching ProcedureTeaching ProcedureI. English Romanticism II. William Wordsworth I. English Romanticism I. English Romanticism Romanticism appeared in England at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries under the impetus of the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. null It prevailed in England during the period of 1798-1832, beginning with the publication of Lyrical Ballads (1798) by Wordsworth and Coleridge, ending with Walter Scott’s death. null The romanticists were discontent with the development of capitalism. But owing to different social and political attitudes, the romanticists show their different tendencies. null Some romantic writers reflected the thinking of classes ruined by the bourgeoisie, and protest against capitalist development turned to the feudal past. These were the elder generation of romanticists, including Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey. null Others expressed the aspirations of the classes created by capitalism and held on an ideal, though a vague one, of a future society free from oppression and exploitation. These were the younger generation of romanticists represented by Byron, Shelley and Keats. backgroundbackgroundThree revolutions: American and French revolutions, national liberation, democratic movements Rousseau: return to nature, Edmund Burke: smallness, elegance, smoothness, imagination, sublimity Thomas Paine: man has no property in man. Characteristic features of the romantic movementCharacteristic features of the romantic movementSubjectivism Spontaneity Singularity Worship of nature Simplicity Melancholy Passion II. William WordsworthII. William WordsworthLife Major Works Poetic Principles Analyses of His Poems Life (1770-1850) Life (1770-1850)Birthplace Cockermouth, Cumberland, in the Lake District. Orphanage at the age of 14. Education was educated at Cambridge University.nullTraveling traveled in France and Switzerland. Marriage married Mary Hutchinson in 1802. Honor became Poet Laureate in 1843. Death died of pneumonia. William Wordsworth’s BirthplaceWilliam Wordsworth’s BirthplaceDove Cottage His first home in the lakesDove Cottage His first home in the lakesnullRydal Mount and Gardens (His most beloved home)2.2 Major Works2.2 Major Works“Lyrical Ballads” 《抒情歌谣集》“The Prelude” 《序曲》“The ‘Lucy Poems’” 《露西组诗》 2.3 Wordsworth’s Poetic Principles 2.3 Wordsworth’s Poetic Principles“All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” Poetry “takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility (平静中回忆起来的情感).” nullNature inspires poetry. The function of poetry lies in its power to give an unexpected splendor to familiar and commonplace things. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” 《我好似一朵流云独自漫游》 “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” 《我好似一朵流云独自漫游》Question: What is the relation between the poet and nature as described in the poem?nullnullI wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, 我好似一朵孤独的流云 在山丘和谷地上飘荡, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils: 忽然间我看见一簇, 一大片金灿灿的水仙: Stanza OnenullWhile wandering like a cloud, the speaker happens upon daffodils fluttering in a breeze on the shore of a lake, beneath trees. Daffodils are plants in the lily family with yellow flowers and a crown shaped like a trumpet.. null Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 在树荫下，在湖水边, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 在阵阵微风中翩翩起舞。 Rhyme: a b a b c cStanza TwoStanza TwoContinuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, 连绵不绝，如繁星灿烂 在银河里闪闪发光， They stretched in a never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: 它们沿着湖湾的边缘 延伸成无穷无尽的一行：nullThe daffodils stretch all along the shore. Because there are so many of them, they remind the speaker of the Milky Way, the galaxy that scientists say contains about one trillion stars, including the sun. The speaker humanizes the daffodils when he says they are engaging in a dance. null Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 我一眼看见了一万朵， Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. 在欢舞之中起伏颠簸。 Lively, full of energynull The waves beside them danced; but they Outdid the sparkling waves in glee; 粼粼波光也在跳着舞 水仙的欢欣却胜过水波； A poet could not but be gay; In such a jocund company; 与这样快活的伴侣为伍 诗人怎能不满心欢乐！ Stanza Threenull I gazed—and gazed—but little thought 我久久凝望，却想象不到 What wealth the show to me had brought: 这奇景赋予我多少财宝— the show to me had brought the show brought to me. anastrophe（倒置法） nullIn their gleeful fluttering and dancing, the daffodils outdo the rippling waves of the lake. But the poet does not at this moment fully appreciate the happy sight before him. In the last line of the stanza, Wordsworth uses anastrophe（倒置法）, writing the show to me had brought instead of the show brought to me. Anastrophe is an inversion of the normal word order. nullnull For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, 每当我躺在床上不眠， 或心神空茫，或默默沉思， They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude, 它们常在心灵中闪现 那是孤独中的福祉， Stanza FournullNot until the poet later muses about what he saw does he fully appreciate the cheerful sight of the dancing daffodils. Wordsworth again uses anastrophe, writing when on my couch I lie and my heart with pleasure fills. null And then my heart with pleasure fills, 于是我的心便涨满了幸福 And dances with the daffodils. 和水仙一同翩翩起舞。 Rhymed Stanzas in Iambic TetrameterRhymed Stanzas in Iambic TetrameterThe rhyme scheme is simple: ABABCC. The last two lines of each stanza rhyme like the end of a Shakespeare sonnet, so each stanza feels independent and self-sufficient. This is called a "rhyming couplet." There aren't even any slant rhymes to trick you. Here's the first stanza with the rhyme scheme labeled:nullI wandered lonely as a Cloud (A) That floats on high o'er vales and Hills, (B) When all at once I saw a crowd, (A) A host, of golden Daffodils; (B) Beside the Lake, beneath the trees, (C) Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. (C)nullThe meter is iambic tetrameter, which just means that each line has four ("tetra") iambs. An iamb is a short, unaccented syllable followed by a longer, accented syllable. I wan|-dered lone|-ly as | a cloud That floats | on high | o’er vales | and hills.Speaker Point of View Speaker Point of View Who is the speaker, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?nullThe speaker is a lonely poet who has learned how to keep himself company by viewing nature as "peopled" by things. The first two lines make him sound almost like the cliché ['kli:ʃei] ( 陈词滥调，老生常谈)of a Romantic poet: his sensitive and intelligent nature puts him so far above everyone and everything else that he can’t help but feel a noble loneliness. He lives in a rural area and likes to take long walks by himself, which isn’t exactly the best cure for loneliness.. nullFortunately, the speaker doesn’t stay in this funk(畏缩) for long. He has a vibrant（充满生气的） imagination, and can create the effect of having people around him without actually having people around himnullWe know that the speaker is a poet because he tells us so in line 15. He speaks in the third person, but we know he’s talking about himself. Also, we have the sense that this poet takes nature to be almost a religion, and he brings intense focus and attention with his "gaze" on nature. He also has an "inward," spiritual eye that seems more powerful (or at least equally powerful) than his regular vision The Daffodils (Dance, Dance Revolution) Symbol AnalysisThe Daffodils (Dance, Dance Revolution) Symbol AnalysisLines 3-4: The daffodils are personified as a crowd of people. This personification will continue throughout the poem. Lines 6: Daffodils cannot actually "dance," so Wordsworth is ascribing to them an action that is associated with people.nullLine 9: The speaker says that the line of daffodils is "never-ending," but we know this can’t be strictly true: all good things come to an end. This is an example of hyperbole, or exaggeration. Lines 12: The personification of the daffodils becomes more specific. The "heads" of the daffodils are the part of the flower with the petals. It is larger and heavier than the stem, and so it bobs in a breeze. (When you think about it, it’s kind of amazing how flowers support themselves at all.)nullLines 13-14: The waves also get in on some of the dancing (and personification) action, but the daffodils are not to be out-done – they are happier than the waves. Lines 21-24: Wordsworth imagines the daffodils in his spiritual vision, for which he uses the metaphor of an "inward eye." His heart dances like a person, too. daffodildaffodilIn "I wandered lonely as a Cloud," the daffodils are like little yellow people who keep the speaker company when he is feeling lonely. The happiness of the daffodils can always cheer him up, and he can tell that they are happy because they dance. Some variation of the word "dance" occurs in each of the four stanzas. Also, the speaker is taken aback by how many daffodils there are. We often think of daffodils as a flower that people plant in their gardens in the springtime, so it would be surprising to come upon thousands of them by an isolated lake. Questions About HappinessQuestions About HappinessWhy do you think the speaker is lonely at the beginning of the poem? How can he tell that the daffodils are "happy"? Why do we think that some objects are happy and others (like a cloud) are not? Do you think that the happiness the speaker experiences when remembering the daffodils is as powerful as the original experience? nullIf thinking about the daffodils makes the speaker happy, then why is he in "vacant" and "pensive" moods so often? Couldn’t he just think about the flowers all the time? Or is it not that easy?Theme of Happiness Theme of Happiness It makes you feel good about life. It says that even when you are by yourself and lonely and missing your friends, you can use your imagination to fine new friends in the world around you. As John Milton famously wrote, "The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven." The speaker of this poem makes a heaven out of a windy day and a bunch of daffodils. His happiness does not last forever – he’s not that unrealistic – but the daffodils give him a little boost of joy whenever he needs it, like recharging his batteries.Questions About Man and the Natural WorldQuestions About Man and the Natural World Do you think there’s something noble about the speaker's loneliness if it resembles nature’s loneliness? Why would any part of nature be lonely? How did those daffodils all get on that one bank of the river? Does the speaker believe that the flowers make as good company as people? How much does the speaker’s mood depend on nature, and how much does his perception of nature depend on his mood? Theme of Man and the Natural WorldTheme of Man and the Natural World Wordsworth is the granddaddy of all nature poets, and he’s in top form in "I wandered lonely as a Cloud." In her journal entry about the day in question, Wordsworth's sister Dorothy wrote about their surprise at finding so many daffodils in such a strange place, next to a lake and under some trees. "How’d those get there?" she wondered, even guessing that maybe the seeds floated across the lake. The event is one of the minor miracles that nature produces all the time, as anyone who has seen the documentary Planet Earth or the Disney movie Earth knows. Wordsworth’s nature is full of life and vitality. He appreciates its wildness and unpredictability, but he humanizes the landscape and fits it to his own mind.Theme of Spirituality Theme of Spirituality The 19th century Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle coined the phrase "natural supernaturalism," which has been used by later critics to describe how the Romantic poets, and especially Wordsworth, viewed the natural world as a spiritual realm. The idea is that Heaven comes down to earth and is viewed as part of the world. This poem illustrates the principle of natural supernaturalism. The daffodils are like angels and twinkling stars, and the "bliss" of heaven occurs in speaker’s imagination. He uses Christian ideas and images to make an ode to nature without any reference to God.Questions About Spirituality Questions About Spirituality Do you agree with us that the daffodils are compared to angels or at least angelic beings? What is the evidence for and against this argument? What is the effect of all the shining and twinkling that occurs in the poem? What is the "inward eye"? Is the word "eye" just a metaphor, or does the speaker mean it literally in some sense? How would you describe the relationship between the earth and the sky/air/atmosphere in the poem? Which realm do the daffodils belong to? I wandered lonely as a Cloud (Daffodils) Theme of Memory and the Past The Lake Poets The Lake Poets The Lake Poets refer to Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey, who had lived in the lake district in the northwestern part of England and shared a community of literary and social outlook in their work. The Lake PoetsThe Lake PoetsThe three main figures of what has become known as the Lakes School are William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey. They were associated with several other poets and writers, including Dorothy Wordsworth, Charles Lloyd, Hartley Coleridge, John Wilson, and Thomas De Quincey. “Lyrical Ballads” “Lyrical Ballads” The publication of the “Lyrical Ballads” marked the break with classicism, and the beginning of the Romantic revival in England. The Preface to the “Lyrical Ballads” served as the manifesto of the English Romantic Movement in poetry. null Thank You !