ElegyWritteninaCountryChurchyard赏析.docx

1、ElegyWritteninaCountryChurchyard赏析Elegy Written in a Country ChurchyardBy Thomas Gray (1716-1771)1. Type of Work Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard isas the title indicatesan elegy. Such a poem centers on the death of a person or persons and is, therefore, somber in tone. An elegy is lyrical rath

2、er than narrativethat is, its primary purpose is to express feelings and insights about its subject rather than to tell a story. Typically, an elegy expresses feelings of loss and sorrow while also praising the deceased and commenting on the meaning of the deceaseds time on earth. Grays poem reflect

3、s on the lives of humble and unheralded未为人所知的people buried in the cemetery 墓地of a church.2. Setting （time and place）The time is the mid 1700s, about a decade before the Industrial Revolution began in England. The place is the cemetery of a church. Evidence indicates that the church is St. Giles, in

4、the small town of Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, in southern England. Gray himself is buried in that cemetery. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, once maintained a manor 领地house at Stoge Poges.3. Years of Composition and Publication Gray began writing the elegy in 1742, put it aside for a whi

5、le, and finished it in 1750. Robert Dodsley published the poem in London in 1751. Revised or altered versions of the poem appeared in 1753, 1758, 1768, and 1775. Copies of the various versions are on the Thomas Gray Archive at Oxford University. 4. Meter 节拍and Rhyme 韵律Scheme Gray wrote the poem in f

6、our-line stanzas (quatrains). Each line is in iambic pentameter, meaning the following:1. Each line has five pairs of syllables for a total of ten syllables.2. In each pair, the first syllable is unstressed (or unaccented), and the second is stressed (or accented), as in the two lines that open the

7、poem:The CUR few TOLLS the KNELL of PART ing DAY The LOW ing HERD wind SLOW ly OER the LEAIn each stanza, the first line rhymes with the third and the second line rhymes with the fourth (abab), as follows:aThe curfew tolls the knell of parting day, bThe lowing herd wind slowly oer the lea, aThe plow

8、man homeward plods his weary way, bAnd leaves the world to darkness and to me.晚钟响起来一阵阵给白昼报丧，牛群在草原上迂回，吼声起落，耕地人累了，回家走，脚步踉跄，把整个世界给了黄昏与我。5. Stanza Form: Heroic Quatrain英雄体四行诗A stanza with the above-mentioned characteristics four lines, iambic pentameter, and an abab rhyme scheme is often referred to as

9、a heroic quatrain. (Quatrain is derived from the Latin word quattuor, meaning four.) William Shakespeare and John Dryden had earlier used this stanza form. After Grays poem became famous, writers and critics also began referring to the heroic quatrain as an elegiac stanza.6. Complete Poem With Expla

10、natory Notes Stanza 1 1. The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 2. The lowing herd wind slowly oer the lea, 3. The plowman homeward plods his weary way, 4. And leaves the world to darkness and to me. Notes(1) Curfew: ringing bell in the evening that reminded people in English towns of Grays time

11、 to put out fires and go to bed. (2) Knell: mournful sound. (3) Parting day: days end; dying day; twilight; dusk. (4) Lowing: mooing. (5) Oer: contraction for over. (6) Lea: meadow. Stanza 2 5. Now fades the glimmring landscape on the sight, 6. And all the air a solemn stillness holds, 7.Save where

12、the beetle wheels his droning flight, 8. And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds. Notes (1) Line 5: The landscape becomes less and less visible. (2) Sight . . . solemn stillness . . . save: alliteration. (3) Save: except. (4) Beetle: winged insect that occurs in more than 350,000 varieties. One

13、type is the firefly, or lightning bug. (5) Wheels: verb meaning flies in circles. (6) Droning: humming; buzzing; monotonous sound. (7) Drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds: This clause apparently refers to the gentle sounds made by a bell around the neck of a castrated male sheep that leads other

14、 sheep. A castrated male sheep is called a wether. Such a sheep with a bell around its neck is called a bellwether. Folds is a noun referring to flocks of sheep. (8) Tinklings: onomatopoeia. Stanza 3 9. Save that from yonder ivy-mantled towr 10. The moping owl does to the moon complain 11. Of such,

15、as wandring near her secret bowr, 12. Molest her ancient solitary reign. Notes (1) Save: except. (2) Yonder: distant; remote. (3) Ivy-mantled: cloaked, dressed, or adorned with ivy. (4) Moping: gloomy; grumbling. (5) Of such: of anything or anybody. (6) Bowr: bower, an enclosure surrounded by plant

16、growthin this case, ivy. (7) Molest her ancient solitary reign: bother the owl while it keeps watch over the churchyard and countryside. (8) Her ancient solitary rein: metaphor comparing the owl to a queen. Stanza 4 13. Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-trees shade, 14. Where heaves the turf in ma

17、ny a mouldring heap, 15. Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, 16. The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. Notes(1) Where heaves the turf: anastrophe, a figure of speech that inverts the normal word order (the turf heaves). (2) Mouldring: mouldering (British), moldering (American), an adjective m

18、eaning decaying, crumbling. (3) Cell: metaphor comparing a grave to a prison cell. (4) Rude: robust; sturdy; hearty; stalwart. (5) Hamlet: village.Stanza 5 17. The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, 18.The swallow twittring from the straw-built shed, 19. The cocks shrill clarion, or the echoing

19、horn, 20. No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. Notes(1) Breezy call of incense-breathing Morn: wind carrying the pleasant smells of morning, including dewy grass and flowers. Notice that Morn is a metaphor comparing it to a living creature. (It calls and breathes.) (2) Swallow: Insect-eati

20、ng songbird that likes to perch. (3) Clarion: cock-a-doodle-doo. (4) Echoing horn: The words may refer to the sound made by a fox huntsman who blows a copper horn to which pack hounds respond. Stanza 6 21. For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, 22. Or busy housewife ply her evening care: 23

21、. No children run to lisp their sires return, 24. Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. Notes(1) hearth . . . housewife . . . her: alliteration. (2) Climb his knees the envied kiss to share: anastrophe, a figure of speech that inverts the normal word order (to share the envied kiss). Stanza 7

22、 25. Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, 26. Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; 27. How jocund did they drive their team afield! 28. How bowd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke! Notes(1) Sickle: Harvesting tool with a handle and a crescent-shaped blade. Field hands swing it fro

23、m right to left to cut down plant growth. (2) Furrow: channel or groove made by a plow for planting seeds. (3) Glebe: earth. (4) Jocund: To maintain the meter, Gray uses an adjective when the syntax call for an adverb, jocundly. Jocund (pronounced JAHK und) means cheerful. Stanza 8 29. Let not Ambit

24、ion mock their useful toil, 30. Their homely joys, and destiny obscure; 31. Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile 32. The short and simple annals of the poor. Notes(1) Ambition: Personification referring to the desire to succeed or to ambitious people seeking lofty goals. (2) Destiny obscure: th

25、e humble fate of the common people; their unheralded deeds. (3) Lines 29-30: anastrophe, a figure of speech that inverts the normal word order (let not Ambition obscure their destiny and homely joys). (4) Grandeur: personification referring to people with wealth, social standing, and power. (5) Anna

26、ls: historical records; story. Stanza 9 33. The boast of heraldry, the pomp of powr, 34. And all that beauty, all that wealth eer gave, 35. Awaits alike th inevitable hour. 36. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Notes(1) Boast of heraldry: Proud talk about the aristocratic or noble roots of o

27、nes family; snobbery. Heraldry was a science that traced family lines of royal and noble personages and designed coats of arms for them. (2) Pomp: ceremonies, rituals, and splendid surroundings of nobles and royals. (3) Pomp of powr: alliteration. (4) Eer: ever. General meaning of stanza: Every pers

28、onno matter how important, powerful, or wealthyends up the same, dead. Stanza 10 37. Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, 38. If Memry oer their tomb no trophies raise, 39. Where thro the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault 40. The pealing anthem swells the note of praise. Notes (1) Impute:

29、Assign, ascribe. (2) Memry: Memory, a personification referring to memorials, commemorations, and tributes including statues, headstones, and epitaphs used to preserve the memory of important or privileged people. (3) Where thro . . . the note of praise: Reference to the interior of a church housing

30、 the tombs of important people. Fretted vault refers to a carved or ornamented arched roof or ceiling. (4) Pealing anthem may refer to lofty organ music. Stanza 11 41. Can storied urn or animated bust 42. Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? 43. Can Honours voice provoke the silent dust, 44

31、. Or Flattry soothe the dull cold ear of Death? Notes(1) Storied urn: Vase adorned with pictures telling a story. Urns have sometimes been used to hold the ashes of a cremated body. (2) Bust: sculpture of the head, shoulders, and chest of a human. (3) Storied urn . . . breath? Can the soul (fleeting

32、 breath) be called back to the body (mansion) by the urn or bust back? Notice that urn and bust are personifications that call. (4) Can Honours . . . Death? Can honor (Honours voice) attributed to the dead person cause that person (silent dust) to come back to life? Can flattering words (Flattry) about the dead person make death more bearable? (5) Gen