英国文学20世纪总结

Break, Break, Break----

T

ennyson

“

冲激， 冲激，冲激

”

is a lyric poem that

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) was believed to have completed in 1834. It centers

on Tennyson's grief over the death of his best friend, Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet. Lyrical poetry presents the deep feelings and

emotions of the poet as opposed to poetry that tells a story or presents a witty observation.

A

lyric

poem

often

has

a

pleasing

musical

quality.

The

word

lyric

derives

from

the

Greek

word

for

lyre,

a

stringed

instrument in use since ancient times.

Rhyme Scheme and Meter

Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza have end rhyme. The meter in the poem varies, but the anapestic foot creates the musicality of the

poem.

Rhetorical

Devices

;Following

are

examples

of

figures

of

speech

and

other

rhetorical

devices

in

Break,

Break

Apostrophe (Lines 1 and 2):

The narrator addresses the sea.

Personification and metaphor also occur in Lines 1 and 2, for the poet regards the sea as a human being.

Alliteration (Line

8):

boat on the bay

(Lines 9-12):

Stanza 3 uses this figure of speech as follows:

And the stately ships go on

To their haven under the hill;

But O for the touch of a vanished hand,

And the sound of a voice that is still!

Alliteration (Line 15):

day that is dead

Repetend:

Line 13 repeats Line 1; Line 7 repeats the first two words of Line 5.

Paradox:

Touch of a vanished hand (Line 11), sound of a voice that is still (Line 12).

Themes

Grief

The

main

theme

is

bereavement,

heartache,

emptiness. In

the

narrator's

dark

hour

of

grief,

the sun

rises,

children laugh, business goes on as usual. How could the world be so cruel and unfeeling?

Summary

The

narrator

grieves

the

loss

of

his friend,

Arthur

Henry

Hallam,

a

promising

poet

and

essayist who

had

been

engaged to Tennyson's sister, Emily. Hallam died of a stroke in 1833 when he was only 22. Nature, of course, does not stop to

mourn the loss of anyone. Cold and indifferent, it carries on, the waves of the ocean breaking against rocks along the seashore

without pausing even for a moment. The rest of the world carries on as well: the fisherman's boy happily playing with his sis

ter,

the sailor merrily singing, the ship busily plying the waters of commerce. Downcast, isolated by his grief, the narrator yearns to

touch the hand of his friend once more, to hear the sound of his voice. But, no, Hallam is gone forever; his

ill

never again return.

Robert Browning

(1812-1889)

Works of Robert Browning

Pauline

(1833)

The Ring and the Book

(10 verse narratives, 1868)

My Last Duchess

(a dramatic monologue that explores the idea of possessive/distorted love) (1842)

《我已故的公爵夫人》

Porphyria‘s Lover

(a poem of love lust, and murder) (1836-42)

Home-Thoughts, from Abroad

(1845)

Bells and Pomeganates

(a series of his works,1841-46)

You

’

ll Love Me Yet

你终将爱我

Meeting at Night

《月夜相会》

Parting at Morning

《晨别》

The Ring and the Book

《指环与书》

Home Thoughts from Abroad

《异国相思》

Dramatic monologue

戏剧独白诗；

a type of poem in which a character, at some specific and critical moment, addresses an

identifiable but silent audience, thereby unintentionally revealing his or her essential temperament and personality

Browning?

s

dramatic

monologue

:

the

poet

is

neutral

&

the

speaker

is

independent

–

the

poem

becomes

more

dramatic

involving often different layers of meaning, & the poet?s intention is often vague with their envelope –

“implied author”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

；

major works are

Sonnet from the Portuguese

and

The Cry of Children.

Unlike Tennyson who felt melancholy in the process of his spiritual search, Browning was always optimistic. He, like Tennyson,

also preached God and Immortality, but he looked boldly at the evils in human beings without losing faith

Similarities-- Preached God and Immortality

Differences

；

Tennyson--felt melancholy

。

Browning-- optimistic

Browning?s poetry features

：

Frequent use of “Dramatic monologue” is the most important feature of his poe

try

.

Not

easy

to

understand. The rhythms

of

his

poetry

are

often too

fast

too rough

and

unmusical .The syntax

（句法结构）

is

usually c

lipped and highly compressed. The allusions(

典故

) and implications(

含意

) are sometimes odd and farfetched

（不着

边际的）

.All this makes up his obscurity (

晦涩难懂

).

His poetic style belongs to the twentieth century rather than to the Victorian age. The rough grotesque and disproportionate(

不

成比例的

) appearance, the non-poetic jarring(

刺耳的，不和谐的

) diction and the clumsy rhythms fit marvellously a life that is

just as imperfect and incongruous (

不协调的，不合适

)

In general, Browning?s poems are supposed to keep them alert, thoughtful and enlightened.

My Last Duchess

?

The poem provides a classic example of a dramatic monologue:

?

the speaker is clearly distinct from the poet;

?

an audience is suggested but never appears in the poem;

?

and the revelation of the Duke's character is the poem's primary aim.

This is one of the best known of Browning?s dramatic monologues. The speaker in this poem is apparently a certain duk

e

of Ferrara, a northern Italian city near V

enice. This feudal(

封建的

) ruler who had ruthlessly put to death his first wife (last

duchess

)is

negotiating

with

an

envoy

(

媒人

)from

a

certain

count

for

the

hand

of

the

count?s

daughter,

and

in

this

monologue the duke is represented as trying to tell the envoy very frankly abou

t his “lass duchess”, whose portrait(

画像

)

they had been looking at in the course of the interview. Here the heartlessness and barbaric

（野蛮的）

cruelty of a despotic

（暴虐的）

ruler

of

early

Renaissance Italy

is

very

vividly

pictured,

though

the

poet?s censure

（责难）

on the

highly

refined tyrant

（专制统治）

seems to be lost in the ample

（充足的）

humor throughout the poem.

My Last Duchess is written in

heroic couplets

（英雄体双行诗）

, but most of the lines being “run

-

on” lines and the

riming syllables

（音节）

often getting little or no stress, the metrical

（

有节奏的）

effect of the poem almost resembles that

of blank verse.

Somewhere it was called

rhyming pentameter(

押韵的五音部

)

.

Form

：

Rhyme Scheme: iambic pentameter

The

lines

do

not

employ

end; rather,

they

use

enjambment,

where

sentences

and

other

grammatical

units

do

not

necessarily

conclude at the end of lines.

Consequently, the rhymes do not create a sense of closure when they come.

This poem depicts the themes of love, relationships and possessions.

Rhyme Scheme

：

Browning uses many techniques, including a simple rhyme scheme, enjambment, and caesura to convey various characteristics

and qualities .

Browning uses an AA

BB rhyme scheme, which is very common to ballads and songs.

Browninesque dramatic monologue has 3 requirements:

The reader takes the part of the silent listener.

The speaker uses a case-making, argumentative tone.

We complete the dramatic scene from within, by means of inference and imagination.

Themes

；

Arrogance

；

The theme is the arrogant, authoritarian mindset of a proud Renaissance duke, who says,

to stoop

words.

Women as Mere Objects

；

Several lines in the poem suggest that the duke had treated his wife as a mere object. He expected her

to be beautiful to look at, but little more. But the duchess was human; she had faults. When the duke became annoyed by them

and by her smiling face, he

In other words, he apparently ordered her to be killed. The word

“last”

in the title suggests that the young woman in the portrait

was not the duke's first wife. One wonders whether his previous wife (or wives) met the same fate and whether his next duchess

will end up like his

Conclusions:

Robert Browning was one of the most recognized and respected poets of his times. The V

ictorian period that he

lived in and his upbringing(

教养

) made him the dramatic and intelligent poet that

he was. His most famous types of poetry

were

his

lyrical(

热情奔放

的

;

抒情般的

)and

romantic

poems.

Browning

influenced

poetic

society

with

his

dramatic

monologues, long poems, and silent listeners techniques. He can be compared to Elizabeth

Barrett browning and Alfred lord

Tennyson,

other

literary

figures

of the

time.

Therefore,

because

of

Browning?s

unique

and

sometimes

absurd

poetry

. People

have been fascinated with his writing and still are today.

Browning?s Inf

luence

：

Much of Robert Browning's legacy to poets writing after him in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries