美国诗歌选修12周殖民地时期+浪漫主义早期.pptVIP

Selected Readings of British American Poetry Lecture 12 : American Poetry in the Colonial and Early Romantic Period Colonial period poetry Philip Freneau (1752-1832) 1. Regarded as “the Farther of American Poetry”/ study in Princeton University and a roommate of James Madison (4th president of the US)/ career as a poet began during college period. Colonial period poetry 2. From 1776 to 1778, he was offer a position of secretary in the West Indies, where he became interested in the romance of the past and the natural beauty of American country and wrote a large group of lyrical works, among them, “The Wild Honey Suckle” is considered the best. The Wild Honey Suckle Fair flower, that dost so comely grow,Hid in this silent, dull retreat,Untouch’d thy honey’d blossoms blow,Unseen thy little branches greet; No roving foot shall crush thee here, No busy hand provoke a tear.By Natures self in white array’d,She bade thee shun the vulgar eye,And planted here the guardian shade,And sent soft waters murmuring by; Thus quietly thy summer goes, Thy days declining to repose. Smit with those charms, that must decay,I grieve to see your future doom;They died--nor were those flowers more gay,The flowers that did in Eden bloom; Unpitying frosts, and Autumns power Shall leave no vestige of this flower.From morning suns and evening dewsAt first thy little being came:If nothing once, you nothing lose,For when you die you are the same; The space between, is but an hour, The frail duration of a flower.  Analysis The first stanza shows readers a contradictory of the retreat status of the wild honey suckle: the flower is designed with beauty and well protected in solitude, whereas its beauty might be admired by few. The 2nd stanza depicts the flower’s relationship with nature. From the words like “array, bid, plant and send” this point is clearly shown, which is the nature’s kindness.