第4单元　17世纪英国诗人

4.1　复习笔记

1John Donne （1572-1631） （约翰·邓恩）

(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 （掌玺大臣）. 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.

约翰·邓恩，17世纪最伟大诗人，出生于一个富商家庭。他先后在牛津和剑桥大学学习，但由于他的天主教背景，均未获得学位。1598年，邓恩被任命为掌玺大臣伊格顿爵士的私人秘书。1601年，他秘密同伊格顿夫人的侄女结婚，并因此获罪，并开始了他的贫困生活。1615年，成为王室牧师，1621年出任伦敦圣保罗大教堂教长。

约翰·邓恩是玄学派的创始人。他经历了伊丽莎白女王，詹姆斯一世和查理一世的统治。

(2) Categories of Donne’s Poems （诗歌分类）

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.

他的诗歌可分为两大类：青年爱情诗，代表作为他死后1633年发表的《歌与十四行诗》；和后期的宗教诗歌《突变引起的诚念》，于1624年发表。

(3) Major Works （主要作品）

Songs and Sonnets 《歌与十四行诗》

Elegies 《挽歌集》

Holy Sonnets 《圣十四行诗》

(4) Selected works （作品选读）

◆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.

这是邓恩被收录最多的诗篇之一。诗作以诗人向情人求爱的说话体写成，语气富有调侃，比附出乎通常想象，推理和结论也超乎意料，典型反映了邓恩式的奇想。

◆Holy Sonnet 10《圣十四行诗之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.

这是一首意大利体的十四行诗。诗的起句突兀，表达了对死神的嘲笑和蔑视。死亡是人生的终结，许多人对死亡表现出极度的恐惧，把死亡同黑暗的地狱联系在一起。然而，在多恩看来，死亡并没有什么可怕之处。他把死亡看作睡眠，看作是通向“永远觉醒”的必经之路。死亡只是从有限的生命通向永恒的过程。

(5) Features of Donne’s Poems （诗歌特点）

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.

作品中充满奇思妙喻。邓恩的诗歌将感官享受和哲理，激情和智慧混合在一起。但他不仅是一位感官分析者，他后期的诗歌也触及到深刻的宗教思想。

2Milton （1608-1674） （弥尔顿）

(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 （痛风） and he died of it in 1674.

约翰·弥尔顿是继乔叟和莎士比亚之后英国第三位伟大的诗人，也是17世纪最伟大的作家。

弥尔顿出生在富裕、虔诚的清教徒家庭，拥有最甜蜜、最受庇护的青春时光。剑桥大学毕业后，他拒绝在教堂工作，退隐到他父亲在霍顿的乡间住所完成自己制定的严格的读书计划，所读内容涵盖希腊、拉丁和意大利经典著作和基督教神学。1652年，他完全失明。弥尔顿一直反对君主政体，王朝复辟时，因此入狱。获释后一直过着贫困、孤独黑暗的生活，这一时期他创作了《失乐园》、《复乐园》和《力士参孙》。晚年他饱受痛风之苦，逝于1674年。

(2) Life Periods （生平阶段）

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.

他的一生大致分为三个阶段：早期（1620-1638），阅读和抒情诗写作阶段；中期（1640-1660），支持资产阶级革命，宣传册阶段；晚期（1660-1674），最重要的史诗写作阶段。

(3) Major Works of Milton （主要作品）

“Areopagitica” （1644） 《论出版自由》

Paradise Lost （1667） 《失乐园》

Paradise Regained （1671） 《复乐园》

Samson Agonistes （1671） 《力士参孙》

(4) Selected Works （选读作品）

◆Paradise Lost《失乐园》

A. Main Plot （主要情节）

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.

《失乐园》是弥尔顿的杰作。它是一首用无韵体写的长达12卷的史诗。故事取材《旧经》，内容包括：创世纪；撒旦和天使同伴在天堂反叛；撒旦失败并被逐出天堂；大地及亚当和夏娃的创造；地狱中的堕落天使阴谋反抗上帝；撒旦诱惑夏娃偷吃禁果；亚当和夏娃离开伊甸园。

B. Theme and Characterization （主题和人物刻画）

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.

诗歌的主题是对上帝权威的反叛。上帝被描绘成自私的专制者，总是高坐在王位上，身边一群永久大唱赞词的愚蠢的天使。然而撒旦，虽然战败，但总是想着报复，却给人留下深刻印象。虽然力量不敌上帝，但他不愿卑躬屈膝，喜欢独立自主，他代表了反上帝权威的精神。亚当和夏娃是弥尔顿对人类力量信仰的化身。他们对知识的渴望使其人物性格更具重要性。

诗中众多不敢发表自己意见的天使围绕着上帝的画面，和撒旦和他的反叛天使朋友们一起畅所欲言的画面形成鲜明对比，被认为是专制君主统治的王庭和共和议会的象征。

(5) Brief Summary of Milton （弥尔顿小结）

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 弥尔顿生活和艺术中都具政治性。

② 弥尔顿创作了英国文学上最伟大的史诗。他和莎士比亚总是被视为英国诗歌的两个类型。

③ 弥尔顿是无韵体大师。他率先将无韵体运用到非戏剧作品中。

④ 弥尔顿是伟大的文体学家。他以其高雅的文体著称，这得益于他终生对经典和圣经作品的研究。

⑤ 弥尔顿向来以思想高深和表达气势宏伟著称。