4.2　课后习题详解

The Flea

1Why does the poet say that “this cannot be said a sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead”?

Key: Because it is the flea that sucked their blood and made them mingled together, they are not sinful or shameful, and the man’s beloved does not loss her maidenhead. The flea has joined them together in a way that “alas, is more than we would do”.

2What do you think is the addressee’s parents’ attitude toward the poet’s wooing?

Key: The addressee’s parents’ attitude is against the poet’s wooing.

3What is the real purpose of the poet to Say that in killing the flea “thou” are actually killing three lives?

Key: The poet compares the killing of the flea to murder. He thinks that if his beloved kills the flea, he and she would be killed within the flea. He even states that the act of killing the flea would be “sacrilege”. This is a term that is generally applied to acts that go against religion. If the lover denies the fact that their blood and therefore their lives are contained within the flea, it is similar to committing an irreligious act. This would seem to make the reverse, to acknowledge their closeness within the flea, compatible with religion. To acknowledge this closeness is also to acknowledge that it is allowable, which could lead to the conclusion that Donne wishes his lover to understand that she should accept his wooing because there is nothing wrong with the intimate mingling of two people.

Holy Sonnet 10

1Why does the poet say that death is the “slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men”?

Key: Because for the most part, fate, chance, kings and desperate men can threaten some people with Death when they like to, and by this way, Death is exploited and may be forced to do what it does not want to. In this sense, death is a slave.

2What does the poet mean when he says “we wake eternally” after one short sleep?

Key: The poet was a priest and he believed that the soul of men would never die. After death, men would enter another world and lived forever. In this sense, after death, men “wake eternally”.

John Milton

1Where are the serpent （“the” in line 51） and his followers condemned after their defeat?

Key: The serpent and his followers are condemned into the hell by God.

2What are the God’s punishments for those rebellious angels as described by Milton in lines 59-74?

Key: Those rebellious angels are sent into the horrible dungeon filled with flames, darkness, floods and whirlwinds, in which there is no peace, rest or hope, but full of sorrow and torture.

3What is considered by Satan as “ignominy” and “shame” (line ll5)?

Key: Satan considers that “To bow and sue for grace/ With suppliant knee, and deify his power/ Who from the terror of this arm so late/ Doubted his empire-that were low indeed” is “ignominy and shame”. That is, he thinks that it is shameful to bow to God to ask for grace and forgiveness.

4What is Satan advising the serpent and his followers to do in this part of Paradise Lost?

Key: Satan advices the serpent and his followers to fight against God.