英语诗歌赏析作文

英语诗歌赏析

广东海洋大学外国语学院 康翠琴

A Brief Introduction to George Herbert and His Virtue 1. Introduction

This thesis aims to introduce a Metaphysical poet George Herbert and one of his poem Virtue in which virtue is sung highly of.

There are two parts in the main body of the thesis. The first part gives readers a brief introduction of George Herbert, his family and his writing styles. In the second part, the poem Virtue is analyzed in two aspects: musicality and image, added by an appreciation of the poem as an accompaniment. In the end of the thesis, what have been mentioned are brought to a conclusion to reveal George Herbert’s values toward life.

2. George Herbert and His Virtue

George Herbert lived in the period of Renaissance in the Great Britain, influenced by John Donne, the representative of the Metaphysical school, also by the religion of Anglicanism, most of his works praised highly of the God and beauty, which can be found in one of his poem Virtue.

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2.1 George Herbert and His Family

George Herbert, (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was a Welsh poet, orator and priest. Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education which led to his holding prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament.

[1] His mother was a patron and friend of John Donne and other poets and one of his

brothers was an important poet and philosopher, often regarded as “the father of English deism” which give little George an intellectual environment that is full of arts.

2.2 George Herbert’s Writing Style

George Herbert was a religious poet as well as one of the Metaphysical poets. [2] His poems are characterized by “a precision of language, a metrical versatility, and an ingenious use of imagery or conceits that was favored by the metaphysical school of poets”. [3] Great talent can been found in his teenage hood. When at the age fifteen, George created his first two sonnets in which he expressed the theme of “the love of God is more honorable than that of a woman”. Since then he had made up his mind to devote all his life to the God. [4] His works The Temple, published in 1633, mainly sang the praises of the greatness of the God and conveyed his sincere devotion. Under the influence of Metaphysical poetry in which a primary Platonic concept can be found of the idea that “the perfection of beauty in the beloved acted as a remembrance of perfect beauty in the eternal realm”, [5] such beauty-advocating theme can be also found in George Herbert’s writings.

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2.3 General Analysis of Virtue

The poem Virtue, by three simple demonstrations of however cool, calm and bright, sweet day being replaced by the night; however angry and brave, sweet rose is bound to die; no matter how much sweet days and roses, sweet spring will gone finally, illustrates the eternal natural truth of everything will meet its end. However in the last stanza, the poet indicated that “only a sweet and virtuous soul” (virtue) can survive forever, which makes a bright contrast with the previous natural truth to highlight the theme of the poem.

2.3.1 Musicality

Musicality is embodied in two aspects of meter and rhyme.

2.3.1.1 Meter [6]

In poetry, meter is the specific pattern in which stressed and unstressed syllables are put together The Virtue has the beauty of rhythm, especially in the first and the last stanzas.

In the first stanza, as listed as follow, the bold capital letters stand for stressed syllables or arsis while the lowercase letters stand for unstressed syllables or thesis. And the punctuation of slash”/” divides different foots in each verse:

sweet DAY/ so COOL/ so CALM/ so BRIGHT!,

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the BRIDAl/ of the EARTH /and SKY:

the DEW/ shall WEEP/ thy FALL/ to-NIGHT;

for THOU/ must DIE.

Generally speaking, in the above stanza there is a unstressed syllable followed by an stress syllable, this stanza belongs to the Iambic Foot. This arrangement forms a kind of clear and vivid rhythm.

In the last stanza, the poet applied another different meter:

only a SWEET/ and virtuous SOUL,

like seasoned TIMBER/ never GIVES;

but THOUGH/ the whole WORLD/ turn to COAL,

then chiefly LIVES.

This stanza mainly has the characteristics of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable, which agrees with the usage of the Anapaestic Foot. This

arrangement makes an emphasis of the uniqueness of virtue and the winding melody of the pronunciation.

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2.3.1.2 Rhyme

A rhyme is “a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs”. [7] And a rhyming scheme is “the pattern of rhyming lines in a poem or song”. [8]

George Herbert used the poetic technique of End Rhyme, more exactly: Perfect Rhyme and Alternating Rhyme Scheme (ABAB-CBCB-DBDB-EFEF) in his Virtue to cause a particular effect as analyzed as follow:

Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright! A

The bridal of the earth and sky: B

The dew shall weep thy fall to-night; A

For thou must die. B

Sweet rose, whose hue, angry and brave, C

Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye, B

Thy root is ever in its grave, C

And thou must die. B

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Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses, D

A box where sweets compacted lie, B

My music shows ye have your closes, D

And all must die. B

Only a sweet and virtuous soul, E

Like seasoned timber, never gives; F

But though the whole world turn to coal, E

Then chiefly lives. F

2.3.2 Image

An image “is that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time\". In the poem, four images are used: day, rose, spring and timber. In the first stanza, “day” represents hope. Sweet day means the new beginning and the symbol of bridal refers to purity. However, as the approach of the night, the dew weeps for the end of the day, which reveals that even hope cannot escape the disaster of ending. In the second stanza, “rose” indicates life. But the sweet rose grows within the terrible grave. “grave” indicates death. The picture of a rose’s

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rooting in the grave shows that death is the mother of life, while life is doomed to die. Therefore there is a close relationship between death and life, the former and the latter cannot be separated. A life has to face its death in its very ending. In the third stanza, spring stands for beauty. The sweet spring just likes a container that fills sweet days and roses, fills everything beautiful. Nevertheless, sweet, fine, and nice as the spring is, it cannot disprove the natural rule that everything has its end the way music has its start and its end. In forth stanza, “timber” compares to eternality. Timber that is seasoned is the best wood for construction for it will never bend and last for a very long time, which is similar to the merits of virtue---firm, unshakable, splendid and ever-long-lasting. Even the whole world would burn to ash, the virtue would survive eternally. Summing up, the first three stanzas praise highly of the beauty of nature, and grieve over the inevitable end of all the beautiful things. The last stanza enriches the meaning of beauty from the degree of nature up to virtue and suggests the theme that virtue lives an eternal life, which achieves the climax of the poem.

3. Conclusion

In George Herbert’s Virtue, he used simple images to reflect the theme that there is always cycle operating in all the existing matters; nothing can avoid its termination other than the soul with distingue virtue. The poem has totally four stanzas in which contradictions are implied: in each stanza, the first three verses contradict with the last verse; as a whole, the first three stanzas contradict with the last stanza. By the application of some figures of speech, such as repetition, contrast

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and comparison, the poet manifested a profound meaning of relationship between life and death, termination and rebirth, material and spirits. Consequently, the poem

Virtue constitutes the reflection of what the attitude is of George Herbert, a religious

Metaphysical poet towards life: nothing but a virtuous soul perpetuates.

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REFFERENCES

[1]Wikipedia on George Herbert: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Herbert 2009-5-25.[DB/OL].

[2] Howstuffworks.com:

http://entertainment.bowenwang.com.cn/literature-george-herbert.htm 2009-5-26. [DB/OL]．

[3] The life of George Herbert:

http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herbert/herbbio.htm 2009-5-26. [DB/OL]．

[4] 杜一鸣，李瑾. 对乔治·赫伯特诗歌中人神关系的解析, 河北青年管理干部学院学报 [J].2006,(6):52-55.

[5] Wikipedia on Metaphysical poetry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysical_poetry 2009-5-28. [DB/OL]．

[6] 罗良功.英诗概论.[M].武汉大学出版社，2005,11: 15-18.

[7] Wikipedia on Rhyme: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme 2009-5-29. [DB/OL]．

[8] Wikipedia on Rhyme Scheme: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme_scheme 2009-5-29. [DB/OL]．

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APPENDIX

Virtue

George Herbert

Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright!

The bridal of the earth and sky:

The dew shall weep thy fall to-night;

For thou must die.

Sweet rose, whose hue, angry and brave,

Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye,

Thy root is ever in its grave,

And thou must die.

Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,

A box where sweets compacted lie,

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My music shows ye have your closes,

And all must die.

Only a sweet and virtuous soul,

Like seasoned timber, never gives;

But though the whole world turn to coal,

Then chiefly lives.

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