英语修辞与文体 论文

Not marble, nor the gilded monumentsOf princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;But you shall shine more bright in these contentsThan unswept stone, besmear'd with sluttish time.When wasteful war shall statues overturn,And broils root out the work of masonry,Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burnThe living record of your memory.'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmityShall you pace forth; your praise shall still find roomEven in the eyes of all posterityThat wear this world out to the ending doom.So, till the judgment that yourself arise,You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.Sonnet 55 is one of Shakespeare's most famous works and a noticeable deviation from other sonnets in which he appears insecure about his relationships and his own self-worth. Here we canfind an impassioned burst of confidence as the poet claims to have the power to keep his friend's memory alive evermore.We should focus on the translation of this poem at first. Not marble, nor the gold-plated shrines. Of princes shall outlive the power of poetry. You shall shine more bright in these verses than on dust-covered gravestones, ravaged by time.When devastating war shall overturn statues and conflicts destroy the mason's handiwork, the cause of war (Mars) nor the effects of war (fire) shall destroy the living record of your memory (this poem). Against death and destruction, which render people forgotten,shall you push onward; praise of you will always find a place even in the eyes of future generations. That survives until the end of humanity.So, until you arise on Judgment Day,you are immortalized in this poetry, and continue to live in lovers' eyes.Then we will discuss its stylistics.First, we focus on this poem ’s rhyme. Sonnet 55 is a fourteen-line sonnet, metered in iambic pentameter:x / x / x / x / x /No marble, nor the gilded monumentsx / x / x / x / x /Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhymeIt consists of three quartrains followed by a couplet. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCDEFEFGG.Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme But you shall shine more bright in these contents Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time When wasteful war shall statues overturnAnd broils root out the work of masonry Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn The living record of your memoryGainst death and all-oblivious enmityShall you pace forth, your praise shall still find roomEven in the eye of all posterity That wear this world out to the ending doom So, till the judgment that yourself arise You live in this, and dwell in lover ’s eyesSecond, we focus on this poem ’s metaphor. The poet uses metaphors like marble, monuments, and stone in the first four lines to say that none of them will be as everlasting as this poem. Then he says that war and broil may destroy many tough things like statues and masonry, but not people ’s memory of you ——the hero in this poem. It will survive your death and all the powers which work against you.You shall still move on, people will always honor you even their offsprings will praise you forA B A B C D C D E F E F G Gwhat you have done now. We will always remember you and your behaviors until you are judged reasonably.Third, we focus on this poem’s comparisons. Comparisons are frequently used in this sonnet as a foregrounding to the ideas that the poet wants to convey. At the beginning he compares the marble and monument with the rhyme, and tells us that the rhyme will outlive all these things as time goes by.He uses comparison again in the third and fourth lines to say it again that this rhyme will be everlasting. Again in the fifth and sixth lines he uses comparison to highlight his idea that this poem, this rhyme will survive time, the fire of war.The ninth line begins to say something different from the first eight lines. He begins to talk about some abstract subjects like enmity, judgment, praise, and memory. But in the last couplet he concludes with so to say that you will always be remembered by your offspring till you are fairly judged by history. He uses the Christian concept in the last two lines about the arising of the hero.Fourth, we focus on this poem’s alliteration. He uses alliteration in the first line with not and nor to connect the two objects. Then h e uses “shall shine” for alliteration to make the internal rhyme. Alliteration is also used with “wasteful war shall statues” in the fifth line to make the internal rhyme.Fifth, Repetition is also used with the sentence pattern like you shall or shall you. It makes readers to feel the strong feelings of the must of immortalization.Finally, Inversion is used in several lines. The fifth line should be: when wasteful war shall overturn statues , and the eighth and ninth lineshould be:you shall pace forth against death and all-oblivious enmity.Sonnet 55 is a poem about time and immortalization. The speaker claims that his beloved will wear out this world to the ending doom. The speaker's poem won't last much compared to his beloved, even though his beloved is immortalised in the poem, adhering to a larger theme of giving and possessing that runs through many of Shakespeare's sonnets.This poem, however, emphasizes the concept of time slightly differently. He argues that the sonnet traces the progression of time, from the physicalendeavours built by man (monuments, statues, masonry), as well as theprimeval notion of warfare depicted through the image of "Mars his sword" and "war's quick fire", to the concept of the Last Judgment. The young man will survive all of these things through the verses of the speaker.Although the poet's previous pride in writing verse is missing in this sonnet, he still manages to demonstrate a superbly confident spirit: "Not marble, nor the gilded monuments. Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rime." He clearly abandons, at least for the time being, his earlier depressing opinion of his verse as "barren rime," for next he contrasts his verses' immortality to "unsweptstone, besmeared with sluttish time," meaning that the young man will be remembered longer because of the poet's having written about him than if descriptions of his beauty had been chiseled in stone.The next four lines address the same theme of immortality, but now the poet boasts that not only natural forces but human wars and battles cannot blot out his sonnets, which are a "living record" of the youth. Monuments and statues may be desecrated during war, but not so these rhymes.In the first seventeen sonnets, the poet worried about death's effect on the youth's beauty and questioned the nature of his sonnets' reputation after both he and the young man died. Now, however, in lines 9 through 12, he boldly asserts that death is impotent in the face of his sonnets' immortality: To the youth he says, "Against death and all-oblivious enmity, shall you pace forth." In fact, he asserts that the young man's name will be remembered until the last survivor on earth perishes: "your praise shall still find room. Even in the eyes of all posterity. That wears this world out to the ending doom." Only then, when no one remains alive, will the youth's beauty fade, but through no fault of the youth or the poet.This notion of "the ending doom" is the main point in the concluding couplet. The syntax of line 13"So, till the judgment that yourself arise" is confusing, restated, the line says, "Until the Judgment Day when you arise." The poet assures the youth that his beauty will remain immortal as long as one single person still lives to read these sonnets, which themselves will be immortal.Sonnet 55 symbolizes nothing but the rhyme and the poem will be everlasting as time goes on. The rhyme and the poem which can be a metaphor for justice were conducted by all kinds of heroes. Inthis way he is not only talking about the poem but also writing as an important matter of art and literation. Shakespeare shows that thepower of words and languages is much greater than wars, statues, and monuments which is the toughest thing in nature. It is significant that all Shakespeare’s work remains as masterpieces for us till now after almost five hundred years. He and his work elaborate the power and beauty of words and languages.。