第六周、第周 英国文学史选读

第六周

John Donne

1572-1631

John Donne- Biography

-> born in Bread Street in 1572 to a prosperous Roman Catholic family. His father died when he was young, he was raised by his mother.

->1593 his brother, Henry died of a fever in prison after arrested for giving sanctuary to a proscribed catholic priest. Donne began to have doubts in his faith.

-> 1601 secretly married Lady Egerton’s niece, seventeen-year-old Anne More, daughter of Sir George More(his boss)

->1611 Donne was invited and joined Sir Robert Drury to the continental trip. It was then Donne composed several of his most prominent poems. “A Valediction: Forbidden Mouring”

->1617 Donne’s wife died. Within 16 years, she gave him 12 children.

->1631 Donne died of serious illness.

John Donne’s “The Flea”

John Donne’s “The Flea”

John Donne’s “The Flea”

John Donne’s “The Flea”

John Donne’s “The Flea”

John Donne’s “The Flea”

John Donne’s “The Flea”

John Donne’s “The Flea”

John Donne’s “The Flea”

John Donne’s “The Flea”

John Donne’s “The Flea”

John Donne’s “The Flea”

1.main idea

The speaker used a flea as a bridge that made him

and his mistress combine to become one. The

listener "thou" was his lover, he loved her very much

and even want to make love with her,

but she didn't.

He uses a flea and the way it sucks both their blood to try to convince the girl that it is not sinful to unite their bodies in the sexual act.

《我侬词》

管道升

❖你侬我侬，忒煞情多，情多处，热如火。把一块泥，捻一个你，塑一个我。将咱两个，一齐打破，用水调和。再捻一个你，再塑一个我。我泥中有你，你泥中有我。与你生同一个衾qin，死同一个槨guo。

2. structure

Stanza one:

persuade a woman to marry one (metaphor)

Stanza two:

reinforce his seduction argument (killing)

Stanza three: (reversal) the author changes the tactics

killing is easy-----accept my love is also easy and painless

3.The rhyme scheme

❖The rhyme scheme is in couplets with the

final line in each stanza rhyming with the

final couplet.

❖The rhyming pattern is AABBCCDDD

4.questions

❖1. Why does the poet say that "this cannot be said

a sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead"?

The speaker tells his beloved to look at the flea before them and to note "how little" is that thing that she denies him. For the flea, he says, has sucked first his blood, then her blood, so that now, inside the flea, they are mingled; and that mingling cannot be called "sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead." The flea has joined them together in a way that, "alas, is more than we would do."

❖2. What do you think is the addressee's

parents' attitude toward the poet's wooing?

The addressee's parents' attitude are against him. (...Though parents grudge...)

❖3. What is the real purpose of the poet to say that in killing the flea "thou" are actually killing three lives?

He compares the killing of the flea to murder. It would be “three sins in killing three” (l. 18) since he and his lover would be killed within the flea if she were to follow her natural tendency to dispose of the insect. 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 arrive at: she should give in to his desires because there is nothing wrong with the intimate mingling of two people.

Death, Be Not Proud

1 Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,

For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me;

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bo nes, and soul’s delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,

And better than thy stroak; why swell’st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

死神，你莫骄傲

❖

❖死神，你莫骄傲，尽管有人说你

❖如何强大，如何可怕，你并不是这样；