Analysis of Poems English Literature
1. Sonnet 18
----William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Could I compare you to the time of summer?) Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
(You are more lovely and more gentle and mild than the days) (Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (The wild winds shakes the favorite flowers of May. ) And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
(And the duration of summer has a limited period of time) Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (Sometimes the sun shining is too hot. ) And often is his gold complexion dimmed; (Or often goes behind the clouds.) And every fair from fair sometime declines, (And everything beautiful will lose its beauty.) By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed; (By misfortune or by nature’s planned out course) But thy eternal summer shall not fade , (But your youth shall not fade)
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st; (Nor will you lose the beauty that you possessed) Nor shall Death brag thou wander'rest in his shade, (Nor will death claim you for his own) When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st
(Because in my eternal verse you will live forever) So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
(So long as the men can live in the world with sight and breath) So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
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(This poem will exist and you will live in forever.)
a) The author of the poem is William Shakespeare .It is a typical English sonnet, the rhyme scheme of the poem is “abab cdcd efef gg”.
b) On the surface the poem is simply a statement to praise the beauty of the young man. But the more important is the poet wants to show the power of the poem which can defy time and last forever. The stability of love and its power to immortalize the subject of the poet's verse is the theme.
2. On His Blindness
----John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent 想到了在这茫茫黑暗的世界里 Ere half my days， in this dark world and wide 还未到半生这两眼就已失明， And that one talent which is death to hide ， 想到了我的才能，要是埋起来， Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent 会招致死亡，却放在我手里无用， To serve therewith my Maker, and present 虽然我一心想用它服务造物主， My true account, lest He, returning chide； 免得报账时，得不到他的宽容；
\ \神不给我 光明，还让我做日工 ?’’ 想到这， I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent 我愚蠢地自问.但\忍耐\看我在抱怨， That murmur, soon replies, \\立刻止住我， 神并不要你工作， Either man's work or his own gifts.；Who best 或还他礼物。
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state 谁最能服从他，谁就是忠于职守， Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed 他君临万方，只要他一声吩咐， And post o'er land and ocean without rest: 万千个天使就赶忙在海陆奔驰，。\ They also serve who only stand and wait.\但侍立左右的，也还是为他服务
a) The author of this poem is John Milton. The name of this poem is On His Blindness. b) It is a famous Italian Sonnet ,and the rhyme scheme of the poem is abba abba cde cde. c) The paraphrase of this poem :
d) In the sonnet , the speaker meditates on the fact that he has become blind .He expresses his frustration at being prevented by his disability from serving God as well as he desires to . He is answered by “Patience,” who tells him that God has many who hurry to do his bidding , and does
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Analysis of Poems English Literature
not really need man’s work . What valued is the ability to bear God’s “mild yoke.” to tolerate whatever God asks faithfully and without complaint. This poem presents a carefully reasoned argument, on the basis of Christian faith, for the acceptance of physical impairment .The speaker learns that, rather than being an obstacle to his fulfillment of God’s work for him, his blindness is a part of that work, and that his achievement lies in living patiently with it.
3. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
----William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud 我孤独地漫游，像一朵云 That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 在山丘和谷地上飘荡，
When all at once I saw a crowd, 忽然间我看见一群 A host, of golden daffodils; 金色的水仙花迎春开放， Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 在树荫下，在湖水边 ， Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 迎着微风起舞翩翩。
Continuous as the stars that shine 绵不绝，如繁星灿烂，
And twinkle on the milky way, 在 银河里闪闪发光， They stretched in never-ending line 它们沿着湖湾的边缘 Along the margin of a bay: 延伸成无穷无尽的一行； Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 我一眼看见了一万朵， Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. 在欢舞之中起伏颠簸。
The waves beside them danced; but they 粼粼波光也在跳着舞， Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: 水仙的欢欣却胜过水波； A poet could not but be gay, 与 这样快活的伴侣为伍， In such a jocund company: 诗人怎能不满心欢乐！ I gazed--and gazed--but little thought 我久久凝望，却想象不到 What wealth the show to me had brought: 这奇景赋予我多少财宝，——
For oft, when on my couch I lie 每当我躺在床上不眠， In vacant or in pensive mood, 或心神空茫，或默默沉思， They flash upon that inward eye 它们常在心灵中闪现， Which is the bliss of solitude; 那是孤独之中的福祉； And then my heart with pleasure fills, 于是我的心便涨满幸福， And dances with the daffodils. 和水仙一同翩翩起舞。 a) This poem is written by William Wordsworth, its name is I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.
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b) This poem is a lyric ballad poem, the rhyme scheme of this poem is “ababcc, efefgg, hihikk, lmlmnn”. Structure: Four Stanzas, each including 6 lines. Rhetoric: Simile, personification, alliteration.
c) The paraphrase of this poem:
d) This poem is about the nature’s beauty. With his pure and poetic language, Wordsworth brings us into a beautiful world where there are daffodils, trees and breeze. People sometimes fail to appreciate nature’s wonders as they go about their routines. But we fallow the poet at every turn of his feelings .We share his melancholy when he “wandered lonely as a cloud” and his delight of the moment his heart “with pleasure fills”. We come to realize the great power of nature that may influence our life deeply as revealed in the poem.
4. Ode to the West Wind
----Percy Bysshe Shelly
I
O wild West Wind, thou breath of autumn’s being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill (Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) With living hues and odours plain and hill: Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!
II
Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky's commotion, Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed, Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean, Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread On the blue surface of thine a{:e}ry surge, Like the bright hair uplifted from the head
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Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge Of the horizon to the zenith's height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge Of the dying year, to which this closing night Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre, Vaulted with all thy congregated might Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh hear! III
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams, Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay, And saw in sleep old palaces and towers Quivering within the wave's intenser day, All overgrown with azure moss and flowers So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou For whose path the Atlantic's level powers Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear The sapless foliage of the ocean, know Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear, And tremble and despoil themselves: oh hear! IV
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear; If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share The impulse of thy strength, only less free Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even I were as in my boyhood, and could be
The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven, As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seem'd a vision; I would ne'er have striven
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