安徽三联学院外语学院美国文学课件Chapter 16 Stevens and Frost.ppt

Stevens and Frost Wallace Stevens 1879-1955 Robert Frost 1874—1963 Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) 1. His Subject 1) His sense of the world, philosophical problem of appearance and reality; 2) Interplay between reality and imagination, value of imagination; 3) Three agents in his poetry: real world, imagination (agent) and poetry (medium) (my words) Two repeated activities: 1) looking at things: the self is an active observer of reality 2) playing musical instruments or singing: the self as a creator of reality 2. His Themes 1) Poetry (art) is the marriage or fruit of imagination and reality; 2) Belief (lack of belief) in the modern world; In an era when traditional religion no longer carries immediate conviction, the poet may even be charge with the duty of creating a religion for the time. 3. His Artistic Features 1) Early period: dandified, almost baroque quality of language Later: barer (less adorned) 2) Use of sharp, vivid images, bright colors blue: imagination; green: reality 3) High spirits, a fascination with sensual experience 4) Chief fault: whimsicality, aestheticism 4. His Poem—— Anecdote of the Jar 1) Relationship between art/ culture/humanity and reality/nature Other interpretations: 2) A feminist perspective: a poem concerned with male dominance over a traditionally feminized landscape; 3) A cultural critic: a sense of industrial imperialism 4) Poststructuralist perspective: the poem is concerned with temporal and linguistic disjunction, especially in the convoluted[复杂的 ] syntax of the last two lines; Robert Frost (1874 - 1963) 1. Subject Common country scenes, common and rural events, objects and characters2. Themes Universal thoughts and feelings about life and death, survival and responsibility, nature and humanity that are so simple and right as to verge on the obvious( poetry deceitfully simple) A good poem “begins in delight and ends in wisdom” 3. Style 1) Conventional