1、英国文学选读 Unit 4Unit 4John MiltonTruth is compared.to a streaming fountain; if her waters flownot in a perpetual progression, they sicken inti a muddy pool or conformity and tradition.- John Milton1. 作者简介约翰弥尔顿（John Milton，1608-1674），诗人。弥尔顿的一生和创作大约可分为三个时期：他16岁时入剑桥大学，并开始用拉丁文和英文写诗；1638-39年间，他前往欧洲旅行，并同当时被囚
2、禁的伽利略见过面。这一时期的主要作品是一些短诗，比较优秀的有利西达斯（Lycidas, 1637）等。1639年，英国革命即将爆发，他返回英国。随后的20多年中，他积极投身英国革命，发表了大量的散文和政论文，为英国革命和共和政府奔走呼吁，其中比较著名的有为英国人民声辩（Areopagitica, 1650）等。1652年时他双目逐渐失明。1660年王政复辟，弥尔顿被捕入狱，但很快被释放，从此开始了他第三时期的创作，先后完成了最著名的以圣经故事为题材的三部长篇诗作失乐园（Paradise Lost, 1667）、复乐园（Paradise Regained, 1671）和力士参孙（Samson A
3、gonistes, 1671）。评论家认为，弥尔顿的作品同时体现了欧洲两股最重要的文学传统：以荷马和维吉尔史诗为代表的古希腊罗马文学和文艺复兴文学，特别是他的最后一部作品力士参孙，描写了主人公在失明后思想、精神上的升华，则在一定程度上映照了弥尔顿自己的一生。2. 作品提要失乐园提要失乐园是一部气势恢弘的史诗式作品。全诗由12部诗篇组成，讲述了基督教圣经中撒旦化身为蛇，引诱亚当夏娃（人类的始祖）违背上帝意旨，最后失去上帝的恩宠，被逐出天堂乐园的故事。第1部：全诗总纲，讲述了整个事件的起因和结果；第2部：撒旦与众叛逆天使讨论如何同上帝作战，夺取天堂；第3部：讲述上帝决定如何赐予人类恩惠；第4部：描
4、述撒旦在天堂见到亚当夏娃，撒旦在夏娃的梦中施展引诱；第5部：天使警告亚当要当心恶魔的引诱；第6部：描绘天使与撒旦一伙的战斗；第7部：亚当向天使询问有关创世的许多问题，并一一得到回答；第8部：他接着又询问天体运行的问题，但对所得到的回答并不满意；第9部：撒旦化身为蛇，躺在伊甸园里，并指引亚当和夏娃摘食禁果；第10部：上帝因此震怒，亚当也后悔不已；第11部：圣子代表上帝宣布将亚当夏娃逐出天堂，并向他们指点未来；第12部：天使向他们叙述拯救之路，亚当夏娃终于离开天堂，失去了乐园。 3作品选读Paradise Lost(Excerpt from Book 1)Nine times the space
5、that measures day and night 50To mortal men, he with his horrid crew Lay vanquished , rolling in the fiery gulf Confounded though immortal: But his doom Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain 55Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyesThat witnes
6、sed huge affliction and dismayMixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate: At once as far as angels kenhe views The dismal situation waste and wild, 60A dungeon horrible, on all sides round As one great furnace flamed, yet from those flamesNo light , but rather darkness visible Served only to disco
7、ver sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 65And rest can never dwell, hope never comesThat comes to all; but torture without end Still urges , and a fiery deluge, fed With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed: Such place Eternal Justice had prepared 70For those rebellious, here th
8、eir prison ordainedIn utter darkness, and their portion set As far removed from God and light of Heaven As from the Center thrice to th utmost pole.O how unlike the place from whence they fell! 75There the companions of his fall, oerwhelmed With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire,He soon disc
9、erns, and weltering by his side One next himself in power, and next in crime, Long after known in Palestine, and named 80Beelzebub. To whom th arch-enemy, And thence in Heaven called Satan , with bold words Breaking the horrid silence thus began. “If thou beest hebut O how fallen! how changed From h
10、im, who in the happy realms of light 85Clothed with transcendent brightness didst outshineMyriads , though bright:! If he whom mutual league,United thoughts and counsels, equal hope,And hazard in the glorious enterprise,Joined with me once ,now misery hath joined 90In equal ruin: into what pit thou
11、seestFrom what height fallen, so much the stronger provedHe with his thunder: and till then who knew The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those Nor what the potent victor in his rage 95Can else inflict do I repent or change, Though changed in outward luster; that fixed mind And high disdain, fr
12、om sense of injured merit, That with the mightiest raised me to contend, And to the fierce contention brought along 100Innumerable force of spirits armed That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring, His utmost power with adverse power opposed In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven, And shook
13、his throne. What though the field be lost? 105All is not lost; the unconquerable will,And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield:And what is else not to be overcome ?That glory never shall his wrath or might Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace With suppliant knee,
14、 and deify his power Who from the terror of this arm so late Doubted his empire that were low indeed;That were an ignominy and shame beneath 115This downfall; since by fate the strength of gods And this empyreal substance cannot fail,Since through experience of this great event In arms not worse, in
15、 foresight much advanced,We may with more successful hope resolve 120To wage by force or guile eternal war Irreconcilable, to our grand Foe,Who now triumphs, and in th excess of joy Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven. ”So spake th apostate angel , though in pain, 125Vaunting aloud, but racked
16、 with deep despair:And him thus answered soon his bold compeer.“O prince, O chief of many throned powers, That led th embattled seraphim to war Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds 130Fearless, endangered Heavens perpetual King; And put to proof his high supremacy, Whether upheld by strength, or
17、 chance, or fate,Too well I see and rue the dire event,That with sad overthrow and foul defeat 135Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty Host In horrible destruction laid thus low, As far as gods and heavenly essences Can perish: for the mind and spirit remains Invincible, and vigor soon returns,
18、140Though all our glory extinct, and happy state Here swallowed up in endless misery. But what if he our Conqueror, (whom I nowOf force believe almighty, since no less Then such could have orepowered such force as ours) 145Have left us this our spirit and strength entire Strongly to suffer and suppo
19、rt our pains, That we may so suffice his vengeful ire,Or do him mightier service as his thralls By right of war, whatere his business be 150Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire, Or do his errands in the gloomy deep;What can it then avail though yet we feelStrength undiminished, or eternal being
20、 To undergo eternal punishment? ” 155Whereto with speedy words th arch-fiend replied: “Falln cherub , to be weak is miserableDoing or Suffering: but of this be sure, To do aught good never will be our task,But ever to do ill our sole delight, 160As being the contrary to his high will Whom we resist.
21、 If then his providenceOut of our evil seek to bring forth good, Our labor must be to pervert that end, And out of good still to find means of evil; 165Which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps Shall grieve him,if I fail not, and disturbHis inmost counsels from their destined aim. But see the angry
22、 Victor hath recalled His ministers of vengeance and pursuit 170Back to the gates of Heaven: The sulphurous hail Shot after us in storm, oreblown hath laid The fiery surge, that from the precipice Of Heaven received us falling, and the thunder, Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage, 175Perhap
23、s hath spent his shafts , and ceases now To bellow through the vast and boundless deep. Let us not slip th occasion, whether scorn, Or satiate fury yield it from our Foe.Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild, 180 The seat of desolation, void of light, Save what the glimmering of these livid
24、flames Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend From off the tossing of these fiery waves, There rest, if any rest can harbor there, 185And reassembling our afflicted powers,Consult how we may henceforth most offend Our enemy, our own loss how repair, How overcome this dire calamity, What reinfo
25、rcement we may gain from hope, 190If not, what resolution from despair.” （1667）4在线课堂5作品赏析失乐园赏析选篇出自失乐园第一部，被打败的叛逆天使向撒旦求助，撒旦表示自己与上帝势不两立、要从上帝手中夺取天堂的决意。在这一部分里，诗人以宏伟生动的语言，重新刻画了基督教圣经中的撒旦形象，他心气高傲，不怕权威，不惧失败，永不服输，一直都具有昂扬的斗争意志，同时还具有很大的颠覆性，这使他的叛逆精神具有了明显的史诗性和英雄主义特点，也具有古典英雄史诗中超人般主人公的品质。失乐园中的撒旦形象，一直被认为是世界文学中刻画最成功的
26、人物形象之一。另外，选段中描绘地狱时所用的语言和意象，将这一惨烈之地栩栩如生地托在读者眼前，同时也在相当程度上增加了诗篇叙述的恢弘气质。6相关评论Milton and the Theory of Accommodation (Excerpts)Milton and the Theory of Accommodation (Excerpts) Neil D. Graves HOW can finite man understand an infinite God? How can an infinite God be communicated? These questions address o
27、ne of the most fundamental problems in Christian theology, as well as one of the central ideas of the Renaissance. Throughout history theologians have struggled to comprehend a deity who is a priori greater than human understanding, and artists and writers have been at a loss to depict him. The focu
28、s of their attention has inevitably been a close scrutiny of the scriptural account of God-a study which engages two seminal aspects of the Bible as textual document and depository of religious truth. Yet the information concerning God in the Bible merely seems to complicate the problem. On the one
29、hand the Scriptures describe an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent deity, a spirit, indeed a being who is all too often described via negativa in terms the opposite of which define humanity-immutable, impassible, immaterial, immortal. On the other hand, and simultaneously, the Bible depicts God
30、 as sitting on a throne, raising his right hand, and striking down his enemies; he feels anger and regret, love and pity and is known not only as divine creator, but also as father. The theory of accommodation is the traditional theological solution to these incongruities and is an attempt to explai
31、n the difference between the nature of God and the textual images or mental conceptions of him. It functions by expressing the incomprehensibility of God in terms which accommodate God to human understanding. Accordingly, it presupposes that language cannot adequately describe God, while yet authorizing the attempt to depict him, conscious that the resulting image is not a true representation of the deity. Accommodation is thus both a method of writing and an hermeneutic principle. The scriptural account of God wearing a crown is an e
