Singing in the flowering branches;
Let the lover's heart be filled with new hope,
While enjoying the joy, God postponed the adjusted May:
You hypnotize the phoenix eye during the day,
Singing before the cuckoo opens his clumsy mouth,
It indicates that love is proud; May Zhu Fu's mind be appreciated.
Connect the power of love with singing,
Now sing early, before the bird that hates and cries for blood.
Predict my desperate fate in the nearby jungle;
Because you sing too late every year,
Didn't give me comfort, but I don't know why:
Whether the god of poetry or the god of love calls you a companion,
I serve both, and I serve them.
(blonde translator)
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John milton was a famous poet during the British bourgeois revolution in the17th century, and he was as famous as Shakespeare. In the stormy era in which he lived, his outstanding talents, lofty aspirations and his religious beliefs all prompted him to step into the forefront of progressive forces in the17th century and become a master of the Renaissance and a pioneer of the Enlightenment. Therefore, his creation bears the brand of the times, permeating the Puritans' moral ideals and the struggle spirit of bourgeois revolutionaries. For 300 years, like Shakespeare, he has been evaluated and judged by different opinions, but his position as a great poet has never wavered. Eliot, who once severely criticized his poetic style, also wrote a new article commenting on him in 1947, saying that he is a great poet and an example for poets today.
There is no doubt that Milton's fame mainly comes from his later long poems, but the few short poems he created in his early days also show his outstanding artistic talent and unique artistic style. To the Nightingale is Milton's first sonnet written in English, written around 1930.
The key image of the whole poem is "Nightingale". Just as in the tradition of China's poetry, the bluebird conveys love, the cuckoo cries for blood, the phoenix is auspicious, and the white crane lives long, these conventional bird images often convey deeper meanings for poetry with their special cultural connotations, and there are also many unique bird images in western culture. There are three main theories about nightingale in the west. The first one originated from Greek mythology, thinking that the nightingale was changed by her brother-in-law, Fei Romila, whose tongue was cut off, and told her misfortunes intermittently through lamentation. /kloc-The Nightingale by matthew arnold, an English poet in the 20th century, is a famous work based on this mythical theme. The second story is also related to Greek mythology. It is said that Edong, the wife of King Zetos of Thebes, accidentally killed her daughter Esther Ruth. She became a nightingale in endless sorrow and regret, and expressed her grief for her daughter with a plaintive voice. These two sad legends give the nightingale a sad color, which makes western poets often use the nightingale to convey personal sadness, loneliness and sadness. The third statement is just the opposite. The sweet song of the nightingale arouses the emotional ripple of westerners and becomes a symbol of love. Although this image also bears the pain of acacia, it is more lively and lively.
In the first twelve lines of this poem, the nightingale appears as a "bird of love". The poet has repeatedly hoped that the nightingale can "sing before the cuckoo opens his clumsy mouth", because according to the old superstition, if Mrs. Love hears the nightingale singing as a symbol of love before the cuckoo sings, it indicates that love will be smooth sailing, otherwise love will fall into a quagmire. It can be seen that Milton, who is old, is looking for love, and his heart is full of complicated lovesickness.
In the last two lines of the poem, the pen suddenly turns, and Milton also associates the image of the nightingale with the muse. The sad legend carried by the nightingale touched the hearts of literati and poets, just as the muse gave them rich inspiration experience. No wonder some people call the nightingale a "poetic bird". Milton studied literature behind closed doors for a long time in order to draw inspiration from it and write poems handed down from generation to generation. At this time, the nightingale is not only a fellow lover of love, but also brings good omen to the lovesick; He is also a fellow poet and inspires the poet. Milton conveyed his hopes and ideals through the nightingale.
The rhythm of this poem reflects Milton's desire to get rid of the tradition of Elizabethan sonnets; The style of this poem just shows that he has not broken away from the poetic style of "affectation" in the previous era. Milton abandoned the popular Shakespeare sonnets, but directly imitated Petrarch's sonnets, the Italian source of sonnets. These sonnets rhyme with abba, abba, cdc and dcd, with distinct levels and symmetrical structure. However, as far as poetic style and spiritual outlook are concerned, Milton is still bound by the tradition of sonnets dedicated to love and sings about the continuous hope for love. However, in his later sonnets, he either criticized the current politics, satirized and exhorted the rules, or expressed his feelings by chanting, which highlighted his sense of reality and conveyed the lofty realm with simplicity.
(Cai Haiyan)