【正文】 and his ―Elegy Written in a County Church‖ In the poem, Gray presents a picture of the quiet and solitary county at dusk through the sounding of the curfew, the home ing plowman, the tinkling of bells under the necks of the cattle, the moping owl, the narrow cell (grave), etc.. He bemoans the fate of those mon laborers who are now buried in the graves, tries to imagine how they had lived as loving parents and hardworking 第 5 頁 共 92 頁 people, and praise their homely joys. He then express his contempt for those noblemen who once lived a pompous life, and despised the poor, but have ended up in a way no better than the ordinary folk. We can see Gray‘s sympathy for the poor and contempt for the rich. Chapter Three The Romantic Period I. Wordsworth and his ―I wandered lonely as a cloud‖ The poem is crystal clear and lucid. Below the immediate surface, we find that all the realistic details of the flowers, the trees, the waves, the wind, and all the realistic details of the active joy, are absorbed into an overall concrete metaphor, the recurrent image of the dance. The flowers, the stars, the waves are units in this dancing pattern of order in diversity, of linked eter nal harmony and vitality. Through the revelation and recognition of his kinship with nature, the poet himself bees as it were a part of the whole cosmic dance. II. Shelley and his ―Ode to the West Wind‖ In the poem, Shelley eulogizes the west wind as a powerful phenomenon of nature that is both destroyer and pr eserver. The wind enjoys boundless freedom and has the power to spread messages far and wide. The keynote in the poem is Shelley‘s everpresent wish for himself and his fellow men to share the freedom of the west wind, remembering meanwhile his own and mon human miseries. And the dominant mood is that of hope rather than despair, as the poet is hoping for the realization of the freedom and joy. The optimism expressed in the last two lines show the poet‘s critical attitude toward the ugly social reality and his faith in a bright future for humanity. III. John Keats and his ―Ode on a Grecian Urn‖ In the poem Keats shows the contrast between the permanence of art and the transience of human passion. The poet has absorbed himself into the timeless beautiful scenery on the Grecian urn: the lovers, musicians and worshippers carved on the urn, and their everlasting joys. They are unaffected by time, stilled in expectation. This is the glory and the limitation of the world conj ured up by and object of art. The urn celebrates but simplifies intuitions of joy by defying our pain and suffering. But at last, the urn presents his ambivalence about time and the nature of beauty. IV. The character analysis of Elizabeth in Jane Austen‘s Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth is a beautiful young lady in the Bens. She is intelligent, contrasting her emptyminded, snobbish and vulgar mother. She is a women of distinct character. She is not passive, but pursue her true love bravely. She turns down Mr. Collin‘s marriage proposal and seeking her happiness with Darcy, the one she possesses true affection for her. She is also courageous. When Darcy‘s aunt lady es to force her into a promise of never consenting to marry Darcy, she boldly challenges her authority, contempt and arrogance. On the whole, Elizabeth is a typical image of the good, attractive lady in the 19th century. Chapter Two The Neoclassical Period I. The allegorical meaning of ―The Vanity Fair‖ in John Bunyan‘s The Pilgrim‘s Progress The Vanity Fair refers to the real world where people have bee so degenerated that all they are concerned is to buy and sell everything they can. It allegorically represents vanity both in the society and in people‘s heart, so people are spiritually lost. However, the pilgrims refuse to buy any of the things in the Vanity Fair. Its purpose is to urge people to abide by Christian doctrines and seek salvation through constant struggle with their own weakness and social evils. Christians‘ refusal shows that they are one step nearer the Celestial City. II. Pope‘s point of view on poetry criticism and the characteristics of his own poetry 1. Pope‘s point of view on poetry criticism is best shown in his An Essays on Criticism. He emphasizing that literary works should be 第 6 頁 共 92 頁 judged by classical rules of order, reason, logic, restrained emotion and good taste. He calls on people to turn to the old Greek and Roman writers for guidance. He advises the critics not to stress too much the artificial use of conceit or the external beaut y of language, but to pay special attention to true wit which is best set in a plain style. 2. Pope‘s poem strictly follows his idea of neoclassicism. He developed a satiric, concise, smooth, graceful and wellbalanced style, and finally brought to its last perfection of the heroic couplet. III. The social satire of Jonathan Swift‘s Gulliver‘s Travels The account of Lilliputian life, especially the games for people at court, alludes to the similar ridiculous practices or tri cks in the English government. The description of the petition in the games before the royal members leads to the fact that the success of those government officials such as the Prime Minister lies not in their being any wiser or better but in their being more dexterous in the game. This alludes to the practices in England. And the pompous words singing of the Lilliputian emperor ridicule the aristocratic arrogance and vanity. IV. Henry Fielding and his Tom Jones It is a good example of ―ic epic in prose‖. Fielding describes the fight between Molly and the villagers and her fistfight with Goody Brown in the grand style of the Homeric epic. He first of all calls on the Muses to assist him in recounting the fight as if it were of great historical importance. Like Homer wh