Unit 2: Poetry I
AP English Literature and Composition Topic 2 6:10 English narration · English + 中文 subtitles burned in
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Transcript
Unit 2 is the course's first poetry unit, and it adds two things to Unit 1's toolkit: structure as an object of analysis, and figurative language handled precisely rather than by name-dropping.
第二单元是本课程的第一个诗歌单元， 它在第一单元的工具箱上 加了两样东西： 作为分析对象的结构， 以及被精确处理 而不是只报名称的比喻性语言。
One addition on character first.
先补充一点关于人物的内容。
Characters reveal their perspectives and biases through the words they use, the details they provide, and the details they omit.
人物通过他们使用的词语、 提供的细节， 以及略去的细节， 揭示自己的视角与偏见。
That last item is the analytical opening: what a speaker does not mention, in a poem where everything is chosen, is evidence.
最后这一项是分析的入口： 在一首每样东西都是被选择的诗里， 说话者没有提到的东西 就是证据。
Start with the function of structure in a text.
先说结构在文本中的功能。
Line and stanza breaks contribute to the development and relationship of ideas in a poem; the arrangement of lines and stanzas contributes to that development; and a text's structure affects readers' reactions and expectations by presenting the relationships among ideas.
诗行与诗节的断开 参与了一首诗中 观念的发展与相互关系； 诗行与诗节的排列 也参与这一发展； 而文本的结构 通过呈现观念之间的关系， 影响读者的反应与预期。
So structure in poetry is not decoration.
所以诗歌中的结构不是装饰。
It is punctuation for thought.
它是思想的标点。
Where a line breaks decides which words sit at the ends of lines, and the end of a line is the most emphatic position available.
在哪里断行， 决定了哪些词落在行末， 而行末是可用的最强调的位置。
A sentence that runs past a line break asks the reader to hold something unresolved; one that stops at the break closes it.
一个跨过断行继续下去的句子， 要求读者悬着一件未了之事； 一个在断行处收住的句子 则把它合上了。
Say which words the poet put at the ends of lines — that is a claim about emphasis, and it is available in any poem.
说出诗人把哪些词放在了行末， 这就是一个关于强调的主张， 而且在任何一首诗里都用得上。
Next, the function of contrasts within a text.
接下来是对照在文本中的功能。
Contrast can be introduced through focus, tone, point of view, character or speaker perspective, and dramatic situation.
对照可以通过焦点、语调、 叙述视点、人物或说话者的视角， 以及戏剧情境来引入。
Contrasts are the result of shifts or juxtapositions or both.
对照是转换、并置， 或两者共同作用的结果。
Shifts may be signalled by a word, a structural convention, or punctuation, and they may emphasise contrasts between particular segments of a text.
转换可以由一个词、 一种结构惯例， 或标点来示意， 并且可以强调文本中 特定段落之间的对照。
This is the most reliable route into an unseen poem.
这是进入一首陌生诗歌 最可靠的路径。
Find the shift — a "but", a stanza break, a change of tense or of address — and the poem divides into a before and an after.
找出那个转折， 一个"但是"、一个诗节断开、 一次时态或称呼的改变， 于是这首诗 就分成了"之前"与"之后"。
What changed, and what the change costs or gains, is very often the poem's argument.
改变了什么， 以及这个改变付出了什么、 得到了什么， 往往就是这首诗的论证。
If you have three minutes and an unfamiliar poem, spend the first one looking for the turn.
如果你只有三分钟 和一首不熟悉的诗， 把第一分钟花在找转折上。
The function of specific words and phrases comes next, and it starts with a piece of grammar.
接下来是具体词语与短语的功能，它从一点语法开始。
An antecedent is a word, phrase or clause that precedes its referent.
先行词是位于其指代对象之前的 词、短语或分句。
Referents are ambiguous if they can refer to more than one antecedent, which affects interpretation.
如果一个指代 可以指向不止一个先行词， 它就是含混的， 而这会影响阐释。
Words or phrases may be repeated to emphasise ideas or associations.
词或短语可以被重复， 以强调观念或联想。
And alliteration is the repetition of the same initial sound in adjacent or nearby words, emphasising those words.
而头韵 是相邻或邻近词语中 同一起始音的重复， 它强调这些词。
Ambiguous reference is worth special attention.
含混的指代值得特别注意。
In prose it is usually a fault; in poetry it is often a device, and a pronoun that could point two ways may be holding both meanings deliberately.
在散文里它通常是毛病； 在诗里它常常是手法， 一个可以指向两处的代词 也许正有意同时承载两种意思。
When you find one, do not resolve it.
当你找到一个时，不要把它解决掉。
Say what each reading gives, and why the poem might want both.
说出每一种读法各自给出什么， 以及这首诗为什么可能两者都要。
Now the function of a simile.
现在说明喻的功能。
A simile uses like or as to liken two objects or concepts, and similes liken two different things to transfer the traits or qualities of one to the other.
明喻用"像"或"如" 把两个事物或概念相比， 而明喻把两个不同的东西相比， 是为了把其中一个的特征或性质 转移到另一个上。
In a simile, the thing being compared is the main subject; the thing to which it is compared is the comparison subject.
在明喻中， 被比较的东西是主体； 被用来比较的东西是喻体。
Those two terms are the whole method.
这两个术语就是整套方法。
A scoring answer names the main subject, names the comparison subject, and then says which quality was transferred — because that quality is the claim the poem is making.
一个能得分的答案 会说出主体，说出喻体， 然后说出哪一种性质被转移了， 因为那种性质 就是这首诗所提出的主张。
Naming the device is not the answer.
说出手法的名称不是答案。
Naming the transfer is.
说出这次转移才是。
And the function of a metaphor.
再说隐喻的功能。
A metaphor implies similarities between two usually unrelated concepts to reveal or emphasise qualities of the main subject, and the same main-subject and comparison-subject structure applies.
隐喻在两个通常不相关的概念之间 暗示相似之处， 以揭示或强调主体的性质， 而同样的主体与喻体结构依然适用。
Comparisons draw on the experiences and associations readers already have with the comparison subject — which is why a metaphor can fail with an audience that lacks those associations.
比较依赖读者 对喻体已有的经验与联想， 这也是为什么 一个隐喻在缺乏这些联想的受众那里 可能失效。
And interpretation of a metaphor may depend on the context of its use: what is happening in the text may determine which of the comparison subject's qualities is meant.
而对隐喻的阐释 可能取决于它被使用的语境： 文本中正在发生的事 可能决定 喻体的哪一种性质被指涉。
That last point protects you from the commonest error, which is importing every association a word has.
最后这一点保护你避开最常见的错误， 也就是把一个词的所有联想 全都搬进来。
If a poem calls grief a house, the relevant quality might be shelter, or confinement, or the fact that one must live inside it.
如果一首诗把悲伤称作一座房子， 相关的性质可能是庇护， 可能是禁锢， 也可能是"人必须住在里面"这一事实。
The text decides which — so quote the line that decides it.
由文本来决定是哪一种， 所以要引用那个作出决定的句子。
Last, developing a paragraph with claim and evidence, which is the same in every unit of this course.
最后是用分论点和证据来写段落，这在本课程的每一个单元里都是一样的。
In literary analysis, writers read a text closely to identify details that, in combination, let them make and defend a claim.
在文学分析中，作者细读文本，找出那些"合在一起" 才让他能提出并辩护一个分论点的细节。
Hold on to those two words: in combination.
记住这两个字：合起来。
A claim is a statement that requires defence with textual evidence, and the initial components of any paragraph are the claim and the textual evidence that defends it.
分论点是一个需要用文本证据来辩护的陈述， 而任何段落最初的组成部分，就是分论点和为它辩护的文本证据。
A single detail rarely supports an interpretive claim.
单独一个细节很少能支撑起一个解读性的分论点。
Two or three details pointing the same way do — a phrase, a line break, and a change of tense that all lean in one direction give you a paragraph.
两三个指向同一方向的细节可以—— 一个措辞、一处断行、一次时态变化， 如果都朝同一边倾斜，你就有了一个段落。
Five things to carry out.
带走五件事。
First, what a speaker omits is evidence — in a poem, everything present was chosen.
第一，说话者略去的东西就是证据， 在一首诗里， 在场的每样东西都是被选择的。
Second, find the shift first; the poem divides there.
第二，先找转折，诗在那里分开。
Third, line endings are the emphatic position, so say which words the poet put there.
第三，行末是强调的位置， 所以要说出诗人把哪些词放在了那里。
Fourth, an ambiguous referent in poetry is usually a device, not an error.
第四，诗中含混的指代 通常是手法，不是错误。
Fifth, name the main subject, the comparison subject, and the quality transferred — and let the context decide which quality.
第五，说出主体、喻体 与被转移的性质， 并让语境来决定是哪一种性质。