Poetry

这颗心儿能献的崇敬？连天公也不会拒而不收！

犹如飞蛾扑向星星，又如黑夜追求黎明，

这一种思慕远处之情，早已跳出了人间的苦境！

The Author

1. Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the major British Romantic poets, is also regarded by some as among the finest lyric, as well as epic, poets in the English language.

2. Shelley died in a storm on his way home in 1822. Shelley’s ashes were interred in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome, near an ancient pyramid in the city walls. His grave bears the Latin inion, Cor Cordium ("Heart of Hearts"), and, in reference to his death at sea, a few lines of from Shakespeare's The Tempest: "Nothing of him that doth fade / But doth suffer a sea-change / Into something rich and strange."

3. Shelley's mainstream following did not develop until a generation after his death, unlike Lord Byron, who was popular among all classes during his lifetime despite his radical views.

The Poem

"One Word Is Too Often Profaned" is written in 1822 and published in 1824. This poem was probably intended for Jane Williams. It expresses Shelley's deep and genuine devotion for Jane. Shelley developed a very strong affection towards Jane Williams and wrote a number of poems to Jane including One Word is Too Often Profaned, To Jane: The Invitation, To Jane: The Recollection and To Jane: The Keen Stars Were Twinkling. In most of these poems, Shelley projects his love for Jane in a spiritual and devotional manner. This poem is an example of that.

This poem has at times been printed with the titles To --- and Love.

The metrical feet used in the poem are a mixture of anapests(抑抑扬格) and iambs(抑扬格). The first line of each couplet contains three accents and the second line contains two.

I consider “One word” “One feeling” and “One hope” as metaphors. The word “love” didn’t appear in the first verse but the topic is love. Then in the second verse, Shelley continued to use metaphors: the writer was like a “moth” and Jane was the “star”, which indicates the disparity between them. At this time, love is like “worship” “desire” and “devotion”.

Shelley uses the sentence “I can give not what men call love” which shows that he himself is not averse(反对的) to the use of the word love but since it has been misused often by men all around to describe ordinary and worldly feelings, so he will not use this word for Jane.

责编 / 张若婷 常婉祎 赵佩瑶

采编 / 黄丞慧 张舒婷 张丛

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