An Analysis of Robert Frost’s Poem Wild Grapes from the Perspective of Transcendentalism_英语论文

摘要

80年代以来，国内学者对西方文学作品进行大量翻译和研究，罗伯特·弗罗斯特作为上世纪最受欢迎的美国诗人之一，受到广泛关注。弗罗斯特诗歌看似通俗易懂，实则富有隐秘性，其前期诗歌创作受十九世纪美国思想家拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生的影响颇深。虽国内不少学者研究二者的关系，少有学术论文详细构建爱默生的超验主义，并分析其在弗罗斯特具体诗歌中的体现。本文拟对弗罗斯特的《野葡萄》进行分析，以爱默生超验主义理论为依据，从超验理论的三个主要观点出发，将弗罗斯特的《野葡萄》放在其特定的理论中，详解爱默生超验理论中的宇宙观、世界观及人生观，并叙述弗罗斯特如何将超验哲思运用于诗作，分析文本主题所反映的哲学思想。

关键词：《野葡萄》  弗罗斯特  超验理论  隐喻  物质与精神

Abstract

Since 1980s, the work of translation and investigation for foreign literature has been conducted by domestic scholars. As one of the most popular poets in America of the last century, Robert Frost attracted the attention of those scholars. Simply and easily understood, yet Frost’s poems embody ulteriority. Though there are quite a few researchers devoting to analyze the influence of transcendentalism from Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American thinker in 19th century, exerting on Frost’s early works, few of them accurately demonstrated Emerson’s transcendentalism theory in details, examining its specific application in Frost’s poems.  

This thesis attempts to analyze Frost’s Wild Grapes, with Emerson’s Theory of Transcendentalism. By placing Wild Grapes under Frost’s poetic theory, the author narrates the three conceptions of Transcendentalism to give specific explanation about Emerson’s view of the universe, the world and human life in his theory, then manifest how Frost applied transcendental thoughts to to his works and reveal his lifelong preoccupation under the theme of Wild Grapes.

Key words: Wild Grapes  Robert Frost  Transcendentalism  metaphor  matter and spirit

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction 1

1.1  Purpose of the Thesis 1

1.2  Research Objective and Methodology 1

1.3  Structure of the Thesis 2

Chapter Two  Literature Review 3

2.1  Previous Studies on Robert Frost 3

2.1.1 Previous Studies on Robert Frost Abroad 3

2.2.1 Previous Studies on Robert Frost at Home 4

2.2  Previous Studies on Wild Grapes 5

2.3  Previous Studies on Transcendentalism 5

2.4  Summary 7

Chapter Three  Theoretical Framework 8

3.1  Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Theory of Transcendentalism 8

3.2  Three Concepts in Emerson’s Theory of Transcendentalism 8

3.2.1 Spirit, or the Over-Soul : the Most Important Part in the Universe 8

3.2.2 Nature: the Symbol of the Spirit or God through Nature 10

3.2.3 Self-Reliance: the Road to Reach the Over-Soul 11

3.3  Summary 11

Chapter Four  Transcendental Thoughts in Robert Frost’s Wild Grapes 13

4.1  A Brief Introduction of Robert Frost and Wild Grapes 13

4.2  Transcendental Thoughts in Wild Grapes 14

4.2.1 Metaphor in Wild Grapes: Symbols of Matter and Spirit 14

4.2.2 The Girl’s Experience: Approach to the Over-Soul 17

4.2.3 Concept of Self-Reliance in the Poem 19

Chapter Five  Conclusion 22

5.1  Research Findings 22

5.2  Research Implications 23

5.3  Research Limitations 23

Bibliography 24

Appendix 26

Acknowledgement 31