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标题: Philip Larkin: Portrait [打印本页]

作者: 怀抱花朵的孩子 时间: 2006-5-28 23:19
标题: Philip Larkin: Portrait
Portrait

　　Her hands intend no harm:
　　Her hands devote themselves
　　To sheltering a flame;
　　Winds are her enemies,
　　And everything that strives
　　To bring her cold and darkness.
　　
　　But wax and wick grow short:
　　These she so dearly guards
　　Despite her care die out;
　　Her hands are not strong enough
　　Her hands will fall to her sides
　　And no wind will trouble to break her grief

Here you can get a splendid comment about this poem

[ 本帖最后由怀抱花朵的孩子于 2006-5-28 23:28 编辑 ]

作者: 怀抱花朵的孩子 时间: 2006-5-28 23:25
标题: Portrait Philip: Biogrophy
Philip Larkin (1922 - 1985)

Philip Arthur Larkin was born in Coventry on 9 August 1922, the only son and younger child of Sydney and Eva Larkin. His father was City Treasurer of Coventry from 1922 to 1944, and died from cancer in 1948 at the age of 63. His mother lived to be 91 and died on 17 November 1977. The family lived in Coventry between 1922 and 1940. Larkin attended King Henry VIII School there between 1930 and 1940. His early talent as a writer was shown in his regular contributions to The Coventrian, the school magazine, of which he was joint editor between 1939 and 1940.

In October 1940 Larkin went to St John's College, Oxford. He failed his army medical as a result of poor eyesight and so was able to complete his degree uninterrupted, graduating with First Class Honours in English in 1943. His close friends at Oxford included Kingsley Amis and Bruce Montgomery, and many of them shared his passion for jazz music. Strongly influenced by, amongst others, Auden, Lawrence and Yeats, Larkin's literary talent developed rapidly. His first poem to be published in a national weekly was 'Ultimatum' in The Listener, 28 November 1940. In June 1943 three of his poems were included in Oxford Poetry 1942-43.

For the first few months after graduating Larkin lived with his parents in their new Warwick home, spending much of his time on his first novel, Jill. Two attempts to get into the Civil Service failed and he eventually applied for, and was appointed to, the post of Librarian at Wellington in Shropshire in November 1943. Despite a full-time job and part-time study to qualify as a professional librarian, he continued to write and publish. Ten poems were included in Poetry from Oxford in Wartime in February 1945. All of these were then included in his own The North Ship later that year. Jill finally appeared a year later, but, like The North Ship, attracted little public comment. His second novel, A Girl in Winter, was completed in May 1945 and published in February 1947, this time attracting several favourable reviews.

Larkin took up a post as Assistant Librarian at the then University College of Leicester in September 1946, where he was in charge of the issue desk and periodicals. He completed his course of professional studies and became an Associate of the Library Association in 1949. From 1 October 1950 he was Sub-Librarian at Queen's University, Belfast, where his duties involved the supervision of 18 staff. Belfast saw a resurgence of his poetic activity after the rejection of his second poetry collection, In the Grip of Light, in 1948. He had a small collection, XX Poems, privately printed in an edition of 100 copies in 1951 and the Fantasy Press published a pamphlet containing five of his poems in 1954. Other poems were published in various magazines. 'Toads' and 'Poetry of departures' appeared in Listen issued by the Marvell Press of Hessle near Hull. By coincidence, Larkin's next book, largely comprising the poems from XX Poems and the Fantasy Press pamphlet, was being prepared by the Marvell Press when he was appointed Librarian to the University of Hull, where he commenced work on 21 March 1955. The Marvell Press book, initially called 'Various Poems' was published as The Less Deceived in October of that year, establishing him thereafter in the front rank of modern British poets.

The Library at Hull inherited by Larkin contained 120,000 volumes and employed just 11 staff housed in an assortment of badly designed buildings. Larkin, greatly aided for many years by the support of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor (later Sir) Brynmor Jones, and the boom in British higher education of the late 1950s and 1960s, presided over its transformation during the next two decades. A new purpose-built Library was opened in two stages in 1960 and 1970, and by 1985 there were over 750,000 items in stock, a computerised catalogue and circulation system, and over 80 staff.

In 1964 his next poetry collection, The Whitsun Weddings, was again widely acclaimed and in 1965 he received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. Larkin's continuing interest in jazz was reflected in his monthly record reviews for The Daily Telegraph between 1961 and 1971. A collection of these reviews entitled All What Jazz: a record diary 1961-1968 was published in 1970. Larkin also prepared the Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse, issued in 1973 and completed after he had held a visiting fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford for two terms in 1970-71.

The last collection of his own poetry, High Windows, appeared in 1974, and consolidated his reputation. However, his poetic output by this time had practically ceased. 'Aubade', his last great poem, appeared in the Times Literary Supplement in December 1977. To colleagues, Larkin wryly referred to The Brynmor Jones Library, 1929-1979: a short account as his 'last book'. However, Required Writing: miscellaneous pieces 1955-1982, a collection of essays and reviews, was published in November 1983. A best-seller, it won the W.H. Smith Literary Award for 1984.

The numerous other awards received during his later years included many honorary doctorates culminating in one from Oxford University in 1984. He received the CBE in 1975 and the German Shakespeare-Preis in 1976. He was Chairman of the Booker Prize Panel in 1977, was made Companion of Literature in 1978, and from 1980 to 1982 served on the Literature Panel of the Arts Council. The Library Association made him an Honorary Fellow in 1980 and the University of Hull made him a Professor in 1982. In 1984 he was elected to the Board of the British Library, but declined to succeed Sir John Betjeman as Poet Laureate, being unwilling to accept the level of media attention associated with the position.

His last and most highly prized honour was the Order of the Companion of Honour in June 1985, which, sadly, he was unable to receive personally owing to the onset of his terminal illness. He died of cancer on 2 December 1985 aged 63. His Collected Poems, which also included many of his previously unpublished pieces, was published in October 1988 and became an immediate best-seller. The publication of his Selected Letters in October 1992 was the literary event of the year.

Biography by: Archives and Special Collections Brynmor Jones Library

Here is his biography and 95 poems

作者: duessa 时间: 2006-5-28 23:33
Before I read any comments of this poem and the introduction of the poet, I am recording my first feelings after reading this poem. I seem to see a picture of a helpless mother seeing her only child dying away, just like the mother in Letters from an Unknown Woman. Not necessarily the case, but just the feeling. Of course this poem is very meaningful.

作者: 怀抱花朵的孩子 时间: 2006-5-30 01:08

原帖由 duessa 于 2006-5-28 23:33 发表
Before I read any comments of this poem and the introduction of the poet, I am recording my first feelings after reading this poem. I seem to see a picture of a helpless mother seeing her only chil ...

I don't like to understand this poem as what you've said "a picture of a helpless mother seeing her only child dying away". Cause this picture is so moving as to be divine. But I can't feel any thing like this. What I can feel is just the strengthlessness, the hopelessness, the strangeness and so on.

What she is protecting is only the flame of a candle which can protect her from cold and darkness. There is nothing between her and the candle like which between a mother and her child. She with Her hands devote themselves/To sheltering a flame just for her own sake. and at last Her hands are not strong enough/Her hands will fall to her sides. and there is nothing care her or her grief( And no wind will trouble to break her grief)

That is the whole story, that is the true story, the true sadness.

[ 本帖最后由怀抱花朵的孩子于 2006-5-30 01:14 编辑 ]

作者: 小香可 时间: 2006-5-30 01:57
本想选几首他的译文上来，既然你先开了贴，就不上了。

作者: 怀抱花朵的孩子 时间: 2006-5-30 02:11

原帖由 小香可 于 2006-5-30 01:57 发表
本想选几首他的译文上来，既然你先开了贴，就不上了。

Why not?
You can paste the translations of his poems in other forums but not in Original Literatrue.
Welcome to communicate with us in Original Literatrue!

作者: mu 时间: 2006-5-30 18:08

原帖由 小香可 于 2006-5-30 01:57 发表
本想选几首他的译文上来，既然你先开了贴，就不上了。

Please speak English,thanks!

really longing for your translation.

作者: duessa 时间: 2006-5-30 22:06
标题: 回复 #4 怀抱花朵的孩子的帖子
You are explaining the poem literally. Flame, cold, darkness..., however, are highly symbolic, and it is very likely that they are associated with hope, cruel environment, etc. This woman in cold and darkness sheltering the weak flame is just like a mother who has nothing else but her only child. And the flame at last dies out not because of the winds but because of its own factor. So the woman's guard is totally in vain "And no wind will trouble to break her grief" because she has already had no hope. Her heart has also died, just like the mother who loses her only child in spite of all the efforts she has made.

作者: 怀抱花朵的孩子 时间: 2006-5-30 22:33

原帖由 duessa 于 2006-5-30 22:06 发表
You are explaining the poem literally. Flame, cold, darkness..., however, are highly symbolic, and it is very likely that they are associated with hope, cruel environment, etc. This woman in cold a ...

I don't want to deny the possibility of the association you mentioned here. But I feel If I write a poem to symbolize the situation you've give, I won't use a candle to symbolize a child. Ye! what you've discribe is very beatifull and moving, But I don't think a mother would like this kind of symbolization. A child is A child. A child can not be any other thing but a child for his/her mother. You kwon what I am talking about?
If I write the poem I will give a plain narrative, just like Christina Rossetti's A Portrait(What I just post up)

Just my feeling!

作者: duessa 时间: 2006-5-30 22:59
You've misunderstood me. What I want to say is the feeling, not actually the case. The poet of course is not necessarily describing a mother who has just lost her child.

作者: 怀抱花朵的孩子 时间: 2006-5-30 23:10

原帖由 duessa 于 2006-5-30 22:59 发表
You've misunderstood me. What I want to say is the feeling, not actually the case. The poet of course is not necessarily describing a mother who has just lost her child.

Yes, You are right.
But I still wonder about the style of Larkin's discribing, the tone of his speaking, so cool. I can't write a poem like this, my feeling is so strong and uncontrollable. Maybe that's just why I can't be a great poet.

作者: duessa 时间: 2006-5-30 23:20
Maybe you should put your feelings aside for some time, and then get them "recollected in tranquility", just as Wordsworth does.

作者: 怀抱花朵的孩子 时间: 2006-5-30 23:50

原帖由 duessa 于 2006-5-30 23:20 发表
Maybe you should put your feelings aside for some time, and then get them "recollected in tranquility", just as Wordsworth does.

Wordsworth? I know you're talking about his <<preface to lyrical ballads>>. Yes he said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.

I think he is talking about the process of writting poems. But there is something much more essentialer, more decidabler.

Talking with you is so fantastic and full of challenge. I feel a bit hard to catch up with you.

[ 本帖最后由怀抱花朵的孩子于 2006-5-31 00:15 编辑 ]

作者: duessa 时间: 2006-5-31 10:34
You can read Wordsworth's poem "Tintern Abbey" to get a better understanding of his words. Writing a poem is totally beyond me. What I am doing is to try to understand poems. Hope you can do better.

作者: 怀抱花朵的孩子 时间: 2006-5-31 20:07

Writing a poem is totally beyond me

I have the same felling with you on this point! It's a pity!
I'll try one day But not now.

What I am doing is to try to understand poems

This is also what I am doing now. You have said what I want to say. Although sometimes I'll ask myself whether poem can be understood, but I am trying to do it all the time. Hope can catch up with you on the road to poem.

Hope you can do better

You too!

[ 本帖最后由怀抱花朵的孩子于 2006-5-31 20:08 编辑 ]

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