Chapter 91 Section 2 Relive the dream of twenty years old

Back to the scene of the first class at National Taiwan University, it is hard to forget, so it should be called a "grand event"! After the bell rang, I walked to the corridor and turned left to the first "Sixteen Classroom", thinking that I had gone wrong , except for the podium, all the seats were full, and people stood behind the wall and outside the window! There are more than 130 students in this compulsory course, and classroom 16 has only 50 to 60 seats. So the scene that caused that pomp.Later, it was adjusted to the freshman building, and returned to a large lecture hall in the Faculty of Arts in the second year.

I did walk up to the podium in a state of trepidation, barely calmly spoke my opening remarks, and quickly grabbed the only rescue, a piece of chalk, and wrote two lines of my plan for the year: starting with the romantic period and the first chapter to be taught. A poet William Blake. In order to stabilize myself and the "audience", I first use Chinese to explain that the history of British literature is the same as all cultural history, and there is no universally applicable name for the division of eras and genres.For example, the second half of the seventeenth century from the restoration of King Charles II in 1660 to John Dryden (JOhn Dryden.1631-1700) is "The Restoration Period" (The Restoration Period), and we are about to begin The romantic period, when read correctly, has very complicated historical significance. I do not agree with it, and I am not capable of interpreting the original in Chinese, so I will teach in English, hoping to preserve the ideological characteristics of the original text. I do not want to use "romantic period" The Chinese translation of the name, referred to as the era that often enters the profound inner exploration with enthusiasm. Because what "Romantic" represents is neither aesthetics, nor is it a fictional feeling in Romance since the Middle Ages. It is a kind of respect for the sublime ( The pursuit of sublime ideals without compromise. Romanticism, which emphasizes creativity and emotional expression, is actually a reaction to the dogmatic neoclassicism of the previous century. Its call for return to nature emphasizes that nature guides the individual's soul The pursuit and contemplation of truth, goodness and beauty.

Since the modern Chinese education system adopted English as the main foreign language, it is an inevitable development that the foreign language and literature departments of universities have made English literature a compulsory course.The simplest and clearest reason so far can still be explained by Hippolyte Taine (1828-1893) from the German point of view. When he wrote "History of English Literature", he said that it is necessary to use a rich and complete history of literary growth to analyze the times and race relations.Before him, after him.Western literary theory has developed many different schools, and the academics are busy, but the three elements of Tyne's literature are era, nation, and environment—whether the literary work can be handed down.The basic elements, either implicit or explicit.

Teaching literary history is not teaching literary appreciation.Don't choose materials based on personal taste.The spirit and style of each era is not a temporary fashion, but should exist in long-length masterpieces with concentrated talents, or some continuous short stories that form a personal style, such as Wordsworth's "Prelude", It records the growth of the poet's personal soul and the interaction with nature.Coolidge's "Ode to the Ancient Boatman") uses voyages to symbolize the crimes and punishments of life, and the mysterious journey to seek redemption.Byron's "Don Juan" is the longest satire in the history of literature, although it was not completed.Shelley's "The Liberation of Prometheus" is a lyric drama in four acts, in which the murderer is destroyed by cruelty and the fire thief is liberated.In Shelley's mind, the heart is ennobled by love and forgiveness.

Even Keats, who had only five years of writing life, could not let go of the long poem "The Funeral of Hyperion" that he had put his heart and soul into until the end of his life.The poet used dreams to write about the pain of the funeral of the old gods and express his pursuit of literature.In his dream, he was in the deserted garden in the forest and came to an ancient temple, the top of which reached into the starry sky.Standing in front of the marble steps beside the temple, he heard a voice from the Temple of Xinxiang Ammonium and Hydrogen saying: "If you cannot climb this step, your body and bones, which are of the same origin as dust, will soon decay and disappear here"; He was chilling through his bones, the moment before he died.Struggling to climb the first step, life poured into his already frozen feet, and he climbed up, just like an angel flying to the sky ladder back then.The female gentry in the temple said to him: "Ordinary life is bittersweet, but you persevere and explore the meaning of suffering. Aren't you a dreamer? You must know that poets are completely different from dreamers. The former soothes The world, but the latter is only confused by this world."

Keats put a lot of thought into writing novels and novels.He believes that it must be carefully managed and given enough maneuvering space to accommodate the bursting imagination and abundant imagery.Therefore, his long poem "On the Eve of St. Annis" and the novella "The Heartless Woman" and other crystal-clear semi-narrative poems, like his odes, are treasures that have been recited from generation to generation. It can be seen that his poems are not just relying on A work of inspiration. But long poems can only be used for special research, and in the classroom of literary history, they can only describe the main idea, writing style, and representative paragraphs.Short poems are more suitable as good examples to explain and clarify the essence of poetry.If at the end of one’s life one could see the time flow back, I would be able to see myself standing on the podium in the lecture hall of the Faculty of Arts, like the ninety-year-old Edith.Hamilton, who wrote stories of Greek mythology in English, stood in the Arena in Athens to receive a cultural medal from the Greek government.All my life, I have bumped forward between life and death. I have attached my heart to literature since I was a child. Now I can stand on the only land in China that dares to freely teach and spread Western literature, and use my life to young people who choose literature. The Loudest Voice Reads Shelley (Ode to the West Wind)

O Wild west wind, thou breath of Autumn`s being- Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing. what!The wild west wind, the wild autumn wind— Withered leaves, under your sudden blow, Ghosts whirling like a sorcerer sweeping... Starting with the violent sweep of the west wind, I explained the composition of the first sonnet for two consecutive hours, and then read it all in one go. The interlocking passion cannot be interrupted.The westerly wind rises and speeds up, like a wizard driving the souls of the dead to a winter cemetery, waiting to be resurrected in the coming year; the clouds in the sky change and echo, like dead leaves on the ground, floating in the majestic blue sky, like the long hair of a crazy girl.

Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: O hear! (There is black rain, fire and hail blasting one by one, listen! fire!) When the westerly wind blows to the sea, even the flowers and trees of the palace under the sea are grayed out and their leaves are falling.The author hopes that he can become the horn of the west wind and wake up the addiction of mankind: If winter comes, can spring far behind? (Winter is here, can spring be far behind?) This epilogue is neither clever nor lighthearted!It is the vitality of human nature, the imagination of the universe and the vitality of creation. Only after reading the whole poem in this way can you know the true meaning of that sentence!

At this time, I was at the age of Teacher Zhu, looking down at me from the environment, and the student who was the same age as me at the age of 20, remembered the initial touch, waved his arms, and swayed with the west wind ecstasy... This is a song of immortality. Every time I reread it, I always feel like I was twenty years old, and I can't forget Teacher Zhu's gray robe... My life is often like traveling with the west wind, climbing mountains and crossing seas. At every stage of my life when my ambition is almost drowned, relying on the expectations in my memory and reciting a few lines of Shelley's passionate poems, I can regain some confidence.Every time I read Keats's poems, I always recall that I was in Leshan, where the three rivers converge, and I heard bombs roaring and falling in the world around me.We lost the war on the front line, and we had to evacuate to Leima Ping'e when necessary. His poems and I seem to be dependent on the hardships of the world, maintaining my longing for a better life.When I was teaching English literature in Taiwan, where the economy was booming, Mr. Zhu Guangqian and Mr. Wu Mi were being persecuted and tortured by the Cultural Revolution.I eagerly lead these 20-year-old students who grew up in the peaceful years into the immortal mood of the poem, but how many people can hear the real vicissitudes of life?

In order not to omit the classic works of literary history, I set a detailed schedule. Prose and novels have appropriate introductions and reading requirements. I choose key readings in class, but poetry is still the one that must be read in detail.From Romantic Period to Keats, it is about a one-semester class.From autumn to winter, the next semester is from spring to summer, from the Victorian era to the twentieth century.