1. American Literature
Philip Freneau

2. Teaching Objectives Introduction to Philip Freneau
Analysis of His poems

3. Philip Freneau (1752-1832) 菲利普·弗瑞诺
Poet
“Father of American Poetry”
Political journalist

4. Biographical Introduction
Born in New York on January 2, 1752, of French Huguenot([‘hju:ɡənɔt]胡格诺教徒)and Scottish stock
At 16, entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University)
Attended the War of Independence, and was captured by British army in 1780
Editor and contributor of The Freeman's Journal (Philadelphia) from 1781 to 1784
After war, flung himself into the controversies between the Jeffersonian Democrats and Hamilton’s Federalists
supported Jeffersonian Democrats
advocating the essence of “Jeffersonian democracy” ---decentralization of government, equality for the masses, The national government is a dangerous necessity to be instituted for the common benefit, etc.
After 50 years old, lived in poverty and died in a blizzard

5. Works of Philip Freneau
Revolutionary Poems
“The Poet of the Revolution” “美国独立革命的诗人”
1772 The Rising Glory of America 美洲新兴的荣耀
1781 The British Prison Ship 英国囚船
1781 To the Memory of the Brave Americans 纪念美洲勇士
Pictures of Columbus 哥伦布画像
Nature lyrics
Romantic Poet
1776 The Beauties of Santa Cruz 美丽的圣克鲁斯
1786 The Wild Honeysuckle 野地里的忍冬
1776 The House of Night 夜之屋
1788 The Indian Burying Ground 印第安人墓地

6. Common Beliefs of Enlightenment, （FOUPS)
1) Faith in natural goodness - a human is born without taint or sin; the concept of tabula rasa or blank slate.
2) Outdated social institutions cause unsociable behavior - religious, social, economic, and political institutions, which have not modernized, force individuals into unacceptable behavior.
3) Universal benevolence普渡众生 - the attitude of helping everyone.
4)Perfectibility of a human being - it is possible to improve situations of birth, economy, society, and religion
5) The sovereignty of reason - echoes of Rene Descartes' cogito ergo sum or I think, therefore, I am (as the first certitude in resolving universal doubt.)

7. Freneau as Leader of 18th Century Enlightenment
1) Fresh interest in nature.
2)The belief that nature is a revelation of God.
3) Humanitarian sympathy for the humble and oppressed.
4)The faith that people are naturally good. That they lived peaceful and kind lives in a primitive past before the advent of civilization.
5) The basic doctrine that the golden age will dawn again when social institutions are modified, since they are responsible for existing evil.

8. The Wild Honey Suckle published in Poems (1786)
one of Freneau’s best nature poems
unread in the time when he was living
anticipates the nineteenth-century romantic use of simple nature imagery

9. The Wild HoneySuckle - Philip Freneau
Fair flower, that dost so comely grow, 美丽的花儿 如此清秀的绽放 Hid in this silent, dull retreat, 隐藏在这安宁幽静的所在 Untouched thy honeyed blossoms blow, 未经染指的花蕊盛开芬芳 Unseen thy little branches greet: 未被注目的细枝问询摇摆 No roving foot shall crush thee here, 不会有那旅人践踏的脚步 No busy hand provoke a tear. 不会有那好事者的采摘

10. a comely face; young fair maidens
好看的脸；年轻的漂亮少女
retreat [ri’tri:t]隐退处, 静居处
He lives in a quiet retreat.
他住在一个僻静的地方。
静修(期)
They spent a week in (a) retreat.
他们静修了一周。

11. blossom [‘blɔsəm] n.
(尤指果树的)花
花丛, 花簇
The oriental cherry is in full blossom.
樱花盛开。
rove [rəuv] vt.
流浪, 漂泊,漫游
He spent most of his life roving the world.
他一生的大部分时间都在世界上流浪。

12. Stanza 1: The first stanza of the poem treats the advantages as well as the disadvantages of the flower’s modest retirement---it is designed with beauty and well protected in solitude; whereas its beauty might be admired by few.

13. Figures of speech Apostrophe[ə’pɔstrəfi] (呼语)---”fair flower”
Personification--- “dost”, “you”, “she”
Alliteration—”blossoms blow”
Alliteration: occurrence of the same consonant sound at the beginning of successive words or inside the words
Parallelism---”untouched thy honeyed blossoms blow/ unseen thy little branches greet”
Symbolism-- “A silent and dull retreat”, “flower”, “white”---symbolizing “purity” and “death”
作为一种修辞格,呼语常被用在诗歌中,并伴随着示现或拟人的形式出现。呼语用于与人的对话时,能拉近距离,产生亲切感;与动物或抽象概念对话时,能赋予诗人要诉说的对象以人的特征,使得诗歌意象生动活泼,增添艺术魅力。In this figure of speech, a thing, place, idea or person (dead or absent) is addressed as if present, listening and understanding what is being said. For instance, England! awake! awake! awake!

14. By Nature's self in white arrayed,
白色的花儿开得自在
She bade thee shun the vulgar eye,
将那凡尘俗眼躲避开来
And planted here the guardian shade,
四周有香林掩盖
And sent soft waters murmuring by;
一条细水带着细语相伴
Thus quietly thy summer goes,
这夏日便如此消逝远去
Thy days declining to repose.
你的花期也渐近凋敝

15. Stanza 2 array [ə‘rei] n. 衣服, 服装 She puts on her finest array.
她穿上最漂亮的衣服。
vt.
盛装, 打扮, 装饰
They arrayed themselves in all their finery.
她们打扮得花枝招展。

16. They bade one another a casual goodbye and parted.
他们随便说声再见便分手了。
The young man silently bade adieu to his hometown.
这个年轻人默默地告别了故乡。
Bade goodbye, adieu, farewell to..
Bade sb.. goodbye

17. shun [ʃʌn]vt.
避开, 回避, 避免
He was a shy man who shunned all publicity.
他是个怕羞的人, 总是避开一切引人注目的活动。

18. Stanza 2: the honeysuckle bears a special relationship with nature which has advised it to keep away from the “vulgar eye”; Nature has designed it in white---a color of simplicity and purity, and, it has sent the soft waters flowing gently by. However, in spite of all the nature’s kindness, the flower cannot escape its doom. The best time of its life is fading, for death is waiting.

19. Smit with those charms, that must decay
Smit with those charms, that must decay. 暗香也终将销残 I grieve to see your future doom; 念及你之终期 我便哀恸不已 They died - nor were those flowers more gay, 它们谢去—也不减分毫妍丽 The flowers that did in Eden bloom; 曾在天堂绽放的花朵 Unpitying frosts, and Autumn's power 严霜与那秋日的肃杀 Shall leave no vestige of this flower. 不会让花儿留下丝毫痕迹

20. Stanza 3
Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
doom [du:m]vt.
注定; 判定
Bad weather doomed the crops.
坏天气注定了庄稼要歉收。
vestige [‘vestidʒ] n.残余部分; 遗迹; 痕迹
These upright stones are the vestiges of some ancient religion.
这些竖立的石头是某种古代宗教的遗迹。

21. Stanza 3: the indifference of nature---the “unpitying frosts” are as much a part of nature as the “soft waters.” Thus, the notion that nature has provided a “guardian shade” for the protection of the honeysuckle is a sentimental fancy. It is relative, but death is absolute.

22. From morning suns and evening dews At first thy little being came:
那娇蕊自朝霞与暮露里
At first thy little being came:
来到这尘世
If nothing once, you nothing lose,
来时一无所有 去时了无牵挂
For when you die you are the same;
尘归尘 土归土
The space between, is but an hour,
这相隔的时间 不过一晌
The frail duration of a flower.
这便是一朵花儿憔悴的命运一场

23. Hyperbole
“the space is but an hour" contains a  stressing and transience of life.

24. Stanza 4: the poet sees his fate mirrored in that of the flower
Stanza 4: the poet sees his fate mirrored in that of the flower. Human beings, as any other creatures or flowers, are a part of nature. They originated from nature and will surely return to nature some day, thus their reduction to nature in the day ahead will constitute no real loss.

25. Evaluation of The Wild Honey Suckle
Theme:
Deep love for nature
celebrating the beauty and liveliness of the frail forest flower
Providence of Creator
Transience of nature and beauty
Transience of human beings’ lives
Form
Four six-line stanzas
rhymed on ababcc pattern
注释：忍冬用产生的甘露迷醉贪婪的蜜蜂，由此而得名（忍冬英文一词是由“蜂蜜”和“吮吸”两组成）。当它强烈的芬芳在空气中弥漫时，也陶醉了人的感官。充满激情的忍冬所散发的香气令少女却步回首，因此野生忍冬象征着爱情的反复无常。 The name honeysuckle comes from the sweet nectar that the flower produces to intoxicate the greedy bee. Its powerful fragrance seduces the human senses as it pervades the air. The perfume of this passionate plant may turn a maiden's head, hence wild honeysuckle is a symbol of inconstancy in love.

26. The Wild HoneySuckle
Flower vs Human Being Duration vs Life,
the human being has the ability to foresee his death. Whereas, the flower, with its happy ignorance, lacks this consciousness and is completely unaware of its doom. Its innocence left it happier than the foreseeing human beings. Unfortunately, the human beings are quite unwilling to refuse this knowledge and that arouses all their sufferings
Show us how to live an useful life.
In a revolution, one should not do nothing for his country for fear of being hurt, harmed and destroyed.
Explanation of the poem: fair flower grows so beautifully, yet seems to hide itself in such a retreated and sheltered/secluded place which few people come. Silent means no sound of human beings, no sign of human activities. Dull means boring, not lively, no sign of human beings. No man has ever touched your honeyed blossoms and seen your little branches greeting in the breeze. No man has ever enjoyed your beauty in the wind. No man has ever crushed your branches and plucked your blossoms. Therefore, your beauty is not appreciated and admired. On the other hand, you are not damaged and hurt.
You are the beloved of Nature and arranged by Her self. She puts you in such a shade with the intention of guarding you from the eyes of the vulgar human world, for fear that you are stained by the vulgar eyes. Here she places soft waters murmuring by. So your days goes by quietly and your life declines or fades away quickly.
Feeling so pitiful upon those charming things that must die or disappear, I also feel sad to see that you, like every charm in the world, is doomed to die one day. Those charms died. Those flowers that bloom in Eden can’t avoid the same fate. They will also die. No matter where they are, charming and beautiful things are always to die. Unpitying frosts and autumn will destroy them completely.
Your little being and your life came from the nurture and nourishment of morning suns and evening dews, the nature. Nature endows you with beauty. You are the blessing and distillation of Nature. When you die you are the same. So if one is or holds nothing in his life, one loses nothing. How is your life course? The space between birth and death is only an hour. Because you do nothing in your life and you didn’t extend your life space, so your space is only measured by time, nothing else. How frail a flower is! What a short life it lives! How quickly it passes!
Appreciation of the poem: Superficially, the poem is about a flower. And the poet laments its beauty is not realized and known, frailty and easy transience of the flower and all those charms in the world. In fact, he refers/alludes the flower to human beings, the duration of a flower to human’s life. By depicting the situation of the wild beautiful flower and its short life, he shows us how to spend one’s life and gives us an important philosophy in life: don’t be afraid to lose something, because, at the same time, you also get something.
How quickly a most beautiful thing will pass, even before known to the public! The flower is the blessing the Nature who protects it well from the injuries and tears. Yet no matter how well it is protected, it will decay one day, even those in Eden can’t avoid death. Once autumn comes, unpitying frost shall destroy everything of you.
A flower and a person share many similarities. They are both born in the nature, grow out of the nurture of nature. Both of them are the blessing and distillation of Nature. Everything, flower, man, no matter how beautiful it is, will decay sooner or later. A flower, no matter how comely it is, if growing in a deserted place and its beauty can’t be known, fails to realize its values as a flower. Though it avoids being harmed, crushed and pricked, yet its beauty is also unknown to people. (It makes us wonder if such an arrangement is the Nature’s kindness or cruelty?) Think about a person who is talented and knowledgeable. If he can’t do good for society with his knowledge and wisdom, that is, his “beauty” is unknown to others, maybe by doing so, he protects himself soundly, places himself in safety, yet his talents and life values can’t be realized either. So what’s the use of his talents and knowledge? How is his life valuable? If you are unwilling to do something for fear of losing something else, your life is meaningless, empty and valueless. And your life will appear much shorter and your life space is much limited since you do nothing to enrich and extend it.
What lessons can we draw from the poem?
1.      The wild can also be beautiful.
2.      Everyone should take an active attitude toward life. never avoid challenges for fear of losing something.
3.      One can’t achieve anything under the shelter and protection.

27. Freneau, the first American-born poet, was one of the earliest who cast their eyes over the natural surroundings of the New Continent and American subject matter(主题). As is displayed in this poem: Honeysuckle, instead of rose or daffodil became the object of depiction; it is “wild “ just to convey the fresh perception of the natural scenes on the new continent.

28. philosophical meditation
The flowers, similar to the early Puritan settlers, used to believe they were the selects of God to be arranged on the abundant land, but now have to wake up from that fantasy and be more respectful to natural law.
Time is constant but time of a life is short; any favor is relative but change is absolute with or without the awareness, nature develops: flowers were born, bloomed and declined to repose, and human beings would exist in exactly the same way.

29. A flower and a person share many similarities.
1)They are both born in the nature, grow out of the nurture of nature.
2)Both of them are the blessing and distillation of Nature.
Everything, flower, man, no matter how beautiful it is, will decay sooner or later. A flower, no matter how comely it is, if growing in a deserted place and its beauty can’t be known, fails to realize its values as a flower. Though it avoids being harmed, crushed and pricked, yet its beauty is also unknown to people. (It makes us wonder if such an arrangement is the Nature’s kindness or cruelty?)

30. Think about a person who is talented and knowledgeable
Think about a person who is talented and knowledgeable. If he can’t do good for society with his knowledge and wisdom, that is, his “beauty” is unknown to others, maybe by doing so, he protects himself soundly, places himself in safety, yet his talents and life values can’t be realized either. So what’s the use of his talents and knowledge? How is his life valuable? If you are unwilling to do something for fear of losing something else, your life is meaningless, empty and valueless. And your life will appear much shorter and your life space is much limited since you do nothing to enrich and extend it.

31. What lessons can we draw from the poem?
1. The wild can also be beautiful.
2.Everyone should take an active attitude toward life. never avoid challenges for fear of losing something.
3.One can’t achieve anything under the shelter and protection.

32. Appreciation of the poem:
Superficially, the poem is about a flower. And the poet laments its beauty is not realized and known, frailty and easy transience of the flower and all those charms in the world. In fact, he refers/alludes the flower to human beings, the duration of a flower to human’s life. By depicting the situation of the wild beautiful flower and its short life, he shows us how to spend one’s life and gives us an important philosophy in life: don’t be afraid to lose something, because, at the same time, you also get something.
How quickly a most beautiful thing will pass, even before known to the public! The flower is the blessing the Nature who protects it well from the injuries and tears. Yet no matter how well it is protected, it will decay one day, even those in Eden can’t avoid death. Once autumn comes, unpitying frost shall destroy everything of you.

33. characteristics Plain language vivid images
Intellectual control (the narrator distances himself from flower by making her an object to inspire thought rather than sympathetic involvement)
Blending of Romanticism and Neoclassicism

34. The Indian Burying Ground
portrays sympathetically the spirit of the nomadic游牧的Indian hunters, who were traditionally buried in a sitting position and with images of the objects they knew in life
believed to be the earliest to romanticize the Indian as a child of nature
Form: written almost in ten iambic tetrameter quatrains(四音步四行诗
the rhyme scheme of “abab”.

35. The Indian Burying Ground
published in Miscellaneous Works(杂文集)in 1788
In 1787, Freneau chanced to pay a visit to an Indian tribe and saw the strange way of the Indians burying a body. Freneau was greatly shocked and deeply impressed by their burying the dead in a sitting posture and that resulted in this poem of rich imagination.

36. The poem describes the spirituality of Indians surrounding death, which is seen as a happy occasion, unlike Western white culture.
Freneau sees the Indians as children of the forest – a people that live in harmony with nature and have found the essence of life.
Further more Freneau distances himself from ‘the learned’ and the reason they represent.
He doesn’t see as the Indians as savages as the learned do, so in that way you could say that he didn’t approve of the way the Indians were treated.
Americans should respect the Indians and their way of thinking.

37. To a Caty-did 美洲大螽斯 bush-crickets, long-horned grasshoppers,
Field Bush cricket

39. Evaluation of the poet
1. Poet of American Independence: Freneau provides incentive and inspiration to the revolution by writing such poems as "The Rising Glory of America" and "Pictures of Columbus哥伦布 ."
2.Journalist: Freneau was editor and contributor of The Freeman's Journal (Philadelphia) from
In his writings, he advocated the essence of what is known as Jeffersonian democracy - decentralization of government, equality for the masses, etc.
3. Freneau's Religion: Freneau is described as a deist - a believer in nature and humanity but not a pantheist. In deism, religion becomes an attitude of intellectual belief, not a matter of emotional of spiritual ecstasy. Freneau shows interest and sympathy for the humble and the oppressed.
4. Freneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.

40. Thanks for your attention!

41. The Rising Glory of America
wrote in collaboration with Hugh Henry Brackenridge（布雷肯里奇）before graduation from College of New Jersey
pronounces the virtues of a new nation progressing towards its freedom
provides incentive and inspiration to the revolution

42. Lyric
Any fairly short poem consisting of the utterance by a single speaker, who expresses a state of mind or a process of perception, thought, and feeling.
Many lyric speakers are represented as musing in solitude
The “I” in the poem need not to be the poet who wrote it

43. Father of American Poetry
Themes of Freneau as
death, nature, transition, and the human in nature which become important in 19th century writing
“gifted and versatile (talented) lyric poet”
He was the most significant poet of 18th century America. Some of his themes and images anticipated the works of such 19th century American Romantic writers as Cooper, Emerson, Poe and Melville. “Pioneer of the New Romanticism”

45. Neoclassicism新古典主义
a type of classicism which draws its name from its finding in classical literature of ancient Greek and Roman writers and in contemporary French neoclassical writings the models for its literary expressions and a group of attitudes toward life and art.
It dominated English literature in the restoration age and in the 18th century. Neoclassic ideals had concrete effects on literature. The neoclassicists believed that the artistic ideals should be order, logic, restrained emotion and accuracy. They followed some fixed laws and rules. Poetry should by lyrical, epic, didactic, satiric or dramatic. Prose should be precise, direct, smooth and flexible. Drama should be written in heroic couplet; the three unities of time, space and action should be strictly observed.

46. Romanticism
1. stress emotion, passion, imagination and fancy, rich in mystic color, deal with moral theme.
2.It exalted the individualism and encouraged people to fight for individual right and human happiness bravely. It displays personalities, expresses feelings and thoughts of common people. It stresses man’s ability to master the world by one’s conscience or intuition. They believed that human nature was of good-will. One form of it is transcendentalism.
3. The Romanticists showed a profound admiration and love for nature, the beauty and perfection of nature could produce in them an unspeakable joy and exaltation; the romanticist believed that he was the chosen and favored creature in nature, hence he was free in using his talent to eulogize nature. Nature is symbolized in literary works, marked by men’s subjective mood.
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