Author: SHUFEN MEI

I think Yehuda Amichai is provocative because when he starts writing poetry, he never stop paying attention to and thinking about the war. His war-themed poetry often shows a strong anti-war tendency. He constantly analyzes the ruthlessness of the war and shows the harm of war to people, he writes in the poem “The diameter of the bomb was thirty centimeters and the diameter of its effective range about seven meters, with four dead and eleven wounded. And around these, in a larger circle of pain and time, two hospitals are scattered and one graveyard.”（The Diameter of the Bomb). Also, in the poem “Try to Remember Some Details,” he writes “unlike wild beasts they live each in his lonely hiding place and they die together on battlefields and in hospitals. And the earth will swallow all of them, good and evil together, like the followers of Korah,” He repeatedly demonstrated the destruction of people by war and caused people to think and react strongly to the war.

William Butler Yeats expresses his love for the girl in the poem “When You Are Old”. He mentioned that others may love the girl because of her beauty, but he loves her noble soul. Yeats is telling the girl his true feelings, even after she gets older, it remains the same. When the hypothesis of “when you are old” mentioned in the poem, from the words “grey and fall of sleep, and nodding by the fire”, we seem to be able to see the scene of the “aging” moment, which is so vivid and imaginable. Getting older is a process that everyone will experience. Although most people are unwilling to face it, this is an irresistible natural law. It can be seen that the Yeats’ love is beyond the time and the external beauty of the person.

In Edith Wharton’s story “Roman Fever”, Alide Slade and Grace Ansley gave up their friendship because of the pursuit of love and personal interests. They lost their right judgement and lost their self-worth, making their choices for the common lover Delphin Slade, and this choice changed their lives. Alide wants to defend her love, in order to eliminate her rival, write a letter to Grace in Delphin’s tone, wanting Grace to get sick and die. And Grace is a gentle and kind woman who pursues her love at all cost, even health and virginity. In a  word, their friendship was the forfeit for their incorrect judgments.

In Anton Chekhov’s article “The Lady with the Dog,” the two main characters Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna are disappointed with each other’s marriage and love. Both of them dare not face their feelings because they are not willing to break the inherent lifestyle. The author uses the meeting of two these people to reflect the phenomenon that the society is full of hypocrisy and pretense. This article has an open ending. The author leaves the space for the reader to imagine, in order to stimulate the reader’s thinking, to arouse people’s expectations, enlightenment, such an open ending, allow the readers continue to read with their own imaginations.

In the story, the dead are often mentioned as living around the living. Such as Gabriel’s mother and Gretta’s dead lover Michael Furey. They become vivid because of the constant memories of the living people, and affect the life and thoughts of the living. On the other side,  the living people are numb like the walking dead, such as the monks who have no essential difference in life from the dead.

To some extent, Gabriel’s speech reflects his self-contradictory and evasive psychology, and sets off his contradiction in the embarrassing situation. The speech is hypocritical and full of insincere words. He praises the tradition of Irish hospitality, but he is tired of such life. also, we can feel that his speech is in stark contrast to his wife’s story. Therefore, after listening to Gretta’s story, Gabriel began to truly reflect and evaluate himself and recognize his role. After his inner superiority has disappeared, it suddenly dawned on him.

In romantic literature, the self is attracted to nature, piously praises nature and believes in nature. The nature in the eyes of the poets is sublime and sacred. The poets emphasize self, pursue freedom, love nature. Romantics integrate themselves into nature and feel  the nature. For example, William expressed his love for nature in his poem “Tintern Abbey”, and Percy Shelley expressed his emotions by describing nature in her poem “Ode to the West Wind”. These beautiful sceneries are the poets’ inner for a beautiful life and a yearning for beautiful nature. Although the romantic poets have different choices of natural images and artistic expressions, natural consciousness is deeply rooted in their poems.