The Utilization of Color Words in Poems of the Brownings

论布郎宁夫妇诗中颜色词汇的运用The Utilization of Color Words in Poems of the BrowningsContentsAbstract.1Key words.1I. Introduction to Robert Browning .1II. Introduction to Elizabeth Barrett Browning.3III. Analysis of the color words in the main poems of the Brownings.43.1 The Analysis of My Last Duchess and Its Color Words.43.2 The Analysis of Home-Thoughts, From Abroad and Its Color Words.63.3 The Analysis of Meeting at Night and Its Color Words.83.4 The Analysis of Mrs. Brownings sonnet of twelve and Its Color Words.9IV. Conclusion.10References.11The Utilization of Color Words in Poems of the Brownings摘 要： 布郎宁夫妇是维多利亚时期著名的诗人，他们在英语中占有重要地位，有其独特的风格和特点。本文首先介绍了布郎宁夫妇的生平以及时代背景，接着讨论了作品的时代特色和作者的独特性，从布郎宁夫妇诗中的颜色词汇的运用出发，发掘了作者诗中的独特魅力,通过对作品的语言特点和文化内涵的分析来理解其诗中颜色词汇的运用。从而更好的理解维多利亚时期整个人文背景及其对后继诗人的独特影响，分析并总结了布郎宁夫妇作品及本课题研究的独特之处。关键词： 布郎宁夫妇；布郎宁夫妇的诗；颜色词汇Abstract: Mr.and Mrs.Brownings are famous poets of Victorian period. They occupy the important status in English, having their unique style and characteristic. This text has introduced the background of life and era of Mr. and Mrs. Brownings at first, discuss era characteristic and uniqueness of author of works then , set out from color application of poem. Mr. and Mrs. Brownings explore the unique glamour among their poems to understand the application of the color vocabulary in their poems by language characteristics and analysis of culture intension to the works. Thus fine to understand Victoria period wholely personal and background and to carry on unique influence of poet, and to analyze and summarize the unique place where Mrs.Brownings works Key words: Mr. and Mrs. Brownings; poems of the Brownings; color words. I .Introduction to Robert BrowningRobert Browning was born on 7 May, 1812, the first child and only son of Robert Browning and Sarah Weidman Browning. Robert was an impulsive, fearless little boy who was also rather a prodigy, writing poems and reading Homer at a very young age. He learned many languages and devoured his fathers history books. He also liked to read books that were considered rather shocking and not quite suitable for children. Robert also had quite a habit of falling for older women, as his father had done. This first happened when Robert was barely in his teens and he apparently developed a crush on a woman named Eliza Flower, then in her early twenties. At 16, Robert began attending the newly-formed London University, established for those Nonconformists like Robert who were barred from Oxford and Cambridge. Robert attended for only just over a year, though thanks to his reading, he was really quite an educated man. He also was quite arrogant at times. By the time he was 20, he was convinced that he would be a great poet, if not THE great poet. His family had enough money to support him in these poetical endeavors, a good thing as he got off to a very rocky start. His first published work, Pauline, was considered not very good, but promising; his second, Paracelsus, was well-received and Robert was always proud of it. He even wrote several stage plays (between 1836 and 1843) which were also well-received, though quite forgotten today. It was in 1840 that he really had some problems. In March of that year, Robert published Bordello, a Poem in Six Books, at his fathers expense. Bordello was an obscure Mantua poet/warrior of the early 13th century, and though the poem has many beautifully descriptive passages, no one really understood it. To make matters even worse, three years earlier, a woman named Mrs. Bask had published her own poem on Sordello, done in a lilting, nearly doggerel sort of style. But these problems aside, Robert was beginning to really hit his poetical stride. Between 1841 and 1846, he published four books, mainly collections of his shorter poems that would become among his most famous works. It was about this time that Roberts correspondence with Elizabeth Barrett began, when he wrote to thank her for a flattering mention of his work in one of her poems. Even in this very first letter, he told her that he loved her, which alarmed Elizabeth immensely. Still, he managed to meet her face to face in May of 1845 and marry her in September of that year. The happy couple went to Florence and was enchanted by it, finally settling in the famous Casa Guidi. They lived like hermits, the normally gregarious Robert content to stay at home with the usually ill Elizabeth. On 9 March 1849, Robert Weidman Barrett Browning was born, though when Roberts mother Sarah died later that month, never knowing she had a grandson, Robert was devastated. It was Elizabeth and her poems that finally pulled him through. In 1855, Roberts collection of short poems, Men and Women, was published, an excellent book that received good but not great reviews. But he was mostly neglecting his poetry in order to be with Elizabeth. Her death on 28 June 1861 was more a relief than a shock, as she had been fading badly for some time. Robert re-dedicated himself to his poetry and to his son. By now, Robert was truly famous, finally one of the great poets, as he had always wanted. He received two honorary degrees and was much admired, though generally from a distance, as many considered him to be rather ill-tempered. It may surprise you to learn (I know it surprised me) that he actually proposed to another woman ten years after Elizabeths death, one Lady Louisa Ash Burton, but she turned him down. Robert really disliked her after that, even though he told everyone that the proposal was for Pens sake. Robert wrote a great deal right up to the end of his life, though he was plagued by colds and bronchitis; his last book, Ashland, was published the day of his death, December 1889. Robert had always assumed he would be buried beside Elizabeth, but as that cemetery had been closed to further burials, he instead received a grand funeral at Westminster Abbey (Wu Weiren, 2004).II. Introduction to Elizabeth Barrett BrowningElizabeth Barrett was born at Cox hoe Hall, Durham, England. Elizabeth was educated at home, learning Greek, Latin, and several modern languages at an early age. In 1819, her father arranged for the printing of one of her poems (she was 13 at the time.) In 1821, Elizabeth injured her spine as a result of a fall. When her brother died in 1838, she seemingly became a permanent invalid. She spent the majority of her time in her room writing poetry. In 1844, Robert Browning wrote to Elizabeth admiring her Poems. He continued to write to her and they were engaged in 1845.Elizabeths father disapproved of the courtship and engagement. In 1846, Elizabeth and Robert were secretly wed. Soon the couple ran off to Italy where Elizabeths health improved. She continued to live in the villa of Casa Guide for the remainder of her life. In 1850, Elizabeths best known book of poems was published Sonnets from the Portuguese. They are not translations, but a sequence of 44 sonnets recording the growth of her love for Robert. He often called her my little Portuguese because of her dark completion.Elizabeths poems have a diction and rhythm evoking an attractive, spontaneous quality though some may seem sentimental. Many of her poems protest what she considered unjust social conditions. She also wrote poems appealing for political freedom for Italy and other countries controlled by foreign nations.In 1861, Elizabeth Barrett Browning died at the age of 55. Her son was born on1849, and her husband returned to England after her death. Analysis of the color words in the main poems of the BrowningMr. and Mrs. Brownings poems are very famous. The emotion of their poem is very fine and smooth, and the language is very vivid. The Brownings are good at using the color vocabulary to express the sense. Especially Mrs. Browning, her sonnets are second only to Shakespeares. Let us appreciate them and analyce their color words now!3.1 The Analysis of My Last Duchess and Its Color WordsMy Last Duchess is one of the famous poems of Mr. Browning:My Last DuchessThats my last Duchess painted on the wall,Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now: Fra Randolphs hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands. Willt please you sit and look at her? I said Fra Pandolf by design, for never read Strangers like you that pictured countenance, The depth and passion of its earnest glance, But to myself they turned (since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst, How such a glance came there; so, not the first Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, twas not Her husbands presence only, called that spot Of joy into the Duchess cheek: perhaps Far Randolph chanced to say Her mantle laps Over my ladys wrist too much, or Paint Must never hope to reproduce the faint Half-flush that dies along her throat: such stuff Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough For calling up that spot of joy. She had A heart-how shall I say?-too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whatre She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. Sir, twas all one! My favors at her breast, The dropping of the daylight in the West, The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule She rode with round the terrace-all and each Would draw from her alike the approving speech, Or blush, at least. She thanked men,-good! but thanked Somehow-I know not how-as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybodys gift. Whod stoop to blame This sort of trifling? Even had you skill In speech-(which I have not)-to make your will Quite clear to such an one, and say, Just this Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss, Or there exceed the mark-and if she let Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse, -Een then would be some stooping; and I choose Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Whenre I passed her; but who passed without Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands As if alive. Willt please you rise? Well meet The company below, then. I repeat, The Count your masters known munificence Is ample warrant that no just pretence Of mine for dowry will be disallowed; Though his fair daughters self, as I avowed At starting, is my object. Nay, well go Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!There are many color words in this poem, and all of them are dense. The poet selects the dense color words to express authors deep friendship to the late lover. And he use these words so skillful that we can deeply feel the poets sense. This poem is loosely based on historical events involving Alfonso, the Duke of Ferrara, who lived in the 16th century. The Duke is the speaker of the poem, and tells us he is entertaining an emissary who has come to negotiate the Dukes marriage (he has recently been widowed) to the daughter of another powerful family. As he shows the visitor through his palace, he stops before a portrait of the late Duchess, apparently a young and lovely girl. The Duke begins reminiscing about the portrait sessions, then about the Duchess herself. His musings give way to a diatribe on her disgraceful behavior: he claims she flirted with everyone and did not appreciate his gift of a nine-hundred-years- old name. As his monologue continues, the reader realizes with ever-more chilling certainty that the Duke in fact caused the Duchesss early demise: when her behavior escalated, he gave commands; then all smiles stopped together. Having made this disclosure, the Duke returns to the business at hand: arranging for another marriage, with another young girl. As the Duke and the emissary walk leave the painting behind, the Duke points out other notable artworks in his collection. 3.2 The Analysis of Home-Thoughts, From Abroad and Its Color WordsHome-Thoughts, From Abroad is one of the famous poems of Mr. Browning:I. Home-Thoughts, From AbroadOh, to be in England, Now that Aprils there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware, That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England now! And after April, when May follows, And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows - Hark! where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge Leans to the field and scatters on the clover Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent sprays edge - Thats the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over, Lest you should think he never could recapture The first fine careless rapture! And though the fields look rough with hoary dew, All will be gay when noontide wakes anew The buttercups, the little childrens dower, Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!There are also many color words in this poem, these words are all for the homesick feeling of the author. He still uses words excellently, and every reader can feel the authors homesick feeling when he read this poem! This poem celebrates the everyday and the domestic, taking the form of a short lyric. The poet casts himself in the role of the homesick traveler, longing for every detail of his beloved home. At this point in his career, Browning had spent quite a bit of time in Italy, so perhaps the longing for England has a bit of biographical urgency attached to it. The poem describes a typical springtime scene in the English countryside, with birds singing and flowers blooming. Browning tries to make the ordinary magical, as he describes the thrushs ability to recreate his transcendental song over and over again. Mrs. Browning is particularly famous with her Sonnets from the Portuguese. , What the 5th among them is written to poets love is early. The poet thirsted for the independently strong love at that time, at the same time because ones own body deformity harbored hesitating to the love.The poets heart is heavy; bring the deep melancholy, the worry with heaviness. Because is piling the thick sadness in her heart. This very heavy sadness is gathered on the poets mind, as gloomy as dying embers, not angry. Poet holds ones own heart draw; hold one corpse gray urn especially like strategic point thunder. The poet hopes to ones own lover. It is earnest what kind of deep love and how is included in that expression in ones eyes! Poet like, throw lover to ones own heart, change under foot of lover all dying embers of bottom of heart, leave the lover to trample. But such dying embers rise from any Mars that Mars if a silk fresh breeze is brushed enough to let, revive. There is cry of the life in this deathly still dust, And the breath of love. Poet mind lover step on, put out this Mars, mind lover shut off breath that love this. The poet would like to bear the agony of the love by oneself. The poet is unwilling to depend on the other side and as the burdensome love; If is such love, she would rather give up, and then bear the agony of failing in love alone.However, the lover is firm, would like to keep by the poet, and would like to bring the life to the poets heart. The lover would like to do a gust of fresh breeze, even if what this fresh breeze is blown afloat is a fire, even if such a fire will burn out own golden hair. The poets love, that all the time depressing warm emotion in the heart, hidden some is red as fire more bold and more unrestrained and more bold under that dying embers, it seems that there is tendency of setting a prairie fire in the twinkling of an eye. In the ending of the poem, what poets would pretended in the heart with the good-looking words is anxious and angry, a hiding one happy and smile to show in the heart. 3.3 The Analysis of Meeting at Night and Its Color WordsWe know, Mr. Browning is a famous poet of Britain too, he has many immensely popular works too, for example like my last Duchess、meeting at night、parting at morning， Among them meeting at night has used the color vocabulary a lot! let us appreciate one of them together:Meeting at NightIThe gray sea and the long black land; And the yellow half-moon large and low;And the startled little waves that leapIn fiery ringlets from their sleep.As I gain the cove with pushing prow,And quench its speed i the slushy sand.II Then a mile of warm sea _ scented beach;Three fields to cross till a farm appears; A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratchAnd blue spurt of a lighted match, And a voice less loud, through joys and fears, Then the two hearts beating each to each!This poem describes the secret meeting of a pair of lovers at night. The man protagonist is traveling through pale yellow moonlight evening, steering a ship and crossing a section of bay, moving round several stretches of farmland, coming outside the window of the lover. The woman protagonist waiting deducts the sound of the window, polishes matches in a hurry. Two people achieve one goal and gather around and tell the lovers prattle finally. This poem is full of the temperament and interest! There are three kinds of colors in the poem: black sky, golden moonlight, blue candlelight. Though we come to infer from the general convention, these colors all differ greatly, except that golden is slightly warm, black is very deep, blue is very melancholy. It seems that it is a bit far from each other to describe the color of the love with us commonly, but this positive and negative views to mirror authors unique comprehension and imagination. And it will let people have a kind of baffled emotion. I think, this is the true emotion that the author will display, romantic, also novel. 3.4 The Analysis of Mrs.Brownings sonnet of twelve and Its Color WordsThe Mrs.Brownings sonnets are very famous, now let us to appreciate one of them together.Indeed this very love which is my boest, And which, when rising up from breast to brow, Doth crown me with a ruby large enow To draw mens eyes and prove the inner cost,. This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost, I should not love withal, unless that thou Hadst set me an example, shown me how, When first time thine earnest eyes with mine were crossed And love called love, And thus, I cannot speak Of love even, as a good thing of my own. Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint a