1、A brief Analysis of “A Red, Red Rose”Li Huarong (030214302, Class03, Grade03, SFS, SCNU)Abstract:The early Romantic poets are remarkable for their use of vivid imagery, especially in the works of William Blake and Robert Burns. Robert Burns “A Red, Red Rose” is an expression of deep feeling by using
2、 imagery and symbolism.Key words: love, red , roseI. Introduction1. Brief introduction of the authorRobert Burns, a poor man, an educated man, and a ladies man, is representative of Scotland, much like whisky, haggis, bagpipes, and kilts. He lived a life shortened by rheumatic heart disease, 1759-17
3、96, but his life journey through poverty, informal education, disappointed love, nationalism, and literary and financial success can be identified by all Scots and common men the world over. He has become almost a national symbol of all things Scottish. His life is like a love story with a happy end
4、ing.2. Brief introduction of the poem“ A Red, Red Rose,” first published in 1794 in A Selection of Scots Songs, edited by Peter Urbani, is one such song. Written in ballad stanzas, the verseread today as a poempieces together conventional ideas and images of love in a way that transcends the “low” o
5、r non-literary sources from which the poem is drawn. In it, the speaker compares his love first with a blooming rose in spring and then with a melody “sweetly playd in tune.” If these similes seem the typical fodder for love-song lyricists, the second and third stanzas introduce the subtler and more
6、 complex implications of time. In trying to quantify his feelingsand in searching for the perfect metaphor to describe the “eternal” nature of his lovethe speaker inevitably comes up against loves greatest limitation, “the sands o life.” This image of the hour-glass forces the reader to reassess of
7、the poems first and loveliest image: A “red, red rose” is itself an object of an hour, “newly sprung” only “in June” and afterward subject to the decay of time. This treatment of time and beauty predicts the work of the later Romantic poets, who took Burnss work as an important influence.: Analysis
8、of the poem. Phonological FeaturesThe poem is written as a ballad with four stanzas of four lines each. Each stanza has alternating lines of four beats, or iambs, and three beats. The first and third lines have four iambs, consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in d
9、a-dah, da-dah, da-dah, da-dah. The second and fourth lines consist of three iambs. As an example of amebic meter, consider the following line from the poem with the stresses indicated: Thats sweet / ly playd / in tune. This pattern exists most regularly in the trimeter lines of the poem,lines which
10、most often finish the thoughts begun in the a regularity which gives the poem a balanced feel that enhances its musical sound. This form of verse is well adapted for singing or recitation and originated in the days when poetry existed in verbal rather than written form. Graphical FeaturesThe whole p
11、oem is written in four four-line stanzas, or quatrains, consisting of alternating tetrameter and trimeter lines. Therefore, the poem is neatly and regularly of 106 words. Lexical featuresThe words in this poem are kind of the morphological and lexical mixture, which are not so explicit but have dual
12、 meanings, therefore, they impress us so deeply as to bring us to the reality and immediacy of what the works mean.(1): NounIn the whole poem, “rose” is implicative and is indirect to the meaning of authors love. In this sense, we can feel the writers romantic way of love and fantasy for his lover.
13、For example: “O my Luves like A Red, Red Rose ”(2): verbObviously, “dry”, “melt”can manifest the writers everlastingly unchanged and loyal persistence to his love. For example: “And I will luve the still my dear,Till a the seas gang dry.” “And the rocks melt wi the sun: O I will love thee still, my
14、dear,”. Syntactic featuresMost sentences in this poem are comparatively short. In my opinion, short sentences can be easier to create imaginary and romantic atmosphere and sense because it contents less information and easily to understand. Most sentences are taken to be the product of the S rule(SN
15、P VP) which combines an NP(often called the subject) with a VP to yield to sentence such as the one below.SNP VPPPMODIFIER N V P COMPLEMENT My love is like A Red, Red Rose. Semantic featuresThe poem begins with a quatrain containing two similes. Burns compares his love with a springtime blooming ros
16、e and then with a sweet melody. These are popular poetic images and this is the stanza most commonly quoted from the poem.The second and third stanzas become increasingly complex, ending with the metaphor of the “sands of life,” or hourglass. One the one hand we are given the image of his love lasti
17、ng until the seas run dry and the rocks melt with the sun, wonderfully poetic images. On the other hand Burns reminds us of the passage of time and the changes that result. That recalls the first stanza and its image of a red rose, newly sprung in June, which we know from experience will change and
18、decay with time. These are complex and competing images, typical of the more mature Robert Burns. The final stanza wraps up the poems complexity with a farewell and a promise of return. ConclusionThrough analysis of the poem, we can experience the feeling and purpose when the poet was writing this e
19、xcellent poem. Stylistic features and connotative meanings of the sentences impress readers significantly and let out large imaginary space of poets enthusiastic and loyal love.Reference:1 戴炜栋等， 新编简明英语语言学教程 ， 上海外语教育教育出版社， 20022http:/ my luves like a melodie Thats sweetly playd in tune.As fair art th
20、ou, my bonnie lass,So deep in luve am I;And I will love thee still, my Dear,Till athe seas gang dry.Till a the seas gang dry, my Dear,And the rocks melt wi the sun:I will luve thee still, my Dear,While the sands olife shall run.And fare thee weel my only Luve!And fare thee weel a while!And I will come again, my Luve,Tho it were ten thousand mile!
