When You are Old by William Butler Yeats

When you are old and gray and full of sleepAnd nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,And loved your beauty with love false or true;

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead,And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

⑧

⑦⑥⑤ ④③ ②①

Do you know who are

they?Can you

recite any of their poems?

1. Check whether the five key words you wrote down just now are in the text.

2. Some English poetry reminds readers of Chinese poetry. Whose poetry reminds Chinese readers of Du Fu or Li Bai? Whose of Su Dongpo?

3. What do the words in bold refer to?

Answers to fast reading:2. Wordsworth, Byron and Keats remind readers of

Du Fu and Li Bai.

John Donne reminds readers of Su Dongpo.

3. that:

its:

their:

they:

they:

poetry plays with sounds, words and grammar

the history of English poetry

Wordsworth’s, Byron’s and Keats'

modern poets

poems and literature

Read the text carefully and finish the post-reading exercises. Pay attention to the main ideas of each paragraph.

Main ideas:

1.Why we read poetry.

2.Chinese poets and poetry.

3.Early English poets.

4.The 19th century English poets.

5.Modern English poets.

6.The introduction of English poetry into China.

7.Why more people are interested in English poetry.

Read the text carefully and choose the best answer.

1. Modern English came into being from about the end of the ___ century.

A. 16th B. 17th C. 18th D.19th

2. The poetry of John Donne reminds Chinese of the poems by ____.

A. Du Fu B. Li Bai C. Su Dongpo D. Guo Moruo

3. Byron's Isles of Greece (1824) is an example of ___.

A. a sonnet B. romantic poetry

C. nature poetry D. modern poetry

A

C

B

4. The wider public in China discovered English poetry at the beginning of the __ century.

A. 17th B. 18th C. 19th D. 20th

5. The advantage of reading English poetry in Chinese translation is ___.

A. that you have more choice

B. that something of the spirit is lost

C. that you understand it better

D. that you learn how to express yourself in new ways

D

C

①

②

③

④

⑤

⑥

⑦ ⑧

1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

A timeline

John Donne

(1572-1631)

William Shakespeare

(1564-1616)

莎士比亞，英國伊麗莎白時代詩人、大戲劇家。幼年貧苦失學，二十二歲時至倫敦為劇場演員，後為劇場修改古代戲曲，繼乃自創劇本。傑作三十五種，剖析人性，刻劃入微。所著十四行詩有短歌集等，喜劇有仲夏夜之夢、威尼斯商人等，劇本有哈姆雷特、羅蜜歐與茱麗葉等，歷史劇有凱撒大帝

、亨利第五等。

William Wordsworth

(1770-1850)

Robert Frost

(1874-1963)

George Gordon Byron

(1788-1824)

Alexander Pope

(1688-1744)

John Milton

(1608-1674)John Keats

(1795-1821)

Suggested answers to Exercise 4

Some people will say that a poem in translation is still the same poem. But of course the words that are used, and some expressions or even the rhyme in all very different . Therefore, other people say it is not the same poem anymore. By using different language, a poem loses a lot of its charm and spirit.Suggested answers to Exercise 5

To say that poems and literature can be bridges means that they can bring people closer to each other. Two other images to express that idea, found in the text are:1.poetry opens doors; 2. we can embrace each other in poetry.

Suggested answers to Exercise 6

I think the short poem by Mu Dan means that our life is like the night. The words in poetry are like lamps that light up, and in this light we can meet and embrace other people, whom we would not have seen in the dark.

Quietly, we embrace

In a world lit up by words

Homework:

1.Try to find out the meanings of these words and phrases: belong, play with, call up, come into being, stand out, follow, other…than,

2.Read the text and try to retell.

3.Finish the word study on Page 29-30