Lesson Four

1. Lesson Four The Nightingale and the Rose

2. Birthname: Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills WildeBirth: October 16, 1854Dublin, IrelandDeath: November 30, 1900；Paris, France About the author

3. College: Trinity College, Magdalen CollegeOccupation: Playwright, novelist, poet, editorParents: Sir William Wilde / Jane Francesca ElgeeChildren: Cyril/Vyvyan About the author

4. Oscar Wilde’s rich and dramatic portrayals of the human condition came during the height of the Victorian Era that swept through London in the late 19th century. About the author

5. “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1895) “Lady Windermere’s Fan” (1892) “A Woman of No Importance” (1893) “An Ideal Husband” (1895). About the author

6. Oscar Wilde seems not only to be on the threshold between centuries and between cultural-systems: in many ways he seems to be the threshold. His aesthetics look backwards to the aestheticism of Peter and the moral sensibility of Ruskin, and they look forward to Modernism. His antecedents are 18th century playwrights, and he opened a path of irony and structural self-reflexivity that leads to Beckett and Tom Stoppard.

7. He was Irish but achieved his great successes in England. Arguably, his greatest success was his greatest public failure: in his scandalous trials he shaped 20th century attitudes toward homosexuality and toward theatricality and toward performativity. His greatest performance was the role of "Oscar Wilde": in that sense he taught the 20th century how to be itself.

8. Structure • Nightingale struck by the “the mystery of love” • Nightingale looking for a red rose to facilitate the love • Nightingale sacrificing her life for a red rose • Student discarding the red rose

9. Summary of the text Listen to the recording of the text, read it through, and then fill in the blanks in the following sentences to see whether you have grasped the main ideas of the article. • Pre-class Work II (Ss book P89)

10. fairy tale; Oscar Wilde; Irish; nightingale; reddest rose; life-blood • a red rose; his love would not dance with him; it was winter; desperate • help the student; would not have any red rose; agree to sing to it by moonlight with her breast against a thorn; it pierced her heart; her heart’s blood

11. true love was better even than life; sacrifice her life • died; his love; had agreed to dance; real jewels • stupid; practical; to his books

12. Summary of the text • Retell the story in your own words.

13. Discussion • Did you feel touched by this fairy tale? • What did the author try to tell us through the fairy tale?

14. According to your taste and preference, give a list of the characters. That is, the one you like best shall be put as NO. 1. And explain why. Discussion — Characters

15. The Symbols • What are the characters’ different attitudes towards love?

16. Discussion — Images • What are the symbolic meanings of “Red rose”, “Lizard” “Butterfly” and “Nightingale”?

17. Discussion — Images Symbolic meanings: Red rose —true love, which needs constant nourishment of passions of the lovers.

18. Discussion — Images Lizard — cynic (cynical people) cynic: a person who sees little or no good in anything and who has no belief in human progress; person who shows this by sneering and being contemptuous.

19. Discussion — Images Nightingale — a truthful, devoted pursuer of love, who dares to sacrifice his own precious life Student — not a true lover, ignorant of love, not persistent in pursuing love

20. Wilde’s comments in a letter to one of his friends (May 1888): • The nightingale is the true lover, if there is one.  She, at least, is Romance, and the student and the girl are, like most of us, unworthy of Romance.  So, at least, it seems to me, but I like to fancy that there may be many meanings in the tale, for in writing it I did not start with an idea and clothe it in form, but began with a form and strove to make it beautiful enough to have many secrets and many answers.    

21. The Student's one-sided preference for word knowledge over emotions is clear from the moment he first sees the rose.  "It is so beautiful," he says, "that I am sure it has a long Latin name" .  • The Student, the young woman, and their society are all one-sided psychically.  They have devalued the "capacity to love", here symbolized by both the Nightingale and the rose.

22. The relationship of head and heart is a central concern of Wilde's fairy tales.  Promising to provide the red rose "out of music by moonlight" and to "stain it with my own heart's-blood," the Nightingale asks of the Student only that he "will be a true lover, for Love is wiser than Philosophy, though she is wise, and mightier than Power, "  But the Student cannot understand what the Nightingale says, "for he only knew the things that are written down in books.” He has too much "head" knowledge and almost no "heart" knowledge.

23. Discussion — theme What does Love mean? • Love means giving (love). • Love means sacrifice. • Love means giving up.

24. Discussion — theme • How does the theme achieved? • Life death • Love freedom • Ideal money

25. Discussion — writing features What is the genre of this story? And its characteristics? • Fairy tales Characteristics: • - fairies play a part - contain supernatural or magical elements - children’s stories - full of veiled comments on life

26. Characteristics: 1) personification of birds, insects, animals and trees 2) vivid, simple narration --- typical of the oral tradition of fairy tales 3) repetitive pattern

27. Discussion — writing features • A profound theme • Pure and beautiful images • Poetic language • Dramatic plot

28. Discussion — figurative speeches • Personification • Simile and Metaphor • Climax and Anticlimax

29. Discussion — figurative speeches Simile and metaphor Simile: …her voice was like water bubbling from a silver jar. …aswhite asthe foam of the sea… Metaphor: ...and the coldcrystal moon

30. Discussion — figurative speeches Climax --derived from the Greek word “ladder,” implies the progression of thought at a uniform or almost uniform rate of significance or intensity e.g. I came, I saw, I conquered. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

31. Discussion — figurative speeches Anti-climax: --- stating one’s thoughts in a descending order of significance or intensity, often used to ridicule or satire. eg. 1. As a serious man, I loved Beethoven, Keats, and hot dogs. 2. For God, for America, for Yale.

32. Discussion — figurative speeches Syntactic device • Inversion • …yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched. • …Crimson was the girdle of petals, and crimson as ruby was the heart. • She passed through the grove like a shadow and like a shadow she sailed across the garden. • Night after night have I sung of him.

33. Discussion — figurative speeches • “She has form, that cannot be denied but has she got feeling? I am afraid not. In fact, she is like most artists; she is all style without any sincerity. She would not sacrifice herself for others.” he said to himself, as he walked away through the grove.” Who is “she”? What does the sentence mean?

34. Discussion — writing features The author Oscar Wilde and his doctrine “art for art’s sake” Art for art’s sake: A phrase associated with the aesthetic doctrine that art is self-sufficient and needs to serve no moral or political purpose.

35. Comment • Do you agree with the doctrine?

36. Further discussion Through the literary history, love remains an ever-lasting topic. Many classics are basically love stories. Can you list some examples? Now let’s have a very brief review of several classics which are quite familiar to us. Notice different expressions of love manifest the authors’ thinking and understanding of what love is.

37. Word Study jewels(gems): emeralds（绿宝石）, ruby（红宝石）, sapphire（蓝宝石）, jade（翡翠） diamond plants: daisy（雏菊）, rose, oak-tree（橡树）, daffodil（水仙花） animals: nightingale, lizard（蜥蜴）, butterfly subjects: philosophy, metaphysics（形而上学）, logic stringed instruments: harp（竖琴）, violin

38. Word Study • Want: 1)the condition or quality of lacking something usual or necessary for /from want of 由于缺少 The plants died for/from want of water. stayed home for want of anything better to do.

39. 2) pressing need; 贫困 to live in want = to live in poverty 3) something desired: in want of = in need of Are you in want of money? He’s a person of few wants and needs.

40. fling 1) to throw violently, with force Don’t fling your clothes on the floor. 2) to move violently or quickly She flung herself down on the sofa. She flung back her head proudly. 3) to devote to He flung himself into the task.

41. bloom vi. to produce flowers, yield flowers, come intoflower or be in flower开花 The roses are blooming.

42. blossom 1) vi. (of a seed plant, esp a tree or plant) to produce or yield flowers, bloom The apples trees are blossoming. 2) vi. to develop Their friendship blossomed when they found out how many interests they shared.

43. ebb n. 1.The tide is on the ebb. 2.The financial resources have reached its lowest ebb. vi. 1) fall back from the flood stage The tide will begin to ebb at 4 o’clock. 2) to fall away or back; decline or recede The danger of conflict is not ebbing there.

44. linger vi. 1) to be slow in leaving, especially out of reluctance The children lingered at the zoo until closing time. 2) to proceed slowly linger over one’s work (磨洋工） 3) to persist Winter lingers. vt.to pass (a period of time) in a leisurely or aimless manner. We lingered away the whole summer at the beach.

45. see • see about doing: attend to, make arrangements for, deal with安排，处理 • It is time for me to see about cooking the dinner. • see something out: to last until the end of 熬过，度过 Will our supplies see the winter out? It was such a bad play we couldn’t see out the performance and we left early.

46. see through sb./ sth The paper is too thick to see though. It was a hard time for us, but we managed to see it through. • see to something: to attend to, take care of负责，留意 If I see to getting the car out, will you see to closing the windows?

47. go • go about something: to perform to do从事，着手 to go about one’s business Don’t go about the job that way. • go after sb/sth to go after a job, a girl, a prize

48. go against sb/sth Opinion is going against us. The case may go against us. • go along : vi. to agree with, support We’ll go along with you /your suggestion.

49. go roundvi. 萦绕， There is a tune going round in my head. If there are not enough chairs to go round, some people have to stand. • go back on sth Don’t go back on your promise. Never go back on your friends.背叛，出卖

50. go byvi. He let the chance go by. A car went by.  go by sth = according to, based on to go by the rules/the book