Pictorialism of Farewell, Sweet Groves

【摘要】诗歌和图画是两种紧密相连、不可分割的艺术形式。乔治・威瑟《哦，再见，可爱的树林》是17世纪英国图画诗歌的杰出代表。这首十四行诗未采取传统五步抑扬格形式，而是一首带有传统十四行诗歌的押韵规律，外表为菱形的十四句抒情诗。该诗歌分为上下两阕，就像两幅图画：1、一幅似一座山及其在水中的倒影。2、一幅似挥动再见的手掌。

Abstract： Poetry and painting， two art forms in close connection， integrated strongly. Farewell， Sweet Groves， a shaped verse， written by George Wither， is one of the representatives of poems of pictorialism in 17th century in British. It is not a traditional sonnet but a fourteen line lyric poem with diamond shape outside. There are two stanzas of this poem， which are like two pictures： 1. A Picture of a Hill with Its Reflection in Water； 2. A Picture of a Waving Saying-Adieu-Hand.

一. Introduction

More than two thousand years since ancient Rome period to modern society， the theory of relation between poetry and painting has been evolved. Simonides of Ceos， the poet of ancient Greek， said “Painting is mute poetry and poetry a speaking picture.” Also， Plato said in The Republic “The poet is like a painter.” Poetry and painting， two art forms in close connection， integrated strongly. There is no limitation between them in many poems of all ages. So it can be said that the pictorialism of poetry never disappeared and it seems that it will not.

The character of pictorialism poem is that the appearance of poem is arranged as a picture. Farewell， Sweet Groves， a shaped verse， written by George Wither， is one of the representatives of poems of pictorialism in 17th century in British. Obviously， the style of the poem was influenced by Metaphysical school at that time when Baroque style took the art stage. Baroque style in literature， in exaggeration and elegant， has stressed a sense of movement， space， luxury， passion feeling， or even mystery. It seems confusing and broken in form. Especially in poetry， it emphasized complicacy of forms and images of works that should have direct emotional expression in style and movement in arrangement. Farewell， Sweet Groves in such a wonderful poem. It is not a traditional sonnet but a fourteen line lyric poem with diamond shape outside with rhyme scheme of AbabccddeefafA.

Pictorial Quality of Farewell， Sweet Groves

There are two stanzas of this poem. Each stanza is of a diamond shape with big in the middle but small at the beginning and end. The arrangement of the first stanza is 2-4-6-8-10-12-14-12-10-8-6-4-2 and the second 2-5-6-9-11-12-14-14-12-10-8-6-5-2 from top to bottom. It means that there are two syllables in first line， four in second…fourteen in seventh and then decreases from the eighth line. The eighth line has twelve syllables， the ninth ten… and the last line two.

1. A Picture of a hill with its reflection in water

The arrangement of syllables produces a symmetric figure with the first part as a triangle on the top and the second an inverted triangle at the bottom in each stanza. The triangle on the top is like a hill and the inverted one below it is like the shadow in the water.

Farewell， d * T；RBk

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Sweet groves to you； 928s zUo：

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You hills， that highest dwell， 3 M（ ： }c

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And wanton brooks and you， my tebder flocks！ 2ZB'WzH.X

ab' f：

Farewell， my pipe， and all those pleasing songs， whose moving strains >= i47- H

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Delighted once the fairest nymphs that dance upon the plains； d；（L@9HHD

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You discontents， whose deep and over C deadly smart， r 06} @ 7

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have， without pity， broke the tuest hear； ^g h /$my；

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That erst did with me dwell， zpIl ' / i

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And all other’s joy. +vLuz M-

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Farewell！ W UdK j

Farewell is the theme of the first stanza， the first half of which shows scenes the poet expresses farewell to “sweet groves”， “hill”， “humble vales”， “brooks”， “solitary rocks” belong to nature， are written in the form of triangle on the top. The triangle shape hill is a beautiful image of a hill painting. The description gives us such a picture that the poet stands on the hill to express farewell to the lovely scenes he does not want to leave.

The seventh line， the longest line of the first stanza， is like the horizon， on which the hill stands. From the eighth line to the last line is written in shape of the inverted triangle， which gives us a picture a hill reflection in the water. The reflection of the hill in water in shadow and darkness implies the feelings of sadness of the poet. At this part， the poet express his sentiment of “truest heart”， “sign”， “tears”， “every sad annoy” are the elements in the mood of parting and being reluctant to leave.

The three “farewell” with one in first line， one in the seventh and the one at last stands for the three level of the hill-and-reflection picture. The first farewell is on the top of the hill， the second on the ground line and the last on the bottom of water. Such a great work in shape arrangement.

2. A picture of a waving saying-adieu-hand

Adieu， 9" =：＼P E

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Fair shepherdesses； . FqbX5＼p，

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Let garlands of sad yew k/j

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Adorn your dainty golden tresses $w ）y Q %

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I， that loved you， and often with my quill B3c rms[ '

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Made music that delighted fountain， grove， and hill： }/S bmW8（1

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I whom you loved so， and with a sweet and chaste embrace DNL qipUw

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（Tea， with a thousand rarer favours） would vouchsafe to grace， ['t Gc{4

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I， now must leave you all alone， of love to plain： ">v76%>Z7

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And never pipe， nor never sing again. CDK0 $W n

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I must， for evemore， be gone. ]p ＼ 7 s

And there fore bid I you D ＼}^

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And every one. MT [V1I{LV

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Adieu. cV ＼（Z6u

The theme of the second stanza is adieu. The word “adieu” expresses much more emotional feelings than farewell. The second diamond shape looks like a waving saying-adieu-hand. It is the hand of the heart broken poet whose eyes are full of tears. The poet waves good-bye to the land he deeply adores. And in this part， there are five parallelism sentences with “I” as a subject to make the emotional expression a climax. Also， these five “I” can stand for five fingers of a hand. Moreover， words such as “sad”， “love”， “delighted”， “sweet”， “chaste”， “embrace”， “grace”， and “alone” that indicate the poet in gloomy mood who claims that when he departs from this land， he will “never pipe， nor never sing again”. This poem is not only a poem but an exquisite picture of departure. It seems that nothing in writing style is in existence and all words turns into a picture， a picture of a waving saying-adieu-hand. And the poet is waving his lonely hand to the hill， vales， brooks， rocks， companions， flocks， and does not want to turn away.

Conclusion

Farewell， Sweet Groves， classic shaped poem with timeless beauty， is a perfect work which combines tradition in rhyme and innovation in form. It brings an image of the quite and melancholy scenery with sadness in mood， and visual enjoyment. This poem is excellent in Wither’s time， great in modern society and eternal in following thousand years.

【参考文献】

[1]Lessing， Gotthold Ephrasis： Laoco?n： An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry. Trans. Edward Allen McCormick. Indianapolis： Bobbs-Merill， 1962； Baltimore and London： Johns Hopkins UP，1984.

[2]Steiner， Wendy. Pictures of Romance： Form Against Context in Painting and Literature. Chicago and London： Uof Chicago P， 1988.

[3] 英国抒情诗选[M]. 黄杲砸. 上海：上海译文出版社，1997.

[4]钱钟书：读拉奥孔，钱钟书散文[M]，浙江文艺出版社，1997：222-253.

[5]谭琼林：西方绘画诗：一门新兴的人文学科[J]，英美文学研究论从，2010（01）：301-319.