【英语时差8,16】艾米丽 迪金森

Emily Dickinson was born in 1830 and lived all of her 56 years in Amherst, Massachusetts where, during her lifetime, she was celebrated¹ more as a gardener than a poet. Gardening in mid-Victorian times was thought to be a more appropriate activity for a woman. In her book “The Gardens of Emily Dickinson” (Harvard University Press, 2004), Judith Farr explains how Emily’s hands-on-horticultural knowledge influenced her writing so profoundly. She frequently referred to herself and loved ones using flower names; flower images and garden themes were used to explore her emotional reality. She described heaven as a “garden we have not seen” and her poems as “blossoms of the brain.” As a gardener, she understood that without the chill of winter, some perennial² plants cannot produce new growth. Bleak³ times in human lives, like winter in a garden, however, may be a prelude⁴ to growth and new beginnings. For Emily, winter had a masculine persona and a stony aspect, but she also felt the promise of relief when she wrote these lines about her winter: “Generic as a Quarry And hearty - as A rose - Invited with Asperity But welcome When he goes”

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 perennial   

adj.终年的；长久的

参考例句：

• I wonder at her perennial youthfulness.我对她青春常驻感到惊讶。
• There's a perennial shortage of teachers with science qualifications.有理科教学资格的老师一直都很短缺。

3 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

4 prelude   

n.序言，前兆，序曲

参考例句：

• The prelude to the musical composition is very long.这首乐曲的序曲很长。
• The German invasion of Poland was a prelude to World War II.德国入侵波兰是第二次世界大战的序幕。