j09083的部落格

  The Philosophy of Composition

"The Philosophy of Composition" is an 1846 essay written by American writer Edgar Allan Poe that elucidates a theory about how good writers write when they write well. He concludes that length, "unity of effect" and a logical method are important considerations for good writing. He also makes the assertion that "the death... of a beautiful woman" is "unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world". Poe uses the composition of his own poem "The Raven" as an example. The essay first appeared in the April 1846 issue of Graham's Magazine. It is uncertain if it is an authentic portrayal of Poe's own method.

  雙城記

《雙城記》（英語：A Tale of Two Cities）是英國作家查爾斯·狄更斯所著的一部以法國大革命為背景所寫成的長篇歷史小說，情節感人肺腑，是世界文學經典名著之一，故事中將巴黎、倫敦兩個大城市連結起來，圍繞著曼奈特醫生一家和以德法奇夫婦為首的聖安東尼區展開故事。小說里描寫了貴族如何敗壞、如何殘害百姓，人民心中積壓對貴族的刻骨仇恨，導致了不可避免的法國大革命。本書的主要思想是為了愛而自我犧牲，書名中的「雙城」指的是巴黎與倫敦。

  If Winter comes, would Spring be far away?

In this poem, Shelley is talking about how he would like his poetry to be important for long after he is dead.
In most of the poem, he talks about how the wind affects nature. He says that it goes along sweeping up dead leaves and such and blowing them around. When they land, they help create new life.
He is hoping that his poems can be like the leaves and such that the wind blows. He hopes that they will land (on people's minds) and help to nurture new growth. The last line expresses optimism about this -- even if it seems like his poems will die and be ignored (winter) there will still be a spring where his poems will help create new (intellectual or spiritual) life among people.

  Ode to the West Wind

Ode to the West Wind is an ode written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1819 near Florence, Italy. It waspublished in 1820 (see 1820 in poetry) by Charles and James Ollier in London as part of thePrometheus Unbound, A Lyrical Drama in Four Acts, With Other Poems collection. Some have interpreted the poem as the speaker lamenting his inability to directly help those in England owing to his being in Italy. At the same time, the poem expresses the hope that its words will inspire and influence those who read or hear it. Perhaps more than anything else, Shelley wanted his message of reform and revolution spread, and the wind becomes the trope for spreading the word of change through the poet-prophet figure. Some also believe that the poem is due to the loss of his son, William in 1819 (toMary Shelley). His son Charles (to Harriet Shelley) died in 1826, after "Ode to the West Wind" was written and published. The ensuing pain influenced Shelley. The poem allegorises the role of the poet as the voice of change and revolution. At the time of composing this poem, Shelley without doubt had thePeterloo Massacre of August 1819 in mind. His other poems written at the same time—"The Mask of Anarchy," "Prometheus Unbound," and "England in 1819"—take up these same problems of political change, revolution, and role of the poet.

  propaganda  宣傳, 宣傳活動(或計劃, 方法)

 There has been a lot of anti - war propaganda . 

  ab- 否定

        absence

        abstract

  Man of Letters means A man who is devoted to literary or scholarly pursuits.