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公共账号“英美文学每日细读”
我的公共主页，叫做文学细读，果真是惭愧。比较少有时间逐字逐句分析文本，但今天Lisa来做个示范，算是抛砖引玉，来分析一下爱伦坡小说的第一句。就从句法syntax，修辞figures of speech中的sound device，措辞diction，和意象imagery这几个方面来分析。
The Fall of the House of Usher
by Edgar Allan Poe
DURING the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horse back, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.
Syntax:
句子主干：…I had been passing alone… and found myself within view of …
这是一个圆周句periodic sentence，即主句之后出现，前面对于环境setting的描写先声夺人，作者是为了烘托阴郁死寂的气氛atmosphere。本句子中得介词短语prepositional phrase灵活的作为插入语parenthesis放在句子中央，起到了推迟重要信息“House of Usher”的作用。
Sound device
Edgar Alan Poe不愧为诗人出身，词句读起来韵律感rhythmical十足。
因为他运用了alliteration头韵，比如during/ dull/ dark/ day…
以及hang/heaven/ had/ horseback, 还有 dreary/ drew…
作者还应用了assonance元音重复，比如whole/ low/alone
此外，还可以发现consonance, 辅音重复,比如singularly/ dreary/ country/ melancholy…
Diction
在看本句的用词，dull/ dark/ soundless/ oppressively low/ alone/ singularly/ dreary/melancholy…这些形容词和副词的堆砌，全部都给人压抑，孤寂，恐怖，悲伤之感，开篇就把读者成功的带到这个阴森恐怖的厄舍古屋的面前，而且作为标题的“House of Usher”在句尾才出现，更是凸显它地位的重要和特别，吊足了读者的胃口。作者精准的选词为接下来恐怖事件的发生做了成功的铺垫foreshadow。
Imagery
我们接下来看一看这句中出现的意象。Autumn day/ low clouds/ a lonely traveler/ a single horse/ dreary country/ theapproaching evening/ the melancholyhouse… 深秋傍晚，阴沉的云， 孤独旅人，瘦马，荒凉山村，阴森古宅…这些意象有没有让你联想到那句“古藤，老树，昏鸦，小桥，流水，人家，古道，西风，瘦马，夕阳西下，断肠人在天涯。”只不过在艾伦.坡的故事里，连小桥流水人家这样的温馨画面都没有，只有一个阴森的就宅子，前面有一湾死水，里面还住着一个神经过敏的一家人。
爱伦坡叙事技艺非凡，第一句就如此不俗。 难怪这个《厄舍古屋的倒塌》会成为哥特式小说的经典。好了，这是我对第一句话的分析，大家可以按照这个思路，来自己赏析第一段剩余的部分，感受一下爱伦坡的艺术魅力。
The Fall of the House of Usher
by Edgar Allan Poe
DURING the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horse back, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length foundmyself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable,because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible. I lookedupon the scene before me—upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain—upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant eye-like windows—upon a fewrank sedges—and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium—the bitter lapse intoevery-day life—the hideous dropping off of the veil. There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart—an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. What was it—I paused to think—what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher? It was a mystery all insoluble; nor could I grapple with the shadowy fancies that crowded upon me as I pondered. I was forced to fall back upon the unsatisfactory conclusion, that while, beyond doubt, there are combinations ofvery simple natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us, still the analysis of this power lies among considerations beyond our depth. It was possible, I reflected, that a mere different arrangement of the particulars of the scene, of the details of the picture,would be sufficient to modify, or perhaps to annihilate its capacity for sorrowful impression; and, acting upon this idea, I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled lustre by thedwelling, and gazed down—but with a shudder even more thrilling than before—upon the remodelled and inverted images of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems, and the vacant and eye-like windows.
《厄舍府的倒塌》——爱伦坡
那年秋天，一个阴沉、昏暗、岑寂的日子，乌云低垂，厚重地笼罩着大地。整整一天，我孤零零地骑着马，驰过乡间一片无比萧索的旷野。暮色四合之际，令人忧伤的厄榭府终于遥遥在望。我也说不清是怎么回事，一瞥见那座建筑，心灵就充满难以忍受的忧伤。说难以忍受，是因为往常即便到了荒蛮之所或可怕的惨境，遇到那种无比严苛的自然景象，也难免有几分诗意，甚而生出几分喜悦；如今，这股忧伤的感觉却总是挥之不去。我愁肠百结地望着眼前的景物。我望着孤单的府邸和庄园里单一的山水风貌，望着荒凉的垣墙、空洞的眼睛一样的窗子、三五枝气味难闻的芦苇、几株枯木白花花的树干——心里真是愁苦至极，愁苦得俗世的情感已无法比拟，只有与染阿芙蓉癖者梦回以后的感觉作比，才足够贴切——苦痛流为日常，丑恶的面纱也摘除而去。我的心直翻腾，还冷冰冰地往下沉，凄凉得无可救赎，任是再有刺激人的想像力，也难说这是心灵的升华。究竟的怎么了？我思忖起来。到底是什么原因，使得我在注目厄谢府时如此不能自控？这是个破解不了的谜。沉思间，模糊的幻想涌满心头，却又无从捉摸。我只得退而求其次，自圆其说罢了——简单的自然景物凑在一起，确实有左右人情绪的力量，但要剖析这种感染力，即便费尽心机，也是无迹可寻。我思量道，这片景物中的一草一木，一山一水只消在细微处布置得稍有不同，带给人的那种悲伤的感觉，可能就会减轻，或许会归于消泯。这种念头一起，我策马奔至山中小湖的险岸边。小湖就傍着宅第，湖面泛着光泽，却一丝涟漪都没有，黑黢黢，阴森森，倒映出变形的灰色芦苇、惨白树干、空洞眼睛一样的窗子。我俯视着湖面，浑身颤抖，比刚才的感觉还要奇怪。
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公共账号“英美文学每日细读”
Have a nice day!
------'Art is long and Life is fleeting!'
