VOA慢速英语2013 Americans Choose Their Favorite Poems

 

Americans Choose Their Favorite Poems

Welcome  to This Is America with VOA Learning English. This week, we bring you some of the poems that Americans like best.

April is National Poetry Month in the United States.  The Academy of American Poets started the celebration in 1996. The goal was to help more Americans add poetry to their lives.

The academy chose April as National Poetry Month because of a line in a poem. T.S. Eliot called April “the cruelest month” in his poem “The Waste Land.” And many Americans think April is the cruelest month. They must pay their income taxes by April fifteenth.

National Poetry Month brings together publishers, booksellers, poetry groups, libraries, schools and poets around the country. They encourage people to write, read, and listen to poetry.

In the southern state of Florida, the O, Miami Poetry Festival tries to bring a poem to every one of the 2.5 million people who live in the area. The group has dropped poems out of airplanes, sewn them into clothes, and put them on every bus in the city.

Poetry is very popular in the United States.  America even has a chief poet, known as the Poet Laureate.  Robert Pinsky was the Poet Laureate from 1997 until 2000.  He started the Favorite Poem Project, to find out which poems Americans liked best.  Thousands of Americans wrote to Mr. Pinsky about their favorite poems.  He chose two hundred poems by poets from the United States and from many other countries. 

The poems are included in a book called “Americans’ Favorite Poems.”   It was edited by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz. 

We will read five of poems from the book by American poets.

Our first poem is by Black Elk¹. He was a famous spiritual leader of the Oglala Lakota Native American tribe.  He took part in two famous battles against American troops during the late eighteen hundreds.  At the end of his life, he told about a number of his tribe’s ceremonies and ideas about life.  Among these was the poem called “Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle.” 

Everything the Power of the World does

is done in a circle.  The sky is round,

and I have heard that the earth is round

like a ball, and so are all the stars.

The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.

Birds make their nests in circles,

For theirs is the same religion as ours.

The sun comes forth² and goes down again

in a circle.  The moon does the same,

And both are round. Even the seasons

form a great circle in their changing,

and always come back again to where they were.

The life of man is a circle from childhood to childhood,

and so it is in everything where power moves.

Our next poem chosen as one of Americans’ favorites is by Rita Dove. She was the youngest person and the first African-American ever named Poet Laureate of the United States.  She served from 1993 to 1995. 

Rita Dove is a professor of English at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.  Many of her poems are based on the lives of her family, especially her grandparents.  Dove often writes about the experience of being a mother, like in this poem, called “Daystar.”

She wanted a little room for thinking:

but she saw diapers steaming on the line,

a doll slumped³ behind the door.

So she lugged⁴ a chair behind the garage to sit out the children’s naps.

Sometimes there were things to watch –

the pinched armor of a vanished cricket,

a floating maple⁵ leaf.  Other days

she stared until she was assured

when she closed her eyes

she’d see only her own vivid blood.

She had an hour, at best, before Liza appeared

pouting⁶ from the top of the stairs.

And just what was mother doing

out back with the field mice? Why,

Building a palace.  Later

that night when Thomas rolled over and

lurched into her, she would open her eyes

and think of the place that was hers

for an hour – where

she was nothing,

pure nothing, in the middle of the day.

Robert Frost was perhaps the most popular and beloved of twentieth century American poets.  So it is not surprising that six of his poems are included in the book “Americans’ Favorite Poems.”

He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry four times.  He often wrote about the land and people of the northeastern American states. 

His poems combine images of nature with ideas about how to live one’s life.  This one is called “The Road Not Taken.”  It is one of his most famous poems.

Two roads diverged⁷ in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent⁸ in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy⁹ and wanted wear;

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had  trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Langston Hughes published more than 30 books.  He started with poetry and then expanded into novels, short stories, plays and personal memories.

He was one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance¹⁰ of the 1920s. During the Harlem Renaissance, African-American literature, art and music grew quickly in New York City. 

Langston Hughes continued writing into the 1960s.  His work often spoke¹¹ plainly about the difficult lives of black people living in big cities.

This poem is called “Mother to Son.”

Well son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks¹² in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor –

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.

So boy, don’t you turn back.

Don’t you set down on the steps

‘Cause yo u finds it’s kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now –

For I’se still goin’, honey,

I’se still climbin,’

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

Edna Saint Vincent Millay’s poetry is also included in “Americans’ Favorite Poems.”  She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1923.

She was also famous for the free way she lived her life and for her many lovers.

Here is one of her poems about love, called “Sonnet Twenty-four.”

When you, that at this moment are to me

Dearer than words on paper, shall depart,

And be no more the warder of my heart,

Whereof again myself shall hold the key;

And bed no more – what now you seem to be –

The sun, from which all excellences¹³ start

In a round nimbus, nor a broken dart¹⁴

Of moonlight, even, splintered on the sea;

I shall remember only of this hour –

And weep somewhat, as now you see me weep –

The pathos¹⁵ of your love, that, like a flower,

Fearful of death yet amorous¹⁶ of sleep,

Droops¹⁷ for a moment and beholds¹⁸, dismayed,

The wind whereon its petals¹⁹ shall be laid.

Our program was written by Shelley Gollust.  Our poetry readers were Doug Johnson, Pat Bodnar, Steve Ember, Shep O’Neal and Barbara Klein.  I’m Kelly Jean Kelly. 

You can read and listen to our programs at learningenglish.voanews.com. Listen again next week for This Is America with VOA Learning English. 

1 elk   

n.麋鹿

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing.我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。
• The refuge contains the largest wintering population of elk in the world.这座庇护所有着世界上数量最大的冬季麋鹿群。

2 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

3 slumped   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Sales have slumped this year. 今年销售量锐减。
• The driver was slumped exhausted over the wheel. 司机伏在方向盘上，疲惫得睡着了。

4 lugged   

vt.用力拖拉（lug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• She lugged the heavy case up the stairs. 她把那只沉甸甸的箱子拖上了楼梯。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They used to yell that at football when you lugged the ball. 踢足球的时候，逢着你抢到球，人们总是对你这样嚷嚷。 来自辞典例句

5 maple   

n.槭树，枫树，槭木

参考例句：

• Maple sugar is made from the sap of maple trees.枫糖是由枫树的树液制成的。
• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。

6 pouting   

v.撅（嘴）( pout的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The child sat there pouting. 那孩子坐在那儿，一副不高兴的样子。 来自辞典例句
• She was almost pouting at his hesitation. 她几乎要为他这种犹犹豫豫的态度不高兴了。 来自辞典例句

7 diverged   

分开( diverge的过去式和过去分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳

参考例句：

• Who knows when we'll meet again? 不知几时咱们能再见面！
• At what time do you get up? 你几时起床？

8 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

9 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

10 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

12 tacks   

大头钉( tack的名词复数 )； 平头钉； 航向； 方法

参考例句：

• Never mind the side issues, let's get down to brass tacks and thrash out a basic agreement. 别管枝节问题，让我们讨论问题的实质，以求得基本一致。
• Get down to the brass tacks,and quit talking round the subject. 谈实质问题吧，别兜圈子了。

13 excellences   

n.卓越( excellence的名词复数 )；（只用于所修饰的名词后）杰出的；卓越的；出类拔萃的

参考例句：

• Excellences do not depend on a single man's pleasure. 某人某物是否优异不取决于一人的好恶。 来自互联网
• They do not recognize her many excellences. 他们无视她的各种长处。 来自互联网

14 dart   

v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲

参考例句：

• The child made a sudden dart across the road.那小孩突然冲过马路。
• Markov died after being struck by a poison dart.马尔科夫身中毒镖而亡。

15 pathos   

n.哀婉，悲怆

参考例句：

• The pathos of the situation brought tears to our eyes.情况令人怜悯，看得我们不禁流泪。
• There is abundant pathos in her words.她的话里富有动人哀怜的力量。

16 amorous   

adj.多情的；有关爱情的

参考例句：

• They exchanged amorous glances and clearly made known their passions.二人眉来眼去，以目传情。
• She gave him an amorous look.她脉脉含情的看他一眼。

17 droops   

弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• If your abdomen droops or sticks out, the high BMI is correct. 如果你的腹部下垂或伸出，高BMI是正确的。
• Now droops the milk white peacock like a ghost. 乳白色的孔雀幽灵般消沉。

18 beholds   

v.看，注视( behold的第三人称单数 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟

参考例句：

• He who beholds the gods against their will, shall atone for it by a heavy penalty. 谁违背神的意志看见了神，就要受到重罚以赎罪。 来自辞典例句
• All mankind has gazed on it; Man beholds it from afar. 25?所行的，万人都看见；世人都从远处观看。 来自互联网

19 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》