The Analysis of English Allusions and Greek Myths

1、分析英語典故與希臘神話的關(guān)系the analysis of english allusions andgreek mythscontentsabstract 1key words 1i introduction2ii background.3 2.1 current situation.32.2 introduce essential background for english study that has close relationship with greek myths. 42.2.1 mysterious numbers.42.2.2 superstitious about bir

2、ds.52.2.3 legendary animals6iii introduce greek myths.83.1 pandoras box.83.2 the story of the prometheus.8iv introduce the relationship between english allusions and greek myths104.1 achilles heel104.2 an apple of discord.114.3 under the rose.124.4 sword of damocles.13v conclusion14references.15the

3、analysis of english allusions and greek myths摘要： 英語典故與希臘神話之間有著密切的聯(lián)系。英語典故和成語很大一部分來自希臘神話。作為英語專業(yè)的學(xué)生，若能對英語典故和成語有一定的了解，可以豐富自己的英語知識，增強英語的表達能力, 提高英語聽說的水平。希臘神話基本上是西方文化的根源，無數(shù)的典故都是出于此。希臘神話對西方文化產(chǎn)生了深遠的影響,對英語的影響更是不容忽視。語言和文化是不能分開的。英語學(xué)習(xí)者不能單學(xué)習(xí)語言本身,還必須學(xué)習(xí)它所承栽的文化。英語中有很多典故成語來自希臘神話。希臘神話典故具有豐富的文化內(nèi)涵和永恒的文化價值。它有四個鮮明的特點系統(tǒng)性和廣

4、泛性，隱喻性和擬人性，合流性和融合性，擴散性和永恒性。它對英美語言文化、大眾文化、文學(xué)藝術(shù)產(chǎn)生了極其深刻的影響。關(guān)鍵詞：英語典故 希臘神話 關(guān)系 淵源 發(fā)展abstract: there is close relationship between english allusions and greek myths. many english allusions and idioms are originated from greek myths. as an english major, if we know some english allusions and idioms, we will

5、 enrich our english knowledge, strengthen our ability to express english, improve our listening and spoken english. greek myths basically are the source of western culture. lots of english allusions came from greek myths. greek myths have produced deep influence on western culture. we also can not n

6、eglect their influence on english. language and culture cannot depart. english learners should not only learn language itself, but also study english culture. people often said, the western culture has two aspects, one is greek myths, and the other is the holy bible. once you are familiar with the t

7、wo aspects, it will be easy for you to understand the original and development of western culture. with the advocating of christianity, myths except the bible have gradually deserted in europe, but greek myths still existed in peoples mind with beautiful appearance. and it is also spread more widely

8、 as subject matter forever until today, whether familiar with greek myths or not is an important symbol to test ones cultural ability for western countries. greek myths have close relationship with the daily life of western people; some of them even become peoples oral words. key words: english allu

9、sions; greek myths; relationship; originate; development i. introductionenglish is a most widely used language in the world. and when read some english books, magazines, and newspapers, we often face some difficulties. although we know all the words in the book, we dont understand the passage clearl

10、y. the reason is that we have not mastered the meanings of cultural background. nieyaning (1998) gave us some examples, roger rosenblatt wrote, “glasnost unleashed, like prometheus unbound, can ignite a holocaust as easily as it can warm a conversation and the shift from a planned economy to a marke

11、t economy may work only if the central government is willing to lose its stranglehold on commerce.” shakespeare also once wrote in his work “l(fā)oves labors lost.” “from womens eyes this doctrine i derive:they are the ground, the books, the academes. from whence does spring the true promethean fire.pro

12、metheus unbound and promethean fire are originated from greek myths. if we are not familiar with the stories, we cant understand the two sentences deeply. nieyaning (1998) gave other examples. “a little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not pieria” pieria is the place that muses li

13、ved in olympian. you can get inspirations of art if you drink spring in pieria. no matter whom prometheus or muses art, they belong to greek myths. greek myths play an important role in english culture. if we are not familiar with greek myths, we cant understand many english allusions. as an english

14、 major, i have learned many english courses, including english literature, american literature, english poem and play and so on. now i begin to study european culture. because of close relationship between english culture and greek culture, i think it is necessary to learn greek culture, to explore

15、how greek culture influence english culture, but i know the expansion of culture is so wide that i cant refer to all respects, so i choose greek myths and english allusions to do some research.people often said, the western culture has two aspects, one is greek myths, and the other is the holy bible

16、. once you are familiar with the two aspects, it will be easy to understand the original and development of western culture. with the advocating of christianity, myths have gradually deserted in europe, but greek myths still exist in peoples mind with beautiful appearance. and it is also spread more

17、 widely as subject matter forever until today, whether familiar with greek myths or not is an important symbol to test ones cultural ability for western countries. greek myths have close relationship with the daily life of western people; some of them even become peoples oral words. for example, mar

18、ks once use the story of prometheus in his literature academic to show his decision to fight for all the poor people in the world. ii. background 2.1 current situationthe reason why i choose the analysis of greek myths and english allusions as my topic of academic literature is that i am very intere

19、sted in english culture and greek culture. greek culture represents western civilization, and also it is one of the important sources of english culture. greek myths, a major part of greek culture, which has effected english culture very deeply. there is close relationship between english allusions

20、and greek myths. many english allusions and idioms originated from greek myths. as an english major student, if we know some english allusions and idioms, we will enrich our english knowledge, strengthen our ability to express english, improve our listening and spoken english. greek myths basically

21、are the sources of western culture. lots of english allusions came from greek myths. greek myths have produced deep affections on western culture. we also can not neglect their affections on english. language and culture cannot depart. english learners not only learn language itself, but also to stu

22、dy english culture.in the history of world literature, especially in recent europe and america literature history, greek myths plays a very important role. greek arts, including epic, tragedy, carving, painting and so on, all use myths as their subject matter. it has great affect on recent and moder

23、n literature writers. only for english poems we can see, from chaucer to shakespeare, milton, from pope to shelly, keats, tennyson, browning and swinburne, they all used myths to enrich their subject matters. italian dante, germany goethe and schiller and so on, they often turn back to absorb materi

24、als and allusions from myths. american famous robinson, famous writer hawthorne and player oneill also benefit from greek myths. so greek myths permeate every corner of the world literature, and its affection still increase for long time.because of its important role played in the history of europe

25、and america literature some people said, if you dont know greek myths, for the most part you cant understand and appreciate europe and america literature clearly. in fact, it is right. so for everyone who studies english now, to learn some greek myths is necessary.english allusions, one of important

26、 components of english culture, have close relationship with greek myths. many english allusions have been originated from greek myths.the task is to analyze the relationship between english allusions and greek culture. so firstly, introduce essential background for english study that has close rela

27、tionship with greek myths. secondly, introduce greek myths. for example, the trojan war. thirdly, introduce the relationship between english allusions and greek myths. many english allusions originated from greek myths. greek myths influence english allusions deeply. fourthly, furthermore in detail

28、introduce close relationship between english allusions and greek myths. main contents to research are to explore their relationship and development. what is the significance for the english culture and greek culture, even the world culture? how can we think and deal with their relationships? to stud

29、y english allusions and greek myths is a good way to learn western culture. especially for a student who studies english is important. when study english poems, english plays, english literature and american literature, we may meet many english allusions. if we know greek myths very well, we will un

30、derstand the passage clearly. 2.2 introduce essential background for english study that has close relationship with greek myths2.2.1 mysterious numberspeople realized that three is a mysterious number. ancient greeks believed the number was sacred. pythagoras calls three the perfect number, since ev

31、erything has three parts-beginning, middle and end. therefore it is a good symbol of anything related to gods. in greek and roman mythology, the world was supposed to be under the ruler of three gods, that is, zeus(jupiter), the ruler of heaven; poseidon(neptune), the ruler of the sea; hades(pluto),

32、 the king of underworld. zeuss weapon was three-forked lightning, poseidons, a trident, and hades, a three headed dog. the fates were three, the furies were three, and the graces were three. superstitious people believe that man is made up of three parts, that is, body, soul, and spirit. most christ

33、ians believe in the doctrine of the trinity, that is, god is three persons: the father, the son (jesus christ), and the holy ghost, or holy spirit. some christians also believe that the enemies of man are three: the world, the flesh, and the devil. in the bible, the baby jesus was visited by the thr

34、ee magi; before the cock crowed, peter denied jesus for three times. when things are difficult, people think they will be successful the third time. there are some actions supposed to be unlucky. spilling saltsince ancient times salt has been highly valued because it can be used to preserve food, at

35、 one time salt was regarded as being almost as valuable as gold, and soldiers, officials, and working people in greece and rome received all or parts of their pay in salt. so spilling such a valuable thing has been regarded as a sign that something unlucky is going to happen. some people believe tha

36、t if a person has spilled salt, he or she may cancel the bad luck by throwing a pinch of salt over the left shoulder. breaking a mirrorone of the most common superstition is that to break a mirror brings death, or seven years of bad luck. since very early times the mirrors has been used in fortunete

37、lling. people believed that one could see the will of god in the mirror. to break a mirror accidentally, therefore, was interpreted as an effort on the part of the gods to prevent the persons from seeing into the future. this was understood as a warning that something unpleasant would happen in the

38、future. it is said that when napoleon was in italy fighting in a war, he broke a mirror accidentally which hung over josephines portrait. an idea came into his mind that she had died, and he could not rest until he returned home and saw for himself that she was well and alive.and haopeng (2004) told

39、 us some superstitious about birds. “albatross”: albatross are easily caught, but captured birds are usually released, because of a superstition commonly held by sailors that killing an albatross brings bad luck. the superstition forms the theme of the rime of the ancient mariner by the english poet

40、 samuel taylor coleridge. in the poem coleridge describes how the crews of a ship are punished by horrible sufferings and death after one of them kills an albatross. 2.2.2 superstitious about birdsowl: the owl has a weird hooting or screeching call that sounds very ghostly in the silent night. so so

41、me people associated it with death. in the middle ages some people called the owl “night hag”; it was said to be a witch in the form of a bird. the owl is still associated with witches in the symbolism of halloween. some people said owl is the symbol of wisdom in west. it is true. because of owl is

42、venuss holy bird. swallow: it is considered a sign of good luck if a swallow builds its nest under the eaves of ones house. dryden says in his poem, “swallows are unlucky birds to kill.”swan: stories say that before a swan dies, it sings beautiful songs. many great ancient writers, including plato,

43、aristotle, euripides, cicero, seneca and others had this false belief. in othello, emilia, just before his death, says:i will play the swanand die in musicin english, the last work produced by an artist, writer, or composer, or the last performance of an actor or singer is often calling his or her s

44、wan song. for example, schuberts last and greatest collections of songs are called swan song which was written in 1838 before his death.according a greek legend, the soul of apollo, the god of music and poetry, passed into a swan. so some people say the soul of all good pets passed into swans. for t

45、his reason, shakespeare called the swan of avon; virgil, the swan of mantua: homer, the swan of meander. now the allusion “black swan” means rare thing or famous people. swan song now refers to last famous work. swan song is an old allusion. in 6th century (bc) the ancient greek famous writer aisopo

46、s told the story. he wrote “swan will sing songs when it dies”. in britain, many great poets like chaucer, shakespeare and so on used the allusion. for example, emily, who was the main character in shakespeares famous tragedy othello, revealed crime of her husbands. she considered herself as a swan,

47、 only sang a song in her life.2.2.3 legendary animalshaopeng(2004) realized that giants and dragons are important roles in english study. a giant is a creature of human shape but enormously big and strong. there are many giants mentioned in the bible. races of giants are first spoken of genesis 6:4.

48、 one giant, king of bashan, had a bed nearly 4 meters long. goliath, who was killed by david with a stone from a sling, is the best known giant in the bible. according to the bible story, goliath stood about 3 meters tall. the ancient greeks believed in a race of giants called titans, who fought the

49、 gods. the titans throw forests and mountains against olympus, the home of the gods, and laughed at the lighting zeus flung back at them. homer, in his odyssey, describes cyclops, a member of a race of giants with one eye in the middle of forehead. giants appear in fairy tales. for example, in the s

50、tory jack and the beanstalk, jack stole a giants wealth and killed him. welsh giants are well known though the story of jack the giant killer. dragonin western culture, a dragon is usually represented as a large monster similar in form to a crocodile with wings of a bat and huge claws. it breathes o

51、ut fire and smoke, and is so ferocious and destructive that people have traditionally considered it symbol of the evils fought by human beings.many european legends tell how a hero killed a dragon. for example, apollo, a god of the ancient greeks and romans, once killed a dragon called python. st. g

52、eorge the patron saint of england rescued a princess from a dragon by killing the beast with a lance.according to some medieval legends, dragons lived in wild, remote regions of the world. the dragons guarded treasures in their dens, and a person who killed one could gain its wealth. the english epi

53、c hero beowulf died in a fight with dragon that guarded a treasure. in the sacred writings of the ancient hebrews, the dragon frequently represents death and evil. christianity inherited the hebrews idea of the dragon. in revelation of the bible, the dragon represents satan. it is a huge red monster

54、, with seven heads and ten horns.in christian art, the dragon is a symbol of sin. it is often represents as crushed under the feet of saints or being killed by them, symbolizing the triumph of christianity over paganism.the ancient greeks and romans believed that dragons had the ability to understan

55、d and to tell human being about the secrets of the earth. partially because of its great power, it was as a military emblem by the roman legions. the ancient norsemen decorated the heads of their ships with carved likenesses of dragons. the dragon was also pictured on the shields of the germanic tri

56、bes that later invaded britain.phoenixthe phoenix was an imaginary bird in greek mythology. only one such bird existed at any time, and it was always male. it had brilliant gold and reddish-purple feathers, and was as large as or larger than any eagle. according to some greek writers, the phoenix li

57、ved exactly 500 years.at the end of each life cycle, the phoenix made in arabia a nest of spices, sang a beautiful sad song, flapped its wings to set fire to the nest and burned itself to ashes. another phoenix then rose from the ashes with renewed youth and beauty. the long life of the phoenix, and its dramatic rebirth from its own ashes, made it a symbol of immortality and spiritual rebirth.we know that in english many animals and plants have meanings of symbolism. and haopeng (2004) gave us some examples. horse: speed, grace, war; and in christian art, courage and generosity.