1. The Nightingale and the Rose
Lesson Four
The Nightingale and the Rose

2. About the author
Birthname: Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde Birth: October 16, 1854 Dublin, Ireland Death: November 30, 1900；Paris, France

3. College: Trinity College, Magdalen College Occupation: Playwright, novelist, poet, editor Parents: Sir William Wilde / Jane Francesca Elgee Children: Cyril/Vyvyan
About the author

4. Oscar Wilde’s rich and dramatic portrayals of the human condition came during the height of the Victorian Era that swept through London in the late 19th century.
About the author

5. About the author “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1895)
“Lady Windermere’s Fan” (1892)
“A Woman of No Importance” (1893)
“An Ideal Husband” (1895).

6. Oscar Wilde seems not only to be on the threshold between centuries and between cultural-systems: in many ways he seems to be the threshold. His aesthetics look backwards to the aestheticism of Peter and the moral sensibility of Ruskin, and they look forward to Modernism. His antecedents are 18th century playwrights, and he opened a path of irony and structural self-reflexivity that leads to Beckett and Tom Stoppard.

7. He was Irish but achieved his great successes in England
He was Irish but achieved his great successes in England. Arguably, his greatest success was his greatest public failure: in his scandalous trials he shaped 20th century attitudes toward homosexuality and toward theatricality and toward performativity. His greatest performance was the role of "Oscar Wilde": in that sense he taught the 20th century how to be itself.

8. Structure Nightingale struck by the “the mystery of love”
Nightingale looking for a red rose to facilitate the love
Nightingale sacrificing her life for a red rose
Student discarding the red rose

9. Summary of the text Pre-class Work II (Ss book P89)
Listen to the recording of the text, read it through, and then fill in the blanks in the following sentences to see whether you have grasped the main ideas of the article.
Pre-class Work II (Ss book P89)

10. fairy tale; Oscar Wilde; Irish; nightingale; reddest rose; life-blood
a red rose; his love would not dance with him; it was winter; desperate
help the student; would not have any red rose; agree to sing to it by moonlight with her breast against a thorn; it pierced her heart; her heart’s blood

11. true love was better even than life; sacrifice her life
died; his love; had agreed to dance; real jewels
stupid; practical; to his books

12. Summary of the text
Retell the story in your own words.

13. Discussion
Did you feel touched by this fairy tale?
What did the author try to tell us through the fairy tale?

14. Discussion — Characters
According to your taste and preference, give a list of the characters. That is, the one you like best shall be put as NO. 1. And explain why.

15. The Symbols
What are the characters’ different attitudes towards love?

16. Discussion — Images
What are the symbolic meanings of “Red rose”, “Lizard” “Butterfly” and “Nightingale”?

17. Discussion — Images Symbolic meanings:
Red rose — true love, which needs constant nourishment of passions of the lovers.

18. Discussion — Images Lizard — cynic (cynical people)
cynic: a person who sees little or no good in anything and who has no belief in human progress; person who shows this by sneering and being contemptuous.

19. Discussion — Images
Nightingale — a truthful, devoted pursuer of love, who dares to sacrifice his own precious life
Student — not a true lover, ignorant of love, not persistent in pursuing love

20. Wilde’s comments in a letter to one of his friends (May 1888):
The nightingale is the true lover, if there is one.  She, at least, is Romance, and the student and the girl are, like most of us, unworthy of Romance.  So, at least, it seems to me, but I like to fancy that there may be many meanings in the tale, for in writing it I did not start with an idea and clothe it in form, but began with a form and strove to make it beautiful enough to have many secrets and many answers.    

21. The Student's one-sided preference for word knowledge over emotions is clear from the moment he first sees the rose.  "It is so beautiful," he says, "that I am sure it has a long Latin name" . 
The Student, the young woman, and their society are all one-sided psychically.  They have devalued the "capacity to love", here symbolized by both the Nightingale and the rose.

22. The relationship of head and heart is a central concern of Wilde's fairy tales.  Promising to provide the red rose "out of music by moonlight" and to "stain it with my own heart's-blood," the Nightingale asks of the Student only that he "will be a true lover, for Love is wiser than Philosophy, though she is wise, and mightier than Power, "  But the Student cannot understand what the Nightingale says, "for he only knew the things that are written down in books.” He has too much "head" knowledge and almost no "heart" knowledge.

23. Discussion — theme
What does Love mean?
Love means giving (love).
Love means sacrifice.
Love means giving up.

24. Discussion — theme
How does the theme achieved?
Life death
Love freedom
Ideal money

25. Discussion — writing features
What is the genre of this story? And its characteristics?
Fairy tales
Characteristics:
- fairies play a part
- contain supernatural or magical elements
- children’s stories
- full of veiled comments on life

26. Characteristics:
1) personification of birds, insects, animals and trees
2) vivid, simple narration --- typical of the oral tradition of fairy tales
3) repetitive pattern

27. Discussion — writing features
A profound theme
Pure and beautiful images
Poetic language
Dramatic plot

28. Discussion — figurative speeches
Personification
Simile and Metaphor
Climax and Anticlimax

29. Discussion — figurative speeches
Simile and metaphor
Simile:
…her voice was like water bubbling from a silver jar.
…as white as the foam of the sea…
Metaphor:
...and the cold crystal moon

30. Discussion — figurative speeches
Climax
--derived from the Greek word “ladder,” implies the progression of thought at a uniform or almost uniform rate of significance or intensity
e.g. I came, I saw, I conquered.
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

31. Discussion — figurative speeches
Anti-climax:
--- stating one’s thoughts in a descending order of significance or intensity, often used to ridicule or satire.
eg. 1. As a serious man, I loved Beethoven, Keats, and hot dogs.
2. For God, for America, for Yale.

32. Discussion — figurative speeches
Syntactic device
Inversion
…yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched.
…Crimson was the girdle of petals, and crimson as ruby was the heart.
She passed through the grove like a shadow and like a shadow she sailed across the garden.
Night after night have I sung of him.

33. Discussion — figurative speeches
“She has form, that cannot be denied but has she got feeling? I am afraid not. In fact, she is like most artists; she is all style without any sincerity. She would not sacrifice herself for others.” he said to himself, as he walked away through the grove.”
Who is “she”? What does the sentence mean?

34. Discussion — writing features
The author Oscar Wilde and his doctrine “art for art’s sake”
Art for art’s sake:
A phrase associated with the aesthetic doctrine that art is self-sufficient and needs to serve no moral or political purpose.

35. Comment
Do you agree with the doctrine?

36. Further discussion
Through the literary history, love remains an ever-lasting topic. Many classics are basically love stories. Can you list some examples?
Now let’s have a very brief review of several classics which are quite familiar to us. Notice different expressions of love manifest the authors’ thinking and understanding of what love is.

37. Word Study jewels (gems): emeralds（绿宝石）, ruby（红宝石）,
sapphire（蓝宝石）, jade（翡翠） diamond
plants: daisy（雏菊）, rose, oak-tree（橡树）, daffodil（水仙花）
animals: nightingale, lizard（蜥蜴）, butterfly
subjects: philosophy, metaphysics（形而上学）, logic
stringed instruments: harp（竖琴）, violin

38. Word Study
Want:
1)the condition or quality of lacking something usual or necessary
for /from want of 由于缺少
The plants died for/from want of water.
stayed home for want of anything better to do.

39. 2) pressing need; 贫困
to live in want = to live in poverty
3) something desired:
in want of = in need of
Are you in want of money?
He’s a person of few wants and needs.

40. fling
1) to throw violently, with force
Don’t fling your clothes on the floor.
2) to move violently or quickly
She flung herself down on the sofa.
She flung back her head proudly.
3) to devote to
He flung himself into the task.

41. bloom
vi. to produce flowers, yield flowers, come into flower or be in flower开花
The roses are blooming.

42. blossom
1) vi. (of a seed plant, esp a tree or plant) to produce or yield flowers, bloom
The apples trees are blossoming.
2) vi. to develop
Their friendship blossomed when they found out how many interests they shared.

43. ebb
n. 1.The tide is on the ebb.
2.The financial resources have reached its
lowest ebb.
vi. 1) fall back from the flood stage
The tide will begin to ebb at 4 o’clock.
2) to fall away or back; decline or recede
The danger of conflict is not ebbing there.

44. linger vi.
1) to be slow in leaving, especially out of reluctance
The children lingered at the zoo until closing time.
2) to proceed slowly
linger over one’s work (磨洋工）
3) to persist Winter lingers.
vt. to pass (a period of time) in a leisurely or aimless manner.
We lingered away the whole summer at the beach.

45. see
see about doing: attend to, make arrangements for, deal with安排，处理
  It is time for me to see about cooking the dinner.
see something out: to last until the end of 熬过，度过
Will our supplies see the winter out?
It was such a bad play we couldn’t see out the performance and we left early.

46. see through sb./ sth
The paper is too thick to see though.
It was a hard time for us, but we managed to see it through.
see to something: to attend to, take care of负责，留意
If I see to getting the car out, will you see to closing the windows?

47. go
go about something: to perform to do从事，着手
to go about one’s business
Don’t go about the job that way.
go after sb/sth
to go after a job, a girl, a prize

48. go against sb/sth
Opinion is going against us.
The case may go against us.
go along : vi. to agree with, support
We’ll go along with you /your suggestion.

49. go round vi. 萦绕，
There is a tune going round in my head.
If there are not enough chairs to go round, some people have to stand.
go back on sth
Don’t go back on your promise.
Never go back on your friends.背叛，出卖

50. go by vi.
He let the chance go by.
A car went by. 
go by sth = according to, based on
to go by the rules/the book

51. go for sb/sth
My wife went for me because I was late for dinner.
Do you go for modern music?
I find this report badly done, and that goes for all the other work done in the office.
go into: to enter a profession, state of life
to go into business/films

52. go over vi.= change one’s stance
He went over from the People’s Party to the Enemy’s Party.
go through sth. vt = (some formalities)
The country has gone through too many wars.
They went through the new marriage service.
go under vi= go bankrupt, fail
She has so many worries, she is sure to go under.

53. Sentence Paraphrase
“Ah, I have read all that the wise men have written… my life is made wretched.”
Notice the sarcastic tone of the author when he had the Student refer to the “wise men”. As a champion for “art for art’s sake”, the author argues that one should not paint or write for financial, political or religious reasons.

54. He therefore keeps poking fun at the Student, the professor, the dusty heavy books, logic, philosophy, intellect, and metaphysics. Many people however reject this view. They do not believe it possible to have such a thing as art for art’s sake. “Art for art’s sake,” said Somerset Maugham, “makes no more sense than gin for gin’s sake.” The artist’s works, being part of his human activities, must be guided by his sense of moral responsibility, by what he conceives to be true, good and beautiful.

55. “The Prince gives a ball tomorrow night, … and my love will be there.”
give a ball: to give a dancing party
Notice the use of the present indefinite tense for expressing the future. Notice also the use of “give” in the sense of “organize” in the following: to give a reception; to give a cocktail party; to give a press conference; to give a dance.
“Ball” here refers to a large formal occasion at which people dance.

56. My love is like a red, red rose,
my love: my sweetheart. The word “love” here is used as a term of endearment as in:
My love is like a red, red rose,
Newly sprung in spring.
Robert Burns (1759 — 1796)

57. “The musicians will play upon their stringed instruments, … and my love will dance to the sound of the harp and the violin.”
stringed instruments: Musical instruments can be divided into stringed instruments, percussion instruments and wind instruments.

58. dance to the sound of the harp: dance according to the sound of the harp,
e.g.
The snake would then dance to the music.
The soldiers marched through the square to the drumbeat

59. “But with me she will not dance, for I have no red rose to give her,” and he flung himself down on the grass, …
for: When used as a conjunction, it means “because”, but it is now considered quite formal, and it is not as strong as “because”, therefore in adverbial clauses of reason, “because” is always used. Like “and” and “but”, “for” is used in coordinate clauses.

60. flung himself down on the grass: threw himself down on the grass
… and the little Lizard, who was something of a cynic, laughed outright.
something of a cynic: a cynic without fully deserving the name, e.g.
He is something of an economist among us because his grandfather used to own a little store.

61. cynic: a cynical person; a person who believes that everybody is motivated by selfishness. laughed outright: laughed out loud; burst out laughing

62. “Give me a red rose, … and I will sing you my sweetest song.”
“Sweet” could refer to taste, smell, or sound. Ask students to translate the following phrases into Chinese: sweet air; sweet song; sweet music; sweet wine; sweet flowers; sweet cake; sweet smile; sweet temper; sweet lady; sweet water.

63. “… and redder than the great fans of coral.”
Notice the metaphorical use of the word “fan”, which refers to anything resembling a fan.

64. More examples:
The mouth of a river; the foot of the page; the northern face of the mountain; the limbs of a tree; the eye of a needle; the nose of a plane; an arm of the sea; the tail of a comet; the teeth of a saw

65. “But the winter has chilled my veins, and the frost has nipped my buds, and the storm has broken my branches, and I shall have no roses at all this year.”
chill: to freeze; to numb; to lower the temperature
chilly (adj.): cold
nip the buds: to stop the growth of the buds
nip it in the bud: to prevent sth. from becoming a problem by stopping it as soon as it starts, e.g.

66. Their policy was to throw the first person who dared to protest openly into prison so as to nip it in the bud.
You must take immediate action and nip it in the bud. Otherwise this economic slowdown could easily snowball into a serious recession.
Notice the use of “and” again in this sentence. The first two “and”s mean “also” or “in addition to” whereas the last “and” means “as a result”.

67. “One red rose is all that I want, … only one red rose
“One red rose is all that I want, … only one red rose! Is there no way by which I can get it?”
When used as the object of the verb or preposition of the relative clause, the relative pronoun “that” is usually left out, especially in informal English. Notice that when the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition and the preposition is placed before the relative pronoun as often the case in formal style, only “which” is used, and not “that”.

68. More examples:
There near the beautiful pond, he built himself a little cabin in which he lived for three years.
The importance of agriculture is something on which we all seem to agree.

69. “… what is the heart of a bird compared to the heart of a man?”
Another example of a rhetorical question —　a question in form, but a statement in meaning.
This sentence means: The heart of a bird is nothing compared to the heart of a man. In other words, for the Nightingale, the Student’s love is much more important than her life.

70. … swept over the garden…
… moved quickly over the garden…
Observe how the word “sweep” and its derivatives are used in the following:
A new broom always sweeps the room clean. (proverb)
A terrible storm swept across the whole city.
The general’s eyes swept over the soldiers and gave the order to attack.
You can’t say they are all corrupt. That’s too sweeping. There might be a few exceptions.

71. “Be happy, … you shall have your red rose.”
The modal verb “shall” is used here to convey a solemn promise. It is used to say that something will definitely happen.
Notice that this usage is considered formal and old-fashioned.

72. The Student looked up from the grass, and listened, but he could not understand what the Nightingale was saying to him.
Why couldn’t the Student understand what the Nightingale was saying to him? Obviously, it was not because he could not understand bird language, but rather because he could not understand true love.

73. “She has form… she is all style without any sincerity.”
“Form” is the design, pattern, or structure as opposed to the substance. In music, it refers to such things as melody, rhythm, and harmony. Notice the irony when the Student says that the Nightingale has no feelings. His comments on the Nightingale’s music remind us of what people said about Oscar Wilde’s views on art.

74. Notice the use of “all” in the sentence “It’s all style”
Notice the use of “all” in the sentence “It’s all style”. It means “apart from style, there is nothing else”. More examples:
He is as strong as a horse. He is all muscle.
Don’t listen to him. It’s all stuff and nonsense.
He was all hot air. A lot of beautiful words, but completely meaningless.
The second time she saw him she was all smile because she knew the man had power.

75. … and after a time, he fell asleep.
In modern English we would say “after some time” or “after a moment”.
Notice the irony in how the Student could fall asleep so quickly.

76. a delicate flush of pink
When used to refer to color, “delicate” means “soft, subdued, or faint”.
… the Love that is perfected by Death, of the Love that dies not in the tomb.
… the love that grows and grows until they die, and of the love that will live in eternity.
“… the love that dies not in the tomb” is old-fashioned. In modern English, it should be “… the love that does not die in the tomb”.

77. … for she was lying dead in the long grass,…
Notice the use of “in” rather than “on” to emphasize the tallness and thickness of the grass.
“… it will not go with my dress,”…
go with my dress: to match my dress; to be harmonious with my dress
Another example: This furniture does not go with the color of these walls.

78. “Well, upon my word, you are very ungrateful,”…
Notice the irony. The Student accused the girl of being ungrateful without realizing that he was no better.
“In fact it is quite unpractical, and as in this age… I shall go back to Philosophy.”
Notice the different uses of the word “as” in this paragraph. It means “because” here, and in the previous sentence, it means “when” or “while”.
unpractical: also “impractical”

79. Thank you for your attention!