Pinned to a Lady's Coach

The Parson's Looks

Someone remarked that he had seen falsehood in the very look of a certain priest. The poet replied:

That there is falsehood in his looks I must and will deny; They say their master is a knave — And sure they do not lie.

The following lines were addressed to the coach of a very rich lady.

¹ ye — you

If you rattle along like your mistress's tongue, Your speed will outrival the dart; But a fly for your load, you'll break down on the road, If your stuff be as rotten's her heart.

The name of Burns is very dear to all English-speaking nations because the source of his poetry was the folklore and the songs of his people whose true son he was.

In our country Robert Burns is widely known, loved and sung. One of the best translators of Burns's poetry was Samuel Marshak who successfully preserved the music of the original Scottish dia­lect.

Burns's songs are the soul of music and it is not surprising that Beethoven fbeithauvn], Schumann, Mendelsohn, and others com­posed music to the poet's verses. Russian composers have also set many of Burns's verses to music. Among the best is the cycle of songs by Georgi Sviridov. Tunes to Burns's songs have been successfully written also by Dmitri Shostakovich, Nikolai Myaskovsky and others.

Burns's verses are a constant everliving source of inspiration for composers in all countries.

Now Robert Burns is considered the national poet of Scotland, and January 25 — the date of his birth — is always celebrated by Scotchmen.

Vocabulary

drain [drem] v осушать falsehood ['foMrud] n ложь farewell ['feswel] int прощай! foe [fau] n враг gory ['go:n] а покрытый кровью hail [heil] v приветствовать ignorance ['ignarens] n невежество immortal [i'mo:tl] а бессмертный inspire [m'spaia] v внушать knave [nerv] n мошенник maggot ['maegat] n личинка outrival [aut'rarval] v превзойти

adieu [a'dju:] int прощай!

bid [bid] v (bade; bidden) приказывать

bind [bamd] v (bound) переплетать

blot [bint] v бесчестить

bound [baund] past и р. р. от bind

brook [bruk] n ручей

cease [sis] v прекращать

claim [kleim] n требование

clod [kind] n глыба (земли)

contempt [кэп/tempt] n презрение

dart [da:t] n дротик

dignity ['digniti] л достоинство

Questions and Tasks 1. What are the main themes of Burns's poetry? 2. What poem is a hymn to the beauty of Scotland's nature? 3. What poem is closely connected with the national struggle of the Scottish people for their liberation from English oppression? 4. What is the main idea of the poem Is There for Honest Poverty? 5. In what poem does Burns develop the revolutionary theme? 6. What is the idea of the poem John Barleycorn? 7. What are Burns's lyric poems? 8. Point out the similes used in the poem A Red, Red Rose. 9. Comment of Burns's epigrams.   10. Who was one of the best translators of Burns's poetry in Russia? 11. What composers set many of Burns's verses to music?

path [pa:0] п тропинка

personify [p3:'smiifai] v олицетворять

pin [pm] v прикрепить

posterity [pDSt'enti] n последующие по­коления

preserve [pn'z3:v] v сохранять

rattle ['rati] у трещать; грохотать

retrace [n'treis] v возвращаться

roe [гэи] n косуля

rotten [ 'rotn] а нравственно испор­ченный

rove [reuv] v скитаться

score [sko:] n два десятка

secure [si'kjua] v обеспечивать

servile ['s3:vail] а рабский

shabby ['Jaebi] а поношенный

sigh [sai] v тосковать soil [soil] n земля

solemn t'sobm] а торжественный source [sd:s] n источник strath [straeG] n широкая горная доли­на с протекающей по ней рекой swear [swes] v (swore; sworn) клясться toast [taust] v провозглашать тост toil [toil] n тяжелый труд torrent ['trjrent] n стремительный поток usurper [ju:'z3:p3] n захватчик vale [veil] n долина valour ['vaela] n доблесть wail [well] n вопль woe [wsu] n rope, скорбь worm [W3:m] n червь

English Literature in the Second Half of the 18th Century

Дата добавления: 2015-06-27