A lyric is a subjective poem of intense personal emotion whose principal quality is its musical form. Poe, master of the lyric, was led to explain all poetry as the rhythmical creation of beauty in words. Because great poetry is often pure music, haunting melody, and chiming syllables, the reader should not glance through poetry as he read his newspaper or the latest magazine—skipping a word here and a line there, and still hope to get what the author had intended for him. Poetry being music, like all other forms of music, it gains its meaning when interpreted by the human voice.
It is the special function of lyrical poetry to give pleasure through this musical quality no less than through fine contemplation of beauty it inspires—beauty of thought, of feeling, of expression, and of technical skill. But poetry is more than a great pleasure. It should also be an outlet for our own unspoken thoughts and our varied moods. It makes
articulate
our choked-up passageways of speech, giving adequate expression to our pent-up loves and joys and glories, and furnishes release and relief to our fears, grieves and sorrows. A great poet takes our half-formed thoughts, or suppressed moods, our crushed desires, and needs, and leads them out into the open, endowing them with a harmony, and completeness ...
Great verse can help to vitalize our thinking about the commonplace and elemental in life, and can idealize and give meaning to the simplest things in creation. Listen to Tennyson:
Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower—but if I could understand,
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.
单选题
What is the passage mainly about?
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析:主旨题。通读全文可知,文章通篇都在谈论抒情诗,故选C。
单选题
What does the underlined word "articulate" in Para. 2 probably mean?
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】解析:词汇题。根据原文第二段中“But poetry is more than a great pleasure.It should also be an outlet for our own unspoken thoughts and our varied moods.It makes articulate our choked-up passageways of speech…”可知,诗歌可以释放我们内心说不出的想法和各种情感,让我们原本阻塞的语言变得清晰明了。此处articulate意为“清晰的”。故选A。
单选题
According to the author, a great poet is one who______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析:细节题。根据原文第二段中“A great poet takes our half-formed thoughts,or suppressed moods,our crushed desires,and needs,and leads them out into the open,endowing them with a harmony,and completeness…”可知,C项正确。
单选题
It can be inferred from Tennyson's poem that______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】解析:推断题。根据第三段中“Great verse can help to vitalize our’thinking about the commonplace and elemental in life,and can idealize and give meaning to the simplest things in creation.”可知,读诗歌的用意是赞颂自然之美。故选C。
单选题
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】解析:细节题。根据第一段首句“A lyric is a subjective poem of intense personal emotion whose principal quality is its musical form”可知,抒情诗并非是关于行为和故事的美丽诗歌,而是关于强烈个人情感的诗歌,可排除A。由第一段尾句“it gains its meaning when interpreted by the human voice”可知,当被人们解读的时候,它会增加自身的含义,可排除C。由第一段第三句"great poetry is often pure music,haunting melody,and chiming syllables”可知并不是所有的诗歌都是包含和谐音节的纯粹音乐,排除D,故选B。