Brianさんから新しいLanguage noteが届きました。
生への希望を描いた「ショーシャンクの空に」のラストシーン。
「いまを生きる」で印象的に使われていたホイットマンの有名な詩。
その詩はある人物の死を悼む内容です。それは誰だかわかりますか？
ちょうど今クラスで取り上げている映画名の一部にヒントがあります。
自由な連想で書かれた散文を英文でお楽しみください！
A President, a Poet, and Dead Poet's Society
In The Shawshank Redemption (which we saw last January, seems ages ago), Andy tells Red to look for a hay field with "a wall like something out of Robert Frost" should Red ever be pardoned from prison. You will remember that Andy leaves his friend directions to the Mexican seaside village where he plans "to get living" after his escape from prison and money for the journey in a box hidden at the base of the wall.
All the President's Men reminded me (not sure how or why, but nevermind) of the poem "O Captain! My Captain!" by the 19th century American poet Walt Whitman. Those who have seen the Robin Williams film Dead Poet's Society will recall the significance of the work to the story, particularly the final scene.
Written in 1865, the poem was inspired by which American president?
O Captain! My Captain!
BY WALT WHITMAN
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.