American literature(2)

•  羅馬的榮光   ‘’To Helen’’ by Edgar A. Poe.

Helen, thy beauty is to me

   Like those Nicéan barks of yore,

That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,

   The weary, way-worn wanderer bore

   To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,

   Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,

Thy Naiad airs have brought me home

   To the glory that was Greece,      

   And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche

   How statue-like I see thee stand,

The agate lamp within thy hand!

   Ah, Psyche, from the regions which

   Are Holy-Land!

 

• “The Roman Fever “by Edith Wharton（1934）

 The story about the power struggle for those in the upper classes.
The setting of the story takes place in the city of Rome.  The exotic setting illustrates the power and class from which the women hail, but the Old Rome context, such as the Colosseum, insinuates Roman Empire-style intrigue.

• Gilgamesh

 Gilgamesh is the central character in the Epic of Gilgamesh(吉爾伽美什史詩), the greatest surviving work of early Mesopotamian(美索不達米亞) literature. In Mesopotamian mythology, Gilgamesh is a demigod of superhuman strength who built the city walls of Uruk to defend his people from external threats.

• Manifest Destiny

         In the United States in the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was the widely held belief that American settlers were destined to expand across the continent. 

• Presumption of innocence (無罪推定原則) 

           is the principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty.

• Republican / Democrat

• 美國三大郵報：USA today/New York time/Washington post

• 西洋三大獎：The Academy Award of Merit /Golden Globe Awards /Grammy Award

 

   “Action is eloquence, and the eyes of th’ ignorant more learned than the ears” – Coriolanus

    William Shakespeare, Coriolanus (c. 1607-08), Act III, scene 2, line 76.

• 推薦電影：Working Girl(1988)、Far and Away(1992)

• 推薦音樂："Let the River Run" - Carly Simon、"Under the Sea" The Little Mermaid

 

• Vocabulary

       Law maker

       Rancor

       Ratified

       Concession

       Success/successful/successive/predecessor

       Electoral College

       Paranoia

       Defend(v.)捍衛

       Wiretapping(adj.)竊聽的