全家上周去了纽约---- The morgan library & museum
Mr. Morgan's
library, as it was known in his lifetime, was built between 1902 and 1906
adjacent to his New York residence at Madison Avenue and 36th Street. Designed
by Charles McKim of the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, the library
was intended as something more than a repository of rare materials. Majestic in
appearance yet intimate in scale, the structure was to reflect the nature and
stature of its holdings. The result was an Italian Renaissance-style palazzo
with three magnificent rooms epitomizing America's Age of Elegance. Completed
three years before McKim's death, it is considered by many to be his
masterpiece. In 1924, eleven years after Pierpont Morgan's death, his son, J.
P. Morgan, Jr. (1867–1943), known as Jack, realized that the library had become
too important to remain in private hands. In what constituted one of the most
momentous cultural gifts in U.S. history, he fulfilled his father's dream of
making the library and its treasures available to scholars and the public alike
by transforming it into a public institution.
This place is beautiful, the atmosphere
and architecture is just amazing. As you walk in you have to stop and soak in
everything. Standing, or sitting, you can just breathe and focus on the art,
architecture, and books without the distractions and outside noise. The
surrealism exhibit was fasinating and even inspired poetry.
Edgar Allan Poe 是十月份刚开的陈列馆，比较感兴趣，逗留了时间长一点，很多他生前的手稿和信件。
Edgar Allan Poe
Terroe of the Soul explores Poe’s poetry, fiction,and literary
criticism, and examines his profound influence on later writers. The exhibition
will feature items drawn primarily from the Morgan’s holdings and the Henry W.
and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature at The New York
Pubic Library----Two of the most important collections of Poe material in the
USA.
爱伦·坡幼失双亲，生性敏感，从小得不到温暖和安全感，慈母的幻影一直萦回在他心头，成为他寻求心灵慰藉的偶像，再加屡遭 磨难，不如意事常八九，可与人言无一二，对他来说，现实世界是不堪忍受的，他只有借助写作和酒精才能在幻想的土地上恣意驰骋。有一次他抱怨说，他的敌人把 他的精神错乱归因于他的嗜酒，而不是把他的嗜酒归因于他的精神错乱，他临死前不久还说过，“我经常沉湎杯中物，但喝酒并没使我感到半点儿乐趣。我不惜生命 和名声，不顾理智，一味喝酒，并非追求乐趣，而是竭力逃避令人痛苦的回忆，逃避无法忍受的孤寂，逃避迫在眼前的大限。”
话又说回来，他决不是一个梦想家，也决不是一个真正逃避现实的人。从他努力不懈的写作态度上表现出他是讲究现实的。从他那些文学评论文章上，更证明了这点，因为只有保持头脑清醒，才能写出这麼多条理清晰，分析透彻的作品。
在他短短一生写下的不少作品中，文学评论是很重要的一部分。当时文坛上，除了詹姆斯·罗塞尔·洛威尔之外，几乎无人可与抗衡。洛威尔一向不轻易赞扬别人，却把坡誉为“最有见识、最富哲理的大无畏评论家”。当代文学评论家埃德蒙·威尔逊也称“坡的文学评论确实是美国文坛上空前的杰作”。然而，不可忽视的是在坡早年当报刊杂志编辑时，为了换取稿费，他也写了许多糟粕，因此至今留存的只是很小的一部分精华。
他一向主张“为艺术而艺术”。他的艺术主张几乎贯穿于他的所有作品中，包括诗歌、短篇小说和论文。在这些作品中，他 声称“一切艺术的目的是娱乐，不是真理。”他认为“在诗歌中只有创造美——超凡绝尘的美才是引起乐趣的正当途径。音乐是诗歌不可缺少的成分，对诗人力求表 现超凡绝尘的美尤其重要。而在故事写作方面，艺术家就不妨力图制造惊险、恐怖和强烈情感的效果。而且每篇作品都应该收到一种效果。”
A Dream Within A Dream
Take this kiss upon the brow!And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
----Edgar Allan Poe
