| 词汇 | poet laureate |
| 词源 | poet laureate. In Greek legend Apollo fell in love with and tried to seize Daphne, the daughter of a river, and at her own request she was turned into a bay laurel tree, which became sacred to Apollo. The god ordered that laurel be the prize for poets and victors, this leading to the belief that laurel leaves communicated the spirit of poetry (the ancients put laurel leaves under their pillows to acquire inspiration while they slept) and the tradition of laurel symbolizing excellence in literature. The first laureates were university graduates in po- etry and rhetoric who were presented laurel wreaths and called “doctors laureate” and “bachelors laureate.” Before the title poet laureate was conferred upon any poet in England there were a number of court poets: King Henry I (1068– 1135) had a Versificator Regis (King’s versifier) named Wale. Ben Jonson was granted a pension by James I in 1616 and was a poet laureate in the modern sense, and Chaucer, Skel- ton, and Spenser had been called laureates before him; but it wasn’t until John Dryden was appointed poet laureate by Charles II in 1668 that the position became official. Currently the poet laureate is chosen by the sovereign from a list of names submitted by the prime minister when the position falls vacant. Appointments are for life, and by custom the poet laureate composes odes for the sovereign’s birthday and New Year’s odes. Dryden was awarded a pension of 300 pounds and a tierce of canary wine as laureate, but today the annual pension is 70 pounds with 27 pounds more given in- stead of the wine. |
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