Plants in May Sarton’s old life in Encore

Abstract Encore was written at Sarton’s eighties from 1991 to 1992, recoding her life at the age of eighty。 “Plants” is an important subject in Encore, which is almost mentioned in each piece of journal。 This shows the plant is a very important part in her life。74666

This paper aims to explore the meaning of plants in Sarton’s Encore, so as to cast enlightenment on positive aging model。 Based on the literary analysis, I study plants from three aspects: (1) plants persity, colorfulness and their growth (2) the connection between Sarton and plants (3) the comparison on plants’ description in different journals。 

Here are the findings: plants play an essential role in Sarton’s old life。 Plants make Sarton’s old-age life more vivid and colorful。 The findings are believed to provide the elderly a salutary lesson that a common object or habit can help them live the old-age life positively and healthily。

Keywords: May Sarton; Encore; plants; the elderly 

关于梅•萨藤《返场》中植物的研究

摘  要《八十岁日记》记录了梅•萨藤从1991年5月至1992年6月的生活。植物是这本日记集中重要的主题，几乎出现在了每天的日记里。这个表明，植物是梅•萨藤的生活中必不可少的一个部分。

  本论文旨在研究在《八十岁日记》中植物的内涵意义， 并启发建立积极健康的衰老模式。我将依据文本，从三个方面对日记体进行研究：（1）植物的种类繁多，颜色丰富以及植物的生长 （2）梅•萨藤和植物的关系 （3）不同日记集中植物描写比较。

经过研究发现：植物是梅•萨藤老年生活的重要组成部分。植物使梅•萨藤的老年生活变得更加丰富多彩。该发现将有利于帮助老年人思考如何从植物一般平淡无奇的事物获取灵感，从而启发他们对积极衰老模式的探索与实践。

毕业论文关键词：梅•萨藤；八十岁日记；植物；老年生活 

Contents

1。  Introduction 2

1。1  Brief introduction of May Sarton and May Sarton’s Encore 2

1。2  The journals of May Sarton 2

1。3  Literature review on Sarton’s journals 3

1。3 The purpose and structure of the paper 4

2。  Plants’ attributes 6

2。1  The species of plants 6

2。2  The color of plants 7

2。3  The growth of plants 7

3。  The connection between Sarton and Plants 9

3。1  Plants as gift 9

3。2  Gardening 9

4。  Comparison on plants description 10

4。1  Differences 10

4。2  Similarities 11

5。  Conclusion 12

References 13

1。  Introduction

1。1  Brief introduction of May Sarton and May Sarton’s Encore

May Sarton, born in Wondelgem, Belgium in 1912, was a famous memoirist, novelist and poet in America。 As a productive writer, she wrote over fifty books: nineteen novels, seventeen books of poetry and fifteen nonfiction works including journals, children's books and plays。 Although at first neglected by literary critics, in the later part of her career reviewers and feminist academics began to discover Sarton's work, lauding her as an important American women writers and feminists。 Among all Sarton’s works, she is particularly good at writing journals。 In most journals written in her later life, Sarton deals with issues including ageing, solitude, friendship, nature, poems, lesbianism, and so forth。 论文网