Acknowledgments Upon completion of the thesis, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor,  without whom I would never finish my graduation thesis smoothly. 

I can never be more grateful to my supervisor. He treats me with excessive patience and provides me with inspiration, direction and assistance. Words can never express my gratitude for the days and nights he has spent in revising my thesis. During the possess of the thesis writing, He is like a mentor who has given me valuable suggestions, patient instruction and insightful criticism. His resourcefulness and kind encouragement have helped me out in the process. 44010

On Symbolic Meanings of Death of Beauty in Edgar Allan Poe’s Short Story Ligeia

Abstract Women, especially deceased women have played a significant role in Edgar Allan Poe’s life and have been frequently reflected in Poe’s works. Among more than four hundred works related to women from Poe, Ligeia is the best depicted and most loved one by Poe and his readers. The heroine in Ligeia represents the perfect woman in Poe’s point of view and she is considered to be the combination of physical beauty and spiritual beauty. Since the short story Ligeia was first introduced to China, it has caught great attention of many Chinese scholars and critics. Based on surveys and researches from both home and broad, this thesis aims to try to explain the symbolic meanings of death of beauty in Poe’s profound work Ligeia from four parts. Part one is the introduction to Edgar Allan Poe and his work Ligeia and the general academic attention to Ligeia in China. Part two introduces the theme Death of Beauty, which highlights Poe’s literary contribution. Part three explains the image of the perfect woman Ligeia from Poe’s most famous short story. Parts four represents a sharp comparison between Poe’s views of beauty in 19th century and views of beauty in 21st century.

Keywords: Edgar Allan Poe; Ligeia; Death of Beauty

分析《丽姬娅》中美女之死的象征意义摘  要

女性，尤其是女性之死在爱伦坡的人生和作品中有着不可忽视的重要意义。 爱伦坡穷其一生，在超过400部的作品中对女性进行了深入的刻画。其中，他的短篇小说《丽姬娅》是最受爱伦坡自己的肯定和读者欢迎的作品。《丽姬娅》中的女主人公丽姬娅是爱伦坡心目中完全女性的代表，也是爱伦坡所推崇的外表美与内在美的结合体。自从《丽姬娅》被翻译成中文传入国内，研究爱伦坡和其女性情节的学者如雨后春笋。本文在国内外各位学者研究的基础上-优尔^文'论"文.网www.youerw.com，对短篇小说《丽姬娅》背后的象征意义进行深入的研究，共分为4个部分。第一部分是对作者及其作品的介绍；第二部分介绍并分析爱伦坡独特的主题“美女之死”；第三部分着眼于《丽姬娅》作品中的女性形象；第四部分旨在对比19世纪爱伦坡作品中的审美观与现代21世纪的审美区别。

毕业论文关键词：爱伦坡，《丽姬娅》，美女之死

Contents

1. Introduction1

  1.1 Three Stages of Poe’s Eventful Life .1

1.1.1 A Unplanned Child (1809-1811)1

1.1.2 A Rebellious Young Man (1811-1828)...1

1.1.3 An Unrecognized Maverick Genius of Literature (1828-1949)..1

  1.2 Women in Poe’s Life.1

1.2.1 Two Mothers of Poe: Elizabeth Poe and Fanny Allan...1

1.2.2 Poe’s lovers: Jane Craig Stanard and Virginia...1

  1.3 Literature Review..1

  1.4 Introduction to the Thesis..1

2. Poe’s Literary Proposition of Death of Beauty...1

  2.1 Beauty1

  2.2 Death..1

  2.3 Death of Beauty..1

3. Analysis of Ligeia1

  3.1 The Image of Ligeia...1 英语论文《丽姬娅》中美女之死的象征意义:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_45151.html