On the Aesthetic Values of English Proverbs

Abstract： This paper makes a study on English proverbs from the respect of aesthetic value. The author holds the view that besides the cultural value and literary value， English proverbs are also of aesthetic value concretely reflected in moral beauty， auditory beauty， and visual beauty which are sure to enable people to understand and use English proverbs from a different angle and enhance fun and literary grace of our writing and speech.

Key words：English proverb； aesthetic value； moral beauty； auditory beauty； visual beauty

中图分类号：H319 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1672-1578（2015）11-0003-02

1 The Concept of Aesthetic Value

Aesthetic value is one category in aesthetics. Basically， aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art，beauty， and taste， with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values， sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste. Basing on this， the concept of "aesthetic value" refers to that value which causes an object to be a

"work of art." It involves a wide range of realms， including language， which reflect the culture in which they originate. English proverbs， the gems of the English language ， bears doubtlessly fantastic beauty in itself because of its long-term cultural inheritance， tactical use of rhetorical devices， succinctness， vividness， well-balanced syntactic structure， and profound meanings.

2 Introduction of English Proverbs

Due to the above features， British writer Francis Bacon once said， "Genius， Wit and Spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs." As one particular form of the English language， an English proverb is a fixed saying defined as “a brief familiar maxim of folk wisdom， usually compressed in form， often involving a bold image and frequently a jingle that catches the memory.” Since English proverb is the essence of the English language， more exactly， the British national culture essence， it reflects its national values， religious beliefs， aesthetic habit， historical culture， social system and so on. This can be well illustrated in their long- time process of formation， for they mainly originate from folk life， religion， mythology， English literature， foreign literature. the nations history and so on. Because of this rich resource， English proverbs have a wide coverage such as moral principles， productive and life experience， knowledge acquisition， aspiration to succeed in life， environmental protection，etc.

3 Aesthetic Manifestations in English Proverbs

Chinese great writer Lu Xun concluded that the beauty of language generally demonstrates from three aspects： the beauty felt by the soul， the beauty heard by the ear， the beauty seen by the eye. It is true of English proverbs. The following parts will discuss the aesthetic value of English proverbs from three aspects： moral beauty， auditory beauty， and visual beauty.

3.1 Moral Beauty

At the level of morals， English proverbs are abound with a large number of instructive proverbs which intend to persuade and conduct people .To persuade is to praise the right behavior and fight against the bully. To conduct people is to guide them to adapt a correct attitude towards life， to take a right way to get along well with others. For example： A tree is known by its fruit（观其行知其人）.Better be alone than in bad company（交损友不如不交友）.Do as you would be done by（己所不欲，勿施与人）. Thus moral beauty is multiple-sided， covering beauty of social civilization， of intellectual art and of sentiment and emotion， which combine to form natural ecology and humanistic ecology. If imposed to these beneficial proverbs， people can be instructed to cultivate and enhance their aesthetic consciousness and view of things， to develop scientific outlook on life and world outlook， and finally to achieve mind beauty and behavior beauty.

3.2 Auditory Beauty

Another aesthetic value is manifested by the physical feature of English proverbs， more exactly their pleasant sound to peoples ears. Such beauty mainly consists of beauty in rhyme and rhythm. Most of the proverbs formed on the base of oral words are handed down from folks. So they strive for music rhyme and regular meter. Music rhyme means a certain pattern produced by emphasis and duration of notes in music or by stressed or unstressed syllables in words. Regular meter refers to a particular form with a fixed arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables. Their significance is that they can make a proverb more powerful， dedicate， and can enable us readers to recite them more easily due to the pleasure and deep impression brought out by them .In a word they play a key role in the wide spread of English proverbs over generations.

As we know， speech sounds are classified phonetically into vowels and consonants. Both of them have their own phonetic features， such as whether it is voiced or voiceless， whether it is lax or tense， etc. However ，apart from these qualities， “the vowels ， consonants， and their clusters have also some sensory qualities， which suggest certain impressions.” Their effect are subject to wide and varied individual interpretation，for example，[i] might be supposed to convey bright， light， fleet， happy

impressions； while[k]，[g]might suggest unpleasantness or ugliness. So a number of phonetic devices have been used widely in proverbs. For rhyme， alliteration（头韵）， assonance（母韵） and thyme（尾韵） are quite popular； as for rhythm ， trochee（扬抑格），iambus抑扬格）， anapest（抑抑扬格）， dactyl（扬抑抑格），spondee（扬扬格）often occur in proverbs as well. For example：

--Many a little makes a miracle（积少成多）（Alliteration. the sound [m]occurs initially in “many”， “make”， ”miracle” ，so the three words are rhymed in the first sound.）

--A friend in need is a friend indeed.（Assonance. The vowel [i：] occurs in “need” and “indeed”， so the two words are rhymed in this vowel ）

-- April showers bring May flowers.（四月骤雨带来五月鲜花）（Thyme， the word “showers” and “flowers” contain the same final sound[auz]. So “showers” and “flowers” are rhymed.

--Lifeless， faultless（人孰能无过）（Trochee，the pattern is -）

--The tailor makes the man（人靠衣服马靠鞍）（Iambus， the pattern is -）

--As you sow， you shall mow（种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆）（Anapest， the pattern is -）

--What may be done at any time will be done at no time （随时可做之事，恰是没时间所做之事）（Dactyl， the pattern is -）

--Love makes all hard hearts gentle（爱情把一切冷酷的心变得温柔）（Spondee， the pattern is -）

3.3Visual Beauty

The visual beauty of English proverbs lies in the beauty of form. One beauty of form is conciseness ， namely， structure compact. To catch and please readers eyes， most proverbs are simple and short sentences in order to express the rich meaning with the least words. Apart from the simplicity of sentence， conciseness can also be achieved by using elliptical sentences， in which a certain sentence segment has been omitted. Sometimes the subject is omitted like First come， first served（先到先招待）， Give a dog a bad name and hang him（欲加之罪，何患无辞）. Sometimes the predicate verb is omitted， for example， More haste， less speed.（欲速则不达），Once a use ，for ever a custom（习惯成自然）， Out of sight， out of mind. （眼不见，心不想）.Another beauty of form is achieved by symmetrical balance which is carried out by repeating the same word， phrase， or clause within a sentence， for example， Love me little， love me long（细水长流，淡交长久）. Diamond cut diamond， crook cut crook（棋逢对手）.

4 Conclusion

English proverbs are gems of the English language. They play an important role in peoples daily life for not only their cultural and literary significance but also their artistic qualities. They are thought as a “work of art” since they are abound in moral beauty， auditory beauty， and visual beauty. Such qualities will enhance peoples understanding of English proverbs as well as the western culture.

References：

[1]冯翠华.英语修辞大全[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2003.

[2]贾玮利. 英语谚语美感类型透析[J] 甘肃高师学报，2009（6）.

[3]徐守勤. 袖珍英语谚语词典[M]合肥：安徽科学技术出版社，1999.

作者简介：刘娟（1964年-），女，四川内江人，内江师范学院外国语学院，副教授，主要研究方向：英语语言学和英语教学。