A few famous English poets

A: Do you know any English famous poets?

B: Sure. Lord George Gordon Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley...

A: Sorry for interrupting you. You are right. They are great English poets. Not long ago I enjoyed Shelley’s lyric drama "Prometheus Unbound". By the way, have you ever heard of Lady Godiva?

B: Yes, I have. Our teacher of the English language told us about this 11th century British woman of high rank. She is believed to have ridden a horse through Coventry with no clothes on as a protest to persuade her husband to lower the local taxes.

A: Absolutely. And this legend was the base of the poem "Godiva" written by Alfred Tennyson, an English great poet, whose verse has a majestic musical quality.

B; It would be splendid to read this poem in the original!

A: However, we can read in the original the poem of John Keats, an English Romantic poet who died so early, at the age of 25.

В: Well, there are so many English poets. We haven’t mentioned yet John Milton, William Wordsworth, William Shakespeare and others.

EXERCISE 17. Act as an interpreter.

GREAT RUSSIAN POETS AND NOVELISTS

Mr. Harrington, a teacher from the USA is talking with Russian students about Russian literature.

А: Знаете ли вы каких-либо русских поэтов?		В: Of course. I do. Anna Akh matova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Boris Pasternak. Not long ago I even read a poem written by Marina Tsvetaeva. To tell the truth, it was in translation but still it impressed me greatly.
А: Знаете ли вы, что в 1958 году Борис Пастернак был удостоен Нобелевской премии, но отказался от нее?		В: I do know. A mysterious Russian soul... By the way, the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky are famous world wide.
А: Да, его произведения известны своей психологической проницательностью. Вы читали Достоевского?		В: Certainly. And we were discussing with my students his novel "Crime and Punishment".
А: Знаете ли вы еще каких- либо русских писателей?		В: Sure. Leo Tolstoy. I have read his novel “Anna Karenina” and saw the film based on his novel “War and Peace”. Besides, Ivan Turgenev, Alexandei Kuprin.
А: Замечательно, что вы так хорошо знаете нашу русскую литературу. Было приятно с вами поговорить.		В: The pleasure was mine.