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主题:Andrew Marr:我们英国人——英国诗歌文学简史 -- 万年看客

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家园 浪漫的苦恼2

说老实话,对于本书这样通过诗歌分析国民性的项目来说,华兹华斯有一项比其他诗人更值得研究的优势:他在描绘自己内心的同时也顺带勾勒出了国民情绪的更广泛变迁。当大革命理念刚刚在英国传播开来时,华兹华斯的诗歌洋溢着对于兄弟情谊的慷慨信念,尽管看上去似乎有点幼稚;随着大革命的深入发展,他的诗歌也逐渐采取了更加紧张且爱国的立场并且表达了针对流血的厌恶。简而言之,英国人起初陷入革命狂热时,华兹华斯一马当先;后来英国人尴尬地转向了反革命立场时,华兹华斯依旧一马当先。大革命刚开始时华兹华斯正好身在法国,并且还落入了爱河。日后他在《素描集》(Descriptive Sketches Taken During A Pedestrian Tour Among The Alps)当中写到了这段经历。这首长诗在1793年1月与英国读者见面,此时路易十六国王刚刚被砍头,不久后英法两国就要开战。因此人们觉得这首诗的内容有叛国之嫌。结果华兹华斯、他妹妹多萝西以及他的朋友柯勒律治都遭到了英国政府密探的监视。

And oh, fair France! though now the traveller sees

Thy three-striped banner fluctuate on the breeze;

Though martial songs have banished songs of love,

And nightingales desert the village grove,

Scared by the fife and rumbling drum's alarms,

And the short thunder, and the flash of arms;

That cease not till night falls, when far and nigh,

Sole sound, the Sourd prolongs his mournful cry!

- Yet, hast thou found that Freedom spreads her power

Beyond the cottage-hearth, the cottage-door:

All nature smiles, and owns beneath her eyes

Her fields peculiar, and peculiar skies...

- But foes are gathering- Liberty must raise

Red on the hills her beacon's far-seen blaze;

Must bid the tocsin ring from tower to tower! -

Nearer and nearer comes the trying hour!

Rejoice, brave Land, though pride's perverted ire

Rouse hell's own aid, and wrap thy fields in fire:

Lo, from the flames a great and glorious birth;

As if a new-made heaven were hailing a new earth!

啊,美好的法国!尽管现在旅人看到

你的三色旗在微风中舒展飘摇,

尽管嘹亮军歌将缠绵情歌流放,

村镇的树丛里再没有夜莺歌唱,

吓人的军笛与军鼓吓跑了它们,

枪炮声若惊雷,还有雪亮白刃;

直到夜幕降临方才消停,此时在远方

传来唯一的声音,一个聋子拖长了哭腔!

——但是,假如你发现自由扩展了她的力量,

超越了小小村镇的门户与炉膛,

自然的一切都会微笑,就在她的眼中,

独一无二的田野,独一无二的天空……

——但是敌人正在集结——自由必须应战

远山的烽火遥遥一点赤红灿烂;

告警的钟声传遍了一座座塔楼,

步步逼近的正是紧要试炼关头!

欢庆吧,勇敢的土地,尽管傲慢的扭曲凶性

烧遍了你的原野,还发动地狱为自己助阵:

哦,伟大而光荣的新生将会来自熊熊烈焰;

恰似崭新的天堂将崭新的人间呼唤!

日后回顾这段时光,华兹华斯无出其右地描写了自己在青年时期被大革命改造社会的可能性熊熊灼烧的激动心境。请看《起初热情追随者眼中的法国大革命》(The French Revolution as It Appeared to Enthusiasts at Its Commencement)。

Oh! pleasant exercise of hope and joy!

For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood

Upon our side, we who were strong in love!

Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,

But to be young was very heaven!—Oh! times,

In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways

Of custom, law, and statute, took at once

The attraction of a country in romance!

When Reason seemed the most to assert her rights,

When most intent on making of herself

A prime Enchantress—to assist the work

Which then was going forward in her name!

Not favoured spots alone, but the whole earth,

The beauty wore of promise, that which sets

(As at some moment might not be unfelt

Among the bowers of paradise itself)

The budding rose above the rose full blown.

What temper at the prospect did not wake

To happiness unthought of? The inert

Were roused, and lively natures rapt away!

哦!希望与喜乐的愉悦运作!

多么雄伟的支柱,曾经矗立在

我们身旁,我们曾经深陷热恋!

能够活在那样的清晨是何等福祉,

但是青春才是真正的天堂!——哦!时间啊,

在这其中贫乏、陈腐、禁忌重重的老一套

习俗、律法与规范,一把夺走了

这个浪漫之国的魅力!

当理性看似最能主张她的权利时,

当她最有意将自己塑造成为

强大的魔女——从而从旁辅助

正以她的名义进行的事业时!

大地各处,而不是受到偏爱的角落

身披希冀的美丽,种下了

(有时在天堂的树荫下

或许不会感觉不到)

含苞欲放的玫瑰,压过了盛放的玫瑰。

面对这样的前景,怎样的脾性才不会

在未曾想过的幸福当中醒来?惰性

遭到激发,鲜活的自然振奋向前!

雅各宾派发起的大革命带来了波及面极其广泛的大屠杀,不仅皇室与贵族人头落地,而且就连神父、修女以及许多单纯的政坛失势者也丢了性命,英国的氛围从此为之一变。接下来拿破仑.波拿巴的独裁统治与欧陆战争进一步加深了英国人的反法情绪。很多诗人都因为自己曾经的政治观点而感到尴尬并且转而支持保守派政府,华兹华斯也不例外。他的朋友罗伯特.骚塞就转换了立场。克莱尔宣称自己支持“国王与国家”。甚至就连彭斯都报名参加了保皇派民兵并且创作了一首爱国主义反法歌曲。但是他们的转换全都不像华兹华斯那样激烈且全心全意。他开始为教会创作十四行诗,开始支持死刑,还在例如《责任颂》(Ode to Duty)之类的诗歌里毫无保留地贬斥了早年的自己:

STERN Daughter of the Voice of God!

O Duty! if that name thou love

Who art a light to guide, a rod

To check the erring, and reprove;

Thou, who art victory and law

When empty terrors overawe;

From vain temptations dost set free;

And clam'st the weary strife of frail humanity!

铁面的女神,源自上帝之声!

啊,责任!如果你爱这种声名,

你是一盏指路明灯,

又是鞭笞错误的杖,从不留情;

面对空洞的恐怖威力

你就是律法,你就是胜利;

你释除徒劳的诱惑,稳定人心,

安抚了孱弱人类的无尽纠纷!

There are who ask not if thine eye

Be on them; who, in love and truth,

Where no misgiving is, rely

Upon the genial sense of youth:

Glad Hearts! without reproach or blot;

Who do thy work, and know it not:

Oh! if through confidence misplaced

They fail, thy saving arms, dread Power! around them cast.

有些人并不关心是否被你的

目光注视;在没有疑惧的爱

与真理当中,将温和的

青春年华的感受依赖:

快乐的心!没有蒙受污点或羞耻,

屡行自己的职务,而又不自知:

啊!如果他们因为误置的信心而遭遇失利,

威赫的力量!你将向他们伸出救助的双臂。

Serene will be our days and bright,

And happy will our nature be,

When love is an unerring light,

And joy its own security.

And they a blissful course may hold

Even now, who, not unwisely bold,

Live in the spirit of this creed;

Yet seek thy firm support, according to their need.

平和将会是我们的朗朗白日,

而追求幸福是我们的本性,

爱情的光明将会毫无过失,

欢乐将能保障自身的安定。

而他们可以坚持有福的道路,

即便在今日,也并不会不管不顾,

他们生活在这一教条的精神当中;

却还会依照需要,寻求你坚实的支撑。

I, loving freedom, and untried,

No sport of every random gust,

Yet being to myself a guide,

Too blindly have reposed my trust;

And oft, when in my heart was heard

Thy timely mandate, I deferred

The task, in smoother walks to stray;

But thee I now would serve more strictly, if I may.

我,热爱自由,天真单纯;

四起的狂风并不能让我丧失分寸,

但是我贸然担当了自己的领路人,

也曾盲目地托付自己的信任;

一次又一次,当我在心中听到

你的适时指令,总是置之一笑,

搪塞你的嘱托,脚下不停地走上歧路;

如今我要更严格地侍奉你,愿你将我看护。

Through no disturbance of my soul,

Or strong compunction in me wrought,

I supplicate for thy control,

But in the quietness of thought;

Me this unchartered freedom tires;

I feel the weight of chance desires,

My hopes no more must change their name,

I long for a repose that ever is the same.

我的灵魂当中全无嘈杂,

愧疚并未纠缠我的斗争,

我祈求你将我严加管辖,

我的思想始终沉静无声:

我倦于未经许可的自由不羁;

我感到沉重的欲念忽而源起;

我的希望再不能仅仅改名换姓,

我渴望得到永恒不易的安定。

Stern lawgiver! yet thou dost wear

The Godhead’s most benignant grace;

Nor know we any thing so fair

As is the smile upon thy face;

Flowers laugh before thee on their beds,

And fragrance in thy footing treads;

Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong;

And the most ancient heavens, through thee, are fresh and strong.

严厉的立法者!但你仍然显现

神性最仁慈的恩典;

我们不知道还能有哪般

美丽比得上你的笑脸:

在你的面前盛开朵朵鲜花,

你踏足的香径弥漫芳华;

你捍卫群星抵御不义;

而最古老的天国,通过你,仍然新鲜有力。

To humbler functions, awful power!

I call thee: I myself commend

Unto thy guidance from this hour;

Oh, let my weakness have an end!

Give unto me, made lowly wise,

The spirit of self-sacrifice;

The confidence of reason give;

And in the light of truth thy bondman let me live!

可畏的权柄!我向你祈祷:

眷顾孱弱的官能,从此刻开始,

我将自己完全托付给你的引导,

噢,使我的软弱就此终止!

赐予愚昧人的智慧,也求你给我一份

求你赏赐我自我牺牲的精神;

让我因为理性而自信自立;

让我在真理光辉之下作你仆役。【参考了安东网友与凌风网友的译文】

创作这首诗的时候,华兹华斯已经成为了国家级的文豪,日后还会进一步获得桂冠诗人的殊荣。他不仅高寿,而且出言无忌,因此他的政治观点很有影响力,尤其因为在滑铁卢大战之后英国经历了广泛的政治动荡与压迫。华兹华斯的政治转向令他的许多朋友们都感到骇然,这些人在拿破仑战争期间始终都是热切的共和派。珀西.比希.雪莱就在《致华兹华斯》(To Wordsworth)一诗中抒发了自己的悲哀:

Poet of Nature, thou hast wept to know

That things depart which never may return:

Childhood and youth, friendship and love’s first glow,

Have fled like sweet dreams, leaving thee to mourn.

These common woes I feel. One loss is mine

Which thou too feel’st, yet I alone deplore.

Thou wert as a lone star, whose light did shine

On some frail bark in winter’s midnight roar:

Thou hast like to a rock-built refuge stood

Above the blind and battling multitude:

In honoured poverty thy voice did weave

Songs consecrate to truth and liberty,—

Deserting these, thou leavest me to grieve,

Thus having been, that thou shouldst cease to be.

赞美自然的诗人,你禁不住落泪,

谙知万物离去将再不复回。

童年、青春、友情与光辉的初恋,

宛如美梦消逝,只留你徒劳伤叹。

我熟悉此类常见愁烦,但我的损失

尽管你也有同感,却只有我感到惋惜。

你,一颗孤独的星辰,熠熠放光,

照射着冬夜怒海里的浮舟冷桨。

你也曾像避难所,用岩石层层堆砌

在盲目纷争的人海之中屹立;

在光荣的困苦中,你曾经高歌低吟,

把你的歌献给真理与自由之神——

你现已抛弃这些,留下我独自哀伤,

如今的你已经再也不复旧日时光。【黎历、杨熙龄等译,有修改】

批评归批评,雪莱这首诗毕竟还是承认了华兹华斯的伟大。因此就这样酸溜溜地结束对于华兹华斯的介绍未免有些不太厚道。要说起在十八世纪末的英国生活究竟是怎样一番感受,华兹华斯笔下最杰出的诗歌当属永远青葱的自传长诗《序曲》(Prelude),诗人通过这首诗追忆了自己在湖区度过的少年时光。他的童年无忧无虑,终日徜徉在大自然的怀抱里,时而野游,时而泛舟,时而溜冰:

And in the frosty season, when the sun

Was set, and, visible for many a mile,

The cottage windows through the twilight blazed,

I heeded not the summons: happy time

It was indeed for all of us; for me

It was a time of rapture. Clear and loud

The village clock tolled six. I wheel’d about,

Proud and exulting, like an untired horse

That cares not for its home. All shod with steel,

We hiss’d along the polish’d ice in games

Confederate, imitative of the chase

And woodland pleasures,—the resounding horn,

The pack loud-bellowing, and the hunted hare.

So through the darkness and the cold we flew,

And not a voice was idle: with the din

Meanwhile the precipices rang aloud;

The leafless trees and every icy crag

Tingled like iron; while the distant hills

Into the tumult sent an alien sound

Of melancholy, not unnoticed, while the stars,

Eastward, were sparkling clear, and in the west

The orange sky of evening died away.

还有那冰冷的冬日,当太阳已经

落下,遥远处可见农舍的窗子,

都在茫茫微明中送来家中的

情炽,我完全不顾它的召唤

这是我们大家的幸福时刻,是我

个人的纵情之时!村里的钟声

敲响六次,清晰而洪亮,我四处

飞旋,欢欣雀跃,像一匹小马,

不愿归厩,不倦地奔驰。我们

脚踩冰刀,在光洁的冰面上刻画,

分帮结伙,模仿林中的游戏

或那狩猎的阵势——号角嘹亮,

和声激荡,兔子在前面窜逃。

就这样,我们在夜色和寒气中纵肆

每人的喉咙都不甘闲置。喧声中,

悬崖峭壁高声响应,裸木,

枯枝与每一块覆冰的岩石都如

生铁,锒铛作响;远方的山丘

则给这喧闹送回异样的声音,

不难觉察它的忧伤,而在此时,

东方的星光晶莹闪烁,西天

桔红的余辉却已完全消逝。【丁宏为译】

从历史学家的视角审视过去,我们很容易片面关注较早时代的生活不便与社会不公等等,华兹华斯则为这种倾向提供了一记解药。他提醒我们,在一个更空旷、更新鲜的英国,人们也能比后世玩得更加尽兴:

We were a noisy crew, the sun in heaven

Beheld not vales more beautiful than ours,

Nor saw a race in happiness and joy

More worthy of the ground where they were sown.

I would record with no reluctant voice

The woods of autumn and their hazel bowers

With milk-white clusters hung; the rod and line,

True symbol of the foolishness of hope,

Which with its strong enchantment led us on

By rocks and pools, shut out from every star

All the green summer, to forlorn cascades

Among the windings of the mountain brooks.

—Unfading recollections! at this hour

The heart is almost mine with which I felt

From some hill-top, on sunny afternoons

The Kite high up among the fleecy clouds

Pull at its rein, like an impatient Courser,

Or, from the meadows sent on gusty days,

Beheld her breast the wind, then suddenly

Dash'd headlong; and rejected by the storm.

我们是嘈杂的一伙。天上的太阳

未见过哪个山谷比我们的更美妙,

哪群人能比我们更幸福欢乐,

或更能让脚下的大地为之骄傲。

我会欣然记述那金秋时的森林

和林中一簇簇垂着奶白色果实的

榛木;还有渔竿、渔线---恰切地

象征着企盼之愚蠢,但我们并未

责问垂钓的乐趣,却在强烈的

诱惑下沿不见星光的山石与水泊,

找到隐秘的弯弯山溪间那些

孤零零的落瀑,度过整整一个

夏季的绿色时刻。历历在目的

往事!时至今日,似乎仍能以

相同的心情感觉到那纸糊的风筝

从山顶上高高飞起,在午后的阳光中

伴着如絮的白云,恰似欲挣脱的

烈驹;或见她在劲风的日子里飞离

草地,逆风挺进,忽又一头

栽下,终为薄情的风暴抛落。【丁宏为译】

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