《雨巷》是戴望舒的成名作，讲述了一位徘徊于悠长、狭窄、阴沉的雨巷的独行者，期待碰到一位像丁香一样结着愁怨的姑娘，然最终却与之擦肩而过，给人留下了朦胧幽深的印象，反映了诗人迷茫感伤又充满希望的心境。该诗写于1927年。创作背景是当时中国社会正经历了黑暗的时刻，反动派对革命者实行血腥屠杀，发生了‘四·一二’大屠杀事件，年仅22岁的诗人，投身革命而被捕，面对全国的白色恐怖，诗人陷入了苦恼、彷徨、迷茫。故《雨巷》被一些学者认为是当时黑暗社会现实和理想幻灭的缩影。当然随着时代的变迁，在和平年代，这种作者‘意图论’的解读或许要让位于‘爱情’追求视角的解读。或许诗中所描写的男女主角情形在小编看来，可以归结为‘迷倒万千少女心，迷茫阡陌少年郎’。

戴望舒的诗风大抵上还是带有中国古典诗词的中婉约、清丽的韵致，然其又深受十九世纪末法国诗歌中崛起的象征主义的诗歌创作影响（法国象征派诗人通常通过愤世嫉俗、颓废的方式去反抗资本主义的秩序），故其诗歌中通常采用一些暗示隐喻等修辞手法表现内心对社会的瞬间情感，时不时带着一股忧郁、消沉、孤独之感。此外，该诗还吸取了西方诗歌中的一些技法，比如语言复沓，音韵反复，来强化全诗的音乐性和抒情色彩，让人听起来悦耳、和谐。故该诗发表于《小说月报》第19卷第8号时，其编辑叶绍钧对《雨巷》给予高度评价：《雨巷》‘替新诗底音节开了一个新纪元’。卞之琳在《戴望舒诗集》的序中也褒中带贬地评价说：’《雨巷》读起来好像旧诗名句“丁香空结雨中愁”的现代白话版的扩充或者稀释。一种回荡的旋律和一种流畅的节奏，确乎在每节六行，各行长短不一，大体在一定间隔重复一个韵的七节诗里，贯彻始终。用惯了的意象和用滥了的词藻，却使这首诗的成功显得浅易、浮泛。' 还有朱湘给戴望舒的信中亦指出《雨巷》与西方作品和唐诗的共同之处，认为‘《雨巷》在音节上完美无疵’，与美国诗人 Edgar Allan Poe的诗‘Annabel Lee’有着‘异曲同工’之妙，‘在音节上，比起唐人的长短句来，实在毫无逊色’。总体上，《雨巷》是一首佳作。

以下选取杨宪益、戴乃迭、唐正秋、丁祖馨以及朱曼华翻译的英文版本，看看英文如何表述诗中多次出现的“彷徨”。

中文原诗

雨巷
戴望舒 作

一
撑着油纸伞，独自
彷徨在悠长、悠长
又寂寥的雨巷，
我希望逢着
一个丁香一样地
结着愁怨的姑娘。
她是有
丁香一样的颜色，
丁香一样的芬芳，
丁香一样的忧愁，
在雨中哀怨，
哀怨又彷徨；

二
她彷徨在寂寥的雨巷，
撑着油纸伞
像我一样，
像我一样地
默默踟躇着
冷漠，凄清，又惆怅。
她默默地走近，
走近，又投出
太息一般的眼光
她飘过
像梦一般地，
像梦一般地凄婉迷茫。

三
像梦中飘过
一枝丁香地，
我身旁飘过这个女郎；
她静默地远了，远了，
到了颓圮的篱墙，
走尽这雨巷。
在雨的哀曲里，
消了她的颜色，
散了她的芬芳，
消散了，甚至她的
太息般的眼光
丁香般的惆怅。

四
撑着油纸伞，独自
彷徨在悠长、悠长
又寂寥的雨巷，
我希望飘过
一个丁香一样地
结着愁怨的姑娘。

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英文译本一

A Lane in the Rain

Dai Wangshu

杨宪益、戴乃迭 译

Alone holding an oil-paper umbrella,

I wander along a long

Solitary lane in the rain,

Hoping to encounter

A girl like a bouquet of lilacs

Gnawed by anxiety and resentment.

A girl

The colour of lilacs,

The fragrance of lilacs,

With the worries of lilacs,

Feeling melancholy in the rain,

Plaintive and hesitating.

She wanders along the solitary lane in the rain,

Holding an oil-paper umbrella

Just as I do,

Just like me,

Walking slowly in silence,

Aloof, sad and melancholy.

Silently she comes closer,

Closer, giving me

A glance like a sigh;

Then she floats past

Like a dream,

Dreary and blank like a dream.

Like a lilac

Floating past in a dream,

the girl floats past me;

Silently she goes further and further,

To the crumbling wall,

Out of the lane in the rain.

In the mournful melody of the rain,

Her colour has faded,

Her fragrance has disappeared,

Vanished into the void;

Even her glance like a sigh,

Melancholy like lilacs.

Alone, holding an oil-paper umbrella,

I wander along a long

Solitary lane in the rain,

Hoping to pass

A girl like a bouquet of lilacs

Gnawed by anxiety and resentment.

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英文译本二

The Alley in the Rain

Dai Wangshu

唐正秋 译

Holding an umbrella, I’m alone

Wandering about the long, long,

Lonely alley in the rain,

Hoping to encounter

A girl who bears her melancholy

Like a lilac flower.

She has

The color of a lilac,

The fragrance of a lilac,

And the melancholy of a lilac.

She looks sorrowful in the rain,

Sorrowful and depressed.

She paces the lonely alley,

Holding an umbrella,

Like me,

Just like me –

Walking quietly and slowly

In coldness, solitude and melancholy.

Quietly she comes close,

Close to me and casts

A glance, like a sigh.

She drifts away

Like a dream–

So dreary and deep.

Like a lilac flower drifting by

In a dream,

The girl passes by me;

Quietly she is walking away and away,

To a broken hedge,

To the end of the alley in the rain.

In the plaintive tune of the rain

Her color fades,

Her fragrance disappears,

So do her sighing glance

And lilac-like melancholy.

Holding an umbrella, I’m alone

Wandering about the long, long,

Lonely alley in the rain,

Hoping to see passing by

A girl who bears her melancholy

Like a lilac flower.

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英文译本三

Rainy Alley

Dai Wangshu

丁祖馨 译

Holding a light umbrella

I walk back and forth alone

In a silent, rainy alley,

A long, an endlessly long alley,

Hoping to meet

A girl as sweet, as blue

As the lilac bud that knits her brows.

As graceful as lilac,

As fragrant as lilac,

As sad as lilac:

Back and forth she walks,

Worried in the rain,

Sad in the rain.

Holding a light umbrella

Back and forth she walks, and walks,

In this silent, rainy alley,

As I pace and plod,

Silent, alone,

Wearing my solitude, my sadness and pain.

Quietly she walks close by me,

Then closer, then closer,

Casting a glance

As if of a sign,

She floats on by me

Plaintive as a dream,

A hazy dream,

A sad dream.

As if what flies by me

Is a branch of lilac in a dream,

The girl flits by me

In silence, in a distance

More distant, more distant,

Floats to a ruined wattled wall

At the end of this rainy alley.

And her roselike color fades,

Her sweet, sweet fragrance fades,

To the sad tune of the rain.

Her glance disappears, her sign disappears,

Her lilac-like sadness.

Holding a light umbrella

I walk back and forth alone

In a silent, rainy alley,

A long, an endlessly long alley,

Hoping to meet

A girl as sweet, as blue

As the lilac bud that knits her brows.

----------------------------------------

英文译本四

Rain Lane

Dai Wangshu

朱曼华 译

My umbrella being unfolded on,

Along the lane, narrow but long,

Alone I was wandering down.

I longed to meet

A bitter lilac-like girl,

She’s in resentful sorrow.

She was such a girl:

In lilac-like color,

With lilac-like smell,

She behaves in the lilac-like gloomy style.

She was sad in raining,

Walking back and forth, walking...

Walking down the lonely lane.

She upheld the umbrella-shaft

As I did,

As I did along the narrow lane.

To be silent,

Lonely, melancholy, indifferent.

In silence she was approaching,

On and on, approaching,

Glancing and glancing.

She’s passing by my side gently.

I could see her as if dreaming of fancy.

Leaving me coldly, she looks vast and hazy.

Like a lilac floating lightly,

Into my dream is the lady.

Gently passing by me,

Far, far away, she was vanishing silently,

To the end of the narrow way,

In which a ruined fence lay.

Her sad rainy song,

Or her pale face with her feeling down,

Her fragrance was not strong.

Even her sighing eyesight

Not so bright, but disconsolate.

Unfolding my umbrella, alone

The lonesome rain-lane long, long,

I wandered on, feeling down.

I longed to see a lilac girl,

Gently on her go,

She’s in resentful sorrow.