英语巴士网

英语诗歌的欣赏(二)

分类: 英语诗歌 

 三、 诗的体式

有的诗分成几节(stanza),每节由若干诗行组成(每行诗均以大写字母开头);有的诗则不分节。目前我们常见的诗体有:

1. 十四行诗 (Sonnet),源于中世纪民间抒情短诗,十三、十四世纪流行于意大利,意大利彼特拉克(Petrarch)为代表人物,每行十一个音节,全诗一节八行,加一节六行,韵脚用abba, abba, cdcdcd (cdecde)。前八行提问,后六行回答。

后来,怀亚特(Thomas Wyatt,1503-1542)将十四行诗引人英国,五音步抑扬格,全诗三个四行一个二行,前三节提问,后二句结论。斯宾塞(Edmund Spenser,1552-1599)用韵脚 abab, bcbc,cdcd,ee.莎士比亚(William Shakespeare,1564-1616)用韵脚abab,cdcd,dfdf,gg,称英国式或莎士比亚式。举例见本文第四部分。

2. 打油诗(Limericks):通常是小笑话甚至是胡诌,一般没有标题也无作者姓名,含有幽默讽刺性,常运用双关,内韵等手法。每首诗五个诗行,押韵为aabba,格律以抑扬格和抑抑扬格为主。

1) There was a young lady of Nigger

Who smiled as she rode on a tiger;

They returned from the ride

With the lady inside,

And the smile on the face of the tiger.

2) A tutor who taught on the flute

Tried to teach two tooters to toot,

“Is it harder to toot, or

Said the two to the tutor,

To tutor two tooters to toot?“

3. 无韵体(Blank Verse):五音步抑扬格,不押韵诗体。

Across the watery bale , and shout again,

Responsive to his call, - with quivering peals,

And long halloos, and screams, and echoes loud.

Redoubled and redoubled:concourse wild

Of jocund din!…

William Wordsworth: There Was a Boy

4. 自由诗(Free Verse):现代诗中常见的体式,长短不同的诗行存在于同一首诗中,不讲究押韵与格律,只注重诗歌所表达的意象和传递的情感。美国诗人Walt Whitman的>(Leaves of Grass)中,就采用此格式。例子见第四部分。

四、 诗的评判

对一首诗,个人的感受会有不同。节奏流畅,语言精炼,联想新颖的诗可算是好诗。堆砌词藻,一味抒发感情而无实际内容的诗,只能是下乘的诗。

二十世纪英美诗歌大量采用自由诗体,接近口语,可谓大胆创新,大概也是诗歌发展的大势所趋吧。以下通过三首诗的分析看诗的评判。

1. That Time of Year

That time of year thou may‘st in me behold

When yellow leaves,or none,or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang,

In me thou see‘st the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west,

When by and by black night doth take away,

Death‘s second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see‘st the glowing of such fire,

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie.

As the deathbed whereon it must expire,

Consumed with that which it was nourished by.

This you perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Notes:may‘st:may behold:see late:no long ago thou:you see’st:see

fadeth:fades doth:does seals up all at rest:彻底埋葬

thy:your perceivest: perceive ere long: before long

此诗是莎士比亚(William Shakespeare, 1564-1616)的一首十四行诗。作为英国文学巨匠,他以37部剧作和154首十四行诗屹立于世界文坛。

此诗为五音步抑扬格,每个诗行格律为:︶-/︶-/︶-/︶-/︶-/。

全诗涉及衰老、死亡及爱情问题。前十二行:通过描写深秋的树枝黄叶凋零,曾是百鸟争鸣的歌坛,联想到自身青春会如夕阳消逝在远方,被黑夜吞没;自身的青春会如将尽的柴火奄奄一息,被曾滋养过它的火焰焚化。其中choirs(歌坛),deathbed(灵床)使用暗喻手法,同时又用夕阳和柴火象征人的衰老死亡。最后两行:点题,人们对即将永别的东西会更珍惜。本文动词变化具有明显的伊利沙白时代的特点。

2. The Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o‘er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed - and gazed - but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

Ans then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Notes: a crowd, a host of: many sprightly:happy glee:joy

jocund:happy bliss:complete happiness pensive:sadly thoughtful

华兹华斯(William Wordsworth,1770-1850),十九世纪初英格兰北部湖区三大“湖畔派诗人”(浪漫主义)之一。此诗向我们描绘了一幅美好的自然景象,同时抒发作者对自然美景的喜欢。黄水仙据说是威尔士国花(1282年,威尔士归顺英格兰,被封公国),在英国广泛栽种,春季开花,花期不长。有许多关于黄水仙的诗歌,这首诗无疑是脱颖而出的。

全诗语言精炼,通俗易懂,四音步抑扬格,分四节(stanza),每节6行,每节押韵均为ababcc.第一节写诗人孤寂时外出散步,偶遇水仙;第二节写水仙争相开放,千姿百态;第三节,诗人看到这景象感到欣喜异常;第四节写诗人在日后忧郁时,回想当时情景,又让他心中充满了欢乐,随着水仙跳起舞来。

3. Song of Myself

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,

For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,

I learn and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form‘d from this soil, this air,

Born ere of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,

I, now thirty seven years old in perfect health begin,

Hoping to cease not till death.

Creeds and schools in abeyance,

Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten.

I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard.

Nature without check with original energy.

Notes: a spear of: a piece of school:学说,流派 hazard:chance

abeyance: the condition of not being in use for a certain time

惠特曼(Walt Whitman,1819-1892),美国诗人。此诗选自其巨著。本文是Song of Myself 一诗的第一部分,采用自由诗体,语言接近当时的美国口语。

文中I指作者,you指读者,这种写法使读者身临其境,进入作者描写的世界。作者在文中表明人的价值是平等的,同时他把自己融入到自然带给他的启发思考中。

从上看出,诗歌的欣赏评判并非可望而不可及,关键要抓住诗中的意象,了解其语义,以便把握诗的大意。纵然每个人的读后感会有不同,但每个人都会在阅读过程中感受到诗歌带来的美和精神上的共鸣。

猜你喜欢

推荐栏目