198年前,济慈的秋日
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To Autumn是济慈诗中著名的一首,不少批评家认为是他的“颂”体诗中最完美的。写这首诗后两天,1819年9月22日,济慈给他好友John Hamilton Reynolds一封信并附上这首诗,信里说:“现在这季节真美——空气多好。爽利得适度,真的,不开玩笑,真是宜人天气——暗蓝的天空——我从来也没有这么喜欢过收割过的田野——是啊,比春天的那种冰冷的绿色好多了,不知怎地,收割过的田野看上去很温暖——就像有的图画看上去温暖一样。我在星期天散步时得到很深的印象,就写了这诗。”
John Keats by William Hilton
To Autumn
1
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.
诗分三大段,头一段开宗明义就说:“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, / Close bosom friend of the maturing sun;”点出诗的主题。秋季是多雾和丰收、成熟的季节,而太阳则既是温暖的来源又是使得世上的生物得以成熟的主宰,所以它叫maturing sun。秋季和太阳既然作用是一样的,因之就称它为太阳的挚友(Close bosom friend)了。下面接着用一系列使我们几乎能看得见,听得到,摸得着的形象在我们面前展开一幅暖气洋溢的丰硕景象。
首先是秋的季节和太阳一起安排打点(conspiring)给围绕着茅檐(thatch-eves)的葡萄藤添上果实,然后又给苹果树桂满压弯了树枝的累累果实,并且使得各类的果实都熟得透到了心里(fill all fruit with ripeness to the core.)。葫芦胀大了肚子(swell the gourd),榛子壳挤满了甜美的榛子仁(plump the hazel shells / With a sweet kernel.)。这是何等的滋生丰硕景象。这一段最后三行半又引进了晚放的鲜花(late flowers)使得辛勤采蜜的蜜蜂觉得温暖的日子会永远延长下去(Until they think the warm days will never cease),因为夏季已经使得蜂房里的蜜满得要溢出来了。这里把丰硕和温暖两个意象用蜜蜂联系起来,使得这幅画图更加秾丽。
2
Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
这一段换了一个角度,写的是丰收季节里的劳动的人,通过人的形象来描绘收获和温暖。谁出去跑跑(seeks abroad)就会看见劳动者无忧无虑地(careless)坐在谷仓的地上,头发轻轻地被扬谷的微风(winnowing wind)吹起;或者在尚未收割完的田地里暂时熟睡;或者是收起了地里剩下的麦穗,顶在头上渡过小溪;或者在榨机旁耐心地等着苹果汁最后滴干。这一些形象以人为中心共同构成了一幅温暖的浮雕丰收图。
3
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, —
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
这段从秋色写到秋声。一开始就说不要惋惜春天歌声之消失,秋季也自有它的音乐,然后列举在落日照红了收割完毕的田野时的各种虫鸟声音的交奏,有河边柳间的白翎子(gnats)随轻风抑扬(as the light wind lives or dies)的哀音(mourn),山间绵羊的鸣声,树丛里的蟋蟀叫,园里的知更鸟和天上的麻雀的鸣声,本诗首写秋色,再写“秋人”,最后写秋声,而始终以丰硕温暖为总气氛,首尾完具,效果统一,是首完美的好诗。
以上内容摘自《英国文学名篇选注》,主编王佐良、李赋宁、周珏良、刘承沛。
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