约翰.济慈(John Keats,1795-1821), 英国浪漫主义时期与拜伦、雪莱齐名的浪漫主义诗人,代表作品有《恩底弥瓮》(Endymion)、《伊莎贝拉》(Isabella)、《圣阿格尼斯之夜》(The Eve of Saint Agnes)等 长诗 以及《希腊古瓮颂》(Ode on a Grecian Urn)、《夜莺颂》(Ode to a Nightingale)等 颂歌 。
济慈在《希腊古瓮颂》中提出了“ Beauty is truth, truth beauty.”( 美即是真,真即是美)的美学理念,意思是生活的本真是艺术美的源泉,艺术美使生活之美得以永存。济慈的诗歌表达感情真挚,济慈虽然他英年早逝,但我觉得他是一位用生命写作才华横溢,追求诗歌的本真和美的诗人。
《夜莺颂》是一首颂歌。 如果你看过电影《明亮的星》(Bright Star),相信你会被济慈对诗歌的狂热和才华所折服。诗人对生命、美和自由的歌颂和赞美在《夜莺颂》这首诗歌中体现地淋漓尽致。
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
‘Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness, –
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool’d a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
Dance, and Proven?al song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
And leaden-eyed despairs,
Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster’d around by all her starry Fays;
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves;
And mid-May’s eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain –
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that oft-times hath
Charm’d magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is fam’d to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now ’tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music: – Do I wake or sleep?
夜莺颂
我的心在痛,困顿和麻木
刺进了感官,有如饮过毒鸠,
?又象是刚刚把鸦片吞服,
于是向着列斯忘川下沉:
并不是我嫉妒你的好运,
而是你的快乐使我太欢欣——
?因为在林间嘹亮的天地里,
你呵,轻翅的仙灵,
你躲进山毛榉的葱绿和荫影,
放开歌喉,歌唱着夏季。
?哎,要是有一口酒!那冷藏
在地下多年的清醇饮料,
?一尝就令人想起绿色之邦,
想起花神,恋歌,阳光和舞蹈!
要是有一杯南国的温暖
充满了鲜红的灵感之泉,
?杯沿明灭着珍珠的泡沫,
?给嘴唇染上紫斑;
?哦,我要一饮而离开尘寰,
和你同去幽暗的林中隐没:
远远地、远远隐没,让我忘掉
你在树叶间从不知道的一切,
?忘记这疲劳、热病、和焦躁,
这使人对坐而悲叹的世界;
?在这里,青春苍白、消瘦、死亡,
?而“瘫痪”有几根白发在摇摆;
在这里,稍一思索就充满了
忧伤和灰色的绝望,
?而“美”保持不住明眸的光彩,
新生的爱情活不到明天就枯凋。
去吧!去吧!我要朝你飞去,
不用和酒神坐文豹的车驾,
我要展开诗歌底无形羽翼,
尽管这头脑已经困顿、疲乏; 去了!呵,
我已经和你同往! 夜这般温柔,
月后正登上宝座,
周围是侍卫她的一群星星;
但这儿却不甚明亮,
?除了有一线天光,被微风带过,
葱绿的幽暗,和苔藓的曲径。
?我看不出是哪种花草在脚旁,
?什么清香的花挂在树枝上;
?在温馨的幽暗里,我只能猜想
这个时令该把哪种芬芳
赋予这果树,林莽,和草丛,
这白枳花,和田野的玫瑰,
?这绿叶堆中易谢的紫罗兰,
还有五月中旬的娇宠,
?这缀满了露酒的麝香蔷薇,
它成了夏夜蚊蚋的嗡萦的港湾。
我在黑暗里倾听,多少次
我几乎爱上了静谧的死亡,
我用深思的诗韵唤他的名字,
求他把我的一息散入空茫;
而现在,死更是多么富丽:
在午夜里溘然魂离人间,
当你正倾泻着你的心怀
发出这般的狂喜!
?你仍将歌唱,但我却不再听见——
你的葬歌只能唱给泥草一块。
永生的鸟呵,你不会死去!
饥饿的世代无法将你蹂躏;
今夜,我偶然听到的歌曲
曾使古代的帝王和村夫喜悦;
?或许这同样的歌也曾激荡
露丝忧郁的心,使她不禁落泪,
?站在异邦的谷田里想着家;
就是这声音常常
在失掉了的仙域里引动窗扉:
一个美女望着大海险恶的浪花。
?呵,失掉了!这句话好比一声钟
使我猛醒到我站脚的地方!
别了!幻想,这骗人的妖童,
不能老耍弄它盛传的伎俩。
?别了!别了!你怨诉的歌声
流过草坪,越过幽静的溪水,
溜上山坡;而此时,它正深深
埋在附近的溪谷中:
噫,这是个幻觉,还是梦寐?
?那歌声去了:——我是睡?是醒?
颂歌(Ode),属于诗歌形式的一种,颂歌是一首抒情诗,用来赞美一个人、一个事件或一个物体。英国颂歌最著名的代表作品是雪莱的《西风颂》(Ode to the West Wind),以及济慈的《夜莺颂》(Ode to a Nightingale)、《希腊古瓮颂》(Ode on a Grecian Urn)。
? 《夜莺颂》这首诗写于1819年。有一天,一只夜莺一棵树上筑巢,济慈被夜莺婉转而欢快的歌声所吸引,他在一棵李树下面的凳子上坐了2、3个小时,返回房间时,他的手中拿了4、5张诗稿。写这首诗的时候,济慈的弟弟刚刚去世,而济慈也被肺病困扰,夜莺代表着他忘却现实中的痛苦,去追求美好和自由的向往。
我国古代诗人中也有很多描写鸟鸣的古诗词。如:“月出惊山鸟,时鸣春涧中。;” “百啭千声随意移,山花红紫树高低。”;“蝉噪林逾静,鸟鸣山更幽。” 鸟鸣衬托出了周围环境的幽静,反映了作者闲适、享受大自然美好的心境。正所谓境由心生。山水田园诗人王维被称为“诗中有画,画中有诗”。而济慈的这首诗是诗中有画,画中有音乐。
这首颂歌***分为8小节,每小节10行,各小节诗行按照ABABCDECDE的形式押韵。诗人在整首诗中采取了对比和象征的表达方式。夜莺代表着诗人所向往的自由、美好的生活,但作者却不得不困于现实的痛苦中:弟弟刚刚去世;他自己又身患疾病;他和Fanny Brawn小姐相爱,但迫于现实的状况却不能长厢厮守。爱情的甜蜜,病痛的折磨,这些痛苦让诗人十分羡慕夜莺,并愿和夜莺一起飞去。
从下图我们可以看出诗人在描述中采用了对比的表达方式,体现了诗人的现实(negative)生活和夜莺(positive)代表的理想世界之间的矛盾,作者在诗中采用了不同的词汇,如诗人的pains和夜莺的happiness,诗人的dull和夜莺的melodious等等,反映了作者当时追求自由、摆脱痛苦但却又不得不面对现实的无奈心境。这也是济慈在这首诗中采用paradox手法的体现。
? 关于这首诗的朗诵,可以找本尼迪克特的版本来听。今天早上,听本尼朗诵济慈《夜莺颂》的时候,舒缓优美的音乐配上本尼纯正的英音简直是一种至高的艺术享受。
? 济慈有诗叫做《多少诗人把光阴镀成了黄金》,“多少诗人把光阴镀成了黄金,诗杰的神品永远是我的幻想......仿佛集聚在黄昏的无数声响......仿佛积聚在黄昏的无数声响:鸟儿歌唱,树叶飒飒地絮语,流水潺潺,洪钟沉重地叩出庄严的声音,还有那来自远方 难以辩认的千种鸣响,合奏出
绝妙的音乐,而不是聒噪喧嚷。”
? 济慈写诗讲究感官感受,所以读他的诗,不仅仅是在看一幅精美的油画,而且还是在欣赏一首优美的古典音乐,完全沉浸在他的诗所描绘的美好情境中。所以读他的诗是一种享受,不仅仅因为他对诗歌的狂热,更由于他对美与真的尽情歌颂。
虽然济慈25岁就去世,但他在诗歌方面的影响力却是英国浪漫主义诗歌中最明亮耀眼的一颗星。他写诗讲究官能感受,唯美主义以及为艺术而艺术(Art's for arts' sake)的创作理念,他具有与莎士比亚的天才极为接近的艺术感应力。他的诗歌形式和风格也是多变的,颂歌、长诗、叙事诗、抒情诗、十四行诗。他的十四行诗与莎士比亚的诗风很像,读他的十四行诗也是一种美的感官享受。
我在想,如果英文诗歌可以像夜莺那样浸润现代社会中人们偶尔孤寂的心田,那将是人世间最美好的事。