【一首英诗】解析：Percy Bysshe Shelley - To a Skylark

To a Skylark Percy Bysshe Shelley Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert, That from Heaven, or near it, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. Higher still and higher From the earth thou springest Like a cloud of fire; The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. In the golden lightning Of the sunken sun, O'er which clouds are bright'ning, Thou dost float and run; Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun. The pale purple even Melts around thy flight; Like a star of Heaven, In the broad daylight Thou art unseen,-- but yet I hear thy shrill delight, Keen as are the arrows Of that silver sphere, Whose intense lamp narrows In the white dawn clear, Until we hardly see---we feel that it is there. All the earth and air With thy voice is loud, As, when night is bare, From one lonely cloud The moon rains out her beams-- and Heaven is overflowed. What thou art we know not; What is most like thee? From rainbow clouds there flow not Drops so bright to see, As from thy presence showers a rain of melody. Like a Poet hidden In the light of thought, Singing hymns unbidden, Till the world is wrought To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not: Like a high-born maiden In a palace tower, Soothing her love-laden Soul in secret hour With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower: Like a glow-worm golden In a dell of dew, Scattering unbeholden Its aereal hue Among the flowers and grass, which screen it from the view: Like a rose embowered In its own green leaves, By warm winds deflowered, Till the scent it gives Makes faint with too much sweet those heavy-wingèd thieves: Sound of vernal showers On the twinkling grass, Rain-awakened flowers, All that ever was Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass: Teach us, Sprite or Bird, What sweet thoughts are thine; I have never heard Praise of love or wine That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine. Chorus Hyme’neal, Or triumphal chant, Matched with thine would be all But an empty vaunt, A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want. What objects are the fountains Of thy happy strain? What fields, or waves, or mountains? What shapes of sky or plain? What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain? With thy clear keen joyance Languor cannot be: Shadow of annoyance Never came near thee: Thou lovest---but ne'er knew love's sad sa’tiety. Waking or asleep, Thou of death must deem Things more true and deep Than we mortals dream, Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream? We look before and after, And pine for what is not: Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. Yet if we could scorn Hate, and pride, and fear; If we were things born Not to shed a tear, I know not how thy joy we ever should come near. Better than all measures Of delightful sound, Better than all treasures That in books are found, Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground! Teach me half the gladness That thy brain must know, Such harmonious madness From my lips would flow The world should listen then---as I am listening now. 1.P.B.Shelley and Romanticism - Shelley is one of the key figures among English Romantic poets. - His wife, Mary Shelley, is the author of Frankenstein. - Shelley and his works are usually regarded as reckless, bold and rebellious. - The age of Romanticism refers roughly to the period between 1789 and 1837. It resists definition. - Common themes among Romantic artists include imagination, human and nature, overflow of emotions, feelings, etc. 雪莱是英国浪漫主义代表诗人之一，在之前的节目里也同样提到过另一位浪漫主义诗人济慈，感兴趣的可以翻之前的节目听哦。雪莱本人和他的作品都是相当激进的，他的思想和写作风格都很大胆，曾经还因此被牛津开除。浪漫主义运动往往指1789年到1837年这段时间的文学艺术领域的创新，有趣的是，浪漫主义艺术家并不喜欢这个标签。他们的作品主题包括但不限于：人类的想象力，人与自然的关系，人类的真情流露等。 2.The skylark - symbol for idealism and perfection as seen in several paralleling similes (e.g. a poet, a maiden, a rose, a rainbow, etc.) - a contrast to human beings (the skylark’s divine melody vs empty wedding songs; Immortal music vs mortal beings) 虽然本诗是雪莱从一只真实的云雀身上得到灵感写成的，但此云雀非彼云雀。诗中的云雀是一种完美状态的象征。雪莱运用一系列精妙的比喻升华了这一点，他把云雀的歌声比作诗人、少女、玫瑰、彩虹等等，云雀的歌声超越了一切事物。同时，雪莱也将云雀和人类做了对比，他提到云雀的歌声是神圣完美的，而人类的曲子却空有其表。此外，云雀的曲调是永恒的，是生命有限的凡人无法相比的。 3.Paradoxical human nature - imperfection in mortal human life - another contrast to immortal, perfect, idealised realm represented by the skylark 此外，雪莱也在本诗最著名的一段中指出了人性中存在的矛盾性。 “We look before and after, And pine for what is not: Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. ” 人类的思想和行为都存在着矛盾性，最甜美的歌吟诵最伤感的情感和故事，这样不完美的人是无法与完美的云雀相比的。