讲-英语诗歌的基本押韵格式

讲-英语诗歌的基本押韵格式
讲-英语诗歌的基本押韵格式

《英美诗歌选读》课程教案第四讲首页

备注:教学进程一栏可根据教学内容的多少自定页数。

第四讲英美诗歌的基本押韵格式

押韵格式(rhyme scheme)指的是一首诗中各押韵诗行的组合形式。一般说来,每首诗都由数量不同的诗行组成,每一行的结尾都按照其读音的相同或类似而押韵,并表现出规律性。

押韵格式分为定型诗歌格式和普通诗歌格式。前一种格式主要有十四行诗体、斯宾塞诗体、回旋诗体等押韵格式;普通诗歌格式主要有双行押韵格式(aa)、隔行交互押韵格式(abab)和吻韵格式(abba)。

第一节基本押韵格式

一、双行押韵格式(aa)

它是英语诗歌最基本押韵格式,主要用于双行诗节(couplet)。双行诗节指两行押韵或不押韵的诗行。双行诗节可以单独成为诗节,也可以存在于其他诗节中。七行体(又称皇韵体,rhyme royal)诗和八行体(octa rima)诗用双行诗节结束,莎士比亚的十四行诗也是用双行诗节结束全诗。

双行诗节分开放双行诗节(open couplet)和完整双行诗节(closed couplet)两种。完整双行诗节如果是用抑扬格五韵步写成,就被称为英雄双行诗节(heroic couplet)。

开放双行诗节指的是跨行的双行诗体,即两行诗有共同的语法和逻辑结构,但第二行的意思需要继续下去,直到在后面的诗行中结束。如济慈叙述希腊神话中的美少年长诗《恩弟米安》开始几行:

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing

A flowery band to bind us to the earth,

Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth

Of noble natures (1)

(John Keats: Endymion)

这些诗行的特点是:

首先,每两行押韵,即ever / never,keep / sleep,breathing / wreathing,earth / dearth 1美的事物是一种永恒的愉悦:/ 它的美与日俱增:它永不湮灭,/ 它永不消亡;/ 为了我们,它永远/ 保

留着一处幽境,让我们安眠,/ 充满了美梦,健康,宁静的呼吸。/ 这样子,每天清晨,我们编织/ 绚丽的彩带,把我们跟尘世系牢,/ 不管失望,也不管狠心人缺少/ 高贵的天性……(屠岸译)

押韵。

其次,第一行是完整句,第二行要表达的意思跨入下面数行才结束。

双行诗节是英语中最短的诗节,在印刷安排上,有时按两行一个诗节的形式分开排列,有时连续排在一起。每个诗节的押韵不重复,即下一个诗节同上一个诗节不能押相同的韵,必须转韵,因此,整首诗的押韵格式就成了aabbccdd,一直往下推。

完整双行诗节不仅要求两行诗押韵相同,而且要把意思表达完整。英雄双行诗节是完整双行诗节中的一种,它是英语诗歌之父乔叟最喜爱的诗体,如他的《坎特伯雷故事》总引中对骑士的介绍:

And everemore he hadde a sovereign pris.

And thought that he were worthy, he was wis,

And of his port as week as is a maide.

He nevere yit no vilainye ne saide

In al his lif unto no manere wight:

He was a verray, parfit, gentil knight.

But for to tellen you of his array,

His hors were goode, but he was nat gay.

Of fustian he wered a gipoun

Al bismotered with his haubergeoun,

For he was late come from his viage,

And wente for to doon his pilgrimage.2

(Chaucer: The General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales)

这段诗是抑扬格五韵步,每两行押韵,下个韵不同于上个韵,其押韵格式为aabbccddeeff。

济慈的叙事诗《拉米亚》是混合使用开放诗行和英雄诗行写成的,开始几行如下:

Upon a time, before the faery broods

Drove Nymph and Satyr from the prosperous woods,

Before King Oberon’s bright diadem,

Scepter, and mantle, clasp’d with dewy gem,

Frighted away the dryads and the Fauns

From rushes green, and brakes, and cowslip’d lawns,

The ever-smitten Hermes empty left

His golden throne, bent warm on amorous theft:3

2每次赢得最高荣誉的总是他。/ 尽管他极其勇敢却世事洞达,/ 举止的温和简直就像是姑娘;/ 一生中他不管遇到什么对象,/ 也从来都不曾说过一句粗话。/ 这骑士真是忠贞、完美又温雅。/ 现在我告诉你们他那副装备:/ 他的马虽好,衣着却不华美。/ 穿的是一袋粗布的无袖长衣,已被他盔甲弄得满是污迹;/ 因为他是远征后刚乘船归来,/ 接着便上路来进行这次朝拜。(黄杲炘译)

3从前,小神仙家族还没把森林神/ 和山林水泽仙女神驱逐出茂林,/ 仙王奥布朗辉煌灿烂的王冠、/ 节杖、用露珠作扣子的披风翩翩,/ 还没有吓走牧神和林中女仙,/ 使她们逃出樱草地,灌木丛,蔺草滩,/ 这时候,永受神罚的赫耳墨斯离开/ 金宝座,一心把偷情的勾当干起来:(屠岸译)

(John Keats: Lamia)

这些诗行里,第一行不是完整句,第一行和第二行组成一个时间状语从句,第三、四、五六句组成第二个状语从句,第七、八行组成这些诗行的主句。它们每两行押韵,即broods / woods,diadem / gem,Fauns / lawns,left / theft。每组韵不同,属开放双行诗节押韵格式。但该诗第二十七行开始如下:

From vale to vale, from wood to wood, he flew,

Breathing upon the flowers his passion new,

And wound with many a river to its head,

To find where this sweet nymph prepar’d her secret bed:

In vain; the sweet nymph might nowhere be found,

And so he rested, on the lonely ground.4

显然,这些以抑扬格五韵步为主的诗行里,每行都表达完整的意思,都是每两行押韵,因此它们属英雄双行押韵格式。

押aabb韵律格式的四行诗节,其实是双行诗节的变体,如朗费罗的《箭和歌》第一、三诗节:

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

….

Long, long afterwards, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroken;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend.5

(Longfellow: The Arrow and the Song)

每两行押韵,下一诗节的韵与前面的韵不同。虽然第一、二行都分别表达完整之意,但因它们是四韵步,只能被称为完整诗行,不能被称为英雄双行。其余双行是开放诗行。

诗人们有时使双行诗节发生变化,在双行上加一行并与之押韵,这样的诗节叫三行同韵诗节(triplet)。最好的例子莫过于丁尼生的《鹰》:

4从山谷到山谷,树林到树林,他飞行,/ 向朵朵鲜花吹送他新生的热情,/ 循许多河流曲折地追溯到源头,/ 把可爱的女神隐秘的床笫寻求:/ 无效:可爱的女神哪儿也找不见,/ 他歇息下来,停在寂寞的地面。(屠岸译)

5我把一支箭向空中射去,/ 但是不知它掉落在哪里;/ 因为箭飞得实在太迅急,/ 我没盯视它飞行的眼力。// ……过了很久,那支箭我找到,/ 它扎在橡树上,依然完好;/ 那支歌也被我重新发现,/ 它完整地记在朋友心间。(黄杲炘译)

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.6

(Alfred Tennyson: The Eagle)

如果是三个以上的诗行押一个韵,这叫单韵(monorhyme)。单韵的格式有两种,一种是一个诗节只押一个韵,有多少诗节就有多少韵,另一种是一首诗只押一个韵。例如弗罗斯特的《蔷薇科》就是一首诗只押一种韵的典型例子:

The rose is a rose,

And was always a rose.

But the theory now goes

That the apple’s a rose,

And the pear is, and so’s

The plum, I suppose.

What will next prove a rose.

You, of course, are a rose—

But were always a rose.7

(Robert Frost: The Rose Family)

二、隔行押韵格式

隔行韵(alternate rhyme)又称交叉韵(cross rhyme),其格式abab是英语诗歌中仅次于双行押韵格式aa的第二种基本押韵格式,一般用于写作四行诗节,其基本特征就是第一行诗与第三行诗押韵,第二行诗同第四行诗押韵。如华兹华斯的《致杜鹃》第一诗节:

O blithe new-comer! I have heard,

I hear thee and rejoice:

O Cuckoo! Shall I call thee Bird,

Or but a wandering Voice? 8

(William Wordsworth: To the Cuckoo)

6他蜷曲的爪子抓着巉岩;/ 下临荒山野,上近太阳边,/ 周围的世界是一片蓝天。// 底下是蠕动着的皱海面;/ 他站在绝壁上细细观看,/ 接着扑下时迅猛如雷电。(黄杲炘译)

7玫瑰花属于蔷薇科,/ 在过去这一直是的。/ 但现在有种理论了,/ 说苹果也属蔷薇科,/ 梨树也是,我捉摸/ 连李树也属蔷薇科。/ 天晓得下回是什么/ 被证明属于蔷薇科。/ 你当然属于蔷薇科——/ 不过你一向就是的。(黄杲炘译)

8快活的鸟呀!你新来乍到,/ 听到你唱我就高兴。/ 杜鹃哪!我该把你叫做鸟?/ 或只叫飘荡的歌声?(黄杲炘译)

这种押韵格式来自双行诗节的押韵格式,是双行诗节的变体,它本身也同样存在变体,形成另外一种格式,如xbyb格式(其中x和y表示不押韵)。这种格式在民谣中比较常见,如济慈《冷酷的妖女》第六、七诗节:

I set her on my pacing steed,

And nothing else saw all day long,

For sidelong would she bend, and sing

A fairy’s song.

She found me roots of relish sweet,

And honey wild, and manna dew,

And sure in language strange she said—

I love thee true. 9

(John Keats: La Belle Dame Sans Merci)

三、吻韵格式

吻韵(envelope rhyme or kissing rhyme)又称抱韵,其押韵格式为abba,其主要特征是第一诗行与第四诗行押韵,第二诗行和第三诗行押韵。这种格式通常被用在抑扬格四韵步或五韵步诗行的四行诗节中,丁尼生的《悼念集》被认为是用此种格式写成的最著名的诗篇,其中第十一段的最后两个诗节如下:

Calm and deep peace in this wide air,

These leaves that redden to the fall,

And in my heart, if calm at all,

If any calm, a calm despair;

Calm on the seas, and silver sleep,

And waves that sway themselves in rest,

And dead calm in that noble breast

Which heaves but with the heaving deep.10

(Alfred Tennyson: In Memoriam, Section 11)

丁尼生的密友哈勒姆在欧洲旅行期间,客死维也纳,丁尼生极为悲伤,十多年中,从这种悲伤出发,把对人生、宗教、社会等的思考写成一首首诗,记录了这一心灵历程。该诗集发表后,成为英诗中最伟大的悼念诗之一这种诗体也被称为悼念体。

9我抱她骑在马上慢慢走,/ 整天除了她,什么也不瞧;/ 她侧过身子依着我,唱出/ 一支仙灵的歌谣。// 她为我找来美味的草根,/ 天赐的仙露和野地的蜂蜜,/ 她用奇异的语言说话,/ 想必是我真爱你!(屠岸译)10宁静、安谧充满这大气,/秋色把树叶染成了殷红,/ 而我的心中即使有宁静,/无非是宁静的绝望而已;// 宁静的海是银色的睡乡,/ 睡着的波浪轻摇着自己,/ 海面起伏只因为它叹息,/它胸中的宁静一如死亡。(黄杲炘译)

又如哈代的《灰暗的色调》前两个诗行:

We stood by a pond that winter day,

And the sun was white, as though chidden of God,

And a few leaves lay on the starving sod;

—They had fallen from an ash, and were gray.

Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove

Over tedious riddles of years ago;

And some words played between us to and fro

On which lost the more by our love.11

(Thomas Hardy: Neutral Tones)

这是诗人悼念亡妻的诗歌之一,抒写了他们情感曾经的隔阂。

吻韵与四行诗节联系在一起,如果诗行增加并押吻韵,吻韵就有了变体形式,如哈代的《啊,是你在我坟上刨土》就是一例,其前两个诗节如下:

‘Ah, are you digging on my grave

My loved one?—planting rue?’

—‘No: yesterday he went to wed

One of the brightest wealth has bred.

“It cannot hurt her now,” he said,

“That I should not be true.”’

‘Then who is digging on my grave?

My nearest dearest kin?’

—‘Ah, no: they sit and think, “what use!

What good will planting flowers produce?

No tendance of her mound can loose

Her spirit from Death’s gin.”’12

(Thomas Hardy: Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave?)

这是一首具有讽刺味道的对话诗,是坟墓里的死者与坟上刨土者的对话,死者不知道是谁在刨土,就发问是不是自己的恋人,亲人,或敌人(第三节),刨土者回答说都不是,他们都已

11那个冬日我俩站在小池边,/ 太阳脸色苍白,像挨了上帝呵责,/ 枯干的草地上几片落叶泛灰色;/ 那是一棵白蜡树落下的叶片。// 你双眼看着我,游移的眼神/ 闪过多年前那些乏味的谜;/ 你我敷衍着言语,话不投机,/ 更减损我们已残的情。(刘新民译)

12“啊,是你在我坟上刨土;/ 我的恋人?——想种茴香?”/ ——“不:昨天他已结婚,/ 娶了个漂亮富有的女人。/ 他说:‘现在我对她不忠诚,/ 再不会把她的心儿伤。’”// “那么是谁在我坟上刨土?/ 我最亲近的家人?”/ ——“哦,不:他们还坐在那儿考虑,/‘栽种花草能有多少收益?/ 无论怎样照料她的坟地,/ 也无法救她出死亡陷阱。’”(刘新民译)

经不爱你,不想你,不恨你了。刨土者最后回答说自己是死者养过的那只小狗,死者感动于世上还有小狗一颗忠诚的心,而小狗的回答却是,它来刨土为的是埋一根骨头,竟然忘了这里是主人的安息地。每个诗节有六个诗行,第一行在后面每个诗节首行作少许变动后重复,属迭句。如果将其抛在一边,我们就不难发现,每诗节里剩下的五行诗,属abbba吻韵格式。

吻韵也可以用来写三行诗节,格式为aba。这样的诗行叫吻韵三行诗节(enclosed tercet),如毕晓普的《一门艺术》第一、诗节:

The art of losing isn't hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent

to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.

The art of losing isn't hard to master. 13

(Elizabeth Bishop: One Art)

四、链韵格式

链韵(chain rhyme)又名连锁韵(interlocking rhyme),是英语诗歌中较为复杂的押韵格式,主要用于四行诗节或三行诗节。其特征是一个诗节中的某一行诗用于连接下一个诗节中某一行诗的韵。雪莱的《西风颂》是使用链韵的优秀范例,其第四段如下:

If I were a dead leaf thou mightiest bear;

If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;

A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share

The impulse of thy strength, only less free

Than thou, O Uncontrollable! If even

I were as in my boyhood, and could be

The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,

As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed

Scarce seem’d a vision; I would ne’er have striven

As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.

O! life me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!

I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

13“丢失”是一种艺术,要掌握并不难;/ 许多事物真像是巴望着被丢失,/ 所以说,丢失了它们决不是灾难。// 每一天丢失点东西。接受那不安:/ 丢失了门钥匙,被糟蹋了的时日。/ “丢失”是一种艺术,要掌握并不难。(黄杲炘译)

A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed

One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.14

(Percy Bysshe Shelley: Ode to the West Wind)

前四个诗节的押韵格式为aba bcb cdc ded,每个诗节单独来看都是吻韵,而且每个诗节的中间诗行成为链接诗行,它与下一诗节的首尾两诗行押尾韵,这样,所有诗行就链接起来了。

又如拉金的《床上的谈话》:

Talking in bed ought to be easiest,

Lying together there goes back so far,

An emblem of two people being honest.

Yet more and more time passes silently.

Outside, the wind’s incomplete unrest

Builds and disperses clouds about the sky,

And dark towns heap up on the horizon.

None of this cares for us. Nothing shows why

At this unique distance from isolation

It becomes still more difficult to find

Words at once true and kind,

Or not untrue and not unkind. 15

(Philip Larkin: Talking in Bed)

前三个诗节的韵式是aba cac dcd,前一个诗节的首尾行与下一个诗界的中间行押韵,从而将三个诗节链接起来。最后一个诗节押单韵。

第二节押韵格式的组合使用

上面讨论的四种基本押韵格式都与二行、三行和四行诗节联系在一起。有时,一个诗节会有五个或五个以上的诗行,这时就会出现两种甚至两种以上的押韵格式的组合。

一、五行诗节中押韵格式的组合

14假如我是一片枯叶被你浮起,/ 假如我是能和你飞跑的云雾,/ 是一个波浪,和你的威力同喘息,// 假如我分有你的脉搏,仅仅不如/ 你那么自由,哦,无法约束的生命!/ 假如我能像在少年时,凌风而舞/ 便成了你的伴侣,悠游于太空/(因为啊,那时候,要想追你上云霄,/ 似乎并非梦幻),我就不致像如今// 这样焦躁地要和你争相祈祷。/ 哦,举起我吧,当我是水波、树叶、浮云!/ 我跌在生活的荆棘上,我流血了!// 这被岁月的重轭所制服的生命/ 原是和你一样的:骄傲、轻捷而不驯。(查良铮译)

15在床上谈话是最惬意的事儿,/ 躺在一起回想到很远的时候,/ 这是两个人互相忠诚的标志。// 越来越多的时间悄悄溜走了。/ 户外,风儿时断时续地动荡着,/ 在天上到处构筑又驱散云朵。// 地平线上黑色的城市堆积起来。/ 没有谁为我们操心。在这个远离/ 孤立状态的独特地方没有迹象// 表明为什么找到同时真诚而又/ 体贴的言辞或同时不虚伪而又/ 不刻薄的言辞变得越来越困难了。(屠岸译)

例如雪莱的《致云雀》开始两诗节:

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.16

(Percy Bysshe Shelley: To a Skylark)

每个诗节中的押韵格式为ababb。这是隔行押韵的变体形式,也可以说前三行是吻韵格式,后两行是双行韵格式,后两行与第二行又押韵。又如艾伦?坡的《致海伦》:

Helen, thy beauty is to me

Like those Nicéan barks of yore,

That gently, over a perfumed sea,

The weary, way-worn wanderer bore

To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,

Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,

Thy Naiad airs have brought me home

To the glory that was Greece,

And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche

How statue-like I see thee stand,

The agate lamp within thy hand!

Ah, Psyche, from the regions which

Are Holy-Land! 17

16祝你长生,欢乐的精灵!/ 谁说你是只飞禽?/ 你从天庭,或它的近处,/ 倾泻你整个的心,/ 无须琢磨,便发出丰盛的乐音。// 你从大地一跃而起,/ 往上飞翔又飞翔,/ 有如一团火云,在蓝天/ 平展着你的翅膀,/ 你不息地边唱边飞,边飞边唱。(查良铮译)

17海伦,你的美在我的眼里,/ 犹往时尼西亚三桅船/ 航行在飘香之海,悠悠地/ 把倦于漂泊的困乏船员/ 送回他故乡的海岸。// 早已习惯在怒海上飘荡,/ 你典雅的脸庞,你的卷发,/ 你水神般风姿带我返航,/ 返回往时的希腊和罗马,/ 返回往时的壮丽和辉煌。// 看!壁龛似的明亮窗户里,我见你站着,多像尊

(Allan Poe: To Helen)

这首诗三个诗节的押韵格式分别是abab,ababa和abbab,它们都应该是隔行韵的变体,但第三个诗节的前四行又有吻韵的味道。另外,Nicéan中的é表示这个音节重读,从而使这个诗行成抑扬格韵步。

二、六行诗节中押韵格式的组合

例如华兹华斯《我独自漫游像一片云》第一诗节和最后诗节:

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.

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;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.18

(William Wordsworth: I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud)

每个诗节的押韵格式是ababcc,即隔行韵和双行韵格式的组合。

三、七行诗节中的组合

七行诗节中,最普通的是抑扬格五韵步的皇韵(rhyme royal)诗节。它是苏格兰国王詹姆斯一世在他的诗歌Kings Quair中所使用的诗节而创造出来的。乔叟在《特罗勒斯与克丽西德》(Troilus and Criseyde)中最早使用这一诗节,因此皇韵诗节又称特罗勒斯诗节(Troilus stanza)或乔叟诗节(Chaucer stanza)。以下是选自《特罗勒斯与克丽西德》卷一中特罗勒斯的一段情歌的第一诗节,其韵脚是ababbcc。

“If no love is, O God, what fele I so?

And if love is, what thing and whiche is he?

If love be good, from whennes cometh my wo?

雕像,/ 一盏玛瑙灯你拿在手上!/ 赛姬女神哪,神圣的土地/ 才是你家乡。(黄杲炘译)

18我独自漫游,箱山谷上空/ 悠悠飘过的一朵云霓,/ 蓦然举目,我望见一丛/ 金黄的水仙,缤纷茂密;/ 在湖水之滨,树荫之下,/ 正随风摇曳,舞姿潇洒。//……从此,每当我倚榻而卧,/ 或情怀抑郁,或心境茫然,/ 水仙啊,便在心目中闪烁——/ 那是我孤独时分的乐园;/ 我的心灵便欢情洋溢,/和水仙一道舞踊不息。(杨德豫译)

If it be wikke, a wonder thinke me,

When every torment and adversitee

That cometh of him, may to me savory thinke;

For ay thurst I, the more that I it drinke. 19

这种格式是在四行诗节基础上发展起来的,其押韵格式也是在隔行押韵(abab)或双行押韵(bbcc)的基础上加一个三行诗形成的。

四、八行诗节中押韵格式的组合使用

八行诗节的基本结构是由六行隔行韵(ababab)加一个双行韵构成(cc),如叶芝的《驶向拜占庭》最后一个诗节:

Once out of nature I shall never take

My bodily form from any natural thing,

But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make

Of hammered gold and gold enamelling

To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;

Or set upon a golden bough to sing

To lords and ladies of Byzantium

Of what is past, or passing, or to come. 20

(W.B. Yeats: Sailing to Byzantium)

拜伦的长诗《唐璜》(Don Juan)是由八行诗节构成,押韵格式为abababcc,即由六行隔行韵加一个双行韵构成,例句见后面史诗章节。

五、九行诗节中押韵格式的组合使用

九行诗节以斯宾塞诗节(Spenserian stanza)为代表,他是在长诗《仙后》中创造的一种诗节,以下是卷一第一章的第一诗节:

Gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,

Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,

Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,

The cruell markes of many a bloudy fielde;

Yet armes till that time did he never wield:

His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,

19假使爱不存在,天哪,我所感受的是什么?/ 假使爱存在,它究竟是怎样一种东西?/ 假使爱是好的,我的悲哀何从而降落?/ 假使爱是坏的,我想却有些希奇,/ 哪管它带来了多少苦难和乖戾,/ 好似生命之源,竟能引起我无限快感;/ 使我愈喝得多,愈觉得口里燥干。(方重译)

20一旦超脱了自然,我再也不想/ 从任何自然物体取得我的体型;/ 除非像希腊的金匠铸造的那样,/ 用镀金或锻金所铸造的身影,/ 使那个要睡的皇帝神情清爽,/ 或者就镶在那金树枝上歌吟,/ 唱着过去、现在或者未来的事情/ 给拜占庭的王公和贵妇人听。(裘小龙译)

As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:

Full iolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,

As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt. 21

(Edmund Spenser: Faerie Queen)

这种诗节的押韵格式是ababbcbcc,是在隔行韵和链接韵基础上发展起来的,既有隔行韵味道,又有链接韵味道。斯宾塞的这种九行诗节押韵格式是固定的。

其他诗人也写九行诗节的诗,其押韵格式就不那么固定,如多恩的《追认圣徒》第一诗节:

For God’s sake hold your tongue, and let me love,

Or chide my palsy, or my gout,

My five gray hairs, or ruined fortune, flout,

With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,

Take you a course, get you a place,

Observe His Honor, or His Grace

Or the king’s real, or his stampèd face

Contemplate; what you will, approve,

So you will let me love. 22

(John Donne: The Canonization)

这节诗行的押韵格式为abbacccaa,显然,前面四行是吻韵,后面五行是双行韵的变体。

六、十行诗节中押韵格式的组合使用

由于诗行较多,十行诗节没有固定的押韵格式,但大多数是从基本押韵格式上变化而来,例如多恩的《升起的太阳》第一节:

Busy old fool, unruly sun,

Why dost thou thus

Through windows and through curtains call on us?

Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run?

Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide

Late schoolboys and sour prentices,

Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride,

21有一位高贵的骑士驱马在平原,/ 全副武装,银制盾牌手中持,/ 归时的深深创痕残留在盾面,/ 那是多次血战的残酷标记;/ 但直到这时,他尚未用过这武器:/ 怒马咬啮着笼头,口沫喷飞,/ 仿佛不甘于屈从马勒的绊羁:/ 那骑士英姿飒爽,端坐在马背,/ 适合于激烈的战斗和骑士的比武大会。(朱维之译)

22千万别出声,且让我爱,/ 或者大骂我的瘫痪,或痛风,/ 或者嘲笑我的五根灰发,或衰败的命运,/ 以财富改善你的地位,学问改善你的心智,/ 找到你的生路,得到你的位置,/ 看某阁下的眼色,/ 拍某大人的马屁,/ 或观察国王真正的,或他铸制的/ 尊容;你愿要什么,就试试,/ 只要你肯让我爱。(傅浩译)

Call country ants to harvest offices;

Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,

Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time. 23

(John Donne: The Sun Rising)

这个诗节的押韵格式是abbacdcdee,显然,前四行押吻韵,接下来的四行押隔行韵,最后两行押双行韵。又如济慈《夜莺颂》第四诗节:

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 a ll 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. 24

(John Keats: Ode to a Nightingale)

这个诗节的押韵格式是ababcdecde,显然,前四行押隔行韵,后六行也押隔行韵,但隔两行而非基本格式的隔一行。

七、“维拉内拉”(villanelle)十九行诗

这种诗体在文艺复兴时期用于当时流行的牧歌中,它起源于意大利民谣的诗体,格律很严:每首由五个三行诗节构成,限用两个韵,三行诗节的韵脚安排为aba,四行诗节为abaa,第一节中的第一行与第三行还必须在后面的四节中轮流用作第三行,并在最后的四行节中双双出现,作全诗结句。如狄兰?托马斯的《不要温和地走进那个良夜》:

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

23忙碌的老傻瓜,不守规矩的太阳,/ 你为什么要如此,/ 透过窗户,透过帘栊来把我们探视?/ 难道恋人的季节必须与你的运行一致相当?/ 没礼貌又爱教训人的家伙,去呵责/ 迟到的小学生,和慢吞吞的伙计,/ 去告知宫廷猎手,国王将要上马出猎,/ 召唤乡下的蚂蚁去干收获的活计;/ 爱情,永远都一样,不知什么季节、气候,/ 也不知时刻、日子、月份,这些不过是时光的碎布头。(傅浩译)

24离开!离开!我向你飞来。/ 酒神、仙豹共驾的车儿抛开,/ 将那诗神无形的双翅依赖,/ 尽管迟钝的头脑困惑,痴呆。/ 啊,我早已与你同在!/ 夜色温柔,群星徘徊,/ 簇拥月后登宝台。/ 独此处光芒不再,/ 惟一丝柔光,由微风带过/ 幽林的葱郁和曲径的青苔。(仁士明等译)

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 25

(Dylan Thomas: Do not Go Gentle into That Good Night)

诗人的父亲常常给年少的他朗诵莎士比亚的作品,并鼓励他写诗。在父亲最后的日子里,挚爱他的儿子在他的病榻前为他反复朗诵这首杰作。诗人认为父亲是个有见识的人,具有多种非凡的品质,因此他列举了数种典型之人对待死亡的态度,殷殷劝说父亲不要被动地屈从,而应以生命的激情和勇气与死神抗挣。诗人请求父亲以一如既往的热情来关心自己,哪怕是诅咒或祝福。

25(不要温和地走进那个良夜,/ 白昼告终时老人该燃烧、该狂喊;/ 该怒斥、怒斥那光明的逐渐消歇。// 聪明人临终时虽知黑暗理不缺,/ 由于他们的话语没迸出闪电,/ 他们也没有温和地走进那良夜。// 最后一浪过,善良人——喊叫说自己的事业/ 虽脆弱,本可以光辉地舞蹈在绿湾——/ 他们怒斥那光明的消歇。// 狂人们——抓住并歌唱太阳的奔跃,/ 懂得(太迟了!)他们使太阳在中途悲叹——/ 他们并不温和地走进那良夜。// 严肃的人们——临终时用盲目的视觉/ 见到瞎眼能放光如流星而欢忭——/ 他们也怒斥、怒斥那光明的消歇。// 而你呵,父亲,在高处心怀悲切,/ 请用烫泪诅咒我,祝福我,我祈盼。/ 不要温和地走进那个良夜。/ 该怒斥、怒斥那光明的消歇。(屠岸译)

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