提供高級英語教程（連續課本式）

海外逸士

I'll find a poem next time.

海外逸士

高級英語教材第五課

先讀課文﹕
Psalm of Life
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream! ─
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real !   Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,─ act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
1) 生詞字典裡都能找到。
2) 詩人介紹﹕Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 每 March 24,
1882) was an American poet and educator. Longfellow was born in Portland,
Maine, then part of Massachusetts, and studied at Bowdoin College. After
spending time in Europe he became a professor at Bowdoin and, later, at
Harvard College. His first major poetry collections were Voices of the Night
(1839) and Ballads and Other Poems (1841). Longfellow retired from teaching
in 1854 to focus on his writing, living the remainder of his life in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, in a former headquarters of George Washington. His first
wife, Mary Potter, died in 1835 after a miscarriage. His second wife, Frances
Appleton, died in 1861 after sustaining burns from her dress catching fire.
After her death, Longfellow had difficulty writing poetry for a time and
focused on his translation. He died in 1882.
3) 此詩主要說人生是真實的﹐鼓勵人向前﹐積極進取。
4) 不管中英文詩﹐詩行不能太長﹐否則讀上去就沒有詩感。詩行要有輕重交替的節
奏感﹐否則就不能算詩。詩要有一定的意境﹐沒有意境的不能算詩。
5) 能背誦。
6) 有興趣者可以寫首英文詩﹐跟貼在此。本人會評改。

Louisa

诵读此诗，口齿噙香，学习后受益匪浅，谢谢海老推荐此诗。
轻重交替的节奏感与汉语律诗的平仄音相似 但意境没有汉诗浓。
我要问的是：古英语的过去式都是 verb+est? 那分词形式呢？

现交上一作业，也是仓促草率胡乱写成一首不正宗的十四行诗，待海老批改，赐教。

Psalm of Life                                                      人生之歌
Louisa 著译

Life, even pretty like a peach petal,                      人生即使美艳如桃花              
Still has no way not to fly in the grove.                也无奈乱红飞空。
It circles as the flowers blossom and fall,               它在花开花落中轮转，
Only burying its dimple to poetic grave.               只能将桃靥埋入诗冢。

Life, even calm like a moon in willows,                  人生即使安谧如柳梢月               
Still between wax and wane manages to gleam.   也任凭阴晴圆缺。
It lingers between the clouds and willows,            它在浮云烟柳堆流连，
While shedding its bright beams into the dream.   只能将清辉洒在梦间。

Life, even brilliant like rising sun,                           人生即使辉煌如旭日
After all dooms to in the west fall down.               也终究落幕西山。
It sinks with the breezes in the gloaming             它在暮霭晚风里沉沦，
Mourning itself on the musical string.                   只能将余恨流响琴弦。

Life, fleeting as if not existing anon,                    恍若隔世人生从来短暂，
Has been kept by its eternal reason.                  冥冥中因果自有永恒安排！

最后祝海老、诸位万圣节快乐！
我送你们贺卡：  http://www.klss.cn/qqheka/send.htm?jr/08/jr0811.swf

海外逸士

抱歉。沒有更多時間。只能改你英文的。
Psalm of Life                                                      人生之
歌
Louisa 著譯

Life, even pretty like a peach petal,                      人生即使美艷如
桃花              
Still has no way not to fly in the grove.                也無奈亂紅飛空。

It circles as the flowers blossom and fall,               它在花開花落中
輪轉，
Only burying its dimple to poetic grave.               只能將桃靨埋入詩冢。

莎翁14行詩必須是抑揚格﹐即輕-重-輕-重。你輕重音沒有調節好。得重寫一下。自
己寫詩﹐應該押韻問題很好解決。不必這樣押韻。
Life, even calm like a moon in willows,                  人生即使安謐如柳
梢月               
Still between wax and wane manages to gleam.   也任憑陰晴圓缺。
It lingers between the clouds and willows,            它在浮云煙柳堆流連，

While shedding its bright beams into the dream.   只能將清輝洒在夢間。
這全部是中文思維。應該用英文思維寫。只有這樣練習﹐才能幫助你英文進步。
Life, even brilliant like rising sun,                           人生即使
輝煌如旭日
After all dooms to fall down in the west.               也終究落幕西山。

詩裡詞序調動也需符合習慣。
It sinks with the breezes in the gloaming             它在暮靄晚風里沉淪，

Mourning FOR itself on the musical string.                   只能將余恨流
響琴弦。

Life, fleeting as if not existing anon,                    恍若隔世人生從
來短暫，
Has been kept by its eternal reason.                  冥冥中因果自有永恒
安排
         
.建議目前只練習寫英文詩﹐不必譯成中文。等英文詩成熟後再練習譯。你把這首詩
修改後再貼上來。

看过云帆

呵呵...有些困难！

Louisa

Longfellow 的这首诗好像也不是抑扬格，起码第一、二行就不是。我修改作业完毕，主要在轻重音上作了调整。至于中文思路，一下子还是改不了的，以后努力了。谢谢海老点拨，赐教。
Psalm of Life
----after reading Longfellow's
by Louisa

Once pretty Life is like the peach petals,
Still it could not help but fade in the grove.
It may relive to bloom after it falls,
But oft bury its dimple to poetic grave.

Once calm Life is like a moon up willows,
Still it couldn’t stop itself from wax to wane.
It lingers among clouds outside windows,
But sheds its beam to dreams below the pane.

Once brilliant Life is like the morning-sun,
It dooms after all to in west fall down.
Behind the hills it sinks in the gloaming,
No way but mourns itself on the wind string.

Short is Life, as if not existing anon,
But ne’er beyond its eternal reason.

海外逸士

LONGFELLOW這首不是14行詩。

這行的詞序至少應該是It dooms after all in west TO fall down.

Louisa

谢谢海老匡正。
现在明白了Longfellow这首诗采用的是四音步扬抑格。是不是重音--轻音只是相对的而非绝对？
第七行“returnest"是什么意思？

童天鉴日

Louisa 发表于 2011-11-3 17:02
谢谢海老匡正。
现在明白了Longfellow这首诗采用的是四音步扬抑格。是不是重音--轻音只是相对的而非绝对？
...

好久未见。问好诗人。

海外逸士

莎翁14行詩有其固定的格律﹕五音步抑揚格。其他形式詩就靈活。

RETURNEST 是RETURN 的古式 THOU 的詞尾變化。