發現讀英文詩很難,硬著頭皮啃一下,覺得蠻有意思。 因著孩子在英語國家成長,就想了解一點英語國家裏的經典,有一搭沒一搭的,拿到什麽就看什麽,不成係統。 蠻喜歡莎翁的這首14行詩,英文版抄錄以下。 我記得國內有一個很有名的翻譯家出過一本莎翁14行詩的中譯本, 如城裏有朋友有此詩的中文翻譯不妨貼上來。
Sonnet 30
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account to fore - bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.
個人學習筆記:
1. 我喜歡最後兩句, 一掃某些回憶給人帶來的悲傷和無奈: 想到我親愛的朋友, 所有的失去又回來了, 所有的哀傷就結束了。
2. 此詩的押韻格式: abab/cdcd/efef/gg
3. 此詩的主要技巧是sound device: 有 alliteration, 如第一句中的 sessions of sweet silent; 還有 assonance, 如重複的字woe, 元音的重複bemoaned moan。
4. 個人認為, 此詩不適合14歲以下的孩子閱讀, 因為 nostalgia (懷舊)不屬於孩子的情感(children emotion)。通常, Children expect good things to happen in life。