詩歌所追求的真實感

                         詩歌所追求的真實感
                                ——評艾米莉·狄金森的詩歌“I like a look of Agony”

艾米莉·狄金森(1830-1886)是美國詩壇上最有天賦的詩人之一，盡管她生前並沒有得到廣泛的承認。她的詩歌通常短小但精悍，充滿了幻覺、死亡、悲 觀、頹廢甚至自戀和自虐，這使得她的詩歌不太容易讀懂，特別是在她生活的那個年代，就更加如此，是故她已被整理出的約兩千首詩歌之中，她生前隻發表了約十 首，雖然這和她那種淡泊乃至遁世的孤僻性格不無關係。例如我們來看看她的一首八行短詩“I like a look of Agony”:

I like a look of Agony，
Because I know it's true；
Men do not Sham convulsion，
Nor simulate a Throe。

The eyes glaze once, and that is Death，
Impossible to feign
The Beads upon the Forehead
By homely Anguish strung。

乍讀之下，讀者很可能就會震驚於詩歌第一行那種充滿冷酷和虐待的筆調，然而下一行“因為我知道這是真實的”卻是話鋒一轉，很明顯這種“真實性”才是作者要表 達的，那種冷酷和虐待的筆調所描述的“痛苦表情”不過是比鮮花綠草更加能表達真實的一種承載而已，作者欣賞的其實並不是這些表象，而是其中蘊含的真實。實 際上，當讀完整首詩歌以後，很明顯可以看出作者其實是借助痛苦、不幸和痙攣等間接和反常的表現手法來傾訴對真實的渴望，而這些痛苦、不幸和痙攣等又反過來 使得這種對真實的渴望顯得更加強烈，從而使得詩歌更具有震撼力。

如果逐字逐句來考察整首詩歌，也可以看出對真實性的追求是這首八行短詩的基調和靈魂。比如說，“我知道這是真實的——”(第二行)，“人們不會假裝痙攣” (第三行)，“也不會模仿陣痛——”(第四行)，“不可能去偽裝”(第六行)，等。這些類似的詞句在詩歌中頻繁地出現，也支持了本文的觀點，那就是作者對 真實的渴望，對虛偽的憎惡，隻不過在借助一種宣泄的情感來表達而已。在作者看來，借助於這種宣泄來表達在某種程度上是必要的，因為它們不容易偽裝。比如說 人們不能偽裝或者模仿產婦的那種痙攣和陣痛；又比如在瀕臨死亡時，人們因無力去偽裝什麽而往往會展示人性真實的一麵，盡管表麵上看來顯得有些不近常理，甚 至顯得變態，不可理喻。實際上，詩歌的第一行裏作者直接引述了她的思想狀態的一個切如點，第二句是對第一句的解釋和補充，亦即表明作者欣賞和渴望的是一種 真實感，而不是那種痛苦感或者痛苦的表情，隻不過它們往往聯係在一起罷了。在第三、四行“人們不會假裝痙攣/也不會模仿陣痛”中，作者在為自己的這種渴望 提供了另外一個例子以闡釋。顯然，作者在詩歌裏強調了“不會假裝”，“不會模仿”等字眼(人們們難以或者不會偽裝產婦那種痛苦感覺和狀態)來闡釋其觀點， 或者等價地說，這實際上強烈地表達了對真實的渴望，至少對作者來說，是如此。“雙眼若如上釉般呆滯，那正是死亡--”(第五行)也支持了這個觀點。這行寫 出了死亡那種緩慢但是殘酷的過程並且將它視覺化了，用死亡“不可能去偽裝”(第六行)這個事實去強調其真實性。最後兩行“額頭前的滴滴汗珠/ 被一種真切的極度痛苦串起”裏，表達她的痛苦、厭世和悲觀。這種痛苦、厭世和悲觀是作者對現實和社會的極度失望、對真實的強烈渴求的一種強烈呼喚。

通過痛苦和悲觀來表達對真實的渴望和作者的生活背景和經曆是密切相關的。狄金森出生於馬薩諸塞州西部的小鎮阿默斯特(Amherst)，阿默斯特是個隻有三 萬人口的大學城，那裏有兩個著名學府: 馬薩諸塞大學阿默斯特分校 (University of Massachusetts at Amherst)，以及阿默斯特學院(Amherst College)。馬薩諸塞大學阿默斯特分校是馬薩諸塞大學幾個校園的主校園和本部所在地，也是馬塞諸塞最主要的公立大學，而阿默斯特學院就是個致力於培 養本科生的貴族學校，也是美國入學競爭最激烈的二十所大學之一，不亞於同州位於波士頓的私立名牌哈佛大學和身省理工學院。狄金森的父親是有名的律師，也是 阿默斯特學院的財政官，家境富有，這使得狄金森從小到老都無須為生活奔波，從而能專心致誌於她的內心探索和詩歌創作。狄金森從阿默斯特學院畢業後，就基本 上過著與世隔絕的隱士生活，到後來她甚至很少走出她自己的房間。她父親盡管性格開朗，善於結交朋友，但是她性格卻極度孤僻，極少與人來玩，她的家人甚至不 知道她躲在她那間房子裏獨自寫下了近兩千首詩歌。她終身未嫁，也基本上沒有對誰動過感情——除了後來人們整理她的詩稿時發現她隱約隻對當地的某位牧師有過 好感以外，不過他們卻是連手都沒有碰過，那位牧師甚至壓根兒就不知道有這麽回事情。孤僻的性格、優越的家境以及過人的才華，加上塵世的汙濁、謊言和虛偽， 使得她越來越厭世，越來越痛苦。在她看來，世界到處充滿了虛偽、欺騙和狡詐，除了在一些很極端的情形，例如死亡前夕或者極度痛苦之中等方可找到一些真實以 外，因為這時人們往往受自身卑微力量的束縛，無力掩藏真實，以偽裝的麵孔出現。因此死亡、痛苦、自虐等盡管會使得她顯得更加怪異、被人誤解，它們卻是在她 的詩歌中頻繁出現，成了她表達自己展示自己心靈的主要方式。

詩歌隻有包含某種真實的元素才能持久永恒，而這種真實的元素通常來自對自己心靈的挖掘。在詩歌寫作形式上，狄金森使用了“寬韻”，使得她的詩歌既不太受詞句 的束縛、又能保證詩歌的韻律，除此之外她詩歌的成功之處更主要的是在於她的冷靜和無畏，用Galway Kinnell 的評語來說，她是個恣意妄為的天才(reckless genius)。她的無畏和消極厭世使她顯得冷酷無情、孤傲而冷冰冰的，不過這也使得她更能自由地、無拘無束地將自己心靈深處挖掘出來，借助詩歌表達出 來，而可以不顧世俗和傳統的束縛。她的詩歌意識頗有後現代主義的風範，超越當時的詩歌主流和社會規範準則甚多。她生前隻投稿了很有限的一些詩歌，很多還被 退稿了，她一生隻看到自己的詩歌發表了十首就是個明證(一說在正式刊物發表了七首)，何況她發表的詩歌很快被埋沒了，從來沒有引起評論家的注意。有個位於 紐約的詩歌編輯甚至還對她思維的貧乏、寫作的拙劣產生嚴重的同情。狄金森的詩歌從文本意義上說，和後現代主義的特征一樣，沒有那種淺薄而無根基的表層抒 情。它們表現出來的往往是一種晦澀和乏味，顯得黑色而陰暗。從詩學角度看，這些往往是對詩歌主題的深度挖掘的表征，盡管她的詩歌也許隻涉及到某些內容和層 次，難免顯得片麵。在這點上，狄金森的詩歌和她本人的遭遇和她同時代的著名詩人惠特曼一樣，甚至有過之而無不及。他們的詩歌創作都是以本能反叛來書寫社 會、生活、文化、曆史和感情對他們內心的撞擊，一度遭到世人的冷遇和不理解，甚至抨擊。然而在他們逝世幾十年後，他們的詩歌才真正地喚醒了一代人，他們的 詩歌所傳達的精神和理念不光是被詩歌界所接受所認可而已，它們其實更深遠地影響著美國文學乃至世界文學。

                       The Genuineness in "I like a look at Agony"

      Emily Dickinson is one of the most talented poets in American literature history. Her poems are well known for fanaticisms, death, and sadism, which make her poems difficult to understand. For example, in the 8-line poem "I like a look at Agony," readers usually may be shocked by the sadism and coldness in the opening line "I like a look at Agony," (line 1) at first glances. However the next line "Because I know it's true-," (line 2) may suggest that sadism and fanaticisms are actually not what the speaker really wants to express. In fact, after reading and analyzing the poem carefully, readers may draw a conclusion that the speaker actually expresses the eagerness of genuineness and truth in the world, though through an indirect way, an abnormal obsession with pain and suffering.

      It is convincible that genuineness is the central point and plays the key role in this 8-line poem. Literally, some words related to genuineness can be found throughout the poem. For example, "Because I know it's true-," (line 2) "Men do not sham convulsion," (line 3) "Nor simulate, a Throe-," (line 4) "Impossible to feign.” (line 6) Actually these words and phrases can be explained as supporting the conclusion, through Dickinson’s extremely emotional writing style.

      In some detail, in the first line of the poem "I like a look at Agony," (line 1) the speaker introduces a state of his or her mind directly. The second line "Because I know it's true-," (line 2) can be considered as an explanation to the first line, stating what the speaker actually appreciates is the genuineness, not the actual expression of agony. In lines 3 & 4 "Men do not sham convulsion, / Nor simulate, a Throe--, " (line 3-4) the speaker strengthens this point by more examples. It is clear here that the speaker emphasizes the words "not sham", "nor simulate", a connotation of uncontrollable pain and anguish, which makes people hard to sham and simulate. Equivalently to say, this kind of connotation signals more genuineness, at least to the speaker. "The Eyes glaze once- and that is Death-," (lines 5) gives another support to the point. This line creates a vision of a slow process of death with fanaticism, emphasizing the genuineness through "Impossible to feign." (line 6) In the last two lines, "The Beads upon the Forehead / By homely Anguish strung." (lines 7-8) the speaker utilizes a literary device called personification (anguish is personified as being able to string and homely is used to personify agony) to express his or her distress and pessimism, which is an indication as disappointment with the reality and society, an indication of yearning for genuineness, even though the genuineness can only be found through an "abnormal" way, such as agony, convulsion, and death, according to the speaker’s point of view.

      The eagerness of genuineness from the society is somehow consistent to Emily's life experience. She lived in a simple, introverted and hermetic life, and isolated herself from the world after graduating from Amherst College (The Academy of American Poets). And she was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, a "reckless genius" (Kinnell). The reason why she preferred a hermetic life is that she was tired of the hypocritical and fake things; to her, almost everything is hypocritical except in some special cases such as agony and convulsion, because in this case people can hardly to disguise themselves. She seldom published her poems (only a few of them were published while she was alive), which may suggest her writing motivation in this poem is to express her yearning of genuineness through sadism, not try to grab reader's attention.

      A poem could be everlasting only when it brings elements of genuineness into the poetry. Due to Dickinson’s plain and simple lifestyle, the poem uses some extreme emotions to develop the character. This poem brings a state of her unconventional mind and genuine feeling to the readers, and thus makes it extremely intriguing to read and compelling to write about even though it is tiny (only 8 lines long).

      Works Cited
      Dickinson, Emily. "I like a look at Agony."  Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and  Writers. 3rd ed. Ed. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford,  2006. 1447.
      Kinnell, Galway. “reckless genius.” World Wide Web. 3 Nov. 1997. (28 Sep. 2006)  .
      The Academy of American Poets. “Emily Dickinson.” World Wide Web. (29 Sep, 2006)  .

[Wuyiwuyian]

謝謝分享好文,好評~~~
收進我的書簽了哈~~~

[紫色王家]

狄金森的幾首有代表性的詩

《我為美而死，對墳墓》

我為美而死，對墳墓
幾乎還不適應
一個殉真理的戰士
遂成了我的近鄰

他低聲問我：“為什麽倒下”
我回答他：“為了美”
他說：“我為真理，真與美
本是一家，我們是兄弟”

就這樣，像親人，黑夜相逢
我們隔著石壁談天
直到蒼苔爬上我們的嘴唇
覆蓋掉我們的名姓
　
《如果我能使一顆心免於哀傷》
　
如果我能使一顆心免於哀傷
我就不虛此生
如果我能解除一個生命的痛苦
平息一種酸辛

幫助一隻昏厥的知更鳥
重新回到巢中
我就不虛此生。

[紫色王家]

以前 English Composition 作文課作業的漢語翻譯。