【挽诗】Felicia Hemans的“The Lost Pleiad”

methos

Felicia Hemans（1793-1835）是英国浪漫时期著名女诗人，19世纪20年代作品十分畅销，是拜伦的竞争对手（拜伦对此颇有点儿不快）。这首诗其实最早发表在1823年底，所以算不上挽诗， -_-b 不过后来编集出版的时候看起来就有点儿像挽诗了。开头引用的那句拜伦的诗句出自《贝波》——所以这首诗不像她其它涉及哀悼的诗作那样沉痛，带有点儿玩笑色彩。
普勒阿得斯(Pleiades)是Atlas和Pleione的七个女儿，变成天上的七星逃避猎户Orion的追逐。失踪的普勒阿得斯是特洛伊创始人的母亲，在特洛伊城陷落后悲痛而消失。
这首诗一个很鲜明的特色就是把诗歌创作女性化了——代表诗人的星辰都是女性，对失去姊妹表示悲痛。但诗作又体现出诗人的自信——虽然消失了一个明亮的星辰，但天堂仍然光辉夺目。
另一个值得注意的地方是那句“Wert thou not peopled by some glorious race”，猜测星辰上是否居住着某个伟大的种族，这是自然科学发展在诗歌中的体现。
可以比较一下这首诗和作者的“A Spirit's Return”

The Lost Pleiad by Felicia Hemans
“Like the lost Pleiad seen no more below.”
BYRON

And is there glory from the heavens departed?
— Oh! void unmark'd!—thy sisters of the sky
Still hold their place on high,
Though from its rank thine orb so long hath started,
Thou, that no more art seen of mortal eye!

Hath the night lost a gem, the regal night?
She wears her crown of old magnificence,
Though thou art exil'd thence—
No desert seems to part those urns of light,
'Midst the far depths of purple gloom intense.

They rise in joy, the starry myriads burning—
The shepherd greets them on his mountains free;
And from the silvery sea
To them the sailor's wakeful eye is turning—
Unchang'd they rise, they have not mourn'd for thee.

Couldst thou be shaken from thy radiant place,
E'en as a dew-drop from the myrtle spray,
Swept by the wind away?
Wert thou not peopled by some glorious race?
And was there power to smite them with decay?

Why, who shall talk of thrones, of sceptres riven?
—Bow'd be our hearts to think on what we are,
When from its height afar
A world sinks thus—and yon majestic heaven
Shines not the less for that one vanish'd star!

[ 本帖最后由 methos 于 2007-10-30 02:46 PM 编辑 ]

keatslover

以star 来给诗歌带来些诗意的手法很多，比如pope的rape of lock ，秀发劫的结尾相当有名：
   then cease ,bright nymph!to mourn thy ravished hair ,
which adds new glory to the shining sphere !
  not all the tresses that fair head can boast,
shall draw such envy as the lock your lost .
for ,after all the murders of your eye ,
when ,after millions slain ,yourself shall die:
when those fair suns shall set ,as set they must ,
and all those tresses shall be laid in dust ,
this lock the muse shall consecrate to fame ,
and midst the stars inscribe belingda's name .
  另外你说的天文学发展不知是指的什么，用天文学，物理学，乃至哲学入诗似乎在英诗中很普遍，算是一种传统，比如邓恩的这几句： moving of th earth brings harms and fears,
                      men reckon what it did and meant;
                      but trepidation of the spheres,
                      though greater far,is innocent.

methos

将诗人比作star很常见，但将star称作一个失落的世界(world)，猜测上面曾居住着什么光辉的民族（外星人吗？），这就比较独特了。我想这主要体现作者了解自然科学的发展，特别是当是一些有关生物灭绝的推测。
拜伦和雪莱在作品也提到过当时发现的化石。

keatslover

那乔叟，邓恩那些就不表现科学发展了么？ 感觉这是英诗的传统，爱默生在english traits 里面说的英国人有这样的一种本领，把细节的，事实的东西入诗。

methos

我好像没说这是Felicia Hemans独有的特征啊？

keatslover

我的意思是自然科學和英國诗歌的联系太普遍了，而且想像某个星球有个glorious race 怎么会和天文学有关呢？ 还是有些不解，感觉只是诗人想象力而已啊

methos

应该说自然科学而不是天文学——居维叶那些研究发现的影响，意识到一些生物的灭绝。晚饭后随便写的，脑细胞显然供血不足 。
其实这首诗最有趣的地方还是将诗歌的世界女性化，虽然主题是拜伦。

keatslover

呵呵  想说的是浪漫主义诗人对科学的态度比较狐疑的，反对最大的应该是keats，这里就手法来看纯粹是浪漫主义的诗化，比如他用的词语是文学味道很浓的orb，keats也写过布满星星的夜空是starred face 。浪漫主义诗人如果用科学的词语入诗会破坏诗意的。应该说只有wordsworth 做过尝试，但是似乎不太成功。当时没想清楚，呵呵现在做些补充。

methos

要说科学元素的浪漫化，Keats在Lamia里更完美：
Left to herself, the serpent now began
To change; her elfin blood in madness ran,
Her mouth foam’d, and the grass, therewith besprent,
Wither’d at dew so sweet and virulent;
Her eyes in torture fix’d, and anguish drear,
Hot, glaz’d, and wide, with lid-lashes all sear,
Flash’d phosphor and sharp sparks, without one cooling tear.
The colours all inflam’d throughout her train,
She writh’d about, convuls’d with scarlet pain:
A deep volcanian yellow took the place
Of all her milder-mooned body’s grace;
And, as the lava ravishes the mead,
Spoilt all her silver mail, and golden brede;
Made gloom of all her frecklings, streaks and bars,
Eclips’d her crescents, and lick’d up her stars:
(The Italics are mine)

但我觉得这和Felicia Hemans的用法仍有区别——Hemans对居维叶的发现应该是有兴趣的。可以参考拜伦在《该隐》前言中的说明：

The reader will perceive that the author has partly adopted in this poem the notion of Cuvier that the world had been destroyed several times before the creation of man. This speculation, derived from the different strata and the bones of enormous and unknown animals found in them, is not contrary to the Mosaic account, but rather confirms it; as no human bones have yet been discovered in those strata, although those of many known animals are found near the remains of the unknown. The assertion of Lucifer, that the pre-adamite world was also peopled by rational beings much more intelligent than man, and proportionably powerful to the mammoth, &c. &c. is, of course, a poetical fiction to help him to make out his case.

不过我个人最爱他在《唐璜》里把药方入诗：

But here is one prescription out of many:
    "Sodæ-Sulphat. 3vj.3fs. Mannæ optim.
Aq. fervent. f. /3ifs. 3ij. tinct. Sennae
    Haustus" (And here the surgeon came and cupp'd him)
"Rx Pulv. Com. gr. iij. Ipecacuanhæ"
    (With more beside if Juan had not stopp'd 'em).
"Bolus Potassæ Sulphuret. sumendus,
Et haustus ter in die capiendus."
----Don Juan, Canto X, 41

据说Anna Seward对科学特别感兴趣，不过没看过什么她的作品。英国浪漫派canon扩大之后念起来真是相当的辛苦……

keatslover

keats 应该算是对科学反对最激烈的诗人，你可以想想lamia 的主题是什么 在我看来lamia那段蛇精变形的描写 也是诗化 和科学词语用诗是算不上的，至于唐璜那是叙事，就抒情诗而言要用科学入诗应该是浪漫主义所不愿意的，华试过但是不成功。就你贴出来的诗，就那首诗而言我看到的也是诗化和想象力的结果，看不出有什么科学的词语。