Philip Larkin: Portrait

怀抱花朵的孩子

Portrait                 

　　Her hands intend no harm:
　　Her hands devote themselves
　　To sheltering a flame;
　　Winds are her enemies,
　　And everything that strives
　　To bring her cold and darkness.
　　
　　But wax and wick grow short:
　　These she so dearly guards
　　Despite her care die out;
　　Her hands are not strong enough
　　Her hands will fall to her sides
　　And no wind will trouble to break her grief


Here you can get a splendid comment about this poem

[ 本帖最后由 怀抱花朵的孩子 于 2006-5-28 23:28 编辑 ]

怀抱花朵的孩子

Writing a poem is totally beyond me

I have the same felling with you on this point!  It's a pity!
I'll try one day But not now.

What I am doing is to try to understand poems

This is also what I am doing now. You have said what I want to say. Although sometimes I'll ask myself whether poem can be understood, but I am trying to do it all the time. Hope can catch up with you on the road to poem.

Hope you can do better

You too!

[ 本帖最后由 怀抱花朵的孩子 于 2006-5-31 20:08 编辑 ]

duessa

You can read Wordsworth's poem "Tintern Abbey" to get a better understanding of his words. Writing a poem is totally beyond me. What I am doing is to try to understand poems. Hope you can do better.

怀抱花朵的孩子

原帖由 duessa 于 2006-5-30 23:20 发表
Maybe you should put your feelings aside for some time, and then get them "recollected in tranquility", just as Wordsworth does.

Wordsworth? I know you're talking about his <<preface to lyrical ballads>>. Yes he said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.  

I think he is talking about the process of writting poems. But there is something much more essentialer, more decidabler.

Talking with you is so fantastic and full of challenge. I feel a bit hard to catch up with you.

[ 本帖最后由 怀抱花朵的孩子 于 2006-5-31 00:15 编辑 ]

duessa

Maybe you should put your feelings aside for some time, and then get them "recollected in tranquility", just as Wordsworth does.

怀抱花朵的孩子

原帖由 duessa 于 2006-5-30 22:59 发表
You've misunderstood me. What I want to say is the feeling, not actually the case. The poet of course is not necessarily describing a mother who has just lost her child.

Yes, You are right.
But I still wonder about the style of Larkin's discribing, the tone of his speaking, so cool. I can't write a poem like this, my feeling is so strong and uncontrollable. Maybe that's just why I can't be a great poet.

duessa

You've misunderstood me. What I want to say is the feeling, not actually the case. The poet of course is not necessarily describing a mother who has just lost her child.

怀抱花朵的孩子

原帖由 duessa 于 2006-5-30 22:06 发表
You are explaining the poem literally. Flame, cold, darkness..., however, are highly symbolic, and it is very likely that they are associated with hope, cruel environment, etc. This woman in cold a ...

I don't want to deny the possibility of the association you mentioned here. But I feel If I write a poem to symbolize the situation  you've give, I won't use a candle to symbolize a child. Ye! what you've discribe is very beatifull and moving, But I don't think a mother would like this kind of symbolization. A child is A child. A child can not be any other thing but a child for his/her mother. You kwon what I am talking about?
If I write the poem I will give a plain narrative, just like Christina Rossetti's  A Portrait(What I just post up)

Just my feeling!

duessa

You are explaining the poem literally. Flame, cold, darkness..., however, are highly symbolic, and it is very likely that they are associated with hope, cruel environment, etc. This woman in cold and darkness sheltering the weak flame is just like a mother who has nothing else but her only child. And the flame at last dies out not because of the winds but because of its own factor. So the woman's guard is totally in vain "And no wind will trouble to break her grief" because she has already had no hope. Her heart has also died, just like the mother who loses her only child in spite of all the efforts she has made.

mu

原帖由 小香可 于 2006-5-30 01:57 发表
本想选几首他的译文上来，既然你先开了贴，就不上了。

Please speak English,thanks!
really longing for your translation.