英语诗歌的形式：诗行和诗节（四）

——英诗中的三行诗节

何功杰

2. 三行诗节（Triplets）

   英诗中传统的三行诗节（Triplets），其诗行长短并没有统一的规定，但都是押韵的，其中又可分为“三连韵”（Tercet）和“连锁韵”(terza rima)*。“三连韵”诗节是每三行押同一韵，韵律是a a a ，接下去是 b b b, c c c等等：

(1)

UponJulia’s Clothes

   Robert Herrick

Whenas in silks my Julia goes                  a

Then, then, methinks how sweetly flows   a

That liquefaction of her clothes.                a

 

Next, when I cast mine eyes and see       b

That brave vibration each way free;        b

O how that glittering taketh me.             b

 参考译诗：

朱莉娅的衣衫

 罗伯特·赫里克

当朱莉娅穿着罗绡行走，

我觉得她衣衫荡荡悠悠

哦何等甜美，宛如水流。

 

我再次注目时注意到

那自由飘逸何等美好，

啊，熠熠闪光撩我心潮。

 

 (2)

The Eagle

          Alfred, Lord Tennyson

 

He claps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ringed with azure world, he stands.

 

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls:

He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.

    

 参考译诗：

            

           鹰

 

     阿尔弗雷德·丁尼生 

他用爪子抓住巉岩；

靠近太阳屹立天边，

周围世界蔚蓝一片。

 

下方海波悠悠荡漾；

他从山巅俯视观望，

倏如闪电从天突降。

    托马斯·纳什（Thomas Nashe）的“Spring，the Sweet Spring”实际上也是用三连韵的诗节写的，只是每节最后增加了一行描摹鸟鸣的诗行，为全诗增添了欢乐的气氛。下面是该诗的第一节：

(3)

Spring , the sweet spring, is the year’s pleasant king;

Then blooms each thing, then mainds dance in a ring,

Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing.

“Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo.”

这种三连韵诗节偶尔也被插用在其他格律的诗节中，作为大诗节结构中的一部分，或增加节奏的变化，或表示某种强调作用。如邓恩（John Donne）在The Flea和Song两首诗中都采用了三连韵诗行结束每一诗节，表示强调：

(4)

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,

How little that which thou deniest me is;

Me it sucked first, and now suck thee,

Thou know’st that this cannot be said

A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead,

Yet this enjoys before it woo,

And pampered swells with one blood made of two,

And this, alas, is more than we would do.

(From the first stanza of The Flea by John Donne)

 (5)

If thou findst one, let me know,

Such a pilgrimage were sweet;

Yet do not, I would not go,

Though at next door we might meet;

Though she were true when you met her,

And last, till you write your letter,

Yet she

Will be

False, ere I come, to two, or three.

(From the last stanza of Song by John Donne)

上面第（5）例中，邓恩把四行诗节（quatrain），双行诗节（couplet）和三行诗节（tercet）三种不同的传统诗节组合成一个大诗节，其中最后三行诗行长短虽然不一，但押的是同一个尾韵：she－be－three ，暗示了女人多变的性格。

      三行诗节中连锁韵（Terza rima）的韵律是aba bcb cdc ded，编者称之为“连锁韵”，因为其诗节与诗节之间，韵律有联系，而且前后连环相扣。意大利诗人但丁在他的长诗 Divine Comedy 最早采用运用这种诗节，后来传到英国，这种诗节在英语诗歌中应用最出名的要算雪莱的《西风颂》（Od to the West Wind），这首诗共五章，每一章十四行，节奏是五步抑扬格，雪莱采用的是四个节连锁韵三行诗节，暗示西风阵阵连续不断地吹刮；最后以两行英雄偶韵诗行结尾，显得庄重严肃，与主题默契。下面是这首诗的最后一章：

5

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:

What if my leaves are falling like its own!

The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

 

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,

Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,

My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

 

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe

Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!

And, by the incantation of this verse,

 

Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth

Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!

Be through my lips to unawakened Earth

 

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind!

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

 

参考译诗：

 

把我当成琴吧，甚至当成树林：

即使我落叶纷纷，那又有何妨！

你那和谐的大合唱将会容进

 

我们两个深沉的秋音，虽然悲怆，

但动听。猛烈的精灵啊，愿你

变成我的精灵！变成我，迅猛异常！

 

把我这死灭的思想吹遍大地，

像吹落黄叶一样去催发新生！

我将凭借这诗行的符咒魔力，

 

像吹炀炉中未灭的灰烬火光，

把我的话语撒到世间人群中，

用我的嘴把预言的号角吹响

 

把沉睡的大地唤醒！西风啊，

假如冬天已到，春天还会远吗？

 

雪莱还在他的The Triumph of Life一诗中也运用了这种三行连锁韵诗节：

Swift as a spirit hastening to his task           a

Of glory and of good, the Sun sprang forth   b

Rejoicing in his splendor, and the mask         a

 

Of darkness fell from the awakened Earth.      b

The smokeless altars of the mountain snows    c

Flamed above crimson clouds, and at the birth  b

 

Of light, the Ocean's orison arose,                 c

To which the birds tempered their matin lay.  d

All flowers in field or forest which unclose     c

 

Their trembling eyelids to the kiss of day,      d

Swinging their censers in the element,           e

With orient insense lit by the new ray            d

 

(待续)

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* “三连韵”和“连锁韵”均为编者翻译名之。