置顶说明

这首诗是我的至爱，我经常反复地诵读它，以便不断从中获得灵犀，增加砺力；因为它寄托了我的情怀，表达我的心声，更是我人生的励志篇！我曾在我的博客首页的《公告》中有过这样的开篇名义：“希望我的博文、翻译、评论等能反映我的心声、我的人品和文风，对自己、对网友有所启迪，有所鼓舞，有所助益。”不知网友发现和觉察到没有，我的大部分博文和翻译都是围绕我自定的宗旨而撰写和选译的。             

 斗争，求索，发现，永不屈服

我特别喜欢丁尼生这首诗，凡修过英国文学课者应该都熟悉这首诗。诗中描述的尤利西斯形象不仅是老年人应该效仿的典型，对其他怀有志气、勇于求索的人都是一个学习的榜样。其中有不少名言警句可供我们做座右铭。

 （丁尼生（1809-1892）是继华兹华斯逝世之后的桂冠诗人，1884年被授予男爵的贵族爵位，这是英国唯一因诗歌贡献而

授予的崇高爵位。丁尼生一生留下了大量的诗篇，内容健康，语言高雅，他的一些短诗尤受读者欢迎。19世纪后期，丁尼生

的影响几乎扩展到整个英语世界。20世纪初，他受到了普遍的指责，20世纪后来的评论家们对他作了重新评价，一致承认，

丁尼生对自然、对生活具有极细微、极敏锐的观察能力，具有无可指责的灵敏听觉，并且完美地掌握了英语的节奏和声调，

能够尽善尽美地选择和运用英语的词语。现在已无人否认他是维多利亚时代一位真正的艺术大师，而且读他的诗的人越来

越多。）

原诗

Ulysses

                                                  Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892）

It little profits that an idle king,

By this still hearth, among these barren crags,

Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole

Unequal laws¹ unto a savage race,

That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

 

I cannot rest from travel; I will drink

Life to the lees^2. All times I have enjoyed

Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those

That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when

Through scudding drifts³ the rainy Hyades

Vexed the dim sea. I am become a name⁴ ;

For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known——cities of men

And manners，climates，councils，governments，

Myself not least, but honored of them all——

And drunk delight of battle with my peers，

Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy，

I am a part of all that I have met，

Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough

Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades

Forever and forever when I move，

How dull it is to pause，to make an end，

To rust unburnished，not to shine in use！

As though to breathe were life！Life piled on life

Were all too little，and of one to me

Little remains；but every hour is saved

From that eternal silence，something more，

A bringer of new things⁵； and vile it were

For some three suns ⁶ to store and hoard myself，

And this gray spirit yearning in desire

To follow knowledge like a sinking star，

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

 

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,

To whom I leave the scepter and the isle——

Ｗell-loved of me，discerning to fulfil

This labor，by slow prudence to make mild

A rugged people，and through soft degrees

Subdued them to the useful and the good.

Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere

Of common duties, decent not to fail

In offices of tenderness, and pay

Meet adoration to my household gods,

When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

 

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;

There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,

Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me——

That ever with a frolic welcome took

The thunder and the sunshine,⁷ and opposed

Free hearts, free foreheads——You and I are old;

Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.

Death closes all; but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;

The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep⁸

Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars⁹，until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles¹⁰,

And see the great Achilles11, whom we knew.

Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that12 which we are, we
 are——

One equal temper of heroic hearts，

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield.

参考译诗 

尤利西斯

 

这样毫无益处：当个闲散国王，

深居山岩中，坐在静静的炉旁，

由老妻陪伴，向一个野蛮民族

发布各种奖惩法令，他们只知

贮藏，吃睡，却不知我是谁。

 

我不能居安而不出；我要喝干

人生这杯酒。我享受过莫大欢乐，

也吃过大苦头，和爱我的人一起，

或独自一个；在岸上，或在海里，

在阵阵暴雨中，穿过波涛滚滚的

茫茫大海。如今我只是虚名一个。

因为我总是如饥如渴地四处漫游，

见得多，知道的也多——各类城市，

人物风情和气候，各国议员和政府，

至少我自己还是受到大家尊重，——

我和同僚们共饮战斗的欢欣，

在那风起云涌遥远的特洛伊旷野，

我所经历的只是我人生的一部分；

一切经历只是一座拱门，拱门之外

还有未游历的世界在闪光，它的边界

随着我们向前移动永远退向前方。

停止不前，就此终结，不磨砺任其生锈，

不使用也不发光，这是何等枯燥乏味！

仿佛生命只是呼吸！几次生命相加

还嫌太少，我的生命只有一次

而且所剩无几；但从那静寂的永恒中

省下的每一个小时都会为我们增加

一些新东西，带来一些新事物；三年来

我可耻地把自己封存和储藏起来，

可这班白的心灵却迫切地向往

去追随知识，像那西沉的星星，

到那人类思想极限以外的地方。

 

这是我儿子，我的忒勒玛科斯，

我要把这君权和岛国留给他掌管——

我很爱他，他也有眼力，能够完成

这项费力的任务，会慢慢而谨慎地

把这粗野民族驯化，用温和的方法

征服他们，使他们成为良民百姓。

他专心于公众事务，无可指责，

我离开以后，他会尽心尽职地

处理好那些需要谨慎应付的事务，

也会对祖宗表示恰如其分的敬奉，

他从事他的事业，我走我的道路。

 

海港就在前方；船帆正在飘扬；

大海沉沉，朦胧一片。我的水手们，

曾经和我同劳、同作、同思想，——

他们总是高高兴兴去迎接雷霆和阳光，

用自由的心、自由的头脑去与之抗争——

你们和我现在都年老了；但是老年人

也还有他的荣誉感，还有他的用场。

死亡将终止一切；但是，在结束之前，

还可以有所作为，可以做点高尚事情，

我辈与神抗争也并非是不适宜。

那礁石上的灯光已经开始闪亮；

长昼快要结束，月亮爬上了天边；

海洋的呻吟和各种声音在四周回荡。

来吧，朋友们，去发现新世界为时不晚。

开船出发吧，大家坐好坐稳当，

让我们破浪前进；我们要驶向

落日的彼岸，驶向群星沐浴的

西方世界，直到我死后方休。

也许，大海会把我们吞没，

也许，我们会抵达“幸福岛”，

会见伟大的阿喀琉斯，熟悉的朋友。

生命虽被夺走了很多，剩下也不少；

虽然我们已经没有从前那样的精力

去战天斗地，但我们还和以前一样——

还有同样的勇气，还有同样的雄心，

虽被时光和命运摧弱，仍有坚强意志

去斗争，去求索，去发现，不屈服。

                 （何功杰：《英诗选读》）

赏析

1. Background

Ulysses was first published in 1842, but it was composed not long after Tennyson's intimate friend Arthur Henry Hallam's death in 1833. Tennyson said that it "was written under the sense of loss, and that all had gone by, but that still life must be fought out to the end." This striking poem not only shows Tennyson as an individual in the mood of great courage, but also reflects the unrest common aspirations of the period.

Ulysses is a legendary Greek hero and king of Ithaca in the Odyssey, an epic by Homer. In Latin he was known as Ulixes, which has been converted into Ulysses. He also occurs in Homer's Iliad, where he is famous among the Greek leaders for his wise advice. In the dramas of Sophocles and Euripides, his wisdom shows mere cunning, but Shakespeare in his Troilus and Cressida shows him as the same politician, making the best of a bad Greek world. This legendary hero has also been recast in varied ways in the works of Joyce and many other writers.

According to Homer in his Iliad, Odysseus joined the other Greek princes in the expedition to recover Helen, wife of Menelaus, who had been abducted to Troy by a Trojan prince named Paris. On his voyage home from the ten-year Trojan War, he met with a series of misfortunes, and was forced to wander for another ten years before reaching Ithaca. When he arrived at home, he and his son Telemachus and the swineherd, Eumaeus, killed the importunate suitors of his faithful wife Penelope.

However, in Tennyson’s poem, Tennyson’s interpretation of the hero is a modification of Dante's version of Inferno (XXVI, 85-142). Tennyson presents Ulysses, after his return to Ithaca, as a restless heroic wanderer who is about to set out for another voyage of exploration to the west from which he will never return.

2. The ideas of the poem summarized

This poem is written in the form of blank verse, dramatic monologue. The sole speaker in the poem is Ulysses and the listeners are his fellow mariners. Back at home from ten-year's wandering on the sea, Ulysses first examines his present life as an idle king of Ithaca and finds it little profitable with his aged wife and the savage race (section one). Then in retrospect, he finds that he has seen much, known much, suffered and enjoyed greatly in the past. Now he has become a mere name to his people. He realizes that "all experience is an arch” and beyond it there is still “untraveled world" for exploration. He finds it dull and abhorrent "to pause, to make an end, / To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!" Therefore he makes up his mind to save every hour for something new before death and drink life to the lees by embarking on anther voyage of exploration "to follow knowledge like a sinking star, / Beyond the utmost bound of human thought." (Section two)

In section three, the speaker expresses his confidence in his son who has the ideal personality for the ruler Ithaca needs. He is tenderhearted, prudent, and dutiful with decent qualities and discerning power to fulfill all the work, both national and household. In one word, his son is blameless that he can now leave the island by entrusting all the duties on him.

Everything being ready, the speaker, in the last section, calls on his fellow mariners to set sail to a newer world. Although he is aware of his old age, declining strength and impending death, he is full of confidence that "Old age hath yet his honor and his toil", and that "It is not too late to seek a newer world." and "something ere the end, / Some work of noble note, may yet be done”. So, the speaker, together with his friends, vigorously pushes off with "one equal temper of heroic hearts" and a strong will "to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

3. Theme of the poem

Tennyson himself stated that the poem expressed his own "need of going forward and braving the struggle of life" after the death of his friend Hallam. It is clear that Tennyson presents Ulysses as a symbol of the human desires for experience, prowess, courage, adventure, and knowledge.

Throughout the poem are words and phrases that reinforce this reading. Ulysses is now an elderly king, but he abhors materialistic life and finds it of little profit to be an idle king only to "mete and dole / Unequal laws unto a savage race." He wants to continue his exploration and live life to the fullest so as to increase his knowledge. Ulysses will never “go gently into that good night,” to use Dylan Thomas’s phrase.

It is Tennyson’s past experience that shapes his present character. He is an active, vibrant character who wants to experience as much as possible in life. To him, life is not merely to breathe. He is fully aware of the fact that "Life piled upon life / Were all too little, and of one to me / Little remains". Therefore, old as he is, he still yearns to follow knowledge, and to achieve something new and more before the end. The speaker's geographical exploration into the west symbolizes intellectual exploration. What noble spirit he shows when he says that the aged are "Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods"! In spite of the fact that "much is taken" and that time and fate have made them week, he is still strong in will "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Tennyson in this poem has successfully and vividly portrayed an aged hero who represents a life of continuous aspiration.

（何功杰：《英诗研究与探幽》）

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1 dole unequal laws: 根据不同情况发布不同的法令(如有的惩罚，有的奖励等)。

12 这里的that指的就是下一行中的One equal temper of heroic hearts.