小诗欣赏：《只是说一声》

我以为，诗歌应该有背景有故事有意境。白居易的《琵琶行》就是很好的一个例子。有些好的诗歌, 短小简单，贵在其语音美，字型美, 格式美, 及其耐人寻味的内涵（“潜台词”），令人试图诠释出故事来。下面介绍两首著名的唱和英文诗。第一首由威廉于1934年作，好像是挂在冰箱上的一个道歉的便条。第二首由他的妻子埃里卡－－琳作。两首标题相同：This Is Just to Say（只是说一声）。我纳闷了，这样简单的几句话竟然被视为名作，收录在不少诗集中！强迫自己学着欣赏吧。

我笨拙地尝试译给不懂英文的读者。会英文的读者应该直接通过英文感受。文后附有英文的评论和解释。有人认为此诗有性暗示。你若不懂英文，就通过我的译文来体会吧。

只是说一声

      威廉

我吃掉了
放在
冰箱里的
李子

这李子
也许是你
留作
早餐的

原谅我吧
李子可口
很甜
也很冷

只是说一声

   埃里卡－－琳

  （写给威廉）

我刚刚
要求你
搬出我的
住所

虽然
你从来
未想到
我会这样做

原谅我吧
你都要
把我
逼疯啦

原文：

This Is Just to Say

William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

This Is Just to Say

Erica-Lynn Gambino

(for William Carlos Williams)

I have just
asked you to
get out of my

apartment

even though
you never
thought
I would

Forgive me
you were
driving
me insane

==========

附件：

Critical analysis（评析）

Written as though it were a note left on an ice box, Williams' poem appears to the reader like a piece of found poetry. Metrically, the poem exhibits no regularity of stress or of syllable count. Except for lines two and five (each an iamb) and lines eight and nine (each an amphibrach), no two lines have the same metrical form. The consonance of the letters “Th” in lines two, three, and four, as well the consonance of the letter “F” in lines eight and nine, and the letter 'S' in lines eleven and twelve give rise to a natural rhythm when the poem is read aloud.

A conspicuous lack of punctuation contributes to the poem’s tonal ambiguity. While the second stanza begins with a conjunction, implying a connection to the first stanza, the third stanza is separated from the first two by the capitalized “Forgive.” In a 1950 interview, John W. Gerber asked the poet what it is that makes "This Is Just To Say" a poem, Williams replied, "In the first place, it's metrically absolutely regular... So, dogmatically speaking, it has to be a poem because it goes that way, don't you see!" Critic Marjorie Perloff writes, "on the page, the three little quatrains look alike; they have roughly the same physical shape. It is typography rather than any kind of phonemic recurrence that provides directions for the speaking voice (or for the eye that reads the lines silently) and that teases out the poem's meanings." Additionally, this typographical structure influences any subsequent interpretation on the part of the reader.

Interpretations（解释）

The CliffsNotes analysis states "Building on sibilance and concluding on “so cold,” the poem implies that sweet, fruity taste contrasts the coldness of a human relationship that forbids sharing or forgiveness for a minor breach of etiquette."　The words “Forgive me,” written as a command, emphasize the sense of regret conveyed by the speaker. This desperate need for forgiveness,an obvious admission of forbidden action, immediately followed by Williams' graphic imagery of the plums suggests this poem could be concerned with the uselessness or self-entrapment of sexual desire.

Another, more straightforward, interpretation is that the writer of the note on the refrigerator seeks to replace the experience of eating the plums with a clear, succinct description--"They were delicious / So sweet and so cold." Forgiveness in the poem depends on the success of the description. This is a good model for the poet's task, as he forsakes actual experience for mere words. The poem will be a success if the reader forgives the poet's transgression.

In another light, the poem was written from Williams to his wife. He ate her plums from the ice box and proceeded to write a small apology in the form of poetry on a napkin. She did respond to his poem with one of her own.