William Butler Yeats 叶芝文体欣赏

William Butler YeatsStylistic Features of When You Are Old

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (pronounced / je ts/; 13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939) was an Irish poet and dramatist, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for what theNobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation.

When You Are OldWhen you are old and gray and full of sleep And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true; But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face. And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead, And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

当你老了袁可嘉译 当你老了，头白了，睡意昏沉， 炉火旁打盹，请取下这部诗歌， 慢慢读，回想你过去眼神的柔和， 回想它们昔日浓重的阴影；

多少人爱你青春欢畅的时辰， 爱慕你的美丽，假意或真心， 只有一个人爱你那朝圣者的灵魂， 爱你衰老了的脸上痛苦的皱纹； 垂下头来，在红光闪耀的炉子旁， 凄然地轻轻诉说那爱情的消逝， 在头顶的山上它缓缓踱着步子， 在一群星星中间隐藏着脸庞。 ──1893

1 Speech sound ,《当你年老时》基本上采用的是抑扬格五音步,但 诗的第三、四、五、六、八、十行中有一、两个 音步或没有重读或没有轻读。然而,这样的节奏安 排不但没有破坏全诗节奏的统一,反而增添一些变 化,使其不那么单调。同时,这样的变化更加突出了 其它的重读音步下词汇的意义,尤其第十行中开头 的Murmur一词采用扬抑格,更是吸引了读者的注 意。因为它是一个非常形象的拟声词,生动地刻画 出了“你”年老时唠唠叨叨、喃喃自语的神态。 这几处的格律变化,一方面营造出凄凉孤寂的情绪 氛围,另一方面也是作者对诗中“你”的含蓄提醒: 真爱稍纵即逝,莫等老时空抱怨。

ˇ′|ˇ′|ˇ′|ˇ′|ˇ′|(1) When you are old and grey and full of sleep,当你年老, 鬓斑,睡意昏沉, ˇ′|ˇ′|ˇ′‖ˇ′|ˇ′| And nodding by the fire, take down this book,在炉旁打 盹时,取下这本书, ˇ′|ˇ′‖ˇ′|ˇˇ|′′| And slowly read, and dream of the soft look慢慢诵读,梦 忆从前你双眸 ˇ′|ˇ′‖ˇˇ|ˇ′|ˇ′| Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;神色柔 和,眼波中倒影深深; ˇ′|ˇ′|ˇ′|ˇ′|′′| Howmany loved yourmoments of glad grace,多少人爱 你风韵妩媚的时光, ˇ′|ˇ′|ˇ′|′′|ˇ′| And

loved your beautywith love false or true,爱你的美 丽出自假意或真情,

Speech sound从押韵上看,全诗的尾韵是最常见的单韵,且单节按抱韵 abba,cddc, effe押韵。这样的押韵十分精致,表现出诗歌正 式和庄重,甚至有点圣歌的韵味。同时,元音/ou/在单词you, old, slowly, shadow, moments, sou,l sorrows, glowing, overhead中的多次出现,几乎贯穿全诗,可以说是辅音韵 (consonance)的典型使用(除shadows和sorrows外),这几 个词除了加强全诗的节奏,让全诗更加连贯、一气呵成以 外,还因其发音的持续时间更长而营造出一种舒缓柔和的 情绪,诗歌的浪漫抒情性由此体现。此外,头韵/gr/在单词 grey, grace和/gl/在单词glad, glowing中的使用,不但有助 于表达作者沉重失落的心绪,还让年轻时和年老时的“你” 形成鲜明的对比,产生强烈的冲突,增添了诗的凄凉性

When you are old and gray and full of sleep And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true; But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face.And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead, And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

2 Vocabulary 首先,从词数上看,全诗整好100个词,除开其 中18个双音节词和一个三音节词(overhead) 外,其余全是单音节词。这使得诗歌的节奏 简单轻快,因为在这一节里,诗人主要以一种 叙事的口吻在勾画“你”在年老时依偎在 炉火旁阅读本诗,从而陷入深深回忆的情景, 这样的词汇选择及排列营造出一种孤独宁 静的情景。

Vocabulary 最后,从词的选用上看,全诗几乎全部使用了 简单的日常词汇(amid除外)。这恰好偏离了 诗歌通常偏爱使用的“词汇潜势”,即使用 大量的诗歌独享的古朴词汇、词汇变异等。 但诗人对这些简单日常用词的完美运用,创 造出凄美的诗化意境,反而产生了一种更强 烈的艺术效果———朴素美。

VocabularyWhen you are old and gray and full of sleep And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true; But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face.And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead, And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Vocabulary 其次,从词类上看,名词出现19个, 21次,多是具体名 词,其中sleep, look, eyes, shadows, grace, beauty, face等 勾勒出“你”的外表神态,而用fires, book, b

ars等描绘场 景,这使得读者有身临其境的感觉;动词出现14个, 17次, 其中大部分是动态动词,似乎在描述动作,实际上在营造一 种氛围。其中Love一词作动词和名词都多次重复,强调了 “爱”的重要性; fled, paced两词的不及物性,则强调了这份 没有结果的“爱”,暗示了“爱”的易逝性,升华了本诗凄美 的主题。

3 rhetoricWhen you are old and gray and full of sleep And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true; But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face.And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead, And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

3 修辞 重复，反讽 ，拟人 and一词在全诗共出现11次,它的重复使用,一方面增强 了全诗的衔接和连贯,另一方面控制着全诗的节奏,使全诗 显得和谐统一。尤其在最后两行, and的多次使用,形象地 描绘 …… 此处隐藏：4184字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……