菲利普·拉金(Philip Larkin)是20世纪英国著名的诗人和作家,以其对日常生活和内心世界的深刻描绘而闻名。以下是有关他生平及一些代表作品的简要介绍:
生平:
菲利普·拉金于1922年生于英格兰科芬特里(Coventry),后来成为了一名图书管理员,同时也是一位重要的文学评论家。他的诗歌作品通常以朴素的语言和锐利的观察力描绘日常生活,表达了对现代社会和人类存在的深刻思考。
作品:
1. 《垃圾桶》("The Binsey Poplars"):这首诗描绘了作者目睹波普拉树被砍伐后的心情,反映了对自然环境破坏的忧虑和悲愤。
2. 《无聊的天气》("Days"):这首诗以日常生活中的琐事为题材,表达了对时间流逝和生活的沉思。
3. 《这个圆形的地球》("This Be The Verse"):这首诗以简洁的语言讽刺了家庭、父母和人类的困境,表达了对人生的悲观态度。
作为一位颇具影响力的现代主义诗人,拉金的作品以其对日常生活的写实描绘和对人类命运的深刻思考而广受赞誉。
以下是拉金的诗《This Be The Verse》的片段赏析:
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
这首诗以直白的语言表达了对父母对子女影响的深刻思考,凸显了作者对家庭和人类命运的悲观看法。拉金以简练的语言揭示出了家庭对个体成长的复杂影响,展现了对人性的独到洞察。
Philip Larkin
Once I am sure there's nothing going on
I step inside, letting the door thud shut.
Another church: matting, seats, and stone,
And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut
For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff
Up at the holy end; the small neat organ;
And a tense, musty, unignorable silence,
Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off
My cycle-clips in awkward reverence ,
Move forward, run my hand around the font.
From where I stand, the roof looks almost new—
Cleaned, or restored? Someone would know: I don't.
Mounting the lectern, I peruse a few
Hectoring large-scale verses, and pronounce
Here endeth much more loudly than I'd meant.
The echoes snigger briefly. Back at the door
I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence.
Reflect the place was not worth stopping for.
Yet stop I did: in fact I often do,
And always end much at a loss like this,
Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,
When churches fall completely out of use
What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep
A few cathedrals chronically on show,
Their parchment, plate and pyx in locked cases,
And let the rest rent-free to rain and sheep.
Shall we avoid them as unlucky places?
Or, after dark, will dubious women come
To make their children touch a particular stone;
Pick simples for a cancer; or on some
Advised night see walking a dead one?
Power of some sort or other will go on
In games, in riddles, seemingly at random;
But superstition , like belief, must die,
And what remains when disbelief has gone?
Grass, weedy pavement, brambles , buttress, sky,
A shape less recognisable each week,
A purpose more obscure . I wonder who
Will be the last, the very last, to seek
This place for what it was; one of the crew
That tap and jot and know what rood-lofts were?
Some ruin-bibber, randy for antique,
Or Christmas-addict, counting on a whiff
Of gown-and-bands and organ-pipes and myrrh ?
Or will he be my representative,
Bored, uninformed, knowing the ghostly silt
Dispersed, yet tending to this cross of ground
Through suburb scrub because it held unspilt
So long and equably what since is found
Only in separation—marriage, and birth,
And death, and thoughts of these—for which was built
This special shell? For, though I've no idea
What this accoutred frowsty barn is worth,
It pleases me to stand in silence here;
A serious house on serious earth it is,
In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,
Are recognised, and robed as destinies.
And that much never can be obsolete,
Since someone will forever be surprising
A hunger in himself to be more serious,
And gravitating with it to this ground,
Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in,
If only that so many dead lie round.
* * *
[ˈɔːkwəd] adj.
笨拙的,令人尴尬的
[ˈrevərəns] n.
尊敬
[ˈhektə] vt.
吓唬
[ˈsniɡə] vi.
窃笑
[kəˈθiːdrəl] n.
大教堂
[sjuːpəˈstiʃən] n.
迷信
[ˈbræmbl] n.
荆棘
[əbˈskjuə] adj.
模糊的
-jot
[dʒɔt] vt.
记下
[məː] n.
没药
[əˈkuːtə] vt.
装备
[kəmˈpʌlʃən] n.
被强制,被驱使
* * *
拉 金
拉金(Philip Larkin,1922-1985),英国上世纪50年代的重要诗人、小说家和评论家。50年代,他与大学同学组成了以抵制浪漫的感伤与浮夸诗风为主要宗旨的“运动诗派”,反对过分运用修辞和比喻,鄙视诗歌中普遍的说教与预言色彩,在当时产生一定影响。他主张诗歌返回现实生活,用冷静的头脑,客观的态度去查看现实社会和人生。他的诗力求在平缓的情绪中,在闲谈式的口吻中准确、简明、务实、具体地表达出诗的意象,往往隐含令人咀嚼的深意。
有一回,我确信里面没什么动静,
便走进去,让大门砰的一声关严实。
又是座教堂:石板,草垫,长凳;
小本《圣经》;凌乱的花束,摘来是
为了做礼拜,已蔫了;有铜器等物
置在圣堂的一端;小风琴挺整齐;
那紧张的、发霉的、不可忽视的静寂,
天晓得醖酿多久了。没戴帽,我摘除
骑车裤腿夹,尴尬地表示敬意。
向前走,绕着圣水盂用手摸了摸。
站着看上面,那像是新的天花板——
打扫过?修复的?有人会知道:除了我。
我登上读经台,翻阅了少许圣诗篇,
字大得怕人,唸出了“到此结束”,
声音比自己原来想发的大得多。
短促的回声在窃笑。我回到大门口,
签了名,捐了爱尔兰六便士硬币,
回想这地方实在不值得逗留。
我却停了步:其实我常常停步,
每回都像这一次,感到挺困惑,
想知道该寻求什么;也想弄清楚:
当教堂沦落到全无用处的时刻,
该把它转变成什么,可否长期
开放几座大教堂,在上锁的柜子里
展出羊皮纸文件,圣餐盒,银盘子;
其馀的教堂就交给风雨和羊蹄?
该不该躲开它,当作不祥之地?
或许,天黑后,有可疑的妇人进来,
叫她的孩子们摸一块特别的石头;
或是采集治癌的药草;或是在
知情的某晚来观看死人行走?
这种或那种力量总会在游戏或
谜语中起作用,这似乎纯属偶然;
但迷信,正如信仰,必须消灭掉,
等到不相信也没了,还剩下什么?
野草,荒径,荆榛,扶垛,苍昊。
一周又一周,形状越来越难认,
用途越来越不明。我不知道,
最后,到了最后,谁会来探寻
教堂的原址?有人来这里敲一敲、
记一笔,什么是十字架圣坛可知道?
是哪个贪求古物的、废墟狂恋者?
或者是个圣诞迷,打算在这里
找些牧师的服饰、管风琴和没药?
或者,这个人能否代表我自己,
感到烦,不知情,知道鬼魂的沉积
已消散,却还要穿过灌木林市郊
来到这十字形地方,因为长期地
保持着平稳,只能在分离中找到——
结婚,生育,死亡和对此的沉思——
当初正是为了这些而建造
这具特殊的外壳的?我心里不明白
这个发霉的大仓库有什么价值,
我倒喜欢在这里静静地呆一呆;
它是严肃的大地上严肃的房屋,
我们被驱使聚在它交融的空气里,
被承认,被当作命运而身穿袍服。
这一点永远绝对不会被废弃,
因为有的人总会意外地发现
他自身有一种饥饿,更加严肃,
他会被吸引到这里来,带着饥饿;
他听说这是个使人变聪明的地点,
也许只因为四周有许多死者。