五音步抑扬格

Squire Adam had two wives, they say,
Two wives had he, for his delight,
He kissed and clypt them all the day
And clypt and kissed them all the night.
Now Eve like ocean foam was white
And Lilith roses dipped in wine,
But though they were a goodly sight
No lady is so fair as mine.
To Venus some folk tribute pay
And Queen of Beauty she is hight,
And Sainte Marie the world doth sway
In cerule napery bedight.
My wonderment these twain invite,
Their comeliness it is divine,
And yet I say in their despite,
No lady is so fair as mine.
Dame Helen caused a grievous fray,
For love of her brave men did fight,
The eyes of her made sages fey
And put their hearts in woeful plight.
To her no rhymes will I indite,
For her no garlands will I twine
Though she be made of flowers and light
No lady is so fair as mine.
Thomas Gray (1716-1771)
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Now fades the glimm'ring landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
7Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, 8 And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;
9Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r
10The moping owl does to the moon complain 11Of such, as wand'ring near her secret bow'r,
12 Molest her ancient solitary reign.
13Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, 14 Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap, 15Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
16 The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.
17The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn,
18The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed, 19The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,
20No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. 21For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, 22 Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
23No children run to lisp their sire's return,
24Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.
25Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
26 Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; 27How jocund did they drive their team afield!
28How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke! 29Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
30Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
31Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
32The short and simple annals of the poor.
33The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
34And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
35Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.
36 The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
37Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,
38If Mem'ry o'er their tomb no trophies raise,
39Where thro' the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault 40The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.
41Can storied urn or animated bust
42Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
43Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
44 Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death?
45Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
46Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
47Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,
48 Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyre.
49But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page
50Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll;
51Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,
52And froze the genial current of the soul.
53Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
54 The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
55Full many a flow'r is born to blush unseen,
56And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
57Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast
58 The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
59Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
60 Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.
61Th' applause of list'ning senates to command,
62 The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
63To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,
64 And read their hist'ry in a nation's eyes,
1] First published, anonymously, 1751, under the title "An Elegy wrote in a Country Churchyard." The date of composition of the Elegy, apart from the concluding stanzas, cannot be exactly determined. The sole authority for the frequently repeated statement that Gray began the poem in 1742 is Mason's conjecture in the memoir prefixed to his edition of The Poems of Mr. Gray, 1775. The Elegy was concluded at Stoke Poges in June, 1750. (See letter to Walpole, June 12, 1750.) The churchyard as described by Gray is typical rather than particular; of the five disputed "originals" Stoke Poges bears the least resemblance to the graveyard in the Elegy. Five candidate churchyards for Gray's setting include Stoke Poges (unlikely), Upton (near Slough), Grantchester and Madingley (near Cambridge), and Thanington (near Canterbury), but the features might as readily be non-specific.
curfew: originally rung at eight o'clock as a signal for extinguishing fires; after this practice had ceased, the word was applied to an evening bell. In his note to this first line Gray refers to Dante, Purgatorio, VIII, 5-6: "Squilla di lontano / Che paia 'l giorno pianger, che si muore."
8] tinklings: made by sheep-bells.
9] Cf. Robert Colvill's "Britain, a Poem," II, 45-57:
Even thus, the keen ey'd falcon swift descends
On Pallas' bird victorious; long he watch'd
The tempting spoil, and she his rage defy'd,
Close shelter'd in her ivy mantl'd tower;
Compell'd abroad, while circling slow she wheels
In quest of food, and least expects the snare,
Strait from his airy flight the victor stoops,
As lightning-swift, and bears the captive prey. (450-57)
16] rude: unlearned.
17] incense-breathing: cf. Paradise Lost, IX, 193-4. Also Pope, Messiah, 24: "With all the incense of the breathing spring."
19] The cock's shrill clarion: cf. Paradise Lost, VII, 443-44: "the crested cock, whose clarion sounds/The silent hours." Cf. Paul Whitehead's "The State of Rome" (1739), lines 173-74:
But hold, War's Rumour! mark the loud Alarms!
Hark the shrill Clarion sounds to Arms, to Arms!
26] broke: old `strong' form of the past participle, `broken.'
30] homely: domestic. 32] short and simple annals: parish registers of births, christenings, marriages, and deaths (Richard Leighton Greene, "Gray's Elegy written in a Country Churchyard," The Explicator 24.6 [Feb. 1966].)
35] Cf. Henry Needler's "Horace. Book IV. Ode VII. Paraphras'd," lines 30-34: When once th' inevitable Hour is come,
At which thou must receive thy final Doom;
Thy Noble Birth, thy Eloquence Divine,
And shining Piety shall nought encline
The stubborn Will of unrelenting Fate ...
and Richard West's "A Monody on the Death of Queen Caroline" (Dodsley's Collection of Poems [1748]: II, 273):
Ah me! What boots us all our boasted power,
Our golden treasure, and our purpled state?
They cannot ward the inevitable hour,
Nor stay the fearful violence of Fate.
A collective (singular) subject is possible, though the word `hour' might also be the subject of the word `awaits.'
36] Cf. Pope's "The First Book of the Odyssey," lines 391-92:
O greatly bless'd with ev'ry blooming grace!
With equal steps the paths of glory trace ..
38] Trophies: memorials.
39] fretted: adorned with carved or embossed work. Cf. Hamlet, II, ii: "this majestical roof fretted with golden fire."
41] Cf. Samuel Whyte's "Elegy II" (1722), lines 119-20:
No breathing Marble o'er his Dust shall stand;
No storied Urn shall celebrate his Name ...
43] provoke: in its original sense, to call forth, to challenge.
51] rage: as often in the poetry of the eighteenth century, poetic fire (furor poeticus). 57] Hampden: John Hampden (ca. 1595-1643), one of the noblest of English Parliamentary statesmen; a central figure of the English revolution in its earlier stages. 59] Cf. Joseph Trapp's "Virgil's Aeneis," IV, 512-14:
He, to protract his aged Father's Life,
Chose Skill in Med'cine, and the Pow'rs of Herbs;
And exercis'd a mute inglorious Art.
69] conscious truth: truthful awareness of inward guilt.
72] In the Eton MS. this line was followed by four stanzas which were omitted in the published text. Here, according to Mason, the poem was intended to close; the "hoary-headed swain" and the epitaph were after-thoughts.
pious: dutiful.
73] Cf. Henry Jones' "On seeing a Picture of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, which was presented to the University of Dublin" (1749), lines 61-64:
Her favour'd Sons from 'midst the madding Crowd,
Her Sons select with gentle Hand she drew,
Secreted timely from th'austere and proud,
Their Fame wide-spreading, tho' their Numbers few.
madding: outraged.
92] Gray's note refers to Petrarch's sonnet 169:
Ch 'i veggio nel pensier, dolce mio fuoco,
Fredda una lingua, et due begli occhi chiusi
Rimaner doppo noi pien di faville.。