英美诗歌选读 第七讲

英美诗歌选读第七讲

五行打油诗与短回旋诗

五行打油诗（Limerick）与短回旋诗（Rondelet）属于轻体诗（light verse），以幽默讽刺为重要特征。

第一节五行打油诗

五行打油诗是英国人爱德华•李尔（Edward Lear，1812~1888）所创，此后，英国人写了无数的五行打油诗，但大多是匿名作品。这类诗在形式上为五行，第一、二、五行为相同韵步，押尾韵，第三、四行为相同韵步，押尾韵，韵式为aabba。例如：

The secret of love is the power

To weather the sweet and the sour

Your joy will not weaken

With love as your beacon

Through sunshine and through thunder shower. [1]

（Anonymous：Love’s Secret）

又如：

There once was a girl who loved rhyme；

She felt her writing was sublime.

Indeed quite a poet，

Though some didn't know it，

She'd be rich if each paid a dime. [2]

（Anonymous）

再如：

I wish you success with your dreams.

It's easy if we work in teams

So all in due course

Lets give it more sauce.

It isn't as tough as it seems. [3]

（Anonymous）

顺便一提，英语诗歌中有一种诗叫doggerel，俗称打油诗，指的是不合韵律且粗劣的蹩脚诗，与五行打油诗是两个概念。

第二节短回旋诗

短回旋诗是一种法国诗体，由一个七行诗节构成，只有两个韵，其中，第三行和第七行与第一行完全相同，是迭句（refrain）。其韵式为AbAabbA（A代表迭句的韵）。如无名氏的《我的归属》：

Hearing your voice

The future is so much grander

Hearing your voice

Every morning I rejoice

No more am I a bystander

I look to you my commander

Hearing your voic [4]

（Anolymous：I Belong）

又如无名氏的《留在身后》：

Feeling the pain

You should have seen but you were blind

Feeling the pain

Emptiness will drive you insane

Only memories to remind

Of how we used to lay entwined

Feeling the pain [5]

（Anonymous：Left Behind）

素体诗与自由诗

第一节素体诗

素体诗（blank verse）指由抑扬格五韵步写成但不押尾韵的诗歌。

莎士比亚的剧作大部分由素体诗写成，如《如愿》中第二幕第七景以下诗行：

All the world’s a stage，

And all the men and women，merely players；

They have their exits and their entrances，

And one man in his time plays many parts，

His Acts being seven ages. At first the infant，

Mewling，and puking in the nurse’s arms：[6]

（Shakespeare：As You Like It，Act II，Scene 7）

除了第一行，其余诗行都是抑扬格五韵步，但不押尾韵。

弥尔顿的史诗《失乐园》也是用素体写成的，如一开始的第27行至第33行：

Say first—for heaven hides nothing from thy view，

Nor the deep tract of Hell—say first what cause

Moved our grand Parensts，in that happy state，

Favoured of Heaven so highly，to fall off

From their Creator，and transgress his will

For one restraint，lords of the World besides.

Who first seduced them to that foul revolt？[7]

（John Milton：The Paradise Lost）

华兹华斯讲述自己心灵成长的长诗《序曲》，同样也是用素体写成的，如第三卷的开始诗节：

It was a dreary Morning when the Wheels

Rolled over a wide plain o’erhung with clouds，

And nothing cheered our way till first we saw

The long-roof’d Chapel of King’s College lift

Turrets，and pinnacles in answering files，

Extended high above a dusky grove. [8]

（William Wordsworth：The Prelude，Book Third）

第二节自由诗

自由诗指一种既没有规则的韵律格式，也没有可辨认的传统韵步的诗。从某种意义上讲，