第二讲 A Psalm of Life翻译鉴赏

第二讲 A Psalm of Life鉴赏

·相关背景·

亨利·沃兹渥斯·朗费罗，1807-1882，美国诗人。《人生礼赞》这首诗写于1838年,很快成为一首极富盛名的诗篇。此诗长达9节,以四步抑扬格写成。它是一首训教诗,哲理深刻,作者感叹生活的艰辛,劝勉人们要坚韧不拔,不要气馁,要振作,要奋斗,要有所追求,要有所作为,从而使人生的小舟在经过风暴的洗礼之后抵达理想的彼岸。《人生礼赞》这首诗自发表以来一直广为传诵,直到2000年还被当年的美国桂冠诗人与他人经广泛调查后选定,编入《美国人喜爱的诗》。本诗还是第一首被译为汉语的欧美诗歌,最早的译文距今已一百多年,赢得了无数中国读者的心。

"A Psalm of Life" is a poem written by American writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and was published in October of 1838. It is a poem of encouragement, telling the reader not to waste life. Longfellow is sure to establish that life is real, and it will end soon. He wrote this poem at a fairly young age, yet he has a deep and accurate insight of life.

The content of the poem is not especially unique. The speaker is involved in the first person perspective, where he is directly addressing the reader. The tone is neither positive nor negative, but is strictly honest. The tone remains the same "encouraging" style from beginning to end, and there is no change of tone. The only tension found in the poem is that between life and death - Longfellow writes about how every living thing is affected by both conflicting states of being.

The word choice in "A Psalm of Life" was obviously carefully picked. An adjective is never repeated, yet the poem reads perfectly. Each word has its own meaning, and its own unique take on life, and every word adds something important, even vital, to the "life" of the poem. The rhythm also flows flawlessly. The rhythm scheme is an eight syllable line followed by a seven syllable line. The poem does not stray from that simple rhythm once.

Imagery is the sole method of expression in the poem. Longfellow paints a word picture in each stanza that allows the reader to see more clearly what he is describing. Metaphors and Symbolism is rampant - in fact, the poem is almost entirely comprised of these things.

The form of the poem is very basic. Each stanza is four lines long, making the poem a quatrain, and the rhyme scheme follows the pattern "ABAB, CDCD, EFEF..." etc. for each of the nine stanzas. Each stanza also has a recurrent rhythm pattern: 8 syllables, 7 syllables, 8 syllables, 7 syllables.

Analyzing the poem even deeper, you will notice that even the punctuation plays an important role. Exclamation points are used to establish emphasis on a particular line. There is no pattern to the punctuation, which makes it even more beneficial to strengthening the meaning of a phrase. Overall, it is very obvious that "A Psalm of Life" is a well thought out poem.

词语注解：

Psalm：The Book of Psalms, commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible. Taken together, its 150 poems express virtually the full range of