(雙語)月亮和六便士 第2章(3)

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Who now, for example, thinks of George Crabbe? He was a famous poet in his day, and the world recognised his genius with a unanimity which the greater complexity of modern life has rendered infrequent. He had learnt his craft at the school of Alexander Pope, and he wrote moral stories in rhymed couplets. Then came the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, and the poets sang new songs. Mr. Crabbe continued to write moral stories in rhymed couplets. I think he must have read the verse of these young men who were making so great a stir in the world, and I fancy he found it poor stuff. Of course, much of it was. But the odes of Keats and of Wordsworth, a poem or two by Coleridge, a few more by Shelley, discovered vast realms of the spirit that none had explored before. Mr. Crabbe was as dead as mutton, but Mr. Crabbe continued to write moral stories in rhymed couplets. I have read desultorily the writings of the younger generation. It may be that among them a more fervid Keats, a more ethereal Shelley, has already published numbers the world will willingly remember. I cannot tell. I admire their polish—their youth is already so accomplished that it seems absurd to speak of promise—I marvel at the felicity of their style; but with all their copiousness (their vocabulary suggests that they fingered Roget's Thesaurus in their cradles) they say nothing to me: to my mind they know too much and feel too obviously; I cannot stomach the heartiness with which they slap me on the back or the emotion with which they hurl themselves on my bosom; their passion seems to me a little anaemic and their dreams a trifle dull. I do not like them. I am on the shelf. I will continue to write moral stories in rhymed couplets. But I should be thrice a fool if I did it for aught but my own entertainment.

譬如說，今天還有誰想得到喬治·克萊布【喬治·克萊布（1754—1832），英國詩人】呢？在他生活的那一時代，他是享有盛名的，當時所有的人一致承認他是個偉大的天才，這在今天更趨復雜的現代生活中是很罕見的事了。他寫詩的技巧是從亞歷山大·蒲柏【亞歷山大·蒲柏（1688—1744），英國詩人】派那里學習來的，他用押韻的對句寫了很多說教的故事。后來爆發(fā)了法國大革命和拿破侖戰(zhàn)爭，詩人們唱起新的詩歌來。克萊布先生繼續(xù)寫他的押韻對句的道德詩，我想他一定讀過那些年輕人寫的風靡一時的新詩，而且我還想象他一定認為這些詩不堪卒讀。當然，大多數新詩確實是這樣子的。但是象濟慈同華茲華斯寫的頌歌，柯勒律治的一兩首詩，雪萊的更多的幾首，確實發(fā)現了前人未曾探索過的廣闊精神領域?？巳R布先生已經陳腐過時了，但是克萊布先生還是孜孜不倦地繼續(xù)寫他的押韻對句詩。我也斷斷續(xù)續(xù)讀了一些我們這一時代的年輕人的詩作，他們當中可能有一位更熾情的濟慈或者更一塵不染的雪萊，而且已經發(fā)表了世界將長久記憶的詩章，這我說不定。我贊賞他們的優(yōu)美詞句——盡管他們還年輕，卻已才華橫溢，因此如果僅僅說他們很有希望，就顯得荒唐可笑了——，我驚嘆他們精巧的文體；但是雖然他們用詞豐富（從他們的語匯看，倒仿佛這些人躺在搖籃里就已經翻讀過羅杰特的《詞匯寶庫》了），卻沒有告訴我們什么新鮮東西。在我看來，他們知道的太多，感覺過于膚淺；對于他們拍我肩膀的那股親熱勁兒同闖進我懷抱時的那種感情，我實在受不了。我覺得他們的熱情似乎沒有血色，他們的夢想也有些平淡。我不喜歡他們。我已經是過時的老古董了。我仍然要寫押韻對句的道德故事。但是如果我對自己寫作除了自娛以外還抱有其它目的，我就是個雙料的傻瓜了。