The Road Not Taken
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
羅伯特.弗羅斯特(1874一1963)是在馬薩諸塞州勞倫斯上的中學(xué),也在達(dá)特第斯學(xué)院和哈佛大學(xué)讀過一段時(shí)間。獲得詩名之前,弗羅斯特時(shí)而務(wù)農(nóng),時(shí)而到中學(xué)教希臘語和拉丁語。他的第一部詩集出版于1913年。1916年后,他一直在著名學(xué)府任職,通常的身份是“住校詩人”。弗羅斯特的詩歌備受喜愛,原因之一是未受過多少學(xué)校教育的人都看得懂。當(dāng)許多詩人熱衷于搞詩歌試驗(yàn)時(shí),他卻堅(jiān)持使用日常語言,描寫自己觀察入微的日常事件。弗羅斯特的許多詩歌反映了他與大自然的貼近。他通過自然來表達(dá)一種象征意義,而不是什么田園式的思鄉(xiāng)情調(diào)。《未選擇的路》是弗羅斯特的一首名詩,作于1915年。
黃葉林中出條岔路,
無奈一人難于兼顧,
順著一條婉蜒小路,
久久佇立極目遠(yuǎn)眺,
只見小徑拐進(jìn)灌木。
接著選擇了另一條,
同樣清楚似乎更好,
引人踩踏鋪滿茂草,
踏在其間難分彼此,
盡管真有兩條道。
清晨里躺著兩條路,
一樣葉被無人踏臟,
愿將第一條來日補(bǔ),
但知條條相連遠(yuǎn)途,
懷疑日后怎能回返。
在很久以后某一地,
我將嘆息訴說于人,
兩路岔開在樹林里,
我選的那條足跡稀,
而一切差別由此起