O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up&emdash;for you the flag is flung&emdash;for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths&emdash;for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
The arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won:
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
ROBERT FROST(1874-1963)的诗,我一直比较感兴趣,大三时上美国文学课,听到他和HENRY JAMES的名字时就会莫名地兴奋上好一阵子.和FAULKNER一样,FROST也算是个大器晚成的人,11岁丧父后随母迁居新英格兰,曾在哈佛求学,但学业未竟.1900-1909年,他闲居乡里,,养鸡,喝酒,种田,写诗,度过一段惬意却挺没出息的生活.1912年他去了LONDON,结识了初期意象派诗人F.S.FLINT,EZRA POUND,EDWARD THOMAS等人.1913年,他发表了第一部诗集A BOY’S WISH,从此开始了他的诗人生涯,随即一路发达:中年时担任哈佛的诗学教授,4次获得普利策奖,成为美国最负声名的诗人.FROST认为作家的职责在于说出”人民所明白却说不出来的东西”.他常以新英格兰的点点滴滴为题材作诗, 从生活中汲取象征和隐喻,并将当地的口语语言融入诗的表现风格,因此作品显的平朴而恬淡,意味却深远,就是所谓”小生活中的大道理”吧.
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN是他的名作之一,令人想到我国古代杨朱见歧路而哭的传说.其实我想在面对选择面对分岔路时,我们嘴上说不知该如何是好,心里却总还是有些底的.真真假假的犹豫过后,最终总会迈出脚步踏上一条路.而之后若是再念叨FROST的这首诗,很明显的就只是为了让自己好过一点而已了.
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.