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古诗词 · 十四行诗

十四行诗第5首

William Shakespeare1609年初版十四行诗
英文原文 · SOURCE TEXT
Those howers that with gentle worke did frame,
The louely gaze where euery eye doth dwell
Will play the tirants to the very same,
And that vnfaire which fairely doth excell:
For neuer resting time leads Summer on,
To hidious winter and confounds him there,
Sap checkt with frost and lustie leau's quite gon.
Beauty ore-snow'd and barenes euery where,
Then were not summers distillation left
A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glasse,
Beauties effect with beauty were bereft,
Nor it nor noe remembrance what it was.
But flowers distil'd though they with winter meete,
Leese but their show, their substance still liues sweet.
文化解读

玻璃中的“囚徒”,为何仍是希望

诗把夏日的留存写成玻璃壁中的“liquid prisoner”,这个受困的形象乍看与保存相悖;但与紧接的“Beauties effect with beauty were bereft”对照,瓶中之物恰是避免美与其作用一同消失的设想。结尾区分“show”与“substance”,邀请读者比较眼前可见的花与它留下的甜。这个比喻不需要先替诗指定一位受赠者,也不能据此断言作者在陈述某项具体的历史工艺。

语言说明

同一双手造美,也把美带向冬天

英文原文开头让“Those howers”先塑出令人注目的容貌,紧接着却说它们会成为同一容貌的“tirants”:造成美的时间,也会损伤美。接下来的夏、冬、霜与落叶把这个转变展开成季节的推进。读到第九行“Then were not summers distillation left”时,论证转了方向:假如夏天什么也没留下,逝去的就不仅是外表,还有可记取的痕迹。末两行的花即使失去可见的形貌,仍以“substance”留存其甜;这是一种借花论保存的写法,而非记录某件真实的蒸馏物。