英语诗歌的基本押韵格式 打印

重庆交通大学外国语学院课程《英美诗歌选读》电子课件:第四讲

诗人们有时使双行诗节发生变化,在双行上加一行并与之押韵,这样的诗节叫三行同韵诗节(triplet)。最好的例子莫过于丁尼生的《鹰》:

He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ring‘d with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls.6

(Alfred Tennyson: The Eagle)

如果是三个以上的诗行押一个韵,这叫单韵(monorhyme)。单韵的格式有两种,一种是一个诗节只押一个韵,有多少诗节就有多少韵,另一种是一首诗只押一个韵。例如弗罗斯特的《蔷薇科》就是一首诗只押一种韵的典型例子:

The rose is a rose,

And was always a rose. But the theory now goes That the apple‘s a rose, And the pear is, and so‘s The plum, I suppose.

What will next prove a rose. You, of course, are a rose— But were always a rose.7

(Robert Frost: The Rose Family)

二、 隔行押韵格式

隔行韵(alternate rhyme)又称交叉韵(cross rhyme),其格式abab是英语诗歌中仅次于双行押韵格式aa的第二种基本押韵格式,一般用于写作四行诗节,其基本特征就是第一行诗与第三行诗押韵,第二行诗同第四行诗押韵。如华兹华斯的《致杜鹃》第一诗节:

O blithe new-comer! I have heard, I hear thee and rejoice:

O Cuckoo! Shall I call thee Bird,

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他蜷曲的爪子抓着巉岩;/ 下临荒山野,上近太阳边,/ 周围的世界是一片蓝天。// 底下是蠕动着的皱海面;/ 他站在绝壁上细细观看,/ 接着扑下时迅猛如雷电。(黄杲炘 译) 7

玫瑰花属于蔷薇科,/ 在过去这一直是的。/ 但现在有种理论了,/ 说苹果也属蔷薇科,/ 梨树也是,我捉摸 / 连李树也属蔷薇科。/ 天晓得下回是什么 / 被证明属于蔷薇科。/ 你当然属于蔷薇科——/ 不过你一向就是的。(黄杲炘 译)

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重庆交通大学外国语学院课程《英美诗歌选读》电子课件:第四讲

Or but a wandering Voice? 8

(William Wordsworth: To the Cuckoo)

这种押韵格式来自双行诗节的押韵格式,是双行诗节的变体,它本身也同样存在变体,形成另外一种格式,如xbyb格式(其中x和y表示不押韵)。这种格式在民谣中比较常见,如济慈《冷酷的妖女》第六、七诗节:

I set her on my pacing steed,

And nothing else saw all day long, For sidelong would she bend, and sing

A fairy‘s song.

She found me roots of relish sweet, And honey wild, and manna dew,

And sure in language strange she said—

I love thee true. 9

(John Keats: La Belle Dame Sans Merci)

三、 吻韵格式

吻韵(envelope rhyme or kissing rhyme)又称抱韵,其押韵格式为abba,其主要特征是第一诗行与第四诗行押韵,第二诗行和第三诗行押韵。这种格式通常被用在抑扬格四韵步或五韵步诗行的四行诗节中,丁尼生的《悼念集》被认为是用此种格式写成的最著名的诗篇,其中第十一段的最后两个诗节如下:

Calm and deep peace in this wide air, These leaves that redden to the fall, And in my heart, if calm at all, If any calm, a calm despair;

Calm on the seas, and silver sleep,

And waves that sway themselves in rest, And dead calm in that noble breast

Which heaves but with the heaving deep.10

(Alfred Tennyson: In Memoriam, Section 11)

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快活的鸟呀!你新来乍到,/ 听到你唱我就高兴。/ 杜鹃哪!我该把你叫做鸟?/ 或只叫飘荡的歌声?(黄杲炘 译) 9

我抱她骑在马上慢慢走,/ 整天除了她,什么也不瞧;/ 她侧过身子依着我,唱出 / 一支仙灵的歌谣。// 她为我找来美味的草根,/ 天赐的仙露和野地的蜂蜜,/ 她用奇异的语言说话,/ 想必是我真爱你!(屠岸 译) 10

宁静、安谧充满这大气,/秋色把树叶染成了殷红,/ 而我的心中即使有宁静,/无非是宁静的绝望而已;// 宁静的海是银色的睡乡,/ 睡着的波浪轻摇着自己,/ 海面起伏只因为它叹息,/它胸中的宁静一如死亡。(黄杲炘 译)

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重庆交通大学外国语学院课程《英美诗歌选读》电子课件:第四讲

丁尼生的密友哈勒姆在欧洲旅行期间,客死维也纳,丁尼生极为悲伤,十多年中,从这种悲伤出发,把对人生、宗教、社会等的思考写成一首首诗,记录了这一心灵历程。该诗集发表后,成为英诗中最伟大的悼念诗之一这种诗体也被称为悼念体。

又如哈代的《灰暗的色调》前两个诗行:

We stood by a pond that winter day,

And the sun was white, as though chidden of God, And a few leaves lay on the starving sod;

—They had fallen from an ash, and were gray.

Your eyes on me were as eyes that rove Over tedious riddles of years ago;

And some words played between us to and fro

On which lost the more by our love.11

(Thomas Hardy: Neutral Tones)

这是诗人悼念亡妻的诗歌之一,抒写了他们情感曾经的隔阂。

吻韵与四行诗节联系在一起,如果诗行增加并押吻韵,吻韵就有了变体形式,如哈代的《啊,是你在我坟上刨土》就是一例,其前两个诗节如下:

?Ah, are you digging on my grave My loved one?—planting rue?‘ —?No: yesterday he went to wed

One of the brightest wealth has bred. ―It cannot hurt her now,‖ he said, ―That I should not be true.‖‘

?Then who is digging on my grave? My nearest dearest kin?‘

—?Ah, no: they sit and think, ―what use! What good will planting flowers produce? No tendance of her mound can loose Her spirit from Death‘s gin.‖‘12

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那个冬日我俩站在小池边,/ 太阳脸色苍白,像挨了上帝呵责,/ 枯干的草地上几片落叶泛灰色;/ 那是一棵白蜡树落下的叶片。// 你双眼看着我,游移的眼神 / 闪过多年前那些乏味的谜;/ 你我敷衍着言语,话不投机,/ 更减损我们已残的情。(刘新民 译) 12

“啊,是你在我坟上刨土;/ 我的恋人?——想种茴香?”/ ——“不:昨天他已结婚,/ 娶了个漂亮富有的女人。/ 他说:‘现在我对她不忠诚,/ 再不会把她的心儿伤。’”// “那么是谁在我坟上刨土?/ 我最亲近的家人?”/ ——“哦,不:他们还坐在那儿考虑,/‘栽种花草能有多少收益?/ 无论怎样照料她的

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重庆交通大学外国语学院课程《英美诗歌选读》电子课件:第四讲

(Thomas Hardy: Ah, Are You Digging on My Grave?)

这是一首具有讽刺味道的对话诗,是坟墓里的死者与坟上刨土者的对话,死者不知道是谁在刨土,就发问是不是自己的恋人,亲人,或敌人(第三节),刨土者回答说都不是,他们都已经不爱你,不想你,不恨你了。刨土者最后回答说自己是死者养过的那只小狗,死者感动于世上还有小狗一颗忠诚的心,而小狗的回答却是,它来刨土为的是埋一根骨头,竟然忘了这里是主人的安息地。每个诗节有六个诗行,第一行在后面每个诗节首行作少许变动后重复,属迭句。如果将其抛在一边,我们就不难发现,每诗节里剩下的五行诗,属abbba吻韵格式。

吻韵也可以用来写三行诗节,格式为aba。这样的诗行叫吻韵三行诗节(enclosed tercet),如毕晓普的《一门艺术》第一、诗节:

The art of losing isn't hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master. 13

(Elizabeth Bishop: One Art)

四、链韵格式

链韵(chain rhyme)又名连锁韵(interlocking rhyme),是英语诗歌中较为复杂的押韵格式,主要用于四行诗节或三行诗节。其特征是一个诗节中的某一行诗用于连接下一个诗节中某一行诗的韵。雪莱的《西风颂》是使用链韵的优秀范例,其第四段如下:

If I were a dead leaf thou mightiest bear; If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;

A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share

The impulse of thy strength, only less free Than thou, O Uncontrollable! If even I were as in my boyhood, and could be

The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,

坟地,/ 也无法救她出死亡陷阱。’”(刘新民 译) 13

“丢失”是一种艺术,要掌握并不难;/ 许多事物真像是巴望着被丢失,/ 所以说,丢失了它们决不是灾难。// 每一天丢失点东西。接受那不安:/ 丢失了门钥匙,被糟蹋了的时日。/ “丢失”是一种艺术,要掌握并不难。(黄杲炘 译)

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