近日又读了Frost和Longfellow的诗

jocelynxu

前些日子，一次是在查收邮件时，看到老友们发过来的问候，心里一阵感触，想到了Henry Wadsworth Longfellow的 I Shot an Arrow into the Air; 还有一次就是和他人谈论以前择业时选择和放弃的工作时，想到了Robert Frost 的 The Road Not Taken. 后来还是把这两首诗找出来，自己抄写了一遍，诵读了几次，再次回味了一下。

I Shot an Arrow into the Air
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
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 marked 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.

再次与大家一起分享一下。

Vincentlover

我喜欢 Longfellow，现在也很喜欢。Longfellow 和 Robert Frost 都是很有美国特色的诗人，他们说话的语气特别的乐观积极，而且非常富有浪漫色彩。
记得我最初在学校学英语的时候，从纽约来的外教就朗诵了一首 Frost 的诗歌，那时觉得特别的美，特别向往。。（尽管在小时侯，可能我们都不知道欧洲是什么）

尤其是我刚读诗歌的时候，这些美国的诗人给我的印象尤其深刻，他们不像欧洲诗人那样比较深沉和严肃，反而他们非常有亲和力，色彩明快。。读着也让人心情开朗的。感觉自己也有了轻盈的魂灵。。
但是久而久之发现，美国的诗歌与我们的生活相去太远了。。

jocelynxu

2# Rimbaud

Longfellow 和Frost的诗读起来感觉很亲切，但毕竟中美文化历史差异太大，这些诗歌深究的话差异会显露出来。
这个是不是也要追求一下：“求同存异”——一份浅浅的同感+一种距离感的文化背景。
也许，正这种熟悉又陌生的感觉将我们这些不同时代的人的思想因某种特别的情感而相互吸引吧。

NOWIS

朗费罗的诗简直就是一种美的享受，贴近生活，以这样的途径再把人的想象带往远方

NOWIS

朗费罗的诗简直就是一种美的享受，贴近生活，以这样的途径再把人的想象带往远方

NOWIS

上次去书城，朗费罗的诗集已经卖掉了= =~

顾北

My Lost Youth

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Often I think of the beautiful town
That is seated by the sea;
Often in thought go up and down
The pleasant streets of that dear old town,
And my youth comes back to me.

jocelynxu

7# 顾北
近日把Longfellow的这首诗翻出来重读了一下，小时候的一些场景似乎浮现眼前。

My Lost Youth
Often I think of the beautiful town
That is seated by the sea;
Often in thought go up and down
The pleasant streets of that dear old town,
And my youth comes back to me.
And a verse of a Lapland song
Is haunting my memory still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I can see the shadowy lines of its trees,
And catch, in sudden gleams,
The sheen of the far-surrounding seas,
And islands that were the Hesperides
Of all my boyish dreams.
And the burden of that old song,
It murmurs and whispers still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I remember the black wharves and the ships,
And the sea-tides tossing free;
And Spanish sailors with bearded lips,
And the beauty and mystery of the ships,
And the magic of the sea.
And the voice of that wayward song
Is singing and saying still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I remember the bulwarks by the shore,
And the fort upon the hill;
The sunrise gun, with its hollow roar,
The drum-beat repeated o'er and o'er,
And the bugle wild and shrill.
And the music of that old song
Throbs in my memory still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I remember the sea-fight far away,
How it thundered o'er the tide!
And the dead captains, as they lay
In their graves, o'erlooking the tranquil bay
Where they in battle died.
And the sound of that mournful song
Goes through me with a thrill:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I can see the breezy dome of groves,
The shadows of Deering's Woods;
And the friendships old and the early loves
Come back with a Sabbath sound, as of doves
In quiet neighborhoods.
And the verse of that sweet old song,
It flutters and murmurs still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I remember the gleams and glooms that dart
Across the school-boy's brain;
The song and the silence in the heart,
That in part are prophecies, and in part
Are longings wild and vain.
And the voice of that fitful song
Sings on, and is never still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

There are things of which I may not speak;
There are dreams that cannot die;
There are thoughts that make the strong heart weak,
And bring a pallor into the cheek,
And a mist before the eye.
And the words of that fatal song
Come over me like a chill:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

Strange to me now are the forms I meet
When I visit the dear old town;
But the native air is pure and sweet,
And the trees that o'ershadow each well-known street,
As they balance up and down,
Are singing the beautiful song,
Are sighing and whispering still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

And Deering's Woods are fresh and fair,
And with joy that is almost pain
My heart goes back to wander there,
And among the dreams of the days that were,
I find my lost youth again.
And the strange and beautiful song,
The groves are repeating it still:
"A boy's will is the wind's will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

Godot

1# jocelynxu

很多电影台词都会引用Frost的这首诗。政客们对引用这首诗的前两句也乐此不疲。
不过，Frost本人对这首诗有双重解读。与其说是宣扬一种义无反顾，不如说是把重点放在末了，暗示一种悲观主义的情绪。（那时候的诗人总爱玩这样的编码解码游戏。）

jocelynxu

9# Godot
这种悲观、失落的情绪在全诗里洋溢着，文字再美但年华已老、青春已逝。