詩歌原文
Ulalume
The skies they were ashen and sobre;
The leaves they were crisped and SERE,
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemmorial year;
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir:
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
Here once, through an alley Titanic
Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul --
Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.
These were days when my heart was volcanic
As the scoriac rivers that roll,
As the lavas that restlessly roll
Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek
In the ultimate climes of the pole,
That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek
In the realms of the boreal pole.
Our talk had been serious and sober,
But our thoughts they were palsied and sere,
Our memories were treacherous and sere,
For we knew not the month was October,
And we marked not the night of the year,
(Ah, night of all nights in the year!)
We noted not the dim lake of Auber
(Though once we had journeyed down here),
Remembered not the dark tarn of Auber
Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
And now, as the night was senescent,
And star-dials pointed to morn,
As the star-dials hinted of morn,
At the end of our path a liquiescent
And nebulous lustre was born,
Out of which a miraculous crescent
arosewith a duplicate horn,
Astarte's bediamonded crescent
Distinct with its duplicate horn.
And I said -- "She is warmer than Dian:
She rolls through an ether of sighs,
She revels in a region of sighs:
She has seen that the tears are not dry on
These cheeks, where the worm never dies,
And has come past the stars of the Lion
To point us the path to the skies,
To the Lethean peace of the skies:
Come up, in despite of the Lion,
To shine on us with her Bright Eyes:
Come up through the lair of the Lion,
With love in her luminous eyes."
But Psyche, uplifting her finger,
Said -- "sadly this star I mistrust,
Her pallor I strangely mistrut:
Oh, hasten! -- oh, let us not linger!
Oh, fly! -- let us fly! -- for we must."
In terror she spoke, letting sink her
Wings until they trailed in the dust;
In agony sobbed, letting sink her
Plumes till they trailed in the dust,
Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.
I replied -- "This is nothing but dreaming:
Let us on by this tremulous light!
Let us bathe in this crystalline light!
Its sibyllic splendor is beaming
With hope and in beauty to-night:
See, it flickers up the sky through the night!
Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,
And be sure it will lead us aright:
We safely may trust to a gleaming
That cannot but guide us aright,
Since it flickers up to the Heaven through the night."
Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,
And tempted her out of her gloom,
And conquered her scruples and gloom;
And we passed to the end of the vista,
But were stopped by the door of a tomb,
By the door of a legended tomb;
And I said -- "What is written, sweet sister,
On the door of this legended tomb?"
She replied -- "Ulalume -- Ulalume --
'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!"
Then my heart it grew ashen and sober
As the leaved that were crisped and sere,
As the leaves that were withering and sere,
And I cried -- "It was surely October
On this very night of last year
That I journeyed -- I journeyed down here,
That I brought a dread burden down here:
On this night of all nights in the year,
Ah, what demon has tempted me here?
Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber,
This misty mid region of Weir:
Well, I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber,
This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir."
詩歌譯文
尤娜路姆
天空上一片灰白色而且清淡;
樹葉是枯干的而且瑟脆,
樹葉是枯干的而且凋萎;
這是我最難追憶的一年,
一個荒涼的十月的夜里;
緊瀕那朦朧的奧伯湖邊,
在那多霧的維爾的腹地:
直下那郁濕的奧伯潭邊,
在僵尸出沒的維爾的林地。
在此地,穿行于一條龐大的
柏樹的蔭道,我漫步,和我的靈魂,
柏樹的蔭道,伴著賽琪,我的靈魂。
在這些日子,我的心是爆發(fā)的,
像火山熔巖的河流在奔騰,
像火山巖漿在無盡地奔騰,
那硫磺的狂潮滾下了耶涅山,
在極地那世界盡頭的國度;
它一面悲吟,一面滾下了耶涅山,
在北極那荒寒的領土。
我們的傾談是嚴肅而且清醒,
但我們的思想是枯干而且麻痹,
而我們的記憶是枯干而且狡黠;
我們不知道這正是十月的月份,
我們沒注意這是哪一個夜里,
(啊,一年之中竟是這一個夜里?。?/p>
我們沒留心那朦朧的奧伯湖濱,
(雖然有一次我們到過這里)
沒憶起那郁濕的奧伯潭濱,
更忘了僵尸出沒的維爾的林地。
而這時,夜已經顯得老耋。
而星圖已暗指向了黎明,
當星圖已漸漸示著黎明,
在蔭路的盡頭有類似溶液
又類似星云的光輝誕生,
自光中又有彎神奇的新月
擎著孿生的雙角而飛升,
亞絲塔特鑲滿鉆石的新月
擎孿生的雙角,如此光明。
于是我說:“她比黛安還要溫暖:
她旋轉于一團嘆息的氣氛,
她浮沉于一圈嘆息的空冥:
她已經看見淚滴還沒有凝干
于我的頰上,頰上有不死的傷心,
而且自獅子座的星群間飛過,
來指示我們去天國的路程,
去天國那禮洗河般的寧靜:
升了上來,無懼于獅子星座,
照射我們,以她明亮的眼睛:
升了上來,自獅子座的穴窩,
閃耀的眼中滿孕著愛情。”
可是賽琪,將她的手指舉起,
說道:“不幸這顆星我不相信,
她的蒼白我出奇地不能相信:
哦,加緊,哦,讓我們莫再遲疑!
哦,快逃,讓我們快逃,我們必須加緊?!?/p>
駭然,她說著,且垂下她的雙翼,
直到它們拖曳于灰塵,
慟然,她泣著,且垂下她的白羽,
直到它們拖曳于灰塵,
直到它們憂傷地拖曳于灰塵。
我答道:“這不過是一場夢寐:
讓我們前進,借這顫抖的光芒!
讓我們浴于這水晶似的光芒!
它那預言神的光采正射著清輝,
于今夜,滿含著美和希望:
看,它搖曳于黑夜,直燭天堂!
啊,我們可以信賴它的光輝,
且相信它會導致正確的方向:
我們可以信賴這樣的光輝,
它一定會引至正確的方向。
因為它搖晃于黑夜,直燭天堂?!?/p>
于是我安慰著賽琪,而且吻她,
而且引誘她抖開她的郁悶,
而且征服了她的疑慮和郁悶;
于是我們直走到蔭路的盡頭,
可是被阻于一扇墓門,
被阻于一扇傳說的墓門;
“這是什么,好姐姐,”我問她:
“寫在這扇傳說的墓門?”
她答道:“尤娜路姆,尤娜路姆,
墓中是你逝去的尤娜路姆!”
于是我的心靈變成灰白而且清淡,
像樹葉那樣地干枯而且瑟脆,
像樹葉那樣地干枯而且凋萎;
于是我驚呼:“那無疑是去年,
去年十月的同一個夜里,
我曾漫步,我曾漫步來此地,
我曾負一個可怖的重壓來此地:
在一年之間,竟是這一個夜里,
啊,什么魔鬼誘我來此地?
現(xiàn)在我認清,這朦朧的奧伯湖邊,
這多霧的維爾的腹地:
現(xiàn)在我認清,這郁濕的奧伯潭邊,
這僵尸出沒的維爾的林地?!?/p>
創(chuàng)作背景
此詩作于1847年,是愛倫?坡哀悼亡妻弗吉尼亞之作品。1835年9月22日,愛倫?坡和剛滿十三歲的表妹弗吉尼亞結了婚。1846年他舉家遷往紐約郊區(qū)福德姆村居住。弗吉尼亞多病,在窮困潦倒的陋屋內病入膏肓,愛倫?坡無錢延醫(yī),在1847年1月30日,眼睜睜看著愛妻去世。愛倫?坡對此腸斷心碎,無以擺脫精神的痛苦,遂創(chuàng)作了這首詩。
詩歌賞析
尤娜路姆是愛倫?坡杜撰的女子之名。全詩充滿象征意味,暗示詩人如何伴著膽怯善驚的靈魂賽琪,在不知不覺中沿著記憶之幽徑,來到了已故的愛人尤娜路姆的墓前。詩中有許多專有名詞,如耶涅山、奧伯、維爾、黛安等,都是愛倫,坡杜撰出以便押韻的字;當然,維爾可能暗示“鬼怪”(weird),黛安可能暗示月神黛安娜。亞絲塔特,一說是東方人對愛神維納斯的稱呼。
禮洗河是希臘神話中冥府里的忘川,喝了就能忘記身前之事。預言神是希臘神話中能預知未來的神只,羅馬所發(fā)生的一切據(jù)說都早已見于他們的秘箋。詩中用了一系列富有意味的象征形象,表達生命的脆弱和死亡的悲哀,渲染出痛入骨髓的憂傷,將死亡、憂郁以極其優(yōu)美的形式表達出來。
愛倫?坡關于詩歌題材有一個著名的說法:“死亡與美可成為最親密的聯(lián)盟,而一個漂亮女人的死毫無疑問則是世界上最富有詩意的題材?!币蚨脑姼杩傆幸粋€美麗聰慧的女性,而這些美麗的天使總是有著宿命般的結局,注定走向死亡。這首《尤娜路姆》就是以美女夭亡為主題,最大限度地抒發(fā)悲痛與絕望,體現(xiàn)了詩人憂郁、陰暗的心理狀態(tài),表現(xiàn)出深重的孤獨感和自我的喪失。
在詩歌形式式上,本詩以半疊句著名,還使用了“元音韻”和“頭韻”,在本詩中達到了較好的效果。但不免過分追求音律,有刻意求工之嫌。例如在第八段中,他用kissed her和sister押韻,實屬勉強。
作者簡介
埃德加?愛倫?坡(Edgar Allan Poe),生于1809年1月19日,逝于1849年10月7日,美國作家,詩人,編輯和文學評論家,美國浪漫主義思潮時期的重要成員。坡以神秘故事和恐怖小說聞名于世,他是美國短篇故事的最早先驅者之一,又被尊為推理小說的開山鼻祖,進而也被譽為后世科幻小說的始祖。他是第一個嘗試完全依賴寫作謀生的知名美國作家,從而導致貧困潦倒。