英语诗歌：London——伦敦
Lyrics（英汉）
伦敦
——王居良译
我走过每条独占的街道，
排拘在独占的泰晤士河边，
我看见每个过往的行人
有一张衰弱、痛苦的脸。
每个人的每声呼喊，
每个鉴孩害怕的号叫，
每句话，每条禁令，
都响着心灵铸成的镣铐。
多少扫烟肉孩子的喊叫，
震惊了每座熏黑的教堂;
不幸士兵的长叹
像鲜血流下了宫墙。
最怕是深夜的街头
又听年轻妓女的沮咒!
它骇住了初生儿的眼泪，
又带来疽疫，使婚车变成灵枢。
I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every man,
In every infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear:
How the chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackening church appals,
And the hapless soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down palace-walls.
But most, through midnight streets I hear
How the youthful harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.
The poet William Blake was a poet and artist who specialised in illuminated texts, often of a religious nature. He rejected established religion for various reasons. One of the main ones was the failure of the established Church to help children in London who were forced to work. Blake lived and worked in the capital, so was arguably well placed to write clearly about the conditions people who lived there faced.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience Published in 1794, this collection of poems, fully illustrated and originally hand-printed by Blake, aimed to show the "Two Contrary States of the Human Soul". The Songs of Innocence section contains poems which are positive in tone and celebrate love, childhood and nature. The Songs of Experience poems are obviously intended to provide a contrast, and illustrate the effects of modern life on people and nature. Dangerous industrial conditions, child labour, prostitution and poverty are just some of the topics Blake explores. The French Revolution In 1789, the French people revolted against the monarchy and aristocracy, using violence and murder to overthrow those in power. Many saw the French Revolution as inspirational - a model for how ordinary, disadvantaged people could seize power. Blake alludes to the revolution in London, arguably suggesting that the experience of living there could encourage a revolution on the streets of the capital.
As with most of Blake's poetry, there are several critical interpretations of London. The most common interpretation, favored by critics such as Camille Paglia and E.P. Thompson, holds that London is primarily a social protest. A less frequently held view is that of Harold Bloom; that London primarily is Blake's response to the tradition of Biblical prophecy.
The use of the word 'Chartered' is ambiguous. It may express the political and economic control that Blake considered London to be enduring at the time of his writing. Blake's friend Thomas Paine had criticised the granting of Royal Charters to control trade as a form of class oppression. However, 'chartered' could also mean 'freighted', and may refer to the busy or overburdened streets and river, or to the licenced trade carried on within them.
In Blake's notebook, the word 'chartered' originally read, 'dirty'.
In Thompson's view, Blake was an unorthodox Christian of the dissenting tradition, who felt that the state was abandoning those in need. He was heavily influenced by mystical groups. The poem reflects Blake's extreme disillusionment with the suffering he saw in London.
The reference to a harlot blighting the 'marriage hearse' with 'plague' is usually understood to refer to the spread of venereal disease in the city, passed by a prostitute to a man and thence his bride, so that marriage can become a sentence of death.
The poem was published during the upheavals of the French Revolution, and the city of London was suffering political and social unrest, due to the marked social and working inequalities of the time. An understandably nervous government had responded by introducing restrictions on the freedom of speech and the mobilisation of foreign mercenaries.
The City of London was a town that was shackled to landlords and owners that controlled and demeaned the majority of the lower and middle classes.Within the poem that bears the city's name, Blake describes 18th century London as a conurbation filled with people who understood, with depressing wisdom, both the hopelessness and misery of their situation.
“最强有力的短诗” ——威廉·布莱克的“伦敦”
威廉·布莱克是英国十八世纪后期至十九世纪初著名的进步诗人和版画家，英国浪漫主义诗歌的先驱。他不满足于蒲柏为代表的古典主义诗歌传统，而以英国伊丽莎白时期和十六世纪抒情小诗及十八世纪田园诗为楷模，反理性而重情感，在形式和技巧方面意求新。他的诗文字朴实，想象瑰丽，意象丰富，形象鲜明，情感深厚真挚，具有深刻的民主思想。
布莱克生于伦敦一个卖内衣杂货的小商人家庭，因家境贫赛，没有受过正规教育。幼年时代，他做了一个雕版家的学徒，学习绘画和雕版。后来他就靠这两门手艺，一生过着小手工艺人的清苦生活。这种生活使他亲身体会到资本主义给小生产者带来的痛苦，并为他接近人民，认识社会的黑暗提供了方便。
布莱克生活在美国独立革命和法国大革命相继震撼世界的年代，英国当局正疯狂地迫害和逮捕国内进步人士。布莱克曾亲自参加过英国的民主斗争，并在斗争中经受了锻炼。革命的岁月和战斗的经历，为他的诗歌创作奠定了一定的基础。
“伦敦”一诗写于1893年左右。诗中描绘了诗人在夜幕下带着痛苦的沉思，徘徊在伦敦街头的所见所闻，从而为读者展示了一幅在恐怖统治下的人民万般困苦的生活画面。
第一节里，诗人心情忧郁地漫步在伦敦街头，因为这里的每一条街道都被独占了，即便是泰晤士河。大公司，大商人从国王处获得了独占权，使他们得以更为便利地谋取资本主义的高额利润。伦敦的居民就象这些被划定了的街道和河流，毫无自由可言。所以诗人处处看到的都是疲惫不堪、痛苦衰弱的面孔。 为了强调这是每个平民都无法逃避的共 同命运，在第二节里诗人一连用了五个“每个”，而且用了一系列平行的结构短语，强调
人们是如此的痛苦。这痛苦不仅是来自肉体上，而更是来自心灵和思想上的压迫。每一条禁令都是政府强加给人民的残酷的精神枷锁。
第三节具体地运用一连串形象来深化上述的不自由和受压迫。谁又忍心听扫烟囱的叫卖声呢?扫烟囱在伦敦当时是 一种特殊的职业，遍布城市的高高耸立的烟囱用久了就需要雇人清扫里面的煤灰。但烟囱太窄，只能雇佣身体瘦小、尚未成年的儿童来干。穷苦人家的孩子就这样必须忍受着瞎眼、跌伤和窒息的痛苦，为着有钱人的温暖和利润而扫!扫!扫!“孩子们的喊叫，震惊了每座熏黑的教堂。”“熏黑”从字面上可以理解为英国是一个多烟尘、多雾的国家，资本主义经济的迅速发展，更加剧了城市的污染，因此教堂受到长期的污染，原本雪白的墙面被熏黑了。但是这里具有象征的意义，它更指教会的被站污、袭读了的精神。教会本应保护这些上帝的小羔羊，但是他们与政府为伍，在思想上维护残害穷孩子的社会。况且，他们自己教堂的烟囱就是由那些可怜的穷孩子们打扫的。扫烟囱孩子们的声嘶力竭的叫喊， 是对统治人类精神的教会的有力控述和谴责，又怎能不使他们颤抖、害怕呢?屋外凄惨 的叫卖声与室内牧师的虔诚祈祷形成了讽刺性的对照。流离失所的士兵为朝延卖命，可是却得不到应有的待遇，于是不幸士兵的长叹似乎化作了殷红的鲜血，流下了王宫的墙壁，控述了统治阶级的罪恶，也共同诉说了穷苦人民的悲惨境遇。这里诗人将“叹息”和“鲜血”两者具有不同属性的事物联结在一起，取得了异常沉痛的效果。最后一节里的内容最为深刻，诗人的谴责也最为激越和严厉。诗人最怕听到的是深夜里“年轻妓女的诅咒”，因为这诅咒是如此充满恨的力量，会“骇住初生婴儿的眼泪”，还会“带来瘟疫，使婚车变成灵讴”。年轻的妓女是全体穷苦人民在资本主义商业城市所遭受的全部凌辱的象征。她们年轻的肉体被凌辱、被摧残，精神受到打击和折磨。她们不但自己得了花柳病(诗中的瘟疫)，还影响到下一代，孩子将会是先天性的眼瞎。她们不能够有幸福的婚姻，因为喜庆的婚车不久即会变成送葬的灵车。这样的结局又怎么能让她们不诅咒命运、诅咒婚姻、诅咒这个给人民带
来深重灾难的社会啊!
英诗以抑扬格四音步写成，韵尾呈ab ab cd cd ef ef dg dg形式。此外，加上头韵、重复等修辞手法的运用，全诗具有强烈的音乐节奏感，极好地渲染和烘托了主题。
短短十六行诗，文字简洁、朴素，但是生动、高昂地表现了诗人深刻的思想感情，形象地道出了那个处在法国革命和产业革命激荡里的英国社会的全部灾难，有力地抨击了社会的经济、政治、宗教和家庭生活的黑暗面，体现了诗人对贫苦人民的无限同情。一首短诗，容量竟如此巨大，含义如此丰富、含蓄，令人深思，不愧被西方评论界誉为“最强有力的短诗”。
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