3月10日
The Chimaeras
Absence of heart—as in public buildings—
Absence of mind—as in public speeches—
Absence of worth—as in goods intended for the public
这是多么精辟，多么讽刺。Auden这里怎么有王尔德的味儿了？
3月11日
After Reading a Child's Guide to Modern Physics
讲真，如果是我看完物理书，我不会写出这样的诗句，我会一头雾水，然后立刻躺平~
It has chosen once, it seems,
And whether our concern
For magnitude’s extremes
Really become a creature
Who comes in a median size,
Or politicising Nature
Be altogether wise,
Is something we shall learn.
A sentence uttered makes a world appear
Where all things happen as it says they do;
We doubt the speaker, not the tongue we hear:
Words have no word for words that are not true.
Syntactically, though, it must be clear;
One cannot change the subject half-way through,
Nor alter tense to appease the ear:
Arcadian tales are hard-luck stories too.
But should we want to gossip all the time,
Were fact not fiction for us at its best,
Or find a charm in syllables that rhyme,
We’re not our fate by verbal chance expressed,
As rustics in a ring-dance pantomime
The Knight at some lone cross-roads of his quest?
3月12日
A TOAST
(to Professor William Empson on the occasion of his
retirement in 1971)
Good voices are rare, still rarer singers with
perfect pitch: if Graves was right, if at Cambridge
the tuning’s a wee bit sharp, then at Oxford
it well may be flat.
哈哈哈哈，牛津剑桥的梗也用得很溜啊~笑死~
谢谢飞花满楼的疑问。这是《阿克琉斯之盾》第三节的内容，这行的原文：
Out of the air a voice without a face
Proved by statistics that some cause was just
In tones as dry and level as the place:
译文：
看不见面孔，空中传来一个声音
以枯燥冷静如此地的语调
用统计数据证明某个事业是正义的。
关键在于如何理解“some cause was just”。 Random House Dictionary词条cause词条中举例：the Socialist cause; the human rights cause。二战期间美国报道苏联宣传：Our cause is just. Victory will be for us.
全诗需要关注的诗第二行：“正如鹰或戴头盔的飞行员所看到的”（As the hawk sees it or the helmeted airman）。他在通过这个视角去看地面的世界，所以很多人和事物是一个并列关系。
“沉默的梳子”（the silent comb）我猜，这里的comb是coomb的另一种拼法，指的是英国特有的那些峡谷、谷地。因为引导下一句的词是where，应该是一个空间性的所指。不是太有把握，要听听译者老师的解释。
【打卡2024.3.11】
Words
A sentence uttered makes a world appear
Where all things happen【打卡2024.3.11】
Words
A sentence uttered makes a world appear
Where all things happen as it says they do;
We doubt the speaker, not the tongue we hear:
Words have no word for words that are not true.
Syntactically, though, it must be clear;
One cannot change the subject half-way through,
Nor alter tense to appease the ear:
Arcadian tales are hard-luck stories too.
But should we want to gossip all the time,
Were fact not fiction for us at its best,
Or find a charm in syllables that rhyme,
We’re not our fate by verbal chance expressed,
As rustics in a ring-dance pantomime
The Knight at some lone cross-roads of his quest?
【提问】 普通读者要怎样读诗？...狮心小孩
【打卡 2024.3.8】
Out of it steps our future, through this door
Enigmas, executioners and【打卡 2024.3.8】
Out of it steps our future, through this door
Enigmas, executioners and rules,
Her Majesty in a bad temper or
A red-nosed Fool who makes a fool of fools.
Great persons eye it in the twilight for
A past it might so carelessly let in,
A widow with a missionary grin,
The foaming inundation at a roar.
We pile our all against it when afraid,
And beat upon its panels when we die:
By happening to be open once, it made
Enormous Alice see a wonderland
That waited for her in the sunshine and,
Simply by being tiny, made her cry.
【提问】 译文里给 每个分段拟了题目“门”，“准备”，“十字路口”，“旅行者”，“城市”，“第一个诱惑”，““第二个诱惑”，“第三个诱惑”，“塔”，“自以为是者”，“普通人”，“职业”，“有用的”，“道”，“幸运者”，“英雄”，“冒险”，“冒险家们”，“水”，“花园”；来对应原文仅有的罗马数字，这个彩蛋是为了让读者更好理解这首诗吗，这些题目之间是有联系的吗？
上面的our为什么写成是“穷人的”？...狮心小孩
《葬礼蓝调》表面上是一首悼亡诗，但其实有爱情诗的底子。“我以为爱会永久：我错了”，诗里有提示。
对失去之爱的“悼念”，是奥登诗歌的重要主题之一。《葬礼蓝调》中逝去的爱人是谁，我也不清楚。可能还要看一些考证材料。
奥登写过不少爱情诗。“Sleep on beside me”（谁在我身旁），是他第一首成熟的爱情诗。他喜欢写爱的失去。
他也喜欢写真正的悼亡诗：《悼叶芝》《悼弗洛伊德》等等。都是关于“失去”主题的。
诗集里第51首，“女士，在十字路口哭泣”，里面有诗行是这样的：“深沉而苦涩，你必须一饮而尽”。可以参照读。
不过，他也有以调侃方式写的，比《葬礼蓝调》晚一年写的“Jonny”，结尾：““But he frowned like thunder and he went away.”（他皱着眉头，像打雷，一走了之。）
Say this city has ten million souls,
Some are living in mansions, some are living in holeSay this city has ten million souls,
Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:
Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us.
Once we had a country and we thought it fair,
Look in the atlas and you'll find it there:
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.
In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,
Every spring it blossoms anew:
Old passports can't do that, my dear, old passports can't do that.
The consul banged the table and said,
"If you've got no passport you're officially dead":
But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.
Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;
Asked me politely to return next year:
But where shall we go to-day, my dear, but where shall we go to-day?
Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said;
"If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread":
He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me.
Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky;
It was Hitler over Europe, saying, "They must die":
O we were in his mind, my dear, O we were in his mind.
Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin,
Saw a door opened and a cat let in:
But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but they weren't German Jews.
Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay,
Saw the fish swimming as if they were free:
Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.
Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;
They had no politicians and sang at their ease:
They weren't the human race, my dear, they weren't the human race.
Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors,
A thousand windows and a thousand doors:
Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours.
Stood on a great plain in the falling snow;
Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro:
Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me.
因为实在是太喜欢这首诗了，在反复阅读的时候总觉得有某种韵律在里面，特意去查了原文，果然每一节前面两句都是押韵的。第一节到第八节都以第三句的重复来强调，到第九节写鱼，第十节写鸟，鱼和鸟是快乐的、自由的，但他们偏偏不是人，这就是难民格格不入的处境吧。（【提问】如果理解得不对，还请老师们指正，或者拓展讲讲，也许我理解得太浅。算了一下日期，写这首诗的时候奥登32岁，年纪轻轻经历了太多哎……）...林深不见狐
奥登早期是英国天主教徒（Anglo-Catholic），晚期说过一句著名的话：The truth is Catholic，but the search for it is Protestant. 将这句话中的Catholic和Protestant分别译为天主教和新教当然不错，但却没有传达出catholic指普遍，Protestant有异议的意思。天主教注重教士的作用，而新教不重视。奥登追求普遍的真，但在这一过程中不愿轻易接受别人的说法。其实，奥登信仰的不限于任何一宗，而是一种具有存在主义的信仰。奥登年轻时写诗是并不信教，晚年信的教不同于主流天主教及新教。这一变化见于他的诗
【打卡2024.3.11】
Words
A sentence uttered makes a world appear
Where all things happen【打卡2024.3.11】
Words
A sentence uttered makes a world appear
Where all things happen as it says they do;
We doubt the speaker, not the tongue we hear:
Words have no word for words that are not true.
Syntactically, though, it must be clear;
One cannot change the subject half-way through,
Nor alter tense to appease the ear:
Arcadian tales are hard-luck stories too.
But should we want to gossip all the time,
Were fact not fiction for us at its best,
Or find a charm in syllables that rhyme,
We’re not our fate by verbal chance expressed,
As rustics in a ring-dance pantomime
The Knight at some lone cross-roads of his quest?
【提问】 普通读者要怎样读诗？...狮心小孩
《葬礼蓝调》表面上是一首悼亡诗，但其实有爱情诗的底子。“我以为爱会永久：我错了”，诗里有提《葬礼蓝调》表面上是一首悼亡诗，但其实有爱情诗的底子。“我以为爱会永久：我错了”，诗里有提示。
对失去之爱的“悼念”，是奥登诗歌的重要主题之一。《葬礼蓝调》中逝去的爱人是谁，我也不清楚。可能还要看一些考证材料。
奥登写过不少爱情诗。“Sleep on beside me”（谁在我身旁），是他第一首成熟的爱情诗。他喜欢写爱的失去。
他也喜欢写真正的悼亡诗：《悼叶芝》《悼弗洛伊德》等等。都是关于“失去”主题的。
诗集里第51首，“女士，在十字路口哭泣”，里面有诗行是这样的：“深沉而苦涩，你必须一饮而尽”。可以参照读。
不过，他也有以调侃方式写的，比《葬礼蓝调》晚一年写的“Jonny”，结尾：““But he frowned like thunder and he went away.”（他皱着眉头，像打雷，一走了之。）...胡桑
【打卡 2024.3.8】
Out of it steps our future, through this door
Enigmas, executioners and【打卡 2024.3.8】
Out of it steps our future, through this door
Enigmas, executioners and rules,
Her Majesty in a bad temper or
A red-nosed Fool who makes a fool of fools.
Great persons eye it in the twilight for
A past it might so carelessly let in,
A widow with a missionary grin,
The foaming inundation at a roar.
We pile our all against it when afraid,
And beat upon its panels when we die:
By happening to be open once, it made
Enormous Alice see a wonderland
That waited for her in the sunshine and,
Simply by being tiny, made her cry.
【提问】 译文里给 每个分段拟了题目“门”，“准备”，“十字路口”，“旅行者”，“城市”，“第一个诱惑”，““第二个诱惑”，“第三个诱惑”，“塔”，“自以为是者”，“普通人”，“职业”，“有用的”，“道”，“幸运者”，“英雄”，“冒险”，“冒险家们”，“水”，“花园”；来对应原文仅有的罗马数字，这个彩蛋是为了让读者更好理解这首诗吗，这些题目之间是有联系的吗？
上面的our为什么写成是“穷人的”？...狮心小孩
奥登早期是英国天主教徒（Anglo-Catholic），晚期说过一句著名的话：The truth is Catholic，but奥登早期是英国天主教徒（Anglo-Catholic），晚期说过一句著名的话：The truth is Catholic，but the search for it is Protestant. 将这句话中的Catholic和Protestant分别译为天主教和新教当然不错，但却没有传达出catholic指普遍，Protestant有异议的意思。天主教注重教士的作用，而新教不重视。奥登追求普遍的真，但在这一过程中不愿轻易接受别人的说法。其实，奥登信仰的不限于任何一宗，而是一种具有存在主义的信仰。奥登年轻时写诗是并不信教，晚年信的教不同于主流天主教及新教。这一变化见于他的诗...水琴
全诗需要关注的诗第二行：“正如鹰或戴头盔的飞行员所看到的”（As the hawk sees it or the hel全诗需要关注的诗第二行：“正如鹰或戴头盔的飞行员所看到的”（As the hawk sees it or the helmeted airman）。他在通过这个视角去看地面的世界，所以很多人和事物是一个并列关系。
“沉默的梳子”（the silent comb）我猜，这里的comb是coomb的另一种拼法，指的是英国特有的那些峡谷、谷地。因为引导下一句的词是where，应该是一个空间性的所指。不是太有把握，要听听译者老师的解释。...胡桑
crazydiamond (Page Not Found)
2024-03-16 19:42:20 北京
谢谢飞花满楼的疑问。这是《阿克琉斯之盾》第三节的内容，这行的原文：
Out of the air a voice 谢谢飞花满楼的疑问。这是《阿克琉斯之盾》第三节的内容，这行的原文：
Out of the air a voice without a face
Proved by statistics that some cause was just
In tones as dry and level as the place:
译文：
看不见面孔，空中传来一个声音
以枯燥冷静如此地的语调
用统计数据证明某个事业是正义的。
关键在于如何理解“some cause was just”。 Random House Dictionary词条cause词条中举例：the Socialist cause; the human rights cause。二战期间美国报道苏联宣传：Our cause is just. Victory will be for us....西蒙
《民数记》第一章到第三章是人口统计资料，也是耶和华和摩西立约的部分，基于统计资料来分配任务。所以这里面some cause was just恐怕指的是，有些理由是合理的。另外出埃及记里讲到割礼，提到the cause，解释为缘故。
