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第89章 石头上的影子

The Shadow on the Stone

[英国] 托马斯·哈代 Thomas Hardy

作者简介

托马斯·哈代Thomas Hardy (1840-1928),英国作家、诗人。出生于没落的贵族家庭。做过建筑师助手。19 世纪60 年代中期转向文学活动。一生写有许多作品,其前期作品长篇小说《绿荫下》《远离尘嚣》,将宗法制农村生活理想化,反对资产阶级的城市文化。以后作品中现实主义成分逐渐增强。长篇小说《还乡》《卡斯特桥市长》和《林中居民》,通过对人物悲惨遭遇的生动描写,反映资本主义势力深入农村后英国宗法制农村的巨大变化。其代表作当属《苔丝》和《无名的裘德》,前者描写农村姑娘遭受迫害以至毁灭的悲剧,后者描写农村青年在资本主义社会中理想破灭的故事。后期转向诗歌创作,写出诗剧《统治者》,痛斥给人民带来苦难的暴君。所写作品对人民贫穷不幸的生活充满同情,对资产阶级文明和道德作出深刻的揭露。

我从凯尔特石旁走过

她在花园中,苍白而孤单

我停步看着摇曳的树影

伴着节奏的摆动,

不时从石上掠过。

在我的印象里,这影子如此熟悉,

如她在园中干活时

头与肩所投下的影子。

我感觉她就在身后,

的确,我们分开已久,

因此我说:“我知道你就在身后,

但你怎么也会走这条老路呢?”

没有任何回答,除了一片叶子

黯然飘落;我不愿回头证实

这一切不过是幻觉,

唯恐哀伤决堤。

然而,我想亲眼看看

我的身后确实没人;

但我转念一想:“不,我不能打破这幻想,

无论怎样, 就让那可能的影子存在吧。”

于是,我轻轻走出这林间空地,

让她的影子在我身后显现,

仿佛她真的是幽灵——

我没有回头,以免打碎这幻梦。

I went by the Druid stone

That broods in the garden white and lone,

And I stopped and looked at the shifting shadows,

That at some moments fall thereon

From the tree hard by with a rhythmic swing,

And they shaped in my imagining

To the shade that a well-known head and shoulders

Threw there when she was gardening.

I thought her behind my back,

Yea, her I long had learned to lack,

And I said: “I am sure you are standing behind me,

Though how do you get into this old track?”

And there was no sound but the fall of a leaf

As a sad response; and to keep down my grief

I would not turn my head to discover

That there was nothing in my belief.

Yet I wanted to look and see

That nobody stood at the back of me;

But I thought once more: “Nay, I’ll not unvision

A shape which, somehow, there may be.”

So I went on softly from the glade,

And left her behind me throwing her shade,

As she were indeed all apparition—

My head unturned lest my dream should fade.

作品赏析

作者将心中的“她”描写得若隐若现,反而增加了“她”的神秘感,“我”也在犹豫,“她”是否存在,却还是不忍探究,怕会打碎这个美丽的梦境。