古英詩欣賞

William Butler Yeats 

愛爾蘭詩人、20世紀著名文學家

(June 1865 – January 1939) was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments.  Yeats was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and, along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn, and others, founded the Abbey Theatre, where he served as its chief during its early years. 20世紀文壇重量级人物之一。葉慈乃愛爾蘭文學復興背後之主力推手，並與他位文學家創立Abbey劇院。

In 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature as the first Irishman so honoured for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation". (用鼓舞人心的詩篇，以高度的藝術形式表達了整個民族的精神風貌」。1923年獲頒諾貝爾交文學獎，首位愛爾蘭人獲此殊榮者。

Yeats is considered to be one of the few writers who completed their greatest works after being awarded the Nobel Prize; such works include The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933).( 獲獎後仍鉅作不断)

He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, as well as with cyclical theories of life. 他大部分放棄年輕時超越的想法，和對生命尖酸刻薄的理論

          

   此畫像為其父所繪                         1933年攝影

佳作之一：

“WHEN YOU ARE OLD”- 當你老了

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,當你老了，頭髮白了，需要充足睡眠，

And nodding by the fire, take down this book, 在爐火旁打盹，取下這部詩册，

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look 慢慢地讀，回想起從前柔和的眼神，

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; 它們有昔日濃重的陰影；

How many loved your moments of glad grace, 多少人喜愛你青春歡暢的時刻，

And loved your beauty with love false or true, 也愛慕你的美麗，不論假意或真情，

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, 但有一個人愛你那虔誠的心靈，

And loved the sorrows of your changing face; 愛你衰老時，臉上佈滿了皺紋；

And bending down beside the glowing bars, 在爐邊發熱的鐵杆旁，垂頭深思，

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled 稍微淒然地細訴，那愛情如何驟逝，

And paced upon the mountains overhead 然後在上頭的山上，它緩緩踱著方步，

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars. 他仰望，埋首在群星閃爍中。

佳作之二：

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In the "The Circus Animals' Desertion",-馬戲團動物之遺棄

Now that my ladder's gone 既然我的梯子被拿走了

I must lie down where all the ladders start 我就必須躺在所有梯子原來架設之處

In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart. 內心有著撿破爛者污穢的心

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佳作之三：

 "A Man Young and Old"- 年輕與老年

My arms are like the twisted thorn 雖然我的手臂像枯萎變形的針剌
And yet there beauty lay;但過去之美仍在
The first of all the tribe lay there 祖先已逝
And did such pleasure take; 他們也得過歡樂
She who had brought great Hector down 曾經把特洛伊偉大王子-Hector打敗的她 (Helen)

And put all Troy to wreck. 也摧毀了特洛伊。

    Hector 與其弟Paris

John Butler Yeats -William B.Yeast之父

其岀名子女除Wiilaim外，尚有Lily, Elizabeth和Jack。其著名畫作現藏於愛爾蘭國家畫廊。

(March 1839 – February 1922) was an Irish artist and the father of William Butler Yeats, Lily Yeats, Elizabeth Corbett "Lolly" Yeats and Jack B. Yeats. He is probably best known for his portrait of the young William Butler Yeats which is one of a number of his portraits of Irishmen and women in the Yeats museum in the National Gallery of Ireland. 

Justin Lai 選輯

08/22/2016