詩(shī)情“形”意

What is poetry? Pressed for an answer， Robert Frost1) made a classic reply: \"Poetry is the kind of thing poets write.\" The nature of poetry eludes2) simple definitions. To a particular poem， thousands of readers will have thousands of understandings. A poem can please us in many aspects3). We usually concentrate our attention on its sound， wording， and figure of speech. In fact， a poem can also please us by its shape.

Shape is one of the main things that separate prose4) and poetry. Poetry can take on many formats5)， but one of the most inventive forms is for the poem to take on the shape of its subject.

詩(shī)是什么？這個(gè)問(wèn)題很難回答，而羅伯特·弗羅斯特給出了一個(gè)經(jīng)典的答案：“詩(shī)就是詩(shī)人寫的東西。”詩(shī)的本質(zhì)難以用簡(jiǎn)單的定義來(lái)概括。對(duì)于某一首詩(shī)的理解，仁者見(jiàn)仁，智者見(jiàn)智。詩(shī)的怡人之處甚多。我們通常關(guān)注它的音韻、用詞和修辭。其實(shí)，詩(shī)的形狀也能取悅我們。

形狀是區(qū)別散文和詩(shī)歌的主要因素之一。詩(shī)歌的形式多種多樣，但其中最具創(chuàng)造力的一種則是詩(shī)的形狀與主題一致。

Shape Poems: Poems for the Eye 賞心悅目的象形詩(shī)

A shape poem is a poem that describes a subject and is written in the shape of the subject. Therefore， if the subject of your poem were of a flower， then the poem would be shaped like a flower. If it were of a fish， then the poem would take on the shape of a fish. For example:

象形詩(shī)是形式和主題相同的詩(shī)。因此，如果詩(shī)的主題是花，那么詩(shī)的形狀就會(huì)像一朵花。如果是魚(yú)，那么就像魚(yú)。例如：

This is William Carlos Williams'6) poem that describes an energetic bellhop7) running downstairs. Not only do the words sound like a man is running downstairs， the appearance of the whole poem is like stairs. The step-like appearance of the lines goes together with their meaning. Thisarrangement of words makes the common words \"ta tuck a\" vivid. It is more interesting and meaningful and stronger than just say， \"ta tuck a...\"

這是一首威廉·卡洛斯·威廉斯的詩(shī)，描寫一個(gè)精神抖擻的旅館侍者跑下樓的瞬間。不僅詩(shī)文的發(fā)音像一個(gè)人正在跑下樓的聲音，詩(shī)句的樣子也如同一級(jí)一級(jí)的臺(tái)階，使全詩(shī)形神兼?zhèn)洹＿@樣的字句安排使得原本稀松平常的單詞“ta tuck a”(編者注：英語(yǔ)擬聲詞)變得鮮活生動(dòng)。與僅僅說(shuō)出“ta tuck a”相比，這樣寫出來(lái)更加妙趣橫生，更有意境和氣勢(shì)。

Long Long History 悠久的歷史

The idea of using letter arrangements to enhance8) the meaning of a poem is an old one. Some were designed as decoration for religious art-works， including wing-， axe- and altar9)-shaped poems. Only a handful of examples survive， which are collected together in The Greek Anthology10). The earliest shape poem is by the Greek poet Rhodes (about 300 B.C.). He wrote a poem， in the shape of an ax.

Since Rhodes， shape poems have been written at many times， in many languages， and in all kinds of shapes. There's a notable shape poem in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll， called \"The Mouse's Tail\"， which is in the shape of a tail.

用文字的排列方式來(lái)深化詩(shī)歌含義的想法由來(lái)已久。以前，人們會(huì)在宗教藝術(shù)品上撰寫一些象形詩(shī)作為裝飾，有翼形、斧形和圣壇詩(shī)。這些詩(shī)只有很小一部分被保留了下來(lái)，收錄在《希臘詩(shī)選》中。最早的象形詩(shī)是希臘詩(shī)人羅茲(約公元前300年)寫的，他寫了一首詩(shī)，詩(shī)的形狀是一把斧頭。

在詩(shī)人羅茲之后的各個(gè)時(shí)期里，人們使用不同的語(yǔ)言寫過(guò)象形詩(shī)，詩(shī)的形狀各異。在劉易斯·卡羅爾所寫的《愛(ài)麗絲漫游仙境》中就有一首著名的象形詩(shī)，叫做《老鼠的尾巴》，詩(shī)的形狀是一條尾巴。 (見(jiàn)右圖)

See into the Shape 由表及里

A commonplace notion of poetry is that it is meant to be read aloud. Poet Edward Estlin Cummings11) throws that idea out the door. The key word \"loneliness\" is broken by a parenthesis12) containing fragments13) which， when assembled14)， read \"a leaf falls.\" There is something lonely about the image of a single falling leaf. The entire poem looks like the number one—the loneliest of numbers.

通常人們都認(rèn)為詩(shī)歌需要大聲朗誦。詩(shī)人愛(ài)德華·埃斯特林·卡明斯摒棄了這一觀念。關(guān)鍵詞“l(fā)oneliness”(孤獨(dú))中插入了一對(duì)圓括號(hào)，括號(hào)內(nèi)包含了一些被拆開(kāi)的只言片語(yǔ)，這些片段連起來(lái)是一個(gè)句子——“a leaf falls”（一片葉子落下）。孤葉飄零的樣子確實(shí)能給人以孤獨(dú)的感覺(jué)。整首詩(shī)看起來(lái)就好像數(shù)字1——數(shù)字中最孤獨(dú)的一個(gè)。

The poem's first line begins with the number one， a parenthesis mark that looks like a side view of a falling leaf. Next to word leaf is the letter a—indefinite singular article in English. Also， ignoring the leaf for a moment， la is the feminine15) singular definite article in French. The next line le is the masculine16) singular article， perhaps conveying the idea that loneliness is not gender-specific. The next two lines af and fa are like the leaf spinning17) around in its falling. Then in the next line， back to back ells make eleven—a whole football team! Yes， but \"eleven\" also means something like \"one left over\" in our counting system. What is lonelier than being the one excluded from the group? The last three lines speak for themselves: the spelled-out number; the numerical digit18); then iness or the state of being first person singular.

全詩(shī)的首行以數(shù)字1(編者注：在英文中，字母l看起來(lái)和數(shù)字1很像)開(kāi)頭，緊接著的一個(gè)圓括號(hào)看起來(lái)就像是一片落葉的側(cè)面，這片“落葉”旁邊是字母a——英語(yǔ)中的單數(shù)不定冠詞。并且，如果暫時(shí)忽略這片“落葉”，我們可以發(fā)現(xiàn)，la是法語(yǔ)里的陰性單數(shù)定冠詞。而第二行中的le則是陽(yáng)性單數(shù)冠詞，詩(shī)人或許是想由此來(lái)表達(dá)孤獨(dú)是不分性別的。在接下來(lái)的兩行中，af和fa看起來(lái)很像葉子旋轉(zhuǎn)下落的樣子。再看下一行，那是兩個(gè)并排的字母l，它們組成了數(shù)字11——這可是一個(gè)足球隊(duì)的全部人數(shù)！雖然如此，但是“11”在我們的計(jì)數(shù)體系里還有“多余 (譯者注：原文中“one left over”的意思是：在我們的計(jì)數(shù)體系里，10才是代表完整的數(shù)字，所以數(shù)字11中的那個(gè)1就顯得有些多余。)”的意思。還有什么比被團(tuán)隊(duì)排除在外更孤獨(dú)呢？詩(shī)的最后三行不言自明：數(shù)字1的英文拼寫、數(shù)字1，以及iness——或者說(shuō)是第一人稱的單數(shù)形式。

Poem 2

The poem describes a very beautiful scene that a swan is swimming leisurely on the surface of water in the dusk. The appearance of the poem is like a swan swimming on the water， and its body shape is reflected by the mirror-like water. The appearance of the poem is very agreeable with the title of the poem.

這首詩(shī)描寫了黃昏時(shí)分一只天鵝悠閑地游弋在水面的美麗畫面。詩(shī)的形狀就像一只游弋在水上的天鵝，水面猶如明鏡，倒映出它的身形。真是詩(shī)如其名。

Shape Poems: Not Only for the Sake of Eye

象形詩(shī)：不僅僅是賞心悅目

Why did people continue to find shape poems of interest for two and a half millennia19)? Because we want to heal the pains of abstraction. We want to insert the text into the 3D physical world， to engrave it onto the 3D world of stuff， just as we do with tombstones and public monuments.

But this effort has never gotten much respect. It isn't \"serious.\" We might ask ourselves why. Words create one order of meaning， images another， and we don't want them too close together. Our alphabetic habit of mind rejects pictographs20) and ideographs21)， notations22) which use a picture of the object to denote23) the object. This habit separates thought from image. But， by combining art with poetry， a good shape makes the poem more beautiful and more meaningful. This is one aspect through which we can enjoy the poetry. Of course we should not lay too much emphasis on24) the appearance of a poem， but at least we should know that shape poems are not only for the sake of the eye.

為什么兩千五百年來(lái)，人們一直對(duì)象形詩(shī)興致盎然呢？因?yàn)槲覀兿胍獡崞匠橄髱?lái)的傷痛。我們想把文字放入三維的自然世界中，刻在看得見(jiàn)摸得著的物體上，就像我們?cè)谀贡凸布o(jì)念碑上刻字那樣。

但是這一努力從未得到多少尊重。它不夠“嚴(yán)肅”。我們可能要問(wèn)問(wèn)自己為什么。文字表達(dá)出一種含義，形象則表達(dá)出另一種含義，而我們卻不想讓這兩者過(guò)于接近。我們思維中的字母習(xí)慣(編者注：英語(yǔ)是表音文字)拒絕使用象形文字、表意文字(編者注：比如漢字)和標(biāo)志符號(hào)，而這些都是利用物體的圖像來(lái)指代物體本身。這個(gè)習(xí)慣使得思維和形象分離開(kāi)來(lái)。然而，當(dāng)藝術(shù)和詩(shī)歌相結(jié)合時(shí)，好的形象能使詩(shī)歌更具美感，更有意境。這是詩(shī)歌讓我們獲得享受的一個(gè)方面。當(dāng)然，我們不應(yīng)該一味追求詩(shī)的形象，但至少要知道，象形詩(shī)并不僅僅是為了賞心悅目。

Funny Games (II)

有趣的運(yùn)動(dòng)會(huì) (2)

Stair Climbing Races

爬樓梯比賽

The Empire State* Run-Up is held in New York every year. The runners can run up the 1，430 steps in about 10 minutes， only a little slower than the elevator (電梯).

In Australian the equivalent (相同的) race is the Rialto Run-Up， in which the winner is awarded a trip to New York to compete in the Empire State Building race.

★ Empire State: <俚>帝國(guó)州(美國(guó)紐約州的別名)

The Great Huon Apple Race

蘋果向前沖！

Have you ever raced an apple before? This event， held around October each year， involves launching a floating apple from the bridge and watching it race 300 meters down the picturesque (風(fēng)景秀麗的) Huon River (休恩河) in Australia. The owner of the first apple across the line wins. The sale of apples (at $3 each) is a fund raiser for the Rotary Club* of Huon Valley.

★ Rotary Club: 扶輪社。扶輪社是一個(gè)聯(lián)合全世界事業(yè)及專業(yè)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人士的組織，它提供慈善服務(wù)，鼓勵(lì)崇高的職業(yè)道德，并致力于世界親善及和平。