叶芝与当你老了

石工

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9 O, q  k+ M$ N8 c; V如果楼主知道叶芝读过下面这首诗，会不会心情好一点？
一个天才横空出世，脚下不知道有多少个被当做阶梯的过气天才。龙萨的诗符合文艺复兴的意气风发，现在读来很难代入；叶芝的诗更适合女权意识开始觉醒和高涨的维多利亚时代，现在读来也不过时。




Sonnet to Helen
By Pierre de Ronsard (mid 16th cent)
# Y" V4 H2 j4 T0 y" BTranslated by A.Z. Foreman
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When you are old, at evening candle-lit,
  beside the fire bending to your wool,
read out my verse and murmur "Ronsard writ
1 v% B' H. [& z, r8 |- @  this praise for me when I was beautiful."
$ _9 J+ ^* H! c6 d9 u$ q9 f. {And not a maid but at the sound of it,
* C* E) f* a3 V( W8 _/ W3 T* `4 j  though nodding at the stitch on broidered stool,
will start awake, and bless love's benefit,
; Y( }6 N! z) j: J4 z" s0 p( h  whose long fidelities bring Time to school.
I shall be thin and ghost beneath the earth,
+ s% i4 }: s7 U' ^: Q: M+ V4 R  by myrtle-shade in quiet after pain,
: L& K& E# ~4 abut you, a crone will crouch beside the hearth,
" F: _8 B, {! R3 }' B  mourning my love and all your proud disdain.
; h7 B5 n+ ]: }# o$ tAnd what comes to-morrow who can say?
1 ~: B1 \+ d& W% p+ j8 @& ~Live, pluck the roses of the world to-day.
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原作者龙萨Ronsard是法国首位诗歌王子（相当于英国的桂冠诗人），这首诗写于1552年，明世宗嘉靖三十一年，比光绪年间出道的叶芝早了三百多年。这是他的成名作，叶芝读的应该是法语版，这里就不拿出来了。两首诗的对比，是英语文学课上的一个好题目。网上有位老师布置了这个作业（链接在此），回答很踊跃，也很有启发。最近看了看高考题，要能这么出题，那才是进步。