《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 秋 04

《四季隨筆》是吉辛的散文代表作。其中對隱士賴克羅夫特醉心于書籍、自然景色與回憶過去生活的描述，其實是吉辛的自述，作者以此來抒發(fā)自己的情感，因而本書是一部富有自傳色彩的小品文集。

吉辛窮困的一生，對文學名著的愛好與追求，以及對大自然恬靜生活的向往，在書中均有充分的反映。本書分為春、夏、秋、冬四個部分，文筆優(yōu)美，行文流暢，是英國文學中小品文的珍品之一。

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The characteristic motive of English poetry is love of nature, especially of nature as seen in the English rural landscape. From the "Cuckoo Song" of our language in its beginnings to the perfect loveliness of Tennyson's9 best verse, this note is ever sounding. It is persistent even amid the triumph of the drama. Take away from Shakespeare all his bits of natural description, all his casual allusions to the life and aspects of the country, and what a loss were there! The reign of the iambic couplet confined, but could not suppress, this native music; Pope10 notwithstanding, there came the "Ode to Evening" 11 and that "Elegy"12 which, unsurpassed for beauty of thought and nobility of utterance in all the treasury of our lyrics, remains perhaps the most essentially English poem ever written.

英國詩歌的主要原動力是對自然的熱愛，特別是對英國鄉(xiāng)村景色中的自然。從我們語言早期的“布谷鳥之歌”到丁尼生最好詩歌中的那份秀美綺麗，這個調(diào)子是貫穿始終的。即使在戲劇的鼎盛時期，也是持續(xù)不斷的。如果從莎士比亞的作品中，取走所有對自然的描繪以及所有信手拈來的對鄉(xiāng)村生活和場景的描寫，這將會是多大的損失啊！五音步抑揚格詩體的流行，雖然限制但并沒有抑制這種本土的音樂；雖然有蒲伯，但依然出現(xiàn)了《黃昏頌》和《墓園挽歌》，其思想之瑰麗和用詞之高貴在我們的詩歌寶庫中無可匹敵，至今依然可能是英國現(xiàn)存最本土化的詩歌。

This attribute of our national mind availed even to give rise to an English school of painting. It came late; that it ever came at all is remarkable enough. A people apparently less apt for that kind of achievement never existed. So profound is the English joy in meadow and stream and hill, that, unsatisfied at last with vocal expression, it took up the brush, the pencil, the etching tool, and created a new form of art. The National Gallery represents only in a very imperfect way the richness and variety of our landscape work. Were it possible to collect, and suitably to display, the very best of such work in every vehicle, I know not which would be the stronger emotion in an English heart, pride or rapture.

這種特有的民族性情甚至促生了一個英國畫派。它興起的時間比較晚，但是它總歸是興起了，這一點的意義就足夠重大。沒有一個民族，比英國人民更不適于取得這種藝術(shù)成就。英國人對草原、河流、山川的熱愛是如此深沉，他們最終不滿足止于口頭表達，而是拿起了毛刷、鉛筆和蝕刻工具，創(chuàng)造出一種新的藝術(shù)形式。國家美術(shù)館中陳列的英國風景畫，只是以一種并不完美的方式展示著它的豐富和多樣。如果能將各個形式流派最好的風景作品收集起來并進行展覽，我不知道國人心中哪種感情會更強烈一些，驕傲抑或是狂喜？

One obvious reason for the long neglect of Turner13 lies in the fact that his genius does not seem to be truly English. Turner's landscape, even when it presents familiar scenes, does not show them in the familiar light. Neither the artist nor the intelligent layman is satisfied. He gives us glorious visions; we admit the glory—but we miss something which we deem essential. I doubt whether Turner tasted rural England; I doubt whether the spirit of English poetry was in him; I doubt whether the essential significance of the common things which we call beautiful was revealed to his soul. Such doubt does not affect his greatness as a poet in colour and in form, but I suspect that it has always been the cause why England could not love him. If any man whom I knew to be a man of brains confessed to me that he preferred Birket Foster14, I should smile—but I should understand.

透納長期受到冷落的一個顯見的原因是，他的才華似乎不具有真正的英國特色。透納的風景畫，即使選取的都是尋常景物，也表現(xiàn)出一種不尋常的情狀。結(jié)果，藝術(shù)家和有見識的外行都不滿意。他呈現(xiàn)出的是絢麗的幻像；我們接受那份絢麗——但是感覺它缺少了我們認為至關(guān)重要的東西。我懷疑透納是否欣賞過英國的鄉(xiāng)村景色，我懷疑他是否具備英國詩歌的靈性，我懷疑他的靈魂是否洞悉了我們稱為“美麗”的尋常事物的那種本質(zhì)意義。這種懷疑并不影響他作為顏色和形狀之詩人的偉大，但是我想這一直都是他無法贏得英格蘭愛慕的原因。如果我認識的任何有智慧的人告訴我，他更喜歡伯基特·福斯特的作品，我會微笑——但是我會理解。