Elizabeth Bishop, PHOTO / Paris Review
今天，我们来聊一个诗人，和一首诗。
伊丽莎白·毕晓普（Elizabeth Bishop），曾被誉为美国20世纪最伟大的诗人之一。
伊丽莎白·毕肖普（1911年2月8日－1979年10月6日），美国著名女诗人。她是美国1949-1950年度的桂冠诗人，并于1956年获普利策奖。代表作为《北方和南方——一个寒冷的春天》。
维基百科
她曾是美国的桂冠诗人（Poet Laureate）；诗歌荣获普利策奖（the Pulitzer Prize）；作品集获得美国国家图书奖（the National Book Award）。
她身上有着各式各样的光环，获得了数不尽数的荣耀，然而却告诉同为诗人的朋友罗伯特·洛威尔（Robert Lowell）说：「在我的墓志铭上，一定要写下我是世上最孤独的人」。
In 1974, Elizabeth Bishop seemed to have all the things a poet could want: a teaching position at Harvard, a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, and a first-look contract with The New Yorker, which almost always decided to publish her work. And yet she was inconsolably unhappy. “When you write my epitaph,” Bishop said to the poet Robert Lowell, “you must say I was the loneliest person who ever lived.”
“Hiding in Plain Sight: The loneliness of Elizabeth Bishop”, The Nation
epitaph，墓志铭。
她几乎拥有了一位诗人可以拥有的一切荣耀，却偏偏要说：「When you write my epitaph, you must say I was the loneliest person who ever lived. 」
我猜，这大概也是为何，她诗歌的中文译本取名为《唯有孤独恒常如新》。
豆瓣读书
伊丽莎白·毕晓普如此强烈的孤独感究竟从何而来？
她出生于美国麻省，是家中独女，才八个月时父亲便因病去世。母亲随后患上精神疾病，在毕晓普五岁时，母亲被强制永久关进精神病院，从此二人再未相见。
经历了生离与死别之后，她被外祖父母收养，在加拿大生活了几年。但由于这二老家境困难，她的祖父母随后获得监护权，将她从加拿大小镇接回美国麻省。但毕晓普思念外公外婆，整日郁郁寡欢，甚至患上哮喘。后来，爷爷奶奶便将她送往了姨父姨母家中。
小毕晓普的童年，就这样辗转于一个又一个亲戚的家中，期间还遭到了姨父的性侵与虐待。也正因如此，她对男性充满了厌恶与恐惧（嗯，没错，她是同性恋）。
因为这段经历，在日后写给她的精神科医生的信中，毕晓普甚至说道，所有的男性都是自私粗暴的，只要有机会，他们一定会伤害女性。
Bishop later wrote to her psychiatrist. “I got to thinking that they [men] were all selfish and inconsiderate and would hurt you if you gave them a chance.”
"The lonely life of Elizabeth Bishop", The Economist
童年经历带来的创伤让她内心充满了愤怒。这股愤怒化为悲伤，悲伤又化为了诗歌。
Whatever anger she felt in these early traumatic years turned into sadness, and the sadness into poetry.
“Hiding in Plain Sight: The loneliness of Elizabeth Bishop”, The Nation
长大后，毕晓普的感情生活也是一路坎坷。她此生最爱的女人，巴西建筑师萝塔（Lota），于1967年自杀。后来的伴侣爱丽丝（Alice）也抛弃了她，并嫁给了一个男人。
毕晓普与萝塔的禁忌之恋被拍成一部十分唯美的电影，Reaching for the Moon，西班牙语片名Flores Raras，中译片名《月光诗篇》。
豆瓣电影
这部影片十分动人，若有时间，不妨找来看看。
在了解毕晓普的人生之后，我们大概也就能够理解，为何她说自己是世上最孤独的人了吧。
毕晓普先后失去父亲、母亲、外祖父母、萝塔、爱丽丝，童年辗转于各个亲戚家中，成年后又离开了自己的故土。她的一生，充斥着告别与失去。在一连串的打击之后，在得知萝塔自杀、又去爱丽丝的她濒临崩溃。可似乎痛苦总能与好诗挂钩，毕晓普在最低落的时光里，写下了她最著名的诗篇，One Art，《一种艺术》。
But it was also at this low point on her high perch that she wrote, over several painstaking drafts, what became her most anthologized and best-loved poem, “One Art.”
“Hiding in Plain Sight: The loneliness of Elizabeth Bishop”, The Nation
写下这首诗时，毕晓普内心充满痛苦，却在努力说服自己：失去，也许并没有那么可怕。她甚至在诗中，把「失去」称为一种艺术。
诗在心碎和泪水中写成，改了整整十七稿，正是如上文形容的那般，several painstaking drafts，但改来改去，诗开篇第一句从来没有变过：
Meanwhile, the poem’s recurring first line “The art of losing isn’t hard to master,” remained the same in all 17 drafts."
Coming to Terms with Loss in Elizabeth Bishop's 'One Art' ", The Atlantic
在电影《月光诗篇》中，米兰达·奥图扮演诗人毕晓普，完美细腻地演绎了这首诗（视频 00'50 — 02'05）。如果场地环境允许，请一定，一定，一定要看这段视频，真的非常动人。
如果只想听诗的话，看到2分05秒就够了，视频后半部分是对诗人毕晓普的介绍与评价。诗歌原文就在下方，大家可以对照阅读。
"One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.
— Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
毕晓普采用了一种非常传统的诗歌形式，Villanelle，维拉内拉诗，是16世纪的法国十分流行的一种文体。
维拉内拉诗又叫「十九行二韵体诗」，这其中的「十九行」很好理解，诗刚好十九行嘛。而「二韵体」则是指诗歌有两个韵脚。这一诗歌体裁对格式要求非常严格，除了押韵之外，还有两句诗需要按照规定进行重复。
（没看太懂？没事，下面有个例子）
维拉内拉诗最具代表性，可能也是大家最熟悉的，大概就是《星际穿越》中出现的迪兰·托马斯的《不要温和地走进那个良夜》，Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night。
来听听曾凭借《沉默的羔羊》斩获奥斯卡影帝、在大热美剧《西部世界》里再度征服观众的安东尼·霍普金斯爵士（Sir Anthony Hopkins）朗读的版本吧——忍不住说一句，超级好听的声音，大家耳朵可千万不要怀孕噢（哈哈哈哈哈哈哈）!
《不要温和地走进那个良夜》
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
大家看到我加粗的部分了吗？在维拉内拉诗中，有两个句子会不断重复出现，专业术语叫做 Refrain，可以理解为「副歌」或者「叠句」。两个句子分别称为 Refrain 1 和 Refrain 2，简称 A1 和 A2。
在这首诗中，
Refrain 1（A1）
Do not go gentle into that good night
Refrain 2（A2）
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
大家应该也注意到了，这两行诗句不断重复出现。光是重复还不够，它们要严格按照如下顺序出现：
Refrain 1 (A1)
Line 2 (b)
Refrain 2 (A2)
Line 4 (a)
Line 5 (b)
Refrain 1 (A1)
Line 7 (a)
Line 8 (b)
Refrain 2 (A2)
Line 10 (a)
Line 11 (b)
Refrain 1 (A1)
Line 13 (a)
Line 14 (b)
Refrain 2 (A2)
Line 16 (a)
Line 17 (b)
Refrain 1 (A1)
Refrain 2 (A2)
—— Wikipedia, "Villanelle"
其中 Line 2，Line 4 等等，指的是诗歌的第X行，内容可以随意，但 Refrain 1 和 Refrain 2 出现的位置一定是固定的。
好了好了，解释完毕，我们看回毕晓普的诗。
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.
— Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
在One Art 这首诗中，有两行相似的诗句也在不断重复出现。之所以说「相似」，是因为毕晓普并未严格遵循维拉内拉诗的格式要求，而是在不同的小节中对诗句进行了一定改动。
很显然，诗歌的主题是「失去」。
最初，失去的是一些很小的东西。毕晓普称，有些东西似乎本来就是要失去的（so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost），丢了也便不可惜。
接着，毕晓普说，有些东西是每天都有可能失去的（lose something every day）。那些弄丢了的门钥匙（lost door keys），浪费了的时间（hour badly spent），既然已经成为事实，又何必纠结苦恼，倒不如把「失去」当成一种艺术。
然后，她又轻轻告诉读者，要练习「失去」这门艺术。那些忘掉了的名字（names），计划要去旅行却没能去成的地方（where it was you meant to travel）。失去这些东西，并不会带来灾难。
随后，她开始用自己的人生经历举例，说她失去了母亲的手表（I lost my mother’s watch）—— 毕晓普五岁便与患上精神病的母亲分离，从此再未见过，这块手表意义重大，所以才会出现在诗中；前面我们也提到，她童年辗转于各个亲戚的家中，失去了一个又一个自己产生了依恋的家（three loved houses went）。
接着，她又说，自己远离故土，失去了两座她深爱的城市（two cities），甚至失去了河流与大陆（two rivers, a continent）。她很思念这一切，却也明白，哪怕失去了这么重要的东西，仍旧算不上什么灾难（I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster）。
最后，她终于提起自己失去的爱人（losing you）。从劝读者，慢慢变成劝自己，她不断重复，就是为了暗示自己，「失去你」，也许并没有那么可怕。
但她的内心却充满了痛苦挣扎，甚至需要用第二个声音，（Write it!），来逼迫自己把最艰难的结尾写出来。
萝塔自杀，爱丽丝也离开了她，这时的毕晓普似乎不是在为读者写诗，而是把诗写给了自己。她口口声声说「失去」算不上什么，可诗读下来，字里行间满篇都是心碎与痛苦。就像有些谎言，说多了，自己便先信了。
伊丽莎白·毕晓普晚年在哈佛大学任教。她当时的一名学生，Megan Marshall，2017年出版了一本传记，名为Elizabeth Bishop: A Miracle for Breakfast，讲述了毕肖普的传奇一生。
在许多网站上都能找到这本传记的书评，包括 《经济学人》，The Economist，以及《大西洋月刊》，The Atlantic，等经典刊物。
《纽约客》，The New Yorker，还专门有文章介绍了毕晓普与萝塔和爱丽丝之间的爱情故事，她诗歌的灵感来源，等等。
大家如果感兴趣，可以在底下的参考网页中找到相关链接。另外还有前文提到的电影，《月光诗篇》，也可以找来看看。
嗯，好了，先聊到这儿，大家早安。
“One Art”, by Elizabeth Bishop
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47536/one-art
“Hiding in Plain Sight: The loneliness of Elizabeth Bishop”, The Nation
https://www.thenation.com/article/hiding-in-plain-sight/
“Elizabeth Bishop”, Poetry Foundation,
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/elizabeth-bishop
“Elizabeth Bishop”, Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bishop
“伊丽莎白·毕晓普”, 中文维基百科
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E4%B8%BD%E8%8E%8E%E7%99%BD%C2%B7%E6%AF%95%E6%99%93%E6%99%AE
"The lonely life of Elizabeth Bishop", The Economist
https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21718852-new-biography-sheds-light-elizabeth-bishop-one-americas-finest-poets-lonely
"Coming to Terms with Loss in Elizabeth Bishop's 'One Art' ", The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2017/04/coming-to-terms-with-loss-in-elizabeth-bishops-one-art/524154/
“月光诗篇”，豆瓣电影
https://movie.douban.com/subject/20521014/?from=subject-page
“唯有孤独恒常如新”，豆瓣读书
https://book.douban.com/subject/26269845/
"‘Elizabeth Bishop: A Miracle for Breakfast’ More of a Four-Course Meal", The Harvard Crimson
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/4/15/elizabeth-bishop-review/
"Elizabeth and Alice", The New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/elizabeth-bishop-and-alice-methfessel-one-art
"Elizabeth Bishop's Art of Losing", The New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/06/elizabeth-bishops-art-of-losing
“Elizabeth Bishop伊丽莎白·毕肖普诗选”，新浪博客
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4b01ac520102vyge.html
"Villanelle", Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villanelle
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