When forty winters shall besiege thy brow,
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,
Thy youth's proud livery so gazed on now,
Will be a totter'd weed of small worth held:
Then being asked, where all thy beauty lies,
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days,
To say, within thine own deep sunken eyes,
①
Were an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise:
How much more praise deserv'd thy beauty's use,
If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse,'
Proving his beauty by succession thine!
②
This were to be new made when thou art old,
And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold.
③
- 《The Sonnet of William Shakespeare》. --William.Shakespeare.1564-1616
- ①:深陷的眼窝,指你衰老的容颜,或者颓然的精神。和Sonnet1中的eyes一样,是后来一直延伸到夏夫兹博里(The-Earl-of-Shaftesbury,[英]1671-1713)新柏拉图主义中的人天相应说的表皮的具象。深陷的眼窝犹如燃烧殆尽的日月光辉,我更倾向于人暮年精神上的消沉。因为皮表的美是形式的美,这与当时流行哲学思想所关注的内在和谐有层次上的巨大差别。当你的意志不再年轻,你才会愧对praise,这不是你的容颜老去可以产生的情感。
- ②:“我具现的美,得以凝聚我的价值,为垂暮的我辩护。(吾生温良玉,凝我雪肤脂。吾待归迟暮,辨我青春时。)”这里的fair-child我更愿意理解为人所创造的艺术美,这才是能sum-your-count的东西。莎翁的孩子没必要为莎翁的容颜做什么辩护,相反莎翁的作品却可以。这段中的his和《红楼梦》里的他用法一致;thy、thou、thine和's、'st等的后缀用法都表达为你、你的。
- ③:“甘露濛枯泉,细细起蜂涌。”莎翁十四行诗的最后两句应该都是点睛用的,可以理解一下传统看法劝朋友结婚生子有多么可笑(因为大多是是延续梁宗岱的观点,我就不多说什么了)。art这里是古法be的变体。
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