ToHelen中文翻译评析.docx

1、ToHelen中文翻译评析To-Helen-中文翻译-评析To HelenHelen, thy beauty is to me 海伦，你的美貌于我 似远古尼西亚人的帆船， 轻轻飘过芬芳的海面， 让旅途劳顿的游子， 回到他故乡的岸边。 Greece, And the grandeur that was Rome. 在漂泊已久、波涛汹涌的海上， 你风信子般的头发、古典的脸庞， 和尼厄神般的风采已带我回家乡， 回到罗马曾经的伟大， 和希腊曾经的荣光。 瞧！彼处辉煌窗龛里 你，恰似雕像，伫立， 玛瑙灯儿手中提！ 啊，普赛克，来自 仙土圣地！Background Edgar Allan Poe wrot

2、e “To Helen” as a reflection on the beauty of Mrs. Jane Stith Stanard, who died in 1824. She was the mother of one of Poes school classmates, Robert Stanard. When Robert invited Edgar, then 14, to his home in 1823, Poe was greatly taken with the 27-year-old woman, who is said to have urged him to wr

3、ite poetry. He was later to write that she was his first real love. Theme The theme of this short poem is the beauty of a woman with whom Poe became acquainted when he was 14. Apparently she treated him kindly and may have urged himor perhaps inspired himto write poetry. Beauty, as Poe uses the word

4、 in the poem, appears to refer to the womans soul as well as her body. On the one hand, he represents her as Helen of Troythe quintessence of physical beautyat the beginning of the poem. On the other, he represents her as Psychethe quintessence of soulful beautyat the end of the poem. In Greek, psyc

5、he means soul. Imagery and Summary of the Poem Poe opens the poem with a simile“Helen, thy beauty is to me / Like those Nican barks of yore”that compares the beauty of Helen with small sailing boats (barks) that carried home travelers in ancient times. He extends this boat imagery into the second st

6、anza, when he says Helen brought him home to the shores of the greatest civilizations of antiquity, classical Greece and Rome. It may well have been that Mrs. Stanards beauty and other admirable qualities, as well as her taking notice of Poes writing ability, helped inspire him to write poetry that

7、mimicked in some ways the classical tradition of Greece and Rome. Certainly the poems allusions to mythology and the classical age suggest that he had a grounding in, and a fondness for, ancient history and literature. In the final stanza of the poem, Poe imagines that Mrs. Stanard (Helen) standing

8、before him in a recess or alcove in front of a window. She is holding an agate lamp, as the beautiful Psyche did when she discovered the identity of Eros (Cupid). For further information on the agate lamp, Psyche, and Eros, sees the comments opposite the third stanza.Analysis:As is typical with many

9、 of Poes poems, the rhythm and rhyme scheme of To Helen is irregular but musical in sound. The poem consists of three stanzas of five lines each, where the end rhyme of the first stanza is ABABB, that of the second is ABABA, and that of the third is ABBAB. Poe uses soothing, positive words and rhyth

10、ms to create a fitting tone and atmosphere for the poem. His concluding image is that of light, with a brilliant window niche and the agate lamp suggesting the glowing of the Holy Land, for which Helen is the beacon.Original 1831 versionHelen, thy beauty is to meLike those Nicean barks of yore,That

11、gently, oer a perfumd sea,The weary way-worn wanderer boreTo his own native shore.On desperate seas long wont to roam,Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,Thy Naiad airs have brought me homeTo the beauty of fair Greece,And the grandeur of old Rome.Lo! in that little window-nicheHow statue-like I see

12、thee stand!The folded scroll within thy hand A Psyche from the regions whichAre Holy land! Revised 1845 versionHelen, thy beauty is to meLike those Nicean barks of yoreThat gently, oer a perfumed sea,The weary, way-worn wanderer boreTo his own native shore.On desperate seas long wont to roam,Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,Thy Naiad airs have brought me homeTo the glory that was Greece,And the grandeur that was Rome.Lo, in yon brilliant window-nicheHow statue-like I see thee stand,The agate lamp within thy hand,Ah! Psyche, from the regions whichAre Holy Land!