Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

Wallace Stevens

1879–1955

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

BY WALLACE STEVENS

I

Among twenty snowy mountains,   

The only moving thing   

Was the eye of the blackbird.   

II

I was of three minds,  
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.

III

The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.   

It was a small part of the pantomime.   

IV

A man and a woman   

Are one.   

A man and a woman and a blackbird   

Are one.   

V

I do not know which to prefer,   

The beauty of inflections   

Or the beauty of innuendoes,   

The blackbird whistling   

Or just after.   

VI

Icicles filled the long window   

With barbaric glass.   

The shadow of the blackbird   

Crossed it, to and fro.   

The mood   

Traced in the shadow   

An indecipherable cause.   

VII

O thin men of Haddam,   

Why do you imagine golden birds?   

Do you not see how the blackbird   

Walks around the feet   

Of the women about you?   

VIII

I know noble accents   

And lucid, inescapable rhythms;   

But I know, too,   

That the blackbird is involved   

In what I know.   

IX

When the blackbird flew out of sight,   

It marked the edge   

Of one of many circles.   

X

At the sight of blackbirds   

Flying in a green light,   

Even the bawds of euphony   

Would cry out sharply.   

XI

He rode over Connecticut   

In a glass coach.   

Once, a fear pierced him,   

In that he mistook   

The shadow of his equipage   

For blackbirds.   

XII

The river is moving.   

The blackbird must be flying.   

XIII

It was evening all afternoon.   

It was snowing   

And it was going to snow.   

The blackbird sat   

In the cedar-limbs.

Wallace Stevens, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” from The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens. Copyright 1954 by Wallace Stevens. Reprinted with the permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

innuendo
noun [C or U] plural innuendoes or innuendos
(the making of) a remark or remarks that suggest something sexual or something unpleasant but do not refer to it directly:
There's always an element of sexual innuendo in our conversations.

Pronunciation: /ˌɪnjʊˈɛndəʊ /

NOUN (plural innuendoes or innuendos)━━ n. （pl. ～(e)s） 暗示, あてこすり; 真意の説明語句.

An allusive or oblique remark or hint, typically a suggestive or disparaging one:she’s always making sly innuendoes[MASS NOUN]: a constant torrent of innuendo, gossip, lies, and half-truths

Origin

mid 16th century (as an adverb in the sense 'that is to say, to wit', used in legal documents to introduce an explanation): Latin, 'by nodding at, by pointing to', ablative gerund of innuere, from in- 'towards' + nuere 'to nod'. The noun dates from the late 17th century.

觀察烏鶇的十三種方式
（美國：史蒂文斯)


1
周圍，二十座雪山，
唯一動彈的
是烏鶇的一雙眼睛

2
我有三種想法，
就像一棵樹
上面蹦跳著三隻烏鶇

3
烏棟在秋風中盤旋。
那不是啞劇中的一個細節嗎？

4
一個男人，一個女人
是一個整體。
一個男人、一個女人和一只烏鶇也是一個整體。

5
我不知道更愛什麼，
是迴腸蕩氣呢
還是藏而不露，
是烏鶇的婉轉啼鳴
還是它的裊裊餘音。

6
冰柱，為長窗
增添了犬牙交錯的玻璃。
烏鶇的影子
在上面來回飛掠。
情緒
從掠動的影子中
依稀看出難以辨認的緣由

7
哦，哈潭佛德消瘦的男子啊，
你們為何夢想金鳥？
沒看見那烏鶇
在你們周圍
女子的腳邊梭巡？

8
我會押鏗鏘的音韻
也會用流利的、躲也躲不開的節奏；
可是我明白，
於我所知的一切
息息相關的
是烏鶇

9
當烏鶇飛出視野時，
它便成為
無數圓圈之一的邊緣了。

10
看見烏鶇
在綠光中翻騰，
連甜言蜜語的老鴇
也要失聲痛哭。

11
他乘一輛玻璃車輦
越過康涅狄克州。
有一次，恐懼刺穿了他的心，
在恐懼中，他竟以為
扈從，車輦的陰影
是烏鶇。

12
河水在流淌。
烏鶇必定是在飛翔。

13
整個下午如同黃昏。
血在降落
它還要繼續下，繼續下。
烏鶇
棲息在雪杉枝上。

（老樂注：在該詩的不同譯本中，我最喜歡李文俊這個譯本，李文俊還翻譯過福克納和卡夫卡的小說，雙向文化的修養非同一般。）