Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 – 11 October 1542) ：poem after the execution of Thomas Cromwell, his friend:

FULCRUM: an annual of poetry and aesthetics

Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 – 11 October 1542) was probably the first great poet who wrote in what is recognizably early-modern English (as distinct from Middle English). Here is his poem after the execution of Thomas Cromwell, his friend:

The piller pearisht is whearto I Lent
the strongest staye of myne unquyet mynde
The lyke of it no man agayne can fynde
From East to west still seking thoughe he went
To myne unhappe for happe away hath rent
Of all my joye the vearye bark and rynde
And I (alas) by chaunce am thus assynde
Dearlye to moorne till death do it relent
but syns that thus it is by destenye
What can I more but have a wofull hart
My penne in playnt, my voyce in wofull crye
My mynde in woe, my bodye full of smart
And I my self, my self alwayes to hate
Till dreadfull death, do ease my dolefull state

The New Colossus： Bronze plaque inside the Statue of Liberty

紐約自由女神像基座上的這首十四行詩！

Bronze plaque inside the Statue of Liberty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Colossus

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The title of the poem and the first two lines refer to the Colossus of Rhodes, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The poem talks about the millions of immigrants who came to the United States (many of them through Ellis Island at the port of New York).

The "air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame" refers to New York City and Brooklyn, not yet consolidated into one unit in 1898.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

〈新巨人〉


不同於希臘傳說的銅塑巨神，

以征服者的雄姿橫跨兩岸陸地；

在我們落日映波的國門將會屹立

一位高擎火炬的威武女神，

以禁錮的雷電為火，而她的芳名是

流亡者之母。從她燈塔般的手上

燃起對萬邦的歡迎之光；她溫柔的目光

俯瞰著那長橋飛架的雙城海港。

「舊世界，留著你過去的壯麗恢宏！」

她沉默的雙唇喊，「給我你那疲憊、困頓、

渴求自由呼吸的芸芸眾生，

你那擠滿海岸的可憐賤民！

把他們，把那些無家可歸、顛沛流離者送來，

我在這金色的門邊舉燈相迎！」

——艾瑪．拉撒路（作於1883年）

"A Farewell" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Alfred, Lord Tennyson died in Lurgashall, Sussex, England on this day in 1892 (aged 83).

"A Farewell" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,
Thy tribute wave deliver:
No more by thee my steps shall be,
For ever and for ever.

Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea,
A rivulet then a river:
Nowhere by thee my steps shall be
For ever and for ever.

But here will sigh thine alder tree
And here thine aspen shiver;
And here by thee will hum the bee,
For ever and for ever.

A thousand suns will stream on thee,
A thousand moons will quiver;
But not by thee my steps shall be,
For ever and for ever.

*

Alfred, Lord Tennyson was a more complex writer than his status as Queen Victoria’s favorite poet might suggest. Though capable of rendering rapture and delight in the most exquisite verse, in another mode Tennyson is brother in spirit to Poe and Baudelaire, the author of dark, passionate reveries. And though he treasured poetic tradition, his work nevertheless engaged directly with the great issues of his time, from industrialization and the crisis of faith to scientific progress and women’s rights. A master of the short, intense lyric, he can also be sardonic, humorous, voluptuous, earthy, and satirical. This collection includes, of course, such famous poems as “The Lady of Shalott” and “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” There are extracts from all the major masterpieces—“Idylls of the King,” “The Princess,” “In Memoriam”—and several complete long poems, such as “Ulysses” and “Demeter and Persephone,” that demonstrate his narrative grace. Finally, there are many of the short lyrical poems, such as “Come into the Garden, Maud” and “Break, Break, Break,” for which he is justly celebrated.

參考翻譯