《尤娜路姆》是美国诗人埃德加·爱伦·坡的作品,是作者为哀悼亡妻所作。诗歌最大限度地抒发悲痛与绝望,体现了诗人忧郁、阴暗的心理状态,表现出深重的孤独感和自我的丧失。

诗歌原文

Ulalume

The skies they were ashen and sobre;

The leaves they were crisped and SERE,

The leaves they were withering and sere;

It was night in the lonesome October

Of my most immemmorial year;

It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,

In the misty mid region of Weir:

It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,

In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

Here once, through an alley Titanic

Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul --

Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.

These were days when my heart was volcanic

As the scoriac rivers that roll,

As the lavas that restlessly roll

Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek

In the ultimate climes of the pole,

That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek

In the realms of the boreal pole.

Our talk had been serious and sober,

But our thoughts they were palsied and sere,

Our memories were treacherous and sere,

For we knew not the month was October,

And we marked not the night of the year,

(Ah, night of all nights in the year!)

We noted not the dim lake of Auber

(Though once we had journeyed down here),

Remembered not the dark tarn of Auber

Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

And now, as the night was senescent,

And star-dials pointed to morn,

As the star-dials hinted of morn,

At the end of our path a liquiescent

And nebulous lustre was born,

Out of which a miraculous crescent

arosewith a duplicate horn,

Astarte's bediamonded crescent

Distinct with its duplicate horn.

And I said -- "She is warmer than Dian:

She rolls through an ether of sighs,

She revels in a region of sighs:

She has seen that the tears are not dry on

These cheeks, where the worm never dies,

And has come past the stars of the Lion

To point us the path to the skies,

To the Lethean peace of the skies:

Come up, in despite of the Lion,

To shine on us with her Bright Eyes:

Come up through the lair of the Lion,

With love in her luminous eyes."

But Psyche, uplifting her finger,

Said -- "sadly this star I mistrust,

Her pallor I strangely mistrut:

Oh, hasten! -- oh, let us not linger!

Oh, fly! -- let us fly! -- for we must."

In terror she spoke, letting sink her

Wings until they trailed in the dust;

In agony sobbed, letting sink her

Plumes till they trailed in the dust,

Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.

I replied -- "This is nothing but dreaming:

Let us on by this tremulous light!

Let us bathe in this crystalline light!

Its sibyllic splendor is beaming

With hope and in beauty to-night:

See, it flickers up the sky through the night!

Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,

And be sure it will lead us aright:

We safely may trust to a gleaming

That cannot but guide us aright,

Since it flickers up to the Heaven through the night."

Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,

And tempted her out of her gloom,

And conquered her scruples and gloom;

And we passed to the end of the vista,

But were stopped by the door of a tomb,

By the door of a legended tomb;

And I said -- "What is written, sweet sister,

On the door of this legended tomb?"

She replied -- "Ulalume -- Ulalume --

'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!"

Then my heart it grew ashen and sober

As the leaved that were crisped and sere,

As the leaves that were withering and sere,

And I cried -- "It was surely October

On this very night of last year

That I journeyed -- I journeyed down here,

That I brought a dread burden down here:

On this night of all nights in the year,

Ah, what demon has tempted me here?

Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber,

This misty mid region of Weir:

Well, I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber,

This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir."

诗歌译文

尤娜路姆

天空上一片灰白色而且清淡;

树叶是枯干的而且瑟脆,

树叶是枯干的而且凋萎;

这是我最难追忆的一年,

一个荒凉的十月的夜里;

紧濒那朦胧的奥伯湖边,

在那多雾的维尔的腹地:

直下那郁湿的奥伯潭边,

在僵尸出没的维尔的林地。

在此地,穿行于一条庞大的

柏树的荫道,我漫步,和我的灵魂,

柏树的荫道,伴着赛琪,我的灵魂。

在这些日子,我的心是爆发的,

像火山熔岩的河流在奔腾,

像火山岩浆在无尽地奔腾,

那硫磺的狂潮滚下了耶涅山,

在极地那世界尽头的国度;

它一面悲吟,一面滚下了耶涅山,

在北极那荒寒的领土。

我们的倾谈是严肃而且清醒,

但我们的思想是枯干而且麻痹,

而我们的记忆是枯干而且狡黠;

我们不知道这正是十月的月份,

我们没注意这是哪一个夜里,

(啊,一年之中竟是这一个夜里!)

我们没留心那朦胧的奥伯湖滨,

(虽然有一次我们到过这里)

没忆起那郁湿的奥伯潭滨,

更忘了僵尸出没的维尔的林地。

而这时,夜已经显得老耋。

而星图已暗指向了黎明,

当星图已渐渐示着黎明,

在荫路的尽头有类似溶液

又类似星云的光辉诞生,

自光中又有弯神奇的新月

擎着孪生的双角而飞升,

亚丝塔特镶满钻石的新月

擎孪生的双角,如此光明。

于是我说:“她比黛安还要温暖:

她旋转于一团叹息的气氛,

她浮沉于一圈叹息的空冥:

她已经看见泪滴还没有凝干

于我的颊上,颊上有不死的伤心,

而且自狮子座的星群间飞过,

来指示我们去天国的路程,

去天国那礼洗河般的宁静

升了上来,无惧于狮子星座,

照射我们,以她明亮的眼睛:

升了上来,自狮子座的穴窝,

闪耀的眼中满孕着爱情。”

可是赛琪,将她的手指举起,

说道:“不幸这颗星我不相信,

她的苍白我出奇地不能相信:

哦,加紧,哦,让我们莫再迟疑!

哦,快逃,让我们快逃,我们必须加紧。”

骇然,她说着,且垂下她的双翼,

直到它们拖曳于灰尘,

恸然,她泣着,且垂下她的白羽,

直到它们拖曳于灰尘,

直到它们忧伤地拖曳于灰尘。

我答道:“这不过是一场梦寐:

让我们前进,借这颤抖的光芒!

让我们浴于这水晶似的光芒!

它那预言神的光采正射着清辉,

于今夜,满含着美和希望

看,它摇曳于黑夜,直烛天堂!

啊,我们可以信赖它的光辉,

且相信它会导致正确的方向:

我们可以信赖这样的光辉,

它一定会引至正确的方向。

因为它摇晃于黑夜,直烛天堂。”

于是我安慰着赛琪,而且吻她,

而且引诱她抖开她的郁闷,

而且征服了她的疑虑和郁闷;

于是我们直走到荫路的尽头,

可是被阻于一扇墓门,

被阻于一扇传说的墓门;

“这是什么,好姐姐,”我问她:

“写在这扇传说的墓门?”

她答道:“尤娜路姆,尤娜路姆,

墓中是你逝去的尤娜路姆!”

于是我的心灵变成灰白而且清淡,

像树叶那样地干枯而且瑟脆,

像树叶那样地干枯而且凋萎;

于是我惊呼:“那无疑是去年,

去年十月的同一个夜里,

我曾漫步,我曾漫步来此地,

我曾负一个可怖的重压来此地:

在一年之间,竟是这一个夜里,

啊,什么魔鬼诱我来此地?

现在我认清,这朦胧的奥伯湖边,

这多雾的维尔的腹地:

现在我认清,这郁湿的奥伯潭边,

这僵尸出没的维尔的林地。”

创作背景

此诗作于1847年,是爱伦・坡哀悼亡妻弗吉尼亚之作品。1835年9月22日,爱伦・坡和刚满十三岁的表妹弗吉尼亚结了婚。1846年他举家迁往纽约郊区福德姆村居住。弗吉尼亚多病,在穷困潦倒的陋屋内病入膏肓,爱伦・坡无钱延医,在1847年1月30日,眼睁睁看着爱妻去世。爱伦・坡对此肠断心碎,无以摆脱精神的痛苦,遂创作了这首诗。

诗歌赏析

尤娜路姆是爱伦・坡杜撰的女子之名。全诗充满象征意味,暗示诗人如何伴着胆怯善惊的灵魂赛琪,在不知不觉中沿着记忆之幽径,来到了已故的爱人尤娜路姆的墓前。诗中有许多专有名词,如耶涅山、奥伯、维尔、黛安等,都是爱伦,坡杜撰出以便押韵的字;当然,维尔可能暗示“鬼怪”(weird),黛安可能暗示月神黛安娜。亚丝塔特,一说是东方人对爱神维纳斯的称呼。

礼洗河是希腊神话中冥府里的忘川,喝了就能忘记身前之事。预言神是希腊神话中能预知未来的神只,罗马所发生的一切据说都早已见于他们的秘笺。诗中用了一系列富有意味的象征形象,表达生命的脆弱和死亡的悲哀,渲染出痛入骨髓的忧伤,将死亡、忧郁以极其优美的形式表达出来。

爱伦・坡关于诗歌题材有一个著名的说法:“死亡与美可成为最亲密的联盟,而一个漂亮女人的死毫无疑问则是世界上最富有诗意的题材。”因而他的诗歌总有一个美丽聪慧的女性,而这些美丽的天使总是有着宿命般的结局,注定走向死亡。这首《尤娜路姆》就是以美女夭亡为主题,最大限度地抒发悲痛与绝望,体现了诗人忧郁、阴暗的心理状态,表现出深重的孤独感和自我的丧失。

在诗歌形式式上,本诗以半叠句著名,还使用了“元音韵”和“头韵”,在本诗中达到了较好的效果。但不免过分追求音律,有刻意求工之嫌。例如在第八段中,他用kissed her和sister押韵,实属勉强。

作者简介

埃德加・爱伦・坡(Edgar Allan Poe),生于1809年1月19日,逝于1849年10月7日,美国作家,诗人,编辑和文学评论家,美国浪漫主义思潮时期的重要成员。坡以神秘故事和恐怖小说闻名于世,他是美国短篇故事的最早先驱者之一,又被尊为推理小说的开山鼻祖,进而也被誉为后世科幻小说的始祖。他是第一个尝试完全依赖写作谋生的知名美国作家,从而导致贫困潦倒。