旅行的艺术:风景 Ⅴ 乡村与城市-5

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1798年的夏天，华兹华斯和她的妹妹来到了威尔士的瓦伊河谷。在这里，华兹华斯亲身体验到了自然的力量，这种体验随后在他的诗作中流露出来，并且伴随诗人一生。这已是诗人二度造访瓦伊河谷。5年前，他曾到过此处，随后的一段日子却相继经历了许多不愉快的事件：他在伦敦这个让他恐惧的城市呆过；他因为接触戈德温 [4] 的著作而改变了政治观点；他通过结识柯尔律治 [5] 转变了作为诗人的使命感；他还亲眼看到罗伯斯庇尔 [6] 在法国实行的恐怖统治。

In the summer of 1798, Wordsworth and his sister went on a walking holiday along the Wye valley in Wales, where William had a moment of revelation about the power of Nature which was to resonate through his poetry for the rest of his life. It was his second visit to the valley; he had walked along it five years before and in the intervening period he had gone through a succession of unhappy experiences. He had spent time in London, a city he feared, he had altered his political views by reading Godwin, he had transformed his sense of a poet's mission through his friendship with Coleridge and he had travelled across a revolutionary France wrecked by Robespierre's Great Terror.

再度来到瓦伊河谷时，诗人坐在一棵枫树底下。居高临下地欣赏着河谷、河流、周围的山崖、灌木树篱以及森林，诗人受到了感召，写出了或许是生平最好的诗作。他曾这样表示：“创作这首诗所处的状态，比起任何其他一首，给我留下更美好的回忆。”诗的正题为《廷特恩修道院上方几英里所成之诗行》，副题为“1798年7月13日重访瓦伊河畔之作”，他藉由此诗赞颂了大自然使心灵复原的魔力。

Back by the Wye, Wordsworth found an elevated spot, sat under a sycamore tree, looked out across the valley and its river, cliffs, hedgerows and forests-and was inspired to write perhaps his greatest poem. At least, 'no poem of mine was composed under circumstances more pleasant for me to remember than this,' he later explained of Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey , which he subtitled On revisiting the banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13,1798, an ode to the restorative powers of nature.

虽然阔别多日，

Though absent long,

与那山林的美景相隔千里，

These forms of beauty have not been to me,

但正像盲人心中的千山万水，

As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:

时常，在寂寞的屋子里

But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din

或在市井的喧嚣中，我得以

Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,

在困顿疲惫中，感到一种甜蜜

In hours of weariness, sensations sweet …

获得宁静的回归

With tranquil restoration.

城镇和乡间的对立，成了这首诗的骨干，诗人不断提醒我们，只有乡野才能对抗城市的不良影响。

The dichotomy of town and country formed a backbone to the poem, the latter repeatedly invoked as a counter to the pernicious influence of the former.

不知多少次，

how oft,

不管在黑暗，还是在变化多端、

In darkness, and amid the many shapes

忧郁的光线中，辗转反侧

Of joyless day-light; when the fretful stir

一无所获。世界的谵妄

Unprofitable, and the fever of the world,

压在我心的悸动之上。

Have hung upon the beatings of my heart,

不知多少次，我转向你

How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee

乡间的瓦伊河！你在林中蜿蜒，

O sylvan Wye! Thou wanderer through the woods,

不知多少次，你让我魂萦梦绕！

How often has my spirit turned to thee!

这种感激在《序曲》中重现，而诗人再度表示，大自然对他施惠良多。他认为自己之所以身处城市，却不被城市生活所助长的卑劣情感所污染，全凭大自然的力量。

An expression of gratitude that was to recur in The Prelude, where the poet once more acknowledged his debt to Nature for allowing him to dwell in cities without succumbing to the base emotions he held they habitually fostered:

如果，与世界水乳交融，我已满足

If, mingling with the world, I am content

以小小的快乐，度日

With my own modest pleasures, and have lived

……远离

… removed

小小的仇恨和卑劣的欲望

From little enmities and low desires,

这些是你所赐……

The gift is yours …

你的风和咆哮的瀑布！都是你的，

Ye winds and sounding cataracts!'tis yours,

你的高山！噢，你的大自然！

Ye mountains! thine, O Nature!

菲利普·德·卢泰尔堡：《廷特恩修道院旁的怀河河谷》，1805年