这课讲奥登中年之后的创作。

Journey to a War 是奥登来到中国观察抗日战争之后回到欧洲的结集，其中有朋友的也有他的作品，并且诗歌与散文并存，甚至还有照片。这本书的评价很高。从中国回去之后他在还创作了这首代表作：

Musée des Beaux Arts

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there must always be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

《（布鲁塞尔的）马塞艺术馆》 苏三意思

有关苦难他们从来错不了，

这些古典大师：他们理解了

人类的处境；发生时

别人正在吃饭或开窗或走路；

还有，当老人正在虔诚、热切地渴望着

神的诞生，但总会有一些

并不巴望如此发生的孩子们，滑冰

在一个森林边的池塘之上：

他们从来没有忘记过

即便是恐怖的屠婴画一定是按部就班地完成

总之在一个角落里有些不该有的斑点

在那几只狗过着狗日子，痛苦的马

在一棵树后刮擦着无辜。

在布鲁盖尔的《伊喀鲁斯》中，比如，每个都无动

于衷看到这灾难，农夫可能

听到了溅水声以及惨叫，

但对于他而言那不算什么；只要太阳依然在

照耀在那沉入碧水的白大腿

华丽优雅的大船也一定看见了

惊人一幕，一个童子从天而坠，

但有事，就照样扬帆起航了。

教授说时间可能是1938年，我认为可能是1940年。它描写的情景是在博物馆里看布鲁盖尔的《伊喀洛斯的坠落》《杀婴图》等几幅画，翻译时找着那几幅画就没错了。我看了几位大家的翻译，大概他们不知道这些，牵涉到希腊神话与基督教与绘画等，有点别扭。所谓大家也不过如此，而且错的还那么离谱，突然就增强了信心。诗歌翻译，没有专家，只有差不多的，诗歌是不能翻译的。反正怎么翻都是错，只是错的重与轻的问题。这诗的意思是，苦难是人类必须的一个组成部分，许多人与动物在巨大的苦难跟前无动于衷。

就在欧洲大战迫在眉睫的时候，奥登自己无动于衷地躲到了和平的美国。1939年叶兹去世，他为之写下了前无古人后无来者的千古墓志铭：

In Memory Of W.B. Yeats 《追思W.B.叶兹》

W. H. Auden / 苏三 意思

 I He disappeared in the dead of winter: 他消失在这 的严冬： The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted,小溪凝冻，机场空港， The snow disfigured the public statues; 雪花损毁了公共雕塑的外形， The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day. 信使也沉没于垂死之口。 What instruments we have agree 我们使用了什么仪器 

 The day of his death was a dark cold day. 使他去的这天黑暗而阴冷。 

 Far from his illness 他尚未卧床病倒 

 The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests, 狼群即窜行于长青丛林 The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays;河水倒流； By mourning tongues 悲恸的言辞 The death of the poet was kept from his poems. 预言着诗的噩耗 But for him it was his last afternoon as himself, 但对他而言那是他人世间最后的下午 An afternoon of nurses and rumours; 是充满医护与 言的一个下午 The provinces of his body revolted, 他的肉体背叛了他， The squares of his mind were empty, 他灵魂出壳， Silence invaded the suburbs, 寂静笼罩了一切 The current of his feeling failed; he became his admirers.知觉麻木，他成仁了。 Now he is scattered among a hundred cities 现在他出现在每一个地方 And wholly given over to unfamiliar affections, 有一个不太熟悉的氛围， To find his happiness in another kind of wood 他已离我们上了天 And be punished under a foreign code of conscience. 但被惩罚地羁于一个良心的洋 。 The words of a dead man 一个死者的遗言 Are modified in the guts of the living. 修正饕餮生命。 But in the importance and noise of to-morrow When the brokers are roaring like beasts on the floor of the Bourse, And the poor have the sufferings to which they are fairly accustomed, And each in the cell of himself is almost convinced of his freedom, A few thousand will think of this day As one thinks of a day when one did something slightly unusual. What instruments we have agree The day of his death was a dark cold day. 但就重要和明天的瞎闹 

 当经纪人在交易所野兽般嚎叫时， 

 但一 所有者依然领受着他们早已 惯的苦难， 每个人都只活在自己的壳中，都相信自己游刃有余， 

 许多人将会想起这一天 

 就象想起 做了什么惊天动地的时候。 

 我们动用了什么仪器 

 他去世的这天这么黑暗阴冷。 

 II You were silly like us; your gift survived it all: 象我们一 聊， 的天赋永存： The parish of rich women, physical decay, 贵妇人的教区，肉体腐败 Yourself. Mad Ireland hurt you into poetry. 是 。疯狂的爱尔兰伤痛使 成为诗人。 Now Ireland has her madness and her weather still,现在爱尔兰依然愚妄但她的气象寂静， For poetry makes nothing happen: it survives 诗歌不能产生任何作用：它幸存 In the valley of its making where executives 于谚语谷，行政不能 Would never want to tamper, flows on south 干预，在南方漂流 From ranches of isolation and the busy griefs, 从孤绝的大农场和热闹的悲伤， Raw towns that we believe and die in; it survives,自然的村镇是我们信赖的棺材，它幸免于 A way of happening, a mouth. 发生的方式，口腔。 III Earth, receive an honoured guest: 大地，接受一个高贵的客人吧： William Yeats is laid to rest. 威廉.叶芝歇息了。 Let the Irish vessel lie 就让这爱尔兰的航船躺卧 Emptied of its poetry. 他耗尽了诗歌的燃料。 In the nightmare of the dark 在这个黑夜的噩梦中 All the dogs of Europe bark, 所有欧洲的狗都在嚎叫， And the living nations wait, 所有的国家都在等待着， Each sequestered in its hate; 隐藏了他们的仇恨； Intellectual disgrace 知识分子们不同意 Stares from every human face, 每个人的脸上凝视， And the seas of pity lie 遗憾的谎言的海洋 Locked and frozen in each eye. 锁定并冷冻在每个人的眼中。 Follow, poet, follow right 跟着，诗人，跟向右 To the bottom of the night, 下到深夜的最底， With your unconstraining voice 用 毫 约束的声音 Still persuade us to rejoice. 再一次使我们高兴。 With the farming of a verse 用一首牧歌 Make a vineyard of the curse, 当作葡萄园的诅咒， Sing of human unsuccess 歌唱一下人类的徒劳吧 In a rapture of distress. 面对不幸鼓盆而歌。 In the deserts of the heart 在心的荒 Let the healing fountains start, 让温泉奔涌， In the prison of his days 在他的枷锁人生 Teach the free man how to praise. 教自由的人们学会歌颂。 

 好象原诗还有以下这段，但后来在结集时 除了。两个诗人政治派别不同，一个左一个右，所以既有歌颂也有些微讽刺： 

 Time with this strange excuse
 Pardoned Kipling and his views,
 And will pardon Paul Claudel [Kipling, for his imperial jingoism, Claudel
 for his proto-Fascist ideas],
 Pardons him [Yeats also] for writing well. 

 欧洲有“反犹太人” 统，艾略特、庞德，还有法西斯，都反对犹太人，但奥登由于是马克思主义者，所以讲人类种族平等，他以怀念犹太人的弗洛伊德来隐晦地表达这一心声，同时他就是个弗的精神分析学的崇拜者早期。 这里有个英文奥登作品集 

In Memory of Sigmund Freud 《怀念弗洛伊德》 苏三 意思（不是翻译） 当有那么多让我们哀恸的 When there are so many we shall have to mourn,
当忧伤成为公共事件，并被暴光 when grief has been made so public, and exposed

给整个时代的批判 to the critique of a whole epoch
我们意志薄弱而苦闷， the frailty of our conscience and anguish,

我们先说谁呢？每天都在死人 of whom shall we speak? For every day they die
就在我们中间，那些有惠于我们的 among us, those who were doing us some good,
都知道怎么不为够但 who knew it was never enough but
却希望对生活有所改善。 hoped to improve a little by living.

那就是这个医生：80岁时他还希望 Such was this doctor: still at eighty he wished
考虑我们的生命，从那些任性的 to think of our life from whose unruliness
那么多似是而非的年轻的未来 so many plausible young futures
带着凶兆或献媚要求归顺， with threats or flattery ask obedience,

但他的愿望否定了他：他闭上了双眼 but his wish was denied him: he closed his eyes
他那最后一张照片，我们都很熟悉了 upon that last picture, common to us all,
问题是象许多亲戚聚在一起 of problems like relatives gathered
困惑而妒忌于死亡。 puzzled and jealous about our dying.

因为有关他直到最后都很平静 For about him till the very end were still
那些他研究过的人，夜行动物， those he had studied, the fauna of the night,
形成了那平静等待进入 and shades that still waited to enter
他赏识的闪光圈子 the bright circle of his recognition

转到别处很失望当他 turned elsewhere with their disappointment as he
从他终生所系带离 was taken away from his life interest
回到伦敦的土里， to go back to the earth in London,
一个重要的犹太人死于背井离乡。 an important Jew who died in exile.

只有“恨”是高兴的，希望加倍 Only Hate was happy, hoping to augment
以他的心理学开业，他邋遢的客户们 his practice now, and his dingy clientele
都想着他们可以被大钱治愈 who think they can be cured by killing
花园里都覆盖了厚厚灰尘。 and covering the garden with ashes.

他们都还活着，但在一个他改变了的世界里 They are still alive, but in a world he changed
只是坦率地回顾和忏悔； simply by looking back with no false regrets;
他所做的是为了记起 all he did was to remember
就象老人，诚实如赤子。 like the old and be honest like children.

他一点也不聪明：他就是说 He wasn't clever at all: he merely told
不幸的“现在”是对“过去”的回忆 the unhappy Present to recite the Past
象一个诗歌课程直到或早 like a poetry lesson till sooner
或晚会结结巴巴出现在诗里 or later it faltered at the line where

很久以前指控就开始了， long ago the accusations had begun,
突然得知他已做出判决， and suddenly knew by whom it had been judged,
生命多么丰富，也多傻啊 how rich life had been and how silly,
是用生命宽恕的，更谦卑， and was life-forgiven and more humble,

能够象一个朋友一样接近好运 able to approach the Future as a friend
不要花言巧语，不要 without a wardrobe of excuses, without
一套正直的面具或一个 a set mask of rectitude or an
令人为难的非常熟悉的手势 embarrassing over-familiar gesture.
无论古代的文化狂妄 No wonder the ancient cultures of conceit
在他的不确定的技术中展望 in his technique of unsettlement foresaw
王子的垮台，坍塌 the fall of princes, the collapse of
他们有利的挫折类型： their lucrative patterns of frustration:

如果他成功了，什么，一般化人生 if he succeeded, why, the Generalised Life
将成为可能，那个独块巨石 would become impossible, the monolith
是国家的被打碎并防止 of State be broken and prevented
复仇的合作。 the co-operation of avengers.

当然他们呼唤上帝，但他走了自己的路 Of course they called on God, but he went his way
就象但丁一样堕落于迷失的人群，坠落 down among the lost people like Dante, down
到可恶的壕沟，那里受到伤害的 to the stinking fosse where the injured
过着丑陋的失败的生活， lead the ugly life of the rejected,

展现了什么是罪恶，不，就象我们认为的， and showed us what evil is, not, as we thought,
事实是我们一定会受到审判，但我们缺乏信仰， deeds that must be punished, but our lack of faith,
我们的不诚实的否定， our dishonest mood of denial,
强烈的暴君的邪望。 the concupiscence of the oppressor.

假如有些独裁的痕迹 If some traces of the autocratic pose,
严父他不信任，依然 the paternal strictness he distrusted, still
依靠他的谚语和和容貌 clung to his utterance and features,
这是保护性染色 it was a protective coloration

因为人都生活在敌意中那么久了： for one who'd lived among enemies so long:
假如他经常错，并且，不时，荒唐的， if often he was wrong and, at times, absurd,
对于我们他已经不再是一个人 to us he is no more a person
现在是一个思潮 now but a whole climate of opinion

在他影响下我们安排不同的生活 under whom we conduct our different lives:
就象气象他只能干预或帮助 Like weather he can only hinder or help,
骄傲可以依然再被自豪但发现 the proud can still be proud but find it
有点难，暴君极力 a little harder, the tyrant tries to

设法应付他但不真的关心他： make do with him but doesn't care for him much:
他安静地拥抱了我们成长的习性 he quietly surrounds all our habits of growth
然后扩展，直到疲倦即便 and extends, till the tired in even
那最细微的痛苦领地 the remotest miserable duchy

感觉到他们骨子里的变化，然后欢呼 have felt the change in their bones and are cheered
直到孩子，在那不幸的小国， till the child, unlucky in his little State,
有些家庭的自由受到排斥， some hearth where freedom is excluded,
一个带着恐惧与担忧的蜂蜜的蜂房， a hive whose honey is fear and worry,

感到更平静了现在，并且不知何故确定了出口， feels calmer now and somehow assured of escape,
当，就在他们不被我们注意下躺在花丛中， while, as they lie in the grass of our neglect,
那么多遗忘的事物 so many long-forgotten objects
揭露在他的耐心而闪光 revealed by his undiscouraged shining

重温旧梦； are returned to us and made precious again;
我们张大了就必须终止我们想要的一些游戏， games we had thought we must drop as we grew up,
很静所以我们不敢笑， l ittle noises we dared not laugh at,
当没人看见时我们做了个鬼脸。 faces we made when no one was looking.

但他希望我们更多。更放松 But he wishes us more than this. To be free
就是常常有点孤单。他将会联合起 is often to be lonely. He would unite
断裂的碎片 the unequal moieties fractured
用我们自己的善意去欣赏， by our own well-meaning sense of justice,

将修复更大的才智并将 would restore to the larger the wit and will
最小的占有，但可以只用 the smaller possesses but can only use
因沉闷的争吵，将会反馈给 for arid disputes, would give back to
儿子母亲感情的丰富： the son the mother's richness of feeling:

但他将会使我们记起大多数 but he would have us remember most of all
热情的夜晚， to be enthusiastic over the night,
不仅是惊讶 not only for the sense of wonder
仅只这个也必须提议，但也 it alone has to offer, but also

因为它需要我们的爱。用一双悲伤的大眼睛 because it needs our love. With large sad eyes
它这使人愉快的生物仰望着恳求 its delectable creatures look up and beg
我们无言地请他们跟随： us dumbly to ask them to follow:
他们是渴望未来的流放者 they are exiles who long for the future

住在我们强大的国家，他们也将喜悦 that lives in our power, they too would rejoice
假如允许象他一样服务教化 if allowed to serve enlightenment like him,
甚至去忍受犹太人的哭声， even to bear our cry of 'Judas',
就象他那样而所有的服务的人都必须忍受 as he did and all must bear who serve it.

一个理性的声音很沙哑。在他坟墓之上 One rational voice is dumb. Over his grave
充满感情的家人深切哀悼他们至爱的人： the household of Impulse mourns one dearly loved:

如同爱神一样悲伤，这城市的建设者， sad is Eros, builder of cities,
哭泣得犹如无法无天的阿芙罗蒂缇。 and weeping anarchic Aphrodite.

这里有一个文章《奥登在中国》。晚年奥登曾经希望与住在美国的阿伦特结伴度过余生，但被拒。阿说他邋遢，不愿意怜悯别人也不愿意被人怜悯，3年后奥登去世，阿悲痛欲绝。最终讲解了很受争议的又是最伟大的 “In Praise of Limestone” 《赞美汉白玉》May 1948

只讲解了最后一段。主题依然是苦难与生死。觉得西方人如此系于生命的紧张，那种直面的力量与脆弱一目了然。也是在失去“上帝”之后的一种彷徨。这是全诗。