To a Distant Friend

William Wordsworth

華茲華斯與柯爾律治(Samuel Taylor Coleridge)、騷塞(Robert Southey)同被稱為“湖畔派”詩(shī)人(Lake Poets)。他們也是英國(guó)文學(xué)中最早出現(xiàn)的浪漫主義作家。他們喜愛(ài)大自然，描寫宗法制農(nóng)村生活，厭惡資本主義的城市文明和冷酷的金錢關(guān)系，他們遠(yuǎn)離城市，隱居在昆布蘭湖區(qū)和格拉斯米爾湖區(qū)，由此得名“湖畔派”。

湖畔派”三詩(shī)人中成就最高者為華茲華斯。他于1789年和柯勒律治合作發(fā)表了《抒情歌謠集》，華茲華斯和柯爾律治從擁護(hù)法國(guó)革命變成反對(duì),于是前者寄情山水,在大自然里找慰藉;后者神游異域和古代，以夢(mèng)境為歸宿。兩人的詩(shī)歌合集,題名《抒情歌謠集》,于1798年出版，《抒情歌謠集》宣告了浪漫主義新詩(shī)的誕生。兩年后再版，華茲華斯加了一個(gè)長(zhǎng)序，在這篇序中，華茲華斯詳細(xì)闡述了他的浪漫主義文學(xué)主張，主張以平民的語(yǔ)言抒寫平民的事物、思想與感情，被譽(yù)為浪漫主義詩(shī)歌的宣言。

Why art thou silent? Is thy love a plant

Of such weak fiber that the treacherous air

Of absence withers what was once so fair?

Is there no debt to pay, no boon to grant?

Yet have my thoughts for thee been vigilant,

Bound to thy service with unceasing care—

The mind’s lest generous wish a mendicant

For nought but what thy happiness could spare.

Speak!—though soft warm heart, once free to hold

A thousand tender pleasures, thine and mine,

Be left more desolate, more dreary cold

Than a foreasaken bird’s-nest fill’d with snow

‘Mid its own bush of leafless eglantine—

Speak, that my torturing doubts their end may know!