資料彙整   /   作家  /  Thomas Stearn  Eliot  湯馬斯•史登•艾略特  /  作品
The Burial of the Dead
作者Author  /  Thomas Stearn  Eliot  湯馬斯•史登•艾略特

The Burial of the Dead
　
　
　
　
April is the cruelest month, breeding Note:1-18
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring 　
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering 5
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding 　
A little life with dried tubers. (5-7)
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain, we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten, 10
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour. (8-11)
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled, 　
And I was frightened. He said, Marie, 15
Marie, hold on tight, there you feel free. (13-16)
(15-16)
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.
　 　
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Note: 19-30
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, 20 (19-20)
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only 　
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock, 25
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock), 　
And I will show you something different from either 　
Your shadow at morning striding behind you 　
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; (25-29)
I will show you fear in a handful of dust. 30
              Frish weht der Wind
              Der Heimat zu
 　
              Mein Irsch Kind
 　
              Wo weilest du?
 (31-34)
You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; 35
'They called me the hyacinth girl.' (35-36)
－Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not 　
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, 40
Looking into the heart of light, the silence. (37-41)
Oed' und leer das Meer.
　 　
Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe, 45
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations. 50
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back, 　
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find (52-54)
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water. 55
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself: 　
One must be so careful these days. (57-59)
　 　
Unreal City, 60
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn, 　
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet. 65
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine. (60-68)
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying: 'Stetson!
'You who were with me in the ships at Mylae! 70
'That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
'Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year? 　
'Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
'Oh keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men, (74-75)
'Or with his nails he'll dig it up again! 75
'You! Hypocrite lecteur!－mon semblable, －mon frere!' (69-76)
　
　 　
　
　
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Annotation
epigraph
這一段題銘摘自西元第一世紀羅馬作家 Petronius 的 Satyricon一書。書中有幾個人飲酒中各誇述奇異的故事。這一段即是其中有之位名叫Frimalchio的，在酒醉後所說的。英譯為"For once I saw with my own eyes the Sibyl at Cumae hanging in a cage, and when the boys said to her, 'Sibyl, what do you want?' She replied, 'I want to die.'" The Sibyls是希臘神話中一些具有預言能力的女人，以Cumae地方的最為著。她曾經幫助過Apollo，Apollo乃在她的請求下許她活到如她手中所握沙粒的歲數。然而她忘了要求青春不老。於是她雖然長生，卻日漸老去而萎縮，預言的能力也因而減低。因此，我們可以說她半生不死。她的話有如一個住在荒原中的人所說的話。也可以說，她處於這種半生不死的狀態而希望死去。

在Eliot的初稿中，他所引的epigraph是Joseph Conrad的Heart of Darkness一書中的這段話："Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and "surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision, ─he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath─'The horror! the horror!'

這一段是Conard小說中Marlowe在追述Kurtz臨死的情形。"the horror! the horror!"正是Kurtz最後的遺言，也是他最後對生命的觀照。

Ezra Pound 在讀過Eliot的初稿後，曾經與Eliot在信中論及此事。Pound在信中說："I doubt if Conrad is weighty enough to stand the citation." Eliot回信說："do you mean not use the Conrad quote or simply not put Conrad's name to it? It is much the most appropriate I can find, and somewhat elucidative." Pound再回信說："Do as you like about Conrad, who am I to grudge him his laurel crown?"（這三封信寫於一九二一年十二月廿四日和一九二二年一月之間。）最後Eliot沒有用Conrad的這段話而改用現在摘自Petronius的Satyricon一書中的話。然而，Conrad的話段話對Eliot寫作本詩仍有許多影響。

Ezra Pound (1885-1973)：美國詩人兼批評家，對現代詩的運動貢獻卓著。曾幫助Eliot修訂本詩而完成定稿。

Il miglior fabbro：英譯為"the better craftsman" (Purgatorio XXVi, 117)。原為Dante稱讚十二世紀詩人Arnaut Daniel的話，強調他的詩作優於當時Provence地方的諸詩人。在此，Eliot用以轉稱Pound。一九三八年Eliot在回Pound的一位批評者時說："the phrase, not only as used by Dante, but as quoted by myself, had a precise meaning. I wished at that moment6 to honour the technical mastery and critical ability manifest in his own work, which had also done so much to turn from a jumble of good and bad passages into a poem."在一九二二年本詩初版時，Eliot並未以此獻給Pound。在一九二三年他才在一份贈給另外一個詩人的詩上題上這幾個字，在一九二五年出版詩集Poems 1929-1905中才在The Waste Land一詩前印出這幾個字。[back]
題解 The Burial of the Dead：死人的埋葬。這副題取自英國國教（The Church of England）的葬儀。其全名是"The Order for the Burial of the Dead."本組（section）發展死的吸引力之主題。在精神荒原中人們處於半生不死的狀態而不願自拔。為此，「死人之埋葬」亦有一層反諷的對比，即在葬儀中希望死者的靈魂獲救，而在荒原中的人卻怕死後復生。這一部份包括四首詩：1-18行，19-42行，43-59行，60-76行各為一首。[back]
解說: 1-18 在這一段中先提出背景─春天（1-7行），再轉入戲劇性的獨白（8-18行）。在獨白中，說話者Marie回憶往日的快樂生活，最後又歸於迴避。[back]
1 四月在傳統上被認為是萬物復甦充滿活力而令人愉快的季節Geoffrey Chaucer（1340?-1400）在The Canterbury Tales中The General Prologue的開頭寫道：
"Whan that Aprille with his showres sote
The droghte of marche hath perced to the rote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flowr"
Louis Untermeyer把上面這四行譯為現代英文："When the sweet showers of April follow March,Piercing the dryness to the roots that parch,Bathing each vein in such a flow of power That a new strength's engendered in the flower－" 然而，這萬物復甦的季節，在對比之下，對生活於荒原中的人卻是最為殘酷的季節，因為它並未給他們半生不死的生活帶來蘇甦，反而造成一種痛苦而無望的回憶。[back]
2 Lilacs：紫丁香。是春天的象徵。[back]
4 spring rain：春雨，是帶給萬物復甦的力量。Dull有unwilling to grow的意思。在荒原中的人並不願有外的力量來打優他們在「平靜的」生活。[back]
5-7 Winter kept us warm：Winter是萬物凋亡的季節，但對生活於精神荒原的人卻反而有一種舒適之感，因為大地覆滿了雪，令人忘記外在的世界，而「乾球根」（dried tubers）亦像荒原中的人一樣，半死半活。這種情形可與Eliot的劇作Murder in the Cathedral中所寫的參照著讀："Now I fear disturbance of the quiet seasons." "We do not wish anything to happen.Seven years we have lived quietly,Succeeded in avoiding notice.Living and partly living." [back]
8-11 說話者Marie回憶著年輕時夏日裡無憂無慮的生活。[back]
8 Starnbergersee：Munich（慕尼黑）附近的一個湖，是一處遊樂的地方。一九一一年八月，Eliot曾到此遊歷。[back]
9 colonnade：柱廊。[back]
10 the Hofgarden；Hof（德文）＝manor, estate, royal residence; garten = garden. 現為慕尼黑的一處公園。[back]
12 這句是德文，意思是："I am not Russian at all; I come from Lithuania, a true German."立陶宛有許多德國移民。[back]
13-16 說話者Marie回憶童年時住在她cousin家的生活。[back]
13 the archduke's：大公的家。Marie的cousin，從Marie說話的口氣，我們可以看出她是個貴族。[back]
15-16 Marie,/Marie, hold on tight：這是她的cousin所說的話。一方面叫她抱緊，而另一方面又有性的聯想。[back]
17 在德語中有一句浪漫而又多少是陳腔濫調的說法與此句意義相似。[back]
18 在春天裡（注意句中用現在式），Marie的心情是一片枯寂，她把晚上大部分的時間拿來讀書，而不是拿來行動。冬天則到南方避寒。這固然是貴族們常有的事，但她也就不能享受她童年時乘雪橇的快樂。[back]
解說:19-30 提出一個沙漠的景象（19-24行）以及在沙漠中獨行者的戲劇獨白（25-30行）。[back]
19-20 What are…rubbish?根鬚抓纏著，樹枝從荒廢的亂石中長出，這是荒原中的景象。[back]
20 Son of man：Eliot的原註中提到在以西結書（Ezekiel）第二章第一節，上帝對先知以西結說："Son of man, stand upon thy feet and I will speak unto thee."然後上帝告訴他去向背叛的以色列人宣導救主的來臨。但在本詩中，那位"son of man"卻不能指出一個有希望的未來，只看到荒蕪乾燥的大地。[back]
22 broken images：破碎的偶像。第一次世界大戰人們的心境。 the sun beats: the sun strikes violently. 太陽猛烈的照著。[back]
23 Eliot在原註中提到傳道書（Ecclesiastes）第十二章、第五節中描述老人孤寂的情況："Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets." 我們可以把老人孤寂的情況逕看作沙漠的景象。枯樹無葉不能遮蔭，而且蟬鳴不止，令人煩燥。cricket為「蟋蟀」，但亦可指「蟬」。參閱354行。[back]
24 water：水在傳統上是生命的象徵。沒有水即表示沒有生命。[back]
25-29 描述一個人行走於沙漠的情景。[back]
30 a handful of dust：在聖經上說，人死歸於塵土。本段的說話者要指出死亡的恐懼。另一方面可能又指Sibyl之請求活到一把沙粒的歲月，而成一種不死不活的狀態。[back]
31-34 這四行引自華格納（Richard Wagner）的歌劇Tristan und Isolde（Tristan and Isolde）的第一幕。一個水手在歌詠著他的情人，英譯是：
Fresh wafts the wind
To the Homeland,
My Irish sweetheart (原字為child),
Where are you waiting?
這幾行原是歌詠天真無邪的愛情。人在孤獨、恐懼、絕望時，最渴求感情的滋潤。[back]
35-36 風信子女郎的話。風信子（hyacinth）因其形狀而被認為是女性的象徵。在這兩行中，風信子女郎說：說話者曾向她求愛。[back]
37-41 說話者認為他們在一起時有短暫的極度快樂，這種快樂使人有不生不死的感覺，但這種快樂卻是不實，令人覺得空虛。[back]
42 Oed'…Meer：英譯為"Waste and empty is the sea."與上面連著看，可知男女關係是一片荒蕪空虛。這一行原見於Wagner歌劇Tristan und Isolde第三幕。Tristan受傷臨死，等待著他的情人Isolde乘船來見他。此時有一個牧羊人受命眺望海中是否有船駛來。他說："Waste and empty is the sea."一種失望的等待。[back]
43 Madame Sosostris是一位著名女相士的名字。其名字乃模倣埃及的人名。在Aldous Huxley的小說Crome Yellow (1921) 中有一位騙人的女相士叫"Sesostris, the Sorceress of Eobatana" Eliot曾說他讀過該書。Clairvoyante：female seer。原意指女天眼通，為有直覺洞察力的女性，此處指女相士。[back]
44 以重感冒來產生反諷的（ironic）效果。[back]
45 由這一行可知人們信賴的不再是理智或宗教，而是相術。[back]
46 a wicked pack of cards：指the Tarot pack of cards這種牌共有78張，分成四套，即cup, lance, sword和dish。據Jessie Weston在她的From Ritual to Romance中說，這四套牌與聖杯故事（the Grail story）的象徵相同。此外，the Tarot pack of cards原先是用以決定與人最有關係的事情，即決定尼羅河水何時漲，而今卻被用來相命。Eliot在原註中說他對the Tarot pack of cards並不熟悉，為了表達的方便，他使用時，顯然有與原意相違的地方。[back]
47 the drowned Phoenician Sailor：Madame Sosostris並不瞭解各牌代表的意義。她發現說話者的第一張牌是the drowned Phoenician Sailor，即是要他注意有水死（death by water）之災（見55行）。殊不知the drowned Phoenician Sailor屬豐年神（fertility god），每年把它的神像丟到水裡表示夏天的結束，並預卜次年豐收。參見本詩第四部份Death by Water。[back]
48 Those…eyes：此行引自莎翁「暴風雨」（The Tempest）一劇第二幕中Ariel對Ferdinand的歌唱。Ariel在歌聲中告訴Ferdinand說，他的父親Alonoso, King of Naples並未在暴風雨中的海灘死去，只是經過一番神奇的「海變」（sea-change）而已。歌聲隱含安慰，並引他去見Miranda。 他對Miranda一見鍾情。此行說the Phoenician Sailor已死，眼睛變成珍珠，不再是靈魂之窗。[back]
49 Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks：Belladonna在義大利文的原意為「美女」（beautiful lady）。與後面的話接著看，此處或指古希臘的海妖Siren。她的歌聲曼妙，能迷惑水手而使之毀亡。[back]
50 The lady of situations：機會主義的女人。[back]
51 the man with three staves：為Tarot pack of cards其中的一張。Three staves或象徵制海權，或象徵強盛的性能力，惟Eliot在自註中說，他武斷的把the man with three staves和漁夫王（the Fisher King）聯在一起。

the Wheel：亦為Tarot pack中的一張，代表命運的轉輪，在佛教中代表輪迴。佛教的思想在本詩中亦見諸第三部份的The Fire Sermon。[back]
52 the one-eyed merchant指Smyrna merchant（參見207行至214行）。早期的Smyrna merchants傳播著Attis cult的神秘以及聖杯的傳說（Grail legend）。[back]
52-54 this card…see：Tarot pack中無空白牌，故此牌或因牌面的圖案已經磨去，或出於Eliot的杜撰。something he carries on his back指神秘的崇祀和傳說。但Madame Sosostris並不能瞭解Tarot pack of cards所代表的真正意義。[back]
55 The Hanged Man：在Tarot pack中，the Hanged Man是個一腳吊在T形架上而面帶笑容的人物。他也代表豐年神，死後復活可令土地肥沃，人民繁衍。Eliot在原註中說：他把the Hanged Man與Frazer書中所提到的the Hanged God，以及第五部份360-366行中the hooded figure聯在一起。[back]
56 I… ring：指人們迷失於迷宮裡面，或在佛教所說的不能超脫的輪迴之中。ring：labyrinth; wheel. [back]
57 thank you：因顧客拿錢給她，所以稱謝。[back]
57-59 這三行可以看出Madame Sosostris極不信任人，故要親自帶天宮圖（horoscope）給Mrs. Equitone. [back]
60-68 大意是說：倫敦市在冬天的情景，褐霧瀰漫，人們魚貫的經過倫敦橋，眼睛低視，發出嘆息。進入市區，Saint Mary Woolnoth教堂的大鐘敲打九下，帶著死亡的聲音。[back]
60 Unreal city：Eliot於原註中引Charles Baudelaire (1821-67)在"Les Sept Vieillards"（"The Seven Old Men"）中的話；"Fourmillante cite, cite pleine de reves, /Ou le spectre en plein jour raccorche le passant"（"Crowded city, city full of dreams, /Where in broad daylight the spectre stops the passer-by"）.這鬼影幢幢的都市在Baudelaire的原著中是指巴黎，Eliot則用以指倫敦。[back]
62 London Bridge：倫敦橋，為通往倫敦市商業及辦公區（稱the City）的橋樑。[back]
63 典出但丁神曲中Inferno，iii,55-72。Eliot在自註中引道："si lunga tratta/di gente, ch'io non avrei maicreduto/che morte tanta n'avesse disfatta"（"such a long stream of people, that I should never have believed that death had undone so many"）。這是但丁在看到一大群憂戚的鬼魂時說的話。那些人在生前既不知善亦不知惡，只關心自己，毫不關心別人。[back]
64 典出但丁神曲中Inferno, IV,25-27。Eliot在自註中引道："Luivi, secono che per ascoltare,/non avea pianto, ma'che di sospiri,/che l'aura eternal facevan tremare"（"here, there was to be heard no sound of lamentation, only sighs which disturbed the eternal air"）. 但丁說此話時是在Limbo；該地為地獄邊緣的地方，是未受洗而死亡之嬰兒或耶穌降臨以前死亡之善良人所暫時棲止之處。他們發出嘆息乃是因為渴望見到上帝，卻沒有希望。[back]
65 他們低頭望著雙腳，顯得毫無希望。[back]
66 King William Street；倫敦市內的一條街名。[back]
67 Saint Mary Woolnoth：在King William Street上的一間教堂。[back]
68 Eliot在原註中說：他常在鐘敲九點時的最後一響注意到這種"dead sound,"一種平淡，低沉而象徵死亡的聲音。在一九二○年代，倫敦的辦公時間大部分起自早晨九點。鐘聲中隱示的是暗淡的一天又開始了。[back]
69-79 說話者遇見他戰時所認識的人，問他去年在花園中所種的屍體是否開始發芽，並要注意不要讓狗靠近，因為狗會把屍體挖出來。最後他指稱我們是虛偽的讀者。[back]
69 Stetson：一個普通的名字，意謂說話者可以叫住任何人而對他說同樣的話。[back]
70 Mylae〔ˊmaili〕：Mylae戰役（260 B.C.）是羅馬人和迦太基人之間的the Punic War中的一役。Tiresias現在託形為一個倫敦的職員，他遇到了Mylae戰役的戰友。因the Punic War為一商業的戰爭，與第一次世界大戰局 (1914-1918) 頗為相似。時間的錯雜，令人覺得同樣的事情一再的發生。[back]
71 在古代豐年祭儀式（fertility rites）中要把神像埋入地下，以求來年豐收。參見前面的the drowned Phoenician Sailor和the Hanged God。[back]
74-75 Eliot在原註中提到典出John Webster所著The White Devil, V, iv中Cornelia所唱的輓歌。她為"The friendless bodies of unburied men"而唱─"O keep thewolf far thence, that's foe to men, /Or with his nails he'll dig it up again. " Eliot把 "wolf"換成"Dog"可能是狗也會挖屍，且在舊約中狗並非人類的朋友而是依人屍為生的髒東西。Eliot又把"foe"改成"friend"可見人們不願獲救，過新的生活。[back]
76 這一行總結第一部份。這一行自You之後，典出Baudelaire的「惡之華」（Fleurs du Mal），為該詩集的序詩"Au Lecteur"（"To the Reader"）中的最後一行，英譯為"O hypocrite reader, my fellow-man, my brother!"在"Au Lecteur"中描述人們沉淪於愚蠢，罪惡之中；但在每個人形形色色的罪惡之中以Boredom（厭倦）為最壞， Baudelaire指出虛偽的讀者也跟他一樣的知道。Eliot引用此句意在指明讀者和詩中人物同樣瞭解荒原的情況。[back]
　
　 　
　 　 　
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