III.
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The tea-rose tea-gown, etc. | |
Supplants the mousseline of Cos, | |
The pianola"replaces" | 35 |
Sappho's barbitos. | |
Christ follows Dionysus, | |
Phallic and ambrosial | |
Made way for macerations; | |
Caliban casts out Ariel. | 40 |
All things are a flowing, | |
Sage Heracleitus says; |
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But a tawdry cheapness | |
Shall outlast our days. | |
Even the Christian beauty | 45 |
Defects-after Samothrace; | |
We see τo καλoν | |
Decreed in the market place. | |
Faun's flesh is not to us, | |
Nor the saint's vision. | 50 (49-50) |
We have the press for wafer, | |
Franchise for circumcision. | |
All men, in law, are equals. | |
Free of Peisistratus, | |
We choose a knave or a eunuch | 55 |
To rule over us. | (55-56) |
O bright Apollo, | |
τιν' 'ανδρα, τιν'ηρωα, τινα θεoν | |
What god, man, or hero | |
Shall I place a tin wreath upon! | 60 |
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Annotation
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Tea-rose tea-gown:英國人有喝下午茶的習慣,此地是下午茶及其穿著。[back] | |
Sappho's barbitos:Sappho是希臘女詩人,以寫抒情短歌聞名。Barbitos希臘文為barbiton「豎琴」之意。[back] | |
Dionysus:希臘酒神,希臘人崇拜他因為他亦是「官能享受」之神。見J.G. Frazer所寫的The Golden Bough,有詳細的解說。[back] | |
Phallic and ambrosial:phallic是指酒神崇拜中之官能享受(特別指男性生殖器)部份,有性崇拜之意。Ambrosia是希臘神話中神巫所食用之物,凡人吃了可以長生不老。兩者在希臘人的心目中都是可使長生,使種族繁延之物。[back] | |
Made way for maceration:指性崇拜及美食享受帶來了憔悴不堪的身體。意謂縱慾傷身。[back] | |
Caliban casts out Ariel:Caliban與Ariel都是莎士比亞名劇The Tempest中的精怪。Caliban乃劇中之怪物,是凡夫俗子,笨拙粗魯的代表。Ariel卻是輕靈似仙,美麗非凡,是藝術的象徵與化身。莎士比亞用這兩個造型,做為對比。此處Pound意指二十世紀現代人的生活是本末倒置的,醜惡驅逐了美麗,官能代表一切,靈性完全喪失。[back] | |
Heracleitus:是希臘哲學家(fl. 550 B.C.).他的哲學重點在以"flux"(變化)來解釋宇宙。因此all things are a flowing意為世事總如「過眼煙雲」。[back] | |
But a tawdry . . . our days:tawdry艷俗之意。全句意謂在我們這個工業時代只有大量生產價俗氣的東西,才能廣泛流傳,為大眾享用。[back] | |
Even the Christian . . . Samothrace:Samothrace是一希臘海島在傳說中是神仙Cabiri們所居住的地方。Cabiri是比希臘神話還要早的一些神祇,以巫術及神秘的奇行著名,後漸漸取代了希臘神話中的神祇而大行其道。用Samothrace中的Cabiri代表現代文明。謂連基督教文明在現代文明的影響下了都變了質。[back] | |
We see . . .market place:兩個希臘字意為"the beautiful",全句美的標準為通俗的大眾所訂定,水準日益低落。[back] | |
Faun's flesh . . . vision:意謂現代人既不是精力充沛活力旺盛,也不像聖者一般有著豐富的精神生活。Faun是希臘神話中半人半羊之農牧神,是肉慾的象徵。[back] | |
We have . . . circumcision:指現代人用印刷品(the press)諸如早報晚報之類的來代替宗教性的聖餅(wafer),人人都成了專賣制度下的一份子,因此Pound有「專賣權(Franchise)代替了割禮(circumcision)」之語,來諷刺現代人生。[back] | |
Free of Peisistratus:意謂趕走獨裁者。[back] | |
We choose . . . over us:現代人在法律之前人人平等,獨裁者被趕走了之後,選出來的卻是無能的太監或粗俗的流氓。[back] | |
此示希臘文意為"What man what hero, what God shall we loudly praise"此為Pound引Pindar's頌歌集(Second Olympian Ode 1,2)中之句。但原句的次序為God, hero, man, Pound將之弄倒,以諷刺現代人本末倒置的畸型生活。[back] | |
Shall I place . . . upon:意謂在神、人、英雄三者之間,我該向哪一位獻上錫製的花圈。花圈之花本應為鮮花。此地用錫紙又是諷刺現代工業社會之冷酷,之遠離自然。[back] |
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