To the Memory of
My Beloved the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare and What He Hath Left Us 6park.com
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by Ben Jonson
in the First Folio, 1623 6park.com
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To draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy name, 6park.com
Am I thus ample to thy book and fame; 6park.comWhile I confess thy writings to be such 6park.comAs neither man nor Muse can praise too much. 6park.com’Tis true, and all men’s suffrage. But these ways 6park.comWere not the paths I meant unto thy praise; 6park.comFor seeliest Ignorance on these may light, 6park.comWhich, when it sounds at best, but echoes right; 6park.comOr blind Affection, which doth ne’er advance 6park.comThe truth, but gropes and urgeth all by chance; 6park.comOr crafty Malice might pretend this praise, 6park.comAnd think to ruin where it seem’d to raise. 6park.comThese are as some infamous bawd or whore 6park.comShould praise a matron. What could hurt her more? 6park.comBut thou art proof against them, and, indeed, 6park.comAbove the ill-fortune of them, or the need. 6park.comI, therefore, will begin. Soul of the age! 6park.comThe applause, delight, the wonder of our stage, 6park.comMy Shakespeare, rise! I will not lodge thee by 6park.comChaucer, or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie 6park.comA little further, to make thee a room: 6park.comThou art a monument without a tomb, 6park.comAnd art alive still, while thy book doth live, 6park.comAnd we have wits to read, and praise to give. 6park.comThat I not mix thee so, my brain excuses; 6park.comI mean, with great but disproportion’d Muses. 6park.comFor, if I thought my judgment were of years, 6park.comI should commit thee, surely, with thy peers. 6park.comAnd tell how far thou didst our Lyly outshine, 6park.comOr sporting Kyd, or Marlowe’s mighty line. 6park.comAnd though thou hadst small Latin and less Greek, 6park.comFrom thence, to honour thee, I would not seek 6park.comFor names; but call forth thund’ring Aeschylus, 6park.comEuripides, and Sophocles to us, 6park.comPaccuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead 6park.comTo life again, to hear thy buskin tread 6park.comAnd shake a stage; or when thy socks were on, 6park.comLeave thee alone, for the comparison 6park.comOf all that insolent Greece or haughty Rome 6park.comSent forth; or since did from their ashes come. 6park.comTriumph, my Britain! Thou hast one to show 6park.comTo whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. 6park.comHe was not of an age, but for all time! 6park.comAnd all the Muses still were in their prime, 6park.comWhen, like Apollo, he came forth to warm 6park.comOur ears, or, like a Mercury, to charm. 6park.comNature herself was proud of his designs, 6park.comAnd joy’d to wear the dressing of his lines, 6park.comWhich were so richly spun, and woven so fit 6park.comAs, since, she will vouchsafe no other wit. 6park.comThe merry Greek, tart Aristophanes, 6park.comNeat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please; 6park.comBut antiquated and deserted lie, 6park.comAs they were not of Nature’s family. 6park.comYet must I not give Nature all! Thy art, 6park.comMy gentle Shakespeare, must enjoy a part. 6park.comFor though the Poet’s matter Nature be 6park.comHis art doth give the fashion. And that he 6park.comWho casts to write a living line, must sweat 6park.com(Such as thine are), and strike the second heat 6park.comUpon the Muses’ anvil, turn the same 6park.com(And himself with it), that he thinks to frame; 6park.comOr for the laurel he may gain a scorn! 6park.comFor a good Poet’s made as well as born; 6park.comAnd such wert thou! Look how the father’s face 6park.comLives in his issue; even so, the race 6park.comOf Shakespeare’s mind and manners brightly shines 6park.comIn his well-turnèd and true-filèd lines; 6park.comIn each of which he seems to shake a lance 6park.comAs brandish’d at the eyes of Ignorance. 6park.comSweet Swan of Avon! what a sight it were 6park.comTo see thee in our water yet appear, 6park.comAnd make those flights upon the banks of Thames 6park.comThat so did take Eliza, and our James! 6park.comBut stay, I see thee in the hemisphere 6park.comAdvanc’d, and made a constellation there! 6park.comShine forth, thou star of poets, and with rage 6park.comOr influence, chide, or cheer the drooping stage; 6park.comWhich since thy flight from hence hath mourn’d like night, 6park.comAnd despairs day, but for thy volume’s light. 6park.com顺便说一句,这首诗的形式即英雄双行体:两行押韵,每行抑扬格,五音步。曾有一个中国留学生说她喜欢“英雄双行体”而采访记者不懂,又不肯承认自己无知而弄得很不愉快,在媒体上掀起过一个小波澜。 6park.com贴主:LiaoKang于2021_05_04 16:52:50编辑
贴主:LiaoKang于2021_05_04 17:28:53编辑