強東是John Donne. 十七世紀的人. 他寫過很多詩. 據說他生前最有名的一首
是 >The Flea<, 講的是透過一隻跳蚤的吸吮, 一對男女的血就混成一塊了.
這首詩如果是在現代被寫成的, 跳蚤大概就會變成蚊子---跳蚤似乎太噁心了.
而這就是我喜歡強東的地方. 他寫的是一個時代裡頭所發生的事, 他所用
的比喻也是符合那個時代的, 那個連住在城堡都免不了遭受蟲害的時代.
強東的詩在十八世紀突然被冷落了. 但十九世紀以後, 許多像Eliot這樣的詩人
都發現他們必須回到強東裡頭去尋找靈感. 而他的詩從前被認為是不符合音律的,
現在也被認為是完全符合自然語律的, 也就是說, 是可以朗誦的. 今天, 他最
著名的詩是 >No Man is an Island<. 這裡抄一首也很棒的詩, 同樣是強東寫的:
>The Good Morrow<
I wonder by my troth, what thou, and I
Did, till we loved? were we not weaned till then,
But sucked on country pleasures, childlishly?
Or snorted we in the seven sleepers' den?
'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.
And now good morrow to our awaking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room, an every where.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to others, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.
My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest,
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north, without declining west?
What ever dies, was not mixed equally;
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.
--
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