記得三年前（89）第一次接觸到Alfred Noyes的詩，
那是一本插畫書，繪者是Charles Keeping。
昨天瀏覽了版內的精華區，好像版主沒有收錄，
想推薦版友欣賞：http://www.murphsplace.com/crowe/highwayman.html
讀敘事詩有如看短篇小說般緊湊緊張又驚奇。
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作者: skyhawk (冰城城主) 看板: poetry
標題: Re: The Highwayman - Alfred Noyes (1880-1958)
時間: Thu Feb 28 16:19:47 2002
※ 引述《WebLKK (韋布魯柯克)》之銘言：
: 記得三年前（89）第一次接觸到Alfred Noyes的詩，
: 那是一本插畫書，繪者是Charles Keeping。
: 昨天瀏覽了版內的精華區，好像版主沒有收錄，
: 想推薦版友欣賞：http://www.murphsplace.com/crowe/highwayman.html
: 讀敘事詩有如看短篇小說般緊湊緊張又驚奇。
呼.. 現在正在讀 ^^
剛剛去整理還沒處理的英詩選集
才發現 Yin81 整理了好多.. @@
這一篇又可以加進去囉~~ 謝謝 WebLKK ^^
The Highwayman
The wind was a torrent of darkness upon the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight looping the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding --
Riding -- riding --
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.
He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead, and a bunch of lace at his chin;
He'd a coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of fine doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle; his boots were up to his thigh!
And he rode with a jeweled twinkle --
His rapier hilt a-twinkle --
His pistol butts a-twinkle, under the jeweled sky.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred,
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter --
Bess, the landlord's daughter --
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
Dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim, the ostler listened -- his face was white and peaked --
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter --
The landlord's black-eyed daughter;
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say:
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart; I'm after a prize tonight,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light.
Yet if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."
He stood upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair in the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the sweet black waves of perfume came tumbling o'er his breast,
Then he kissed its waves in the moonlight
(O sweet black waves in the moonlight!),
And he tugged at his reins in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.
He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon.
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon over the purple moor,
The redcoat troops came marching --
Marching -- marching --
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.
They said no word to the landlord; they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed.
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets by their side;
There was Death at every window,
And Hell at one dark window,
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.
They had bound her up at attention, with many a sniggering jest!
They had tied a rifle beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her. She heard the dead man say,
"Look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way."
She twisted her hands behind her, but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness,
and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
The tip of one finger touched it, she strove no more for the rest;
Up, she stood up at attention, with the barrel beneath her breast.
She would not risk their hearing, she would not strive again,
For the road lay bare in the moonlight,
Blank and bare in the moonlight,
And the blood in her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love's refrain.
Tlot tlot, tlot tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hooves, ringing clear;
Tlot tlot, tlot tlot, in the distance! Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding --
Riding -- riding --
The redcoats looked to their priming! She stood up straight and still.
Tlot tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment, she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight --
Her musket shattered the moonlight --
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him -- with her death.
He turned, he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the casement, drenched in her own red blood!
Not till the dawn did he hear it, and his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon, wine-red was his velvet coat
When they shot him down in the highway,
Down like a dog in the highway,
And he lay in his blood in the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.
And still on a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a gypsy's ribbon looping the purple moor,
The highwayman comes riding --
Riding -- riding --
The highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard,
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred,
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter --
Bess, the landlord's daughter --
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
Alfred Noyes
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- <
作者: skyhawk (冰城城主) 看板: poetry
標題: Re: The Highwayman - Alfred Noyes (1880-1958)
時間: Thu Feb 28 16:23:30 2002
※ 引述《skyhawk (冰城城主)》之銘言：
: ※ 引述《WebLKK (韋布魯柯克)》之銘言：
: : 記得三年前（89）第一次接觸到Alfred Noyes的詩，
: : 那是一本插畫書，繪者是Charles Keeping。
: : 昨天瀏覽了版內的精華區，好像版主沒有收錄，
: : 想推薦版友欣賞：http://www.murphsplace.com/crowe/highwayman.html
: : 讀敘事詩有如看短篇小說般緊湊緊張又驚奇。
: 呼.. 現在正在讀 ^^
: 剛剛去整理還沒處理的英詩選集
: 才發現 Yin81 整理了好多.. @@
: 這一篇又可以加進去囉~~ 謝謝 WebLKK ^^
然後.. 發現原來 Yin81 也已經放進去了 @@
太厲害了 有效率!
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- <
作者: WebLKK (韋布魯柯克) 看板: poetry
標題: Re: The Highwayman - Alfred Noyes (1880-1958)
時間: Thu Feb 28 16:48:15 2002
※ 引述《skyhawk (冰城城主)》之銘言：
: ※ 引述《skyhawk (冰城城主)》之銘言：
: : 呼.. 現在正在讀 ^^
: : 剛剛去整理還沒處理的英詩選集
: : 才發現 Yin81 整理了好多.. @@
: : 這一篇又可以加進去囉~~ 謝謝 WebLKK ^^
不客氣！
: 然後.. 發現原來 Yin81 也已經放進去了 @@
: 太厲害了 有效率!
本版由你們兩位版主經營，是大家的福氣啦：）
以下是我在2000.05.24為出版商譯寫的簡介，抄錄給版友們參考指教。
不過，我並沒有在書店看到這個繪本，如果有人知道的話，可否告知在哪個書店看到？
Quote
本書是插畫家查爾斯‧齊平（Charles Keeping）在一九八一年為《The Highwayman》
所作的插畫，由牛津大學出版社發行。
《The Highwayman》是英國詩人及批評家諾伊斯（全名Alfred Noyes）在一九一三年出版
的作品，於一九四一年重新增訂。
諾伊斯於一八八零年九月十六日出生於英格蘭斯塔福郡南部的渥佛罕普頓，於一九五八年
六月二十八日逝世於維特島。
諾伊斯在牛津大學求學期間，於一九零二年發表了他的第一卷詩集
《The Loom of Years 》，隨後陸續發表了其他作品，充分展現他的愛國情操與對於海洋
的熱愛。他在一九一四年到一九二三年間，於普林斯頓大學教授英國文學。諾伊斯的作品
風格保守，嚴格遵循傳統文學的內涵和結構，高度浪漫又豐富多彩，並且帶有多愁善感的
氛圍。作品中以一九二二年到一九三零年著作的敘事詩三部曲《The Torch-Bearers 》最
有名。他的自傳《Two Worlds for Memory》於一九五三年出版。
Unquote
見笑啦。。。