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发帖数: 558 | 1 Do not go gentle into that good night
Dylan Thomas, 1914 - 1953
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
不要温顺地走进那平和的夜晚
不要温顺地走进那平和的夜晚，
老者该在白昼结束时燃烧咆哮；
迎着死去的日光怒喊， 怒喊。
智者懂得终结时黑暗是必然，
可他们说过的话还没叉出闪电光刀
不要温顺地走进那平和的夜晚。
善者， 经历了最后的波浪， 在呐喊
他们脆弱的行迹或曾在绿湾耀眼舞蹈，
迎着死去的日光怒喊， 怒喊。
狂者飞翔着抓住太阳歌颂赞，
才懂得， 已太迟， 他们为太阳的一程悲拗，
不要温顺地走进那平和的夜晚。
残者， 濒死着， 用几乎瞎了的双眼看
失明的眼睛仍像流星欢快地燃烧，
迎着死去的日光怒喊， 怒喊。
而你， 我的父亲， 在哀伤的顶点，
诅咒我， 保佑我， 用你狂热的眼泪， 我这般祈祷。
不要温顺地走进那平和的夜晚。
迎着死去的日光怒喊， 怒喊。
In A Nutshell
Dylan Thomas's most famous poem, known by its first line "Do Not Go Gentle
into That Good Night," is also the most famous example of the poetic form
known as the villanelle. (See "Rhyme, Form, and Meter" for an explanation of
the villanelle.) Yet, the poem's true importance lies not in its fame, but
in the raw power of the emotions underlying it. Thomas uses the poem to
address his dying father, lamenting his father's loss of health and strength
, and encouraging him to cling to life. The urgency of the speaker's tone
has kept the poem among the world's most-read works in English for more than
half a century.
Dylan Thomas was an introverted, passionate, lyrical writer (lyrical = a
kind of poem or work that expresses personal feelings) who felt disconnected
from the major literary movement of his day – the high modernism of T.S.
Eliot and Wallace Stevens. Thomas was born in Wales in the year that World
War I began, 1914, and his reactions to the events of the two World Wars
strongly influenced his writing. His first book of poetry made him instantly
famous at the age of twenty. Thomas embraced fame in much the same way that
another passionate poet, Lord Byron, had done two hundred years earlier –
by adopting wild rock-star behavior and intense displays of feeling,
especially in his public poetry readings.
Thomas was also known to be a heavy drinker. Sadly, only two years after
writing "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" about his father's
approaching death, Thomas himself died, probably from alcohol poisoning and
abuse, although the exact details of his death are controversial. His
premature death at the age of 39 is reminiscent of the early death of
another Romantic poet, John Keats. Like Keats, Thomas died before he fully
expressed his literary potential; but, also like Keats, he left behind a few
enduring works that promise to last through the ages.
觉得 Rage, rage against the dying of the light is a better and stronger
title. |
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