【英语天天读】叶芝诗歌《当你老了》赏析——特别喜欢的一首诗，水木年华《一生有你》歌词来源...

记得近十年前，就很喜欢卢庚戌的作品，那时他还没有成名（手上有一张叫做《未来的未来》的CD），甚至“水木年华”还没有出一张唱片。他在九十年初期写的一首歌却在后来水木年华的第一张唱片中莫名火了，就像今年春晚王菲一曲《传奇》一样（《传奇》发行已经有八年之久，我高一时就听到了卡带，前水木成员李健的第一张唱片）。我辗转找到了当年小卢在清华大学里写的《一生有你》的初版歌词——《相信》

梦中草原----相信 相信
卢庚戌
当我们都已老去 你还能否陪我
静静坐在夕阳边 看往事渐渐走远
曾经追逐的心愿 有多少会实现
那些誓言谎言 都随风化成了烟

多少人曾爱慕你年轻时的容颜
可知一生你在寻求的青春不变
多少人曾在你生命中来了又还
相信一生我都会陪在你的身边

当世事沧桑都已看平淡
是否有一种坚持还留在心间
哦 哦

其实这首歌是根据叶芝的《当你老了》，诗中流露出对青春的感怀和对永恒的解读，让人动容。

When You are Old
When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
--W. B. Yeats

当你老了，头白了，睡意昏沉，
炉火旁打盹，请取下这部诗歌，
慢慢读，回想你过去眼神的柔和，
回想它们昔日浓重的阴影；
多少人爱你青春欢畅的时辰，
爱慕你的美丽，假意或真心，
只有一个人爱你那朝圣者的灵魂，
爱你衰老了的脸上痛苦的皱纹；
垂下头来，在红光闪耀的炉子旁，
凄然地轻轻诉说那爱情的消逝，
在头顶的山上它缓缓踱着步子，
在一群星星中间隐藏着脸庞。

'When you are old...,' by William Butler Yeats, is rich with mythical imagery. The ambiguity(双关、朦胧) of certain images is found within its transitions. For instance, as the first line turns into the second a general meaning is transformed into something more particular; the sleep of impending（即将发生的） death becomes the weariness（

[wiərinis ] n.疲倦；厌烦） of one "nodding by the fire."

Throughout the poem these kinds of transitions of meaning continue, lending a sort of hypnotic（ [hipˈnɔtik ] a.催眠的） quality to the imagery that entrances the reader. The notion of the sleep of death packed into a certain moment wherein（[weərˈin ] ad.在哪方面，在哪一点上，在什么地方） one is nodding by the fire is a hook promising deeper levels of meaning. Once brought into the movement of the poem, its content also appeals to me emotionally; the journey from youth to old age is briefly traced in a few tightly-packed phrases, suggesting the reality of sorrow and wasted time and the regret of forsaking（ 放弃） the opportunity for Love.

The images are stark (a.荒凉的) but flowing. The first two lines suggest comfort in old age. Death is not a violent end but something one "falls into" as easily as sleep. There is ambiguity here -- to sleep next to a cozy fire may be an attractive proposition, yet given the age and the connotation( [ˌkɔnəˈteiʃən ] n.言外之意) of the sleep from which one does not awaken in this world, she who is "nodding by the fire" may also be "dying by the fire," expiring as a fire is also extinguished( [ikˈstiŋgwiʃ ] vt.熄灭) .

On the other hand, the broad notion of nearness to death and the subversive( [səbˈvə:siv ] a.颠覆性的，破坏性的) fears and sadnesses it connotes is quickly brought into focus with a contrasting concrete( [ˈkɔŋkri:t ] a.实在的，具体的) image: an elderly somebody nodding by a fire. She who is "old and grey and full of sleep" begins to read. The phrase "full of sleep" both carries the broad connotation of death, and describes the sleeping that leads to dreaming. Reading, then, these words, she begins to dream about the past and her own youth in a self-reflective (反省) way.

The second stanza （[ˈstænzə ] n.(诗)节，段） is descriptive of her dream of the past. As a transition from the first stanza into the second, she remembers her own "soft look," her eyes and "their shadows deep." From this image of her youthful gaze we are brought back to a more general view again; she is reminded of those who loved her "moments of glad grace" and her "beauty with love false or true." Both "grace" and "beauty" are vague （[veig ] a.含糊的，不明确的，模糊的） and nondescript （[ˈnɔndiˌskript ] a.没有特征的，平凡的）, yet these lines work to contrast those who loved these general aspects of her with the "one man" who loved her pilgrim （[ˈpilgrim ] n.朝圣者） soul. This seems to suggest a love willing to journey into age as a companion with her, still loving the "sorrows" of her "changing face" as she shifts through the years.
The deep shadows of her eyes, the vague "soft look" becomes more concrete as one imagines her "changing face" and the sorrows that come through experience. Yet, the one man who forsees in her pilgrim soul the inevitability of growing old, and is still willing to love her, is apparently rejected by her, possibly in favor of those who temporarily love her "grace" and "beauty." From this is implied regret, the sadness of missed opportunity in years that have slipped away.

The dream continues as she bends "down beside the glowing bars" of the fire, perhaps seeking warmth or comfort -- suggesting the desire and need for the fiery （[ˈfaiəri ] a.燃烧着的） love she once rejected. She murmurs, as those who are alone might instead of speaking aloud, testifying to （说明，表明） her isolation, "a little sadly." From this concrete image the dream again expands, and we see Love, capitalized as an absolute, fleeing, effortlessly into mountainous (

[ˈmauntinəs ] a.山多的；巨大的) distances.

His face hid "amid a crowd of stars," an abstract image issuing from a more concrete description of loneliness and regret, speaks to that which is beyond her reach; it is a love that has become perfect and absolute in itself, which makes her feeling of sad regret all the more stark. The poem begins "When you are old...," rather than "Now that you are old...," which suggests that it is a warning, or a judgment upon an unrequited（ [ˌʌnri'kwaitid ] 无报答的） subject of love.

上边这个诗歌赏析我特别喜欢，说的太好了，其实不管是男生还是女生吧，在年轻的时候要真正懂得珍惜，而且用行动甚至是成长中的伤痛去力行“珍惜”二字，而不是随口发发誓言。或许这样的青春不会太洒脱，但是我想“当你老了”，你就会庆幸自己找到了one man loved the pilgrim soul in you，而不是被 loved your moments of glad grace,And loved your beauty with love false or true的人所伤害的同时错过了或许不够绚烂，但是可能永恒的真爱。

本文转自gnuhpc博客园博客，原文链接http://www.cnblogs.com/gnuhpc/archive/2012/01/13/2321442.html如需转载请自行联系原作者