艾米莉·狄金森对超验主义自然观的再定义

Emily Dickinson’s Redefining Transcendentalist View of Nature

爱默生和梭罗所奉行的超验主义自然观无法完全解释艾米莉·狄金森内心深处对“自然之谜”的疑惑,因她有意识地在诗歌创作中进行了极富独创精神的“再定义”“自然”等同于“知识”,为直觉或“超灵”难以洞悉;“自然”独立于人的意志之外,它对人的基本利益漠不关心,两者之间的疏离感无法打破。因为不能体悟“自然”的本质,诗人对“自然”的敬畏感逐渐加深,也构成了她对超验主义自然观冷静的质疑。狄金森和爱默生都相信读者应该经由个人的实践去感受和解读“自然之谜”,而两者之间最根本的不同在于狄金森最终确定该命题无解。

As the Transcendentalist view of nature held by Emerson and Thoreau does not satisfy Emily Dickinson in her doubts concerning nature, the poet purposefully endeavors to redefine it in her poetry. Dickinson’s definition involves the main beliefs that nature is knowledge itself which goes beyond man’s expression, and that there exists an unbreakable separation and remoteness between nature and man for the former is independent of the latter’s mind and indifferent of the latter’s interests. The poet’s increasing awe of nature’s hidden meaning gradually leads to her cool skepticism. Although Dickinson, like Emerson, believes that the reader should attempt his perception and interpretation of the mystery of nature through his own experience, she eventually claims that this mission can never be satisfactorily fulfilled.