论《四个四重奏》“时间”的意义

On the Meaning of "Time" in Four Quartets

"时间"是《四个四重奏》的核心主题,但诗作中"时间"本身的重要性在国内已有批评中却没有得到彰显。本文认为,诗人否定了循环时间和线性时间,但肯定了作为"瞬时性"与"当下性"的时间。这两个时间维度首先通过语言、知识以及对未来意识的批判体现出自身的重要性,进而与"无限"共存一体。《四重奏》中的"无限",不是外在于时间的,不是自在圆满的,而是必然在上述两个时间维度中被随时"建构"的、保持变化的。这一时间观与诗人早年的新黑格尔主义思想密切相关。

Time was the main theme of Four Quartets, but the importance of ＂time＂ itself in the poem was not emphasized in the domestic criticism. In the author＇ s opinion, the poet denied the circulating time and linear time, while affirm the instantaneous time and current time. Through language and knowledge, and by criticizing the future consciousness, the two dimension of time firstly showed its importance, and then mixed together with ＂infinity＂. The ＂infinity＂ in Four Quartets was not beyond the time and cannot be completed by itself. On the contrary, it must be ＂structured＂ in the two dimension of time and changeable at any moment. This idea of time was closely related to the poet＇ s early thoughts of new Hegelianism.