从一首散文诗看吴宓的为“诗”与为“人”

Love,Poetry and New Culture:A Study of Wu Mi's Prose Poem

吴宓1931年6月在巴黎游学时所作的英文散文诗,是目前所见他的唯一一首英文诗歌。这首英文诗歌对吴宓研究以及中国现代文学史研究的价值还不曾引起足够的关注。该诗创作时,吴宓与毛彦文的感情正处于若即若离之中,而同时又与一美国女子亲近,其个人感情际遇及对婚恋的观念自然构成了解读的重要背景。我们还可以从当时的文化论争来理解这首诗歌的意义。在《学衡》时代,吴宓的态度和思想与新文化运动的倡导者胡适等的观点相左,基本属于文化保守派。在主编《大公报.文学副刊》时期,吴宓对白话的态度已经趋于宽容。1931年5月,胡适撰文质疑《大公报》不用白话,《大公报》总编辑张季鸾则表示要白话文言并重。吴宓的这首英文散文诗也可以看做是对此事件的回应,可以看做是他对新诗态度的改变的开始。但在表面的改变之中,吴宓的这首诗仍然坚持了他所认定的诗歌的根本精神和艺术原理,并体现了其做人为文的一贯风格。

During his stay in Paris in 1931,deeply confused in relations with a few women,Wu Mi made his first foray into English poetry writing,and composed a prose poem in English,which has remained his first and last English poem.A careful examination reveals that the poem concentrating on the meaning of love is a serious attempt made by Wu Mi to reason out of the entangled relations in which he found himself bogged down at the time.The image of the angel he celebrates passionately in the poem symbolizes the true love he was seeking in real life.On a different level,we argue,the poem is a reflection he made on the New Culture Movement to which he had expressed strong disagreement,and offers an opportunity for Wu Mi to clarify his stance on the movement and the aesthetic standards he held for New Poetry in China.