迄今被人们所忽视的英语西湖风景诗

The Little Known English Poems on the West Lake in Hangzhou

杭州西湖的人文底蕴不仅在于风景名胜的历史悠久,也包括各个历史时期文人骚客们写景状物、叙事咏史和抒情寓怀的大量诗歌作品。例如白居易的《钱塘湖春行》、苏东坡的《饮湖上初晴后雨》和林升的《题临安邸》等经典的诗歌作品脍炙人口,千古传唱,对于西湖的名胜古迹起到了锦上添花的作用。自从十三世纪的马可波罗以来,也曾有过众多外国人来过杭州,他们留下了为数不少的西湖风景诗歌作品。但是令人感到遗憾的是,这些用外语创作的优美诗歌作品迄今仍没有引起人们的关注。本文拟介绍和分析由1915年来杭州蜜月旅行的美国女诗人吉利兰和1925年在杭州度蜜月的一对美国新婚夫妇——马尔智和饶道立等人写下的十首西湖风景诗。在杭州西湖申遗成功的大背景之下,我们应该认识到,这些出自外国人之手的优秀诗歌作品原本也属于西湖文化遗产的一部分,它们理应成为向世界推荐杭州西湖的最佳媒介之一。

The cultural heritage of the West Lake in Hangzhou does not only confine to the long history of its well-known scenic spots and the beautiful natural landscape, but should also include the large amount of poems written on the West Lake by the literati of different historical periods. For instance, those classical poems written Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty, and by Su Shi and Lin Sheng of the Song Dynasty, are generally considered to be the masterpieces and the fact that they are so popular actually contributs a lot to the fame of those scenic spots on the West Lake. Since the 13th century, Marco Polo and many other Western people have visited Hangzhou, and they left behind quite a few poems on the West Lake. Unfor- tunately, those poe^as written in Western languages have not drawn enough attention so far. The present paper aims to introduce ten English poems on the West Lake, written respectively by an American woman poet, Winona Montgomery Gilliland, as well as by a newly-wed American couple, Benjamin Franklin March, Jr. and Dorothy Rowe in early 20th century. Considering the fact that the West Lake has success- fully become a world cultural heritage site, and that Hangzhou municipal government is trying hard to in- troduce it to the outside world, we have reason to assert that these English poems written by foreigners are part of the West Lake＇s cultural heritage, and they should become one of.the best media for introducing Hangzhou and the West Lake to the external world.