玛丽·锡德尼——“一切诗章之源”

Mary Sidney,Countess of Pembroke—The Subject of All Verse

玛丽·锡德尼,彭布罗克伯爵夫人,是英国第一个赢得广泛赞誉的女作家。她是菲利普·锡德尼的妹妹,是她在哥哥去世后不遗余力地推崇和宣扬使她的哥哥成为了骑士时代的传奇人物(兼优秀作家)。她和哥哥锡德尼共同创作的《锡德尼诗篇》被约翰·戴维斯爵士称作"艺术和文雅之作"(Hannay 1990:193),成为英语敬献诗的典范,影响了后来的诸如约翰·邓恩、乔治·赫伯、约翰·弥尔顿等的诗歌创作。玛丽·锡德尼是英国历史上第一个出版戏剧的女性,也是最早在戏剧中使用无韵诗的作家之一。通过文学翻译,玛丽·锡德尼引进了欧洲大陆的悲剧创作模式,为莎士比亚的一些戏剧铺平了道路。她集诗人、翻译家和赞助人于一身,被威廉·布朗称为"一切诗章之源"。

Mary Sidney, the Countess of Pembroke who was the younger sister of Philip Sidney, was the first non-royal English women to achieve a major reputation in literary field. By printing her brother＇ s works and encouraging those who celebrated him, she helped to establish his reputation not only as a Protestant martyr, but also as an exemplary writer. The Sidney Psalter, co-authored by them and praised by Davis as ＂a Work of Art and Grace＂, serves as a model for English devotional verse and has had an important influence on the development of English poetry in the late 16th and early 17th century （ The Sidney Psalms was widely read in Manuscript and influenced poets from Donne and Herbert to Milton and beyond）. She was the first English lady to publish her translation of drama and one of the first to use blank verse for drama. By literary translation, she imported the Continental model which helped to naturalize Continental political drama in England and served as both a precursor and a source for Shakespere＇ s Roman history plays. Being a poetess and translator as well as patroness, she was celebrated as ＂the subject of all verse＂ by William Brown.