自由诗与格律诗之争的出路何在?——奥登音节诗实验的启示

Auden's Experiments with Syllabic Verse:Toward the End of the Rivalry between Free Verse and Metrical Verse

自从20世纪初现代主义诗歌登上英美诗坛以来,诗界便一直存在着自由诗与格律诗之争。这并不是单纯的审美趣味之争,在形式之争的表面下是不同意识形态和伦理价值之间的对峙。两大阵营各执一词,难以调和,这让一些深谙自由诗和格律诗之伦理意义和政治意义的现代诗人不免感叹诗体选择之难。奥登在其创作生涯的中后期以其具有自觉意识的音节诗实验和丰富的音节诗创作,开辟了一条独一无二的宽阔道路。经奥登改良后的音节诗保留了自由诗和格律诗各自的长处,体现了秩序和自由的平衡与和谐共存,由此向读者传达了重要的伦理价值观。

Since the advent of modernist poetry in the early twentieth century,there has been a rivalry between free verse and metrical verse,which involves not merely different aesthetic standards,but different ideologies and moral values. To many modern poets who are aware of the moral meanings of free verse and metrical verse,no compromise seems possible. W. H. Auden,however,has done a great deal toward that end by experimenting with syllabic verse in his later career. The syllabic verse,significantly improved by Auden,retains the respective merits of free verse and metrical verse,represents the co-existence of and the balance between freedom and order,and conveys important moral values to the reader.