论《失乐园》对战争的戏仿

On parody of war in Paradise Lost

描写战争是自荷马以降史诗史上的一个重要传统。弥尔顿在《失乐园》里延续这一传统,将天庭之战置于史诗中心,以细数撒旦军及其战争武器之名录为史诗开篇,尤其设计了三个分别发生在地狱、伊甸园和天堂里的代表性战斗场面。然而,弥尔顿将无以匹敌之体格神力、战争武器以及好战精神赋予恶魔撒旦及其之流,其战斗场面亦并非史诗传统的战争场面,而是对战争的戏仿。这并不是因为弥尔顿不擅长书写传统的经典战争,而是因为弥尔顿在《失乐园》里将史诗主题从"战争"改写为"人的堕落和再生"。此乃弥尔顿对史诗传统的初步创新。

Describing war has been an important epic tradition since Homer,which Milton abides by in Paradise Lost by setting“the War of Heaven”in the middle of the epic,by beginning the epic with the catalogue of Satan and his warriors as well as their weapons,and especially by designing three representative battles occurring respectively in Hell,Eden and the Paradise.However,Milton endows unparalleled physical power,military force and warlike spirit to Evil Satan and his army,and designates the battles as parody of war.This does not mean that Milton is not good at describing traditional battles,but discloses that he rewrites the epic theme from the traditional one of war to that of Man's Fall and Regeneration,which constitutes his initial attempt to innovate the epic tradition.