《英国中世纪诗歌选集》译者前言

The Translator’s Preface to An Anthology of Medieval English Poetry

中古英语时期是古英语诗歌向现代英语诗歌进化的一个重要转型期。而现代英语诗歌在形式、主题和体裁上的诸多传统都是在这个转型期中产生并奠定基础的。正如学习中国文学史不能够随意跳过楚辞、汉乐府,以及魏晋南北朝的诗歌和骈文等重要的里程碑那样,我们攻读英国文学也断然不能脱离那些在中世纪所确立的英语诗歌传统。如果脱离,源远流长的英国文学传统就会被无端割裂,不仅使人难以理解那些脍炙人口的现代英语文学作品是如何从不列颠民族的肥沃土壤和灿烂文化中产生和演变出来的,而且就连那些文本中所蕴含的丰富的深层意义也会因此而变得苍白和乏味。

Middle English period is an important transitional period from Old English poetry to modern English poetry.Many formal,thematic and generic conventions of modern English poetry can be traced back to this transitional period of Middle English.Just as we should not skip those famous poems of Qu Yuan,Li Bai,and Du Fu in an attempt to understand and appreciate Chinese poetry,we definitely cannot ignore those Middle English poems by Geoffrey Chaucer,William Langland,John Gower,and the Gawain poet,in our study of English poetry.For in so doing,the long-standing English literary tradition will be cut apart,with the result that we will not only be unable to understand fully the evolution of English literature,but also fail to appreciate the rich connotations of the English literary text.