病态忧郁者与理想英雄——从马修·阿诺德的两部诗作论其文学批评思想

The Man of Morbid Depression and the Ideal Hero: Matthew Arnold's Thoughts on Literary Criticism in “Empedocles on Etna”and “Sohrab and Rustum”

阿诺德在《诗歌新编》中删去《恩培多克勒斯在埃特纳火山》,并增添《索赫拉布与鲁斯塔姆》的举动标明其在创作思想上的转折,即在诗作中表达对分裂时代的无尽失望不再是其创作的动机,他认识到诗歌不应表现毫无希望和出路的病态情绪,而应效法以索福克勒斯悲剧为代表的古希腊文学经典,选择伟大的行动为主题,充分反映时代精神。这预示着阿诺德反对分裂、追求整一的批评思想正逐渐清晰明确。但与此同时,思想上的统一与明晰性使得阿诺德忽视了诗作自身的复杂多义,也导致其诗歌创作力的衰减。

The fact that Matthew Arnold removed 'Empedocles on Etna'from Poems: A New Edition and added 'Sohrab and Rustum'to it proves a turning point of Arnold’s thoughts on writing. Namely,instead of being eager to express the endless disappointments and depression in a disunited era in poems,he realized that poetry ought to set ancient Greek classics represented by Sophocles’ works as good examples. It means that poetry should represent great actions and therefore adequately demonstrate the spirit of the time.