作者简介:
罗伯特·白朗宁(Robert Browning,1812—1889),英国十九世纪中叶诗人,出身富裕家庭,终生不事生产,写诗过日。在英国文学史上他与丁尼生(Alfred Tennyson)齐名,在政治上倾向于资产阶级自由党中的激进派,在同他妻子伊丽莎白·白朗宁(也是著名诗人)长期寄居意大利期间,曾同情当地人民反抗奥地利占领者的革命斗争。
白朗宁写了许多长诗,颇有特色;他尝试过诗剧的创作,则无多建树;他的短诗之中,有两类颇值一读。一类是抒情诗。他的诗笔一般晦涩,但在一些抒情短诗里他却做到以白描见长。另一类是戏剧性的独白诗,用活跃的口语词语和节奏,模拟人物口吻,一时独步诗坛,无人能及。在题材上,诗人所歌咏的,除了爱情之外,多是处在奇幻处境里的人物的心理状态,但也有反对教会与贵族专制的作品。
Home Thoughts From Abroad
by Robert Browning
Oh, to be in England now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England - now!
And after April, when May follows
And the white-throat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray's edge
That's the wise thrush: he sings each song twice over
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And, tho' the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!