Unit6HowtoWriteaRottenPoemwithAlmostNoEffort課文翻譯綜合教程三

1、Unit 6How to Write a Rotte n Poem with Almost No EffortRichard Howey1 So you want to write a poem. You' ve had a rotten day or an astounding thought or acar accident or a squalid love affair and you want to record it for all time. You want toorganize those emotions that are pounding through your

2、 veins. You have something to com muni cate via a poem but you don' t know where to start.2 This, of course, is the problem with poetry. Most people find it difficult to write apoem so they don ' t even try. What ' s worse, they don ' t bother reading any poems either. Poetry has bec

3、ome an almost totally foreign art form to many of us. As a result, seriouspoets either starve or work as acco unt executives. There is no middle ground. Good poetsand poems are lost forever simply because there is no market for them, no people whowrite their own verse and seek out further in spirati

4、 on from other bards.3 Fort un ately, there is a soluti on for this problem, as there are for all imp on derables.The an swer is to make it easy for every one to write at least one poem in his life. Once aperson has written a poem, of whatever quality, he will feel comradeship with fellow poets and,

5、 hopefully, read their works. Ideally, there would evolve a veritable society of poet-citizens, which would elevate the quality of life worldwide. Not only that, good poets could make a livi ng for a cha nge.4 So, to begi n, have your paper ready. You must first un dersta nd that the poem youwrite h

6、ere will not be brilliant. It won' t even tBuhiewobba better than 50% ofall song lyrics and at least equal to one of Rod McKuen' s best efforts. You will bein structed how to write a four-li ne poem but the basic structure can be repeated at will tocreate works of epic len gth.5 The first li

7、 ne of your poem should start and end with these words:of Inythe mind. ” The middle word of this line is opti on al. Any word will do. It would be best not touse a word that has bee n overd one, such as “ win dmills or “ garde ns ” “ playgro und.”Just think of as many nouns as you can and see what f

8、its best. The rule of thumb is topick a noun that seems totally out of con text, such as “ fili ng cab inet ”r “ radiator or“ parking lot.” Just remember, the more unusual the noun, the more profound the image.6 The second line should use two or more of the human senses in a conflicting manner, as p

9、er the famous, “ listen to the warm. ” This is a sure way to conjure upIf more“ poetic ” feeling and atmosphere. Since there are five different senses, the possibilities areen dless. A couple that come to mind are“ see the no ise” and “ touch the sound.taste the color of my heari ng.Rhyming, of cour

10、sle , is opti oncomplexity is desired other sen ses can be added, as in"I cuddled your sight i n the aroma of the ni ght.7 The third line should be just a simple statement. This is used to break up thein sightful images that have bee n prese nted in the first two lin es. This line should be asp

11、rosaic as possible to give a “ downto- earth ” moocto the poem. An example wou ld be“ she gave me juice and toast that morning,” or perhaps " I left for work next day on the 8:30 bus. The content of this line may or may not relate to what has gone before.8 The last line of your poem should deal

12、 with the future in some way. This gives thetomorrow will be apoem a forward thrust that is always helpful. A possibility might be, better day, or " I ' ll finsomeone sometime, "or “ maybe we ' ll meeigain in July. 'This future-oriented ending lends an aura of hope and yet need

13、 not be grossly optimistic.9 By follow ing the above structure, anyone can write a poem. For example, if I selectone each of my sample lin es, I come up with:In the park ing lot of my mind,I cuddled your sight in the aroma of the ni ght.I left for work next day on the 8:30 bus.s a poemMaybe we '

14、 ll meet again in July.10 Now that poem (like yours, when you' re finished) is rotten. But at least itand you ' ve written it, which is an accomplishment that relatively few people can claim.11 Now that you ' re a poelteel free to read poetry by some of your more accomplishedbrothers and

15、 sisters in verse. Chances are, you' Ifind their offerings stimulatingand'verefresh ing. You might even try writ ing some more of your own poems, now that you broken the ice. Observe o thers ' emotions and experienee your own that '-s what poetry is all about.write to Bobby Goldsboro

16、12 In cide ntally, if you find it impossible to sell the poem you or Joh n Den ver, burn it. It will look terrible as the first page of your an thology whe n it published.輕輕松松寫爛詩(shī)理查德豪伊1. 這一天你過(guò)得很糟糕，或是有了個(gè)絕妙的想法，又或者遭遇車禍， 再或情場(chǎng)失意，你想 把它永久記錄下來(lái)。你于是想寫一首詩(shī)。你想把在你血管里澎湃著的這些情感組織一下。 你 有些東西需要用詩(shī)的形式來(lái)傳達(dá)，但不知道從哪里下手。2. 寫詩(shī)當(dāng)然

17、有這個(gè)問(wèn)題。大多數(shù)人覺(jué)得寫詩(shī)很難，所以根本連試都不去試一下。更糟糕的 是，大家現(xiàn)在也不再費(fèi)心去讀什么詩(shī)了。 對(duì)多數(shù)人來(lái)說(shuō)詩(shī)已經(jīng)成為一種幾乎完全陌生的藝術(shù)形式。結(jié)果是，嚴(yán)肅詩(shī)人要么餓死要么改行去做客戶項(xiàng)目經(jīng)理了。連折衷的余地都沒(méi)有。優(yōu)秀詩(shī)人和詩(shī)歌永遠(yuǎn)消失了，就是因?yàn)闆](méi)有市場(chǎng)一一沒(méi)人寫詩(shī)，也沒(méi)人想從別的詩(shī)人那里汲取靈感。3. 幸運(yùn)的是，像其他難以精確估量的東西一樣，這個(gè)問(wèn)題有一個(gè)解決辦法。 答案是讓每個(gè)人一生中至少可以輕輕松松寫一首詩(shī)。一旦某個(gè)人寫了一首詩(shī)，不論質(zhì)量如何，他會(huì)跟其他詩(shī)人產(chǎn)生親近感，那樣就很有可能會(huì)去閱讀他們的作品。理想的狀態(tài)是，名副其實(shí)的詩(shī)人公民社會(huì)發(fā)展起來(lái)了， 全世界范圍內(nèi)的生活

18、質(zhì)量得以提升。不僅如此，優(yōu)秀的詩(shī)人也可以換種方式謀生了。4. 好了，先要把紙準(zhǔn)備好。 你首先得明白，你在這張紙上寫出的詩(shī)不可能會(huì)太出色， 甚至 可能連平庸之作都算不上。但它至少會(huì)比 50%的歌詞要好，也至少能與羅德 麥丘恩的某篇 得意之作不相上下。我會(huì)指導(dǎo)你寫一首四行的詩(shī)，但這只是基本結(jié)構(gòu)，可以隨意重復(fù)，就算 要用它來(lái)寫一部鴻篇巨制也沒(méi)問(wèn)題。5. 你的詩(shī)作第一行的首尾字詞應(yīng)該是這樣的：在我腦子的 里。”這一行中間的詞是可選的。什么詞都可以。最好別用那些已經(jīng)被人用濫了的詞，比如風(fēng)車”或花園”或游樂(lè)場(chǎng)”盡量多想名詞，越多越好，看哪一個(gè)最合適。經(jīng)驗(yàn)法則是選一個(gè)看起來(lái)完全不合 上下文的詞，比如 檔案柜”或 散熱器”或 停車場(chǎng)”。只要記住，這名詞越不同尋常，意象就 會(huì)越深刻。6. 第二行應(yīng)該以自相矛盾的方式提到兩種或兩種以上的人類感覺(jué)，比如那句著名的傾聽(tīng)溫暖”用這個(gè)辦法來(lái)營(yíng)造 詩(shī)意”情感和氣氛真是十拿九穩(wěn)。因?yàn)槿祟惞灿形宸N感官，所以 能有無(wú)窮無(wú)盡的組合。現(xiàn)在闖入我腦海的兩個(gè)就是看見(jiàn)噪音”和觸摸聲音”。如果希望更復(fù)雜些，還可以加上其他感官，比如，品嘗我聽(tīng)覺(jué)的顏色”或我在夜的香氣中依偎你的視線