愛華網(wǎng)英雄雙行體Heroic Couplet
英雄雙行體HeroicCouplet 也譯為英雄聯(lián)句,是英文雙行體Couplet中的一種形式,英文雙行體的定義如下:
Couplet: It is a pair of rhyming verse lines,usually of the same length; one of the most widely used verse-formsin European poetry. Chaucer established the use of couplets inEnglish, notably in the Canterbury Tales, using rhyming iambicpentameters later known as heroiccouplets
其特征與漢語的對聯(lián)和駢文類似。如果學(xué)英文的人不知道英文中有雙行體，那就如說漢語的人不知道漢語中有對聯(lián)。正如漢語古詩要講究平仄一樣，英文的雙行體亦講究音步和音節(jié)。就像我們現(xiàn)在的好多人雖然了解漢語古詩詞，但要自己創(chuàng)作那又是另外一回事了。就英文的學(xué)習(xí)來說，亦是如此，現(xiàn)在懂點外語的人多了，特別是懂點英文的人更多，故好多人就以為自己懂英文了。實際上，好多人連最基本的英文兒歌都沒有讀過，那就更談不上經(jīng)典的英文詩了。我曾經(jīng)對人說，中國有十幾億人講漢語，為什么都不能去大學(xué)的中文系或文學(xué)院當(dāng)教授，在全球化的今天，一個人也不能因為自己會說英語就當(dāng)大學(xué)英文系的教授，當(dāng)然我們國家的情況比較特殊，有些人做了多年的英文教授，連一首英文詩歌也不知道，其水平就不用我在此多說了，還有人從國外回來后說，自己的英文比自己的母語——漢語都好。我在課堂給本科和研究生都說過，這種人的話一概不能聽，因為這只能證明其漢語poor(差)，英文worse(更差)。我知道我說這話會得罪人的，但我還是要說，諸位如若不信，可以問一問自己身邊的一些人，正如現(xiàn)在的國學(xué)屆很少有大師一樣，現(xiàn)在的英文屆也是如此。我國英文教授中的南郭先生很多，用我的話來說，大多只會看圖識字，這話已是抬舉人的話了。這些年來，我堅持為研究生開設(shè)英文詩歌課，遭到好多人的不屑。我教詩、寫詩（偶爾寫漢語詩）和翻譯詩，雖然談不上有所成就，能不誤人子弟就感到很欣慰了?？吹骄W(wǎng)上有人提到了英詩中的英雄雙行體，頗覺高興，就簡單的介紹一下這一詩體。
Heroic Couplet:英雄雙行體A rhyming couplet of iambic pentameter, often “closed”,i.e., containing a complete thought, there being a fairly heavypause at the end of the first line and a still heavier one at theend of the second. Commonly there is a parallel or antithesiswithin a line, or between the two lines. It is heroic because inEngland, especially in the eighteenth century, it was much used forheroic (epic) poems.
英雄雙行體屬于雙行詩，由兩個押韻的抑揚格五音步詩行構(gòu)成，常包含一個完整的意思。第二句結(jié)尾力度加強(qiáng)，句中常用平行對偶結(jié)構(gòu)。在英國，特別是在十八世紀(jì)，這種詩體常被用來寫英雄史詩，因而得名。
The Heroic Couplet at a Glance
1.It is a rhyming pair oflines.
2.The meter is usually iambicpentameter but may also be tetrameter.
3.A pentameter couplet had tensyllables with alternating stresses.
4.The rhyme scheme progresses asaabbcc, etc.
5.the heroic couplet, so-called,denoted that it was a form in which a high subject matter could bewritten. This was the form often used for translation of epicpoetry from the classical Latin and Greek.
6.It works by adapting the oldChaucerian line and allowing a strong pause or caesura in themiddle of the line.
7.The caesura usually comes afterthe fifth or sixth syllable. Its sharp rhymes and regular beat madeit widely used in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenthcenturies for epigrammatic and satirical poetry.
The History of the Form.
At first glance, the couplet seems to be an element of form ratherthan a form in itself. It evolved out of parts of a poem, and onemodel of a line in particular—Chaucer’s spacious rhyming couplet.This is one of the few forms that we have not annotated with acontemporary context. We mean this section to be almost a smalllaboratory to show how a single , unassuming form could suddenlyrise to express the grander hopes of atime.
Even as a useful, witty, and musical unit, no one could havepredicted the extraordinary development in the couplet thathappened in the sixteenth century. Suddenly poets began to think,to argue, and to explain in the couplet. This then took the name“the heroic couplet,” denoting a high subjectmatter.
By the eighteenth century the heroic couplet reigned supreme. Thesharp, end-stop rhymes, the regular stresses, and the pause thathappened in the middle of the line all made it perfect formoralizing, warning, satirizing, and poking fun at another’sexpense.
In many cases, for the poets who adopted it so enthusiastically inthe eighteenth century, the heroic couplet became a self-consciousreconnection to a golden age of wit and closure. Samuel Johnson’sThe Vanity of HumanWishes for example is subtitled The Tenth Satire of Juvenal Imitatedby Samuel Johnson.
In the Augustan Age when order was the dream, and decorum anecessity, the couplet seemed a micro-model of the age’sintentions: closed-in, certain, attractive to the reason, andfinally, reassuring to the limits of that elegantworld.
Thecouplet allows us to observe an element of form becoming a form: bythe eighteenth century the heroic couplet—for good and ill—was aform. It began to shape the concept of the poem, as well assensibility became an emblem for thetimes.
最后舉一首英文兒歌中的雙行體字母歌
TomThumb’s Alphabet
A was an arche, and shot at afrog;
B was a butcher, and kept abull-dog.
C was captain, all covered withlace;
D was a drunkard, and had a redface.
E was an esquire, with insolentbrow;
F was a farmer, and followed theplough.
G was a gamester, who had but illluck;
H was a hunter, and hunted abuck.
I was an innkeeper, who loved tocarouse;
J was a joiner, and built up ahouse.
K was a king, so mighty andgrand;
L was a lady, who had a whitehand.
M was a miser, and hoarded upgold;
N was a nobleman, gallant andbold.
O was an oyster girl, and went abouttown;
P was a parson, and wore a blackgown.
Q was a queen, who sailed in aship;
R was a robber, and wanted awhip.
S was a sailor, and spent all hegot;
T was a tinker, and mended apot.
U was a usurer, a miserableelf;
V was a vintners, who drank allhimself.
W was a watchman, and guarded thedoor;
X was expensive, and so becamepoor.
Y was a youth, that did not loveschool;
Z was a zany, a poor harmlessfool.
-------From Children’s literature, P35
Rand MeNally & Companyby
Charles Madison Curry andErle
Elsworth Clippinger.
