对william blake的诗歌the chimney sweeper(1)的理解
作者简介：
威廉·布莱克（William Blake），英国第一位重要的浪漫主义诗人、版画家，英国文学史上最重要的伟大诗人之一，虔诚的基督教徒。主要诗作有诗集《纯真之歌》、《经验之歌》等。
威廉.布莱克英语诗歌代表作：The Chimney-Sweeper
原文
The Chimney-Sweeper
The Chimney-Sweeper
A little black thing among the snow:
Crying‘ weep！weep！’in notes of woe!
Where are thy father and mother? say?
They are both gone up to the church to pray.
Because I was happy upon the heath,
And smil'd among the winters snow:
They clothed me in the clothes of death,
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
And because I am happy and dance and sing,
They think they have done me no injury:
And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King,
Who make up a heaven of our misery.
——William Blake
扫烟囱的孩子
译文/冰默樱娘
一个满身污垢的小小身影站在大雪里，
“扫烟囱！扫烟囱！”他的叫声悲戚！
“告诉我，你的父母在哪里？”
“他们都去了教堂祷告上帝。”
“因为我喜欢在荒野上嬉戏，
在冬天的大雪中也满脸笑意，
他们就给我穿上丧衣，
还教我用悲声唱丧曲。”
“因为我快乐地又唱又跳，
他们就觉得对我的所为无害无虞，
于是就去赞美牧师、国王和上帝——
这些人用我们的痛苦成就了一个极乐之地。”
解读
本首诗选自威廉.布莱克《经验之歌》，这首小诗表面看似明快，其弦外之音娿让人感到震撼。读这首时，首先映入读者眼帘的是“little”一词。“little”往往指无忧无虑、活泼可爱的儿童，但在诗中立刻被“black”一词化解。扫烟囱的孩子爬进窄小的烟囱，挤在里面，还要用手去刮煤灰，不但蓬头垢面，而且很容易烫伤甚至窒息而死。小小年纪，就要在街上招揽生意，“weep!weep!”一声声凄厉的叫喊是风雪中爱上的音符。孩子野地里玩耍，父母却让他穿上黑衣去扫烟囱，孩子在烟囱里呻吟，父母却在教堂里虔诚祈祷。这惨不忍睹的情景强烈地震撼了诗人的心。在诗的末尾诗人指出：上帝不但不拯救扫烟囱的孩子，而且伙同国王和教士把天堂建在无数孩子的痛苦之上，从而表达了诗人对社会不平的愤怒。
这首诗是透过小孩的口吻叙述另一位名叫汤姆?达客的小男孩的遭遇。在此，达客的英文名字（Dacre）是与「黑色」（Dark）相谐音，自有明确的言外之意可说；同时，这首诗更以黑色的棺木暗喻扫烟囱的小孩所置身的煤灰世界，而有批评家就认为把小孩染黑的煤灰代表着人性的残酷（human cruelty）。整首诗最哀婉动人的情节，莫过于达客牺牲原有的金黄柔软的卷发，以换取工作上的方便，因为光着头就不怕被煤灰弄脏，也容易清理。其次，天使的勉励劝慰也已让人感受到一丝无可奈何的凄然，因此当结尾时，扫烟囱的小孩显现出由着期待与憧憬所带来的快乐与安详，就真的让人有「人生到此，天道宁论」（江淹〈恨赋〉）的感慨了！做为阅读者，我们确切知道扫烟囱小孩最终的期待与憧憬在此世是永不可能实现的了。但是，布雷克写诗的原意并不在控诉，他只想写一种情境，一种让人为之不忍的情境。然而，诗歌艺术表现手法中，借着对比矛盾情境的经营所可能造成的「反讽」效果，就在布雷克的扫烟囱小孩这种天真素朴的语调中沉沉浮现。?? ?? 布雷克的〈扫烟囱的小孩〉是与其它的诗作合刊，再加上他亲手绘制的二十七幅图板，而以《天真之歌》（Songs of Innocence）为题发行。随后，在公元一八二四年由英国另一位重要的散文作家兰姆（Charles Lamb, 1775-1834）推荐，放入当时反抗「社会不公义」的社会运动宣导手册之中，做为向国会议员游说废除童工的资料。【这一份社会运动宣导手册是由James Montgomery所编辑，题为《扫烟囱者之友》（Chimney Sweeper’s Friend and Climbing Boy’s Album），有意了解这一段社会运动的相关资料，或许可以参考。】据说扫烟囱小孩的平均年寿很短，更大多数的孩童是在畸形或肺疾的病痛中度过仅存的岁月。英国议会终于在一八四零年的八月七日通过立法废除童工制，而与「哭泣（weep）」谐音同韵的扫烟囱小孩就此正式消失在英国的大街小巷中。?? ?? 剥削与压榨所形成的社会不公义，可以各种不同的形式出现，有时当我们专力注视着宏伟的建筑与数字的成长，我们或许容易忽略、或许也看不见个人身旁随处即有的不义；更有些不义是那么样的细微与细致，而让我们几乎查觉不到它们的确存在。同理，文学艺术工作者可以向我们渲染人性与文明的理性进展，也可以孤芳自赏的诉说着个人的救赎，但应该也有人可以向我们娓娓点醒不同生活中隐约可见的摧折与哭泣。于此，唐代诗人白居易（772-846）倡议「文章合为时而着，歌诗合为事而作」的创作理则或许仍有它的理想性与适用性。我们可能无法确切知悉当英国国会面对社会运动的抗争时，是否曾把参与抗争的团体或人群视为刁顽，但是我们或可想象国会议员当中有人在宴会后在深夜里的清明时刻，突地读到了布雷克的〈扫烟囱的小孩〉，而内心感受到微微一震，历史走向就此不一样了。此时此地，当我们的国会议员只有忙着与行政人员玩着相互抗争与看图识人的游戏时，我们仍否可以天真的期待与憧憬其中有人读到了诗看到了生活，而且内心感受到了微微的一震？
'扫烟囱的孩子'这首诗歌写的是18世纪末19世英国童工盛行的黑暗时代背景。四五岁的男孩子因为身材很小，便被他们的父母当劳动力卖去扫烟囱。而这些小到可以塞进烟囱的孩子作为童工的现象也被当时英国社会普遍接受。 Blake用"扫烟囱的孩子"这首诗歌, 批判了教会主张的通过今生的劳苦换取来世幸福的观点，认为这种主张只会导致人们对剥削的纵容，强调了这种天真无知的观点对社会滥用童工的危险性，指出教会宣扬今生受苦以获来生天堂的教义的危害性，点明教会才是孩子们"痛苦天堂"的缔造者。诗中用向孩子发问者的语气问"你的父母在哪儿"来说明孩子的无助，揭示了这些腐朽教义对社会的不良影响。（才发现是挖坟的 再晃个一年多就步入十年了啊）
The poem "The Chimney Sweeper" is set against the dark background of child labour that was prominent in England in the late 18th and 19th century. At the age of four and five, boys were sold to clean chimneys, due to their small size. These children were oppressed and had a diminutive existence that was socially accepted at the time.
In 'The Chimney Sweeper' of Innocence, Blake can be interpreted to criticise the view of the Church that through work and hardship, reward in the next life would be attained; this results in an acceptance of exploitation observed in the closing lines 'if all do their duty they need not fear harm.' Interestingly, Blake uses this poem to highlight the dangers of an innocent, naive view, demonstrating how this allows the societal abuse of child labour.
The Chimney Sweeper 扫烟囱孩子
--William Blake --威廉.布莱克
The Chimney Sweeper is the title of two poems by William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence in 1789 and Songs of Experience in 1794.In the earlier poem, a young chimney sweeper recounts a dream had by one of his fellows, in which an angel rescues the boys from coffins and takes them to a sunny meadow; in the later poem, an apparently adult speaker encounters a child chimney sweeper abandoned in the snow while his parents are at church.
When my mother died I was very young, 我母亲死的时候，我还小得很，
And my father sold me while yet my tongue 我父亲把我拿出来卖给了别人，
Could scarcely cry 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 我当时还不大喊得清，“扫呀――扫!”
So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep. 我就扫你们烟囱，裹煤屑睡觉。
There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, 有个小托姆，头发卷得像小羊头，
That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved: so I said, 剃光的时候，哭得好伤心，好难受，
"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare, 我就说：“小托姆，不要紧，光了脑袋，
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair." 打起来煤屑就不会糟踏你白头发。”
And so he was quiet; and that very night, 他就安安静静了，当天夜里，
As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight, - 托姆睡着了，事情就来得稀奇，
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, 他看见千千万万的扫烟囱小孩
Were all of them locked up in coffins of black. 阿猫阿狗全都给锁进了黑棺材。
And by came an angel who had a bright key, 后来来了个天使，拿了把金钥匙，
And he opened the coffins and set them all free; 开棺材放出了孩子们(真是好天使!)
Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run, 他们就边跳，边笑，边跑过草坪，
And wash in a river, and shine in the sun. 到河里洗了澡，太阳里晒得亮晶晶。
Then naked and white, all their bags left behind, 光光的，白白的，把袋子都抛个一，
They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind; 他们就升上了云端，在风里游戏;
And the angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy, “只要你做个好孩子，”天使对托姆说，
He'd have God for his father, and never want joy. “上帝会做你的父亲，你永远快乐。”
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark, 托姆就醒了;屋子里黑咕隆咚，
And got with our bags and our brushes to work. 我们就起来拿袋子、扫帚去做工。
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm; 大清早尽管冷，托姆的心里可温暖;
So if all do their duty they need not fear harm. 这叫做：各尽本分，就不怕灾难。
The Chimney Sweeper is a poem by William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence and of Experience in 1794. It is located early in Songs of Experience, between The Little Girl Found and Nurse's Song. This poem is best understood when read in conjunction with the corresponding poem, The Chimney Sweep, in the Songs of Innocence.
The first stanza is a testimony that describes the situation of a little chimney sweeper in the snow who is crying and calling for his parents while they are praying at the church. In the second and third stanzas, the child explains his situation. He describes that he had been happy and “smiled among the winter snow,” but also he was taught to suffer when he says “and taught me to sing the notes of woe.” Adults are mentioned in the poem when he questioned “Where are thy father and mother?” and when he says “God & his Priest & King.” Finally he blames “they” and adds “who make up a heaven of our misery.”
The poem is pictured by an engraving made by Blake himself. It shows the child walking along a street, it is a rainy day and he is alone. Furthermore, the boy is barefoot and dirty. With his right hand he is holding a brusher and is carring a dirty, big bag on his back. The rain is particularly dark. The final point is that the child is looking at the storm with what it seems a sad expression in his face.
A little black thing among the snow: 风雪里一个满身乌黑的小东西
Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe! “号呀，号”在那里哭哭啼啼!
Where are thy father & mother? say? “你的爹娘上哪儿去了，你讲讲?”
They are both gone up to the church to pray. “他们呀都去祷告了，上了教堂。
Because I was happy upon the heath, “因为我原先在野地里欢欢喜喜，
And smil'd among the winters snow: 我在冬天的雪地里也总是笑嘻嘻,
They clothed me in the clothes of death, 他们就把我拿晦气的黑衣裳一罩，
And taught me to sing the notes of woe. 他们还叫我唱起了悲伤的曲调。
And because I am happy & dance & sing, “因为我显得快活，还唱歌，还跳舞，
They think they have done me no injury: 他们就以为并没有把我害苦，
And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King, 就跑去赞美了上帝、教士和国王，
Who make up a heaven of our misery. 夸他们拿我们苦难造成了天堂。
标签：chimney,sweeper
