Walt Whitman - As I Ponder’d in Silence.如何翻譯
1
AS I ponder’d in silence,
Returning upon my poems, considering, lingering long,
A Phantom arose before me, with distrustful aspect,
Terrible in beauty, age, and power,
The genius of poets of old lands,
As to me directing like flame its eyes,
With finger pointing to many immortal songs,
And menacing voice, What singest thou? it said;
Know’st thou not, there is but one theme for ever-enduring bards?
And that is the theme of War, the fortune of battles,
The making of perfect soldiers?

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Be it so, then I answer’d,
I too, haughty Shade, also sing war—and a longer and greater one than
any,
Waged in my book with varying fortune—with flight, advance, and
retreat—Victory deferr’d and wavering,
(Yet, methinks, certain, or as good as certain, at the last,)—The
field the world;
For life and death—for the Body, and for the eternal Soul,
Lo! too am come, chanting the chant of battles,
I, above all, promote brave soldiers.
惠特曼是19世紀(jì)美國杰出的民主主義詩人,被公認(rèn)為是美國的“詩歌之父”.1819年,惠特曼生于現(xiàn)今長島.1823年,惠特曼一家移居到紐約布魯克林區(qū).惠特曼只上了6年學(xué),基本上是自學(xué)的,他特別喜歡讀霍默、但丁和莎士比亞的作品.