致一位青年诗人的信 Letters to a Young Poet(7)_英语作文_1

致一位青年诗人的信

Letters to a Young Poet(7)

Rome

May 14, 1904

My dear Mr. Kappus,

Muchtime has passed since I received your last letter. Please

don't

hold thatagainst

me;

first

it

was work,

then

a

number

of

interruptions,

and

finally

poorhealth

that

again

and

again

kept

me

from

answering,

because

I

wanted

my

answerto

come

to

you

out

of

peaceful

and

happy

days.

Now

I

feel

somewhat

better

again(the

beginning of spring with its moody, bad-tempered transitions

was hard tobear here too) and once again, dear Mr. Kappus, I

can greet you and talk to you(which I do with real pleasure)

about

this

and

that

in

response

to

your

letter,as

well

as

I

can.

Yousee:

I

have

copied out your

sonnet,

because I

found that

it

is

lovely

andsimple

and

born

in

the

shape

that

it

moves

in

with

such quiet decorum. It isthe best poem of yours that you have

let me read. And now I am giving you thiscopy because I know

that it is important and full of new experience torediscover

——文章来源网，仅供分享学习参考

~ 1 ~

a

work

of

one's

own

in

someone

else's

handwriting.

Read

the

poem

asif you had never seen it before, and you will feel in your

innermost being howvery much it is your own.

Itwas a pleasure for me to read this sonnet and your letter,

often; I thank youfor both.

Andyou

should

not

let

yourself

be

confused

in

your

solitude

by

the fact that thereis some thing in you that wants to move out

of it. This very wish, if you useit calmly and prudently and

like

a

tool,

will

help

you

spread

out

your

solitudeover

a

great

distance.

Most

people

have

(with

the

help

of

conventions)

turnedtheir

solutions

toward

what

is

easy

and

toward

the

easiest side of the easy;but it is clear that we must trust in

what is difficult; everything alivetrusts in it, everything,

in

Nature

grows

and

defends

itself

any

way

it

can

andis

spontaneously

itself,

tries

to

be

itself

at

all

costs

and

against allopposition. We know little, but that we must trust

in

what

is

difficult

is

acertainty

that

will

never

abandon

us;

it

is

good

to

be

solitary,

for

solitudeis

difficult;

that

something is

difficult

must

be

one

more reason for

us

to

doit.

Itis

also

good

to

love:

because

love

is

difficult.

For

one

human

being to loveanother human being: that is perhaps the most

difficult

task

that

has

beenentrusted

to

us,

the

ultimate

task,

——文章来源网，仅供分享学习参考

~ 2 ~

the final test and proof, the work forwhich all other work is

merely

preparation.

That

is

why

young

people,

who

arebeginners

in

everything,

are

not

yet

capable

of

love:

it

is

something

they

mustlearn.

With

their

whole

being,

with

all

their

forces,

gathered

around

theirsolitary,

anxious,

upward-beating

heart,

they must learn to love. Butlearning- time is always a long,

secluded time, and therefore loving, for a longtime ahead and

far

on

into

life,

is:

solitude,

a

heightened

and

deepened

kindof

aloneness for the person who loves. Loving does not at first

mean merging,surrendering, and uniting with another person

(for what would a union be of twopeople who are unclarified,

unfinished,

and

still

incoherent?),

it

is

a

highinducement

for

the

individual

to

ripen,

to

become

something

in

himself,

tobecome world, to become world in himself for the sake of

another

person;

it

isa

great,

demanding

claim

on

him,

something

that chooses him and calls him tovast distances. Only in this

sense,

as

the

task

of

working

on

themselves(

hearken

and

to

hammer day and night

given

to

them.

Merging

and

surrendering

and

every

kind

ofcommunion is not for them (who must still, for a long, long

time,

save

andgather

themselves);

it

is

the

ultimate,

is

perhaps

that

for

which

human

livesare

as

yet

barely

large

enough.

——文章来源网，仅供分享学习参考

~ 3 ~

Butthis is what young people are so often and so disastrously

wrong in doing: they(who by their very nature are impatient)

fling

themselves

at

each

other

whenlove

takes

hold

of

them,

they

scatter themselves, just as they are, in all theirmessiness,

disorder,

bewilderment.

And

what

can

happen

then?

What

can

life

dowith this heap of half-broken things that they call their

communion and thatthey would like to call their happiness, if

that

were

possible,

and

theirfuture?

And

so

each

of

them

loses

himself for the sake of the other person, andloses the other,

and

many

others

who

still

wanted

to

come.

And

loses

the

vastdistances

and

possibilities,

gives up

the

approaching

and

fleeing

of

gentle,prescient

Things

in

exchange

for

an

unfruitful

confusion,

out

of

which

nothingmore

can

come;

nothing but a bit of disgust, disappointment, and poverty,

andthe escape into one of the many conventions that have been

put

up

in

greatnumbers

like

public

shelters

on

this

most

dangerous road. No area of humanexperience is so extensively

provided

with

conventions

as

this

one

is:

thereare

life-preservers of the most varied invention, boats and water

wings;society has been able to create refuges of every sort,

for

since

it

preferredto

take

love

life

as

an

amusement,

it

also

had to give it an easy form, cheap,safe, and sure, as public

——文章来源网，仅供分享学习参考

~ 4 ~

amusements are.

Itis

true

that

many

young

people

who

love

falsely,

i.e.,

simply

surrenderingthemselves

and

giving

up

their

solitude

(the

average person will of coursealways go on doing that), feel

oppressed by their failure and want to make thesituation they

have landed in livable and fruitful in their own, personal

their

nature

tells

them

that

the

questions

of

love,

even

more

thaneverything

else

that

is

important,

cannot

be

resolved

publicly

and

according

tothis

or

that

agreement;

that

they

are

questions,

intimate

questions

from

onehuman

being to

another,

which

in

any

case

require

a

new,

special,

whollypersonal

answer.

But

how

can

they,

who

have

already

flung

themselves

togetherand

can

no

longer

tell

whose

outlines

are

whose,

who

thus

no

longer

possessanything of their own, how can they find a way out of

themselves,

out

of

thedepths

of

their

already

buried

solitude?

Theyact

out

of

mutual

helplessness,

and

then

if,

with

the

best

of

intentions,

theytry

to

escape

the

convention

that

is

approaching them (marriage, for example),they fall into the

clutches of some less obvious but just as deadlyconventional

solution.

For

then

everything

around

them

is

convention.

Whereverpeople

act

out

of

a

prematurely

fused,

muddy

communion,

every

action

isconventional:

every

relation

that

such

——文章来源网，仅供分享学习参考

~ 5 ~

confusion leads to has its ownconvention, how ever unusual

(i.e.,

in

the

ordinary

sense

immoral)

it

may

be;even

separating

would

be

a

conventional

step,

an

impersonal,

accidentaldecision without strength and without fruit.

Whoeverlooks

seriously

will

find

that

neither

for

death,

which

is

difficult,

nor

fordifficult

love

has

any

clarification,

any

solution,

any

hint

of

a

path

beenperceived;

and

for

both

these

tasks, which we carry wrapped up and hand, onwithout opening,

there

is

no

general,

agreed-upon

rule

that

can

be

in the same measure in which we begin to test

life as individuals, thesegreat Things will come to meet us,

the individuals, with greater intimacy. Theclaims that the

difficult

work

of

love

makes

upon

our

development

are

greaterthan

life,

and

we,

as

beginners,

are

not

equal

to

them.

But if we neverthelessendure and take this love upon us as

burden and apprenticeship, instead oflosing ourselves in the

whole easy and frivolous game behind which people havehidden

from the most solemn solemnity of their being, then a small

advance anda lightening will perhaps be perceptible to those

who come long after us. Thatwould be much.

Weare only just now beginning to consider the relation of one

individual

to

asecond

individual

objectively

and

without

——文章来源网，仅供分享学习参考

~ 6 ~

prejudice, and our attempts to livesuch relationships have no

model

before

them.

And

yet

in

the

changes

that

timehas

brought

about

there

are

already

many

things

that

can

help

our

timidnovitiate.

Thegirl

and

the

woman,

in

their

new,

individual

unfolding,

will

only in passing beimitators of male behavior and misbehavior

and

repeaters

of

male

the

uncertainty

of

such

transitions,

it

will

become

obvious

that

womenwere

going

through

the

abundance

and

variation

of

those

(often

ridiculous)disguises just so that they could purify their own

essential nature and washout the deforming influences of the

other

sex.

Women,

in

whom

life

lingers

anddwells

more

immediately

,

more

fruitfully,

and

more

confidently,

must

surelyhave become riper and more human in their depths than

light,

easygoing

man,

whois

not

pulled

down

beneath

the

surface

of

life by the weight of

any bodilyfruit

and

who, arrogant

and

hasty, undervalues what he thinks he loves. Thishumanity of

woman,

carried

in

her

womb

through

all

her

suffering

andhumiliation, will come to light when she has stripped off

the

conventions

ofmere

femaleness

in

the

transformations

of

her

outward

status,

and

those

men

whodo

not

yet

feel

it

approaching

will be astonished by it. Someday (and even now,especially in

——文章来源网，仅供分享学习参考

~ 7 ~