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Holy sonnent10
译文
死神，你莫骄傲
死神，你莫骄傲，尽管有人说你
如何强大，如何可怕，你并不是这样；
你以为你把谁谁谁打倒了，其实，
可怜的死神，他们没死；你现在也还杀不死我。
休息、睡眠，这些不过是你的写照，
既能给人享受，那你本人提供的一定更多；
我们最美好的人随你去得越早，
越能早日获得身体的休息，灵魂的解脱。
你是命运、机会、君主、亡命徒的奴隶，
你和毒药、战争、疾病同住在一起，
罂粟和咒符和你的打击相比，同样，
甚至更能催我入睡；那你何必趾高气扬呢？
睡了一小觉之后，我们便永远觉醒了，
再也不会有死亡，你死神也将死去。
介绍
The Holy Sonnets are a
series of nineteen poems by the English poet John
Donne.
Many of the poems are
believed to have been written in 1609 and 1610,
during a period of great
personal
distress
and
strife
for
Donne
who
suffered
a
combination
of
physical,
emotional,
and
financial hardships
during this time. This was also a time of personal
religious turmoil as Donne
was in the
process of conversion from Roman Catholicism to
Anglicanism, and would take holy
orders
in 1615 despite profound reluctance and
significant self-doubt about becoming a priest. In
Holy Sonnets, Donne addresses religious
themes of mortality, divine judgment, divine love,
and
humble penance while reflecting
deeply personal anxieties.
Tone
Hopeful Highly
influenced by the diction and imagery
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Analysis
该诗以语意的逐层递进为特点，由三组四行诗和
一个偶句组成。
第一组四行诗以拟人的手法呼吁死神不要骄傲
，
（
―Death, be not proud‖
）起句突兀，表达了对死神的嘲
笑和蔑视，然后立刻指出死神不应骄傲的第
一条理由：
For
those,
whom
thou
think’st
thou
dost
overthrow, Die not,
poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill
me.‖
第二组四行诗指出死神无需骄傲的另一条理由：
死亡不过是更安逸的休息、
更甜美的睡眠，
―Much pleasure,
then from thee much
more must f low,‖
人们都会争着希望得到身体的休息，
灵魂的解脱，
―Rest of their
r
bones, and soul’s delivery.‖
第三组四行诗嘲笑死神奴隶般的从属地位：
―Thou’rt
slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and
s
ickness dwell,‖
并以罂粟和咒符来衬托死神
的无能为力：
“
And poppy
or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke
”既然这样，你何必趾高气扬
呢？
“
why
swell
’
st thou
then?
”
这三组四行诗以不同的
理由对死神威胁的解构确实已非同一般。然而，接下来的偶句并不放过对死神的最
后一击
：睡一小觉之后，我们便永远觉醒了，再也不会有死亡，不可一世的死神将走向自身的死亡，
“
And
Death shall be no
more; Death, thou shalt die.
”诗歌的说理递进模式在
此戛然而止，生与死原有意义上的关系
彻底逆转：死亡是瞬间的，将很快不复存在，而死
后的欢乐则是永恒的，人对于死亡的畏惧变成了死亡自
身的恐惧，死亡对于人来说不过是
通往幸福永生的大门。
In
this poem, Donne uses a variety of poetic
elements. These elements function in enhancing the
work’s unconventional them
e
of man's superiority over death.
Throughout the
poem, there is a strong use of assonance, the
repetition of vowel sound within
a
phrase. The sound of the words helps in
structuring Donne's writing. Nearly every line
contains a
repetition of
.
In the following line, an example of this device
is clear: ―Die not poor
Death, nor yet
canst thou kill me.
poem's theme,
yet it does help convey
its
message more vividly by
making the lines flow, thus
allowing
the
reader
to
understand
each
stanza
more
easily.
Since
each
individual
line
and
its
associated thought are easy to
understand, the central idea of the entire poem is
easy to understand
too.
John
Donne
effectively
uses
tone
to
enhance
the
poem's
theme.
The
work
has
a
tone
of
triumphant confidence and defiance in
the face of death. Donne boldly denounces death,
making it
clear that he is not
controlled by
the fear of it as others
often are. Although many may believe
death to be mighty and dreadful, he
feels this is not so. Donne sees death as being
dependent on
mankind for its survival.
Death relies on fate, chance unfortunate
occurrences, the legislation of
kings,
and
the
actions
of
desperate
men
to
claim
its
victims.
This
dependence
in
itself
is
a
weakness, in that death is not self-
supporting, yet relies on certain aspects of the
lives of people.
Donne's
final
and
most
derogatory
comment
comes
in
the
poem's
final
lines
where
he
portrays
death as nothing
more than a transition into an eternally vast
afterlife; Death is a short sleep from
which we wake forever. It is nothing to
fear in this situation. And, in this afterlife,
death no longer
exists
or
poses
a
threat.
Death
itself
dies.
All
of
these examples
of
Donne's
use
of
tone
greatly
enhance the poem's theme that man is
superior to death. Death's intimidation is
diminished as he
points out its
weaknesses one by one and bravely faces it head
on.
It
is
also
something
not
commonly
personified
and
spoken
to.
The
combination
of
a
personified
Death and the reference to it by means of
apostrophe is very effective and crucial to
the poem's theme. Donne is better able
to profess (openly declare) his superiority over
death by
showing it as a human
adversary, capable of defeat, rather than an
uncontrollable natural force.
His desire to prove his freedom from
the imprisonment of fear is visible in the angry
and arrogant
monologue he presents to
death in his poem. Donne’s feeling
s are
better expressed in a situation
which
people
can
relate
to
—
a
confrontation
in
which
one
party
addresses
another.
The
superiority theme is
enhanced as a result of this man-versus
–
man conflict
depiction.
Theme
：
Man is
superior to Death
死亡是瞬间的，将很快不复存在，而死后的欢乐则
是永恒的，
人对于死亡的畏惧变成了死亡自身的恐惧，死亡对于人来说不过是通往幸福永
生的大门。这种强烈的戏剧
化效果和反讽意味的获得最终是通过悖论语言实现的。
..―Death Be Not Proud‖ is
among the most famous and most beloved poems in
English literature.
Its popularity lies
in its message of hope couched in eloquent,
quotable langua
ge. Donne’s theme
tells the reader that death has no
right to be proud, since human beings do not die
but live eternally
after ―one short
sleep.‖ Although some people depict death as
mighty and powerful, it is really a
lowly slave that depends on luck,
accidents, decrees, murder, disease, and war to
put men to sleep.
But
a
simple
poppy
(whose
seeds
provide
a
juice
to
make
a
narcotic)
and
various
charms
(incantations, amulets, spells, etc.)
can also induce sleep
—
and do
it better than death can. After a
human
being’s soul leaves the body and enters
eternity, it lives on; only death dies.
Figures of
Speech
Donne relies primarily on
personification, a type of metaphor, that extends
through
the
entire
poem.
(Such
an
extended
metaphor
is
often
called
a
conceit.)
Thus,
death
becomes a person whom
Donne addresses, using the second-person singular
(implied or stated as
thou, thee, and
thy). Donne also uses alliteration, as the
following lines illustrate:
Alliteration
For those whom
thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou
kill me
Much pleasure; then
from thee much more must flow
And dost with poison, war, and sickness
dwell
And better than thy
stroke; why swell'st thou then
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
(Note: One begins with a w sound; thus, it
alliterates with
we and wake.)