(完整word版)Unit6HowtoWriteaRottenPoemwithAlmostNoEffort課文翻譯綜合教程三.doc

1、Unit 6How to Write a Rotten Poem with Almost No EffortRichard Howey1So you want to write a poem. You ve had a rotten day or an astounding thought or acar accident or a squalid love affair and you want to record it for all time. You want toorganizethose emotions thatare poundingthrough yourveins. You

2、 have somethingtocommunicate via a poem but you don t know where to start.2This, of course, is the problem with poetry. Most people find it difficult to write apoem so they don t even try. What s worse, they don t bother reading any poems either.poets either starve or work as account executives. The

3、re is no middle ground. Good poets and poems are lost forever simply because there is no market for them, no people who write their own verse and seek out further inspiration from other bards.3 Fortunately, there is a solution for this problem, as there are for all imponderables. The answer is to ma

4、ke it easy for everyone to write at least one poem in his life. Once aperson has written a poem, of whatever quality, he will feel comradeship with fellow poets and, hopefully, read their works. Ideally, there would evolve a veritable society of poet-citizens, which would elevate the quality of life

5、 worldwide. Not only that, good poetscould make a living for a change.4So, to begin, have your paper ready. You must first understand that the poem youwrite here will not be brilliant. It won t even beButmediocreitwillbe. better than 50% ofallsong lyricsand at least equalto one ofRod McKuen s best e

6、fforts.You willbeinstructed how to write a four-line poem but the basic structure can be repeated at will tocreate works of epic length.5The first line of your poem should start and end with these words:“of myInthemind. ” The middle word of this line is optional. Any word will do. It would be best n

7、ot touse a wordthathas been overdone,such as “ windmills or” “ gardens or” “ playground.”Just think of as many nouns as you can and see what fits best. The rule of thumb is topicka nounthat seems totally outof context,such as “ filing cabinet ”or“ radiatoror”“ parking lot.” Just remember, the more u

8、nusual the noun, the more profound the image.6The second line should use two or more of the human senses in a conflictingmanner,as per the famous,“ listen to the warm. ” Thisis a sure way to conjureup“ poetic ” feeling and atmosphere. Since there are five different senses, the possibilities areendle

9、ss. A couple that come to mind are“ see the noise” and“ touch the sound.” If morecomplexity is desired other senses can be added, as in“ taste the color of my hearing,”“ I cuddled your sight in the aroma of the night.” Rhyming, of course,al. is option7 The third line should be just a simple statemen

10、t. This is used to break up the insightful images that have been presented in the first two lines. This line should be asprosaicas possibleto give a “ down-to- earth ” moodto the poem. An examplewou ld be“ she gave me juice and toast that morning,” or perhaps“ I left for work next day on the8:30 bus

11、.” The content of this line may or may not relate to what has gone before.8The last line of your poem should deal with the future in some way. This gives thepoem a forward thrust that is always helpful. A possibility might be,“ tomorrow will be abetter day,or” “ I ll findsomeone sometime,”or “ maybe

12、 we ll meetagain in July.”Thisfuture-oriented ending lends an aura of hope and yet need not be grossly optimistic.9 By following the above structure, anyone can write a poem. For example, if I select one each of my sample lines, I come up with:In the parking lot of my mind,10Now that poem (like your

13、s, when you re finished) is rotten. But at least it s a poemand you ve written it, which is an accomplishment that relatively few people can claim.11Now that you re a poet,feel free to read poetry by some of your more accomplishedbrothers and sisters inverse. Chancesare, you llfindtheir offeringssti

14、mulatingandrefres hing. You might even try writing some more of your own poems, now that you vebroken the ice. Observe others emotions and experience your ownthats what poetry isall about.12Incidentally, if you find it impossible to sell the poem youwrite to Bobby Goldsboroor John Denver, burn it. I

15、t will look terrible as the first page of your anthology when it spublished.輕輕松松寫爛詩理查德 豪伊1.這一天你過得很糟糕，或是有了個絕妙的想法，又或者遭遇車禍，再或情場失意， 你想把它永久記錄下來。你于是想寫一首詩。你想把在你血管里澎湃著的這些情感組織一下。你有些東西需要用詩的形式來傳達，但不知道從哪里下手。2. 寫詩當然有這個問題。 大多數人覺得寫詩很難， 所以根本連試都不去試一下。 更糟糕的是，大家現(xiàn)在也不再費心去讀什么詩了。 對多數人來說詩已經成為一種幾乎完全陌生的藝術形式。 結果是， 嚴肅詩人要么餓死要么改

16、行去做客戶項目經理了。連折衷的余地都沒有。優(yōu)秀詩人和詩歌永遠消失了，就是因為沒有市場 沒人寫詩，也沒人想從別的詩人那里汲取靈感。3. 幸運的是， 像其他難以精確估量的東西一樣， 這個問題有一個解決辦法。 答案是讓每個人一生中至少可以輕輕松松寫一首詩。一旦某個人寫了一首詩， 不論質量如何， 他會跟其他詩人產生親近感， 那樣就很有可能會去閱讀他們的作品。理想的狀態(tài)是， 名副其實的詩人公民社會發(fā)展起來了， 全世界范圍內的生活質量得以提升。不僅如此， 優(yōu)秀的詩人也可以換種方式謀生了。4. 好了， 先要把紙準備好。 你首先得明白， 你在這張紙上寫出的詩不可能會太出色，甚至可能連平庸之作都算不上。但它至少

17、會比50% 的歌詞要好，也至少能與羅德麥丘恩的某篇得意之作不相上下。 我會指導你寫一首四行的詩，但這只是基本結構， 可以隨意重復， 就算要用它來寫一部鴻篇巨制也沒問題。5. 你的詩作第一行的首尾字詞應該是這樣的：“在我腦子的 _里。 ”這一行中間的詞是可選的。什么詞都可以。最好別用那些已經被人用濫了的詞，比如“風車 ”或 “花園 ”或“游樂場 ”。盡量多想名詞，越多越好，看哪一個最合適。經驗法則是選一個看起來完全不合上下文的詞，比如 “檔案柜 ”或 “散熱器 ”或 “停車場 ”。只要記住，這名詞越不同尋常，意象就會越深刻。6. 第二行應該以自相矛盾的方式提到兩種或兩種以上的人類感覺，比如那句著

18、名的“傾聽溫暖 ”。用這個辦法來營造 “詩意 ”情感和氣氛真是十拿九穩(wěn)。因為人類共有五種感官，所以能有無窮無盡的組合。現(xiàn)在闖入我腦海的兩個就是“看見噪音 ”和 “觸摸聲音 ”。如果希望更復雜些，還可以加上其他感官，比如，“品嘗我聽覺的顏色”，或 “我在夜的香氣中依偎你的視線”。押韻當然是可有可無的。7. 第三行應該只是一個簡單的陳述句。它是用來打破前兩行中所營造的深刻意象的。這一行應該盡量平淡，以便給整首詩一種樸實的基調。比如，“那天早上她給了我果汁和吐司”，又或許 “第二天我坐 8:30 的公共汽車去上班 ”。這一行的內容可以與前面的內容相關，也可以毫無關聯(lián)。8. 詩的最后一行應該用某種方式談及未來。這會給你的詩作一種向上的感覺，這總是有好處的。 也許可以寫 “明天會更好 ”，或 “有一天我會遇到那個人 ”，或“也許我們將于七月再見”。這種展望未來的結尾給人一種希望的意味，不過也不必弄到太過樂觀地地步。9. 按照上面的結構， 任何人都能寫首詩。 比如，從上面舉的例子中各選一行， 我就會寫出：在我心的停車場，我在夜的香氣中依偎你的視線。第二天我坐