What makes a poem … a poem? - Melissa Kovacs

翻译人员: Riley WANG 校对人员: Lipeng Chen

Muhammad Ali spent years training to become the greatest boxer

穆罕默德·阿里花费数年时间训练

最终成为了世界上最伟大的拳击手，

the world had ever seen,

but only moments to create the shortest poem.

但他只用了很少的时间， 创造出了最短的诗。

Ali captivated Harvard's graduating class in 1975

1975年，阿里在哈佛毕业典礼上演讲，

演讲以团结和友谊为主题。

with his message of unity and friendship.

When he finished, the audience wanted more.

演讲之后，观众仍不肯让阿里结束。

They wanted a poem.

希望他可以做一首诗。

Ali delivered what is considered the shortest poem ever.

于是，阿里作出了目前最短的诗。

"Me, we."

“我，我们。”

Or is it "me, weeee"?

或者是“我，哦耶？”

没人能完全肯定。

No one's really sure.

Regardless, if these two words are a poem, then what exactly makes a poem a poem?

不管怎样，如果两个词即可成诗， 那到底什么才叫做诗呢？

Poets themselves have struggled with this question,

诗人自己也对这个问题很头疼，

often using metaphors to approximate a definition.

人们通常使用比喻去给出答案。

Is a poem a little machine?

诗歌是一台小型的机器吗？

A firework?

是烟火吗？

An echo?

是回声吗？

A dream?

抑或是一个梦吗？

Poetry generally has certain recognizable characteristics.

诗歌通常具有可辨识的特点。

One - poems emphasize language's musical qualities.

第一，诗歌通常侧重于语言的音乐属性。

This can be achieved through rhyme, rhythm, and meter,

这可以通过使用押韵、节奏、格律实现，

from the sonnets of Shakepeare,

从莎士比亚的十四行诗，

to the odes of Confucius,

到孔子的颂诗，

to the Sanskrit Vedas.

再到梵语都有此特点。

Two - poems use condensed language,

第二，诗歌使用凝练的语言，

like literature with all the water wrung out of it.

这仿佛是去掉文学作品中的水分。

Three - poems often feature intense feelings,

第三，诗歌通常表达激烈的情感，

from Rumi's spiritual poetry

例如Rumi的宗教诗歌，

to Pablo Neruda's "Ode to an Onion."

Pablo Neruda的“赞洋葱”。

Poetry, like art itself, has a way of challenging simple definitions.

诗歌，与艺术一样， 挑战着简单的概念和定义。

While the rhythmic patterns of the earliest poems

在发明书写之前，早期诗歌的节奏模式

were a way to remember stories even before the advent of writing,

是为了让人们更好的记住故事，

a poem doesn't need to be lyrical.

但诗歌不总是抒发情感的。

Reinhard Döhl's “Apfel”

Reinhard Döhl的“苹果”，

and Eugen Gomringer's "silencio"

Eugen Gomringer的具象诗，

toe the line between visual art and poetry.

同时体现出了诗歌与视觉艺术。

Meanwhile, E.E. Cummings wrote poems whose shapes were as important

在E.E. Cummings的诗中，

形式与文字同样重要，

as the words themselves,

in this case amplifying the sad loneliness of a single leaf falling through space.

在这种情况下，

悲伤孤独可以通过一片落叶来展现，

If the visual nature of poetry faded into the background,

如果诗歌的视觉特征消失，

perhaps we'd be left with music,

也许我们还需要考虑音乐这种形式。

and that's an area that people love to debate.

这也是人们所热衷讨论的话题。

Are songs poems?

一首歌能算是一首诗吗？

Many don't regard songwriters as poets in a literary sense,

在文学的层面，很多人并不认为 词作者是诗人，

but lyrics from artists like Paul Simon,

但是一些艺术家所写的歌词，

例如Paul Simon，

Bob Dylan,

Bob Dylan，

and Tupac Shakur

以及Tupac Shakur，

often hold up even without the music.

他们的歌词即便没有配乐也是非常出色的。

In rap, poet elements like rhyme, rhythm, and imagery

在说唱中，诗歌所包含的元素例如 韵脚、节奏和意象，

are inseparable from the form.

也同样是必不可少的。

Take this lyric from the Notorious B.I.G.

以Notorious B.I.G的歌词举例来说。

"I can hear sweat trickling down your cheek

“我能听到汗水缓缓流下你的面颊，

Your heartbeat sound like Sasquatch feet

你的心跳如野兽的脚步，

Thundering, shaking the concrete."

闪电，颤动着实体。”

So far, all the examples we've seen have had line breaks.

目前，我们所看到的诗歌都是分行的。

We can even imagine the two words of Ali's poem organizing in the air -

我们甚至可以想象

拳王阿里的那只有两个词的诗，

也能断成两部分——我，我们。

Me, We.

Poetry has a shape that we can usually recognize.

诗歌拥有可以一眼辨识的特点。

Its line breaks help readers navigate the rhythms of a poem.

它的分行使得读者可以确定诗歌的节奏。

But what if those line breaks disappeared?

但如果分行消失了呢？

Would it lose its essence as a poem?

诗歌会因此而失去其精华所在么？

Maybe not.

也许并不会。

Enter the prose poem.

想象一下散文。

Prose poems use vivid images and wordplay

它运用了生动的形象以及对文字的把玩，

but are formatted like paragraphs.

但是散文是以段落来划分的。

When we look at poetry less as a form and more as a concept,

当我们将诗歌看成是一种概念而非形式时，

we can see the poetic all around us:

我们可以发现诗歌随处可见：

spiritual hymns,

在圣歌中，

the speeches of orators like Martin Luther King, Jr.,

在马丁·路德金、

约翰·肯尼迪、

JFK,

and Winston Churchill,

温斯顿·丘吉尔的演讲中，

and surprising places like social media.

甚至是在社交媒体中， 都可以看到诗歌的影子。

In 2010, journalist Joanna Smith tweeted updates from the earthquake in Haiti.

2010年，一名记者Joanna Smith发推特， 介绍海地地震的情况，

"Was in b-room getting dressed when heard my name.

“在听到我的名字时，我正在B超室穿衣。

Tremor. Ran outside through sliding door.

一阵震颤。我跑向推拉门冲到外面。

All still now. Safe. Roosters crowing."

现在，已然安全。而公鸡正在啼叫。”

Smith uses language in a way that is powerful, direct,

这名记者使用简洁、有力的表达，

and filled with vivid images.

语言生动，历历在目。

Compare her language to a haiku,

如同日本俳句，

the ancient Japanese poetic form that emphasizes bursts of brief intensity

这种日本传统诗歌简短有爆发力，

with just three lines of five, seven, and five syllables.

它仅有三行，遵循“五、七、五”的音节排列。

The waters of poetry run wide and deep.

诗歌的发展漫长且形式多变，

Poetry has evolved over time,

它也在不断地改变。

and perhaps now more than ever,

今天，诗歌、散文、歌曲以及视觉艺术的 界限愈发模糊。

the line between poetry, prose, song, and visual art has blurred.

However, one thing has not changed.

然而，始终没有改变的是。

The word poetry actually began in verb form,

诗歌一词本为动词，

来源于古希腊语，意为创造。

coming from the ancient Greek poiesis, which means to create.

Poets, like craftsman, still work with the raw materials of the world

诗人如同工匠，面对着丰富的素材，

to forge new understandings

用这些生活中的素材去创造新的见解，

and comment on what it is to be human in a way only humans can.

以仅有人类拥有的方式去定义人类。

达特茅斯学院的研究者曾试验 机器人能否写诗。

Dartmouth researchers tested this idea by asking robots to pen poetry.

A panel of judges sorted through stacks of sonnets

评审员们需要判断十四行诗中

哪些由机器写出，哪些由人类写出。

to see if they could distinguish those made by man and machine.

You may be happy to know that while scientists have successfully

尽管科学家已经能够将人工智能使用在众多领域，

used artificial intelligence in manufacturing,

例如制造业、

medicine,

制药业、

甚至是在新闻业，

and even journalism,

poetry is a different story.

诗歌却不是它们所擅长的。

机器人在这一领域仍未有任何胜算。

The robots were caught red-handed 100% of the time.