The pleasure of poetic pattern - David Silverstein

翻译人员: Vivi Dai 校对人员: Rongpei Yang

Just for a moment,

只要一小会儿

focus on your breath.

请凝神于你的呼吸

In slowly.

慢慢吸气

Out slowly.

慢慢呼气

In slowly.

慢慢吸气

Out.

慢慢呼气

The same pattern repeats within every one of us

每个人都在重复同样的模式

and consider your pulse.

想想你的脉搏

The beat is built into the very fabric of our being.

这个跳动深植于我们的生命结构之中

Simply put, we're creatures of rhythm and repetition.

简单来说，我们是节奏和重复的产物

It's central to our experience,

这是我们活动的中心

rhythm and repetition,

节奏和重复

rhythm and repetition.

节奏和重复

On, and in,

吸气

and on, and out.

呼气

And we delight in those aspects everyday,

我们每天都从这些节奏和重复中获得快乐

in the rhythm of a song,

比如一首歌的节奏

the beat of the drum,

鼓点

the nod of your head,

点头

or in the repetition of soup cans,

或者是重复 的汤罐头

the rows of an orchard,

果园里一排排果树

the artistry of petals.

花瓣的艺术性

Pattern can be pleasure.

模式是让人愉悦的

In language, rhythm and repetition are often used

在语言中，节奏和重复常常被用来

as the building blocks for poetry.

作为诗歌的构建模块

There's the rhythm of language,

这是语言的节奏

created by syllables and their emphasis,

由音节和重音构成

such as, "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see."

比如，“So long as men can breathe or eyes can see”。

And there's the repetition of language at multiple levels:

语言的重复有多个层次：

the repetition of letters,

字母的重复

"So long lives this and this gives life to thee,"

“So long lives this and this gives life to thee”

of sounds,

音节的重复

"breathe," "see," "thee,"

“breathe”、“see”、“thee”

and of words.

以及单词的重复

With so many uses, repetition is one of the poet's most malleable

重复的用途极为广泛

是诗人们最具可塑性和最可靠的工具之一

and reliable tools.

It can lift or lull the listener,

它可以让听者的情绪跌宕起伏

amplify or diminish the line,

可以强化或削弱句子

unify or diversify ideas.

可以统一或分散观点

In fact, even rhythm itself,

事实上，节奏本身

a repeated pattern of stressed syllables,

就是重音节的重复模式

is a form of repetition.

节奏是重复的一种形式

Yet for all its varied uses,

虽然用途多样

too much repetition can backfire.

但太多重复会带来负面效果

Imagine writing the same sentence on the blackboard twenty times,

想想看，在黑板上写20遍同一个句子

again, and again, and again, and again,

一遍，一遍，一遍，一遍

or imagine a young child clamoring for her mother's attention,

或者孩子大声吵闹要引起母亲的注意

"Mom, mom, mommy, mom, mom."

“妈妈，妈妈，妈咪，妈妈，妈妈”

Not exactly what we might call poetry.

这可不是我们心目中的诗歌

So what is poetic repetition, and why does it work?

那么，诗歌中的重复到底是什么？为什么它们具有艺术性？

Possibly most familiar is rhyme,

最常见的重复也许是韵脚

the repetition of like sounds in word endings.

单词结尾的音节重复

As with Shakespeare's example,

以莎士比亚为例

we often encounter rhyme at the ends of lines.

我们经常在句子结尾读到韵脚

Repetition in this way creates an expectation.

这种重复制造了一种期待

We begin to listen for the repetition of those similar sounds.

我们开始仔细聆听这些相似音节的重复

When we hear them, the found pattern is pleasurable.

当我们听见音节、发现模式时，会感到愉悦

Like finding Waldo in the visual chaos,

就像在视觉混乱的画幅中找到沃尔多

we hear the echo in the oral chatter.

我们在纷繁对话中听见了重复

Yet, rhyme need not surface solely at a line's end.

不过韵脚不必只出现在句末

Notice the strong "i" sound in,

请注意有力的“i”音

"So long lives this and this gives life to thee."

"So long lives this and this gives life to thee."

This repetition of vowel sounds is called assonance

元音的重复发音被称为元韵

and can also be heard in Eminem's "Lose Yourself."

埃米纳姆的《迷失你自己》中也能听到元韵

Notice how the "e" and "o" sounds repeat both within in

注意在每句中间和结尾

and at the end of each line:

“e”和‘o’音是如何重复的

"Oh, there goes gravity,

“Oh, there goes gravity,

Oh, there goes rabbit, he choked,

Oh, there goes rabbit, he choked,

he so mad but he won't give up that easy,

he so mad but he won't give up that easy,

no, he won't have it,

no, he won't have it,

he knows his whole back's to these ropes."

he knows his whole back's to these ropes."

The alternating assonance creates its own rhythm,

交替的元韵创造了自身的节奏

and invites us to try our own voices in echoing it.

让我们试图用自己的声音去重复它

Similarly, consonance is the repetition of like consonant sounds,

类似的，和音是类辅音的重复

such as the "l" and "th" in,

比如“I”和“th”音

"So long lives this and this gives life to thee."

"So long lives this and this gives life to thee."

In fact, this type of specific consonance,

实际上，这类特殊的和音

which occurs at the beginning of words

出现在单词的开头

may be familiar to you already.

你们可能都听过

It's called alliteration, or front rhyme.

它叫做头韵或前押韵

Great examples include tongue twisters.

最好的例子就是绕口令

Betty bought some butter but the butter was bitter

Betty bought some butter but the butter was bitter

so Betty bought some better butter to make the bitter butter better.

so Betty bought some better butter to make the bitter butter better.

Here, the pleasure in pattern is apparent as we trip over the consonance

当我们读到和音时，不管是出现在单词中间或开头

both within words and at their start.

模式带来的愉悦感很明显。

Yet tongue twisters also reflect the need for variation in poetic repetition.

虽然绕口令也反映出对诗歌重复的多样性的需求

While challenging to say,

但不得不说，在有些人看来

they're seen by some as lesser imitations of poetry,

绕口令是对诗歌的低级模仿，或只是噱头

or gimmicky because they hammer so heavily on the same sounds,

因为它们在相同音节上的重复如此强烈

closer to that blackboard-style of repetition.

近似于在黑板上抄写相同句子的重复

Ultimately, this is the poet's balancing act,

从根本上说，只有诗人才能找到平衡

learning when to repeat

学习何时重复

and when to riff,

何时即兴重复

when to satisfy expectations,

何时满足人们的期待

and when to thwart them,

以及何时打破期待

and in that balance, it may be enough to remember

在这种平衡中，也许只需要记住

we all live in a world of wild variation

我们都生活在一个极度多样化的世界中

and carry with us our own breath and beat,

我们都有自己的呼吸和心跳

our own repetition wherever we go.

不管身在何方，我们都有自己的重复节奏