Annabel Lee
先上原诗。
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Annabel Lee
作者Edgar Allan Poe
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
xuan注：
-seraph撒拉弗，六翼天使。见于《圣经·旧约·以赛亚书》。
-covet觊觎，贪求
-chill冷却，冻僵
-her highborn kinsman：她高贵的亲戚，即上下文提到的天使。暗指Annabel Lee也是天使。
-sepulchre墓穴
-demon恶魔
-nighttide夜潮，夜间
-tomb墓
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第一次读到这个诗是在某一期的《疯狂英语》。其实《疯狂英语》我就买了两期还是三期，中间刚好有这首诗，据说是大名作。《疯狂英语》是有磁带的，我就放在那儿听，其实什么也听不出来，挫败得很。当时念到这首诗的时候，印象深刻的是背景音里面的海浪声，哗啦哗啦的。朗诵者是个忧郁而平板的男声，我光听见那个韵脚，me啊sea的，还有反复不断的Annabel Lee。当时觉得这个艾伦坡太扯了，一首诗拿同一个词（还是人名）来押韵，有偷工减料的嫌疑。然而图它词汇少，语速又慢，反复听了几遍，居然被打动了。
不知道这个诗算作是有技术含量，还是没有技术含量。其实他说了什么，好像什么也没说，不就是两小无猜的孩子死了一个，另一个非说他们的爱是了不得的，是遭了天妒被拆散的，最后，可能隔了很久，终于追随她去了。可以说，不像西方的很多诗，比喻啊举例啊，花团锦簇的一篇。也不像中国诗词，比较含蓄蕴藉，有话忍着不说，憋到最后叹一口气，把大家都感动得眼泪汪汪。这首诗主要就是一吟三叹，加上语无伦次，像是喃喃自语。这诗要念出来好，而且就要用平板默然的口气念，因为是long ago，也因为小哀多言，大哀静默，简单一点，比较像。
其实这就是所谓的悼忘诗，一般指男人悼老婆的。中国的悼亡诗里面，苏轼的《江城子》很有名了，还记得有元稹的一句“惟将终夜长开眼，报答平生未展眉”。
纳博科夫的小说《洛丽塔》里也老提到Annabel Lee。