That is a Pagan thing to say and a hopeless one, for the true comfort that remained for men, and that embodied1 and gave reality to their conquering struggle against every despair, was surely Song.
If you would ask what society is imperilled of death, go to one in which song is extinguished. If you would ask in what society a permanent sickness oppresses all, and the wealthy alone are permitted to make the laws, go to one in which song is a fine art and treated with criticism and used charily2, and ceases to be a human thing. But if you would discover where men are men, take for your test whether songs are always and loudly sung.
Sailors sing. They have a song for work and songs for every part of their work, and they have songs of reminiscence and of tragedy, and many farcical songs; some brutal3 songs, songs of repose,[2] and songs in which is packed the desire for a distant home.
Soldiers also sing, at least in those Armies where soldiers are still soldiers. And the Line, which is the core and body of any army, is the most singing of them all. The Cavalry4 hardly sing, at least until they get indoors, for it would be a bumping sort of singing, and gunners cannot sing for noise, while the drivers are busy riding and leading as well. But the Line sings; and if you will consider quickly, all the great armies of the world, and consider them justly, not as the pedants5 do, but as men do who really feel the past, you would hear mounting from them always continual song. Those men who marched behind C?sar in his triumph sang a song, and the words of it still remain (so I am told); the armies of Louis XIV and of Napoleon, of the Republic, and even of Algiers, made songs of their own which have passed into the great treasury6 of European letters. And though it is difficult to believe it, it is true, the little troops of the Parliament marching down the river made a song about Mother Bunch, coupled with the name of the Dorchester Hills; but I may be wrong. I was told it by a friend; he may have been a false friend.
They sang in the Barons’ wars; they sang on the way to Lewes. They sang in that march which led men to the assault at Hastings, for it was written by those who saw the column of knights7 advancing to the foot of the hill that Taillefer was chosen for[3] his great voice and rode before the host, tossing his sword into the air and catching8 it again by the hilt (a difficult thing to do), and singing of Charlemagne and of the vassals9 who had died under Roncesvalles.
Song also illuminates10 and strengthens and vivifies all common life, and on this account what is left of our peasantry have harvest songs, and there are songs for mowing11 and songs for the midwinter rest, and there is even a song in the south of England for the gathering12 of honey, which song, if you have not heard it, though it is commonly known, runs thus:—
Bees of bees of Paradise,
Do the work of Jesus Christ,
Do the work which no man can.
God made man, and man made money,
God made bees and bees made honey.
God made big men to plough, to reap, and to sow,
God made little boys to keep off the rook and the crow.
This song is sung for pleasure, and, by the way of singing it, it is made to scan.
Indeed, all men sing at their labour, or would so sing did not dead convention forbid them. You will say there are exceptions, as lawyers, usurers, and others; but there are no exceptions to this rule where all the man is working and is working well, and is producing and is not ashamed.
Rowers sing, and their song is called a Barcarolle; and even men holding the tiller who have nothing to do but hold it tend to sing a song. And I will[4] swear to this that I have heard stokers when they were hard pressed starting a sort of crooning chorus together, which shows that there is hope for us all.
The great Poets who are chiefly this, men capable of perfect expression (though of no more feeling than any other of their kind), are dignified13 by Song, much more than by any others of their forms of power. Consider that song of Du Bellay’s which he translated out of the Italian, and in which he has the winnower14 singing as he turns the winnowing15 fan. That is great expression, because no man can read it without feeling that if ever he had to do the hard work of winnowing this is the song he would like to sing.
Song also is the mistress of memory, and though a scent16 is more powerful, a song is more general, as an instrument for the resurrection of lost things. Thus exiles who of all men on earth suffer most deeply, most permanently17, and most fruitfully, are great makers18 of songs. The chief character in songs—that almost any man can write them, that any man at all can sing them, and that the greatest are anonymous19—is never better proved than in this quality of the songs of exiles. There is a Highland20 song of which I have been told, written in the Celtic dialect and translated again into English by I know not whom, which, for all its unknown authorship (and I believe its authorship to be unknown) enshrines that radiantly beautiful line:
[5]The last anonymous piece of silver that was struck in the mint of the Roman language has that same poignant22 quality.
Exul quid vis canere?
All the songs that men make (and they are powerful ones) regretting youth are songs of exile, and in a sense (it is a high and true sense) the mighty23 hymns24 are songs of exile also.
Qui vitam sine termino
Nobis donet in patria,
that is the pure note of exile, and so is the
Coheredes et sodales
In terra viventium,
and in this last glorious thing comes in the note of marching and of soldiers as well as the note of separation and of longing25. But after all the mention of religion is in itself a proof of song, for what spell could there ever be without incantation, or what ritual could lack its chaunt?
If any man wonders why these two, Religion and Song, are connected, or thinks it impious that they should so be, let him do this: if he is an old man let him cover his face with his hand and remember at evening what occasions stand out of the long past, full of a complete life, and of an acute observation and intelligence of all that was around: how many were occasions for song! There are pictures a man will remember all his life only because he watched[6] them for a pastime, because he heard a woman singing as he watched them, and there are landscapes which remain in the mind long after other things have faded, but so remain because one went at morning with other men along the road singing a walking song. And if it is a young man who wishes to make trial of this truth, he also has his test. For he will note as the years continue how, while all other pleasures lose their value and gradation, Song remains26, until at last the notes of singing become like a sort of sacrament outside time, not subject to decay, but always nourishing men, for Song gives a permanent sense of futurity and a permanent sense of the presence of Divine things. Nor is there any pleasure which you will take away from middle age and leave it more lonely, than this pleasure of hearing Song.
It is that immortal27 quality in the business which makes it of a different kind from the other efforts of men. Write a good song and the tune28 leaps up to meet it out of nothingness. It clothes itself with tune, and once so clothed it continues on through generations, eternally young, always smiling, and always ready with strong hands for mankind. On this account every man who has written a song can be certain that he has done good; any man who has continually sung them can be certain that he has lived and has communicated life to others.
It is the best of all trades, to make songs, and the second best to sing them.
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收听单词发音
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1
embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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charily
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| 小心谨慎地，节俭地，俭省地 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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pedants
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| n.卖弄学问的人，学究，书呆子( pedant的名词复数 ) | |
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treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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illuminates
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| v.使明亮( illuminate的第三人称单数 )；照亮；装饰；说明 | |
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mowing
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| n.割草，一次收割量，牧草地v.刈，割( mow的现在分词 ) | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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winnower
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| n.扬谷（或场）者，扬谷器，风车；扇车；簸谷机 | |
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15
winnowing
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| v.扬( winnow的现在分词 )；辨别；选择；除去 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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makers
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| n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式） | |
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anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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hymns
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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