NOR judge me light, tho’ light at times I seem,
And lightly in the stress of fortune bear
The innumerable flaws of changeful care —
Nor judge me light for this, nor rashly deem
(Office forbid to mortals, kept supreme1
And separate the prerogative2 of God!)
That seaman3 idle who is borne abroad
To the far haven4 by the favouring stream.
Not he alone that to contrarious seas
Opposes, all night long, the unwearied oar5,
Not he alone, by high success endeared,
Shall reach the Port; but, winged, with some light breeze
Shall they, with upright keels, pass in before
Whom easy Taste, the golden pilot, steered6.
II.
So shall this book wax like unto a well,
Fairy with mirrored flowers about the brim,
Or like some tarn7 that wailing8 curlews skim,
Glassing the sallow uplands or brown fell;
And so, as men go down into a dell
(Weary with noon) to find relief and shade,
When on the uneasy sick-bed we are laid,
We shall go down into thy book, and tell
The leaves, once blank, to build again for us
Old summer dead and ruined, and the time
Of later autumn with the corn in stook.
So shalt thou stint9 the meagre winter thus
Of his projected triumph, and the rime10
Shall melt before the sunshine in thy book.
III.
I have a hoard11 of treasure in my breast;
The grange of memory steams against the door,
Full of my bygone lifetime’s garnered12 store —
Old pleasures crowned with sorrow for a zest13,
Old sorrow grown a joy, old penance14 blest,
Chastened remembrance of the sins of yore
That, like a new evangel, more and more
Supports our halting will toward the best.
Ah! what to us the barren after years
May bring of joy or sorrow, who can tell?
O, knowing not, who cares? It may be well
That we shall find old pleasures and old fears,
And our remembered childhood seen thro’ tears,
The best of Heaven and the worst of Hell.
IV.
As starts the absent dreamer when a train,
Suddenly disengulphed below his feet,
Roars forth15 into the sunlight, to its seat
My soul was shaken with immediate16 pain
Intolerable as the scanty17 breath
Of that one word blew utterly18 away
The fragile mist of fair deceit that lay
O’er the bleak19 years that severed20 me from death.
Yes, at the sight I quailed21; but, not unwise
Or not, O God, without some nervous thread
Of that best valour, Patience, bowed my head,
And with firm bosom22 and most steadfast23 eyes,
Strong in all high resolve, prepared to tread
The unlovely path that leads me toward the skies.
V.
Not undelightful, friend, our rustic24 ease
To grateful hearts; for by especial hap25,
Deep nested in the hill’s enormous lap,
With its own ring of walls and grove26 of trees,
Sits, in deep shelter, our small cottage — nor
Far-off is seen, rose carpeted and hung
With clematis, the quarry27 whence she sprung,
O mater pulchra filia pulchrior,
Whither in early spring, unharnessed folk,
We join the pairing swallows, glad to stay
Where, loosened in the hills, remote, unseen,
From its tall trees, it breathes a slender smoke
To heaven, and in the noon of sultry day
Stands, coolly buried, to the neck in green.
VI.
As in the hostel28 by the bridge I sate29,
Nailed with indifference30 fondly deemed complete,
And (O strange chance, more sorrowful than sweet)
The counterfeit31 of her that was my fate,
Dressed in like vesture, graceful32 and sedate33,
Went quietly up the vacant village street,
The still small sound of her most dainty feet
Shook, like a trumpet34 blast, my soul’s estate.
Instant revolt ran riot through my brain,
And all night long, thereafter, hour by hour,
The pageant35 of dead love before my eyes
Went proudly; and old hopes, broke loose again
From the restraint of wisely temperate36 power,
With ineffectual ardour sought to rise.
VII.
The strong man’s hand, the snow-cool head of age,
The certain-footed sympathies of youth —
These, and that lofty passion after truth,
Hunger unsatisfied in priest or sage37
Or the great men of former years, he needs
That not unworthily would dare to sing
(Hard task!) black care’s inevitable38 ring
Settling with years upon the heart that feeds
Incessantly39 on glory. Year by year
The narrowing toil40 grows closer round his feet;
With disenchanting touch rude-handed time
The unlovely web discloses, and strange fear
Leads him at last to eld’s inclement41 seat,
The bitter north of life — a frozen clime.
VIII.
As Daniel, bird-alone, in that far land,
Kneeling in fervent42 prayer, with heart-sick eyes
Turned thro’ the casement43 toward the westering skies;
Or as untamed Elijah, that red brand
Among the starry44 prophets; or that band
And company of Faithful sanctities
Who in all times, when persecutions rise,
Cherish forgotten creeds45 with fostering hand:
Such do ye seem to me, light-hearted crew,
O turned to friendly arts with all your will,
That keep a little chapel46 sacred still,
One rood of Holy-land in this bleak earth
Sequestered47 still (our homage48 surely due!)
To the twin Gods of mirthful wine and mirth.
About my fields, in the broad sun
And blaze of noon, there goeth one,
Barefoot and robed in blue, to scan
With the hard eye of the husbandman
My harvests and my cattle. Her,
When even puts the birds astir
And day has set in the great woods,
We seek, among her garden roods,
With bells and cries in vain: the while
Lamps, plate, and the decanter smile
On the forgotten board. But she,
Deaf, blind, and prone49 on face and knee,
Forgets time, family, and feast,
And digs like a demented beast.
Tall as a guardsman, pale as the east at dawn,
Who strides in strange apparel on the lawn?
Rails for his breakfast? routs51 his vassals52 out
(Like boys escaped from school) with song and shout?
Kind and unkind, his Maker’s final freak,
Part we deride53 the child, part dread54 the antique!
See where his gang, like frogs, among the dew
Crouch55 at their duty, an unquiet crew;
Adjust their staring kilts; and their swift eyes
Turn still to him who sits to supervise.
He in the midst, perched on a fallen tree,
Eyes them at labour; and, guitar on knee,
Now ministers alarm, now scatters56 joy,
Now twangs a halting chord, now tweaks a boy.
Thorough in all, my resolute57 vizier
Plays both the despot and the volunteer,
Exacts with fines obedience58 to my laws,
And for his music, too, exacts applause.
The Adorner59 of the uncomely — those
Amidst whose tall battalions60 goes
Her pretty person out and in
All day with an endearing din61,
Of censure62 and encouragement;
And when all else is tried in vain
See her sit down and weep again.
She weeps to conquer;
She varies on her grenadiers
From satire63 up to girlish tears!
Or rather to behold64 her when
She plies65 for me the unresting pen,
And when the loud assault of squalls
Resounds66 upon the roof and walls,
And the low thunder growls67 and I
Raise my dictating68 voice on high.
What glory for a boy of ten
Who now must three gigantic men
And two enormous, dapple grey
New Zealand pack-horses array
And lead, and wisely resolute
Our day-long business execute
In the far shore-side town. His soul
Glows in his bosom like a coal;
His innocent eyes glitter again,
And his hand trembles on the rein69.
Once he reviews his whole command,
And chivalrously70 planting hand
On hip71 — a borrowed attitude —
Rides off downhill into the wood.
I meanwhile in the populous72 house apart
Sit snugly73 chambered, and my silent art
Uninterrupted, unremitting ply74
Before the dawn, by morning lamplight, by
The glow of smelting75 noon, and when the sun
Dips past my westering hill and day is done;
So, bending still over my trade of words,
I hear the morning and the evening birds,
The morning and the evening stars behold;
So there apart I sit as once of old
Napier in wizard Merchiston; and my
Brown innocent aides in home and husbandry
Wonder askance. What ails50 the boss? they ask.
Him, richest of the rich, an endless task
Before the earliest birds or servants stir
Calls and detains him daylong prisoner?
He whose innumerable dollars hewed76
This cleft77 in the boar and devil-haunted wood,
And bade therein, from sun to seas and skies,
His many-windowed, painted palace rise
Red-roofed, blue-walled, a rainbow on the hill,
A wonder in the forest glade78: he still,
Unthinkable Aladdin, dawn and dark,
Scribbles79 and scribbles, like a German clerk.
We see the fact, but tell, O tell us why?
My reverend washman and wise butler cry.
Meanwhile at times the manifold
Imperishable perfumes of the past
And coloured pictures rise on me thick and fast:
And I remember the white rime, the loud
Lamplitten city, shops, and the changing crowd;
And I remember home and the old time,
The winding80 river, the white moving rhyme,
The autumn robin81 by the river-side
That pipes in the grey eve.
The old lady (so they say), but I
Admire your young vitality82.
Still brisk of foot, still busy and keen
In and about and up and down.
I hear you pass with bustling83 feet
The long verandahs round, and beat
Your bell, and “Lotu! Lotu!” cry;
Thus calling our queer company,
In morning or in evening dim,
To prayers and the oft mangled84 hymn85.
All day you watch across the sky
The silent, shining cloudlands ply,
That, huge as countries, swift as birds,
Beshade the isles86 by halves and thirds,
Till each with battlemented crest87
Stands anchored in the ensanguined west,
An Alp enchanted88. All the day
You hear the exuberant89 wind at play,
In vast, unbroken voice uplift,
In roaring tree, round whistling clift.
点击收听单词发音
1 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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2 prerogative | |
n.特权 | |
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3 seaman | |
n.海员,水手,水兵 | |
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4 haven | |
n.安全的地方,避难所,庇护所 | |
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5 oar | |
n.桨,橹,划手;v.划行 | |
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6 steered | |
v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 );操纵;控制;引导 | |
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7 tarn | |
n.山中的小湖或小潭 | |
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8 wailing | |
v.哭叫,哀号( wail的现在分词 );沱 | |
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9 stint | |
v.节省,限制,停止;n.舍不得化,节约,限制;连续不断的一段时间从事某件事 | |
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10 rime | |
n.白霜;v.使蒙霜 | |
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11 hoard | |
n./v.窖藏,贮存,囤积 | |
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12 garnered | |
v.收集并(通常)贮藏(某物),取得,获得( garner的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13 zest | |
n.乐趣;滋味,风味;兴趣 | |
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14 penance | |
n.(赎罪的)惩罪 | |
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15 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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16 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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17 scanty | |
adj.缺乏的,仅有的,节省的,狭小的,不够的 | |
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18 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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19 bleak | |
adj.(天气)阴冷的;凄凉的;暗淡的 | |
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20 severed | |
v.切断,断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 );断,裂 | |
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21 quailed | |
害怕,发抖,畏缩( quail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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23 steadfast | |
adj.固定的,不变的,不动摇的;忠实的;坚贞不移的 | |
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24 rustic | |
adj.乡村的,有乡村特色的;n.乡下人,乡巴佬 | |
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25 hap | |
n.运气;v.偶然发生 | |
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26 grove | |
n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
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27 quarry | |
n.采石场;v.采石;费力地找 | |
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28 hostel | |
n.(学生)宿舍,招待所 | |
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29 sate | |
v.使充分满足 | |
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30 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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31 counterfeit | |
vt.伪造,仿造;adj.伪造的,假冒的 | |
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32 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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33 sedate | |
adj.沉着的,镇静的,安静的 | |
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34 trumpet | |
n.喇叭,喇叭声;v.吹喇叭,吹嘘 | |
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35 pageant | |
n.壮观的游行;露天历史剧 | |
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36 temperate | |
adj.温和的,温带的,自我克制的,不过分的 | |
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37 sage | |
n.圣人,哲人;adj.贤明的,明智的 | |
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38 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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39 incessantly | |
ad.不停地 | |
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40 toil | |
vi.辛劳工作,艰难地行动;n.苦工,难事 | |
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41 inclement | |
adj.严酷的,严厉的,恶劣的 | |
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42 fervent | |
adj.热的,热烈的,热情的 | |
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43 casement | |
n.竖铰链窗;窗扉 | |
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44 starry | |
adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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45 creeds | |
(尤指宗教)信条,教条( creed的名词复数 ) | |
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46 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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47 sequestered | |
adj.扣押的;隐退的;幽静的;偏僻的v.使隔绝,使隔离( sequester的过去式和过去分词 );扣押 | |
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48 homage | |
n.尊敬,敬意,崇敬 | |
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49 prone | |
adj.(to)易于…的,很可能…的;俯卧的 | |
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50 ails | |
v.生病( ail的第三人称单数 );感到不舒服;处境困难;境况不佳 | |
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51 routs | |
n.打垮,赶跑( rout的名词复数 );(体育)打败对方v.打垮,赶跑( rout的第三人称单数 );(体育)打败对方 | |
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52 vassals | |
n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 );(封建时代)诸侯;从属者;下属 | |
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53 deride | |
v.嘲弄,愚弄 | |
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54 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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55 crouch | |
v.蹲伏,蜷缩,低头弯腰;n.蹲伏 | |
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56 scatters | |
v.(使)散开, (使)分散,驱散( scatter的第三人称单数 );撒 | |
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57 resolute | |
adj.坚决的,果敢的 | |
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58 obedience | |
n.服从,顺从 | |
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59 adorner | |
装饰器(电脑工具软件名称) | |
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60 battalions | |
n.(陆军的)一营(大约有一千兵士)( battalion的名词复数 );协同作战的部队;军队;(组织在一起工作的)队伍 | |
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61 din | |
n.喧闹声,嘈杂声 | |
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62 censure | |
v./n.责备;非难;责难 | |
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63 satire | |
n.讽刺,讽刺文学,讽刺作品 | |
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64 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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65 plies | |
v.使用(工具)( ply的第三人称单数 );经常供应(食物、饮料);固定往来;经营生意 | |
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66 resounds | |
v.(指声音等)回荡于某处( resound的第三人称单数 );产生回响;(指某处)回荡着声音 | |
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67 growls | |
v.(动物)发狺狺声, (雷)作隆隆声( growl的第三人称单数 );低声咆哮着说 | |
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68 dictating | |
v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
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69 rein | |
n.疆绳,统治,支配;vt.以僵绳控制,统治 | |
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70 chivalrously | |
adv.象骑士一样地 | |
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71 hip | |
n.臀部,髋;屋脊 | |
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72 populous | |
adj.人口稠密的,人口众多的 | |
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73 snugly | |
adv.紧贴地;贴身地;暖和舒适地;安适地 | |
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74 ply | |
v.(搬运工等)等候顾客,弯曲 | |
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75 smelting | |
n.熔炼v.熔炼,提炼(矿石)( smelt的现在分词 ) | |
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76 hewed | |
v.(用斧、刀等)砍、劈( hew的过去式和过去分词 );砍成;劈出;开辟 | |
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77 cleft | |
n.裂缝;adj.裂开的 | |
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78 glade | |
n.林间空地,一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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79 scribbles | |
n.潦草的书写( scribble的名词复数 );乱画;草草地写;匆匆记下v.潦草的书写( scribble的第三人称单数 );乱画;草草地写;匆匆记下 | |
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80 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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81 robin | |
n.知更鸟,红襟鸟 | |
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82 vitality | |
n.活力,生命力,效力 | |
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83 bustling | |
adj.喧闹的 | |
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84 mangled | |
vt.乱砍(mangle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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85 hymn | |
n.赞美诗,圣歌,颂歌 | |
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86 isles | |
岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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87 crest | |
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖 | |
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88 enchanted | |
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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89 exuberant | |
adj.充满活力的;(植物)繁茂的 | |
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