American Poet: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
美国诗人：朗费罗
On February 27, 1807，Longfellow descended from well-established New England families. His birth place was Portland, Maine. In his home and in the town library, he had access to many books, and he read much more and more intently. He started school at the age of three, and by six, he had entered the Portland Academy. In 1821，at the age of 14，he began his freshman studies, a classmate of Nathaniel Hawthorne.
朗费罗于1807年2月27日生于美国缅因州波特兰市，他是新英格兰望族的后裔。在家里和镇图书管，他博览群书，读书很专心。他3岁入学，6岁就进入波特 兰中学。1821年，也就是在14岁时，他开始了大学生 活，和纳撒尼尔·霍桑在同一个班。
Longfellow’s father was eager to have his son become a lawyer. But when Henry was a senior at Bowdoin College at 19，the college established a chair of modem languages. The recent graduate was asked to become the first professor, with the understanding that he should be given a period of time in which to travel and study in Europe.
朗费罗的父亲非常希望自己的儿子能成为一名律 师。但是，19岁的朗费罗在读博多因学院的毕业班时, 该学院成立了一个现代语言讲座。朗费罗刚一毕业，就 成了第一名教授，人们认为应该给他一个到欧洲游学的 机会。
In May of 1826，the fair-haired youth with the azure blue eyes set out for Europe to turn himself into a scholar and a linguist. He had letters of introduction to men of note in England and France, but he had his own idea of how to travel. Between conferences with important people and courses in the universities, Longfellow walked through the countries. He stopped at small inns and cottages, talking to peasants, farmers, traders. He travelled in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and England, and returned to America in 1829. At 22, he was launched into his career as a college professor.
1826年5月，这位长着一头金发和一双深蓝色眼 睛的年轻人动身前往欧洲，目的就是想让自己成为一名 学者和语言学家。他有英国和法国名人们的引荐信，不过，他对如何旅行有自己的见解。在与大学中的名人见 面和参加学术活动期间，朗费罗游历了欧洲诸国。他驻 足于小酒店和乡村农舍，与农夫们、农场主们、商人们交谈。他到西班牙、意大利、法国、德国以及英国旅行，1829年，他回到了美国。22岁时，他就成了一名大学教授。
Much tribute is due him as a teacher. Just as he served America in making the world conscious of its legend and tradition, so he opened to his students and to the American people the literary heritage of Europe. He created in them the new consciousness of the literature of Spain, France, Italy, and especially writings from the German, Nordic, and Icelandic cultures.
执教让朗费罗获益匪浅。正是出于让世界了解美 国的传奇和传统的目的，他向学生和美国人民引进了欧 洲的文学遗产。他率先向他的学生和美国人介绍了西班 牙、法国、意大利尤其是德国、北欧以及冰岛的文学作 品的新思想。
In 1831, he married Mary Sorter Potter, whom he had known as a schoolmate. With his wife, he settled down in a house surrounded by elm trees. He expended his energies on translations from Old World literature and contributed travel sketches to the New England Magazine, in addition to serving as a professor and a librarian at Bowdoin.
1831年，朗费罗与他的校友玛丽·斯图尔·波特结了婚。朗费罗和妻子在一个榆树环绕的房子里定居下来，潜心翻译旧世界文学，并为《新英格兰杂志》撰稿，另外还在博多因担任着教授和图书馆员的工作。
In 1834, he was appointed to a professorship at Harvard and once more set out for Europe by way of preparation. This time his young wife accompanied him. The journey ended in tragedy. In Rotterdam, his wife died, and Longfellow came alone to Cambridge and the new professorship.
1834年，他被任命为哈佛大学的教授，作好准备后再次出国到欧洲。这一次，他的年轻的妻子随他一同前往。然而，这次旅行却以悲剧结束。在鹿特丹，他的妻子去世了，朗费罗孑然一身来到剑桥，在那儿担任了教授。
Busy as he was in Harvard, he began again to write poetry for the first time in a dozen years. A few months after his 31 st birthday, he wrote what was to become the best known as well as the most controversial of all his short poems, Psalm of Life”. In 1839，he published Voices of the Night. The warm reception greatly encouraged Longfellow to write poetry at an accelerated pace. In July 1843, he was married to Fanny Appleton. Fanny was an ideal wife. She served as Longfellow’s “eyes” during his periods of near blindness, and she was the instigator of a number of poems. During the early years of their marriage, Longfellow got his fame and won literary recognition. In 1851, he retired from academic life to devote his energies to writing.
尽管在哈佛的一年中很忙，他在数年后第一次重新提笔写诗，31岁生日后不久，他写了所有短诗中最有名的、也是最有争议的诗《生命颂》。1839年，他出版了 《夜吟》，受到了热烈欢迎，于是，受到鼓舞的他加快了写诗的速度。1843年7月，他和范妮·阿普尔顿结婚。 范妮是位理想的妻子，在朗费罗近乎失明的时期，她就是他的“眼睛”，他的几首诗都是在她的鼓励下创作出来的。在他们婚后几年里，朗费罗经过努力赢得了文学界的承认。1851年，他辞去大学教授之职，专心从事创作。
In his years in Bowdoin and in Harvard, Longfellow had pioneered instruction in modern languages. In the Spring, 1869, Oxford University conferred an honorary degree upon “the most distinguished of American poets”. His death on March 24，1882，was universally lamented as a great loss to art and humanity.
在博多因和哈佛的岁月里，朗费罗是现代语言教学的先驱者。1869年春天，牛津大学授予他“最卓越的美国诗人”荣誉学位。朗费罗于1882年3月24日逝世， 他的离世是艺术和人类的巨大损失。 |