VOA标准英语2011-Robert Pinsky's Poetry Strikes a Chord

Despite the often raw intensity¹ of his poetry, Robert Pinsky, a lanky², handsome man in his seventies, has the relaxed air of a jazz musician as he prepares to read an excerpt³ from his long poem "History of My Heart."

The poet explains that the work re-imagines a moment in the early 20th century when his mother worked as a young sales clerk in a department store. Legendary⁴ jazz pianist Fats Waller appeared with two beautiful young women and began tapping out an improvised⁵ tune⁶ on a tiny toy piano.

.... In Toys, where my mother worked

Over her school vacation, the crowd swelled⁷ and stood
Filling the aisles⁸, whispered at the fringes, listening
To the sounds of the large, gorgeously dressed man,

His smile bemused and exalted⁹, lips boom-booming a bold
Bass¹⁰ line as he improvised on an expensive, tinkly¹¹
Piano the size of a lady's jewel box or a wedding cake.

(Click here to read the complete poem)

When asked to sum up the poem's underlying¹² message, Pinsky pauses a moment. "It's the idea that the artist takes joy in giving art," he answers. "And I guess it's an image of happiness."

Pinsky himself found happiness playing jazz in a high school band in Long Branch, New Jersey¹³, the working class seaside town where he was born in 1940. That experience led him to poetry.

"When I was a teenager, just about the only thing I could do right was play music," he says with a chuckle¹⁴. "In my graduating class, I was certainly not voted ‘Most Literary Boy.' I can assure you I was not voted ‘Mostly Likely to Succeed.' I was voted ‘Most Musical Boy.' And the music led to the poetry."

For Pinsky, the joys and challenges of jazz and poetry mirror each other. "Jazz and poetry both involve a structure that may be familiar and to some extent predictable. And then, you try to create as much surprise and spontaneity and feeling and variation while respecting that structure."

For Pinsky, poetry continues to be a physical experience as well as an emotional one. He rocks and sways while reading "The Want Bone," a poem of longing¹⁵ that centers on a bleached¹⁶ shark jaw¹⁷ he found splayed wide open on a beach.

[...]The bone tasted of nothing and smelled of nothing,
A scalded toothless harp¹⁸, uncrushed, unstrung.
The joined arcs made the shape of birth and craving¹⁹
And the welded-open shape kept mouthing O.

Ossified²⁰ cords held the corners together
In groined spirals pleated like a summer dress.
But where was the limber grin, the gash²¹ of pleasure?
Infinitesimal mouths bore it away,

The beach scrubbed and etched and pickled it clean.
But O I love you it sings, my little my country
My food my parent my child I want you my own
my flower my fin²² my life my lightness my O.

(Click here to read the complete poem)

Pinsky says he writes "in his voice for your voice," and that the breath is key. In that sense, he adds, poetry, like dance, is an art form where the medium is the human body itself. This makes it both very intimate and very human.

"It's my advice for people who have, alas²³, learned that poetry is difficult, or think they've learned that they don't have a taste for it, to say it aloud, to feel what it's like to say it with your tongue, your breath, and your voice."

Poems are social phenomena²⁴. Pinsky relishes²⁵ the fact that he creates his art with words, which we use every day: like dollar bills, quarters and credit cards.

"'Is that your car? I think it's blocking mine.' 'I love you but not that way.' You're using words," says Pinsky.

Pinsky, who holds a Ph.D from Stanford University and has taught writing at universities for decades, is also a highly regarded translator of other's poets' words. His masterful translation of Dante's "Inferno," for example, garnered²⁶ him several prizes including, in 1994, the Academy of American Poets Translation Award.

But it was Pinksy's unprecedented²⁷ three-year tenure²⁸ as Poet Laureate of the United States, between 1997 and 2000, that may have had the greatest impact on his literary career - and on the rest of us. Pinsky is proud that the Favorite Poem Project, which he launched as Laureate, flourishes to this day. It invites everyday people to introduce a poem that is meaningful to them, and then recite it on video for others.

He resists the idea that he was an ambassador for poetry as many characterize the Poet Laureate's role. "I was not an ambassador for poetry," as if he were a salesman for a brand of soap.

"I hope I wasn't even an advocate for poetry," he says. "I hope I was like that ape that has a good tasting piece of fruit in its hand and say to another ape, ‘Mmm. Tastes good.'" And a lot of the time I was not doing it at all, I was asking other people to do it and listening to what they had to say."

Indeed, the variety of voices on favoritepoem.org is encyclopedic in its scope. One can, for example, watch a Jamaican immigrant read a Sylvia Plath poem, or listen to a construction worker recite Walt Whitman, or a US marine²⁹ giving a reading of W.B. Yeats "Politics."

"And these people are not poets," says Pinsky, not without a certain pride. "They are not professors. They are certainly not actors. They are readers. And they do something that an actor could not do which I think is worth paying attention to."

In his own work as a poet, Pinsky shows no sign of slowing down. A new anthology of his selected poems is due to be published in April 2011

1 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

2 lanky   

adj.瘦长的

参考例句：

• He was six feet four,all lanky and leggy.他身高6英尺4英寸，瘦高个儿，大长腿。
• Tom was a lanky boy with long skinny legs.汤姆是一个腿很细的瘦高个儿。

3 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

4 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

5 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

6 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

7 swelled   

增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The infection swelled his hand. 由于感染，他的手肿了起来。
• After the heavy rain the river swelled. 大雨过后，河水猛涨。

8 aisles   

n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊

参考例句：

• Aisles were added to the original Saxon building in the Norman period. 在诺曼时期，原来的萨克森风格的建筑物都增添了走廊。
• They walked about the Abbey aisles, and presently sat down. 他们走到大教堂的走廊附近，并且很快就坐了下来。

9 exalted   

adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的

参考例句：

• Their loveliness and holiness in accordance with their exalted station.他们的美丽和圣洁也与他们的崇高地位相称。
• He received respect because he was a person of exalted rank.他因为是个地位崇高的人而受到尊敬。

10 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

11 tinkly   

叮当响的

参考例句：

12 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

13 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

14 chuckle   

vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑

参考例句：

• He shook his head with a soft chuckle.他轻轻地笑着摇了摇头。
• I couldn't suppress a soft chuckle at the thought of it.想到这个，我忍不住轻轻地笑起来。

15 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

16 bleached   

漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的

参考例句：

• His hair was bleached by the sun . 他的头发被太阳晒得发白。
• The sun has bleached her yellow skirt. 阳光把她的黄裙子晒得褪色了。

17 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

18 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。

19 craving   

n.渴望,热望

参考例句：

• a craving for chocolate 非常想吃巧克力
• She skipped normal meals to satisfy her craving for chocolate and crisps. 她不吃正餐，以便满足自己吃巧克力和炸薯片的渴望。

20 ossified   

adj.已骨化[硬化]的v.骨化，硬化，使僵化( ossify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• an ossified political system 僵化的政治制度
• His thinking has ossified as he's grown older;he won't accept new ideas. 随着年岁的增长，他的思想僵化了，他不接受新观点。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 gash   

v.深切，划开；n.(深长的)切(伤)口；裂缝

参考例句：

• The deep gash in his arm would take weeks to heal over.他胳膊上的割伤很深，需要几个星期的时间才能痊愈。
• After the collision,the body of the ship had a big gash.船被撞后，船身裂开了一个大口子。

22 fin   

n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼

参考例句：

• They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
• The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。

23 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

24 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

25 relishes   

n.滋味( relish的名词复数 )；乐趣；（大量的）享受；快乐v.欣赏( relish的第三人称单数 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望

参考例句：

• The meat relishes of pork. 这肉有猪肉味。 来自辞典例句
• The biography relishes too much of romance. 这篇传记中传奇色彩太浓。 来自辞典例句

26 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 )

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith gradually garnered a national reputation as a financial expert. 史密斯先生逐渐赢得全国金融专家的声誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals. 他的提议得到了广泛的支持。 来自辞典例句

27 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

28 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

29 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。