塞缪尔·泰勒·柯尔律治(Samuel Taylor Coleridge)1772年10月21日生于英格兰西南部德文郡一个乡镇牧师的家庭。9岁丧父,被送往伦敦基督慈幼学校上学,熟读希腊、罗马文学。19岁入剑桥大学,与骚塞相识。当时两人都同情法国革命,但又都害怕革命暴力,于是设想去美洲建立乌托邦社会。计划失败后柯尔律治移居英格兰部西部湖区,致力于写诗,并与华兹华斯结成密友。他憎恶资本主义城市文明和冷酷的金钱关系,于是远离城市,隐居于昆布兰湖区,寄情山水或缅怀中世纪的宗法社会。他们创作出歌颂大自然的或美化宗法制农村生活方式的诗篇,以抵制丑恶的资本主义现实。因此被称为“湖畔派诗人”。
Kubla Khan
忽必烈汗
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
塞缪尔·泰勒·柯勒律治
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
忽必列汗在上都曾经
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
下令造一座堂皇的安乐殿堂:
Where Alph, the sacrecl river, ran
这地方有圣河亚佛流奔,
Through caverns measureless to man
穿过深不可测的洞门,
Down to a sunless sea.
直流入不见阳光的海洋。
So twice five miles of fertile ground
有方圆五英里肥沃的土壤,
With walls and towers were girdled round:
四周给围上楼塔和城墙:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
那里有花园,蜿蜒的溪河在其间闪耀,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
园里树枝上鲜花盛开,一片芬芳;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
这里有森林,跟山峦同样古老,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
围住了洒满阳光的一块块青草草场。
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
但是,啊!那深沉而奇异的巨壑,
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
沿青山斜裂,横过伞盖的柏树!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
野蛮的地方,既神圣而又着了魔
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
好像有女人在衰落的月色里出没,
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
为她的魔鬼情郎而凄声嚎哭!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
巨壑下,不绝的喧嚣在沸腾汹涌,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
似乎这土地正喘息在快速而猛烈的悸动中,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
从这巨壑里,不断迸出股猛烈的地泉;