【正文】 r it intended as a series of lyrics。 but, viewlessly Walk?d spirits at her side. Peace charm?d the street beneath her feet, And honor charm?d the air。 while they breathe an earnestness an evident sincerity of sentiment for which we look in vain throughout all the other works of this author. While the epic mania while the idea that, to merit in poetry, prolixity is indispensable has, for some years past, been gradually dying out of the public mind, by mere dint if its own absurdity we find it succeeded by a heresy too palpably false to be long tolerated, but one which, in the brief period if has already endued, may be said to have acplished more in the corruption of our Poetical Literature than all its other enemies bined. I allude to the heresy of The Didactic. It has been assumed, tacitly and avowedly, directly and indirectly, that the ultimate object of all Poetry is Truth. Even poem, it is said, should inculcate a moral。對(duì)于詩歌的本質(zhì)問題，我只是很隨意的談?wù)劊业闹饕康氖橇信e一些我喜歡的或是我記得很清楚的短詩作為參考的內(nèi)容。 想都不用想，每首詩都有它的題目，只是因?yàn)樗芷鸬郊?lì)作用，可以提高人的自身修養(yǎng)。 毫無疑問，《失樂園》這本小說得到一些人的肯定和欣賞，然而另一些人對(duì)此做出強(qiáng)烈的反對(duì)，為此許多人想緩 和一點(diǎn)言辭激烈的持有反對(duì)觀點(diǎn)的評(píng)論宣言，可是覺得這做起來相當(dāng)困難。在我們看來，一首真正的詩，不可避免的會(huì)遵循舊的模式，在這種情況中，我們不必忍受預(yù)先的評(píng)論壓力去贊美一部作品。現(xiàn)代史詩是通過對(duì)舊體史詩的加以想象而發(fā)展而來的，但 實(shí)際上它只不過是對(duì)舊體史詩不加考慮地一味盲目模仿后的產(chǎn)物，這種文學(xué)病態(tài)會(huì)有消亡的那天。當(dāng)然，就詩歌篇幅這點(diǎn)而言，它是毫無意義的，但那些帶有諷刺意味的小冊(cè)子卻讓人頓生敬意。我們期待這樣一個(gè)時(shí)刻的到來，大家都一致認(rèn)為對(duì)于詩歌的肯定應(yīng)該取決于真正的上乘之作，及其產(chǎn)生的影響，而不是在作品所產(chǎn)生的影響中 “持之以恒的努力 ”是 必不可少的。太短的詩就會(huì)在遣詞造句方面過度斟酌，會(huì)導(dǎo)致警句過多的出現(xiàn)。下面是一首精美的小詩《小夜曲》（ Serenade） : I arise from dreams of thee In the first sweet of night When the winds are breathing low And the stars are shining bright I arise from dreams of thee And a spirit in my feet Hath led mewho knows how To thy chamberwindow sweet! The wandering airs, they faint On the dark, the silent stream The champak odors fail Like sweet thoughts in a dream。 下面是魏里斯（ Willis）寫的一首精美的小詩，在我看來，這是他寫得最好的一首詩了。 And all astir looked kind on her, And call?d her good and fair For all God ever gave to her She kept with chary care. She kept with care her beauties rare From lovers warm and true For her heart was cold to all but gold, And the rich came not to woo But honor ?d well are charms to sell, If priests the selling do. Now walking there was one more fair A slight girl, lilypale。 幾年后，史詩的熱潮逐漸淡去，史詩的時(shí)代已經(jīng)是過去式了 主張連篇累牘是詩歌必不可少的特點(diǎn) 這次文學(xué)熱潮的消失卻是一種很荒謬的方式 一種異端邪說取得了勝利，盡管它錯(cuò)誤百出到令人無法長期忍受，但是有一點(diǎn)很清楚的是，我們已經(jīng)隱忍了一段時(shí)間。據(jù)說每首詩都應(yīng)該達(dá)到教化人們道德品行的目的，這也是作為評(píng)論詩歌的一個(gè)依據(jù)。 對(duì)于真理人類懷著無比的崇敬之情，雖然如此，我還是會(huì)用一些措施來限制對(duì)道德品行教育的方式，但會(huì)盡量控制使用強(qiáng)制手段?？傊覀円M可能地抱著一種態(tài)度對(duì)待真理，這是一種與對(duì)待詩歌截然相反的態(tài)度。根據(jù)一點(diǎn)細(xì)微的差別，亞里士多德好不猶豫地將鑒賞力的某些方面歸于美德本身。 Edgar Allen Poe. The Poetic Principle [A]. Edited by Yao Naiqian . Selecting Reading For Western Classics in Literary Criticism [C]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2020: 398404. 。對(duì)于所提到的智慧，鑒賞力，道德觀，我們還可以理解為：良知使我們自己的履行義務(wù)，理智讓事情處理起來變得簡單，鑒賞力滿足于自身所展現(xiàn)的魅力。 根據(jù)精神世界的顯著差異，我們可以把它分為三個(gè)部分：智慧，鑒賞力，道德觀。真理需要的是嚴(yán)肅，莊重，她不會(huì)對(duì)香桃木有惻隱之心，在音樂中，一切都是不可或缺的，準(zhǔn)確的說，這一切就是音樂無論做什么都是徒勞，有的只是在珠寶和鮮花的簇?fù)硐拢瑢?duì)此夸夸其談。這個(gè)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，我們會(huì)牢牢記住的，它是我們寫詩的出發(fā)點(diǎn)，也肯定了我們的初衷 在詩歌的肅穆和力量中，完全的袒露自己的情感，但我們要注意地是只能由我們自己看穿自己。我曾經(jīng)暗示過 《說教》（ The Didactic）是一篇異端邪說。 For, as love?s wild prayer dissolved in air, Her woman?s heart gave way! But the sin forgive by Christ in Heaven By man is cursed always! 從這首詩來看，我們很難想象到詩人曾經(jīng)以社會(huì)現(xiàn)實(shí)為題材創(chuàng)作了很多作品。 The shadows lay along Broadway