登陆注册
4912500000026

第26章

When we remember Burns's obligations to his predecessors, we must never forget his immense advances on them. They had already "discovered" nature; but Burns discovered poetry - a higher and more intense way of thinking of the things that go to make up nature, a higher and more ideal key of words in which to speak of them. Ramsay and Fergusson excelled at making a popular - or shall we say vulgar? - sort of society verses, comical and prosaic, written, you would say, in taverns while a supper party waited for its laureate's word; but on the appearance of Burns, this coarse and laughing literature was touched to finer issues, and learned gravity of thought and natural pathos.

What he had gained from his predecessors was a direct, speaking style, and to walk on his own feet instead of on academical stilts. There was never a man of letters with more absolute command of his means; and we may say of him, without excess, that his style was his slave. Hence that energy of epithet, so concise and telling, that a foreigner is tempted to explain it by some special richness or aptitude in the dialect he wrote. Hence that Homeric justice and completeness of description which gives us the very physiognomy of nature, in body and detail, as nature is.

Hence, too, the unbroken literary quality of his best pieces, which keeps him from any slip into the weariful trade of word-painting, and presents everything, as everything should be presented by the art of words, in a clear, continuous medium of thought. Principal Shairp, for instance, gives us a paraphrase of one tough verse of the original; and for those who know the Greek poets only by paraphrase, this has the very quality they are accustomed to look for and admire in Greek. The contemporaries of Burns were surprised that he should visit so many celebrated mountains and waterfalls, and not seize the opportunity to make a poem. Indeed, it is not for those who have a true command of the art of words, but for peddling, professional amateurs, that these pointed occasions are most useful and inspiring. As those who speak French imperfectly are glad to dwell on any topic they may have talked upon or heard others talk upon before, because they know appropriate words for it in French, so the dabbler in verse rejoices to behold a waterfall, because he has learned the sentiment and knows appropriate words for it in poetry. But the dialect of Burns was fitted to deal with any subject; and whether it was a stormy night, a shepherd's collie, a sheep struggling in the snow, the conduct of cowardly soldiers in the field, the gait and cogitations of a drunken man, or only a village cockcrow in the morning, he could find language to give it freshness, body, and relief.

He was always ready to borrow the hint of a design, as though he had a difficulty in commencing - a difficulty, let us say, in choosing a subject out of a world which seemed all equally living and significant to him; but once he had the subject chosen, he could cope with nature single-handed, and make every stroke a triumph. Again, his absolute mastery in his art enabled him to express each and all of his different humours, and to pass smoothly and congruously from one to another. Many men invent a dialect for only one side of their nature - perhaps their pathos or their humour, or the delicacy of their senses - and, for lack of a medium, leave all the others unexpressed. You meet such an one, and find him in conversation full of thought, feeling, and experience, which he has lacked the art to employ in his writings. But Burns was not thus hampered in the practice of the literary art; he could throw the whole weight of his nature into his work, and impregnate it from end to end. If Doctor Johnson, that stilted and accomplished stylist, had lacked the sacred Boswell, what should we have known of him? and how should we have delighted in his acquaintance as we do? Those who spoke with Burns tell us how much we have lost who did not. But I think they exaggerate their privilege: I think we have the whole Burns in our possession set forth in his consummate verses.

同类推荐
  • 点心单

    点心单

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大方等如来藏经

    大方等如来藏经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 明伦汇编人事典十五岁部

    明伦汇编人事典十五岁部

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 九转灵砂大丹资圣玄经

    九转灵砂大丹资圣玄经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 言行龟鉴

    言行龟鉴

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 炸药大王:诺贝尔(创造历史的风云人物)

    炸药大王:诺贝尔(创造历史的风云人物)

    名人创造了历史,名人改写了历史,那些走在时代最前列、深深影响和推动了历史进程的名人永远会被广大人民所拥戴、所尊重、所铭记。古往今来,有多少中外名人不断地涌现在人们的目光里,这些出类拔萃、彪炳千古、流芳百世的名人中,有家国天下的政治家,有叱咤风云的军事家,有超乎凡人的思想家,有妙笔生花的文学家,有造福人类的科学家,有想象非凡的艺术家……他们永远不会被人们忘记!
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 那年夏天梦里都是你

    那年夏天梦里都是你

    面对苏铭渊的穷追不舍,乔月把无名指上的三克拉鸽子蛋往他面前一摆,略感遗憾地说“苏先生很抱歉,我已经结婚了。”
  • 百发百中攻心术

    百发百中攻心术

    所谓攻心,就是利用心理战术来不战而胜。攻心的目的是驾驭人的思想,从思想上使其畏惧,甚至使其诚服,而非利用职权或是武力使其屈服。攻心的关键是根据不同对手的心理对症下药,从而达到你所想要的效果。攻心成功否,效果如何,只看你会下哪种“药”,下“药”的量有多少,“药”性有多大。
  • 跟着乌龟去修仙

    跟着乌龟去修仙

    李侠被龟丞相咬了一口,与众不同的修仙之路就在这小小的农村开始展开。
  • 所念人,所感事

    所念人,所感事

    我们真的要过很久很久,才能够明白,自己真正怀念的,到底是怎样的人,怎样的事。有时候,以为爱情可以填满人生的遗憾。然而,制造更多遗憾的却偏偏是爱情。有时候,回头看看身边的人和事儿,方能彻底理解生活,方能在旅途中长大。一个城市,几个男女,几段爱情故事,落幕!
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 逆风的方向更适合飞翔

    逆风的方向更适合飞翔

    碰到一点压力就把自己整成不堪重负的样子,碰到一点不确定就把前途描摹成黯淡无光的样子,碰到一点不开心就把它搞得似乎是自己这辈子最黑暗的时候……这些不过是为了放弃而找的借口。逆风起降的飞机比顺风起降的飞机更安全。痛过的青春比一帆风顺的青春更深刻。每段经历,都是一份礼物。在逆风的方向里,才会飞出倔强的辉煌。
  • 仙魔同修

    仙魔同修

    仙界天仙李峰,争夺太极图,被轰杀至渣。残魂转世魔法世家受人欺凌的废材身上,一飞冲天。左手仙术,右手魔法,仙魔同修!踩天才,斗教会,猎龙族,横扫异界诸神。魔法世界,唯我独尊!