致简(To Jane) 作者:雪莱(英国)

Percy Bysshe Shelly was one of the greatest of the English romantic poets, writing in the first part of the 19th century. His wife, Mary Shelley, was the author of Frankenstein, which Shelley encouraged her to write when they were traveling in northern Italy. Shelley's poetry was of two different kinds. He wrote a gentle, charming romantic poems such as the one below. But he also wrote brilliant, angry, highly political poems that criticised the government of the time. Very few people were interested in Shelley's poetry while he was alive, and he and his wife spent many years traveling in Italy. Sherley was almost 30 when he drowned while sailing in northern Italy. This poem was written about a family friend called Jane who sang and played the guitar beautifully.

To Jane: the Keen Stars Were Twinkling
(Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1822)

The keen stars were twinkling,
And the fair moon was rising among them,
Dear Jane!
The guitar was tinkling,
But the notes were not sweet till you sung them
Again.

As the moon's soft and splendour
O'er the faint cold starlight of heaven
Is thrown.
So your voice most tender
To the strings without soul had then given
Its own.

The stars will awaken,
Though the moon sleep a full hour later
Tonight.
No leaf will be shaken
Whilst the use of your melody scatter
Delight.

Though the sound of overpowers,
Sing again, with your voice revealing
A tone
Of some world far from ours,
Where music and moonlight and feeling
Are one
——选自高中英语实验教材选修10
外语教学与研究出版社

朗读：高贵成