「The Utmost that We Know 」 : The Sublime in 「The London Beggar 」

Abstract

《倫敦盲丐》(“The London Beggar”)乃是華滋華斯一八○五年版《序曲》(ThePrelude)中的一段插曲，描寫詩人敘述者倏忽目擊一介盲丐，胸前有一張介紹自我的標籤，因而獲得憬悟。對長期試圖解開人類之謎的敏銳敘述者而言，這幅景象強有力地訴說了人類的苦難以及溝通的限制。正如華滋華斯許多詩作一樣，本詩富於吊詭；雖然極度無情地呈現人類生存之無意義，卻並不意味人類努力之徒然。標籤裡的「故事」多少可以用來解開乞丐的謎；如此肯定了文字的價值，對詩人敘述者頗有助益。超越的想像力展現了觀察和創造的力量。再者，與乞丐邂逅所帶來的曖昧啟示使得這次經驗，無論從柏克(Edmund Burke)或華滋華斯的理論來說，都可謂「驚愕」(sublime)時刻。這段插曲能夠強烈震撼敘述者，正是由於此種曖昧以及隨之而來的驚愕效果。 \"The London Beggar\" episode in the 1805 edition of Wordsworth`s The Prelude describes the poet-narrator`s spot of time at the shocking sight of the pauper with a label on his chest to tell his story. To the sensitive narrator who has all along been seeking to untangle the mystery of man, this image speaks powerfully about human suffering and the possibility of communication. Like much of Wordsworth`s poetry, the episode is intensely paradoxical. Although it shows in a most relentless way the insignificance of human existence, it by no means suggests the futility of human efforts. The very fact that the label contains a \"story\" of the Beggar whereby we can unravel－to a certain extent－ his mystery means a great deal to the narrator. The transcendent imagination has manifested its power to perceive and to create. Furthermore, the ambiguous revelation that this encounter with the Beggar brings to the narrator makes the experience a sublime moment for him in both the Burkean and the Wordsworthian senses of the term. And it is on this ambiguity and its attendant effect of the sublime that the episode draws for its shocking impact on the narrator.