走进剑桥大学 第30期:美国艾诗人

 Sylvia Plath

美国艾诗人

Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, children's author, and short story author. Known primarily for her poetry, Plath also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, under the pseudonym¹ Victoria Lucas. Plath, along with Anne Sexton, was credited with advancing the genre³ of confessional poetry.

西尔维亚普拉斯，美国诗人、小说家、儿童作家与短篇故事作家。除了较为著名的诗作外，普拉斯也以笔名维多利亚卢卡斯创作了半自传小说《瓶中美人》(又译《钟形罩》)。同安塞克斯顿一样，普拉斯被公认是自白诗的重要推动者之一。

She was born in Massachusetts to Aurelia Schober Plath, a first-generation American of Austrian descent, and Otto Emile Plath, an immigrant from Germany. At age eight, Plath published her first poem in the Boston Herald's children's section.

普拉斯生于美国马萨诸塞州波士顿市，父亲是德国人，母亲是德裔美籍奥地利人。 她很早就展露天赋，8岁时在《波士顿先驱报》的儿童版上发表了第一首诗。

Plath has suffered from Depression for several times in her lifetime. In 1950，she attended Smith College. After her third year of college Plath made her first medically documented suicide attempt. She wrote about that in The Bell Jar.After her suicide attempt, Plath was briefly⁴ committed to a mental institution where she received electroconvulsive therapy. Plath seemed to make an acceptable recovery and graduated from Smith with honors in June 1955. In the same year, she won the prominent Glascock Prize with Two Lovers and a Beachcomber by the Real Sea.She obtained a Fulbright scholarship to Newnham College，Cambridge where she continued actively⁵ writing poetry, occasionally publishing her work in the student newspaper Varsity. Then she met the later English Poet Laureate Ted² Hughes. After a tempestuous⁶ courtship, they were married on June 16，1956.

普拉斯一生经历了多次发作的严重抑郁症。她1950年进入史密斯学院就读。大三课程结束后不久,她第一次（医学上有记录的）尝试自杀。后来她在小说《瓶中美人》 描述了此事。自杀未遂后，普拉斯被送进神病院并接受电休克治疗。她似乎恢复得不错，并于1955年以优异成绩从史密斯学院毕业。同年，她的诗《真实海滨的两个 情人和一个游荡者》获得名望极高的Glascock Prize诗人奖。普拉斯贏得富布赖特奖学金到剑桥大学深造。她继续写诗，偶尔在学生报刊上发表作品。在剑桥，她认识了后来成为英国桂冠诗人的泰德休斯经过短暂的相处后，两人于1956年结为连理。

Plath and Hughes spent from July 1957 to December 1959 living and working in the United States. The couple then moved to Boston. Upon learning Plath was pregnant the couple moved back to the United Kingdom. In 1960 Plath published her first collection of poetry, The Colossus. Plath's marriage to Hughes was fraught⁷ with difficulties, particularly surrounding his affair with Assia Wevill. Plath’s mental problem became more severe since then. Finally, the couple separated in late 1962.

1957至1959年，普拉斯和休斯在美国居住及工作，然后迁居到波士顿。1960年，因为普拉斯的怀孕，他们搬回英国。同年，普拉斯出版了她的第一本诗集《巨人》。普拉斯和休斯的婚姻因为休斯和同事的妻子阿西亚发生婚外情而愈加困难重重，普拉斯的精神疾病也因为休斯的婚外情而加重。终于，1962年底他们分手了。

She returned to London with their children and rented a house where W. B. Yeats once lived. However, in February, 1963, Plath took her own life. She placed her head in the oven while the gas was turned on. She was then only 30 years old.

普拉斯带孩子们回到伦敦，住在诗人叶慈曾经住 过的房子里。但是，1963年2月，她却在厨房里开煤气自尽，年仅30岁。

Plath's gravestone in Heptonstall churchyard bears the inscription⁸ “Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted.”

普拉斯被葬在西约克郡，墓碑上写着：“即使在激烈燃烧的火焰中，我们仍能种下金色的莲花。”

Two years after her death, Ariel，a collection of some her last poems was published, that was followed by Crossing the Water and Winter Trees in 1971 and in 1981 The Collected Poems was published, edited by none other than Ted Hughes.

她死后两年,最后的诗作被整理成诗集《爱丽尔》出版,之后《渡湖》和《冬天的树》也分别在1971和1981年出版了。这些诗集都是由休斯编辑和整理的。

In 1982 Plath became the first poet to win a Pulitzer Prize posthumously⁹ for The Collected Poems.

1982年，普拉斯以遗作《诗集》成为在死后获得获普利策奖的第一个作家。

1 pseudonym   

n.假名，笔名

参考例句：

• Eric Blair wrote under the pseudonym of George Orwell.埃里克·布莱尔用乔治·奧威尔这个笔名写作。
• Both plays were published under the pseudonym of Philip Dayre.两个剧本都是以菲利普·戴尔的笔名出版的。

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

4 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

5 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

6 tempestuous   

adj.狂暴的

参考例句：

• She burst into a tempestuous fit of anger.她勃然大怒。
• Dark and tempestuous was night.夜色深沉，狂风肆虐，暴雨倾盆。

7 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

8 inscription   

n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文

参考例句：

• The inscription has worn away and can no longer be read.铭文已磨损，无法辨认了。
• He chiselled an inscription on the marble.他在大理石上刻碑文。

9 posthumously   

adv.于死后，于身后；于著作者死后出版地

参考例句：

• He was confirmed posthumously as a member of the Chinese Communist Party. 他被追认为中国共产党党员。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her last book was published posthumously in 1948. 她最后的一本书在她死后于1948 年出版了。 来自《简明英汉词典》