The French and the Spanish Guerillas➀
Wordsworth
Hunger,and sultry heat,and nipping blast
From bleak hill-top,and length of march by night
Through heavy swamp,or over snow-clad height—
These hardships ill-sustained,these dangers past,
The roving Spanish Bands are reached at last,
Charged,and dispersed like foam: but as a flight
Of scattered quails by signs do reunite,
So these,—and,heard of once again,are chased
With combinations of long-practised art
And newly-kindled hope;but they are fled—
Gone are they,viewless as the buried dead:
Where now?—Their sword is at the Foeman’s heart➁!
And thus from year to year his walk they thwart,
And hang like dreams around his guilty bed.
➀1808年,为了反抗拿破仑法国的侵略和统治,西班牙人民举行大规模武装起义,后来发展成为全国性的游击战争,持续数年之久,直到1813年法军全部撤出西班牙。拿破仑后来承认:“倒霉的西班牙战争把我毁了。它是法国失败的第一个原因。”据华兹华斯自述,他当时对西班牙的抗法斗争怀着令人难以想象的深切同情,他曾多次在凌晨两点钟左右就离开格拉斯密的住处,到半路上去迎接来自凯西克镇的送报人,以期更早地读到报纸上有关西班牙战争的报道。大概正由于他熟读了大量这方面的报道,他才能在这首十四行诗里如此生动有效地描写出西班牙游击队来去无踪、神出鬼没的情景和震慑敌人的威力。
➁“大敌”和下面两行的“他”都指拿破仑。
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