The Chimney Sweeper. William Blake (1784)

The Chimney Sweeper
William Blake (1784)

When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry ‘ 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!’
So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.

There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head,
That curl'd like a lamb’s back, was shav'd: so I said
‘Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head’s bare
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.’

And so he was quiet, and that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight!—
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack,
Were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black.

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he open'd the coffins & set them all free;
Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run
And wash in a river, and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind;
And the Angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy,
He’d have God for his father, & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark,
And got with our bags & our brushes to work.
Tho' the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;
So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

蔡君總算在加國安頓好. 出乎意料之外的是, 英國文學竟然是必修科, 內容涵括 Romantic period, Victorian period 和 Modern period. William Blake 的 The Chimney Sweeper, 算是教授給他的見面禮. 他晴天霹靂的同時, 亦慶幸千里之外有我這個臭皮匠仗義相助.

十八世紀後期的 Romantic 至二十世紀初期的 Victorian literature 為我最喜歡的時期. 那是詩歌蓬勃的年代, 是小說掘起的年代, 是女性主義萌芽的年代; 有 Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Wordsworth, Byron, Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens... 心裡興高采烈想著想著, 一邊羨慕, 一邊希望他也會有興趣, 來日可以一起研究討論.

文學文學, 不過是人文的學問, 說的不外乎人皆有之的情感與體悟. 所謂唸文學不過為一個思考的過程, 不在於能把幾多文學理論倒背如流, 如是者也不過拾人牙慧. 唸文學的人也許沉著安靜, 他們不是書呆子, 不過喜歡用說話的時間來思考而已. 人的價值觀變了, 才讓文學變得曲高和寡.