談情說畫：論史雲朋「鏡前」詩中的 聯覺美學
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2018-03-??
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國立臺灣師範大學
National Taiwan Normal University
National Taiwan Normal University
Abstract
這篇論文旨在探討詩人史雲朋如何在他的讀畫詩中，融合文字與視覺藝術；主要探討史雲朋的作品「鏡前」，那是他為惠斯勒的畫「白衣小女孩」（後來更名為「二號白色交響曲」）所撰寫的讀畫詩，並分析詩中的視覺呈現。雖然此作品為讀畫詩，主要內容卻以抒情詩歌的視角呈現，與畫作的內容不盡相同。從檢視史雲朋如何透過撰寫讀畫詩來發展他的美學素養，筆者發現史雲朋的讀畫詩作呈現出一個非常特殊的詩歌意象，此意象特別與「維多利亞」或「美學」詩歌有關，顯示出女性自戀和充滿激情痛苦的重要主題。雖然史雲朋關於藝術寫作的主題最主要是呈現女性身體的概念，但也正是他特殊的觀點─陰性力量的展現為詩歌的主要呈現內容─使他的詩作獨特非凡。無論「鏡前」是否強化了女性肉體美或女性力量，史雲朋將美學繪畫與充滿熱情的詩歌聯繫在一起，讓文字裝載著觀看者對影像的情感反應。史雲朋的詩歌讓我們回到了詩歌的起源：熱情的概念，也讓我們瞭解「影響」的議題，因為他允許並希望他的作品受到其他藝術的影響。史雲朋熱情地參與了視覺與言語文字之間的關係，試圖通過詩歌來呈現文字的力量。使語言體現和解釋視覺影像，不是透過置換，而是透過其他媒介的影響、吸收與轉化，這可能是一個不可能的任務，但這也是使史雲朋的詩歌富有能量與價值的原因。
In this paper, I consider how Swinburne brings together the visual and verbal realms in his ekphrasis by focusing on his “Before the Mirror,” the poem inspired by Whistler’s The Little White Girl (later titled Symphony in White, No. 2); this poem combines the visionary realm of lyric poetry with the visual realm of art. I examine how Swinburne develops his aesthetic personality through his ekphrasis and argue that his ekphrastic writing shows a specifi c poetic vision, specifi cally related to “Victorian” or aesthetic poetry, denoting themes of female narcissism and passionate suffering. Although the concept most associated with Swinburne’s writing on art is that of the female body, his idiosyncratic representation of feminine power, portrayed through his lyrical patterns, makes his work extraordinary. Regardless of whether “Before the Mirror” reinforces female physical beauty or female power, Swinburne’s linking of aesthetic painting to passionate verse engenders a feeling of “words” as a means of containing strong emotions we associate with responses to “images.” The poem takes us back to where poetry starts—the idea of passion—and to the question of “infl uence,” as Swinburne allows and desires his writing to be affected by other arts. Passionately engaged with the relationship between the visual and verbal, Swinburne wrote with the intention of presenting the power of words through poetry. The effort to make language embody and interpret the visual by assimilating, not displacing, its effects may be impossible, but it gives Swinburne’s poetry much of its energy and value.
In this paper, I consider how Swinburne brings together the visual and verbal realms in his ekphrasis by focusing on his “Before the Mirror,” the poem inspired by Whistler’s The Little White Girl (later titled Symphony in White, No. 2); this poem combines the visionary realm of lyric poetry with the visual realm of art. I examine how Swinburne develops his aesthetic personality through his ekphrasis and argue that his ekphrastic writing shows a specifi c poetic vision, specifi cally related to “Victorian” or aesthetic poetry, denoting themes of female narcissism and passionate suffering. Although the concept most associated with Swinburne’s writing on art is that of the female body, his idiosyncratic representation of feminine power, portrayed through his lyrical patterns, makes his work extraordinary. Regardless of whether “Before the Mirror” reinforces female physical beauty or female power, Swinburne’s linking of aesthetic painting to passionate verse engenders a feeling of “words” as a means of containing strong emotions we associate with responses to “images.” The poem takes us back to where poetry starts—the idea of passion—and to the question of “infl uence,” as Swinburne allows and desires his writing to be affected by other arts. Passionately engaged with the relationship between the visual and verbal, Swinburne wrote with the intention of presenting the power of words through poetry. The effort to make language embody and interpret the visual by assimilating, not displacing, its effects may be impossible, but it gives Swinburne’s poetry much of its energy and value.