作为世界上影响大、拥有读者和学者多的女诗人，狄金森牢固确立其在美国文学上的重大贡献。她被人们誉为公元前7世纪古希腊萨福以来西方杰出的女诗人。有人就驾驭英语的能力而言，甚至把她和莎士比亚相提并论。
赏读狄金森的诗歌，会被其近乎“婉约”的艺术气质所吸引。她的诗歌倾向于微观、内省，表现出对传统规范不驯的叛逆姿态。诗风坚持真实，“真与美是一体”。她爱过，她被爱过，她抱过希望，也尝品过爱的甜蜜和辛酸。她爱过，她被爱过，她抱过希望，也尝味过绝望。在其所写的1775首诗中，不乏“爱”、“爱与某人”、“所爱”和“爱人”的诗篇；她写爱的萌动，爱的燃烧，爱的消失，有甜而不腻的喜悦，炽烈而蕴藉的吐露，苦而不酸的沉痛，绵绵难绝的长恨。爱，是她诗歌题材的重心，写来清新、别致。
意切情深信达雅
——序《英诗经典名家名译》
上小学前，爷爷就教导我要爱劳动，爱念诗。“劳动”是让我拾粪、浇菜、割驴草……“诗”是学念他一生中读过的唯一“诗集”《三字经》中的“人之初，性本善”等。我还算听话，常下地帮着干零活，偶尔也念诗。上中学后喜出望外地得知，最早的诗歌便是俺乡下人干重活时有意无意发出的“哎哟、哎哟”之类的号子声。老师说，这是鲁迅先生发现的。后来糊里糊涂考进北大，便懵懵懂懂向冯至、李赋宁、闻家驷等老师学习一些欧洲国家的诗歌。
大约十二天前，我正准备出访东欧和中亚时，北大、北外、党校三重校友兼教育部副部长郝平指示我为外语教学与研究出版社即将付印的《英诗经典名家名译》写篇序言。基于上述背景，我竟不自量力，欣欣然应允，飞机起飞不久就边拜读边写体会了。
一看目录，我在万米高空立即激动不已。译者全是令我肃然起敬又感到亲切的名字。
冰心是我初中时代的“作家奶奶”，我工作后曾专门找借口去拜访她在福建的故居。袁可嘉半个世纪前应邀从南大到北大讲英国文学史，我是自己搬着凳子硬挤进去旁听的幸运学生之一。王佐良先生是我读研究生时教授英国诗歌的。同学们爱听他的课，他大段引用原文从不看讲稿，我们常觉得他的汉语译文会比原文更精彩……穆旦、屠岸、江枫、杨德豫等我未曾有幸当面请教，从他们的作品中却受益良多，感激恨晚。
前辈翻译家们追求“信、达、雅”。落实这“三字经”却并非易事。
第一，在丰富多彩、良莠不齐的英文诗林中，译者要有足够高的先进理念和真知灼见去发现和选择思想水平高的作品。国产千里马尚需伯乐去认同，意识形态领域里的诗就更需要了。看诗的高下、文野，境界和情感永远是最重要的因素。我国《诗经》历久不衰，首先因为里面有“硕鼠，硕鼠，无食我黍！”这样政治上合民心的诗句，有“关关雎鸠，在河之洲……”这样传递真情的佳句。这套诗集选了许多跨世纪思想性极强的好诗。如雪莱《普罗米修斯的解放》中的警句：“国王、教士与政客们摧毁了人类之花，当它还只是柔嫩的蓓蕾……”今天读起来仍发人深省。如莎士比亚在其第107 号十四行诗中将和平与橄榄树的葱郁有机相连，上承两千多年前中国先哲“和为贵”的真谛，下接联合国大会此时此刻的紧急议题。这样的诗自然有人爱，有人信。
第二，诗源于生活。诗作者和译者都最好与百姓血肉相连。马克思曾与诗友调侃：诗人也得吃饭，别奢望写诗写饿了上帝会把盛着面包的篮子从天堂递下来。这套诗选中有许多生活气息浓醇、情意真切的诗。如出身佃农的彭斯在18世纪法国大革命后写的政治讽刺诗：“我赞美主的威力无边！主将千万人丢在黑暗的深渊……”，“……阔人们日子过得真舒泰，穷人们活得比鬼还要坏！”，“……有的书从头到尾都是谎言，有的大谎还没有见于笔端。”写实和预言都相当准确。
第三，译文要忠实于原作，自身又要通畅、简洁、优美。这套诗集中，英文原作都是名符其实的经典。读诗最好读原文，但世界上大约有三千种语言，一个人会用来读诗的语言肯定少得可怜。为开阔视野、加强交流、增进友谊，读外国诗大多还得靠翻译。这套诗选中的译者都治学严谨，都酷爱祖国和外国优秀文化，译文是他们辛勤劳动的杰出成果。他们把拜伦的奔放、纪伯伦的靓丽、济慈的端庄、布莱克的纯真、华兹华斯的素净、叶芝的淡定、狄金森和弗罗斯特的质朴译得惟妙惟肖。读这样的译作，哲学上可受启迪，美学上可得滋润。这有益于读者的身心健康，能满足青年学生的好奇心和求知欲，也能为有关专家的进一步研讨提供方便。
不妨说，这套诗集中外皆宜，老少咸宜，会书中两种语文或其中一种的人皆宜。
李肇星
2011 年9 月14 日至25 日自乌兰巴托（意为“红色勇士”）上空经莫斯科、明斯克（“交易地”）、塔什干（“石头城”）飞阿拉木图（“苹果城”）途中。
Table of Contents
1 Awake ye muses nine...
2 Sic transit gloria mundi
3 On this wondrous sea
7 Summer for thee, grant I may be
9 If recollecting were forgetting
11 Nobody knows this little Rose
12 I had a guinea golden
32 The morns are meeker than they were
43 Through lane it lay — through bramble
53 If I should cease to bring a Rose
64 Heart! We will forget him!
106 Glowing is her Bonnet
112 Success is counted sweetest
113 The Bee is not afraid of me
116 Our share of night to bear
117 “Arcturus” is his other name
123 Besides the Autumn poets sing
128 Going to Heaven!
144 I never hear the word “escape”
147 A science — so the Savants say
148 Will there really be a “Morning”?
171 A fuzzy fellow, without feet
176 If I could bribe them by a Rose
181 A Wounded Deer — leaps highest
195 Victory comes late
204 I’ll tell you how the Sun rose
205 Come slowly — Eden!
207 I taste a liquor never brewed
209 I lost a World — the other day!
210 If I shouldn’t be alive
213 The Skies can’t keep their secret!
214 Poor little Heart!
215 I shall know why — when Time is over
221 He was weak, and I was strong — then
222 Dying! Dying in the night!
236 Some keep the Sabbath going to Church
241 What is — “Paradise”
253 I’ve nothing else — to bring, You know
258 I Came to buy a smile — today
260 I’m Nobody! Who are you?
265 It can’t be “Summer”!
268 Why — do they shut Me out of Heaven?
269 Wild Nights — Wild Nights!
270 I shall keep singing!
271 Over the fence
274 Again — his voice is at the door
277 Going to Him! Happy letter!
291 It sifts from Leaden Sieves
295 Savior! I’ve no one else to tell
303 Alone, I cannot be
305 What if I say I shall not wait!
314 “Hope” is the thing with feathers
315 To die — takes just a little while
320 There’s a certain Slant of light
322 Good Night! Which put the Candle out?
330 He put the Belt around my life
331 The only Ghost I ever saw
332 Doubt Me! My Dim Companion!
333 Many a phrase has the English language
344 ’Twas just this time, last year, I died
353 I’m ceded — I’ ve stopped being Theirs
356 If you were coming in the Fall
359 A Bird came down the Walk
365 I know that He exists
366 He strained my faith
368 I envy Seas, whereon He rides
381 I cannot dance upon my Toes
382 Good Morning — Midnight
383 I like to see it lap the Miles
387 The Moon is distant from the Sea
390 Do People moulder equally
391 Knows how to forget!
396 I took one Draught of Life
408 Like Some Old fashioned Miracle
409 The Soul selects her own Society
411 Mine — by the Right of the White Election!
412 She lay as if at play
425 ’Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch
426 I gave myself to Him
436 I found the words to every thought
437 I never felt at Home — Below
439 I had been hungry, all the Years
440 I Years had been from Home
446 This was a Poet — It is That
448 I died for Beauty — but was scarce
449 Dreams — are well — but Waking’s better
457 Nature — sometimes sears a Sapling
459 “Why do I love” You, Sir?
466 I dwell in Possibility
477 He fumbles at your Soul
479 Because I could not stop for Death
489 My Faith is larger than the Hills
494 The Wind didn’t come from the Orchard — today
495 The Day undressed — Herself
497 The Beggar Lad — dies early
519 This is my letter to the World
524 It feels a shame to be Alive
531 We learned the Whole of Love
533 I reckon — when I count at all
550 I measure every Grief I meet
555 A House upon the Height
558 A Visitor in Marl
559 Through the Dark Sod — as Education
562 ’Twas Love — not me
575 I’m saying every day
576 The difference between Despair
577 I went to Heaven
579 The Soul unto itself
583 You cannot put a Fire out
592 The Soul that hath a Guest
596 Ourselves were wed one summer — dear
598 The Brain — is wider than the Sky
599 We do not play on Graves
605 I am alive — I guess
613 The Day that I was crowned
615 God is a distant — stately Lover
620 Much Madness is divinest Sense
628 ’Tis customary as we part
642 There is a flower that Bees prefer
643 A Secret told
649 No Rack can torture me
652 That I did always love
660 I took my Power in my Hand
671 The Sweetest Heresy received
674 I could not prove the Years had feet
686 It makes no difference abroad
689 It was too late for Man
701 The Child’s faith is new
1320 Dear March — Come in
1349 Not with a Club, the Heart is broken
1355 His Mansion in the Pool
1593 He ate and drank the precious Words
1779 To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee
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