第一章 英語語言文體演變史簡述

在英國文學史上，直至13世紀，詩歌在各類文學體裁中一直占領著絕對的統治地位，英語散文和小說的發展則要緩慢得多。按照語言學家瓦利斯（G. H. Vallins）的觀點，最早的英語散文出現在9至10世紀，主要為阿爾弗雷德大帝及其身邊的學者對一些拉丁作品的翻譯，以對國民進行教化、啟蒙之用。而阿爾弗雷德大帝時期所使用的句式則被語言學家稱為阿爾弗雷德句式或本土句式。瓦利斯和古爾德在各自的作品中談及此句式時，都稱其主要特點為：“句式長短適當，結構較為緊湊。”下面的段落摘自阿爾弗雷德名為《奧索爾的旅程》（“The Voyage of Othere”）的現代英文譯文：

He was a very rich man in the possessions in which their wealth consists, that is in deer. He had, when he came to the king, six hundred tame deer unsold. These deer are called reindeer; of these six were decoy-deer;these are very precious among the Finns, because they catch the wild deer with them. He was one of the chief man in the land, though he had not more than twenty cattle, twenty sheep and twenty swine; and the little that he ploughed he ploughed with horses. But their wealth lies chiefly in the tribute which the Finns pay them. That tribute consists of deer skins, birds' feathers, walrus bone, and of the ships ropes which are made of walrus hide or of seal.

從上可以看出阿爾弗雷德時代所用的句式相當平實，句子結構簡單但并不松散，甚至在引文的第二句還出現了倒裝句“of these six were decoy-deer”，使句子結構更為緊湊。下一段引文來自阿爾弗雷德給自己的譯作《牧師的關懷》（Cura Pastoralis）寫的序，它更明顯地體現了阿爾弗雷德句式的緊湊感。原文為古英語：

Da ic ta germunde hu sio lar L?ndenge eeodes?r eysum o efeallen was geond Angelcynn ond eeah monege cueon Englic gewrit ar?dan, ta ongan ic, ongemang oerum mislicum ond monligfaldum bisgum eisses Kynerices, ta boc wendan in Englic ta is genemned on L?nden Pastoralis ond on Englisc Hirdeboc, hwilum word dy worde, hwilum andgit of andgite, sw?sw?ic hie geleornode ?t Piegmunde minum ?rcebiscepe ond ?t Assere minum biscepe ond? t Grimbolde minum m ? ssepreoste ond ? t Johanne minum m ? sse preoste.

其現代英語譯文為：

When I remembered how the learning of Latin had declined throughout England and yet many man could read English writing, I began, among the various and manifold duties of this realm, to render into English the book which is called in Latin Pastoralis and in English (Shep)herd-book,sometimes word for word,sometimes sense for sense, just as I learnt it from Plegmund my archbishop and from Asser my bishop and from Grimbold my mass-priest and from John my mass priest.

對照譯文看原文，原句的結構有驚人的現代感。兩個狀語從句[一個表時間（When...），另一個表方式（just as I learnt it from...）]緊緊地依附著主句（I began...）；而在主句中又有一個形容詞從句（which...）緊跟在名詞“book”之后對其進行修飾。從句與從句之間、從句與主句之間的邏輯關系很強，整個句子顯得十分緊湊。

隨著13世紀，即中古英語時期的到來，英語散文的寫作逐漸成為一種風氣，題材也變得多樣化。有說事的散文、牧師的布道、議論文、日記、書信、旅行雜記等，敘事小說也開始出現。同時，在13至15世紀之間，兩種新的句式——威廉·卡克斯頓（William Caxton）引進的法語鏈條句（trailing sentence）和瑞津諾爾德·皮科克（Reginald Peacock）引入的拉丁圓周句進入英語語言。在隨后的時間里，法語鏈條句和拉丁圓周句在與本土的阿爾弗雷德句式的磨合過程中不斷去掉使自身顯得笨重而別扭的法語與拉丁成分，先后成功地融入了英語語言，豐富了英語句式，促進了英語散文和小說的發展。

16世紀，也就是現代英語的早期，一貫樸實無華的英語迎來了她的第一次升華。在約翰·利利（John Lyly）筆下，英語開始變得辭藻華麗，甚至有些矯飾。利利在其著述中大量使用排比、對偶、對照、反問等修辭手法，使其作品變成了華麗的美文。下面兩段引自利利的小說——《尤弗伊斯：才智之剖析》（Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit）：

Wouldest thou have me inconstant to my old friend, and faithful to a new? Knowest thou not that almond tree beareth more fruit when he is old, so love has greatest faith when it growth in age. It falleth out in love as it does in vines, for the young vines bring the most wine, but the old the best: So tender love maketh great show of blossoms, but tried love bringeth forth sweetest juice.... But wert thou in comeliness Alexander, and my Thirus, Thersites, wert thou Ulysses, he Midas, thou Cresus, he Codus, I would not forsake him to have thee: no not if I might thereby prolong thy life, or save mine own, so fast a root hath true love taken in my heart, that the more it is digged at the deeper it growth, the oftener it is cut the less it bleedeth, and the more it is loaden the better it beareth...

這是尤弗伊斯寫給一位女子的信。這名女子是他朋友的未婚妻，但他卻喜歡上了她，并想方設法要占為己有，所以這絕不是一封平淡的信。文中使用了各種新奇的比喻和對仗，文字很優美，也顯示了尤弗伊斯的深情。因為他年齡較大，為了證明自己對對方的愛情，他用反問的形式告訴對方：當樹變老了，它的果子卻結得更多；當人變老了，他對愛情會更忠貞；新的葡萄可以榨出更多的果汁，但成熟的葡萄釀的酒更甜；年輕時的愛情可能感情更豐富，但經過考驗的愛情卻更甜蜜；等等。

下面這段文字也使用了多種修辭手法：

The foule toad has a faire stone in his head: the fine golde is found in the filthy earth: the sweet kernell lyeth in the hard shell: vertue is harboured in the heart of him that most men esteeme mishapen. Contrariwise, if we respect more the outward shape, than the inward habite, good God into how many mischifes does we fall? Into what blindness are we led? Doe we not commonly see that in painted pots is hidden the deadest poyson? That in the greenest grasse is the greatest Serpert? In the clearest water, the uglyest Toad? Does not experience teach us, that in the most cuious Sepulcher are inclosed rotten bones? That the Cypres tree beareth a fayre leafe, but no fruite? That the Estridge caryeth fayre feathers, but rank flesh?

比喻、對比、排比，再加上一連串的反問，就是為說明一個“金玉其外，敗絮其中”的道理。按照語言學家的觀點，利利把古羅馬雄辯的昆體良文風搬進了英語。這樣，利利掀起了對英語語言的改革之風。從此，英語語言開始從只注重表達“what”逐漸轉變到越來越注重“how”。

在以約翰·彌爾頓為代表的作家對圓周句的成功使用之后，英語語言見證了培根筆下簡潔、清楚，同時擁有大量的排比等修辭手法的句式。最終，在17世紀，即現代英語的發軔階段，在約翰·德萊登（John Dryden）的筆下，英語句式迎來了它的成熟期（或第二次升華）。在阿爾弗雷德句式的基礎上，德萊登適當吸收了鏈條句、圓周句、平衡句等句式，形成了有史以來最好的英語表達方式，被語言學家稱為“中產階層文風”。德萊登的英語既不華麗，也不粗俗。他的句式優雅易懂，行文優美流暢，句式長短得當，語氣親切，表達有力。柯勒律治（S. T. Coleridge）稱德萊登開啟了英語語言的第二個偉大時期。多數語言學家認為德萊登在華而不實的上層語言與粗俗的下層語言之間找到了一個平衡點，形成了現代英語的句式模式。德萊登的成就之一就是他的文學評論。下面是德萊登對喬叟及其作品的評價，選自其《古今故事詩集前言》（The Preface to the Fables）。讀者可從中窺視德萊登的文風：

As Chaucer is the father of English poetry, so I hold him in the same degree of Veneration as the Grecians held Homer, or the Romans Virgil: he is a perputual fountain of good sense; learned in all the science; and therefore speaks properly on all subjects;as he knew what to say, so he knows also when to leave off; a continence which is practiced by few writers, and scarcely by any of the ancients, excepting Virgil and Horace....

He must have been a man of most wonderful comprehensive nature, because, as it has been truly observed of him, he has taken into the compass of his Canterbury Tales the various manners and humours (as we now call them) of the whole English nation, in his age. Not a single character has escaped him. All his pilgrims are severally distinguished from each other;and not only in their inclinations, but in their very physiognomies and persons. Baptista Porta could not have described their natures better, than by the marks which the poet gives them. The matter and manner of their tales and of their telling are so suited to their different educations, humours and callings, that each of them would be improper in any other mouth. Even the grave and serious characters are distinguished by their several sorts of gravity: their discourses are such as are becoming of them, and of them only. Some of his persons are vicious, and some virtuous; some are unlearn'd, or lewd, and some are learn'd. Even the ribaldry of the low characters is different: the Reeve, the Miller, and the Cook, are several men, and distinguished from each other as much as the mincing Lady-Prioress and the broad-speaking, gap-toothed wife of Bath. ... 'Tis sufficient to say according to the proverb that here is God's plenty.

在所選的這部分序言里，德萊登用夾敘夾議的方法把喬叟的時代與生平和他本人對這位詩人的評價融合成娓娓動聽的散文，表達其對喬叟熱情的欣賞，同時也對喬叟做了一番分析。他認為，喬叟是英國詩歌之父，是流不盡的理性的源泉，而且喬叟博學慎思，論事得體而又能適可而止，實古今罕有，希臘、羅馬文苑中僅維吉爾與賀拉斯可與其相比。同時德萊登認為，喬叟的《坎特伯雷故事集》內的各色人物，無論智、賢、愚還是不肖，都是刻畫入微，恰如其分，為當時英國社會各階層人物最典型的藝術形象，因此喬叟這部現實主義巨作真不愧為文學瑰寶。

從上，讀者可以感覺到德萊登的句式不像古英語那么過于樸實，也不像卡克斯頓筆下的鏈條句那樣散漫無形，但也沒有圓周句的晦澀難懂，去掉了其同時代大家培根常用的巴洛克風格的雕琢與矯飾。德萊登的句式自然、流暢，語言優雅，潤飾得當，得到了普遍的認可。在上面的序言里，他“沒有用駢對的結構和修飾的贊語。字字隨意寫出，各適其分，因之風格便顯得平易自然。此外，這段文章還具有德萊登所重視的‘散文所特有的和諧’（the other harmony of prose）”。他甚至開啟了一個德萊頓時代。

隨著英語語言的成熟，英語小說開始蓬勃發展起來。