作詩一首為紅顏
愛倫．坡筆下的海倫完美嗎？
作者：吳哲硯
To Helen / by Edgar Allan Poe
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicéan barks of yore,
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,
The weary, way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.
On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece,
And the grandeur that was Rome.
Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand,
The agate lamp within thy hand!
Ah, Psyche, from the regions which
Are Holy-Land!
艾德格．愛倫．坡（Edgar Allan Poe，1809 ～1849）是美國浪漫文學時期的黑暗派代表，其作品多帶有陰鬱色彩，往往挖掘人類心理的幽微深處。他是哥德式恐怖小說的宗師，更是推理小說的鼻祖，史上第一本推理小說《莫爾格街兇殺案》便是自他筆端分娩，橫空出世。更絕的是，由他所創發的推理這項新文類，一問世便破了格，以兇手身分不合常規方式侃侃而言，這史上第一本推理小說即屬於變格類的推理小說。
本文選自《生活潮藝文誌》第三期，值得對電影、藝文有興趣的年輕人關注，各大網路書店現正販售中。