Contest Gives Poetry a Nudge in Ireland
以比賽喚醒愛爾蘭詩魂
By Douglas Dalby

DUBLIN – Since the days of the bards, when poets served as aides-de-camp to medieval chieftains here, Ireland has built a reputation as a birthing ground for legend and verse.
打從詩人多擔任中世紀族長副手的吟遊詩人年代起，愛爾蘭即以傳奇和詩歌的誕生地聞名。

“Bards were the Mad Men of their day – they were the Madison Avenue spin doctors and makers of political fables for their leaders,” said Declan Kiberd, a professor of Irish studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
印第安那州聖母大學愛爾蘭研究教授迪可蘭．凱柏說：「吟遊詩人是那個時代的狂人，麥迪遜大道上的助選員，也是為主子編造政治神話的人。」

Like the church and the farm, though, poetry holds a lesser place in Irish society today, despite the legacy of Yeats and a love for Seamus Heaney, the Nobel laureate whose 2013 funeral was broadcast live on Irish television. So, to rekindle interest, RTE, the national broadcaster, run a contest to find Ireland’s best-loved poem written in the past 100 years.
不過。縱有知名詩人葉慈和備受敬愛的諾貝爾獎得主謝默斯．希尼，2013年他的葬禮還曾電視轉播，詩卻一如教會和農場，在現今愛爾蘭社會已退居次要地位。為了重燃對詩的興趣，國營電視台RTE舉辦了一項比賽，要找出100年來愛爾蘭最受喜愛的詩。

The winner was announced by the president of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins: “When all the others were away at Mass” by Heaney, relating a quiet moment when he and she peeled potatoes:
得獎詩作由愛爾蘭總統希金斯宣布，是希尼的「別人全去做彌撒時」，描述他和母親削馬鈴薯皮的寧靜片刻。

I remembered her head bent towards my head,
我記得她的頭朝我彎過來，

Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives –
她的呼吸融入我的，以及我們手中流暢滑動的刀子，

Never closer the whole rest of our lives.
那是我們一生中最親密的時光。

To the organizers of the contest, declaring a winner was not as important as creating a national conversation about poetry. RTE received 445 nominations from the public and enlisted a jury to cull a shortlist of 10 for the vote.
對主辦單位而言，宣布得獎作品沒有掀起關於詩的全國性討論重要。RTE收到大眾提名的445首詩作，並設立評審團選出開放投票的10首。

“The jury’s brief was to choose those poems that told a story of Ireland over the past century,” said Sarah Ryder, executive producer of arts at the network.
電視台的藝術執行製作人莎拉．萊德說：「評審團的任務是，選出訴說愛爾蘭過去一個世紀故事的詩作。」

In Bellaghy, near Heaney’s birthplace, a visitors center is being built to honor the poet. “We suffered a chasmic blow” when Heaney died, said Peter Fallon, the founder of Gallery Press, the foremost Irish poetry publishing house, “but people are writing extraordinary poems, and I have faith in the art form.”
在鄰近希尼家鄉的貝拉希村，紀念他的遊客中心正在建造。愛爾蘭首屈一指的詩集出版社Gallery Press創辦人彼得．費倫說，希尼去世「讓我們大受打擊，不過人們持續寫出很棒的詩，我對這門藝術充滿信心。」

Like arts organizations that depend on government grants, Gallery Press has suffered since economic austerity took hold in 2008. Support for the arts, culture and film fell to 75.9 million euros in 2014, from 92.3 million euros (about $97.6 million) in 2011.
就像其他依賴政府補助的藝術組織，Gallery Press自2008年經濟緊縮措施推出起也深受影響。藝術補助金2011年為9230萬歐元（約美元9760萬元），2014年已降至7590萬歐元。

“I think in many ways we have rolled over too easily and accepted the cuts,” said Maureen Kennelly, director of Poetry Ireland, which promotes that art form. She supported the competition as an awareness-raising exercise even if, she said, “most poets probably wouldn’t agree with the idea of poetry as competition.”
推廣詩的「愛爾蘭詩會」會長莫琳．康奈利說：「我認為在許多方面，我們太輕易就範並接受補助削減。」她支持舉辦這類比賽以喚醒意識，儘管「多數詩人大概不會贊同把詩拿來比賽的想法」。

Mr. Fallon was mildly critical. “I wouldn’t favor these kinds of things, but I am trying to play ball,” he said. “It will probably gain us more publicity in the short term even if my engagement is with the long term.”
費倫的批評算是溫和，「我不喜歡這種事，但盡量配合。它或許能在短期內讓我們獲得更多注意，儘管我的努力是長期的。」

He added: “Immediate responses to current affairs may be articulated by journalists, but these are fireworks as against the slow burn of poetry, and I would rather take my heat from the slow burn.”
他補充道：「記者對當前事物或許會有立即回應，但相較於緩慢燃燒的詩，這些像是煙火，而我寧可從緩慢燃燒處取暖。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/theater/ken-watanabe-moves-from-samurai-to-the-king-and-i.html

2015-04-07聯合報/G9版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 莊蕙嘉譯 原文參見紐時週報十二版下