美国国家公共电台 NPR New Film Celebrates Emily Dickinson's Poetry And 'Quiet Passion'

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The American poet Emily Dickinson is the subject of a new film called "A Quiet Passion." The writer and director is Terence Davies. He's best known for his depictions of working-class life in his native Britain. The American actress Cynthia Nixon plays the poet. NPR's Lynn Neary says the film creates an image of a complicated woman whose poetry is steeped in pain.

LYNN NEARY, BYLINE¹: Terence Davies discovered Emily Dickinson on television. An actress was reading one of her poems. And afterwards, Davies ran out and bought one of the collections. Davies became fascinated by this brilliant poet whose work was never recognized while she was alive and who rarely left her family home in Amherst, Mass.

TERENCE DAVIES: I think she was afraid of life. Like a lot of geniuses, you knew that she had skin missing, and that makes you very, very vulnerable.

NEARY: Dickinson's life story was compelling, Davies says, but it was the poetry that drew him to her.

DAVIES: What moves me about all her poems I've read is everything is distilled² down to the bare essential, but it's the very reticence³ of that that makes it desperately⁴, desperately moving.

NEARY: In the film, Davies uses Dickinson's poetry as a kind of commentary on her life. In the opening scene, Dickinson is severely⁵ chastised⁶ by the headmistress of her school because she refuses to say she wants to be a Christian⁷. Dickinson is dismissed as a no hoper. As the scene ends, she stands alone by a window as Cynthia Nixon reads one of her poems.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A QUIET PASSION")

CYNTHIA NIXON: (As Emily Dickinson) For each ecstatic instant we must an anguish⁸ pay in keen and quivering ratio to the ecstasy⁹. For each beloved hour sharp pittances¹⁰ of years, bitter contested farthings and coffers heaped with tears.

NEARY: Much of "A Quiet Passion" focuses on Dickinson's spiritual struggles. Davies says he identified with her because he also went through a spiritual crisis in his youth.

DAVIES: From 15 to 22 were my seven years of doubt and I really, really prayed for God to reveal himself. Of course, he didn't, so I know what that is like. And faced with mortality, what do we do about this thing which we call the soul?

NEARY: In the film, Dickinson's refusal to compromise her beliefs often puts her at odds¹¹ with the conservative religious beliefs of her family and friends. In one scene, she refuses to kneel when a visiting minister leads her family in prayer. Her disobedience infuriates her father.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A QUIET PASSION")

KEITH CARRADINE: (As Edward Dickinson) It is both unchristian and unseemingly.

NIXON: (As Emily Dickinson) I will not be forced to piety¹².

CARRADINE: (As Edward Dickinson) You will do as you are instructed.

NIXON: (As Emily Dickinson) I know your Christian shore is safer, Father, and I know I must seem recalcitrant¹³, but my soul is my own.

CARRADINE: (As Edward Dickinson) Your soul is God's.

NEARY: Dickinson has a few close relationships but is heartbroken when friends leave her. The only man she's attracted to is already married. He appreciates her poetry but few others do. She withdraws into her family home, sheltering herself from a world she doesn't really understand.

DAVIES: To interpret the world, you have to be an observer of it. What being an observer does, it puts you on the outside of life. You're never really part of it, and life seems almost incomprehensible. How do other people manage their way through the world?

NEARY: Emily Dickinson's reclusive life has always been a source of fascination¹⁴ for artists.

BRENDA WINEAPPLE: There's a kind of mystery around Dickinson, and where mystery is, stories bloom.

NEARY: Brenda Wineapple is the author of "White Heat" about Dickinson's friendship with a well-known abolitionist. Wineapple sees Dickinson as a strong, witty¹⁵ woman who did have lasting¹⁶ friendships. She says Davies has created an Emily Dickinson whose radical¹⁷ life choices cost her a great deal.

WINEAPPLE: Over time, she becomes caustic¹⁸ and angry and disappointed, which is not necessarily how people particularly in the recent past have imagined Emily Dickinson.

NEARY: But Terence Davies says of course she was angry. She wanted to be loved, and she wanted her work recognized, even though she chose to live as a recluse¹⁹.

DAVIES: In the end, that haven²⁰ becomes a prison. It's sort of an emotional prison she can't get away from. That's very sad and very hard to bear, I think.

NEARY: "A Quiet Passion" ends with Dickinson's death before the hundreds of poems that would make her famous were discovered. Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF LOUIS BORDEAUX'S "1ST SESSION")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 distilled   

adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )；从…提取精华

参考例句：

• The televised interview was distilled from 16 hours of film. 那次电视采访是从16个小时的影片中选出的精华。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Gasoline is distilled from crude oil. 汽油是从原油中提炼出来的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 reticence   

n.沉默，含蓄

参考例句：

• He breaks out of his normal reticence and tells me the whole story.他打破了平时一贯沈默寡言的习惯，把事情原原本本都告诉了我。
• He always displays a certain reticence in discussing personal matters.他在谈论个人问题时总显得有些保留。

4 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

5 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

6 chastised   

v.严惩（某人）（尤指责打）( chastise的过去式 )

参考例句：

• He chastised the team for their lack of commitment. 他指责队伍未竭尽全力。
• The Securities Commission chastised the firm but imposed no fine. 证券委员会严厉批评了那家公司，不过没有处以罚款。 来自辞典例句

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

8 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

9 ecstasy   

n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷

参考例句：

• He listened to the music with ecstasy.他听音乐听得入了神。
• Speechless with ecstasy,the little boys gazed at the toys.小孩注视着那些玩具，高兴得说不出话来。

10 pittances   

n.少量( pittance的名词复数 )；少许；微薄的工资；少量的收入

参考例句：

11 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

12 piety   

n.虔诚，虔敬

参考例句：

• They were drawn to the church not by piety but by curiosity.他们去教堂不是出于虔诚而是出于好奇。
• Experience makes us see an enormous difference between piety and goodness.经验使我们看到虔诚与善意之间有着巨大的区别。

13 recalcitrant   

adj.倔强的

参考例句：

• The University suspended the most recalcitrant demonstraters.这所大学把几个反抗性最强的示威者开除了。
• Donkeys are reputed to be the most recalcitrant animals.驴被认为是最倔强的牲畜。

14 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

15 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

16 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

17 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

18 caustic   

adj.刻薄的，腐蚀性的

参考例句：

• He opened his mouth to make a caustic retort.他张嘴开始进行刻薄的反击。
• He enjoys making caustic remarks about other people.他喜欢挖苦别人。

19 recluse   

n.隐居者

参考例句：

• The old recluse secluded himself from the outside world.这位老隐士与外面的世界隔绝了。
• His widow became a virtual recluse for the remainder of her life.他的寡妻孤寂地度过了余生。

20 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。