亚历山大·蒲柏 (1688-1744) 是18世纪英国启蒙运动时期一位博学多才的重要的新古典主义诗人，他幼年患病，身体畸形，一生坎坷，然而，他并不因此而失望，而消沉，相反，他却以顽强的意志坚持自学和写作，终成大器，成为英国文学史上第一位以文学为职业而谋生的作家。

蒲柏也是一位在英国文学史上引起长期争论的作家，只是到了20世纪二十年代，浪漫派诗风衰竭，蒲柏又受到重视，认识了他在英国诗歌史上的重要地位。评论家普遍认为，他的诗作意境不高，拙于抒情，但长于哲理；过于雕琢，但诗艺高超；他的诗作题材广泛，在艺术上力求尽善尽美，目的异常专一，尤其是在“英雄双韵体”的运用上，他的艺术成就至今无人超越。

[Extracts from lines 289−336]

Some to conceit(1) alone their taste confine,

And glittering thoughts struck out at every line;

Pleased with a work where nothing's just or fit,

One glaring chaos and wild heap of wit.

Poets, like painters, thus unskilled to trace

The naked nature and the living grace,

With gold and jewels over every part,

And hide with ornaments their want of art.

True wit is Nature to advantage dressed,

What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed;

Something whose truth convinced at sight we find,

That gives us back the image of our mind.

As shades more sweetly recommend the light,

So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit;

For works may have more wit than does them good,

As bodies perish through excess of blood.

Others for language all their care express,

And value books, as women men, for dress.

Their praise is still—the style is excellent;

The sense they humbly take upon content.

Words are like leaves; and where they most abound,

Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.

False eloquence, like the prismatic glass,

Its gaudy colors spreads on every place;

The face of Nature we no more survey,

All glares alike, without distinction gay.

But true expression, like the unchanging sun,

Clears and improves whate'er it shines upon;

It gilds all objects, but it alters none.

Expression is the dress of thought, and still

Appears more decent as more suitable.

A vile conceit in pompous words expressed

Is like a clown in regal purple dressed;

For different styles with different subjects sort,

As several garbs with country, town, and court.

Some by old words to fame have made pretense,

Ancients in phrase, mere moderns in their sense.

Such labored nothings, in so strange a style,

Amaze the unlearn'd, and make the learned smile;

Unlucky as Fungoso(2) in the play,

These sparks with awkward vanity display

What the fine gentleman wore yesterday;

And but so mimic ancient wits at best,

As apes our grandsires in their doublets dressed.

In words as fashions the same rule will hold,

Alike fantastic if too new or old:

Be not the first by whom the new are tried,

Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

(289-336行)

有些人只一味追求奇思异想

每一行的构思都要突出闪光；

作品既不合理又不适宜却独自喜悦，

实乃炫目混乱一团，粗野智慧堆砌。

诗人，也像画家一样，无力去描绘

真实的大自然和活生生之优美，

就用金玉宝石把每一部分盖住，

用装饰法掩盖他们艺术之不足。

真正的智慧是保持自然最佳状况，

思想平常，但无人表达得这么恰当。

我们发现有些真实东西一看就信服

因为它与我们脑海中的形象无误。

正如阴影能更美好地衬托出亮光，

因此，朴实无华突出智慧更有力量。

作品里奇思异想过多并无好处，

正如体内血液过多反会走上死路。

还有一些人只关心语言风采，

评价书本像女人评价男人只看穿戴。

他们总是赞扬说——文采何等杰出，

对作品的意义勉强满足而低估。

词语像树叶，哪里长得最繁多，

下方就很难找到有意义的硕果。

虚假的雄辩，像多棱镜的色彩，

华丽的光线向每个地方散开；

我们无须去察看大自然的表层，

都一样闪光，没有明显的区分。

真实的表达形式像不变的阳光，

照到哪里，那里就清晰而明朗；

它给万物镀金，但不改他们模样。

语言的表达形式是思想的外衣，

它总是越是适合，就越是得体。

一个拙劣的奇思用了华丽的辞藻，

宛如小丑穿着一身豪华的紫袍：

因为不同风格应与不同事物一致，

正如乡村、城市、宫廷服饰有异。

有些人用旧词矫装，沽名钓誉：

现代人的思想，古代人的词语。

无价值的矫作，风格如此古怪，

使无知者惊奇，把博学者笑坏；

这些花花公子像剧中的凡果索，

虽然显得难堪但虚荣心理执着，

总喜欢展示昨天绅士们的衣钵。

好模仿的古人充其量只知如此

学我们的祖先模样穿紧身上衣。

用词语和风尚的规律都一样，

无论太新或太旧都同样荒唐：

不要第一个去使用时新东西，

也不要最后一个把古旧丢弃。