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Comment by 說好不准跳 9 hours ago

The experience, you will notice, the elements which enter the presence of the transforming catalyst, are of two kinds: emotions and feelings. The effect of a work of art upon the person who enjoys it is an experience different in kind from any experience not of art. It may be formed out of one emotion, or may be a combination of several; and various feelings, inhering for the writer in particular words or phrases or images,may be added to compose the final result. Or great poetry may be made without the direct use of any
emotion whatever: composed out of feelings solely. Canto XV of the Inferno (Brunetto Latini) is a working up of the emotion evident in the situation; but the effect, though single as that of any work of art, is obtained by
considerable complexity of detail. The last quatrain gives an image, a feeling attaching to an image, which "came," which did not develop simply out of what precedes, but which was probably in suspension in the poet's mind until the proper combination arrived for it to add itself to. The poet's mind is in fact a receptacle for seizing and storing up numberless feelings, phrases, images, which remain there until all the particles which can unite to form a new compound are present together.

If you compare several representative passages of the greatest poetry you see how great is the variety of types of combination, and also how completely any semiethical criterion of "sublimity" misses the mark. For it is not the "greatness," the intensity, of the emotions, the components, but the intensity of the artistic process, the pressure, so to speak, under which the fusion takes place, that counts. The episode of Paolo and Francesca employs a definite emotion, but the intensity of the poetry is something quite different from whatever intensity in the supposed experience it may give the impression of. It is no more intense, furthermore, than Canto XXVI, the voyage of Ulysses, which has not the direct dependence upon an emotion. Great variety is possible in the process of transmution of emotion: the murder of Agamemnon, or the agony of Othello, gives an artistic effect apparently closer to a possible original than the scenes from Dante. In the Agamemnon, the artistic emotion approximates to the emotion of an actual spectator; in Othello to the emotion of the protagonist himself. But the difference between art and the event is always absolute; the combination which is the murder of Agamemnon is probably as complex as that which is the voyage of Ulysses. In either case there has been a fusion of elements. The ode of Keats contains a number of feelings which have nothing particular to do with the nightingale, but which the nightingale, partly, perhaps,because of its attractive name, and partly because of its reputation, served to bring together.

The point of view which I am struggling to attack is perhaps related to the metaphysical theory of the substantial unity of the soul: for my meaning is, that the poet has, not a "personality" to express, but a particular medium, which is only a medium and not a personality, in which impressions and experiences combine in peculiar and unexpected ways.

Impressions and experiences which are important for the man may take no place in the poetry, and those which become important in the poetry may play quite a negligible part in the man, the personality.

Comment by 說好不准跳 on Monday

我要引用一節詩歌，它不為人們熟知，因此我們可以以一種全新的注意力來閱讀，以闡述上述見解的光亮——或陰影： 

我想如今甚至該責怪自己

在她的美貌中老去，雖然她的死

應該以不尋常之舉報復。

難道蠶食她的憂郁之痛

為的是你？為了你，難道她該自毀？

難道老爺們熱衷豢養小姐

為的是那令人迷惑的短暫時刻裡的些許利益？

為什麼那家伙要謊稱有女劫匪，

並置他的生命於法官的雙唇裡，

來文飾這件事——為了她

打發人馬擊敗他們的勇毅。 

在這節詩歌裡（如果從上下文來看是很明顯地），有正反兩種情感的交織：一種指向美貌的極度強烈的吸引力，以及同樣強烈的出自丑惡的魅惑，後者與前者相反並且毀滅了前者。這種截然相反的情感的平衡，是在那段擁有中肯表述的戲劇化情境中實現的，但僅僅劇情還不足以勝任。不妨說是由戲劇文體提供的那種結構情感。但整體效果，主基調，則應歸功於大量懸浮其中的感覺，它們毫不淺顯地指向這種感情，並和這種感情結合，帶給了我們一種全新的藝術感情。

詩人之所以被尊重或被注意，並非因為他個人的情感，或者他個人生活中的特殊事件所引發的感情。他特有的情感可以是單純的、粗魯的或者沉悶的。但他詩歌中的情感必須是一種複雜的東西，但這種複雜性並非是那種生活中感情稀奇古怪的人所擁有的。事實上，詩歌界有種反常的錯誤，即試圖尋找和表達全新的人類感情，這樣在錯誤的地方尋找新穎，最終只能遭遇荒謬。詩人的本分不是去尋找新的人類情感，而是運用尋常的感情，並在這些尋常的感情中提煉詩歌，來表達實際感情中根本沒有的感受。而那些詩人從未經受過的情感和他已經熟悉的情感一樣，都是合用的。因此，我們必須相信「在心神寧靜中回憶起的感情」是個不準確的公式。因為詩歌不是情感，也不是回憶，如果不曲解詞義的話，也不是心神寧靜。詩歌是一種大量經驗的集結，以及這種集結中產生的新事物，這些經驗在重實踐、有活力的人看來好像未必全是什麼經驗；這種經驗的集中，既非自覺，亦非深思熟慮的產物。這些經驗不是「回憶」的，它們最終在一種「寧靜」的氛圍中結合，這種「寧靜」僅指在其中經驗被動地服侍著特定的事件。當然，這些也並非詩歌的全部始末。在詩歌寫作中，有許多時候是需要自覺和沉思的。實際上，拙劣的詩人往往在該自覺的時候不自覺，在不該自覺的時候自覺。這兩種錯誤讓他漸趨「個人的」。詩歌不是情感放縱，而是從感情中逃逸；詩歌不是表現個性，而是從個性中逃逸。但是，當然，只有那些擁有個性和感情的人才明白，要從其中逃逸究竟有什麼意義。

Comment by 說好不准跳 on Monday

I will quote a passage which is unfamiliar enough to be regarded with fresh attention in the light—or darkness—of these observations: 

And now methinks I could e'en chide myself
For doating on her beauty, though her death
Shall be revenged after no common action.
Does the silkworm expend her yellow labours
For thee? For thee does she undo herself?
Are lordships sold to maintain ladyships
For the poor benefit of a bewildering minute?
Why does yon fellow falsify highways,
And put his life between the judge's lips,
To refine such a thing—keeps horse and men
To beat their valours for her?...

(Cyril Tourneur, The Revenger's Tragedy, 1606-7)

In this passage (as is evident if it is taken in its context) there is a combination of positive and negative
emotions: an intensely strong attraction toward beauty and an equally intense fascination by the ugliness which is contrasted with it and which destroys it. This balance of contrasted emotion is in the dramatic situation to which the speech is pertinent, but that situation alone is inadequate to it. This is, so to speak, the structural emotion, provided by the drama. But the whole effect, the dominant tone, is due to the fact that a number of floating feelings, having an affinity to this emotion by no means superficially evident, have combined with it to give us a new art emotion.

It is not in his personal emotions, the emotions provoked by particular events in his life, that the poet is in any way remarkable or interesting. His particular emotions may be simple, or crude, or flat. The emotion in his poetry will be a very complex thing, but not with the complexity of the emotions of people who have very complex or unusual emotions in life. One error, in fact, of eccentricity in poetry is to seek for new human emotions to express; and in this search for novelty in the wrong place it discovers the perverse.

The business of the poet is not to find new emotions, but to use the ordinary ones and, in working them up into poetry, to express feelings which are not in actual emotions at all. And emotions which he has never experienced will serve his turn as well as those familiar to him. Consequently, we must believe that "emotion recollected in tranquillity" is an inexact formula. For it is neither emotion, nor recollection, nor, without distortion of meaning, tranquillity. It is a concentration, and a new thing resulting from the concentration, of a very great number of experiences which to the practical and active person would not seem to be experiences at all; it is a concentration which does not happen consciously or of deliberation. These experiences are not"recollected," and they finally unite in an atmosphere which is "tranquil" only in that it is a passive attending upon the event. Of course this is not quite the whole story. There is a great deal, in the writing of poetry,which must be conscious and deliberate. In fact, the bad poet is usually unconscious where he ought to be
conscious, and conscious where he ought to be unconscious. Both errors tend to make him "personal."

Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.

Comment by 說好不准跳 on July 4, 2025 at 1:45pm

III

(Aristotle, De Anima: "While the intellect is doubtless a thing more divine and is impassive.")

This essay proposes to halt at the frontier of metaphysics or mysticism, and confine itself to such practical conclusions as can be applied by the responsible person interested in poetry. To divert interest from the poet to the poetry is a laudable aim: for it would conduce to a juster estimation of actual poetry, good and bad. There are many people who appreciate the expression of sincere emotion in verse, and there is a smaller number of people who can appreciate technical excellence. But very few know when there is expression of significant emotion, emotion which has its life in the poem and not in the history of the poet. The emotion of art is impersonal. And the poet cannot reach this impersonality without surrendering himself wholly to the work to be done. And he is not likely to know what is to be done unless he lives in what is not merely the present, but the present moment of the past, unless he is conscious, not of what is dead, but of what is already living.

靈感天賜，聖潔不動凡情。（另譯：理智無疑更為神聖，且本質上不受外物所動。）——亞里斯多德：論靈魂

這篇論文就打算停止在玄學和神秘體驗論的邊界上，僅限於這些實用的結論，以期能被那些對詩有興趣、有責任感的人來應用。將人們的興趣從詩人身上轉移到詩歌本身，是一個值得稱贊的抱負：因為這有助於人們對一首或好或壞的、真正的詩歌做出公正的評價。很多人能在韻文裡鑑賞出真摯感情的表述，較少的人才能鑑賞出卓越的技巧。但卻很少有人知道何時才會有重大感情的表達，這種感情的生命在詩歌裡，而非在詩人的歷史裡。藝術情感是非個人的。除非詩人在他所從事的詩歌面前全然放棄自我，否則詩人就不能達到這種「非個人」的境界；除非他不只活在當下，而且活在過去，除非他所注意的不是已死的，而是早就活著的，否則他就不可能知道他該做什麼。

（T. S. Eliot, “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” in The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism（London: Methuen, 1920），第29–34页。；T.S.艾略特：傳統與個人才能）

Comment by 說好不准跳 on June 28, 2025 at 3:48pm

陳明發《造句簿04》

1 文友創作，有感字詞不足，故打古人主意。古人稱古，當因早已作古，書齋無門無牆，藏書任君或取或借。文友醉古不能自拔，帶抄連貼，終成微信分享作品一份。

2 閱畢，我戲言：向古人借貸字詞，利息不菲矣。

3 何故？首因朗讀不慎咬著舌頭；次因，人望一眼猶懼自己不才出醜，遠遠繞道而去，叁因，有勞有心者查經考據，傷身累目，誠不經濟。

4 此文不文不白，乃顧及醉古者不宜忽地給予平淡無味之物，引致反胃招疾。（4.3.2017 臉書）

Comment by 說好不准跳 on June 23, 2025 at 8:35pm

陳明發《造句簿01》

1 人說現象，我想意象。

2 造句簿是釀酒的壇子，日常所見現象，所感意象，都儲進去，過些時日出土，自有純淨轉化的善緣。

3 距離，帶給我們不一樣的心境。“我們”，指的是我和造句簿裡的言語。起初，是我要寫，出壇時，字句倘若還是要言說，是它們本身要寫了，我們就促膝深敘吧。

4 慣語常言，“我手寫我口”，實際情況是，一般人尚且珍惜慎言之美，讀書人下筆散文，豈可張口就來，死而後已？(25.2.2017 臉書)

Comment by 說好不准跳 on May 18, 2025 at 9:11pm

陳明發·詩想〈鎖鏈〉～～近日看了部記錄片，American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden。

片子報導的，是美國政府雖信誓旦旦不惜一切代價，最終也耗了十年才將奧薩馬·賓拉登「繩之私法」的「歷史」。

為了「討回」奧薩馬首肯（2001年）911恐襲美國的「公道」，即使拿不出塔利班政府承認涉及襲擊事件的證據，美國領導的聯軍於10月7日正式對阿富汗發動了軍事攻擊。

從遇襲到出軍，不到一個月。最高姿態向世界展現了，歐美盟軍「熔爐」（硬體），「捶打」（媒體、網絡、策略）之精銳。

從讀到戰事開始的報導當天開始，我連續寫了好幾篇相關的文字。新聞剖析發佈在《南洋商報》；詩性分析則刊於在該報《商餘》版專欄〈陪夢散步〉。第一篇是18-9-2001刊出的〈美國夢〉。

接下來不到兩個月，美國盟军推翻了塔利班政府，換了位親美的新總統。

片子提到，911恐襲斷送了3000餘位美國人的無辜生命。而盟軍在轟炸阿富汗時，究竟死了多少無辜的平民，製造了多少難民，我始終沒在屏幕上看到有關數字。

片子倒是有提到，他們的最高記錄是在56個小時內，連續不斷地密集轟炸。那炮彈超過二戰時期的總數目。

這算是一種（火光）「不再間隙」的「絞緊」（民心-美國心）吧？

吊詭的是，這「鼓風爐的喉音」（包括假音與陰陽難分的變調）怎麼激烈，也沒炸死奧薩馬。

該死的人沒死，打先鋒的CIA也引來了空前的負面輿論轟炸。也就越多人被調查、追蹤、上鎖甚至消失。怎麼也得套出奧薩馬真正的所在地。

他們的决心怎麽也要被看見。

其中最最精彩的煉鐵場，非關塔那摩監獄莫属了。因為是在美國境外，不受美國法律約束，也就允許任何的「煉鋼法」。

任何被懷疑與奧薩馬有關連的人，被捕後仍不識相點透露基地組織領袖匿藏處的人，都會體驗到差幾步就是耶穌上十字架的境界。肌體與精神都受到地獄般的考驗。

此時，誰的信仰更真？這恐怕是「鎖鏈」兩頭最「形而上」的烤詢了。

也就在此時，最恰當的是，背景傳来兩句（註）——

即將鎖住一頭獸或
一個困獸之人

這首詩題為「鎖鏈」。看了記錄片次日讀到這樣的句子，我嘗試思辨：一條鎖鏈的兩頭，究竟誰是主、誰是客？

American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden（Netflix, 2025），讓我看見了美國「追回正義」的10年的努力；但我腦子裡，也重播了「美國重建阿富汗20年」後狼狽棄軍的景觀。

到底，誰是被獵的獸？誰又是獵獸人？

回答不了這問題，大概就是詩性的奧妙。

「冰裂紋」的符號，因人而異，因時空而已。

筆者近年嘗試定位詩性與文創的關係，有點領會是：詩性，是文本與讀者之間的境遇。可能差一步就是：量子糾纏。

這境遇，是私己的，多數時候難以重覆。

註：「即將鎖住一頭獸或/一個困獸之人」二行；「鎖鏈」、「熔爐」、「捶打」、「鼓風爐的喉音」、「不再間隙」、「絞緊」、「形而上」與「冰裂紋」等詞，引自靈歌詩歌〈鎖鏈〉（見16.5.2025 台灣〈中華副刊〉）

Comment by 說好不准跳 on May 4, 2025 at 2:28pm

陳明發·花卉龍吐珠

雨後龍吐珠

怯怯向我打招呼

粉瓣襯紅沁

綠葉無聲忽探首

一瞥，風满樓

（原載：愛墾花卉攝影館 I 圖：愛墾製作）

Comment by 說好不准跳 on April 28, 2025 at 4:11pm

陳明發〈生態〉

我靠兩樣東西長大
純母乳過後，純文字

童年和爸爸在咖啡店
吃白麵包塗煉奶
就像許久許久才一次
讀到全彩插圖的故事

電視中的超人是黑白的
牛仔也是，各族膚色差不多
店裏吃椰漿飯的馬來人
講客家話；常把尾音捲長
土調方言聽來真新鮮
像七彩大看板豎在戲院前

比話語更清澈的驚喜
是在伐木林鑽來鑽去
看見變色龍換裝
紅與綠與藍隨意急轉
老樹上，飛鼠玩滑翔
一伸爪即逮住獵物

濃蔭下打開午飯格
鹹蛋與米飯與新翻土
純凈的味，至今翻出來
依然能召喚
兒時唸過的文字
嚐過的乳香

（9.5.2022）

（Photo by Samuel Maglione）

Comment by 說好不准跳 on April 3, 2025 at 10:24am

陳明發〈濾思場〉245

若我們定義：AI威脅到無數行業的生存，焦點便在：能否繼續呼吸——而呼出是焦慮，吸進，是更大的焦慮；若求與AI同在，焦點變成：能否興喚——興：它湧現了什麼；喚，我們在召喚什麼？（3.4.2025）

（Artist [池畑 裕一]Yuichi Ikehata’s Digitally Manipulated Images Blur Reality）

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