Cultural Kaleidoscope
Ralph Waldo Emerson and His Poem Friendship
Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May 25，1803 in Boston，Massachusetts．In 1817，at the age of 14，Emerson entered Harvard College．While in college，he paid keen attention to Greek and Roman writers，British logicians and philosophers，and meanwhile he had a Romantic interest in the“Orient”or the“East”，such as Egypt，the Arabian Peninsula，Persia，China and India．After traveling through Europe in 1832，where he met literary luminaries such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge，Emerson returned to his ancestral home in Boston．He began a career as a public lecturer，which lasted almost 50 years．Emerson helped initiate Transcendentalism by publishing anonymously a little book of 95 pages entitled Nature．With the publication of his Essays in 1841 and Essays：Second Series in 1844，Emerson emerged as a trans-Atlantic literary celebrity and earned a reputation as“American Renaissance leader”．He was regarded as“the American Confucius”and“the father of American civilization”by former U．S．President Abraham Lincoln．
Friendship is a poem written by Emerson which is full of strong emotions and a profound life philosophy．Everything in the world is uncertain，but friendship may continue unconsciously after the brief encounter and instant understanding．As the Chinese saying goes，“a bosom friend afar brings distance near”，friendship is something that can be eternal beyond the limit in time and space．
拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生及其诗歌《友谊》
拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生于1803年5月25日出生于美国马萨诸塞州的波士顿。1817年，14岁的爱默生入读哈佛大学。在校期间，他极大关注了希腊和罗马作家、英国伦理学家和哲学家，与此同时，他也对埃及、阿拉伯半岛、波斯、中国和印度等地的东方文学表现了出浪漫主义方面的兴趣。1832年，爱默生到欧洲各国游历，结识了浪漫主义先驱华兹华斯和柯勒律治，之后回到祖籍地波士顿。至此他一直从事布道，这一职业持续了大约50年。在此期间，爱默生匿名发表一本95页的小说《论自然》，开启了美国“超验主义”运动。1841年和1844年，爱默生又相继发表了著名的《论文集》第一辑和《论文集》第二辑，这两部著作为爱默生赢得了巨大的声誉，使他成为横越大西洋的文学巨匠，他本人则被冠以“美国的文艺复兴领袖”之美誉。美国前总统林肯称他为“美国的孔子”“美国文明之父”。
《友谊》是爱默生所写的一首充满浓烈情感并蕴含生活哲理的诗歌。世间万物变幻莫测，原本以后彼此之间只会拥有一段短暂的相遇和瞬间的默契，不料友情却在不经意间长存，正所谓“海内存知己，天涯若比邻”，友谊不受时间的限制和空间的阻隔，是无所不在，历久弥新的。
Friendship
Ralph Waldo Emerson
A ruddy drop of manly blood
The surging sea outweighs，
The world uncertain comes and goes，
The lover rooted stays．
I fancied he was fled，
And，after many a year，
Glowed unexhausted kindliness，
Like daily sunrise there．
My careful heart was free again，—
O friend，my bosom said，
Through thee alone the sky is arched，
友谊
叶子南译
一滴男儿鲜红血，
胜似怒海浪叠，
世事变幻不休歇，
不变的是情深切切。(https://www.daowen.com)
原以为他离我而去，
却未知荏苒岁月，
昔日情怀未老，
仍然霞光烈烈。
忧心已再获解脱，
朋友，听这心声细揭，
因你，长空穹庐挺立，
Through thee the rose is red；
All things through thee take nobler form，
And look beyond the earth，
The mill-round of our fate appears
A sun-path in thy worth．
Me too thy nobleness has taught
To master my despair；
The fountains of my hidden life
Are through thy friendship fair．
因你，玫瑰殷红浓烈，
因你，万物高尚又圣洁，
目光已超越尘界，
仗你的品德，命运虽如磨转，
确是阳光大道无停歇。
更有你高远的胸怀，
叫我解开绝望心结；
我心底生命的源泉，
因你的友情丰泽不竭。