Poetic Form: Sestina
英语诗歌之六节诗
六节诗（stina）是一种通过将首节诗句尾词在其余诗节中进行错综重复以营造美妙效果的诗体。这种39行的写作形式要追溯到十二世纪普罗旺斯的一位行吟诗人阿诺特·丹尼尔（Arnaut Daniel）。“troubadour”（行吟诗人）一词来自于“trobar”，其意为“创造或谱写诗句”。行吟诗人伴着音乐吟唱着他们的诗句，他们都争强好胜，力争在下次比赛中拔得头筹，并创作出更为复杂和困难的风格。
魏玛宪法发乎情而止乎礼的爱情经常是行吟诗人反复吟诵的主题。后来，当六节诗出现在意大利时，这一点得到以继续强调。但丁和彼得拉克非常熟于这种形式以向丹尼尔致敬。正如比彼得拉克所说，它是“众中之首，爱之至主”。
六节诗体式严谨，由六节六句和一节三句组成，其要求在其余五个诗节中重复第一诗节的六个尾词，并以三句诗构成的尾节收束全篇。六节诗的诗句可长可短，但是其第一节决定了其余诸节，因而它有着严格的音节约束。六节诗的形制如下：（用带圈的数字表示需重复的诗句尾词）
第一诗节：①②③④⑤⑥
第二诗节：⑥①⑤②④③
第三诗节：③⑥④①②⑤
第四诗节：⑤③②⑥①④
第五诗节：④⑤①③⑥②
第六诗节：②④⑥⑤③①
第七诗节：⑤③①或①③⑤
当然，最后一节也可以是②④⑥。
许多二十世纪的诗人都采用过这一诗体，如庞德（Ezra Pound）和约翰·阿什伯利（John Ashbery）。庞德1909年所写的《六节诗：阿尔塔佛特》（Sestina: Altaforte）是其诸多诗作中较为出名的一首。
Sestina: Altaforte
by Ezra Pound
Loquitur: En Bertrans de Born.
Dante Alighieri put this man in hell for that he was a
stirrer-up of strife.
Eccovi!
Judge ye!
Have I dug him up again?
The scene in at his castle, Altaforte. "Papiols" is his jongleur.
"The Leopard," the device of Richard (Cúur de Lion).
I
Damn it all! all this our South stinks peace.
黑咖啡作用You whoreson dog, Papiols, come! Let's to music!
I have no life save when the swords clash.
心痛的文章
But ah! when I e the standards gold, vair, purple, opposing
And the broad fields beneath them turn crimson,
Then howl I my heart nigh mad with rejoicing.
睡莲的寓意II
鸡的四字成语
In hot summer have I great rejoicing
When the tempests kill the earth's foul peace,
And the lightnings from black heav'n flash crimson,
And the fierce thunders roar me their music
And the winds shriek through the clouds mad, opposing,
And through all the riven skies God's swords clash.
III
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!
And the shrill neighs of destriers in battle rejoicing,
Spiked breast to spiked breast opposing!
Better one hour's stour than a year's peace
With fat boards, bawds, wine and frail music!
Bah! there's no wine like the blood's crimson!
IV
And I love to e the sun ri blood-crimson.
And I watch his spears through the dark clash
And it fills all my heart with rejoicing
And pries wide my mouth with fast music
When I e him so scorn and defy peace,
His lone might 'gainst all darkness opposing.
V
The man who fears war and squats opposing
My words for stour, hath no blood of crimson
But is fit only to rot in womanish peace
Far from where worth's won and the swords clash
For the death of such sluts I go rejoicing;
Yea, I fill all the air with my music.
VI
Papiols, Papiols, to the music!
There's no sound like to swords swords opposing,
No cry like the battle's rejoicing
When our elbows and swords drip the crimson
And our charges 'gainst "The Leopard's" rush clash.
May God damn for ever all who cry "Peace!"
VII
And let the music of the swords make them crimson!
Hell grant soon we hear again the swords clash!
悟空去哪儿Hell blot black for always the thought "Peace!"
这首诗的尾词如下——
peace – music – clash – opposing – crimson – rejoicing [诗节 I]
rejoicing – peace – crimson – music – opposing – clash [诗节 II]
clash – rejoicing – opposing – peace – music – crimson [诗节 III]
crimson – clash – rejoicing – music – peace – opposing [诗节 IV]
opposing – crimson – peace – clash – rejoicing – music [诗节 V]
music – opposing – rejoicing – crimson – clash – Peace [诗节 VI]带礼的成语
crimson – clash – Peace [尾节]
短跑视频【题外话】美国西北大学的克莉丝汀·弗洛拉（Christine Froula）教授用个体心理学来解释这首诗的重复形式，声称“这些尾词的重复展现了伯特朗（Bertran）的脑中萦绕着他的战争主题”。（参见Froula, A Guide to Ezra Pound's Selected Poems (New Directions, 1983), p.25.）
与之相比，约翰·阿什伯利的《风景中的农具与芜菁》（Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape）一诗则较为活泼有趣。
Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape
by John Ashbery
The first of the undecoded messages read: "Popeye sits in thunder,
Unthought of. From that shoebox of an apartment,
From livid curtain's hue, a tangram emerges: a country."
Meanwhile the Sea Hag was relaxing on a green couch: "How pleasant
To spend one's vacation en la casa de Popeye," she scratched
Her cleft chin's solitary hair. She remembered spinach
And was going to ask Wimpy if he had bought any spinach.
"M'love," he intercepted, "the plains are decked out in thunder
Today, and it shall be as you wish." He scratched
The part of his head under his hat. The apartment
Seemed to grow smaller. "But what if no pleasant
Inspiration plunge us now to the stars? For this is my country."
