1、莎士比亞的劇作大部分由素體詩寫成,如《如愿》中第二幕第七景以下詩行:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women, merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His Acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling, and puking in the nurse’s arms:
整個(gè)世界是一座舞臺,
所有的男男女女不過是演員罷了:
他們有上場;有下場法;
一個(gè)人一生扮演好幾種角色,
他一生的情節(jié)共分七個(gè)時(shí)期。
2、彌爾頓的史詩《失樂園》也是用素體寫成的,如一開始的第27行至第33行: Say first—for heaven hides nothing from thy view,
Nor the deep tract of Hell—say first what cause Moved our grand Parensts, in that happy state,
Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off
From their Creator, and transgress his will
For one restraint, lords of the World besides.
Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
請先說,天界和地獄深淵,
在您的眼中,一切都了如指掌;
請先講,為什么我們的始祖,
在那樣的樂土,得天惠那樣獨(dú)厚,
除了那唯一的禁令以外,他倆
本是世界的主宰;竟背叛而自絕于
他們的創(chuàng)造主?當(dāng)初是誰引誘
3、華茲華斯講述自己心靈成長的長詩《序曲》,同樣也是用素體寫成的,如第三卷的開始詩節(jié):
It was a dreary Morning when the Wheels
Rolled over a wide plain o’erhung with clouds,
And nothing cheered our way till first we saw
The long-roof’d Chapel of King’s College lift
Turrets, and pinnacles in answering files,
Extended high above a dusky grove.
(William Wordsworth: The Prelude, Book Third)
那是個(gè)凄涼的早晨,車輪在烏云
籠罩的平原上滾動,一路上我們
長行禮拜堂從一片昏暗的樹林中
徐徐托出它的塔樓與尖頂,
它們縱列成行,相互呼應(yīng)。(丁宏為 譯) 素體詩