The Moon And Sixpence 2.5

 Mr.Crabbe was as dead as mutton, but Mr. Crabbe continued to write moral storiesin rhymed couplets. I have read de sul to rily the writings of the youngergeneration. It may be that among them a more fervid Keats, a more etherealShelley, has already published numbers the world will willingly remember. Icannot tell. I admire their polish -- their youth is already so accomplishedthat it seems absurd to speak of promise -- I marvel at the felicity of theirstyle; but with all their copiousness (their vocabulary suggests that theyfingered Roget's Thesaurus in their cradles) they say nothing to me: to my mindthey know too much and feel too obviously; I cannot stomach the heartiness withwhich they slap me on the back or the emotion with which they hurl themselveson my bosom; their passion seems to me a little anaemic and their dreams atrifle dull. I do not like them. I am on the shelf. I will continue to writemoral stories in rhymed couplets. But I should be thrice a fool if I did it foraught but my own entertainment.

克莱布先生已经陈腐过时了，但是克莱布先生还是孜孜不倦地继续写他的押韵对句诗。我也断断续续读了一些我们这一时代的年轻人的诗作，他们当中可能有一位更炽情的济慈或者更一尘不染的雪莱，而且已经发表了世界将长久记忆的诗章，这我说不定。我赞赏他们的优美词句——尽管他们还年轻，却已才华横溢，因此如果仅仅说他们很有希望，就显得荒唐可笑了——，我惊叹他们精巧的文体；但是虽然他们用词丰富（从他们的语汇看，倒仿佛这些人躺在摇篮里就已经翻读过罗杰特的《词汇宝库》了），却没有告诉我们什么新鲜东西。在我看来，他们知道的太多，感觉过于肤浅；对于他们拍我肩膀的那股亲热劲儿同闯进我怀抱时的那种感情，我实在受不了。我觉得他们的热情似乎没有血色，他们的梦想也有些平淡。我不喜欢他们。我已经是过时的老古董了。我仍然要写押韵对句的道德故事。但是如果我对自己写作除了自娱以外还抱有其它目的，我就是个双料的傻瓜了。