Revolutionary or Apostate?: Wordsworth's Cintra Tract

渥茲渥斯的《辛特拉協約》及其政治理念之轉變

余幼珊(Yu-san Yu)

Wordsworth ； Convention of Cintra ； A Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff ； apostate ； virtue ； 渥茲渥斯 ； 《辛特拉協約》 ； 《給藍達夫主教的一封信》 ； 叛徒 ； 美德

歐美研究

37卷3期（2007 / 09 / 01）

391 - 415

英文

The question of whether and when Wordsworth turned his back on his early political ideals has often been the topic of Wordsworthian studies, and many critics believe that after the French Revolution the poet renounced its cause and became a conservative. This paper seeks to demonstrate that rather than becoming a renegade of revolutionary causes, the poet 〞modified〞 his political ideas. In order to do this, I first examine the political pamphlet-Convention of Cintra-that Wordsworth wrote in his middle years (1808 to 1809), that is, after his 〞retirement〞 to the country at the end of 1799, a retirement that has always been interpreted as reactionary and a sign of betrayal. Then I compare Convention of Cintra with a political tract written during his radical years-A Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff. Such a comparison will show that the poet retained some of his earlier political ideas, but modified the relatively radical ones, especially those regarding violent revolutions.

許多批評家認為，浪漫詩人渥茲渥斯在法國大革命之後，便開始背棄早年的革命信念，成為一保守主義者。諸多學者也為文探討詩人到底是什麼時候開始成為革命的叛徒。這篇論文擬論證渥氏並沒有完全拋棄其革命理念，而是予以「修正」。此修正可見於渥氏中年所著之政論《辛特拉協約》。此政論寫於一八○八至一八○九年，為詩人在一七九九年底「歸隱」湖區後的作品。一般咸認為其歸隱乃保守反動之表徵。在論文中，我將首先深入分析《辛特拉協約》，找出渥氏政治理念的綱要和脈絡。之後我將分析渥氏早年激進時期所寫的另一篇政論，也就是《給藍達夫主教的一封信》，並將前後兩篇政論相互比較。經過比較，可發現，渥氏中年時期仍保留早年的政治理念，但是修正了較為激進的部分，尤其是有關流血革命的思想。

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