Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote “Felix Randal” while stationed at the Jesuit church St. Francis Xavier in Liverpool, and he dated the sonnet “April 28 1880.” Nine de cades later, Alfred Thomas, S.J., announced in the Times Literary Supplement that Hopkins had entered in the church notice book the name of one “Felix Spencer,” who died on 21 April 1880, and had read his name from the pulpit on Sunday, April 25.1 Spencer was a blacksmith or farrier whose shop was in the slum area of the parish; as a priest, Hopkins had visited him to bring him the sacraments and consolation since his assignment to the parish on 30 December 1879. The poet changed the name to “Randal” to hide the man’s true identity but perhaps had in mind “Lord Randal my son,” the subject of a popu lar medieval ballad. Although the poem is a sonnet, it also serves as an elegy and dramatic monologue and ballad dealing with the subject of death. Hopkins pictures himself just at the moment of hearing the news of the farrier’s death:

中文翻译：

---

“Felix Randal the farrier”：探望病人

杰拉德·曼利·霍普金斯 (Gerard Manley Hopkins) 在驻扎在利物浦的耶稣会圣弗朗西斯·泽维尔 (St. Francis Xavier) 教堂时创作了“菲利克斯·兰德尔 (Felix Randal)”，并与十四行诗约会“1880 年 4 月 28 日”。九个十年后，SJ 的阿尔弗雷德·托马斯在《泰晤士报文学副刊》中宣布，霍普金斯在教会布告簿上写下了一位“菲利克斯·斯宾塞”的名字，他于 1880 年 4 月 21 日去世，并在4 月 25 日，星期日。 斯宾塞是一名铁匠或马蹄铁匠，他的店铺在教区贫民区；作为一名牧师，霍普金斯自 1879 年 12 月 30 日被分配到教区以来，一直拜访他，为他带来圣礼和安慰。诗人将名字改为“兰德尔”以隐藏该男子的真实身份，但也许是想到“我的兰德尔勋爵”儿子”，这是一首流行的中世纪民谣的主题。这首诗虽然是十四行诗，它也可用作处理死亡主题的挽歌和戏剧性的独白和民谣。霍普金斯在听到蹄铁匠去世的消息时描绘了自己：