When We Two Parted
当我俩分手时

When We Two Parted is a lyric poem by Lord Byron, an English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic Movement. It is made up of four octets. The concept at the end of each of the first three stanzas is carried over into the first two lines of the following stanza, linking the poem's content together across the stanza breaks to unify the author's sense of sorrow at the loss of his beloved.
《当我俩分手时》是英国浪漫主义运动的领军诗人拜伦勋爵的一首抒情诗。全诗共四节，每节有八行。前三节末尾的主题，都会出现在下一节的前两行中。这样精心的安排贯穿全诗，表达了诗人失去至爱后自始至终的悲痛心情。

The poem was first published in 1816, but Byron falsely attributed its writing to 1808 in order to protect the identity of its subject, Lady Frances Webster. Many scholars believe the poem to have actually been written in 1816, when Lady Frances was linked to the Duke of Wellington in a scandalous relationship. The poem is highly autobiographical in that it recounts Byron's emotional state following the end of his secret affair with Lady Frances and his frustration at her unfaithfulness to him with the Duke.
该诗首次发表于1816年，但是拜伦为了保护诗中弗朗西斯·韦伯斯特夫人的身份，故意说该诗写于1808年。许多学者认为，1816年弗朗西斯夫人和惠灵顿公爵闹出绯闻正是该诗创作的背景。该诗的自传性质在于，弗朗西斯夫人因为转投公爵怀抱而结束和拜伦的私情，拜伦因此在诗中描写了自己的心理活动以及沮丧之情。

The poem begins with the bleak tone of despair which will characterize the entire work. Immediately the reader is introduced to the speaker's “silence and tears” upon the breakup. He ends the poem predicting his reaction at some future meeting years later: how would he greet her？ Again there would be silence, but also sadness. The repetition of “silence and tears” at the beginning and end of the poem denotes the poet's inability to leave his moment of pain behind. He is trapped in a state of grieving a lost love. It is all the more hurtful that he lost her to another man and all he can offer her is that he will protect her identity by grieving alone.
诗中开篇即以悲寥的笔触破题统领全诗，紧接着叙述者带领读者感受这次分手带来的“沉默与泪水”。诗末叙述者预测多年以后两人再会时的场景，他又该如何面对她呢？或许除了沉默，剩下的只有悲伤。“沉默与泪水”的首尾呼应表达诗人无法摆脱痛苦的心境，他只能深陷悲伤，为逝去的挚爱追悼。更令人悲痛的是，他在这场爱情战争中败给了另一个男人，而他能做的，唯有暗自舔舐伤口，缄默其口，不让人知道“她”是谁。