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Muhammad Ali spent years training to become the greatest boxer the world had ever seen,
穆罕默德·阿里花费数年时间训练，最终成为了世界上最伟大的拳击手，
but only moments to create the shortest poem.
但他只用了很少的时间，创造出了最短的诗。
Ali captivated Harvard's graduating class in 1975 with his message of unity and friendship.
1975年，阿里在哈佛毕业典礼上演讲，演讲以团结和友谊为主题。
When he finished, the audience wanted more. They wanted a poem.
演讲之后，观众仍不肯让阿里结束。希望他可以做一首诗。
Ali delivered what is considered the shortest poem ever.
于是，阿里作出了目前最短的诗。
'Me, we.' Or is it 'me, weeee'? No one's really sure.
“我，我们。”或者是“我，哦耶？”没人能完全肯定。
Regardless, if these two words are a poem, then what exactly makes a poem a poem?
不管怎样，如果两个词即可成诗，那到底什么才叫做诗呢？
Poets themselves have struggled with this question, often using metaphors to approximate a definition.
诗人自己也对这个问题很头疼，人们通常使用比喻去给出答案。
Is a poem a little machine? A firework? An echo? A dream?
诗歌是一台小型的机器吗？是烟火吗？是回声吗？抑或是一个梦吗？
Poetry generally has certain recognizable characteristics.
诗歌通常具有可辨识的特点。
One -- poems emphasize language's musical qualities.
第一，诗歌通常侧重于语言的音乐属性。
This can be achieved through rhyme, rhythm, and meter,
这可以通过使用押韵、节奏、格律实现，
from the sonnets of Shakepeare, to the odes of Confucius, to the Sanskrit Vedas.
从莎士比亚的十四行诗，到孔子的颂诗，再到梵语都有此特点。
Two -- poems use condensed language, like literature with all the water wrung out of it.
第二，诗歌使用凝练的语言，这仿佛是去掉文学作品中的水分。
Three -- poems often feature intense feelings, from Rumi's spiritual poetry to Pablo Neruda's 'Ode to an Onion.'
第三，诗歌通常表达激烈的情感，例如Rumi的宗教诗歌，Pablo Neruda的“赞洋葱”。
Poetry, like art itself, has a way of challenging simple definitions.
诗歌，与艺术一样，挑战着简单的概念和定义。
While the rhythmic patterns of the earliest poems were a way to remember stories even before the advent of writing,
在发明书写之前，早期诗歌的节奏模式是为了让人们更好的记住故事，
a poem doesn't need to be lyrical.
但诗歌不总是抒发情感的。
Reinhard Dohl's "Apfel" and Eugen Gomringer's 'silencio' toe the line between visual art and poetry.
Reinhard Dohl的“苹果”，Eugen Gomringer的具象诗，同时体现出了诗歌与视觉艺术。
Meanwhile, E.E. Cummings wrote poems whose shapes were as important as the words themselves,
在E.E. Cummings的诗中，形式与文字同样重要，
in this case amplifying the sad loneliness of a single leaf falling through space.
在这种情况下，悲伤孤独可以通过一片落叶来展现。
If the visual nature of poetry faded into the background,
如果诗歌的视觉特征消失，
perhaps we'd be left with music, and that's an area that people love to debate. Are songs poems?
也许我们还需要考虑音乐这种形式，这也是人们所热衷讨论的话题。一首歌能算是一首诗吗？
Many don't regard songwriters as poets in a literary sense,
在文学的层面，很多人并不认为词作者是诗人，
but lyrics from artists like Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, and Tupac Shakur often hold up even without the music.
但是一些艺术家所写的歌词，例如Paul Simon，Bob Dylan，以及Tupac Shakur，他们的歌词即便没有配乐也是非常出色的。
In rap, poet elements like rhyme, rhythm, and imagery are inseparable from the form.
在说唱中，诗歌所包含的元素例如韵脚、节奏和意象，也同样是必不可少的。
Take this lyric from the Notorious B.I.G.
以Notorious B.I.G的歌词举例来说。
'I can hear sweat trickling down your cheek. Your heartbeat sound like Sasquatch feet.
“我能听到汗水缓缓流下你的面颊，你的心跳如野兽的脚步，
Thundering, shaking the concrete.'
闪电，颤动着实体。”
So far, all the examples we've seen have had line breaks.
目前，我们所看到的诗歌都是分行的。
We can even imagine the two words of Ali's poem organizing in the air -- Me, We.
我们甚至可以想象拳王阿里的那只有两个词的诗，也能断成两部分--我，我们。
Poetry has a shape that we can usually recognize.
诗歌拥有可以一眼辨识的特点。
Its line breaks help readers navigate the rhythms of a poem.
它的分行使得读者可以确定诗歌的节奏。
But what if those line breaks disappeared? Would it lose its essence as a poem? Maybe not.
但如果分行消失了呢？诗歌会因此而失去其精华所在么？也许并不会。
Enter the prose poem. Prose poems use vivid images and wordplay but are formatted like paragraphs.
想象一下散文。它运用了生动的形象以及对文字的把玩，但是散文是以段落来划分的。
When we look at poetry less as a form and more as a concept, we can see the poetic all around us:
当我们将诗歌看成是一种概念而非形式时，我们可以发现诗歌随处可见：
spiritual hymns, the speeches of orators like Martin Luther King, Jr., JFK,
在圣歌中，在马丁·路德金、约翰·肯尼迪、
and Winston Churchill, and surprising places like social media.
温斯顿·丘吉尔的演讲中，甚至是在社交媒体中。
In 2010, journalist Joanna Smith tweeted updates from the earthquake in Haiti.
2010年，一名名叫Joanna Smith的记者发推特，介绍海地地震的情况，
'Was in b-room getting dressed when heard my name.
“在听到我的名字时，我正在B超室穿衣。
Tremor. Ran outside through sliding door. All still now. Safe. Roosters crowing.'
一阵震颤。我跑向推拉门冲到外面。现在，已然安全。而公鸡正在啼叫。”
Smith uses language in a way that is powerful, direct, and filled with vivid images.
这名记者使用简洁、有力的表达，语言生动，历历在目。
Compare her language to a haiku, the ancient Japanese poetic form that emphasizes bursts of brief intensity
如同日本俳句，这种日本传统诗歌简短有爆发力，
with just three lines of five, seven, and five syllables.
它仅有三行，遵循“五、七、五”的音节排列。
The waters of poetry run wide and deep.
诗歌的发展漫长且形式多变。
Poetry has evolved over time, and perhaps now more than ever, the line between poetry, prose, song, and visual art has blurred.
它也在不断地改变，今天，诗歌、散文、歌曲以及视觉艺术的界限愈发模糊。
However, one thing has not changed.
然而，始终没有改变的是一点。
The word poetry actually began in verb form, coming from the ancient Greek poiesis, which means to create.
诗歌一词本为动词，来源于古希腊语，意为创造。
Poets, like craftsman, still work with the raw materials of the world to forge new understandings
诗人如同工匠，面对着丰富的素材，用这些生活中的素材去创造新的见解，
and comment on what it is to be human in a way only humans can.
以仅有人类拥有的方式去定义人类。
Dartmouth researchers tested this idea by asking robots to pen poetry.
达特茅斯学院的研究者曾试验机器人能否写诗。
A panel of judges sorted through stacks of sonnets to see if they could distinguish those made by man and machine.
评审员们需要判断十四行诗中哪些由机器写出，哪些由人类写出。
You may be happy to know that while scientists have successfully used artificial intelligence in manufacturing, medicine, and even journalism,
你可能很乐见于，尽管科学家已经能够将人工智能使用在众多领域，例如制造业、制药业、甚至是在新闻业，
poetry is a different story. The robots were caught red-handed 100% of the time.
诗歌却不是它们所擅长的。机器人在这一领域仍未有任何胜算。
