《雨巷》是戴望舒的成名作，講述了一位徘徊於悠長、狹窄、陰沉的雨巷的獨行者，期待碰到一位像丁香一樣結著愁怨的姑娘，然最終卻與之擦肩而過，給人留下了朦朧幽深的印象，反映了詩人迷茫感傷又充滿希望的心境。該詩寫於1927年。創作背景是當時中國社會正經歷了黑暗的時刻，反動派對革命者實行血腥屠殺，發生了『四·一二』大屠殺事件，年僅22歲的詩人，投身革命而被捕，面對全國的白色恐怖，詩人陷入了苦惱、彷徨、迷茫。故《雨巷》被一些學者認為是當時黑暗社會現實和理想幻滅的縮影。當然隨著時代的變遷，在和平年代，這種作者『意圖論』的解讀或許要讓位於『愛情』追求視角的解讀。或許詩中所描寫的男女主角情形在小編看來，可以歸結為『迷倒萬千少女心，迷茫阡陌少年郎』。
戴望舒的詩風大抵上還是帶有中國古典詩詞的中婉約、清麗的韻致，然其又深受十九世紀末法國詩歌中崛起的象徵主義的詩歌創作影響（法國象徵派詩人通常通過憤世嫉俗、頹廢的方式去反抗資本主義的秩序），故其詩歌中通常採用一些暗示隱喻等修辭手法表現內心對社會的瞬間情感，時不時帶著一股憂鬱、消沉、孤獨之感。此外，該詩還吸取了西方詩歌中的一些技法，比如語言復沓，音韻反覆，來強化全詩的音樂性和抒情色彩，讓人聽起來悅耳、和諧。故該詩發表於《小說月報》第19卷第8號時，其編輯葉紹鈞對《雨巷》給予高度評價：《雨巷》『替新詩底音節開了一個新紀元』。卞之琳在《戴望舒詩集》的序中也褒中帶貶地評價說：』《雨巷》讀起來好像舊詩名句「丁香空結雨中愁」的現代白話版的擴充或者稀釋。一種迴蕩的旋律和一種流暢的節奏，確乎在每節六行，各行長短不一，大體在一定間隔重複一個韻的七節詩裡，貫徹始終。用慣了的意象和用濫了的詞藻，卻使這首詩的成功顯得淺易、浮泛。' 還有朱湘給戴望舒的信中亦指出《雨巷》與西方作品和唐詩的共同之處，認為『《雨巷》在音節上完美無疵』，與美國詩人 Edgar Allan Poe的詩『Annabel Lee』有著『異曲同工』之妙，『在音節上，比起唐人的長短句來，實在毫無遜色』。總體上，《雨巷》是一首佳作。
以下選取楊憲益、戴乃迭、唐正秋、丁祖馨以及朱曼華翻譯的英文版本，看看英文如何表述詩中多次出現的「彷徨」。
中文原詩
雨巷
戴望舒 作
一
撐著油紙傘，獨自
彷徨在悠長、悠長
又寂寥的雨巷，
我希望逢著
一個丁香一樣地
結著愁怨的姑娘。
她是有
丁香一樣的顏色，
丁香一樣的芬芳，
丁香一樣的憂愁，
在雨中哀怨，
哀怨又彷徨；
二
她彷徨在寂寥的雨巷，
撐著油紙傘
像我一樣，
像我一樣地
默默踟躇著
冷漠，悽清，又惆悵。
她默默地走近，
走近，又投出
太息一般的眼光
她飄過
像夢一般地，
像夢一般地悽婉迷茫。
三
像夢中飄過
一枝丁香地，
我身旁飄過這個女郎；
她靜默地遠了，遠了，
到了頹圮的籬牆，
走盡這雨巷。
在雨的哀曲裡，
消了她的顏色，
散了她的芬芳，
消散了，甚至她的
太息般的眼光
丁香般的惆悵。
四
撐著油紙傘，獨自
彷徨在悠長、悠長
又寂寥的雨巷，
我希望飄過
一個丁香一樣地
結著愁怨的姑娘。
英文譯本一
A Lane in the Rain
Dai Wangshu
楊憲益、戴乃迭 譯
Alone holding an oil-paper umbrella,
I wander along a long
Solitary lane in the rain,
Hoping to encounter
A girl like a bouquet of lilacs
Gnawed by anxiety and resentment.
A girl
The colour of lilacs,
The fragrance of lilacs,
With the worries of lilacs,
Feeling melancholy in the rain,
Plaintive and hesitating.
She wanders along the solitary lane in the rain,
Holding an oil-paper umbrella
Just as I do,
Just like me,
Walking slowly in silence,
Aloof, sad and melancholy.
Silently she comes closer,
Closer, giving me
A glance like a sigh;
Then she floats past
Like a dream,
Dreary and blank like a dream.
Like a lilac
Floating past in a dream,
the girl floats past me;
Silently she goes further and further,
To the crumbling wall,
Out of the lane in the rain.
In the mournful melody of the rain,
Her colour has faded,
Her fragrance has disappeared,
Vanished into the void;
Even her glance like a sigh,
Melancholy like lilacs.
Alone, holding an oil-paper umbrella,
I wander along a long
Solitary lane in the rain,
Hoping to pass
A girl like a bouquet of lilacs
Gnawed by anxiety and resentment.
英文譯本二
The Alley in the Rain
Dai Wangshu
唐正秋 譯
Holding an umbrella, I’m alone
Wandering about the long, long,
Lonely alley in the rain,
Hoping to encounter
A girl who bears her melancholy
Like a lilac flower.
She has
The color of a lilac,
The fragrance of a lilac,
And the melancholy of a lilac.
She looks sorrowful in the rain,
Sorrowful and depressed.
She paces the lonely alley,
Holding an umbrella,
Like me,
Just like me –
Walking quietly and slowly
In coldness, solitude and melancholy.
Quietly she comes close,
Close to me and casts
A glance, like a sigh.
She drifts away
Like a dream–
So dreary and deep.
Like a lilac flower drifting by
In a dream,
The girl passes by me;
Quietly she is walking away and away,
To a broken hedge,
To the end of the alley in the rain.
In the plaintive tune of the rain
Her color fades,
Her fragrance disappears,
So do her sighing glance
And lilac-like melancholy.
Holding an umbrella, I’m alone
Wandering about the long, long,
Lonely alley in the rain,
Hoping to see passing by
A girl who bears her melancholy
Like a lilac flower.
英文譯本三
Rainy Alley
Dai Wangshu
丁祖馨 譯
Holding a light umbrella
I walk back and forth alone
In a silent, rainy alley,
A long, an endlessly long alley,
Hoping to meet
A girl as sweet, as blue
As the lilac bud that knits her brows.
As graceful as lilac,
As fragrant as lilac,
As sad as lilac:
Back and forth she walks,
Worried in the rain,
Sad in the rain.
Holding a light umbrella
Back and forth she walks, and walks,
In this silent, rainy alley,
As I pace and plod,
Silent, alone,
Wearing my solitude, my sadness and pain.
Quietly she walks close by me,
Then closer, then closer,
Casting a glance
As if of a sign,
She floats on by me
Plaintive as a dream,
A hazy dream,
A sad dream.
As if what flies by me
Is a branch of lilac in a dream,
The girl flits by me
In silence, in a distance
More distant, more distant,
Floats to a ruined wattled wall
At the end of this rainy alley.
And her roselike color fades,
Her sweet, sweet fragrance fades,
To the sad tune of the rain.
Her glance disappears, her sign disappears,
Her lilac-like sadness.
Holding a light umbrella
I walk back and forth alone
In a silent, rainy alley,
A long, an endlessly long alley,
Hoping to meet
A girl as sweet, as blue
As the lilac bud that knits her brows.
英文譯本四
Rain Lane
Dai Wangshu
朱曼華 譯
My umbrella being unfolded on,
Along the lane, narrow but long,
Alone I was wandering down.
I longed to meet
A bitter lilac-like girl,
She’s in resentful sorrow.
She was such a girl:
In lilac-like color,
With lilac-like smell,
She behaves in the lilac-like gloomy style.
She was sad in raining,
Walking back and forth, walking...
Walking down the lonely lane.
She upheld the umbrella-shaft
As I did,
As I did along the narrow lane.
To be silent,
Lonely, melancholy, indifferent.
In silence she was approaching,
On and on, approaching,
Glancing and glancing.
She’s passing by my side gently.
I could see her as if dreaming of fancy.
Leaving me coldly, she looks vast and hazy.
Like a lilac floating lightly,
Into my dream is the lady.
Gently passing by me,
Far, far away, she was vanishing silently,
To the end of the narrow way,
In which a ruined fence lay.
Her sad rainy song,
Or her pale face with her feeling down,
Her fragrance was not strong.
Even her sighing eyesight
Not so bright, but disconsolate.
Unfolding my umbrella, alone
The lonesome rain-lane long, long,
I wandered on, feeling down.
I longed to see a lilac girl,
Gently on her go,
She’s in resentful sorrow.
（來源：中國文化譯研網，編輯：Helen）