資料彙整   /   作家  /  Emily  Dickinson  愛蜜麗•狄更森  /  作品
A Bird Come Down the Walk
作者Author  /  Emily  Dickinson  愛蜜麗•狄更森

A Bird Come Down the Walk

 Poem 328
 
 

A bird come down the walk:

 

He did not know l saw;

 

He bit an angle--worm in halves

 

And ate the fellow, raw.

 

And then he drank a dew

5 

From a convenient grass,

 

And then hopped sidewise to the wall

 

To let a beetle pass

 

He danced with rapid eyes

 

That hurried all around--

10

That looked like frightened beads, I thought

 

He stirred his velvet head

 

Like one in danger; cautious,

 

I offered him a crumb,

 

And he unrolled his feathers

15

And rowed him softer home

 

Than oars divide the ocean,

 

Too silver for a seam,

 

Or butterflies off banks of noon,

 

Leap, splash less, as they swim.

20

 
   
Annotation
 

Line

Word or phrase

Annotation

1

walk:

小徑

3

bit an angle--worm in halves

將蚯蚓咬成兩半

4

fellow

伙」,顆示她與大自然之蟲獸草木
相近熟稔。

 

raw

生的,指鳥生吞蚯蚓。

5

dew

原應作a drop of dew或 the
dew,因dew係一不可數名詞。

6

a convenient grass

原應作a blade of convenient
grass或convenient grass,
與上註情形相同。Convenient近
便,就近。

7

hopped sidewise

向一邊跳。

9-10

rapid eyes/ That hurried 

指小鳥有所警惕,因此眼睛向四處
張望。

11

frightened beads,

傖慌的珠子。Dickinson慣以日
常家居、人人熟悉的意象描寫大自
然,此處將鳥的眼睛視為珠子即為
一例。

12

velvet head

天鵝絨的頭,形容小鳥滿頭茸毛。

13

Like one in danger

如同身處險境的人(或動物)。此
片語修飾第十二行的動詞。Dickinson的詩固然維持工整的段
(stanza)的單元,但兩段之間意
義卻經常打成一片,無法加以嚴格
分剖。本詩之第四段與第五段即為
一例。

 

cautious

小心翼翼。修飾下一行之"I"

14

crumb

麵包屑,餅屑。

15

unrolled his feathers

攤他的羽翼(如打開卷軸或包
袱)。Dickinson使用日常意象另
一例,似有親切可喜的效果。

16

rowed him 

此地him原應作himself,指鳥
本身。

 

softer

more softly

16-17

And rowed...ocean

=And rowed himself home
more sof
tly than oars divide
the ocean

17

divide 

分畫,指船漿划過留下一道波浪。
宛若將海洋切分為二。當然比處之
船漿與鳥翅相形之下,後者較為輕盈

18

Too silver for a seam

指海洋,天空一派銀白,而烏過處體態輕盈
,因此不留任何痕跡,也
就是「天衣無縫」的意思。

19

Or butterflies off banks of noon

=or than butterflies‥.noon

 

banks of noon

指鳥飛之輕逸遠勝船槳或蝴蝶。

20

splash less

正午的堤岸。天空被喻為海洋而蝴蝶泳其中。

 

 

splash less,指姿態優美,不濺起任何浪花。

 
   
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