My Father Moved Through Dooms of Love


主題(Theme)
       

        本詩的主題實即最末一行所說的: "love is the whole and  more than all." 我父以其愛心,賬貧濟饑,撫慰悲傷者和失意者。愛心使他察覺他人的痛苦,也使他面對這勾心鬥角的世界。他因深愛人生,故能及時行樂。他的一喜一怒,都走出乎「愛」,因而顯得真切,我父的一生,實可光用「愛」字總括。對他而言,「愛」是超越一切的。

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結構(Structure)
       

        這首詩每節都是四行。整首詩十七節,六十八行,共分四部分,每部份皆以句點標明,除第一部份外,其餘每部分開頭第一個字的第一個字母多為大寫。1-4節為第一部分;5-8節為第二部分;9-12節為第三部份;13-17節為第四部分。每部分的基本結構多為 my father through . . . singing,雖然這並非一成不變。且看各部分開頭一節,就可明白以上所說的特色:

第一部分 (第一節,1-4)
my father moved through dooms of love
through sames of am through haves of give,
singing each morning out of each night
moved through depths of height


第二部分 (第五節,17-20)
Lifting the valleys of the sea
my father moved through griefs of joy;
praising a forehead called the moon
singing desire into begin


第三部分 (第九節,33-36)
Scorning the pomp of must and shall
my father moved through dooms of feel;
his anger was as green as rain
his pity was as green as grain


第四部分 (第十三節,49一52)
my father moved throgh theys of we,
singing each new Ieaf out of each tree
(and every child was sure thats pring
danced when she heard my father sing)


                第一部分的開頭"my"並沒有大寫,但這並無關緊要,因為它的前頭並無詩行,不會搞亂。除了第三部分而外,其餘各部分的基本結構皆為 my father moved through . . . singing。關於標點符號的運用最宜注意的是本詩最末一行"love is the whole and more than all" 沒有標上句點,這或許是隱指我父的愛 無涯無盡之故。
       

        大致說來,這首詩多以抑揚格四音步 (iambic tetrameter) 寫成。每兩行押韻 (pcouplet,對句)。但多為不完全韻 ( imperfect rhyme),如: lovegive (1-2);where和here (5-6);whichtouch(9-10)等等。

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