【赏析】Bryant: to a Waterfowl

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To a Waterfowl

诗歌共8节(stanza), 每节的尾韵是第一行同第三行，第二行同第四行。每节第一行六个音节，第二行十个（有例外），第三行十个，第四行六个。

   Whither, 'midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
      Thy solitary way?

可读作：Whither does thou pursue thy solitary way, far, through their rosy depths, 'midst falling dew, while the heavens glow with the last steps of day.

第一节是诗人对水鸟问话，映照To a Waterfowl。交代了水鸟在天空孤飞的时间，应该向晚时分，那时夕阳西下，露水初零，晚霞满天，白昼即将离去。last steps of day，应该是从傍晚到黄昏再到薄暮冥冥、暮色笼罩再到彻底天黑，变幻着天空。第三行的their rosy depths，指的是晚霞（红霞）随着日落，在天空深深浅浅，西天的晚霞要红艳些。their指的是the heavens.

     Vainly the fowler's eye
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
      Thy figure floats along.

捕鸟人是谁？第二行用了mark表示射击时瞄准目标，可能是用eye而不是eyes的原因，除去eye和sky押韵的考虑。第三行把水鸟的飞行写成了darkly painted on the crimson sky，如何理解？其中darkly是水鸟羽毛的颜色，crimson是晚霞的颜色，crimson sky不仅是水鸟的背景。Painted用得最妙，paint是“描绘”之义，如果描摹，会在纸上留下痕迹，而水鸟却不曾在飞过的天空留下影迹。这说明水鸟飞得很慢，盘旋踯躅，映照floats.

     Seek'st thou the plashy brink
Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
      On the chafed ocean side?

毕竟是水鸟，寻找自己的水域和家园，——lake, river, ocean，从小到大，从内地到海洋，从淡水到咸水。Waterfowl多在淡水活动。

Brink, marge和(ocean) side说水鸟在寻找湖岸、江岸和海岸。

The plashy brink of weedy lake, plashy: marshy; wet. 湖中水草丛生，湖岸湿软。

Rocking billows rise and sink on the chafed ocean side: rocking是说海涛来回涌动，rise and sink说海涛此起彼伏，chafed ocean side说海浪撞击海岸（或岩石，或海堤等），chafe的意思是1 Become or make sore by or as if by rubbing 2 Feel extreme irritation or anger。Chafed在这里既可以表示海浪不断地冲刷海岸，海岸不堪其烦，又可把海岸拟人化，意为被激怒。

      There is a Power whose care
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,--
The desert and illimitable air,--
       Lone wandering, but not lost.

Power是造化和上苍，这里有了宗教色彩和说教的意味，说上苍能让水鸟不会迷途。Pathless用得很有意思，因为人类才需要path, pathless（无人迹）岂不是表明了海岸从来没有人来过？或者有人来过，海水把道路冲掉了，只留下the desert and illimitable air?

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All day thy wings have fann'd
At that far height, the cold thin atmosphere:
Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,
      Though the dark night is near.

白天(all day)遨游，晚上就要回巢。

Cold thin atmosphere和the welcome land比对。Stoop一词，既有向下俯冲之义，又有屈尊下顾（condescend）之义。Welcome land: land that welcome with pleasure.

     And soon that toil shall end,
Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,
And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend
      Soon o'er thy sheltered nest.

一派祥和的感觉！Thy fellows和reeds都是同伴。Sheltered nest可能对比风餐露宿的劳顿之苦，也可能映射为猎人捕捉的危险。

Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven
Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given,
      And shall not soon depart.

abyss: An unfathomable chasm; a yawning gulf. 深渊

The abyss of heave（天空的深渊）怎么理解？abyss本来是深渊，和zenith, acme, summit和pinnacle意思相对，既然是heaven，诗人为什么不选择这些和顶点有关的词汇呢？因为后面的swallow up（吞没），只有abyss才能吞没。但abyss形容天空毕竟是少见的。可以这么理解，深渊是深不见底的，天空也是深不见底的。

Sink: 理解。正常语序是the lesson thou hast given hath deeply sunk on my heart. Shall not soon depart的主语也是the lesson.

如王菲的《彼岸花》：看见的，熄灭了；消失的，记住了。

The lesson就是最后一节。

    He, who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
      Will lead my steps aright.

最后一节让人想到Emerson的Rhodora的The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.  Emerson和Bryant同样选择了Power一词。上苍指引水鸟，也会指引独行的诗人。这里可以看做是诗人的安慰或释怀，也许在别人看来可能是说教。

结语：说实话，我并没有体会到这首诗里关于生命和死亡的渲染，而是觉得这首诗的主题是独处和相处的纠结，理想与现实和解，这个和解人是自然。关于生命和死亡的，见他的Thanatopsis.

1815

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