酷我-北美枫

[星子]

Provisions


What should we have taken
with us? We never could decide
on that; or what to wear,
or at what time of
year we should make the journey

So here we are in thin
raincoats and rubber boots

On the disastrous ice, the wind rising

Nothing in our pockets

But a pencil stub, two oranges
Four Toronto streetcar tickets

and an elastic band holding a bundle
of small white filing cards
printed with important facts.

Margaret Atwood
_________________

[[ANNA]]

Provisions


What should we have taken
with us? We never could decide
on that; or what to wear,
or at what time of
year we should make the journey

So here we are in thin
raincoats and rubber boots

On the disastrous ice, the wind rising

Nothing in our pockets

But a pencil stub, two oranges
Four Toronto streetcar tickets

and an elastic band holding a bundle
of small white filing cards
printed with important facts.

Margaret Atwood
_________________

[星子]

I like this poem. I am reading her book "The dancing girls".

I just read the first one: the bathroom war (a very short novel) and I am confused... I don't know why she write this and what the meaning....

I would like anyone here to share his comments too...
_________________

[[ANNA]]

I like this poem. I am reading her book "The dancing girls".

I just read the first one: the bathroom war (a very short novel) and I am confused... I don't know why she write this and what the meaning....

I would like anyone here to share his comments too...
_________________

[ericcoliu]

Margaret Atwood’s Provisions is a poetic illustration of the main theme in her groundbreaking book, Survival, which explores the motif of Canadian characters as survivors with victim mentalities.

Our survival in the face of life threatening disaster (So here we are in thin/raincoats and rubber boots/ On the disastrous ice, the wind rising/Nothing in our pockets) relies on "a bundle of small white filing cards printed with important facts":


7 Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?
8 No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.

-- NIV Bible, The Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 8, verses 7-8, 15
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

Margaret Atwood’s Provisions is a poetic illustration of the main theme in her groundbreaking book, Survival, which explores the motif of Canadian characters as survivors with victim mentalities.

Our survival in the face of life threatening disaster (So here we are in thin/raincoats and rubber boots/ On the disastrous ice, the wind rising/Nothing in our pockets) relies on "a bundle of small white filing cards printed with important facts":


7 Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?
8 No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.

-- NIV Bible, The Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 8, verses 7-8, 15
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[星子]

Hi Eric,

Thank you very much. Great introduction.


Could u also read her book " Dancing girls". I read the first one and I am confused what exactly she wanted to tell....
_________________

[[ANNA]]

Hi Eric,

Thank you very much. Great introduction.


Could u also read her book " Dancing girls". I read the first one and I am confused what exactly she wanted to tell....
_________________

[ericcoliu]

The War in the Bathroom is a story more about a battle within the troubling mind of the "I" than "the war in the bathroom," a skilfully-written skit on rationalism, somewhat following in the spirit of the 1960s and the Freudian scheme of the psyche.

Confusions possibly arises from

a) verb tenses, which are tightly related to one's understanding of b)
b) narrative perspective(s)
c) the numbers of characters.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

The War in the Bathroom is a story more about a battle within the troubling mind of the "I" than "the war in the bathroom," a skilfully-written skit on rationalism, somewhat following in the spirit of the 1960s and the Freudian scheme of the psyche.

Confusions possibly arises from

a) verb tenses, which are tightly related to one's understanding of b)
b) narrative perspective(s)
c) the numbers of characters.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[Champagne]

Margaret Atwood is very sensitive to Canadian perception of event.

There is a dry humour in Provisions with its figure of urban researchers in “thin raincoats and rubber boots/On the disastrous ice” armed only with “a bundle/ of small white filing cards/printed with important facts.”
_________________
I'm Champagne,
Bottled poetry with sparkling joy.

[[Champagne]]

Margaret Atwood is very sensitive to Canadian perception of event.

There is a dry humour in Provisions with its figure of urban researchers in “thin raincoats and rubber boots/On the disastrous ice” armed only with “a bundle/ of small white filing cards/printed with important facts.”
_________________
I'm Champagne,
Bottled poetry with sparkling joy.

[唐夫]

这样！

[[唐夫]]

这样！

[星子]

要干什么

似乎翻译不妥? here is "take with..."


This poem has its depth which makes the translation more difficult.
_________________

[[ANNA]]

要干什么

似乎翻译不妥? here is "take with..."


This poem has its depth which makes the translation more difficult.
_________________

[Champagne]

[[Champagne]]

[唐夫]

弄斧嘛，不当真的。对不起，你不喜欢就删除。
_________________
语言是电，诗歌是雷。

[[唐夫]]

弄斧嘛，不当真的。对不起，你不喜欢就删除。
_________________
语言是电，诗歌是雷。

[anna]

[[星子安娜]]