当代美国印第安诗歌中的动物形象

On the Animal Images in Contemporary American Indian Poetry

当代美国印第安诗歌中栖息着形形色色的动物形象。它们是诗人歌唱的对象,同时也昭示出当代印第安人承袭印第安传统文化的精神信仰和生活态度。本文聚焦于当代印第安诗歌作品中两类具有代表性的动物形象——强悍狂野的熊和亦正亦邪的郊狼,探讨当代印第安诗人们如何通过这两类动物形象,传达出印第安人对生命、对自然、对宇宙的独特理解,咏唱出一曲曲关于生命的诗性赞歌。

Animal images are frequently seen in contemporary American Indian poetry. They are eulogized by contemporary American Indian poets and reveal the belief and attitude inherited from traditional American Indian culture by these poets in the meantime. Focusing upon two categories of typical animal images in contemporary American Indian poetry the powerful and unruly bear and the paradoxical coyote, this article explores how contemporary American Indian poets, by way of portraying these animal images, advocate the unique American Indian understanding of life, nature and cosmos, while chanting a great many psalms of life.