西默斯·希尼的诗《挖掘》是诗人职业生涯开始的象征。表面看来,《挖掘》似一首叙事诗,以细致入微的笔触描写了作者的父亲和祖父在地里挖掘土豆和泥炭的生活片段。希尼截取父亲、祖父和自己生活的三个场景,讴歌了祖辈无怨劳作的伟大传统。在诗人看来,他的父亲和祖父选择了劳作作为自己的生存之道,同时也以劳作的方式创造了自己平凡而有意义的生活。田间劳作固然艰辛,但他们从未后悔自己的选择,而是坚持“一直向下,向下挖掘”。作为新一代的知识青年,希尼没有对先辈的劳作表示反感,相反,从他们简单纯朴的生活态度中,诗人领悟到一种人生的真理:必须坚持自己的选择,执着于自己的理想。田间劳作是一种前人古老的传统,在某种意义上是过去,是历史。作者摒弃的是一种传统的生活方式,但秉承和发扬的是一种传统的精神——对理想的执着追求。 Simmons Sinny’s poem “Digging” is a symbol of the beginning of a poet’s career. On the surface, “digging” resembles a narrative poem, with meticulous brushwork depicting the author’s father and grandfather digging the fragments of potatoes and peat life in the field. Shini intercepted the three scenes of his father, his grandfather and his own life and sang the great tradition of unrelenting work by his grandparents. To the poet, his father and grandfather chose labor as their own way of survival, and at the same time, created their ordinary and meaningful life in the form of labor. Hard work in the field is hard, but they never regret their choice, but insisted that “keep digging down.” As a new generation of intellectual youth, Shinni did not express his dislike for the work of his predecessors. On the contrary, from their simple and straight-forward attitude to life, the poet realized a truth of life: he must stick to his own choices and cling to his own ideals. Field work is an ancient tradition of our predecessors, in a sense, the past is history. What the author abandons is a traditional way of life, but what adheres to and develops is a traditional spirit - the persistent pursuit of ideal.