不確定這句英文詩中的主詞是哪一個?

Question

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;

"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (1751)

請問第2句 ''And all the air a solemn stillness holds''是等於

1. and all the air holds a solemn stillness

2. And a solemn stillness holds all the air

也就是主詞是''all the air'' 還是 ''a solemn stillness''呢?

請解釋

謝謝

Answer 1

詩的解讀原本就充滿自由的想像, 不像散文那麼單純.

And all the air a solemn stillness holds.

(1)And all the air holds a solemn stillness.
四下充滿了凝重的寂靜.

(2)And a solemn stillness holds all the air.
莊嚴的寧靜(彷彿)凝滯了所有的空氣.

Take the line “And all the air a solemn stillness holds” from English poet Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. It is wonderfully ambiguous, capable of being interpreted as “all the air holds a solemn stillness” (where “all the air” is the subject) or “a solemn stillness holds all the air” (where “a solemn stillness” is the subject).

http://www.csb.gov.hk/hkgcsb/ol/news/no27/p03_8.pdf


2007-07-11 09:40:30 補充：
Thanks Kenny,
and you, too, Master. ^_^

Answer 2

贊助兩點聊表心意

Orz

Answer 3

主詞是 All the air, 這句詩為了壓韻的關係把動詞 holds 放到句尾去, 形成倒裝
原意是

And all the air "holds" a solemn stillness.