33267
In a poem named 「[生きる](http://zawameki.org/poem/poem2.html)」 by 谷川俊太郎, the
poet described "to live" with many instances.

In the instances put forward in the penultimate stanza, the poet put 「が」 after
the subjects, such as in 「犬 **が** 吠える」, 「地球 **が** 廻っている」, etc.

However, in the final stanza, the poet started to use the topic marker 「は」,
such as in 「鳥 **は** はばたく」 and 「海 **は** とどろく」.

I wonder what made the poet choose to use 「が」 in one stanza but 「は」 in
another, and what effect that has brought about.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-31T09:32:52.720
33264
2017-05-02T16:13:32.493
2017-05-02T16:13:32.493
5346
5346
question
は-and-が
On the usage of 「は」 and 「が」 in a poem by 谷川俊太郎
は can be used to describe the general feature of something, while が does not
have such a nuance.

  * りんごは赤い。 Apples are red. (as the general fact)
  * りんごが赤い。 This (specific) apple looks red.
  * 鳥は飛ぶ。 Birds (can) fly. (as the general fact)
  * 鳥が飛んでいる。 A (certain) bird is flying.

Let's take a look at the third stanza. See that いま is always used with が?
Here, the poet is _not_ trying to explain the general facts about something.
He is saying a certain soldier is wounded somewhere in this moment, a certain
dog is now barking somewhere, the earth is now rotating, etc. 「いま兵士は傷つく」
sounds odd because he has not introduced any soldier into "the universe of
discourse" before that line, and a soldier is not something that is always
wounded.

In the final stanza, the poet is presenting 鳥ははばたく, 人は愛する, etc., as the
general facts which are always true.

In other words, the third stanza is saying "Many things are now randomly
happening in this world, and that is what 生きる means." The final stanza is
saying something more abstract and philosophical... "Every truth in this world
is 生きる" or something like that.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-31T11:16:53.057
33267
2016-03-31T11:16:53.057
5010
33264
answer