Chapter 28 The first to "try" new vernacular poetry

Hu Shi, like some other advocates of the literary revolution, not only advocated new literature in theory, but also tried to be a pioneer of new literature with his own creative practice.He made a wide range of bold experiments, and the first experiment was vernacular poetry. When "New Youth" first called for a literary revolution, the articles it contained were all in classical Chinese.The argumentative writings of Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, the creative novels of Su Manshu, and the translations of Chen Gu and Liu Bannong are all classical Chinese.Even Hu Shi's "Suggestions on Literary Reform" and Chen Duxiu's "On Literary Revolution" are relatively popular, but they are still in classical Chinese.Only Hu Shi's translated novels and poems were written in vernacular, and they were the earliest vernacular texts published in New Youth. ①

When Hu Shi tried to write vernacular poetry, he was still studying in the United States and arguing with his friends about the literary revolution.Once, he put forward the main point of the "revolution in the country of poetry", saying that "poems must be written like essays".The conservative Mei Guangdi didn't take it seriously.Another time, Hu Shi criticized Ren Shuyong's poems, saying that the characters "yan" and "zai" he used were dead characters three thousand years ago.Ren was very unconvinced, and Mei also came out to fight the injustice and opposed Hu's idea of ​​using vernacular poetry.So, Hu Shi made a joke with them, answering them with a game poem in vernacular.This poem has more than a thousand characters. Let us record a few lines in the middle for our experience:

Lao Mei complained, and Lao Hu laughed loudly. And please calm down, what kind of argument is this! There is no ancient or modern text, but life and death can be said. The ancients called it "desire", while today's people call it "want". The ancients called it "Zhi", and the modern people call it "Dao". ... ... ②This is Hu Shi's first experiment with vernacular prose written in vernacular, which cannot be regarded as "poetry"! Therefore, Ren Shuyong said that his experiment "was a complete failure"; Mei Guangdi sneered, saying, "Reading a masterpiece Just like listening to "Lotus Falling" when I was a child, it is really the so-called one who has destroyed the lives of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign poets"! The criticisms of the two are indeed justified, and Hu Shi himself admits that this is just a "doggerel" and a "game".But they overlooked one point, that is, Hu Shi's courage in trying to write poems in vernacular.

Their ridicule and opposition made Hu Shi even more determined to use the vernacular to conquer the fortress of poetry. However, it is easier said than done! Conquering the fortress of poetry and writing poems in vernacular is much more difficult than novels and operas! China is an ancient country of poetry.Old poetry is the most glorious department in the field of classical literature. There have been many golden ages of poetry and countless well-known poems.But its form and rhythm, after long-term transmission and training, have become more and more strict and cumbersome, and have become the shackles that restrain creation; in the eyes of ordinary literati, they have almost become unshakable golden rules.Some departments such as novels and operas in our country have produced many vernacular works. Although they are regarded as "small ways" and "sideways", some of them have been widely spread and have a high reputation; Poets occasionally write a few vernacular poems, and their achievements are far inferior to classical Chinese poems.

Because of this, although the old poetry has come to the end of the mountain, the territory of the country of poetry still seems sacred and inviolable.How many innovators are afraid of the fortress of old poetry.It's not easy to conquer it! But Hu Shi's determination is also great.From July 1916, he declared that he would no longer write poems in classical Chinese, and was determined to experiment with writing poems in vernacular.Moreover, the poem has not yet been written, and the title of the vernacular poetry collection that will be published in the future has also been selected in advance.That day, Hu Shi read Lu You's "Jiannan Poetry Draft", and read the last poem in the third volume, which was about the stone statue of Nengren Temple. The poem said:

Jiangge wants to open a thousand-foot elephant, and the scale of the cloud niche is first determined. The setting sun leans against the sky and sighs three times; the attempt has been successful since ancient times. ③ Fang Weng's poem probably has something else to say.But Hu Shi is an experimentalist, and of course he does not agree with the statement that "success in experimentation has never existed since ancient times".He wants to use Lu You's poems against Lu You's poems, and believes that "success has been trying since ancient times."Therefore, I borrowed the word "trial" from Fang Weng's poem, and pre-determined the title of my future collection of vernacular poems as "Trying Collection"; I also wrote a poem praising his "trialism", titled "Trying Pian ".There is a small preface before the poem, which says:

There is absolutely nothing in the world that can be achieved without trying, and there is nothing that can be predicted without trying. In ancient times, there were many people who talked big.Fang Weng himself once "won Songting Pass in his dream" every night, and talked about "will sweep Yanzhao with the king" every day.Whether he really has this kind of ability, if he has not tried, who will know? Isn't it just some big words on paper? Because I don't agree with Fang Weng's words, I used the word "try" as the name of my collection of vernacular poems, and wrote this poem again to express my attitude. ④

"Attempts" is entirely reasoned, promoting his experimental literary view. Although it is a vernacular, it has no poetic flavor at all: but "success has been trying since ancient times", "I hope everyone will try", this kind of attempt His spirit, his determination and his courage, are very good. Hu Shi also tasted a lot of joys and sorrows when he tried vernacular poetry.At first, he was single and had no comrades, so he inevitably felt lonely.One day, he was sitting in the window of his Columbia University dormitory, eating his own lunch and looking out the window.In the distance, the Hezhen River flows quietly; nearby is a vast jungle dotted with clusters of wild flowers.Suddenly, he saw a pair of yellow butterflies flying over from the top of the tree; after a while, one butterfly flew down and disappeared, the other flew alone for a while, then flew down quietly to find his companion.Hu Shi didn't realize that the wandering between spirit and things touched his lonely state of mind, so he wrote a small poem in vernacular titled "Something I See on the Window".Poetry goes:

Two yellow butterflies fly to the sky. I don't know why, but suddenly flew back. The one left is lonely and pitiful; I don't want to go to heaven, it's too lonely. ⑤ This is the true portrayal of Hu Shiwei's lonely and lonely state of mind when he was young.When he first wrote vernacular poems, not only did he have no comrades, but he was also opposed and ridiculed by his friends in the United States.After several battles with writing, Hu Shi felt that empty reasoning could not convince others, so he concentrated on "field experiments", intending to use his works to prove his proposition of writing poems in vernacular.After he composed several poems such as "Yellow Butterfly", "Trying", "He", and "Giving Jingnong", he was also praised by opposition parties such as Zhu Jingnong, Ren Shuyong, and Yang Xingfo.Not only did Zhu Jingnong no longer oppose vernacular poetry, but he also began to write vernacular poems himself, and he wanted to put up the "vernacular" signboard again.He sent Hu Shi a poem in vernacular, which says:

Composing poetry is like writing a letter, without drafting or checking the rhyme. ... ... If Jin Zhuang sees this kind of poem, he must blame Hu Shizhi. If you set a bad example, others will not follow suit. Please see this kind of vernacular, can you hang up the sign again? ⑥Although Jingnong's poems are not very poetic, and there are some bad lines in the middle, Hu Shi was very happy to see them, and finally reduced the opposition and won a Comrade, there is a saying in the answer to the poem: "It is very good to send vernacular poems, and I am very happy to read them."However, after all, there are too few comrades, and the standard of vernacular poetry is not high.Until 1918 and 1919, more and more people tried to write new poems.Hu Shi was naturally very happy.He said: "In the past two years, my friends Shen Yinmo, Liu Bannong, Zhou Yucai, Zhou Qiming, Fu Sinian, Yu Pingbo, and Kang Baiqing in Beijing, and Ms. Chen Hengzhe in the United States have all worked hard to write vernacular poems." The "Try Collection" that came out first made a preface. ⑧Hu Shi not only has many comrades, but also has bosom friends.He no longer felt lonely and lonely, and his new poems in vernacular became more and more vigorous, and his writing became more and more decent.

After trying for three full years, Hu Shi actually had dozens of vernacular poems, and a thick stack of poem manuscripts. In August 1919, he compiled a collection; in March of the following year, it was published by Shanghai Yadong Library.This is the first collection of vernacular poetry in the early days of my country's new literature - "Trying Collection". Opening "Experimental Collection", the poems in the first volume, although written in vernacular, are mostly "washed old poems", which have not yet broken free from the shackles of five-character and seven-character poems and Xiaoling's sentence rhythm, leaving behind the old The obvious scars of the traditional poetry.So Hu Shi himself used feet as a metaphor for poems many times, saying: Now when I look back at my poems in the past five years, I am like a woman whose feet have been bound and then magnified. Looking back at his shoe patterns year after year, although they are enlarged year after year, there are always It also carries the bloody smell of the foot-binding era. ⑨ "Trying Collection" pursues "liberation of poetic style" in terms of artistic form.However, those who come from the old camp have a difficult road to get rid of the shackles of the old form, and it is inevitable to produce some improved style poems that "put shoes on their feet".In the early stage of new poetry creation, Hu Shi was able to "magnify one year a year" in this way, persist in writing vernacular new poetry, the spirit and will of struggle are valuable, and played a role in opening the way for new poetry.From the second volume of "Experimental Collection", I gradually got rid of the smell and tone of old poems, lyrics and music, and wrote some real free style vernacular new poems.Such as "Old Crow": One day I got up early in the morning, standing in the corner of someone's house and crying hoarsely. People hate me and call me unlucky:—— I can't murmur to please others! The next day the cold wind was tight and there were no branches to live in. I flew back and forth all day, cold and hungry all day. —— I can't carry a sheath and fly for others, and I can't make others tie it to the end of a bamboo pole to earn a handful of yellow millet! Regardless of thought and art, this poem is a standard vernacular new poem.Many later poems, such as "A Star", "Authority", "Optimism", "Up the Mountain", "One Year", "A Star That Was Robbed", and the third volume "A Smile", "The Commoner" "School Song", "Song of the Unlettered Monument on the Tomb of the Four Martyrs", "Ghost Songs on the Double Tenth Festival" and other articles, the more free and natural they are; the content also expresses more about democracy and freedom, individual liberation and humanity. The spirit of doctrine presents a brand-new atmosphere completely different from the old poems. After the publication of "Try Collection", it was welcomed by readers and had a great influence on the lonely Chinese poetry circle at that time.There are many people who imitate "Hu Shi's style" and write poems.Only half a year later, "The Experimental Collection" was republished; 10,000 copies were sold in two years, which was considered a record-breaking at that time. In October 1922, the "Fourth Updated Edition" was published, which was "added and deleted by many hands", and basically became the final version of "Experimental Collection". The addition and deletion of "Experimental Collection" by many hands is a good story in the poetry circle of the May Fourth era.Hu Shi recorded himself: The matter of deleting poems began at the end of the ninth year of the Republic of China.At that time, I deleted it myself, and gave the leftover notebook to Ren Shuyong and Chen Shafei, asking them to delete it again.Later, it was sent to Mr. "Lu Xun" to be deleted again.At that time, Mr. Zhou Zuoren was ill in the hospital, and he also deleted it for me.Later when Yu Pingbo came to Beijing, I asked him to delete it again.After they deleted it, I carefully read it several times myself, and deleted a few more songs, but at the same time, I kept one or two songs that they advocated deleting.For example, "On the River", both "Lu Xun" and Ping Bo advocated deletion, but I was reluctant to delete it because the impression was too deep at that time.Another example is the poem "Li" (which was not included in the first edition and reprint), "Lu Xun" advocated deleting it. Although this poem is an argument, it is not an abstract argument, so I also kept it.Sometimes, we also have very different opinions.For example, Kang Baiqing wrote a letter saying that this poem is very good, and Ping Bo also said that he can save it; But I was still dissatisfied with this poem, so I deleted two sentences in the second edition, and deleted them all in the third edition. ⑩ There are six people who helped Hu Shi delete his poems.Between friends, teachers and students, they don't just blindly flatter, but state what they see, discuss and argue, and the relationship is quite sincere and intimate. Hu Shi's attempt at vernacular poetry was originally to promote vernacular poetry and to create a "revolution in the poetic world".Therefore, after trying for a while, he summed up the joys and sorrows of his attempt to create, and wrote special articles such as "Why I Do Vernacular Poems" and "Talking about New Poems", theoretically discussing the ways and experience of creating new vernacular poems.According to Mr. Zhu Ziqing, these propositions of Hu Shi’s about new poetry, “on the whole seem to be shared by the poets of New Youth; "Talking about New Poetry" has almost become the golden rule for the creation and criticism of poetry."Mr. Zhu's words also objectively reflect Hu Shi's important role and status in the early stage of new poetry creation and theoretical construction. Hu Shi wrote many poems in his life.But after all, his thinking and personality are more rational, lacking the quality of a poet, and his achievements in poetry are not high.His "Attempts Collection" takes "poetic liberation" as the main goal, and his eyes are too much confined to the form of words. Although he can see how to liberate himself from the old shackles, many vernacular poems are also written. Free and lively, fluent and fresh, with charm from time to time; but most of the poems are not high in realm, the structure is relatively narrow, lacking sincere and warm feelings, lacking depth and strength.Therefore, we are looking through the "Try Collection" today, probably for a little historical interest.As my country's first collection of vernacular new poetry, its historical value in the development of new poetry seems to be higher than its own ideological and artistic value. This evaluation may be more objective and fair. ① Hu Shi's earliest article published in "New Youth" was a translation of the Russian Tailai Xia Fu's short story "Duel", contained in Volume 2, No. 1.This work is translated in vernacular, and it is also the earliest vernacular text to appear in "New Youth".Volume 2, No. 6 published Hu Shi's eight vernacular poems, namely (), "Gift to Zhu Jingnong", three poems "Moon", "He", "On the River", and "Kongqiu". ② "A Vernacular Poem in Reply to Mei Jinzhuang", see "Zanghuishi Notes", Shanghai Yadong Library, 1936 edition, Volume 14, pages 965-974, the whole poem consists of five stanzas, one or four or three sentences, and later the author wrote in There are 52 sentences quoted in the article "Forced to the Liangshan", and the verses quoted here are the first few lines of the second stanza of the poem. ③ Lu You's poem is titled "There are more than ten feet of stone elephants in front of the Nengren Temple, and they are like elephants."It was made in Jiazhou in the summer of the ninth year of Qiandao in the Southern Song Dynasty (1173).At that time, Lu You was "knowing Jiazhou affairs" (that is, he was the chief executive of Jiazhou).Nengren Temple in Leshan County, which is under the jurisdiction of the state, has a stone statue of more than ten feet. Lu You believes that it is a "sample" made before preparing to build the Leshan Giant Buddha.According to Wang Xiangzhi's "Yudi Jisheng": "Jiading Mansion: Elephant Pavilion, in Lingyun Temple, in the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, the monk Haitong was connected to the confluence of the Du River, Moshui River, and Shui River. The elephant is more than 360 feet high, and a seven-storey pavilion is built to cover it. By the time of Wei Gao, it had accumulated 19 years and the work began. Gao wrote "The Story of the Elephant." Lu You also wrote "Ye Lingyun "Elephant", see "Jiannan Poetry Draft" Volume 4. ④ "Trying Pieces" first appeared in the "Twenty-six Trial Songs" in Volume 14 of "Notes of the Zanghui Room" (September 3, 1916) , Shanghai Yadong Library, 1936 edition, pp. 1019-1020.Later, it was included in the first edition of "Experimental Collection", and the preface and poems were greatly changed; in October 1922, when the 4th edition was published, the author revised, deleted the preface, and moved it to the beginning of the volume as "Preface II". Quoted here is the second half of the preface.It can be seen that Hu Shi lacked the quality of a poet from the very beginning. He actually confused the expressiveness of poetry with imagination, exaggeration and other expressive techniques with big words and empty words.Probably later, I also regretted my slip of the tongue, so I deleted all the prefaces. ⑤ This poem was written on August 23, 1916, see "Zanghui Room Notes" Volume 14, page 1007; later changed the title, published in "New Youth" Volume 2, No. 6; later included in "Trying Collection" ", changed title, is the earliest surviving vernacular poem in "Experimental Collection". ⑥ See "Three Eight Answers to Jingnong" in Volume 14 of "Zanghui Room Notes", pp. 1032-1033. ⑦See "Why Do I Do Vernacular Poetry" ("Trying the Preface"), contained in "New Youth" Volume 6, No. 5; It was later included in the first edition of "Experimental Collection"; in October 1922, it was updated and deleted in 4 editions. ⑧Qian Xuantong's "Preface to the Collection of Experiments", written on January 10, 1918, published in "New Youth" Volume 4, No. 2; it was included in the first edition of "The Collection of Experiments" that was published two years later, and was deleted in 4 editions. ⑨ "Preface to the Fourth Edition of Trial Collection", contained in the front volume of the fourth edition updated by Shanghai Yadong Library in October 1922. ⑩ same note ⑨. Mr. Zhu Ziqing himself was an early new poet and a member of the Literary Research Association.What he said can be seen in the "Introduction" written by him at the beginning of the volume of "The Great Series of Chinese New Literature? Anthology of Poems".Among them, Hu Shi was highly evaluated.