Chapter 39 The fourth part gently, go "Zhimo's Poems"

Shen Congwen wrote in "On Xu Zhimo's Poems" in 1932: "A kind of extravagant imagination, digging out the deep depression in the heart, a kind of unrestrained, passionate, and powerful gallop... This kind of poem can only Showing the author's side is the blood of youth, how it is burned by Pepsi.... On the other hand,...the soft tone is intertwined with enthusiasm, and it obtains a kind of near-magical perfection." Xu Zhimo sincerely pursues beauty and freedom with romantic pure ideals, but his pursuit is always inconsistent with reality, so he is dissatisfied and seeks again. The art of poetry has become the medium for him to express his life experience.

From October 1922 to the first half of 1925, nearly three years after Xu Zhimo returned from England, was a period when his poetic passion flourished. In August 1925, Xu Zhimo compiled his poetry creation during this period into "Zhimo's Poems", and published his first collection of poems at his own expense.The collection of poems is named "Zhimo's Poems", which has the meaning of reminding readers, reflecting on themselves, self-confidence and prudence, and responsibility.After the publication of the collection of poems, it immediately attracted the attention of the literary world and the warm welcome of the readers. A dazzling star of new poetry is rising in China.Xu Zhimo was even considered the most promising poet in China at that time.

Zhu Ziqing made "Zhimo's Poems" occupy a larger space in "Chinese New Literature Research Outline", and made a summary of "Zhimo's Poems" as a whole: "a love and death; b "grey life" ; c ideal and disappointment; d nature and children; e sympathy; Sonnets in disguise; h "clay poetry"; i imagination, expression, and music." The publication of "Zhimo's Poems" is a major event in the history of modern Chinese poetry, and it is the most distinctive masterpiece of new poetry after Guo Moruo's.In the form of free style, with its fresh air and free arrangement, it consolidates the achievements of new poetry creation.His proficiency in mastering the vernacular, his emphasis on rhyme, rhythm, harmony and the high degree of unity of lyricism, freehand brushwork and music are very prominent among the early vernacular poets.On the other hand, he moved the western poetic style into China to carry out poetic innovation and experimentation, which greatly promoted the development of poetry at that time.Zhu Ziqing spoke highly of Xu Zhimo's bold attempt in "On the Outlet of Chinese Poetry": "Xu Zhimo is the most noticeable person who tried out the syllables of foreign poems to gain the power of Chinese poetry. He tried a lot of Western poetry.  … Looking at his works, I feel that the most successful ones are blank verse and parallel sentence rhyme. His compactness and neatness are the best in these two styles."

Along with the pleasing form, "Zhimo's Poems" is also filled with positive and optimistic life concepts and poetic beauty. In "To Find a Star", the beautiful ideal pursued by the poet is a "star". What is this "star"?Ideal, beauty, belief or love, even the poet's own situation.Xu Zhimo just wanted to look for it.But the dark night tightly covers the star, but the persistent rider seeks its brightness, separated by the vast black wilderness, and the rider's crotch is a blind horse with legs.Xu Zhimo expresses the feeling of searching with specific images such as stars, riders, wilderness, sky, darkness, and a blind horse with a crutch.Towards the night → rushing into the wilderness → hopeless in the wilderness → dying in the wilderness. This pure and clean plot constitutes the tragic structure of the poem.The ending is the best, like a soul-stirring oil painting, and like the crucifixion of Christ, it expresses the magnificence of martyrdom with silent serenity.There is eagerness in the sadness.

I rode a blind horse with a limp leg, Whip into the night;-- Whip into the night, I am riding a blind horse with a crutch! I rush into the dark night, To seek a star;— In search of a star, I rushed into this black and vast wilderness. Exhausted, exhausted the beast in my lap, The star has not yet appeared;— The star hasn't appeared yet, Tired out, tired out in the saddle. This time the sky is shining like crystal, In the wilderness there is an animal falling, In the night lies a dead body. —— This time the sky revealed a crystal-like light! The lyrical protagonist in "I Have a Love Love" is also looking for a "star", and the poet's love object is the "star in the sky." It also shows an unusual firmness in ideals and beliefs:

I have a love;-- I love the stars in the sky; I love their crystals: There is no such strange god in the world. In the cold evening of late winter, In the lonely gray morning. At sea, on mountaintops after the storm— There will always be one, ten thousand stars! The bosom friend of the grass and flowers by the mountain stream, The joy of the little children on the high-rise, The traveler's lamp and compass:— A shining elf thousands of miles away! I have a broken soul, Like a heap of shattered crystals, Scattered in the withered grass of the wilderness— Sip your moment of hospitality.

The ice cream and tenderness of life, I have tasted, and I have endured; Sometimes the autumn chants of crickets are built on the steps, Caused my heartache, forced me to cry zero. I bare my frank breast, Give love and star of the day, Let life be illusion or reality The earth is or is going to die-- There are always bright stars in the sky! The star of his love shines in the winter evening, in the gray morning, in the dry grass of the moor.The reality of life and the setbacks of personal love tortured his poetic heart full of romantic dreams into a broken soul.However, like many romantics, his ideals have been repeatedly frustrated but still pursued. He is never willing to be mediocre. He wants to sing a bold new song in the gray sky.In the crystal clear starlight, the poet sees his pursuit of life, and obtains intimacy, joy, and light. This light comforts the depression and depression of real life, and the praise of ideals is more important than the exposure of reality.At the end of the poem, the poet firmly believes that there will always be unambiguous stars.This is a song of ideals in life. Here, the poet's pursuit of life and the crystal starlight blend together, expressing the poet's persistent love and firm belief.The whole poem presents a light, ethereal yet quiet and sacred world of artistic conception.

However, this is a cowardly world, and a beautiful life is so far away but so infinitely hopeful.Breaking through the cage of reality and breaking through the thorns and hailstones is the way to liberation and gain.Xu Zhimo conveyed this poetic flavor in "This is a Cowardly World": It's a cowardly world: Can't tolerate love, can't tolerate love! loose your hair, bare your feet; Come with me, my love, abandon the world Sacrifice our love! I hold your hand, love, you follow me; Let the thorns pierce the soles of our feet, Let the hailstones break our heads, you follow me,

I hold your hand, Escaped from prison and regained our freedom! follow me my love! The world has fallen behind our backs,— Look, isn't this the white sea? the white sea, the white sea, Boundless freedom, I and you and love! follow my finger, The little blue star beyond that day— It was an island with green grass, Flowers, fair beasts and birds; Come aboard this light boat, To the ideal heaven—— In love, in joy, in freedom— Farewell to the world, forever! Xu Zhimo's persistent ideals are not only difficult to bear fruit in the real society, but are often suppressed and destroyed. The rebuff of "idealism" made him dissatisfied and resisted the dark reality, and at the same time, he pinned his ideals in a fantasy world.Although he often feels the pain of disillusionment, in the beautiful illusion, the poet can comfort and rest his damaged soul.

"This Is a Cowardly World" is exactly the work of the poet who denies and rejects the dark real world and affirms and yearns for the ideal world.This poem was written when Xu Zhimo fell in love with his married woman Lu Xiaoman and was opposed.Xu Zhimo, who had a beautiful fantasy, deeply felt the pain under the heavy pressure.He cursed this cowardly world and decided to escape from the cage and regain his freedom.The style of the whole poem is clear and intense, and with the passion of a romanticist, it expresses the beautiful yearning and passionate pursuit of the ideal world. "This is a cowardly world" shows Xu Zhimo's unique poetic taste, which reflects Xu Zhimo's poems are rigorous in structure, flexible in form, distinct in rhythm and melody, restrained and concise in emotional imagination, Create artistic features such as the perfection of artistic conception and the beauty of imagination.

"Farewell to the world, forever!" Xu Zhimo, who has been frustrated repeatedly, will also have such thoughts. The poem "Go" is like a person who is completely desperate for the real world. He shows a decisive attitude of no longer nostalgia for the world, youth and ideals, and everything. A hopeless cry: Go, earth, go! I am alone on the peak of the mountain; Go, earth, go! I faced the infinite sky. Go, youth, go! Buried with the herbs of the valley; Go, youth, go! Sorrow is given to the crows of the evening sky. Go, Dreamland, go! I broke the jade cup of vision; Go, Dreamland, go! I laugh at the congratulations of the mountain wind and sea waves. Go, all, go! There is currently a peak in the sky; Go, everything, go! There is currently infinite infinity! The poem "Go" reveals the poet's negative and sentimental emotions of escaping from reality. It is the creation of the poet when his emotions are low, and it is a reflection of his state of mind after his "idealism" hit a wall in the face of reality.The destination after leaving is nature, and the poet hopes to find spiritual comfort and detachment in nature. Xu Zhimo, who lingers in the nature and puts his love on the mountains and rivers, finds that although the mountains and rivers are so delicate, the darkness of reality also makes nature dim.When witnessing Japan's preservation of ancient customs, Xu Zhimo couldn't suppress his inner envy. "Farewell to Japan" means that although it is Japan, it is entrusted with the thoughts of the homeland.The poet is willing to shoulder the burden of restoring his homeland: But these thousand years of impotence, thousand years of ignorance: It is even more difficult to recognize - the elegance and calmness of the Chinese people back then! Where does the wind come from to destroy the art of life? —— I can't help but miss the bones of the Central Plains! ... I want to turn into a spring breeze, a spring breeze boasting of life, Urge the lonely tree to break his long dream; I want a mighty shovel to remove stasis and bloat, Open up the great undercurrent, once again surging through the universe. The unrealization of the search is partly due to the darkness of reality, as described by Xu Zhimo in "Poison", "White Flag", and "Baby".In "Poison" and "White Flag", Xu Zhimo cursed all kinds of ugliness and darkness in social reality with venomous language.And in "Baby", he showed his infinite hope, and he was waiting for the day when hope appeared.This is Xu Zhimo's poem expressing ideals and hopes with the most intense emotions and the most radical thoughts.Therefore, Yu Chengze said in "Comment on "Zhimo's Poems"": "The "Zhimo's Poems" seems to have a very dissatisfied attitude towards the real world." In the poem "It's Deserved", he shows his sympathy for those who are helpless in this situation, especially those who are the most humble in society, while cursing the reality: "Auntie who did good deeds, master who has repaired well," The northwest wind stabbed his face fiercely like a sharp knife, "Give me some of your leftover oil and water!" A fuzzy black shadow stood next to the gate. There are many poems chanting love in "Zhimo's Poems", expressing the poet's longing and pursuit of romantic love.For a spiritual, sensitive and sentimental poet, love is undoubtedly the biggest window for him to express. "Snowflake's Joy" written in 1924 is a light-hearted, beautiful and soulful song of hope.At that time, the poet was immersed in the happiness of being in love with Lu Xiaoman, and the poet was extremely happy. The protagonist in the poem compares himself to a snowflake flying in the air. .The whole poem is full of emotions, and the snowflakes flying lightly to the beautiful and quiet place are the natural expression of the poet's joyful mood full of confidence. If I were a snowflake, Flying gracefully in mid-air, I must know my direction-- Fly, fly, fly,— There is my direction on this ground. Do not go to that cold and lonely valley, Do not go to the sad foothills, Nor go to the deserted streets to feel melancholy—— Fly, fly, fly,— You see, I have my direction! Flying gracefully in mid-air, Knowing the quiet abode, Waiting for her to visit in the garden— Fly, fly, fly,— Ah, she has the fragrance of cinnabar plum! Then I relied on my lightness, Yingying, sticking to her skirt, Close to her soft, wave-like breast— Dissolve, dissolve, dissolve— Melted into her soft, wave-like heart! In "The Happiness of Snow Flower", I am Snow Flower, gracefully floating in mid-air.This spiritual snowflake, to die for beauty.However, he has no pain and despair in the process of pursuing beauty, and he enjoys the joy of freedom and love.Snowflake "Flying, Flying, Flying", firm, cheerful and relaxed and free persistence.The poet's pursuit is based on "what if". "If" makes this poem soft and hazy, but above the enthusiasm and freedom there is a touch of sadness.The rotation, delay and final destination of the snowflakes are completely consistent with the freedom, firmness and persistence of the poet's beautiful soul.The repeated "Feiyang, Feiyang, Feiyang" is a deep picture of the soul. The well-known song "Shayang Nora" fully expresses the style of Japanese girls.The hazy feelings of meeting by chance and looking at each other with hands in hand are vividly displayed by the poet: The most is the tenderness of bowing your head, Like a water lotus that cannot withstand the cool breeze's shyness, Say treasure, say treasure, There is sweet sadness in that precious voice—— Sayanara! This poem was written in May 1924 during Xu Zhimo's visit to Japan with Tagore.This is the last poem in the long poem "Eighteen Poems of Sayanara". "Eighteen Poems of Sayanara" was included in the August 1925 edition of "Zhimo's Poems". When it was republished, the first 17 sections were deleted, leaving only the last section dedicated to "To a Japanese Girl", which is this poem. Exquisite work. "Shayannara" is obviously influenced by Tagore's short poems in terms of taste and style. What it lacks is the wisdom and thorough understanding of the elders, but what it excels is the agility and romantic feelings of romantic poets.The overall artistic style is gentle, charming and affectionate but not boring.The poem is simple and beautiful; perhaps because of its simplicity. Xu Zhimo's poems are not only full of love, but often full of infatuation.In "Thank God! ", "She Is Asleep" and other poems reveal the poet's fascination with love.Such as "She is asleep": She was asleep— A slanting white lotus under the starlight; She's dreaming— A wisp of blue conch smoke rises from the incense burner. She is fast asleep-- Runquan suppresses the noisy strings; She's in dreamland— Pink Die, Cui Die, flying love. Xu Zhimo draws reference from romantic poets Byron, Shelley and other love poems praising the supremacy of love, coupled with his personal love life experience, one after another erotic love poems flow out of his pen.Therefore, Zhu Xiang called Xu Zhimo "the person who is best at love poetry among the new poems" in "Comment on Xu Jun's "Zhimo's Poems".