Chapter 43 The fourth part is gently, leaving Xu Zhimo and his writing

Xu Zhimo was a very controversial poet during his lifetime.The heterogeneity of his thoughts and the prominence of his personality can easily lead to different evaluations. Mao Dun said in "Xu Zhimo Lun": "Zhimo is not only the 'creator' of Chinese bourgeois, but also the 'last generation' of poets." , is nothing more than sentimental emotions—smoky mourning, mysterious and symbolic attachment and sentimental pursuit: these are the characteristics of modern bourgeois poets who have developed to the last stage." Mao Dun also quoted from Xu Zhimo's " Starting with the poem "Infant", I analyzed that the "future baby" that Xu Zhimo was looking forward to painfully was "the Anglo-American bourgeois Democracy." Mao Dun judged Xu Zhimo with class consciousness, but he still I noticed that a friend of Xu Zhimo who was quite proud of him commented on his two characters: this is "floating" and "miscellaneous" ("Zhimo's floating emotions prevented him from being a poet, and his miscellaneous thoughts made him unable to be a poet. You cannot be a literati.") These two words summarize the characteristics of the poet's character and thought.The "miscellaneous" in Xu Zhimo's thinking is connected with the "floating" in his life.Zhu Ziqing said in "Chinese New Literature Collection of Poems? Introduction": "He is not as precise as Wen (Yiduo), but he is not as calm as him. He is a stream of life that dances and splashes day and night." Xu Zhimo is like this, accepting quickly, but always fluctuating.

Therefore, some critics criticize Xu Zhimo's negative tendencies based on "Autumn Insects" and "Xi Chuang", which are criticized by the world.His thoughts are heterogeneous, and are often simply summarized as conclusions such as "aesthetic" and "art for art's sake", while his ideological tendencies are "reactionary, negative, and sentimental".But on the other hand, Xu Zhimo, who has mixed thoughts, enthusiastically praised the Soviet revolution in the book, and called on people to "always treat life with a positive attitude." At the same time when "Autumn Insects" and "West Window" were published, Xu Zhimo also expressed quite strong opinions on the May 3rd tragedy in "Zhimo Diary": "The government above is really bad. The commander-in-chief cannot issue orders. The Minister of Foreign Affairs He is an expert in deception, and the central government is an asylum for the stupid and old. There is not a single thing that we have been insulted by others that cannot be traced to our own stupidity." At the same time, in the letter to Enhou, he talked about the domestic situation: "Although the Kuomintang It is a victory, but the disaster China has experienced is extremely serious." Xu Zhimo is such a complicated person.On the one hand, he greatly admired the French Revolution, and on the other hand, he talked with great interest about the dazzling corruption of Paris and its "gorgeous meat".Xu Zhimo said about his personality in "The activity of my heart is impulsive, it can be said to be convulsive."

Thanks to his enthusiastic and active habits, Xu Zhimo has many friends.Chen Congzhou said in "Records of Xu Zhimo": "Zhimo's international academic exchanges are also frequent. He was elected as a member of the British Poetry Society, a director of the Chinese branch of the 'Pen Club', and the old Indian poet Tagore and him. British Hardy, Laisky, Wells, French Romain Rolland, etc., all have contacts." Lu Xiaoman recalled in "Tagore as a Guest at My House": "Zhimo is the most enthusiastic person to friends, so he has many friends. , My house is always full of guests: even foreign friends are friendly with him, such as Hardy, Dickenson, and Canet in the United Kingdom.” Xu Zhimo’s communication activities, especially his communication with foreign friends, gave him a kind of character.Due to the distance between China and the world culture, and the differences in national conditions and languages, Chinese intellectuals often play the role of "lonely people" in world exchanges.There are very few poets who can fully identify with Xu Zhimo without forgetting to borrow stones from other mountains to attack jade.If he had lived longer, as he grew older and his influence expanded, he would surely have played a more significant role in promoting communication and understanding between the East and the West.

After the Chinese New Poetry Movement was initiated by Hu Shi and others, after a period of experimentation, it had gradually taken shape by the time of Guo Moruo.However, the new poetry has neglected the pursuit of the perfection of the art form in the long-term attempt.The new poetry "Chuangge" movement of the Crescent School, represented by Wen Yiduo and Xu Zhimo, is to pursue the perfection of art form. In 1926, Xu Zhimo proposed in the "Poetry Magazine Preface" that "we should take the creation of new poems as a serious matter." The first organized metrical poetry movement in the history of Chinese new poetry was led by Wen Yiduo and Xu Zhimo, using the "Morning News Supplement? Poems" as a front to clearly put forward their own artistic ideas.The Crescent School also derived from this, and their artistic practice was indeed a powerful counterattack to the loose tendency of early New Poetry.Xu Zhimo is the most faithful practitioner of the theory of the Crescent School. As Zhu Ziqing said in "A Series of Chinese New Literature? Anthology of Poems? Introduction", he is committed to "importing and experimenting with systems", and "he has tried the most systems." .

The New Poetry Movement started from the May 4th Movement to the Crescent School's determination to "create style". This process shows that the New Poetry has begun to maturely turn to the exploration of poetic art.What Chen Mengjia said in "Selected Poems of the New Moon? Preface" is the theoretical summary pursued by the New Moon School.Inspired and influenced by the poets of the New Moon School, especially Xu Zhimo, the poets began to regard the repetition of emotion as a pursuit of poetry creation.Some of Xu Zhimo's famous works, such as "Looking for a Star", "Susu", "See You Again", "Pipa in the Midnight Alley", etc., all seek to incorporate lively emotions into a rigorous structural framework, with There are variations of riffs to get a musical effect.The format of his poem "To Find a Star" is simple, and the verses are also simple, but there are rich rhythm changes.The intentional pursuit of duplication, the slight variation in most of the sameness, creates a comprehensive aesthetic feeling that is both rich and simple.Xu Zhimo's complex and serious practice makes him a faithful practitioner of "pure art". Almost every syllable of his is carefully selected and placed in the most appropriate position.And he can also express that kind of lament of loss and decline in pure spoken language; that kind of helpless nostalgia is wrapped in perfect rhyme and sparkles.

Xu Zhimo's poetic style is greatly influenced by British Romantic poetry.Bian Zhilin made a precise explanation of this in "Re-reading Xu Zhimo's Poems": "Although Xu Zhimo was restless physically, mentally, and emotionally, he traveled around 'clouds' at home and abroad, but when he landed in the UK , British nineteenth-century Romantic poetry, and his thoughts and feelings have never been able to break out of this cage." "Although I heard that Xu Zhimo also translated the free-style poems of the American democratic poet Whitman, he also He has translated "Corpse" by Baudellet, the pioneer of French symbolism, and although he also talked about futurism to young people, his poetic thinking and poetic skills have hardly surpassed the British romantic school of the nineteenth century."

Xu Zhimo's love poems have won him a great reputation personally. He poured out his emotional experience and love journey in his poems, thus making his poems unique.Ai Qing said in "Sixty Years of New Chinese Poetry" that Xu Zhimo "is good at love poetry" and "he is particularly rapt in front of women".Zhu Ziqing pointed out in "Chinese New Literature Series? Poetry Collection? Introduction": "His love poems, singing love for love's sake: not necessarily the performance of real life, but just imagining that he recommended himself as a lover, just like Western poets. Mao Dun thought in "On Xu Zhimo": "I think many of Zhimo's poems in the cloak of love cannot be regarded as pure love poems; through the cloak of love, there are his thoughts on life. Pure belief." However, Xu Zhimo's ideal is pure and unrealistic, so simple that it is collided with the troubles of the world everywhere, and unrealistic so that it will be destroyed at the touch of a touch.Hu Shi said in "Recalling Zhimo": "This real world is too complicated, and his simple belief cannot withstand the destruction of this real world...".

Nevertheless, Xu Zhimo is always very optimistic, and there is an optimistic tone in his poems.Chen Mengjia said in the New Moon Anthology? Preface: "His poems are always a happy atmosphere, never have some sad or decadent tones, and his tears also shine with a round light of joy. This self-liberation and ethereal erratic , placed in his soft and refreshing verses, it always gives people a pleasant feeling. Like a clever and exquisite bird, she sings beautiful songs whether it is joy or resentment." Zhu Ziqing in "New "Chinese Literature Series? Poetry? Introduction" also said: "He is a piece of water of life that dances and splashes day and night... He makes you feel that everything in the world is lively and vivid. Chen Xiying commented on his poems, The so-called is not the usual Europeanization, ordinarily this is it. It is also said that the tone of his poems is similar to that of Jiegu, Rao, and cymbals, and he rarely plays the melodious and lingering humor of violin, Dongxiao, etc., that is why he is always dancing and splashing."

The joy of life in Xu Zhimo's poems comes from his persistence and confidence in the ideal of life.He always didn't know which direction the wind was blowing, he always rode a blind horse with legs whipped into the night, and he always fantasized about a star.Chen Mengjia said that Xu Zhimo's poems are "soft and fluent". Even when Xu Zhimo talks about pain and death, it is full of romance.But he is decadent and negative. He bases his life ideal on the sense of joy. Once the ideal is shattered, there will be unspeakable sorrow and despair.Therefore, Mao Dun said in "Xu Zhimo Lun": "Once the change in life is beyond his expectation and exceeds his patience, his once pure belief will be shaken, and he will fall into the decadence of doubt." gone."

Xu Zhimo is a talented poet, the "sage of poetry" of the Crescent School, and a famous essayist. Xu Zhimo's achievement as an essayist is no less than that of Xu Zhimo as a poet.Xu Zhimo appeared in the world of prose with a strong and colorful style, showing his own special style from Bing Xin's spiritual beauty, Zhu Ziqing's beauty, Zhou Zuoren's dilution, and Feng Zikai's fun. Xu Zhimo compiled three collections of essays during his lifetime: , "The Scale and Claw of Paris" and "Self-Dissection Collection", in addition to "Zhimo's Diary", "Zhimo's Letters", "Meixuan Suoyu", "West Lake Story" , "Tagore Comes to China" and so on.

Lin Yutang said in "Xinfeng Broken Arm Weng? Postscript": "Zhimo, a talented man, is also a genius. He writes poems and even prose. I can't read vernacular poems, but I can read Zhimo poems alone. His prose You Qi, the wording of the sentence is based on the legend, and there is no trace of the Western sentence." In the article "The Last Farewell to Zhimo", Yang Zhensheng commented on Xu Zhimo's prose: "His prose of 'running wild horses' has long been considered better than his poems. How lively and lively the words are. The color is really 'too thick to dissolve'! The richness of the association, the fullness of life! Especially his attitude and tone, how light and clear, how naughty, and how clever! And the strength is also full, the article Li Yong can't see any slackening, he always looks like the layers of clouds and the gurgling brook of the spring! His articles do have their own original style, and he must be given a place in the prose." The general characteristics of Xu Zhimo's prose are It is too thick to dissolve, and its structural feature is running wild horses. Liang Shiqiu said in "Talking about Zhimo's Essays": "His articles run wild horses; but they run well. Zhimo's articles don't need titles at all. Let him write them, and they will always be interesting. Strictly speaking, there are too many details in the articles. (Digression) is not a good thing, but sometimes the branch itself is wonderful, and readers will concentrate on it, and it doesn’t matter if they don’t return to the topic. Zhimo’s prose is almost all essays in the nature of essays, not like reasoning essays, so he The writing style of the running wild horse is not only not a problem, but also cute." He said that the beauty of Xu Zhimo's prose is that, first, he "always maintains an affectionate attitude"; second, "he writes articles willfully"; third, "His articles are always written with heart." Although Xu Zhimo's life was short, his poems and essays will last forever in the river of history where the waves wash away the sand.Similarly, Xu Zhimo himself will live forever in the hearts of his friends. Hu Shi said in "Remembrance of Zhimo" that after Zhimo left, he took away many clouds in their world.He is the loveliest cloud among friends, always a warm color, always a beautiful pattern, and always lovely.He often said that he didn't know which direction the wind was blowing. In fact, Hu Shi said that few of them knew which direction the wind was blowing.But a gust of wind from no one knows which direction carried him away, and the heavens of his friends were suddenly bleak and lonely, for the loveliest clouds dispersed. The reason why Xu Zhimo made his friends mourn him like this, Hu Shi said, was because his whole being was a mass of sympathy, just a mass of love.Ye Gongchao said: "He has never had absolute resentment towards anyone or anything, and he has never even expressed some jealousy inadvertently." Chen Botong also said: "Especially, he is indispensable among friends. He is our Lian Suo is sticky and fermented. In the past seven or eight years, there have been many turmoil in the domestic literary and art circles, a lot of stir-ups, and many close friends are often unable to see each other. But I have never heard anyone resent Zhimo. No one can resist Zhimo's sympathy, and no one can avoid his stickiness. He is the infinite sympathy that makes us grow old. He is always the "even" among friends. So'. He was never suspicious, and he was never jealous. It makes these suspicious and jealous people very ashamed and very envious." Xu Zhimo's life is a symbol of love.But the society often doesn't understand his behavior and pursuit, it's because they don't understand Xu Zhimo's pure belief.His divorce and second marriage were the places in his life where he was most severely criticized by society.Hu Shi believed that these two things he did best represented his pursuit of pure ideals.Xu Zhimo sincerely believed that those two things were the right steps for him to realize the beautiful and free life.Hu Shi pointed out that Xu Zhimo firmly believes that an ideal life must have love, freedom, and beauty. Xu Zhimo firmly believes that this trinity of life can be pursued, at least it can be cultivated with pure efforts.Therefore, Hu Shi asked everyone to observe Xu Zhimo's life from this point of view, and only from this point can we understand Xu Zhimo's behavior.Only by first recognizing Xu Zhimo's pure belief can he recognize Xu Zhimo's personality. In a poem "Life", Xu Zhimo believed that his life in the last few years was a failure.His failure, in Hu Shi's view, was the failure of a simple idealist.Xu Zhimo's pursuit made his friends ashamed, because Hu Shi said that they had too little confidence and never dared to dream of him.In this big world, only Xu Zhimo has the confidence to take risks to pursue, experience many twists and turns, sacrifice all ordinary comfort, family honor and world reputation to pursue and test the sacred realm of a dream , but he could not avoid the fate of failure.Hu Shi said that his failure was because his belief was too simple, while the world was too complicated.However, under this terrifying oppression, Xu Zhimo never called for surrender.Hu Shi thought that he was never completely desperate, and he never absolutely resented anyone.Hu Shi saw him doing things for his friends and the group, and he was always so enthusiastic and happy. Xu Zhimo still sang in pain, and his poems became more mature, the poems were more profound, and the style of writing was more distant.In Xu Zhimo's last year, he hoped that it would be his chance to be resurrected. Hu Shi and the others were very happy for him.Hu Shi said that the flower trees that he wanted to water with his painstaking efforts in the few years before his departure may have withered, but his sympathy and encouragement have already planted countless lovely little flowers in other gardens, and countless flowers have bloomed. Lovely flowers.His own singing was depressed for a time, but his singing voice aroused countless voices outside the field, loud songs, sad songs, beautiful songs.These are his consolations, all make him happy.However, Hu Shi said that no one thought that in this era of the most hopeful resurrection, he left everyone and wandered alone. In Hu Shi's eyes, a lovely person like Xu Zhimo is like a spring, a flame, and a passion. The shadow he casts will always remain in the hearts of his friends, and the light he emits will always remain in the world.