First, the overall grasp
This poem was written in June of 1973, which coincided with "ten years of turmoil". The poet works in the cadre school of the Ministry of Culture in Xianning, Hubei. Once, when he went to Guilin, he saw a imprisoned tiger in the zoo with a broken toe and bloody paws. The image of the tiger strongly touched the poet's feelings. After returning to the cadre school, he wrote this song "South China Tiger". The poet takes the South China Tiger as a symbol, which shows his unyielding personality and his desire for freedom in a difficult situation.
1. The image of South China Tiger and its symbolic significance
The South China Tiger is the main image of this poem. It has a "gorgeous face/fiery eyes", a beautiful appearance and a strong body, but it is imprisoned in a human cage, far away from the vast mountains-its spiritual home.
It "turns its back on the timid and desperate audience,/peacefully lies in a corner", but the majesty surging in its bones oppresses and threatens the people trapped in it. Lying peacefully reveals the South China tiger's contempt for the audience and the living form represented by the audience. Whether it is "stoning to death", "yelling sharply" or "hard persuasion", "it doesn't care about anything" How can a proud soul bow to the world? -The magnificent and broad "vast mountain forest" is the destination of its soul and strength. "Those poor and ridiculous spectators" have trapped his body in prison, but how can they make him give in mentally? The reason why the "soul" of the South China Tiger feels "humiliated" is not that the audience bullied it, but that it left the free land forever and disappeared into the dirty world. It deeply tasted the suffering, desolation and hopelessness of this world, and felt endless loneliness and anger inside.
People can torture it physically, imprison it with its "strong legs" galloping around, wring its "toes and claws" full of fighting power, and cut off its strong "teeth" with a hacksaw, but the brutality of fascism can't imprison its "unruly soul" after all. "There are bloody gullies on the gray concrete wall", suggesting that it fought bravely for freedom but in vain. However, the South China Tiger will continue to fight indomitable and unrepentant, because fighting is all the sustenance and practical significance of its survival, and it is a powerful presentation of its noble soul. This kind of struggle makes me feel "dazzling and harsh", "ashamed" and feel the pain of my soul as a member of the audience. Then I heard a "rock-breaking roar" and "an unruly soul/flying over my head/flying away" in a trance. This is not only my worship of the unyielding soul of the South China Tiger, but also my awakening to the humiliating soul. The nobility of spirit will eventually overcome the meanness of the world. From that lost figure, we seem to vaguely see the hope of mankind.
2. Audience, Cage and Me
"Audience", "Twitter", "timid and desperate" and "pathetic and ridiculous"-this is a group without independent personality and self-awareness. In poetry, they are just a group of pale and conceptual symbols. They don't know their own shamelessness, but they treat the noble South China tiger in a way of "smashing", "scolding" and "persuading". They are very humble, even in the face of the majestic back of the South China Tiger, they feel "timid". They are bored and "desperate" because they can't find "talking about money" and "good play" in their lives. In their view, the tiger's "grief and indignation" struggle seems so ridiculous and stupid. Eating and drinking is much better than sleeping in the wind? They are self-righteous, but they don't know their own "sadness". The "audience" in this poem is a true portrayal of the indifferent, philistine and sometimes abusive group.
As tools of the dictatorship of the South China Tiger, iron fences, iron cages and gray concrete walls are prisoners made by human beings with dark colors (relative to the colorful faces of the South China Tiger) and ruthlessness (relative to the blood of the South China Tiger). Ignorant people despise the "wild mountains and forests" that tigers yearn for. Not only do they not know their prison-like living conditions, but they also want to imprison all living things in the same prison. Spiritual independence is often regarded as a scourge by all beings, and the "two iron fences" vividly show their cowardice.
"I", like others, "see" the South China Tiger through the iron fence. However, my conscience is still alive after all. From the "blood" and "grief" of the tiger's "dazzling like lightning", "I" felt the spiritual power of silence in my heart and the degradation of the personality of all beings in this world. I finally understand. I'm ashamed. I left. I heard a roar in my trance. This voice comes from my soul and represents the awakening of the soul of a man with conscience and thought.
This poem has a strong symbolic color. Symbol is to indirectly express similar or similar concepts, thoughts and feelings through a concrete image. The South China Tiger in the cage represents unyielding life and persistent soul. In contrast, it is an iron cage that imprisons freedom and represents evil. The fierce conflict between them shows the poet's extreme desire for spiritual freedom and personality independence.
Second, the problem research
1. South China Tiger was written in a special era. How to understand its practical significance?
This poem was written in the most poetic period-the early 1970s, which showed the thoughts and feelings of honest and conscientious intellectuals in China who did not yield to darkness and pursued light in the unique political environment at that time. Beyond that particular era, even today, this poem has its positive practical significance. Those who want not to yield, not to get lost, and to pursue spiritual freedom and personality independence in a tempting society should be inspired and encouraged by this poem.
2. What did I do in "I finally understand ..."?
It was the "blood ditch" that was "as dazzling as lightning" that awakened my soul and forced me to explore my soul. "I" understand that it is not only tigers that are imprisoned by human beings, but also noble lives that do not yield and live; In front of this "unruly soul", "I" understood the vulgarity, lewdness and ignorance of human beings; "I" understand that in sadness and distress, people should transcend suffering, reject vulgarity, resist degeneration and go forward bravely.
Practice note
Read the poem aloud and discuss the following questions.
1. What is the character of the tiger described by the poet? Try to find out the relevant verses from the text to explain.
2. How to understand the meaning of the last paragraph of this poem? On the poet's thoughts and feelings contained in the image of South China Tiger.
The purpose of designing this topic is to guide students to understand the specific poems and images carefully and understand the deep meaning of this poem on the basis of reading the text repeatedly.
1. South China Tiger maintains dignity, yearns for freedom, despises the secular, is indomitable and has the courage to struggle.
Related poems, such as:
Turn your back on the timid and desperate audience,/lie peacefully in the corner-arrogant and unruly.
Dreaming of the vast mountains and forests-longing for freedom and pursuing independence.
Gray concrete walls/bloody gullies-don't give in to oppression, but dare to fight.
2. It was the image of the South China Tiger that shocked me, and that "rock-breaking roar" came from the depths of my soul. "I" was moved by the tiger's unyielding personality. In front of this "unruly soul", "I" was ashamed of the vulgarity, meanness and ignorance of mankind. The last paragraph really points out the symbolic significance of the South China Tiger. The poet compared a tiger to a human being, expressing his thoughts on life: in grief and distress, people should transcend suffering, reject vulgarity, resist degeneration and go forward bravely. The answer to this question can be based on students' own views, and there is no need to insist on consistency.
Second, contact the context and taste the meaning of underlined words in the following poem.
The purpose of designing this topic is to guide students to further grasp the theme of the whole poem by tasting the language of the poem, and gradually cultivate students' sensitivity and understanding ability to the language.
1. Have you ever dreamed of a vast forest?
Is it a humiliating heart twitch?
Why does the South China Tiger feel humiliated? )
Feeling "humiliated" has two meanings: the shallow meaning is that one feels "humiliated" because one's dignity has been trampled on and one's freedom has been deprived; Deep meaning is to feel "humiliated" for living in this world where freedom is deprived and personality is insulted.
2. Or do you want to beat the poor and ridiculous audience with your tail?
Why is the audience "pathetic and ridiculous"? )
The audience didn't know their shamelessness, but treated the noble South China tiger with "smashing", "scolding" and "persuading". Humble people feel "timid" even in the face of the majestic back of the South China Tiger, so they are "pitiful"; Bored, they should be "ridiculous" because they are "desperate" because they can't find "talk about money" and "good play" in their lives.
I left the zoo in shame.
Why do I feel "ashamed" in front of the South China Tiger? )
"I" also as a member of the vulgar public, to "observe" the tiger. In front of the "unruly soul", I felt the humbleness of my personality and the degeneration of my soul.
I saw the stripes like flames.
And burning eyes ...
Is this just to describe the stripes and eye color of the South China tiger? )
This is the expression of the South China Tiger's fervent desire for freedom, and it is also a tribute to the wild and fiery vitality of the South China Tiger in adversity.
Third, read aloud the poem Tiger by the English poet Blake, saying that it is the same as the text, but the thoughts and feelings expressed are different.
The purpose of designing this topic is to guide students to further understand the thoughts and feelings expressed in the poem South China Tiger through the comparative reading of two poems with the same theme, and take this as an opportunity to broaden students' horizons and expand the reading range of new poems.
The main content of Blake's poem is to praise the strength and power of the tiger; "South China Tiger" mainly uses tigers to express the poet's desire for freedom and praise the unruly soul.
Teaching suggestion
First, this poem was written in the period of "ten years of turmoil", and it has obvious brand of the times in creation. If we want to deeply understand the feelings contained in poetry, we must understand the poet's situation and thoughts at that time. You can refer to "I and South China Tiger" in "Related Materials" and introduce relevant information to students appropriately.
Second, symbolic meaning is generally extensive and rich, so it is difficult to grasp symbolic meaning, which easily leads to uncertainty in understanding. To learn this poem, we should start with some key words and sentences, understand the deep meaning expressed by many images in the poem, and then grasp the relationship between these images and the theme.
Thirdly, reading is an important way to understand the artistic conception and grasp the theme of poetry. When teaching this course, the teaching process can be divided into several levels, so that reading can drive a deeper understanding of poetry.
related data
I. Introduction to the author
, formerly known as Shi, from Dingxiang County, Shanxi Province, 1923. He began to write poetry in the 1940s and was an important member of the July Poetry School. 1955 was arrested and imprisoned for two years for his involvement in the Hu Feng incident. During the "Cultural Revolution", he was put into the "bullpen" and engaged in voluntary labor. In the early 1970s, he wrote many poems, among which the famous ones were South China Tiger and Mourning for a Maple Tree and a Half Tree. He has published poems such as Colorful Life, Motherland, Love and Song, Hot Springs and Butterflies on the Sea, and selected works such as Earthworms and Feathers.
Second, I and South China Tiger (Han Niu)
I have been to Guilin twice in the past ten years. Every time I come back, a friend always asks, "Dude, how many landscape poems have you written?" They didn't believe me when I said I didn't write it. They said that Guilin's landscape is so beautiful, how can it be indifferent? Don't write poetry, I'm sorry Guilin. Yes, whenever I sail on the blue Lijiang River, I am really fascinated by the green peaks rising from both sides, the trembling reflections of the mountains, the lush bamboo rafts and the misty ink paintings. However, at that time and later, I didn't want to write landscape poems. I once talked to Luyuan about this fact. I told him that I couldn't write a poem in front of the beautiful mountains and rivers, and I didn't describe the pure natural beauty. My mind seems to be more easily touched by the vast and magnificent realm of nature and some shocking and unyielding phenomena or ecology. Apart from my personal temperament, I am not good at describing things purely and objectively and writing so-called "natural poems". If there is no chance between subjective and objective, I can't write a poem with calm skills. Luyuan has been to Guilin and has never written a poem praising the scenery of Lijiang River. However, many poets can write a dozen or dozens of poems after a trip to Guilin or Huangshan. They write about willow smoke, drizzle, fisherman's girl, green willow and emerald phoenix. I admire their ability to capture poetry and painting. I have been to Huangshan Mountain, and I had a good time swimming. I climbed Tiandu Peak and witnessed the sunrise in the sea of clouds, but only wrote a short poem "Song of Insects". I said in my poem that Huangshan Mountain is a "sacred place for people" and a "sacred place for insects". I have been to Gulangyu Island, which is exquisitely carved, and wrote a poem "Life", which praises a banyan tree, which is struggling and growing tenaciously at the top of a boulder, with an old and rickety posture. I think that for a poet, they should write a unique "special" situation and image. No one can imitate his poems, and he can't write a second similar poem himself. This special situation and the opportunity to produce poetry cannot be created out of nothing. Of course, this is just my opinion and cannot be imposed on others.
1June, 973, I went to Guilin for the first time and wrote a song "South China Tiger". Even I didn't expect to write a tiger poem in advance. Tiger, according to its temperament and image, is difficult to be associated with Guilin landscape. However, I wrote a tiger with no outstanding posture in an angry mood. I have seen tigers many times in my life. Those tigers are much more powerful than this South China tiger in Guilin. 195 1 year, I saw a Siberian tiger in Qiqihar and kept it in an iron cage for a long time. I saw no less than three or five tigers in Beijing Zoo. But none of them thought about writing about tigers. As I said before, isn't my temperament like writing magnificent things? Why not write the roaring Siberian tiger? Generally speaking, my sense of life is not dull, but I really have no ability to calmly analyze and theory my feelings at that time. I can only record the formation of poetry as truly as possible.
Calm down and think about it. At that time, at 1973, if I met a tiger in another place, I might not be able to write this song "South China Tiger". This tiger in Guilin Zoo, its bloody broken claws and bloody scratches on the wall shocked my soul and blew me up at once. At that time, I was a cadre school in Xianning, Hubei Province, and most of the students had returned to Beijing or been assigned to other cities. I am one of the few "molecules" who can't get into Beijing. Needless to say, the mood is extremely heavy. On that day, the weather in Guilin was sultry. My two companions and I sat on stone benches in the shade of several oleanders and had a rest. -The oleander in Guilin is not a potted plant, but a tall tree, three or four feet high, full of pink flowers, emitting a familiar fragrance, otherwise it is hard to believe that it is oleander. Opposite Guilin Zoo, we walked into the park because of boredom. The hot sun is steaming and roasting iron cages, which are mostly pythons, snakes and a few monkeys. In the last row of cages, we saw this South China tiger. As I wrote in the poem, it stretched and fell asleep (? )。 I saw bloody claws, broken and without claw tips. At first, I didn't realize it. I remember someone telling me that tigers in the zoo should cut off or saw off their teeth and toes. This tiger with four toes and broken claws, in anger and despair, gouged out a series of deep and shallow blood stains on the concrete wall, which looked like a footprint from a distance. I stood outside the cage for a long time. I want to see the tiger's eyes. People's eyes are the windows to the soul; Tiger's eyes should also be the window to the soul. But it never looked back. These four Tiger Claw's are enough to make my soul feel ashamed. I think I came to Guilin from the far south bank of the Yangtze River just to get rid of the innocent embrace of nature. Now I am actually an audience, interested in enjoying the imprisoned tigers. I am not as unruly as a tiger. Not only did I feel ashamed, but I also felt mean inside, so I left in a hurry. I didn't hear the tiger's roar, but I expected 195 1 the roar of the northeast tiger I heard on the bank of Nenjiang River. I have never heard a voice louder than the roar of a tiger. Even if I am heartbroken and devote all my life's blood, I can't shout out such a strong voice.
Back to ultra-leftwing, I wrote this song "South China Tiger" in a hurry that day. Very long, about 100 line. I have a weakness in writing poetry, which is not concise. Luyuan reminded me many times that no matter how to be a person or write poems, we should try our best to be concise, and lyric poems should generally not exceed 100 lines. Life style is sloppy, writing poems is often procrastinating, not profound, not focused on feelings, and not paying attention to structure. Luyuan's words are to the point. So in 1979, when I was sorting out this poem, I deleted all the branches and vines, leaving less than 50 lines. When I compiled the collection last year, I made some changes to the text and added two lines at the end:
And blood,
Huge and broken toes and claws!
I think the unruly soul of the South China Tiger, flying over people's heads, is always illusory. Even if people see its "flaming stripes and flaming eyes", they always feel that the most shocking special image has not been written yet. We should let the bleeding toes and claws pass by, and let Tiger Claw's injured blood burn those dull and paralyzed souls like hot melt! I am satisfied with the last two lines. A poem must leave an unforgettable and vivid image for readers. It is often said that every poem has a "core" and an emotional explosion point; With this, we can integrate the feelings between the author and the reader. There is some truth in this statement. I believe that if the South China Tiger loses its bloody toes and claws, it will be unremarkable without a dynamic image that flies by.
This poem may be written too briefly in one place. The first two lines of the last section, "I finally understand ... I left the zoo in shame", were originally written in a more specific way, writing about my remorse at that time; But I don't want to analyze myself too much. I think "link thought" is a bit general and formulaic. It is better to brush it off and leave a blank for readers to think about. I can't say that this consideration is unreasonable, but deletion is too bitter. "I finally understand ..." Use ellipsis to hide many activities in my heart, and only use the word "shame" to point out my feelings. It may be better if the first two lines of the last line of the poem become one line, leaving one line in front and one line behind, so that readers can read here, pause and think about my hidden complex feelings.
The poems I have written in recent years, including this one "South China Tiger", are trying to open up the artistic conception of poetry. Every poem, from the first sentence to the end, is a complete artistic life. Every line and word is an integral part of a complete life, neither more nor less. Its expression (not only the external form) is completed with the situation, image, charm and rhythm of the poem at one time. Of course, it is difficult to achieve this situation. This is just the ideal I have been fighting for.
Goethe said that every poem should indicate the time of creation, which is of great significance to understanding poetry. The emotion expressed in South China Tiger can only be understood from the characteristics of that historical period. Personally, I could only write about tigers like this at that time, and I saw this tiger as an adventure. How similar this tiger was to my situation at that time!
(Selected from Sleepwalkers' Narrative Poems, Chinese Publishing House, 200 1 Edition)