The whole poem is divided into five sections and can be divided into three parts.
The first part (the first section) expresses the poet's indignation at the "stagnant pool" of corruption in old China.
The first sentence of the poem "This is a stagnant pool" has profound implications: it symbolizes the corrupt and dark semi-feudal and semi-colonial old China at that time, just like "a stagnant pool". In this poem, the word "despair" expresses the poet's deep disappointment. In the second sentence of the poem, "the breeze can't blow a bit", and "breeze" is the contrast of "stagnant water", which can be used as a metaphor for all fresh thoughts and forces. However, these new things can't attract the slightest reaction of "stagnant water". There are no waves where the breeze blows, indicating that the stagnant water has been silent to the extreme. This sentence is a further description of the third and fourth sentences in the poem "Dead Water", which describes the poet's extreme hatred after facing the disappointment of "Dead Water". Since the reality is so dark and desperate, it is better to let it rot and stink completely. Maybe it's a terminal illness, and if it's hopeless, it will rot faster and more thoroughly Only when the old dies completely will the new become stronger. These two poems also show that the poet's anger is full of ardent hope for good things.
In the second part (the second, third and fourth sections), the poet described "stagnant water" in detail, vividly exposed the decadent social situation in old China, and expressed his feelings of hatred, anger and ridicule towards old China.
In these poems, the poet gradually and profoundly wrote the further changes of scrap iron and stagnant water after leftovers with rich imagination, vivid metaphors, vivid color descriptions and ironic brushstrokes. And "scrap copper and iron" thrown into stagnant water will produce green and red rust, such as "emerald" and "peach blossom". Moreover, greasy "leftovers" are scattered on the water, and the sunshine is like a flashing "Luo Qi"; Some places are moldy and hairy, just like "clouds"; After fermentation, the stagnant water will turn into smelly water with the color of "green wine", which is covered with "pearl-like foam". It is in this stagnant water that swarms of flower mosquitoes are flying around, and sometimes, noisy frogs are added. This disgusting stagnant water, dirty and smelly, is untenable! Here, the poet described the dark reality of old China in detail by further describing stagnant water. In this part, the poet used colorful "Emerald", "Peach Blossom", "Rocky", "Xia Yun" and "Pearl" to describe the dirty stagnant water, just like dressing the devil with a delicate and elegant coat. This is a contrast between false beauty and ugliness. The poet wrote this way to make the ugly class uglier. Write ugliness with beauty, and ugliness is even uglier. In this unique way, the poet shows the rancid nature of stagnant water more vividly, and at the same time makes his poetry have a strong irony.
The third part (the last section) expresses the poet's strong desire to curse reality and urgently hope to change it.
In the first two sentences of this part, the poet completely denies the dark China society in a very straightforward tone. "This is a pool of desperate stagnant water, which is definitely not the beauty." . After the complete denial, the sentence "Let Ugly take back the land and see what world he created" wrote the poet's hope in despair. The world cultivated by ugliness can only be uglier, but if it is ugly to the extreme, it is possible to reverse Gan Kun. Therefore, these last two sentences not only contain the poet's despair of old China, but also his expectation and yearning for new China, and his strong desire to change reality. Although for poets, this expectation was very vague at that time.
The whole poem strongly lashes and curses the dark and stale old China under the rule of warlords, which shows the poet's deep patriotic enthusiasm. [5]
theme
The poem A Desperate Dead Water is a symbol of semi-feudal and semi-colonial old China. The poet seized the "death" of stagnant water and approached it step by step, showing the feelings of "despair" incisively and vividly. The last verse of the poem shows that he has no illusions about darkness and firmly believes that ugliness cannot produce beauty; But unlike embers, he said angrily, "It is better to abandon ugliness and practice and see what world it has created." Zhu Ziqing said in the preface of Wen Yiduo's Complete Works: "It is simply to make ugliness full of evil earlier, and there is hope in despair." Hope in despair and patriotic enthusiasm in cold are the themes of this poem. [2]
Writing characteristics
"Dead Water" pays attention to rhetoric, and strives to use rich and delicate words without repetition. For example, the verbs used in the following phrases are by no means the same: "Green becomes emerald", "Rust produces several petals of peach blossom", "Weave a layer of Luo Qi", "Steam out a few clouds", "Ferment into a ditch of green wine" and so on. Writing here, it concludes that the stagnant water is "somewhat vivid". But the "unusual" here is only a faint color. Then he showed the "sound" of stagnant water. This voice is also very unique, with "laughter"-"Little beads laugh into big beads"; There is also "singing"-"If frogs can't stand loneliness, they will still stop singing." What a terrible silence.
"Dead Water" is also a masterpiece of metrical new poetry, and its style is extremely rigorous. From the appearance, there are nine words in each sentence and four sentences in each section, which are arranged very neatly. From the internal rhythm, each sentence is composed of four sentences. Due to the high harmony of internal rhythm, coupled with the strict double-line rhyme and the acoustic effect of one rhyme per verse, the rhythm of the whole poem is very beautiful. [6]
Famous comments
Shen Congwen's On Wen Yiduo: "It has achieved a higher purity in words and organization than any poet in China, that is, it got rid of the atmosphere dominated by words in The Collection of Grass Mang and established a complete new poetry style for China. " [6]
Sima Changfeng's History of China's New Literature: "There are five stanzas, 20 lines and 180 words in the stagnant water, all of which are forceful, splendid, inappropriate and accurate, marking the maturity of new poetry and a milestone of new literature". [7]