The author of the modern poem "Tree" is Ai Qing.
In the autumn of 1939, Ai Qing, who was living in Guilin, was asked to teach at Hengshan Rural Normal School in Xinning County, Hunan Province. He agreed and came to this mountain and river to become a Chinese language teacher. The mountains, rivers, rivers, plants and trees here seem to have spirituality, which gave the poet quite a fruitful harvest. The poem "Tree" was produced at this time.
Xinning County has an idyllic scenery, which seems far away from the anti-Japanese war. It seems that the sound of guns and shouts of the warriors of the Chinese nation fighting bloody battles with the Japanese invaders cannot be heard. But the poet's heart was not intoxicated in this pastoral scenery. His heart stretched out countless tentacles, always feeling the pulse of the great struggle for the survival of the nation. His heart could not be calm, and his poems were still concerned about the rise and fall of the world. Maybe the trees here have their own special grace. Maybe at this moment, the poet has a special feeling for the trees here. The trees here attracted the poet's attention and contemplation. The poem "Tree" came into being.
The poem "Tree" is not long, only eight lines. However, this poem has huge meaning.
“A tree, a tree/stands isolated from each other/the wind and air/tell their distance.”
The first four lines of the poem describe a scene. This scene is real and can be felt by not only the poet but also others. Trees in the world all stand alone, with a certain distance between them. Just looking at these four lines, there seems to be nothing special about it. If you don't read below, it would be difficult for others to know the poet's intention. But after reading the following poems, the meaning of the first four sentences becomes clear. In this simplicity and simplicity, there is a social generalization.
“But under the cover of soil/their roots stretch out/in invisible depths/they entangle their roots.”
"But", a turning point, shifts the reader's attention from the ground to the underground, and the broad meaning of this poem gradually becomes clear. This "but" has great power. The poet wants people to know that don't just look at the tree standing alone on the ground, but more importantly, look at the scene of the tree underground. Underground, the roots of the tree are "entangled" together”.