The creative background of sports ode

Writing background of Ode to Sports From the founding of the modern Olympic Games to the eve of the 5th Olympic Games in 19 12, the Olympic movement was eclipsed in the western world, changed and exposed many disadvantages. Canadian scholar Thomas? Bederski pointed out in the article "Sports and Nationalism" that the first half of19th century was an era when the concept of nationalism was accepted by people, starting from liberalism and then becoming chauvinism. The cause of European nationalism can be linked to the revival of the Olympic Games. Therefore, the Olympic Games can be used as a barometer to measure the development of nationalism in sports. In his article, he listed some nationalist disputes that broke out many times since the first Olympic Games. Take the 4th Olympic Games held in London from 65438 to 0908 as an example. Because the British referee favored the athletes from this country, which caused dissatisfaction from other countries, especially American athletes, there was a quarrel between the two countries in the tug-of-war competition. Later, there was a conflict between British and American athletes in the 400-meter race, and the British referee tampered with the American athletes, which led to the American athletes abstaining from the strike. There were other irregularities in the Olympic Games. For example, as early as the 1904 St. Louis Olympic Games, American marathon runners had cheating behaviors such as "riding instead of walking" and "excitement". In Coubertin's view, such a thing obviously runs counter to the Olympic ideal he advocated. This made him deeply worried, so he gave a warning speech at a reception hosted by the British government during the 4th Olympic Games in London on July 24th. 1908. He said: "It can be considered that although we live in an era in which material civilization-I usually call it mechanical civilization-makes everything beautiful, some drawbacks that threaten the Olympic ideal are disturbing. There is no denying that I don't need to hide that Fairplay is in danger. Especially because of the unscrupulous growth of various poisons, it has led to the fanaticism of competition, gambling and adventure. Therefore, if we embark on a reform movement against this danger, I am convinced that we will get the support of public opinion in this country-these public opinions will come from people who love sports for their own health, educational value and human perfection. This may be one of the most powerful factors. Last Sunday, at an athlete awarding conference organized by Sao Paulo, USA, the Archbishop of Pennsylvania reminded everyone with pertinent words:' Winning is more important than not participating in the Olympic Games.' Gentlemen, please remember this powerful saying. This argument can be extended to many fields until an objective and correct philosophical foundation is formed. What matters in life is not victory, but struggle. This means that the main thing is not victory, but fighting. The purpose of spreading these aphorisms is to create stronger human beings-thus making human beings more rigorous, prudent, brave and noble. "

It can be seen that Coubertin, as the founder of the modern Olympic Movement, has been keenly aware of some potential crises that were not conducive to the healthy development of sports at that time. He appealed loudly at this grand and solemn conference, hoping that the world can fully and comprehensively understand the lofty ideals pursued by the Olympic Movement. Four years later, he published Ode to Sports under the German pseudonyms Harold and Eichbach.

Significance of sports ode: The significance of sports ode is a kind of language art, which, as a practical way of human culture, has various social functions and values. The epochal significance of poetry is closely related to its social cognitive function and educational function.

Social cognitive function of ode to sports All excellent literary and artistic works are the products of social life and its movement law in a certain period of time through creative labor by writers according to the law of beauty. For future generations, it can let people know the real feelings of all aspects of world social life in the previous era, gain rich, vivid and vivid knowledge of social history and life, broaden their horizons and improve their ability to understand social life. As Gorky said: "Literature serves to understand life, and it is the history of life and the emotion of the times." (Gorky: Literature, page 7, Guangxi People's Publishing House, 1980 edition) The masterpiece of prose poetry "Ode to Sports" makes people vividly know and understand the Olympic ideal.

At the beginning of Ode to Sports, the author praised "sports" as "the joy of the gods and the motive force of life", just like "the morning light illuminates the earth", which revealed to us that sports is a sacred cause and the supreme cause in the "earth" (the world). In the following paragraphs, the author praises "sports" as the embodiment of "beauty", "justice", "courage", "honor", "fun", "progress" and "peace", revealing to us the function of sports and its significance to the progress of human society. The whole poem vividly embodies the Olympic ideal. The so-called Olympic ideal (or "Olympism") has rich connotations. As early as1June, 8921June, 2008, when Coubertin formally put forward the initiative to establish the modern Olympic Games in Paris, he clearly advocated: "What we want to restore should be such a sports meeting-it should be based on unity, peace and friendship, just like the ancient Olympic Games; It is not restricted by countries, regions, nationalities or religions. " After two years' efforts, the International Olympic Committee was established in Paris on June 23rd, 1894.

His original intention and lofty thoughts were written into the Olympic Charter. The central idea of the charter is "to inspire and lead sports under the guidance of the Olympic ideal, so as to promote and strengthen the friendship between athletes from all countries." 19 13 The Olympic flag designed and manufactured according to Coubertin's idea has five interlocking rings, which are called the Olympic rings. Their colors are blue, yellow, black, green and red. It symbolizes the unity of five continents, and athletes from all over the world gather at the Olympic Games with fair and frank competition and friendly spirit. There are also three Latin maxims on the Olympic flag: "Citius, Altius, Fortius", which was originally the school motto of a close friend of Coubertin. Coubertin thought its meaning was profound and extensive, so he adopted it as the Olympic motto (also known as "Olympic slogan"). This motto embodies a kind of sports spirit of human beings' continuous progress, competition and pursuit. These contents and meanings are skillfully combined in Ode to Sports. Especially in the last paragraph, Coubertin praised it affectionately. (See the entry "Text of Works" for appreciation.

Praise movement

The educational function of ode to sports The social life expressed in poetry is the product of the poet's creative labor. Poets always reflect social life according to their world outlook and aesthetic concept, and evaluate social life in their works, which embodies their social ideals and moral standards; This makes the poems have educational function. In the long-standing literary traditions at home and abroad, all pay attention to a kind of "poetry teaching" (such as Confucius and Aristotle). As a prose poem, Ode to Sports also plays the role of "poetry teaching": giving people at that time and today an image of Olympic ideal and sports civilization education.

What is the purpose of the Olympic movement? The Olympic Charter clearly stipulates: "Educate young people through sports activities in the Olympic spirit-understand each other without any discrimination in the spirit of friendship, unity and fairness, and make contributions to building a peaceful and better world." This shows that the Olympic movement is to educate young people with the Olympic spirit through sports activities in order to achieve its lofty goals. Sports has many functions such as education, fitness and entertainment (these functions are vividly expressed and praised in Ode to Sports), and sports can best highlight these functions.

Coubertin always attached great importance to education. As early as 1888 and 1889, he published two important works, advocating the development of physical education in schools and reforming education focusing on physical education. At the beginning of the revival of the Olympic Movement, he firmly believed that "the most important thing in modern life is education." The red line of "education" runs through every paragraph (festival) and between the lines of Ode to Sports. For example, he sang: "Ah, sports, you are so beautiful! Whether the human body you shape becomes noble or despicable depends on whether it is led to depravity by shameful desires or carefully cultivated by healthy forces. " In a speech, Coubertin said: "Olympic ideal is a strong concept of body culture in our minds", and that "body culture concept" contains "aesthetic concept, that is, worship of beauty and elegance". Poetry and songs not only reflect his incisive sports values and humanistic aesthetics, but also teach people to fully understand and understand sports.

Praise movement

He believes that physical exercise and sports competitions should purify and beautify people's thoughts and sentiments, rather than being single and powerful. Therefore, he taught people to pay attention to the beauty of the human body's appearance, which can be obtained through physical exercise, but at the same time, it is also necessary to obtain the beauty of the soul through physical exercise, requiring people to be "harmonious and unified." When praising sports justice, he sang again: "Ah, sports, you are justice! You embody the fairness and rationality that cannot be pursued in social life. Anyone who wants to exceed the speed by one minute and the height by one minute and one centimeter can succeed only by integrating physical strength and spirit. " This is aimed at some people in the sports arena who do whatever it takes to pursue honor, even the most despicable things. Therefore, he said in his poem: "Honor should be won impartially, otherwise it is meaningless" and warned: "Some people play shady tricks to deceive their companions. Deep down, he was killed by shame. " "If someone sees through him one day, his reputation will be ruined." Coubertin saw all kinds of bad social phenomena after the rise of capitalism at that time, and saw that professionalism, commercialization, chauvinism, doping and violent conflicts in sports competitions had deviated from the Olympic purpose. How he hopes to save the human soul through sports and make the world full of beauty, justice, progress, friendship and peace! The Olympic ideal embodied in Coubertin's Ode to Sports, aesthetically speaking, is to construct the aesthetic ideal of sports for mankind.

There are all kinds of strange situations inside and outside some sports venues, such as drug abuse, gambling, pornography, athletes being treated as commodities, violent conflicts, bribery and other extremely uncivilized behaviors that are contrary to the purpose of sports itself and the purpose of the Olympics. Therefore, in today's sports world, the poetic beauty of sports eulogy-the aesthetic ideal of sports-can still be used as a mirror, exerting its powerful rational and aesthetic power and shocking people's hearts: warning and educating people to inherit and carry forward the Olympic spirit, paying attention to sports ethics, shaping the sports image of truth, goodness and beauty, and creating sports civilization. And Coubertin's spirit of struggling all his life to revive and carry forward the Olympic ideal will always be worthy of the admiration of the world. He deserves to be a great international sports activist and a great sports educator.

He believes that sports "embodies fairness and rationality that cannot be pursued in social life", and physical exercise and sports competitions can purify people's thoughts and sentiments and cultivate people's brave spirit. He praised the educational function and social function of sports, in fact, he praised the truth, goodness and beauty of human beings. Its leading idea is "sports is peace", which is also the Olympic purpose he has advocated many times. This poem fully embodies Coubertin's sports values.