Author: Wen Yiduo
Creation time: 192 1 May/0/4th, Frank.
Wen Yiduo
Yinger, did you sing so happily?
Do you know why there is a man leaning against a tree?
Crow, you sing so happily,
Haven't you ever heard of curses?
Good bird! I think you only know that when you have a song, you should sing it.
What praise, what curse, how can you care?
Hey, Ying Ge, the black sheep of the Byrd family,
Forget your own songs, learn human language,
If all the birds in the world are like you,
Where can I find music in the world? Frank is Wen Yiduo's early work. Wen Yiduo did not receive any officially published poems before his death.
This is an impromptu lyric poem, which describes the poet's feelings when he hears the calls of several birds in nature.
First of all, orioles are petite and beautiful, and their songs are euphemistic, which often attract admiration. People think that "leaning under the tree" is specially designed to appreciate Huang Ying's singing, but Huang Li seems to ignore it and "enjoy" it while singing. It doesn't know that others appreciate it, praise it, or, to be precise, don't want to know.
Crows are birds as opposed to orioles. Whenever its black wings flap slowly over our heads and "bark" coldly, almost everyone will unconsciously erect their hair and can't help swearing. Crows are probably the ugliest and most frustrating birds in nature. According to China folks, when it appears, it indicates that a person is about to die. Therefore, in the concept of China people, crows are unlucky and ominous, and everyone should spit on them. But the poet found that the crow can ignore this set, and it is still "singing" by itself (as far as it is concerned, it is also a kind of "singing"), unrestrained and free.
As a result, the poet found the same characteristics from these two completely different birds: they were obsessed with their own needs and tastes, while ignoring the attitudes of others. What a rare and precious independent will! The poet unconsciously and sincerely praised: "Good bird!"
Therefore, the poet naturally thought of another common bird-parrot, which is different from the oriole's insistence on singing those cheerful songs and the crow's insistence on making those depressed "evil calls". Parrots never sing their own songs and don't want to show their feelings. They just repeat our human language. So, is it because human language is more beautiful and musical than nature? No, the poet said, "Where is music in the world?" The real music is in nature, in the bird's own singing, but the parrot has obviously forgotten this.
In the poet's view, orioles are cute, but neurotic crows also have their cuteness, because they all dare to reveal their hearts, which is "frankness". On the contrary, parrots, the "black sheep of birds", are cunning and sophisticated, and have lost their due frankness.
This kind of reflection on "frankness" is quite characteristic of Wen Yiduo's time and has cultural significance of the time.
192 1 year, only 22 years old, studying in Tsinghua University. The attitude of life echoing in the hearts of young students is frank and sincere. He hates the sophistication and versatility of adults. He doesn't know what posturing and flattery mean. He is willing to express his inner voice like an oriole or a crow. One's life, childhood is ignorant, youth is magnanimous, middle-aged is sophisticated, and old is smooth. After youth, society and its huge crawling crowd began to form an "encirclement circle", constantly swallowing and assimilating those who dare to tell the truth and ignore others' praise and criticism, which seems to be an objective law of life history. Fortunately, not everyone is so easy to succumb to social customs and laws, and not everyone is willing to be a parrot. Judging from Wen Yiduo's life, this kind of "frankness" advocated in his youth was still adhered to by him to the end. How difficult it is!
In addition, we also know that in the traditional society of China, frankness and sophistication often go beyond the significance of the development of the times, and spread as an important feature of the whole cultural concept. On the whole, China's mother culture is a middle-aged and old-aged culture that is hostile to youth, cancels youth and wins with the strength of "history and numbers". A "really ugly voice" like a crow is naturally annoying, and even a "really beautiful voice" like an oriole is inevitably not criticized by "self-righteous" arrogance. Then, the safest and safest attitude towards life is to hide yourself, or even simply forget the "self", conform to other people's hobbies, and repeat the language that has been repeated a thousand times. This is also a "parrot" life. By comparing oriole with crow, Wen Yiduo reflected on the basic attitude of China culture towards life, and put forward his new outlook on life and art. The poet is "frank" in life and writing, and "frankness" is also one of the most remarkable characteristics of Wen Yiduo's poems.