Since the end of 1980s and the beginning of 1990s, the number of authors and audiences of poetry has dropped sharply, the spread of poetry has narrowed, and the writing and reading of poetry has increasingly become the behavior of a lonely minority. This situation has not changed much so far. Why did poetry come to this stage?
This era is not the age of poetry?
We can look back on the scene since the birth of new poetry. The May 4th Movement gave birth to new poetry, and a large number of famous poets emerged during the May 4th Movement. Then, in the 1920s, 1930s, 40s and 1950s ... there were many famous poets in each era, and there was no need to be ten years apart. Sometimes three or five years, sometimes one or two years, some poets come into people's sight and their poems are recited. From the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, although the artistry of poetry was submerged in politics, the power of poetry still accumulated underground and among the people. Until the end of 1970s, another large-scale outbreak, a large number of young poets emerged and became famous poets. Haizi became the last of these famous poets who emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. Haizi is a talented and sensitive poet. He seems to have a hunch that with the arrival of a new era, the lyricism of poetry will appear pale and powerless; He seems to have a hunch that the imagination and dreams, sadness and romance belonging to the poet or embodied in the spirit of poetry will not be tolerated in this society.
In the past, people often looked for reasons from this writer and poet. It seems that the poet himself failed to live up to his expectations, which led to the readers' alienation from poetry and the shrinking of the poetry market. In fact, this is unfair and difficult for poets to accept. In my opinion, it is a powerful and irresistible social force that causes poetry to quit the center and go to the edge. Specifically, it should be the following factors that make today's poetry scenery no longer: the embezzlement and harm to people's poetry brought about by social transformation and industrialization; The impact of diversification of entertainment methods; The alienation of poetry from society and the public is accompanied by the "Tao-bearing" of poetry and the weakening of ideological function; Under the background of social change, pragmatism and materialism are flooding today's society, and poetry is generally ignored by society and the public because of its "uselessness" in the material level.
In this respect, it seems that it can be said that this era is no longer the era of poetry. However, after this view was put forward, I felt at a loss and confused: is this era really not the era of poetry? What is the position of poetry in life after the tide of the times? Do we still need poetry? What role can poetry play in today's life? These are questions that haunt my mind from time to time. I think this is not just a question of poetry.
Poetry has irreplaceable "uselessness"
Just as the poet Nishikawa once lamented in a chat with me, no matter what the poet does now, it is useless.
Of course, when we say famous poets, we should refer to those poets who have entered the public's field of vision, not some self-styled famous poets, outstanding poets, first-class poets, world-class poets and so on.
The famous poet is gone, but there may be many celebrities in other fields.
In this era, it seems worth thinking about who has increased and who has decreased. We can also try to answer. For example, we can say that in this era, there are more celebrities active in the media, more celebrities in the IT industry, more celebrities in the business world, and more famous actors with scandals ... We can say that in this era, there are more famous schools and fewer famous teachers; More people go out and fewer people are at home; The number of restless people has increased, and the number of quiet people has decreased; There are more smart people and fewer fools; There are more people with ideas and fewer thinkers ... these problems seem to have nothing to do with poetry, but they are not. The real world is the living environment of poetry, which can not but affect the artistic form of poetry. The present situation of poetry and the lack of famous poets are all related to this.
In my opinion, poetry is a form of dreams. Because it is a form of dream, it has always been with us, lurking in our spiritual world, constantly emitting fragrance and spreading energy.
Because it is a form of dream, we can see that poetry is still the sun, moon and stars hanging over our heads, soothing our sadness, soothing our hearts and shining our way forward, despite the embarrassment of modern life and the poet's squeeze on reality.
Because it is a form of dreams, poetry is often regarded as the highest and most essential art form. Every nation has its own poet. People often remember those shining names and recite their immortal poems.
Poetry is useless at the material level, but useful at the spiritual level. The function and function of poetry is a kind of "useless use" or "useless use". This also coincides with our understanding of the essence of art, and any art form is "useless" in terms of its essence.
In today's society, it is of great significance for us to advocate the spirit of poetry and actively spread excellent poetry works. Look at the busy people in today's society. It is exactly what Sima Qian said: "The world is bustling for profit, and the world is bustling for profit." Modern people are full of wisdom and cleverness, but more and more people have lost the ability to dream; Poetry may help to restore people's ability to dream.
Realize poetic dwelling
Poetry education is an important position and field that cannot be ignored when we pay attention to reality and the future. At present, poetry education is seriously lagging behind, which can no longer adapt to the rapidly developing aesthetic concept of poetry and the reality of poetry creation. By strengthening poetry education, it is a great achievement to return the original imagination and dream ability of young friends deprived by this utilitarian world, which is worth advocating. Taking the senior high school entrance examination as an example, a common phenomenon is that candidates are not allowed to write poems (commonly known as "no style except poems") in the composition writing of Chinese examination papers. When you think about it carefully, this one-size-fits-all rigid rule is actually ridiculous, which keeps some students who have the ability to dream poetry and the talent to express poetry out of the exam. Now, it's time to relax this rule. Poetry, as an art form with high requirements for innovation, creativity and imagination, is very different from everyday practical language. The aesthetic power and judgment of adults and teachers are facing challenges. If we can't grasp the characteristics and laws of poetry in essence, we may misjudge a created poem.
What acts on poetry should be the combined force of many aspects. There are both internal and external forces. Internally, we should not only adhere to what we should not give up, but also change what does not meet the requirements of development. Externally, we hope that the improvement of the realistic environment will contribute to the prosperity of poetry, and the readers' vision and critics' remarks are also the driving force for the development of poetry. Under the conditions of favorable weather, geographical location and human harmony, it may promote the emergence of new famous poets by insisting on personality and talent.
At the same time, in today's society, we should get rid of the complex of famous poets. The appearance of famous poets is something that can be met but not sought. Poetry is not only a form of dreams, but also plays a unique and irreplaceable role in the development of society and people. Then I think, on the one hand, we hope that more good poems will appear, so that we can get pleasure in reading and improve our spirit; On the other hand, as a real person, it is a very meaningful thing as long as you can get a poetic feeling and realize a poetic dwelling.