Liu Dabai's (1880- 1932) contribution to the creation of new poetry deserves attention. Encouraged by the May 4th Movement, 19 19 began to write vernacular poems. Published a new collection of poems "Old Dreams" and "Kiss by Mail". Content: In the early poems, there were many poems about scenery and love, as well as some philosophical poems. The poems that best embody Liu Dabai's early poetic thoughts and artistic features and have always been praised by people are those that reveal people's sufferings and reflect class oppression and the painful life of working people (farmers and craftsmen). Representative works "Selling Cloth Ballads" and "Tianzhu Lai".
The poem "Selling Cloth Ballads" has something to do with Bai Juyi's "Selling Charcoal Weng". But it vividly wrote the social reality that China rural areas were on the verge of bankruptcy in the 20th century from one angle. Although those small-scale craftsmen in rural areas are diligent enough to stay up late and frugal enough to refuse to mend their trousers with their own cloth, they still can't escape the fate of poverty and bankruptcy. Because the homespun is thick and the foreign cloth is thin. Foreign cloth is easy, and the rich man is happy, because it is sad to sell cloth at the gate, so he lets go of foreign goods and holds back local goods; And because there is no money to donate, we have to arrest and detain people. As a result, I can only starve my brother and sister-in-law! This vividly reflects the oppression and coercion of imperialist and feudal forces on rural small-scale craftsmen. Reflecting the sufferings of farmers and accusing the evil of land rent exploitation are very prominent in Liu Dabai's poems. Among them, the poem Tianzhu Lai is representative. This poem is about the scene where the landlord asks the farmer for rent. First write about the panic and confusion brought by the arrival of the landlord to the peasant family:/Dad can't frown when the landlord comes. /When the owner of the field arrived,/Mom's heart beat. So I quickly swept the floor to cook and make a stove, and prepared rice, wine, fish and meat to entertain. I just borrowed an old hen to rent a chicken as usual, for fear of offending the landlord, and my feet will be in danger next year! Through the mouth of a farmer's child, this poem also reveals the cruelty of the landlord's exploitation of farmers and their anger and protest. So farmers not only compare landlords to thieves and dogs, but also say that they are robbers who eat noodles and grab the truth! .
Form: folk songs and ballads are integrated into new poetry, which has the style of ancient Yuefu. Such as "selling cloth ballads", but it is a folk song with simple folk customs, smooth and simple.
The poems of Liu Dabai and Liu Bannong are called New White Poetry or New Bai Yuan Poetry School in the history of literature.
In addition, Shen, Yu Pingbo, Kang, Zhou Zuoren and others are also pioneers of new poetry.
Shen later turned to writing old-style poems, but his Three Strings and Moonlight Night are representative works of early new poems. Yu Pingbo and Kang were both members of the trendy society that appeared on the eve of the May 4th Movement, and Yu Pingbo's early poems were collected in Winter Night. Later, some new poems were published, such as Journey to the West, Memories and Snow Dynasty (with Zhu Ziqing and others). His poems are deeply influenced by old poems, and there are still traces of degeneration from old poems in terms of words, rhythm and expression.
In his early days, Kang had a collection of poems, Grassland (later adapted as Grassland in Front). His landscape poems were highly praised. Some people call him a wonderful hand of coloring; Some people say that his description is his contribution to new poetry. His poems are fresh and unconventional, showing the characteristics of fresh and lively early vernacular poems. The poem Grass is thought-provoking. On the surface, it describes the hardships of cattle, but it is a metaphor for human suffering. The last sentence of this poem is: cow! People! The grass is in front and the whip is behind. That is to say, isn't the farmer with a whip in his plow whipped for the sake of poor food and clothing, just like the oxen?
Zhou Zuoren also contributed to the creation of early vernacular poems. His early poetry collections include Eight People in the Snow Dynasty, which was later edited into Past Life. His poems, with few traces of old poems, do not emphasize rhyme, only have natural syllables, and are authentic free poems. So once you get started, it gives people a brand-new feeling. One of his Little Rivers (195438+09.438+0) was once praised by Hu Shi as the first masterpiece of new poetry.