To the oak tree
If I love you——
I will never be like a climbing flower in the sky
I borrow your high branches to show off myself;< /p>
If I love you——
I will never imitate the infatuated bird
Repeat monotonous songs for the green shade;
No more than that Like a spring
it brings you cool comfort all year round;
It is not just like a dangerous peak
It increases your height and sets off your majesty.
Even daylight.
Even spring rain.
No, these are not enough!
I must be a kapok tree near you,
standing with you as the image of a tree.
The roots are clenched underground
The leaves are touching in the clouds.
Every time the wind passed by
We greeted each other,
but no one
understood our words.
You have your copper branches and iron trunks
Like knives and swords,
Also like halberds;
I have mine The red flowers
are like heavy sighs,
and like heroic torches.
We share the cold wave, wind and thunder, and thunderbolt;
We enjoy the mist, mist, and hauni.
It seems like they are separated forever,
But they are still dependent on each other for life.
This is great love,
This is where steadfastness lies:
Love——
Not only do I love your stalwart body,
I also love the position you insist on and the land you step on.
March 27, 1977
Appreciation
Shu Ting's poems are novel in conception and rich in lyrical color; the language is exquisite and she has a distinctive personal style. "To the Oak Tree" is a beautiful and profound lyric poem by her. The poet uniquely chose the two central images of "kapok" and "oak tree", embodying delicate, euphemistic yet deep and powerful feelings in novel and vivid images. The love it expresses is not only pure and hot, but also noble and great. It is like an ancient but fresh song that touches people's heartstrings.
The poet uses oak trees as objects to express the passion, sincerity and steadfastness of love. The oak tree in the poem is not a specific object, but a symbol of the poet's ideal lover. Therefore, to a certain extent, this poem is not simply about expressing one's passionate love, but about expressing an ideal and belief in love through intimate and concrete images, which is quite similar to the way the ancients expressed their aspirations through objects.
First of all, oak trees are tall and majestic, charming, deep, and have rich connotations - "high branches" and "green shade" are one kind of meaning, and the setting method is used here. . The poet does not want a subordinate love, nor does he want to be a swaying flower in the sky, clinging to the high branches of the oak tree and being complacent. The poet also does not want to dedicate charity to love, does not want to be a bird that sings for the green shade all day long, does not want to be a source of wishful thinking, and does not want to be a tall mountain peak that blindly supports oak trees. The poet does not want to lose himself in such love. Love needs to be based on equality of personality, independence of personality, mutual respect and admiration, and mutual affection.
What the poet wants is the kind of love where two people stand side by side and share the same boat through thick and thin. The poet compares himself to a kapok, a kapok standing side by side with the oak tree. The roots and leaves of the two trees are closely connected. The poet's persistence in love is no less than that of the ancients who "wish to be a winged bird in heaven and a twig on earth." The oak tree and the kapok stood quietly and firmly. When the wind blew, they swayed their branches and leaves and greeted each other, and they became connected. That is the language of their world, the fusion of souls, and the silent understanding.
The two of them stood guard like this, two strong trees, two fresh lives, and two noble hearts. One is like a brave guard, with every branch ready to block attacks from the outside and defend the world between the two; the other is a passionate life with red flowers, willing to cheer for him when he fights and illuminate his future. . They share the threats of difficulties and the test of setbacks; similarly, they enjoy the brilliance of life and the magnificence of nature.
What the poet wants is such a great love, with the same greatness and nobility, with the same resounding thoughts and souls, rooted in the same foundation, sharing the same joys and sorrows, Warmth and coldness depend on each other.
The poem expresses the poet's ideal view of love with novel and magnificent images and appropriate metaphors. The metaphors and strange combinations of images in the poem represented the new form of poetry at that time and were of groundbreaking significance. In addition, although the poem uses novel images, the language of the poem is not difficult to understand and obscure, but has the characteristics of colloquialism. The novelty carries a fresh aura and subtle hints, giving people unlimited room for imagination.
About the author
Shu Ting, formerly known as Gong Peiyu, is one of the representative poets of the Misty Poetry School. Born in Shima Town, Fujian Province in 1952, he went to the countryside to join a team in 1969 and returned to the city to work as a worker in 1972. He began publishing poetry in 1979. In 1980, he worked at the Fujian Federation of Literary and Art Circles and engaged in professional writing. His major works include poetry collections "Brig", "Singing Irises", "Archaeopteryx", and prose collections "Heart Smoke", etc.
Shu Ting is good at introspecting the rhythm of her own emotions, and especially displays the unique sensitivity of women in capturing complex and delicate emotional experiences. The complexity and richness of emotions are often expressed through special sentence patterns such as assumptions and concessions. Shu Ting can also discover sharp and profound poetic philosophy in some conventional phenomena that are often ignored by people ("Goddess Peak", "Hui'an Women"), and writes this discovery in a way that is both speculative and touching.
Shu Ting's poems have bright and beautiful images, and rigorous and smooth thinking logic. In this respect, her poems are not "hazy". It's just that most poems use metaphors, partial or overall symbols, and rarely express confessions directly, so the images expressed have a certain degree of ambiguity.
"To the Oak" sings passionately and frankly about the poet's ideal personality. The oak tree and the kapok, standing side by side and affectionately facing each other in independent attitudes, can be said to be a group of brand-new characters in Chinese love poetry. Symbolic image.
The image of "oak" symbolizes the beauty of rigid men, while kapok with its "red flowers" obviously embodies a female personality with a new aesthetic temperament. She abandons the old-style feminine delicacy and beauty. It has a charming nature and is full of rich and vigorous life, which is exactly in line with the female independent and self-respecting personality ideal sung by the poet.
In terms of artistic expression, the poem adopts the lyrical method of inner monologue, which is convenient for expressing the poet's inner world candidly and cheerfully. At the same time, the image is constructed using an overall symbolic method (the whole poem uses the whole of oak and kapok. The image correspondingly symbolizes the independent personality and sincere love of both parties in love), which allows strong philosophical thoughts and ideas to be developed and poeticized in the friendly and sensible image. Therefore, this poem with a rich rational temperament makes people unable to feel it. There is no preaching meaning, but I am simply conquered and intoxicated by the rich and moving images. Shu Ting
Shu Ting's main works include poetry collections "Brig", "Singing Iris" and "Archaeopteryx", as well as prose collections such as "Heart Smoke".