In December 1937, Ai Qing wrote "Snow Falls on the Land of China" in a cold room in Wuchang, a long poem with sincere feelings, melancholy and vast artistic conception. The poet came to Wuhan from his hometown in Zhejiang with the determination to join the battle eagerly. But in this big city, which was known as the center of the Anti-Japanese War at that time, the poet did not see the excitement and urgency that should be expected at the critical moment of national survival. The powerful were still domineering, and poverty and hunger were everywhere. He felt that Extremely disappointed, my fiery heart seemed to be buried in ice and snow. He deeply realized the profound disasters that the ancient nation suffered in the war to save itself, and that the vast land and the fate of hundreds of millions of creatures would also live extremely difficult days. The poet realized that the road to victory in this national liberation war was cold, muddy and tortuous. This boundless sensory world is not only the painful continuation of history, but also the harsh existence of reality. It strongly shocked the poet's already turbulent soul, so he felt a kind of overwhelming feeling inside and outside his whole body and mind. With a bone-chilling chill, the poet wrote this poem, which is colder than snow, and repeatedly shouted in the poem:
“Snow falls on the land of China, / The cold is blocking China... …”
Whether it was then or now, all readers are shocked by the coldness brought by these two lines of poetry, and admire its desolate and majestic charm full of the sense of the times. Its repeatedly echoing charm is like a deep bell that rings louder and louder one after another. Snow is falling on the land of China, and the poet's shocking bells are also trembling, echoing throughout the land of China as the snow falls. The "snow" that Ai Qing "falled" was so thick that it made people breathless and made them want to roar. This is how I felt when I first read this poem more than half a century ago. These two lines, which echo repeatedly, are considered the main theme of the poem.
"Snow Falls on the Land of China" aroused strong repercussions in the Chinese literary and artistic circles (not only the poetry circle) at that time. Although the poems published in newspapers at that time praised the War of Resistance, most of them seemed high-pitched and hollow, lacking true feelings and the artistic power to impress people. This poem effectively broke through the mediocre situation in the field of poetry creation in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War. It was a call to arms and a burst of exciting bells. What is valuable is that the poet not only experienced the true and rich connotation of war deeply and extensively, but also created poems in the true sense with unique aesthetic feelings, emotions and vivid language.
Obviously, the poet clearly puts the actual space of war on the basis of reality to think and create. Through the concrete description of this poem, readers can feel that the whole poem is filled with infuriating emotions of worry. This is the main reason why this poem was so popular among readers back then.
All the detailed descriptions contain the pain and revenge of the awakened nation. When the poet wrote these trembling and weeping words, he didn't know how much pain he had to pay!
If "Transparent Night" is a beam of rainbow bursting from the poet's soul, if "He Arose" is a solemn call, then "Snow Falls on the Land of China" is the poet's A deeper and broader outflow and sublimation of emotions and creative impulses. It is a symphony of sorrow and indignation, and a large and colorful oil painting with profound artistic conception.
From this poem we see the poet's personality and the aesthetic characteristics of his poetry. His poetry is the generation and creation of artistic life forms. Language is not a simple externalization of emotions, but is inseparable from the inner life. It integrally forms the sound, color, tangible, and pulsating life form of poetry. When commenting on this poem, many commentators said that it has the beauty of prose, which illustrates its natural artistic characteristics. It has no traces of carving or embellishment, and almost no tangible and perceptible techniques can be seen. The so-called beauty of prose, I think, also shows the strong elasticity and tension of poetry, which allows the situation of the poem to expand to far boundaries, giving it a deep and vast feeling. This is also the atmosphere of great poetry.
It is difficult to say that this poem has several obvious paragraphs. It can only be said that there are several ups and downs. The two-line poem called the main melody is an exciting atmosphere and realm, which suddenly pushes the reader into it, making you not only immersed in it, but also suddenly covered with heavy snow inside and outside your body. Then, the poet unfolded a series of cold scenes. The first is the appearance of the wind, which "stretches out its cold claws / pulls the skirts of pedestrians, / uses words as old as the earth / and keeps nagging..." The reader feels the unavoidable invasion of the wind and its The ancient sad voice can't help but make people feel the weight of history. Then the poet recounts the hard times of the land and the people, saying that the poet himself "is also a descendant of farmers", has experienced wandering and imprisonment, and lost his youth. The fate of the poet is closely related to that of the entire ancient nation and land. The poet's sincere confession imbues the poem with warm and sincere blood and tears, allowing the poem, poet and readers to be closely connected at this moment of national crisis. Then in the cold snow, I saw kind-hearted women who had been ravaged and killed in the war, and an old mother running on the road of exile. ...The poet exclaimed affectionately:
“China’s road/is so rugged/so muddy.
”
How heavy the capacity of these three lines of poetry is! It contains deep historical and realistic thinking, which adds great weight to the image and connotation of the poem. This weight is a This unshirkable burden fatefully falls on the reader's heart, causing a deeper and deeper tremor - this is also the cold weight of the snow falling on the Chinese land.
The poet finally said in "Nothing"! "Lighted Night" tells the story painfully and sadly: "Can the weak poems written by me/can give you some warmth?" "He was speaking to the motherland in crisis. This is because he saw the seriousness of the reality of the war, and saw that the powerful people who had persecuted the poet himself and countless democratic fighters in the past, and oppressed the broad masses of the people were still living in dissipation. In these days, can the poet not feel worried? The last few lines of the poem are not a moan without complaint, they are a cry with a trembling voice, a cry of eager devotion to the motherland.
In the falling snow. In the cold land of China, although the poet's creative path was muddy and tortuous, he used his warm and sincere voice and firm steps to climb step by step to the peak of the poet's own and China's poetry field at that time.