Zhou Zuoren: Miscellaneous Poems about Mountain Living (4, 6)

Author: Wang Jipeng

Four

Small insects of unknown shapes

squeaked on the locust tree branches.

Listening to the urgent and high-pitched sound of insects,

caused me to feel something like the smell of dead bananas.

Although I cannot understand the meaning of its song,

But I know that it is singing the song of urgent love,

This is him. The urgent death song.

Six

The back window was covered with a green cold cloth,

Two pots of purple-flowered conifers were placed in the window;

A big wasp came outside the window.

It buzzed for a long time,

but then passed away in confusion.

Ah, what a cruel thing I have done!

Zhou Zuoren

This is "Mountain Residence" written by Zhou Zuoren in the summer of 1921 when he was recuperating in Xishan. Two poems from "Miscellaneous Poems" are selected from the new poetry anthology "Snow Morning".

These are two poems about things, and the artistic conception is very fresh. The author uses the sounds of insects and the flying sounds of wasps to express a kind of emotion.

The fourth chapter begins with the squeaking of bugs on the locust tree. The cry is "urgent" and "shrill". This restless cry makes the author "cause" a feeling as if " The feeling of "dry banana smell". It is strange and possible to associate sounds with hearing and an olfactory experience. The author said that this voice is "the song of urgent love" and "the song of urgent death." The sound of insects is originally a signal of mating instinct. The author calls it a "song of love", which obviously expresses the idea of ??a "call for love" and "awakening of love", which is exactly one aspect of this call for "human awakening". Love is burning, burning fiercely, burning the awakened generation. Therefore, the author also said that the sound of insects is "an urgent song of death" again. This poem is an ode to love and a practice of "human literature" advocated by the author.

In the sixth poem, it is written that the back window is covered with green cloth, and two pots of purple-flowered conifers are placed in the window; wasps fly in order to enjoy the flowers and collect nectar, but they cannot fly in, " It buzzed for a while and then left in confusion. The whistling of a wasp is an instinctive need to collect honey. What the author embodies is a pursuit and yearning for beauty, a call for beauty, and an awakening of the sense of beauty. This is also an aspect of the call for "human awakening." The author lamented that he had done a "cruel thing" by putting up curtains. This is a beautiful ode and also the author's practice of "human literature".

These two poems are about animals, but they express human feelings and humanity. The poet's cries and regrets reflect a humanitarian sentiment. The worm's inability to court and the wasp's despairing departure all express a sharp conflict between human nature, human love and beauty, and the environment. The poet's sentiments exactly reflect the worries and losses of the May Fourth Enlightenmentists.

From the perspective of poetic style, both poems have a kind of leisurely interest. We can see the influence of the works of chanting objects and expressing feelings in classical poetry, and we can also see the reference of Japanese haiku in the 18th century. However, It is also an innovative and unique artistic experience. The delicate observation and the profound meaning are all full of personality.