Author Xu Zhimo
"The Joy of Snowflake①"
If I were a snowflake,
I would fly gracefully in the air ,
I must know my direction clearly -
Flying, flying, flying, -
There is my direction on this ground.
Don’t go to the cold and lonely valley,
Don’t go to the desolate foothills,
Don’t go to the deserted streets to feel melancholy——
< p> Flying, flying, flying,——Look, I have my direction!
Flying in the mid-air,
identified the quiet residence,
waiting for her to come to visit in the garden——
< p> Flying, flying, flying,——Ah, she has the fragrance of cinnabar plums!
At that time, with my lightness,
I touched the skirt of her clothes
and got close to her soft heart——
Xiaorong, Xiaorong, Xiaorong——
Melted into her gentle waves of mind!
①This poem was written on December 30, 1924. Published in "Modern Review" Volume 1, Issue 6, January 17, 1925.
②Also used as condensation.
The poet Xu Zhimo wrote in his preface to "Collection of Tigers": "The poet is also a kind of crazy bird. He puts his soft
heart against the rose flower. Thorn, he kept singing about the glory of the stars and the moon and the hope of mankind, and he couldn't stop talking until his blood dripped out and dyed the white flowers crimson. His pain and happiness were profound. "One piece." If you compare Xu's poems "Snowflake's
Happiness", "Farewell to Cambridge" and "I Don't Know Which Direction the Wind is Blowing" (hereinafter referred to as "Snowflake", "Cambridge",
"Wind") put together, they just show the continuity of the poet's writing, the depth of hope and ideal pursuit
from this perspective. This is really an interesting comparison, because the style of these three famous poems is consistent and the inner rhyme is clear. It is easy to think of Mao Dun's words: "If it weren't for Xu Zhimo, he wouldn't be able to do this." "Poetry!" (Mao Dun's "On Xu Zhimo")
Among Xu's poems, "Baby" is the poem that expresses the most intense feelings of ideals and hope and the most radical thoughts. However,
the poems that most truly convey the poet's inner journey
"a man who once had pure faith and fell into doubt" (Zhimo's preface to "The Collection of Tigers") are the three mentioned above. head. In the modernist stage, symbolism not only served as an artistic method, but also as a way of thinking. The poet's mental journey towards his lifelong faith is a complicated literary world, in which readers often have to follow the twists and turns and reach the end point before they can suddenly realize it. Hu Shizhi pointed out in "Memories of Zhimo": "His outlook on life is really a simple faith. There are only three big words in it: one is love, one is freedom, and one is beauty. ... The history of his life is just the history of his pursuit of the realization of this simple belief" ("New Moon" Volume 4, Issue 1 "Shima Memorial Issue")
Yes, Xu Zhimo used many words to resist the heavy load and complexity of the real world. In the face of the destruction of the real world, what he finally maintained were "Snowflakes' Happiness", "Cambridge's Dream" and "I Don't The infinity of knowing which way the wind is blowing
Melancholy. If the essence of modern poetry is that the poet travels through reality to obtain inner innocence and adhere to the nobility of his ideals (traditional poetry
was built in the classical era when ideals have not yet been broken.), then it is not difficult for us to understand people's Preference for "Snowflakes",
"Cambridge" and "Wind".
"The Joy of Snowflakes" is undoubtedly a pure poem (that is, the pure poetry proposed by Valéry). Here, the real me is completely evacuated, and snowflakes appear on my behalf, "flying gracefully in the air". But this is a snowflake filled with the poet's thoughts,
A snowflake worn by the soul. This is the spiritual snowflake, the spirit of man, who wants to die for beauty. What is worth recalling is that he did not feel any pain or despair in the process of pursuing beauty. On the contrary, he fully enjoyed the freedom of choice and the joy of love.
The snowflakes "fly, fly, fly". This is such a firm, cheerful and relaxed persistence. It is really the result of self-evidence and consciousness
And this beautiful woman lives in a quiet place, goes out to gardens in the snow, exudes the fragrance of cinnabar plums, and her heart is like a lake with thousands of soft waves! She is the eternal illusion of the modern aesthetic period. For the poet Xu Zhimo, it may imply a deep personal object factor, but when he joins the search for the dawn of the new century, it is natural for the poet to choose "her" and
Not "his" drive.
Contrary to reading, when writing, the poet may burst into tears facing the flying snowflakes outside the window, or he may walk alone in the world where snowy flowers dance. His soul is suffering from captivity. The weight of reality and the physical body was torturing him. When "the brilliance of the stars
and the hope of mankind" made him sing "The Joy of Snowflakes", perhaps it can be said that the process of poetry itself is the process of the soul
soaring? This poem has four stanzas. Rather than saying that these four sonorous verses of the poem have the beauty of the compositional structure of inheritance, transition, and union, it is better to say that it embodies the wonder of the poet's passionate and ups and downs of thought. A sober poet avoids the barriers of reality and bases everything on "what if". "If" sets the soft and hazy tone of this poem, so that the enthusiasm and freedom in it are all shrouded in a halo of faint sadness. The rotation, delay and final destination of the snowflakes are completely consistent with the freedom, firmness and persistence of the poet's beautiful soul. The rhythm of this poem is the sound of nature and the symphony of the soul. The repeated "fly
fly, fly, fly" weaves a profound picture of the soul. Do we want the poet to tell us anything more?
When entering the world of "what if" architecture, people are often not only bathed in beauty, but also protected by beauty. To understand pure poetry simply
the term "ivory tower" is still not out of date, but we need to be tolerant. "Cambridge" is another outstanding pure poem by Xu Shi after "Snow Flower". In front of the beauty of nature and the spiritual home of mankind, I come gently
and walk gently, "without taking away a single cloud." This kind of protective feeling is completely poetic. . And this is completely consistent with the choice of the soul in "Snowflake". Only when the dream of pursuit and protection is finally pierced by the sharpness of reality, "Wind" finally reveals the truth of "not knowing" and the infinity of "wandering in the light waves of dreams" Nostalgia and melancholy.
So we say that the reason why "Snowflake", "Cambridge" and "Wind" have become representative works of Xu Zhimo's poetic style is not only the consistency of superficial language
style, but more importantly The inner soul aura is connected with each other. Mao Dun said in the 1930s: "I think Zhimo among the new poets deserves the most attention because his works are the most sufficient for our study." ("On Xu Zhimo" and "Snow")
The Joy of Flowers" is the first chapter of "Zhimo's Poems", the first collection of Xu Zhimo's poems. The poet's arrangement is by no means arbitrary.
"Snowflakes"→"Cambridge"→"Wind". "In the order of "pure poetry, we can see the realm that pure poetry can reach, and we can also understand the limits of pure poetry."
If so, there may be another perspective on Xu Zhimo’s overall view!