Dunzhe Ling
I saw someone asking in today's headlines: "Why can't modern poetry always surpass Tang poetry and Song poetry?" Answering this question is actually answering why poetry is marginalized.
The marginalization of poetry is obvious to all. What is the reason? No one can agree.
First of all, poetry is a kind of literature and art. What changes have taken place from the Tang and Song Dynasties to today? The first is the change of artistic diversity! This view is very important. Let me talk about it first.
Compared with ancient times, modern people's lifestyles and entertainment styles are much richer. Literature and art used to be an important activity in people's entertainment and spiritual life. That literature must be very popular. But times are different now. There are many competitors in literature and art.
People's attention is scattered from literature to various artistic activities. Painting, photography, dance, movies, music, games, ceramics ... each art can be divided into many small categories. But people only have 24 hours a day!
Do you still read newspapers? Very few. Do you still watch TV? Less. Do you still brush Weibo every day? Play qq? Very few. Because you spend your time brushing WeChat, watching live broadcasts, playing games and traveling. ...
Therefore, poetry is marginalized because of its historical process. On a larger scale, literature has also been marginalized.
In fact, there are many marginalized arts. For example, drama, shadow play, storytelling, lion dance ... the inheritance of many traditional arts has encountered difficulties.
So it's not that the poet is dying. Many netizens are cursing the poets who have no strict sense in this era.
There are utilitarian people in any era, and there are persistent people in any era. This can be seen from ancient poetry.
Don't you want to say "a merchant girl doesn't know how to hate her country, but she still sings backyard flowers across the river" instead of "this is definitely not the beauty." It is better to leave it to ugliness to cultivate and see what world he has created! " Okay？
In our view, "the night gave me black eyes, but I used them to find light." "One day, I will ride the long wind, break through the huge waves, raise my muddy sails and build a bridge on the deep sea." Just as beautiful.
So we can't say that modern poetry can't surpass Tang poetry and Song poetry. In different times, the soil environment in which poetry grows is different, and the content and form are also different.
Moreover, the inheritance of poetry art and the creator poet have also changed. In ancient times, poets were the representatives of the upper middle class. It is respect, but it is rare. This sense of identity is the driving force for thousands of scholars to create enthusiastically.
What about now? The imperial examination system has long been a thing of the past. Education classification, let a hundred flowers blossom. Physicists, chemists, musicians, biologists ... all the "homes" add up to more than 100 times that of the Tang and Song Dynasties. The poet is no longer tall.
How many stars were there in the Tang and Song Dynasties? How many online celebrities are there? What was the identity of the "player" at that time? What is the identity of a poet? Therefore, the times are changing and progressing, which we must realize.
It should also be mentioned that poets in Tang and Song Dynasties did not eat poetry. Most of them are engaged in official careers and even have official positions. Like Li Bai, Bai Juyi, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Wang Anshi, Liu Yuxi and so on. Therefore, artistic creation has a life guarantee.
How many articles can you publish a year now to support yourself by eating poetry? How many books can you sell if you can publish poems? I know, someone has published a collection of poems, and one is piled under the bed.
At this time, what will your parents say and your lover say? They will say, "Give it up. It is also possible to write occasionally as a hobby. Don't take it seriously. "
I have written my own poems for so many years, but I haven't written much. I don't make a living from poetry or literature. From the beginning. A poet must first ask himself, why should I write poetry? If it was money from the beginning, I think it would be more tiring.
Of course, there are also formal differences between modern poetry and ancient poetry. Anyone can write good or bad. This is not a bad thing. But there may also be some saliva poems, violent poems, lower body poems and so on. The reader will wonder, "Is this a poem? Then I can write. " "What is this poem. I don't understand a word. " This undoubtedly embarrassed poetry and poets.
Therefore, the marginalization of poetry should be regarded as "normal". Poetry, as an expression of writing art, literature art and emotion, has been passed down for thousands of years. No matter how its form evolves, it will always accompany us, and poetry culture has penetrated into our bone marrow. Therefore, when poetry is marginalized, everyone will sigh and ask why.
No matter where you are. How old is it? In this life, you will always read some poems and feel their ups and downs. It has improved our humanistic quality and character feelings. After all, life is not just a moment. There is always some time, you will leave it to poetry and the distance.
From this perspective, poetry has not been marginalized. It's just that poetry is no longer the only darling, but one of many. Poetry and poets still have a long way to go.
Excerpted from the prose works of Dunzhe Ling, an independent scholar, poet, writer and famous sinologist.