The poet takes the oak tree as the object, expressing the passion, sincerity and firmness of love. The oak tree in the poem is not a concrete object, but an ideal lover symbol of the poet. Therefore, this poem, to some extent, does not simply pour out one's passionate love, but expresses one's ideals and beliefs about love. It is expressed through a kind and concrete image, which is quite meaningful to the ancients.
First of all, the oak tree is tall, charming, deep and rich in connotation-"high branches" and "shade" are one meaning, and the method of setting off is adopted here. Poets don't want the love of vassals, nor do they want to be a smug flower attached to the high branches of oak trees. Poets should not give alms to love, be a bird that sings for the shade all day, be a fountain of wishful thinking, and be a mountain that blindly supports the oak tree. The poet doesn't 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 affinity.
What the poet wants is the kind of love that two people stand shoulder to shoulder and share weal and woe. The poet compares himself to a kapok, a kapok standing side by side with an oak tree. The roots and leaves of these two trees are closely connected. The poet's persistence in love is no less than the ancients' "I would like to be a lovebird in the sky, and I would like to live together on the ground, with two branches in one tree." . Oak and kapok stand quietly and firmly. When the wind blows, swaying branches and leaves greet each other and they are connected. That is the language of their world, the harmony of their hearts, and the silent understanding.
Two people are guarding it like this, two determined trees, two fresh lives and two noble hearts. A brave guard, every branch is always ready to stop attacks from the outside world and defend the world of two people; One is a passionate life, with red flowers, willing to cheer for him and light up his future when he is struggling. They share the threat of difficulties and the test of setbacks; Similarly, they enjoy the splendor of life and the magnificence of nature.
What poets want is such great love, the same greatness and nobility, the same thoughts and soul, rooted in the same foundation, sharing weal and woe, and being dependent on each other in cold and warm.
Poetry expresses the poet's ideal view of love with novel and magnificent images and appropriate metaphors. The metaphor and peculiar image combination in the poem represented the new form of poetry at that time, which was of groundbreaking significance. In addition, although novel images are used in poetry, the language of poetry is not obscure, but colloquial, with fresh aura and subtle hints in novelty, giving people unlimited imagination.
Shu Ting, a poetess, is one of the three giants in the field of obscure poetry, which keeps pace with Beidao and Gu Cheng. Her poems, not limited to Alan Yu, maintain a detached and distinct personality, thus smearing a dazzling track in the literary sky. Her poems, from images to vocabulary, are full of southern flavor and feminine flavor. Just like this song "To the Oak Tree", how vivid and touching the language and images are! And the kind of love she sang, from humble to pure and beautiful, can be described as an ideal realm with strong appeal, which makes countless young people yearn for and look forward to.
Shu Ting was once a world-famous poet, and To the Oak was once a poem that spread all over the world. Twenty years ago, there were different comments. Although the misty poetry school has long fallen into a cold silence, Shu Ting and To the Oak are still worth talking about.
To the Oak Tree is a love poem with no vague meaning. The poet uses meticulous and fluent thinking logic to show bright and beautiful images. In the 80-year history of China's new poetry, perhaps there is no other love poem better than it. What's more commendable is that it was written in March 1977, and it was the earliest love poem after the Cultural Revolution.
Love is an indispensable topic in social life, and it is also the most widely described theme in ancient and modern Chinese and foreign poems. Shu Ting, an outstanding representative of misty poetry school, deeply felt the loss of lofty spirit in real life, praised the great love of sages, and put forward a high standard of love for people with To Oak. The love image she created in this poem clearly shows a love view of independence, equality, interdependence and mutual support, understanding each other's existence significance and cherishing their own survival value.
Let's enjoy this classic poem about love word for word.
The poem To Oak uses the monologue tone of "kapok tree" to talk with "oak tree", which is pioneering in poetry creation at that time. Oak is a timber tree with compact and tall wood. Kapok is also known as the hero tree, and its image is tall and straight, which is the tallest among the flower trees. We have to admit the poet's careful design when choosing the material of poetry creation: oak is so suitable to represent the masculine beauty of men, while kapok is so suitable to represent women's self-reliance and equality with men. Through the artistic technique of quasi-materialization and the inner monologue of kapok tree, the poet sang his own personality ideal and his independent and affectionate love view. As soon as this poem was born, oak and kapok became a group of symbolic images with brand-new character in China's love poems. The establishment of this group of images not only denies the old love description mode, but also transcends the principle of mutual love and is full of humanistic spirit: sincere and noble mutual love is based on their independent positions and personalities. This view of love is very ideological and artistic, and it is extremely heavy.
At the beginning of the poem, two assumptions and six negative metaphors are used to express their love view: "If I love you-I will never show off myself with your high branches like climbing Campbell;" If I love you, I will never learn from spoony birds and repeat monotonous songs for the shade; It is not only like a source, but also brings cool comfort all year round; It is not just like danger, it increases your height and sets off your dignity. Even sunshine and even spring rain. "-she doesn't want to climb on each other and show off her vanity by virtue of each other's greatness; Nor is it wishful thinking to drown in each other's indifferent shade and sing unrequited love songs alone. As a woman, she should be affectionate, considerate and gentle by default, but she thinks she can't stay in this affectionate state. She admits that bedding and foil can make the other person's image more prominent and powerful, but she feels that this function still does not express the full power of love. For each other, I want to offer the warmth like "sunshine" and pour out the affection like "spring rain"; This is the whole truth in love. But she was not satisfied with these: "No, these are not enough! I must be a kapok beside you, standing with you as a tree. "The poet made it clear that she is not an accessory, but a foil and ornament of the other party. She must stand in the same position with the other party-you are a person, and I must be a person with the same spiritual temperament; You are a tree, and I must be a tree, equally tall and straight; You stand, I must stand, standing between heaven and earth equally. In short, the images of the two must be the same.
But this agreement does not mean bullying and squeezing each other, nor does it mean that there is no difference between the two, just for the sake of "roots, close to the ground, leaves and clouds touching each other." Every time a gust of wind passes, we greet each other, but no one understands us. "Men and women in ideal love should stand side by side like oak trees and kapok, and convey and repay each other's love with the grip of roots, the caress of leaves and the mutual greetings in the wind. This is a couple who are hand in hand, and even a breeze can cause a thrill. They are soul mates, and no one can understand them. Kapok said in an oak tree and his own proud tone, "You have copper branches and iron shafts, like knives, swords and halberds;" I have red flowers, like a heavy sigh and a heroic torch. "Obviously, kapok deeply understands the characteristics and values of her and the oak tree; They can't replace each other, but should give full play to their respective advantages. Here, she unabashedly praises the male beauty and masculinity of the oak tree, which is majestic and sharp; Also praised the flexible temperament of their own women: isn't that rich safflower a sign of youthful beauty and feminine beauty? However, why are all the red flowers of kapok like "heavy sighs"? We can feel the unique voice and emotion of this poetess: this voice bears painful scars, and this emotion is stained with sadness. At that time, many pains, hardships and struggles of society, relatives and individuals were melted in this kind of voice and emotion! This heavy sigh is so real that if you throw it on the ground, it will splash tears and blood spots!
With her sensitivity, sobriety and profundity, Shu Ting shouted out women's yearning and pursuit for independent personality, sound mind and equality between men and women. She is not fettered by the world, and expresses a mature intellectual woman's yearning for ideal love. She went on to write: "We share cold waves, storms and thunderbolts, and we enjoy mist, flowing haze and rainbows." True love, of course, must share joys and sorrows. On the surface, they seem to be separated forever, but in essence, their roots and leaves are intertwined and are "lifelong dependent". Only this kind of love has a special meaning in Shu Ting's eyes: "This is great love, and here lies loyalty: love-not only your great body, but also your persistent position and the land under your feet." Shu Ting put forward her own unique views on the "loyalty" of love here: the loyalty of love is not only to be loyal to each other's "stalwart body", but also to stay in the admiration of appearance and the combination of body, but to go further and incorporate each other's career pursuit, ideals and beliefs into their love arms, and to blend and possess each other completely in spirit; Not only in form, but also in thoughts and feelings, it is considered as "great love" to achieve perfect combination, consistent position, consistent belief in life and consistent pursuit of goals.
The whole poem is bright, beautiful, refined, generalized and condensed, and the author uses the expression technique of quasi-materialization of lyric subject. The object of the poem is oak, but kapok. The style of writing is also unique. Instead of depicting the beauty and straightness of Kapok's appearance, it uses a series of subtle metaphors to compare Kapok's personality, characteristics, beliefs and ambitions from all angles. Then psychologically, she further exposed her love view and portrayed it from the personality characteristics. In the depiction, the two images of "sigh" and "torch" are compared, which further shows kapok's plump personality. Then compare the images of "cold wave" and "fog" to contrast and render the typical environment of love images of kapok and oak. This shows kapok's love for oak trees in all directions. Clever artistic contrast, vivid image and implicit and gentle tone constitute the independent characteristics of the whole article. At the end of the poem, it is both empty and real, meaningful and philosophical, which opens up the theme, rationally sublimates kapok's love view, reflects the image symbolizing love with the light of ideal, and makes kapok's loyal and beautiful image more upright, so full, beautiful and vivid!