The author of "Praise to Poplar" is the modern writer Mao Dun.
"Praise to Poplar" is an essay written by the modern writer Mao Dun in 1941. The author uses the "towering, unyielding, against the northwest wind" poplar trees on the Loess Plateau in the northwest to symbolize the tenacious and hard-working northern farmers and praise their simplicity, strength and progressive spirit in the struggle for national liberation. , and at the same time, he also cast a bitter ridicule at those "people who despise the people and stubbornly regress."
The full text of "Praise to Poplar" is as follows:
The poplar tree is really not ordinary, I praise the poplar tree!
The car is racing on the plateau with endless horizons. What jumps into your field of vision is a large yellow and green felt. The yellow is soil, uncultivated virgin soil, the shell of the Loess Plateau that was successfully accumulated by great natural forces hundreds of thousands of years ago; the green is the result of human labor overcoming nature, and is the wheat field. The breeze blows, turning up rounds of green waves - at this time, you will truly admire the two words "wheat waves" created by the ancients. If it is not an accidental creation by clever hands, it is indeed the essence of refined language. Dominated by yellow and green, it is boundless and as open as a rock. If it weren’t for the distant peaks that look like side by side reminding you (you can judge these peaks with your naked eyes, you will know that they are under your feet), you would I forgot that the car was driving on a plateau. At this time, the thoughts that come to you may be "majestic" or "great" and other adjectives; however, at the same time, your eyes may feel a little tired, and you close your eyes to the current "majestic" or "great", while others may feel a little tired. A kind of smell grows in your heart - "monotony". Isn't it? Monotonous, a little bit?
However, in an instant, if you suddenly look up and see a row of trees far ahead - no, or even just three or five trees, one tree, standing proudly like sentinels, then you What will happen to the sleepy mood of Yanyan 6? I screamed in surprise at that time.
That is the poplar tree, a very common tree in the Northwest, but it is not an ordinary tree.
It is a tree that strives to reach the top, with straight trunks and straight branches. Its trunk is usually about ten feet high, as if it has been artificially made, and there are no side branches within one foot. All their twigs all point upward and are close together, as if they were artificially shaped, forming a bunch with no sideways growth. Its broad leaves are also upward, with almost no slanting, let alone hanging upside down; its skin is smooth and has a silver halo, slightly glowing with light blue. This is a tree that remains stubbornly erect despite the pressure of northern wind and snow. Even though it is only as thick as a bowl, it strives to grow upward, reaching a height of about ten feet, two feet, towering into the sky, indomitable, and resisting the northwest wind.
This is the poplar tree, a very common tree in Northwest China, but it is by no means an ordinary tree!
It has no whirling posture, no bending and circling branches. Maybe you want to say that it is not beautiful - if beauty specifically refers to "whirlpooling" or "escaping sideways", So the poplar tree is not a good woman among trees; but it is majestic, upright, simple, serious, and not lacking in gentleness, not to mention its unyielding and uprightness. It is a great man among trees! When you walk on the plateau where the snow has just melted and see such a tree or a row of poplar trees standing proudly on the flat land, do you think the trees are just trees? Don't you think of how simple, serious and strong it is? Unyielding, at least, symbolizes the farmers in the north; how could you not imagine that in the vast land behind enemy lines, there are strong and unyielding sentinels everywhere, standing proudly like the poplar tree, guarding their hometown! Don't you think that the poplar trees, with their branches and leaves closely united and striving for progress, seem to symbolize the spirit and will of those who are fighting today in the North China Plain to write the history of New China with their blood?
Aspen is not an ordinary tree. It is very common in the northwest and is not taken seriously by people, just like the farmers in the north; it has extremely strong vitality and cannot be tortured or oppressed, which is also similar to the farmers in the north. I praise the poplar tree because it not only symbolizes the farmers in the north, but also especially symbolizes the simplicity, strength, and progressive spirit that are indispensable in our national liberation struggle today.
Let those who look down on the people, despise the people, and stubbornly regressive people praise the aristocratic nanmu (which also has straight trunks and beautiful shapes) and despise the poplar which is very common and easy to grow. , but I want to praise the poplar tree loudly!