Only you are lying in the cradle,
Children of poor people with bad karma can lie down.
Alas, mankind has been saved many times.
Finally, Judas always betrayed him,
Go to sleep, baby, go to sleep!
Go to sleep, baby, go to sleep!
How soundly you slept on this bare hay,
We hold our breath by your side.
And you, son of eternal truth
Do you need a rest, too?
Go to sleep, baby, go to sleep!
Go to sleep, baby, go to sleep!
You accumulate strength in your sleep,
Overcome many difficulties
You have a long road ahead of you,
The road to saving mankind is infinite,
Go to sleep, baby, go to sleep!
Go to sleep, baby, go to sleep!
For the teaching of all brothers,
They put you in pain again.
Before mankind broke free from the shackles,
This also requires great sacrifices-
Go to sleep, baby, go to sleep!
(translated by Jiang)
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In the history of Czech literature, Yang has the reputation of "poet saint", "founder of Czech modern poetry" and "master of Czech realistic prose", which shows his extraordinary artistic charm. In the second half of the 20th century, pablo neruda, a famous Chilean poet and Nobel Prize in Literature winner of 197 1 year, admired his literary achievements and adopted his name as his pen name.
Yang's literary activities began with poetry creation. He mainly created six collections of poems, among which "Folk Story Poems and Romance" published in 1883 occupies a special position in his poems. As the Czech literary critics believe, this collection of poems embodies all the characteristics of Nie Luda in human nature and art: people's nature, democracy, concern for social and revolutionary issues, humor and perfect artistic form. A Christmas lullaby comes from this collection of poems.
The lullaby was originally a song sung by the mother beside the cradle to let the baby sleep quietly. Usually short, the melody is soft and sweet, and the rhythm imitates the swaying rhythm, which has a sense of swaying. This poem by Nie Luda shows this characteristic of lullaby to the fullest. The whole poem is divided into four sections, each with six sentences, all of which begin with "Go to sleep, baby, go to sleep" and end with the same sentence. Symmetrical structure, just like mother singing softly, full of deep love and deep expectation. So, what is Nie Luda's "love"? What is his "expectation"?
As we know, "El Nino" refers to the savior believed by Christianity-Jesus. Christianity believes that all people in the world have committed crimes and destroyed the harmonious relationship between man and God and between people. God loves the world, so he sent his only son, Jesus, to atone for the world and restore the original harmonious relationship. Jesus was later betrayed by Judas, one of the twelve disciples, and was crucified. Three days later, Jesus came back to life and completed the redemption plan. In order to commemorate Jesus, believers later regarded the day when Jesus was born as "Christmas".
By tracing back to this story, combined with poetry and prose, Nie Luda's good intentions come to the fore. He appeased the El Nino phenomenon one by one, because "only you can lie in the cradle,/the poor children can lie down". As a savior, the existence of El Nino is a hope in itself, but it will take a long time for hope to come true. Nie Luda sincerely wishes that El Nino can "sleep soundly", "accumulate strength in sleep" and finally "overcome many difficulties" and "save mankind". This is his love: love for the people. This is his expectation: the expectation of democracy.
Many contents in the poem allude to the historical situation of Czech nation in19th century, which is also the genius of Nie Luda. For example, in the first verse, Nie Luda wrote: "Alas, mankind has been saved many times/and finally always betrayed by Judas." In fact, from the end of 18 century to the middle of 19 century, with the rise of capitalism, the Czech Republic began to enter a period of "national rejuvenation" for independence. However, the social situation in the Czech Republic at that time was very complicated. The nobles, landlords and bureaucrats are all Germans, and the life of the upper class in the city has been completely German. The weak Czech bourgeoisie could not put forward its own clear political program, and the democratic revolution of 1848 ended in failure. In the 1960s, with the further development of capitalism, Czech national enthusiasm and politics reappeared, but it went from bad to worse due to the internal division of political groups, and the life of working people in urban and rural areas was once again in crisis. This road to national independence and political democracy is "long" and "endless". The weakness of the bourgeoisie, especially the big bourgeoisie, makes the road ahead full of thorns. You can imagine who that damned Judas is.
Nie Luda believes that literary creation must come from the boiling social life and must be combined with the national liberation movement. From his literary activities to his death, he always stood at the forefront of Czech cultural life and struggled for progress, democracy and freedom. This "Christmas lullaby" fully conveyed Nie Luda's deep concern for the people and expectations for the future, and the content and form reached a perfect and harmonious unity.
(Cai Haiyan)