Wrong Zheng Chou asked me to go to Jiangnan and walk through the faces that are waiting for the seasons. They are like the blooming and falling of lotus. The east wind does not come. The catkins of March do not fly. Your heart is like a small lonely city, just like the streets of bluestone. The evening heel is silent, the windows of March are tightly covering my dada, the horse's hooves are a beautiful mistake, I am not returning, I am just a passer-by, this little poem "Mistake" by Zheng Chouyu is light and clear, and it is a masterpiece that is still popular today. If it is said that beauty and emotion are the most arousing and touching things in Zheng Chouyu's works, then the poem "Mistake" can be said to be the best among them, laying the foundation for the poet's reputation in Taiwan. His status and influence cannot be ignored in the poetry world.
When I first read this poem, the first thing I felt was its Chineseness. This is an absolutely Chinese poem, a poem belonging to the Chinese people, telling the story of an eternal and beautiful China. Therefore, although the outer shell of this poem flaunts the modernity of learning Western techniques, the deeper sense of Chinese tradition it conveys is unquestionable. The poem "Mistake" can be said to bear the tradition of ancient Chinese poems about palace resentment and boudoir. The protagonist "I" in the poem traveled around the south of the Yangtze River on horseback, leaving behind a woman who was guarding the empty boudoir alone, waiting day and night for the return of her lover "I". However, the woman's deep love resulted in a long and boring wait. Therefore, her heart is "like a small lonely city", there is no "east wind" to convey news to her, and there is no "catkins" of spring flying in the sky; so her heart is "a small window tightly closed", always Pay attention to the "sound" on the bluestone path, and don't even lift the curtain to look at the colorful spring scenery outside the window. In Liu Yuxi's "Spring Poems", "It is better to go down to the Zhulou with new makeup, to lock in the spring scenery and worry in the courtyard" seems to be similar to the resentment chanted above. It is subtle but not exposed, and long and far-reaching. Finally "I" came back, and the sound of Dada's horse hooves was beautiful to her, because the sweetheart she had been waiting for day and night was back, but in an instant, this infinite joy turned into infinite disappointment. Because "I" is just passing by, not "returning". This "beautiful mistake" played a trick on her, just like God played a trick on her. Perhaps, some people will understand the "I" in the poem as the sorrow of the prodigal son who is homeless, and this understanding is not a bad idea. The mentality of the Taiwanese people in that turbulent era was one of wandering, waiting for the day to find a place. They were just passers-by on the island of Taiwan, thinking that one day they could return to their hometown and reunite with their relatives. However, due to political reasons, their wishes could not be realized, resulting in a sense of loss and melancholy. However, if you try to compare Zheng Chouyu's other poems with "Error", it is not difficult to find strong circumstantial evidence. For example, in Zheng Chouyu's "The Mistress", the lines "I think loneliness and waiting are good for women" and "Because I'm not the type to go home often" both show the woman staying deep in her boudoir, waiting for the protagonist to return. theme. In another poem, "The Slave Girl outside the Window," "I am the god of the south, and my bare arms are wrapped in gauze-like night. Therefore, the stars hanging on my wrists are my slave girls." It also reveals the long life of a woman in loneliness. In the years, the desolate mood of waiting in vain for the man to return.
The poem "Mistake" has nine lines and ninety-four words. It is not long in length, but the artistic skills it shows are not only praised by people, but also recited orally. From a structural point of view, there are two clues, vertical and horizontal. The clearly visible vertical line is from the big scene to the small scene, with clear layers. The first two sentences take the vast Jiangnan as the background, then move the camera to the small town, then to the streets, curtains, windows, and finally fall on the horse's hooves and break the silence in front of them. This writing method is quite similar to the spatial treatment in Liu Zongyuan's "Snow on the River", starting from the big scene of "thousands of mountains with birds flying away", and finally settling on the small scene of the fisherman fishing alone in the middle of the river, which pushes the poetic sentiment layer by layer. Towards climax. Judging from the horizontal lines, the first two sentences should be the ending, precisely because "I" walked from Jiangnan to the woman's place without entering. The woman's expected "face is like a lotus blooming and falling", and the passion of waiting turned into the heart Disheartened. The last two sentences should have been "I am not a returnee, but a passerby", so "My dada's horse hooves are beautiful mistakes", here the poet used a small inversion sentence. This arrangement creates unevenness in the structure, which makes it even more poetic and shines brightly in the disharmony. Another touching thing about this poem is the beauty of its language, especially the "Beautiful Mistake" number. This sentence is originally contradictory. "Dada's horse's hoof" strikes the heart of the woman who hopes to reunite, so it is beautiful. However, the sound of horse hooves was just passing by and did not stop for her expectation, so it was a mistake. The ups and downs, and the reversal of the scenes before and after, produced a high degree of drama, and formed a dynamic trend of ups and downs. If associated with the Chineseness of this poem, it is also similar to the artistic conception expressed by Wang Han's "The luminous cup of grape wine, I want to drink with the pipa immediately". At the same time, Zheng Chouyu also used the images of traditional Chinese classical poetry in his poems, such as "lotus", "catkins", "horse hoofs", and "spring curtains". In particular, the image of "east wind" is taken from the "image" in Li Shangyin's "Untitled" It's hard to say goodbye when we see each other. The meaning of "the east wind is powerless and the flowers are withered" once again expresses the most fundamental aspect of Zheng Chou's Chineseness. Yang Mu's long article in "The Legend of Zheng Chouyu" said: "Zheng Chouyu is a Chinese poet in China. He writes with good Chinese characters, has accurate images, gorgeous voice, and is absolutely modern." He emphasized the Sinicization of Zheng Chouyu's poetic language. Thus reflecting Chinese thoughts and emotions. The purity of words is another virtue of this poem.
When Zheng Chouyu talked about the skills of writing poetry, he said: "When writing poetry, you must be loyal and honest to yourself, rather than bluffing. If you are not sure about what you write, it is unfaithful." Therefore, Zheng Chouyu's "Mistakes" emphasizes It is pure and neat, fresh and light. It does not play games with words or pile up words. It strives to show the poet's most loyal feelings with the most faithful words. This is a true and sincere poem. "Mistake" can still touch the heartstrings of countless readers. I think the most important factor is not winning with words, but touching people with its inner emotions. This kind of emotion is not disguised or embellished. It harmonizes the scene in the poem and produces endless artistic appeal.