"Old Horse" is the poet's iconic work, which also established the poet's bright and severe creative poetic style.
The historical background of writing "Old Horse": "Old Horse" was written in 1932, is one of the most widely circulated and popular poems in Zang Kejia's poetry collection "Brand". The author once said: "After the failure of the Great Revolution in 1927, I completely denied the Chiang Kai-shek regime, and felt that the future of the revolution was very slim. Life was painful, and my mood was depressed and sad." The author saw with his own eyes a horse with a tragic fate. People sympathize with the old horse, but if they don't write it down, they will feel a kind of pressure in their hearts. By appreciating this poem, we can more specifically feel the achievements and characteristics of Zang Kejia's new poetry creation in the 1930s.
Theme of the poem: The poet did not describe the old horse's weak and disabled appearance in detail, but focused on its fate, feelings and mood, which enhanced the appeal of the old horse's tragedy. The old horse here can be understood as a symbol of the suffering farmers of old China. The more the poet writes about Lao Ma's humiliation, kindness and loyalty, the more he can inspire readers' sympathy for the oppressed and unaffectionate peasants, and arouse anger and curse against the old system and the exploiting class.
Dividing levels: There are two stanzas in the whole poem, each stanza has four sentences.
Phonetics: every other sentence rhymes, that is, "que" and "kuo" rhyme with "ou", "ming" and "ying" rhyme with "ing", and "pharyngeal" and "face" rhyme with "ian" "rhyme. Poetry is lyrical, but emotion is invisible and intangible. The emotions expressed in poetry can only be perceived and appreciated by readers if they are embodied in specific images. However, not all images can be used as emotional embodies. Sometimes, even the original things that trigger emotions cannot be used as artistic images to express emotions. Therefore, the artistic technique of symbolism comes in handy. Symbols are similar to metaphors, and they actually arise from people's associations - when people see amphibious mandarin ducks and flying butterflies, they think of love between men and women; when they see a lamb kneeling at its breasts, they think of gratitude; when they see a willow sprouting green, it is similar to a metaphor. It reminds me of the beauty of youth... It can be seen that symbolism is a very simple artistic technique. How to grasp the symbolic meaning of poetry? It's very simple, from things to people. In other words, association. Let's take the Zangke family's "Old Horse" as an example to gain some insights. Zang Kejia's poem "Old Horse" creates an image of "Old Horse" for us. The character shown in this image is to endure humiliation, endure humiliation silently, and move forward hard. How does it manifest itself? "You have to ask the big truck to load enough, but it doesn't say a word" and "It doesn't know its fate at this moment, it only swallows tears in its heart" these words highlight the character of silently bearing; "The pressure on its back" Buttoned into the flesh, it hung its head heavily" and "With a whip shadow floating in its eyes, it raised its head and looked ahead" these lines vividly express its character of enduring humiliation and struggling to move forward. From the image of "old horse", we think of Chinese farmers, who are hard-working, persevering, endure humiliation and humiliation, and bear all suffering silently. The image of "old horse" is a poetic portrayal of the image of Chinese farmers. With the help of this image, the author expresses his deep respect and sympathy for the Chinese farmers. This poem was written in 1832. We can regard the image of the old horse as a symbol of the suffering Chinese farmers in the 1930s. If the above understanding alone is not enough, we should dig deeper. Why does it suffer in silence? Why endure humiliation and humiliation and work hard to move forward? For the livelihood of the whole family. If you think about it this way, you may be moved by sadness and truly appreciate the beauty of poetry. The poem "Old Horse" has simple and concise language and distinct artistic image. Ask students to read it repeatedly and give full play to their imagination and association to accurately grasp its symbolic meaning.