Guo Moruo is a well-known historian, writer, calligrapher, playwright and poet at home and abroad. His poems composed in the 1920s and 1930s, such as "My Mother Earth", "Phoenix Nirvana", "Coal in the Furnace", etc., passionately praised the motherland and the people with an innocent heart and deeply moved people. , inspired young people to work hard and pursue a bright future, and is a cultural giant that people admire.
During the "Great Leap Forward" period in 1958, as the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guo Moruo's literary creations were mostly in line with the political situation. This can be seen from his poetry. In "Spring Overture", he shouted loudly:
It only takes fifteen years to catch up with Britain, and the agricultural program can be achieved in seven years; one Great Leap Forward follows another, and heroic spirit can overturn the earth. Earth-shaking. Look, Everest is going to be leveled! Look, we need to turn the Great Gobi into fertile farmland! The working people have always been the creators of the world, and today they have even shown their dignity.
If these sentences are understood as having a "revolutionary romanticism" color, then they will be much harsher on the poets:
If poets are not even as good as withered skeletons, please leave them behind' Soul Engineer's Crown! Stop wasting precious food and quickly become a source of fertilizer.
It sounds a bit chilly.
Mr. Guo Moruo kept abreast of the situation when the whole nation was making steel. The title is "Steel, an ironclad 10.7 million tons!" 》The poem reads:
Steel is definitely 10.7 million tons! Today I know that you have completed the project ahead of schedule and doubled last year's output. The 650 million people are sincerely grateful.
And wrote:
Steel, Marshal really has a high degree of discipline
You took the lead and ran up the high ridge
Historical facts It proved that the "big steelmaking" was a complete failure. As the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, why did Mr. Guo neglect the scientific attitude and the spirit of "seriousness, rigor, and rigor"?
In terms of culture, he also wrote a poem "The Red is Deep and Special (The Sixteen-Character Order of Tiaocheng)":
Red! The fire of double-rebellion is raging, burning up the five qi, and strive to imitate the workers and peasants. through! Training must come from labor. The new Eighth Route is starting all over again today. Specialize! Technological innovation is before our eyes, learn science, and declare war to the earth! ...
In addition, in order to make the form follow the content, Guo Moruo changed the word "slow sound" to "quick sound", and said in the preface before the word: "I am now with her (Li Qingzhao) A song, but contrary to its meaning, to reflect the current climax of the Great Leap Forward of "one day equals twenty years", so the name of the poem was changed to "Shengshengkuai". "The poem says:
Vibrant and joyful. Like joy, make love and intimacy, 600 million people leap forward, and the sky collapses. It will take a few years for the poor and pale appearance to disappear! The more the merrier, look at today, there are heroes everywhere. The eight brilliant resolutions, in nineteen words, have summarized the route. Muster up all your energy and strive for the upper reaches! It is faster, more economical and more economical, adding more than 100 million tons of steel. Step up efforts to build socialism.
Can these crudely put together sentences embedded with slogans be considered poetry?
Some of Mr. Guo's poems are far-fetched and still difficult to understand. For example, to "eliminate the four pests" (the "four pests" are flies, mosquitoes, rats, and sparrows) across the country (it was later proven that sparrows are not pests, but beneficial birds), he wrote a song "Curse the Sparrow":
Sparrow The sparrow is angry with the official, and you won't care if the sky falls. The sparrow's air is too broad, and it tastes like the wind blowing when eating rice. The sparrow is so angry that it is just lazy and has nothing to do. The sparrow is too arrogant, and is afraid of being famous and afraid of making trouble. The sparrow's spirit is too delicate, even though it has wings, its spirit is too high. You are such a bastard bird, jumping around with all your strength. I have committed sins for thousands of years, and I will finally settle my account with you today. Attack with bombardment, poison, and attack, and finally set off a fierce fire. Together with the five qi, it burns into the sky, and the four evils are unparalleled in the world.
There is also an article "Four Pests Fleeing All Over the Sea", there are 4 songs, only the subtitles are recorded: 1. Flies Fleeing to England; 2. Sparrows Fleeing to America; 3. Mosquitoes Fleeing to Japan; 4. Rats fled to West Germany. For these four capitalist countries, even if we don't talk about international humanitarianism, we should not do what we don't want others to do and inflict disaster on others. Flowers are beautiful, but once they directly serve political slogans, they will lose their attractive beauty. For example, "Narcissus":
The leaves made of jasper and the silver-white flowers are simple and clear, and they are at home everywhere. We are the pioneers in opposing conservatism and waste. We live sparingly, live fast, live well and live more. People call us Narcissus, which is not bad. We only live on a spoonful of water and a few pebbles. We are pro-promoters, not pro-retreaters. Every Spring Festival, we sing the Spring Festival song for everyone.
Mr. Guo Moruo published a poetry collection "A Hundred Flowers Bloom" in April 1958, which contains 101 poems about flowers. Each flower has a woodcut, which is very exquisite. But many of these flower chanting poems carry heavy political missions. "Sunflower":
Don't despise our vegetable oil. Promote industrialization in order to catch up with John Bull.
"Canna":
We are always engaged in production with great effort. Whoever learns this spirit can become famous and professional.
"Cockscomb":
'Gather up your energy, strive for the upper reaches, ride the wind and waves! ’ Who hasn’t heard it yet? How deaf!
These impromptu works by Mr. Guo that fit the situation are made up of some slogans of the time, but lack the beauty of poetic artistic conception. Some of the words are also poorly thought out, such as "To be thorough! Exercise must come from labor", "Be intimate with each other and be intimate", etc. These sentences can be said to be "seeking stability in one word and enduring the cold for half a night". And the language of poetry? I sigh sadly for Mr. Guo's "Great Leap Forward" poem!
Mr. Guo Moruo is talented and well versed in Chinese and Western knowledge. His early poetry works are upright and inspiring, and he is a cultural master worthy of admiration. But later, under a specific historical environment, he drifted with the trend, lost himself, and wrote some works that catered to the trend. Although the flaws were not concealed, it also tarnished his reputation to a certain extent. This is enough to serve as a warning to future generations.