Mu Dan is a representative of nine-leaf poets in the 1940s, and also a very successful one among modern poets. His works are regarded as the best expression of modern intellectuals' almost cold consciousness (on Yuan Kejia). His familiarity with modern British and American poets, especially Ye Zhi, Eliot and Auden, his absorption of their poetic theory and critical theory, and his youthful vitality all make his poems have outstanding modern characteristics. In the poem "Spring", all this is also obvious.
An important feature of modern poetry is that it emphasizes the inherent tension and drama of poetry, and often organizes a series of words and images full of confrontation and conflict to form an intricate, complex and strong lyric form. In Mu Dan's poems, we can find three groups of words with different tones. One is intense and dynamic: flame, swaying, longing, hugging, resisting, stretching, pushing and igniting; The second is static: green, land, overlooking, refuge; This is the opposition between grass and flowers, and the internal opposition of spring; It is also the opposition between awakening and bewitch, and the opposition between adolescent life desire and poet's meditation image. The window is a medium, which separates and connects desire and sight, thus bringing the third group of words that reflect tension: closed, curled and combined. These three groups of words are intertwined, which constitutes the basic framework of poetry and lays the lyric tone of poetry, which is profound, solid and full of modernity; Compact and tense language; And full rhythm and concentrated pictures.
So, what is spring like? It is awakening, the first birth and rebirth, and the temptation of desire and addiction; It is a flying song and an open joy, but also a stagnant soil and a closed body; It is burning, dispersion, resistance, and a new combination and new rebirth after being dispersed. It is the natural spring, the youth of life, the budding of the poet's spring, and the generate of his poetic heart. The trinity of dawn, early spring and youth at the age of 20 is like the nakedness of light, shadow, sound and color, and the openness of senses and thoughts. They are waiting for the emergence of a new combination.
Poets feel the conflict of opposing ideas: awake/intoxicated, stagnant/flying, rooted/liberated, which can be expressed by vivid images related to spring: green/flame, embrace/resistance, closed/naked, land/flowers, soil/singing, curling/stretching. The poet's mood is also changing, from the trouble and joy brought by the warm wind to the tension and pain. Such as windows and eyes, he looked at it intoxicated; Like a bird, he is singing and expecting. This is infatuation and waiting for a new life and a strong impulse.