He Qifang's collection of poems "Prophecy" in the 1930s is a record of the psychological drama of the poet's youth who was far away from reality and struggled to find a way out. It is also a record of the poet's erratic and subtle soul wandering in the light waves of dreams. language. It artistically successfully grafts the poetry of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties with Western modernist poetry, thus giving off a hazy and graceful charm.
"Prophecy" can be regarded as a relatively well-written hazy poem. The so-called hazy poetry usually refers to the vagueness or uncertainty of the theme of the poem. There are three reasons: 1. The images jump around and lack coherence; 2. The taste is specific to the individual and is not easy for the public to experience; 3. There is only a vague hint between the image and the taste, but no obvious connection. The main reason why I call "Prophecy" a hazy poem is the second one.
Indeed, from the text alone, it is difficult for us to clearly point out the real theme of this poem. What exactly does the poet mean by the "young god"? Does it mean Eros? Or is it the girl that the poet likes? Or maybe it's the Muse of Poetry? It's generally fair to think of it as a deep friendship. However, since we are going to do appreciation, we must find the most appropriate theme that is close to or even consistent with the theme that the author wants to express. According to most people's understanding, this is a love poem. Contacting the writing time and background of this poem, we know that "Prophecy" was first published in "Yanni Collection", a collection of poems written by He Qifang during his college years from 1931 to 1935. In the summer of 1932, he fell in love with his cousin Yang Yingrui. This short-lived love affair died due to his father's severe opposition. This unfortunate first love was probably the driving force for his creations during this period, including of course the song "Prophecy" 》. Therefore, we might as well use love poetry as the theme to analyze this poem.
The first section writes about the arrival of the goddess of love. As the saying goes, "The sound has been heard before the person arrives, and the wind has moved before the body arrives." This writing technique of suppressing first and then rising is used here to first create momentum and atmosphere for what follows. Although the footsteps of the god of love are as gentle as sighs, the poet can clearly distinguish them in the rustling of forest leaves and the delicate sound of the elk's hooves. This shows that the poet has long been looking forward to the arrival of the God of Love, and has already heard and remembered the footsteps of the God of Love in the prophecy (the so-called prophecy may refer to the dream). These two images about sound also provide the poet's environment, which is the mysterious and uninhabited forest. Soon, the God of Love came closer from a distance, and her silver bell-like singing could even be clearly heard. Although we haven't seen her yet, we can imagine her extraordinary freshness and beauty from her silver bell-like singing voice. The first stanza focuses on the image of sound, and the sound has a vague and ambiguous nature, which is consistent with the poet's dream-like mood, hesitation, and worry about gains and losses when facing the coming of the God of Love.
The second section describes the world where the God of Love lives, and it is also the paradise that the poet longs for. This section is almost full of visual images, such as moonlight, sunlight, spring breeze, flowers, swallows, green poplars, etc. The scene is beautiful and warm. Although the poet did not describe the image of Cupid from a positive perspective, by describing the environment in which she lived in detail, one can imagine her own shape and temperament. This indirect writing technique appears to be more subtle, subtle and swaying than direct lyricism and positive description. Such a scene must have appeared in the poet's dream (which is related to the title "Prophecy"), so there is a feeling of déjà vu like "I seem to remember, but I seem to have forgotten". The gentle and bright southern scenery described by the poet perfectly blends with his joyful mood when he saw the God of Love.
In the third stanza, the poet asks the God of Love to stop and take a nap so that he can express his deep longing for her. The poet asked Cupid to sit on a mattress made of tiger skin instead of an ordinary chair. The reason why the poem is decorated with tiger skin is not only to complement the dense forest environment, but also to increase the beauty of the poem's voice and color, which is the so-called "acquisition based on emotion". Such as the wine and luminous cup in "Grape Wine Luminous Cup". Just imagine, how could the wine that ordinary soldiers drink be wine made from grapes? And the cup holding the wine is even less likely to be a luminous treasure cup. Like the tiger-skin mattress, these are all exaggerations for the sake of art. The above is a digression, let’s get to the point. At this moment, in order to welcome the arrival of the God of Love, the poet lit a fire with the fallen leaves picked up every autumn, and sang a melancholy and high-spirited song beside the fire. Through this set of images, we can imagine the poet's melancholy and anguish caused by waiting for many years, as well as his persistence and perseverance in passionate love, and hope to impress the God of Love.
The "Don't move forward" in the fourth stanza shows that the God of Love was not moved by the poet's infatuation, which made the poet extremely shocked and panicked. Therefore, the poet describes a real and terrifying night scene of the mysterious forest in an attempt to dissuade the God of Love from staying. This picture is vivid, vivid, novel, and shocking. I believe that every reader who passes by will leave a very deep impression in the mind. Its distinctive expression depicts the unique properties and characteristics of the scenery. Like an ancient tree, its bark has markings like wild beasts, while the vines are half alive and half dead, intertwined like a python. Its vividness is reflected in the three-dimensional description of vision and hearing, giving people a real feeling of being in it. Its novelty is reflected in the fact that these images are the poet's original creation and have never been written in this way before.
For example, describing the silence in the dense forest: "You will timidly dare not let go of the second step, when you hear the empty echo of the first step." The more terrifying the scenery in this section is, the more it expresses the poet Uneasiness and despair over the departure of the God of Love.