Every tree and every stone is lonely,
None of the trees saw the other trees,
Every tree is lonely.
When my life is clear,
I have many friends in the world;
Now, due to the fog,
Never see anyone again.
Indeed, people who don't understand the darkness,
Never be called a wise man,
Darkness that is hard to get rid of quietly
Isolate him from everyone.
It is wonderful to walk in the fog!
Life is a person.
No one knows anyone,
Everyone is lonely.
(translated by Qian Chunkun)
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Hesse 1946 won Nobel Prize in Literature. In the eyes of the world, he is famous for his novels such as Wolf in the Wilderness and The Game of Glass Ball. But Hesse himself has always regarded himself as a poet, and is also considered as "the last knight of German romanticism". In an autobiographical essay, he wrote: "I have understood this since I was 13 years old: being a poet is nothing else I want." When he was about 30 years old, he wrote an epitaph for himself: "The poet Hesse died here. He was not considered a poet, but was praised as a leisure novelist. " Indeed, compared with Hesse's immortal novels, his poems are ignored. In fact, his novels are also full of poetic images and poetic language, with a distinct sense of rhythm and music, which he considers to be "poems in disguise". Many excellent poems are embedded in these "poems in disguise". For example, this poem "In the Fog" first appeared in his novel "Walking in Autumn" (1906), and later it was separately included in various poetry collections. This poem is very famous in German-speaking countries, and is often included in middle school students' books in Switzerland and Germany. Embedding poetry into novels is Hesse's consistent practice. For example, in his famous Glass Ball Game, there are many poems related to the theme of the novel, but they can all be enjoyed independently like this one.
"In the Fog" is a poem sung by the protagonist of "Walking in Autumn" when he meets the fog during hiking. Its theme is one of the eternal themes of Hesse's works: "loneliness". The whole poem is divided into four sections. In the first and fourth sections, when the trees don't meet, the author thinks that people don't know each other, "every tree is lonely" and "everyone is lonely". From the loneliness of trees to the loneliness of people, one is natural scenery, the other is personal inner experience, the other is external loneliness, and the other is internal loneliness, which echoes from afar. This comparison is also a common expression in Hesse's poems.
In the second quarter, the poet turned to expose the vulgar style of real life:
When my life is clear,
I have many friends in the world;
Now, due to the fog,
Never see anyone again.
When everything is prosperous and your life is clear, all kinds of people are scrambling to wait for something ("misty"), and those so-called "friends" are scattered again, "never see anyone again" Hesse also mentioned the similar experience of "the world abandoned you" in another poem "The Road to Loneliness". After so many changes, the poet finally realized that "a man who doesn't know the darkness can never be called a wise man", that is to say, only by knowing loneliness and experiencing loneliness can he appreciate the essence of life. This kind of thinking has raised the realm of this poem to a higher level.
Another major feature of this poem is that the language is close to spoken language and the format is close to German folk songs. Poetry itself is slow in rhythm, mostly rhyming and full of musical sense, which is inseparable from his musical accomplishment. He especially loved Chopin, and once said that Chopin was as important to him as Wagner was to Nietzsche. The rhythm of this poem is neat and slow, just in line with the content of this poem. He believes that "poetry is not only the construction of lines, but also the construction of music", which is also deeply reflected in this poem. According to the statistics of 1966, nearly 305 composers set music for his 274 poems. Because some poems are composed by different musicians with different music, there are more than 800 songs composed by Hesse's poems, which is an unprecedented record and one of Hesse's glories.
Poetry in the Fog also embodies the consistent characteristics of Hesse's poetry, that is, the symbols and metaphors he uses are simple and clear. For example, the analogy between "tree" and "person" in this poem, "no tree sees other trees" and "all trees are lonely", and it has been shown that "everyone is lonely" when writing trees. This may be a weakness of his poetry. However, due to its precision and beauty, clear rhythm, strong sense of music and rich implication, Hesse's poetry is unique and extraordinary today in pursuit of modern poetry of misty poetry.
(Wu Liping)