Beidao knew Ai Qing in the early 1970s, and the formal appearance of the misty poetry school today is also related to Ai Qing's support. However, after the "misty poetry school" appeared in the literary world, it attracted many criticisms. In fact, the word "misty poetry" was derogatory at that time, mainly because these poems were obscure. I remember in a speech a few years ago, Kitajima said angrily: We never admit that we are "hazy poets".
today
Perhaps it is because he has a close relationship with Beidao and is familiar with Beidao's poems. 1980 Ai Qing criticized obscure modern poetry by taking the life of Beidao as an example in Conversation with Young Poets. North Island's "destiny" contains only one word "net". Ai Qing criticized this way:
Why are some people's poems difficult to understand? He just wrote a personal thought, a feeling, an idea; But only he himself, only he can understand, others can't feel it, and such a poem is hard for others to understand. For example, there is a poem named "Life", and the content of the poem is just one word, called "net". Such a poem is difficult to understand. What is a net? Is the net open? It can also be said that it is love. Everything is a net. ...
Ai Qing
It is worth noting that although Ai Qing said this poem was difficult to understand, he actually understood it: it can be said that love refers to the net, and everything is the net. Then why did Ai Qing criticize this poem by name? Xiao Xin believes that there are two main reasons:
1. At that time, the debate between "old poet" and "new poet" was fierce, and Ai Qing, as a leading poet, had to express his position. At that time, the mainstream discourse asked him to oppose "misty poetry".
2. Ai Qing cares about young poets, but there are contradictions with their creative ideas. Although he can understand such poems, he thinks this creative thinking is incorrect.
Ai Qing at that time should be really caring for young poets. Because after criticizing the life of North Island, Ai Qing also praised other poems of North Island.
North Island
Second, the anger of young poets and Ai Qing's counterattack
However, due to Ai Qing's leading position as a young poet leader in the North Island and the special atmosphere at that time, this criticism eventually triggered an extremely fierce debate. The most intense reaction is not North Island, but other young poets. At that time, the youth poetry magazine "The Rising Generation" even published a column called "The Unknown Poet talks about Ai Qing".
The articles in the column all point the finger at Ai Qing, and even contain some very excessive remarks. For example, the poet Huang Xiang claimed in his article that he would send Ai Qing's poems to the crematorium:
You'd better always sing the "pastoral" of your time. You and your poems are dying out in our spiritual world, within a generation. We will send your farm to the crematorium while you are still alive, and we will never build a memorial hall for it.