In the autumn of 1927, Wen Yiduo went to Central University as the director of the Foreign Languages Department, teaching British and American literature, and Chen often attended classes. Mr. Wen's theory of Anglo-American Romantic Poetry and Poetic Metrization deeply touched the young poet's heart. Wen Yiduo attaches great importance to this talented student. He praised his friends many times and formed a lifelong relationship between teachers and students. Starting from 1928, Chen "began to bind himself with meter" in his creation. These poems "have a similar appearance: they all belong to a rhythm and are neatly cut." (Preface to the Dreamer's Poems)1In the autumn of 928, Wen Yiduo left Central University. The following year, Xu Zhimo was hired by Zhang Junmou, president of Central University, as a professor of foreign languages, teaching European and American poetry. Chen's talent was appreciated by Xu Zhimo, and the poem of that night was recommended by Xu Zhimo, and it was published in the No.8 of Volume 2 of New Moon under the pseudonym "Chen Manzai", which was his first public publication. Chen's early works were deeply influenced by Xu Zhimo's poetic style, which was characterized by "round appearance and little content" (Mao Dun: on Xu Zhimo), and some poems were imitated by Wen Yiduo (for example, "Corona He" imitated "Maybe"). Although his poems are both cautious and elegant, at that time, he didn't have the profound attainments of western literature like Xu Zhimo and the strong sense of political responsibility for the motherland like Wen Yiduo, but all his works are as faint and faint as the sea (Postscript to Poems), giving people a light and ethereal feeling. 1In the summer of 929, Fang, a descendant of Tongcheng, Anhui Province, entered the Foreign Languages Department of Central University to study English literature and became a poetry friend with Chen. Around 1930, a group of young poets gathered around them. At the same time, Chen's classmates Liang Zhen, Shen Zumou and others were also recommended by Xu Zhimo and often published poems in magazines such as New Moon. The formation of Nanjing poets became the forerunner of the later Crescent Poetry School.
Influenced by Wen Yiduo and Xu Zhimo's poetics, Chen, who was only 19 years old in June, 5438+0930, published his poetics "Decoration and Soul of Poetry" in the Central University Semimonthly 1 No.7, which declared a complete artistic proposition guiding his poetry creation.
First of all, he thinks that poetry is essentially "a kind of beautiful literature", that is, "poetry should be a kind of literature that can be appreciated and sung", so "poetry must have its own unique image and soul."
Secondly, he divided the composition of poetry into two types: one is the external form, that is, the rhythm, and the other is the internal spirit, that is, the feeling of poetry. In the form of poetry, he advocates the combination of art and music to set off the "soul of poetry" because of the aesthetic feeling produced by beautiful format and harmonious rhyme. At the same time, he also pointed out: "the soul of poetry-that is, the spirit of poetry-should be more important than the modification of appearance." Poetry is not only some ordinary descriptions and feelings, but also has philosophical significance.
Thirdly, in style, it emphasizes that "poetry should have a natural format, natural rhyme and natural feelings" and "philosophical meaning should be dissolved in poetry".
Chen's theory of new poetry corrected the tendency of early crescent poetry school to emphasize formal factors; Admit that "the arrival of poetry is due to the inner reaction to foreign impressions"; In terms of poetry aesthetics and the artistic law of new poetry, it inherited the idea of "the content and form of poetry should express the power of beauty and become a perfect art" of the early Crescent Poetry School (Yu Yuyu: Zhi Mo's poetry) and made a more in-depth and beneficial discussion. However, he advocates the view of "art for art's sake" on the fundamental problem of poetry creation, that is, the purpose and motivation of creation. This is a big step backwards from the previous understanding that "the spiritual liberation or spiritual revolution of our nation in this period" is expressed by poetic art (Xu Zhimo: Poetry Magazine also said so). Chen's artistic view against utilitarianism is obviously inseparable from the influence of his teacher Xu Zhimo's thought. After the failure of the Great Revolution, Xu Zhimo's thought and creation changed from "pure belief" in pursuing bourgeois democracy to "doubtful decadence". (Xu Zhimo: Introduction to Tiger Collection) Although he was dissatisfied with the dictatorship of the new Kuomintang warlord, at the same time, he wrote poems attacking revolutionary literary movements such as West Window on the pretext of "not worshiping any extremes" and "not clinging to utilitarianism". This is a reflection of the political stance of the national bourgeoisie in China during the ten-year civil war. As a disciple of Xu Zhimo at that time, Chen followed Xu Zhimo's footsteps and inevitably left a mark on Xu Zhimo's thought. Therefore, step by step, he followed Xu Zhimo's propaganda of anti-utilitarian artistic view and criticized "the so-called revolutionary new poetry is a chaotic and noisy voice" (Chen: the decoration and soul of poetry), which has profound social reasons and personal factors.
Sadly, however, in the early 1930s, the violent and turbulent social environment prevented Chen from putting down a quiet desk in a deep-walled compound. /kloc-at the beginning of 0/930, Chen wrote a poem "Ghost Crying in Qinhuai River", which described the horrible and gloomy scene of Nanjing, the "capital" of the Kuomintang government. The poet's profound patriotism drives him to look back at the tragic real life from the "decadent disease of young people" with "a bunch of hidden worries". However, his upbringing and social circle often make him have no courage to face up to this ugly and desolate society further. He had to "dream again" and "fantasize" and "wander" in the poetry garden (see May). Chen's mentality represents the ideological tendency of a large number of middle and upper petty bourgeois poets in the later period of Crescent Poetry School. In the same month, Chen's first book of poetry, Poems of a Dreamer, was published by a bookstore and sold out quickly. Many magazines have published book reviews, and even Binhai Literature and Art, a little-known publication in Shantou, Guangdong Province, has published a monograph, which has made Chen's poems famous. In July, 193 1, Poetry of the Dreamer was co-opted and published again.
During this period, Chen Ye wrote some essays and novels. His novella Spring without Flowers was published by Shanghai Liangyou Book Printing Company on 193 1. The novel tells the love story of a pair of young people in the form of letters, which reflects Chen's depressed inner world in a tortuous way. 193 1 In the summer of, Chen graduated from Central University with a lawyer's license and moved from Xiaoying, Nanjing to Lanjiazhuang in the suburbs. In July, at the invitation of Xu Zhimo, he went to Shanghai, lived in Tiantong Temple, and was responsible for compiling Selected Poems of Crescent Moon, the main representative work of Crescent Moon Poetry School. In more than a month's time, Chen selected 18 representative works of major poets in the early and late period of Crescent Poetry School, and connected these poets with different social status and political ideological tendencies in the art school system. In the preface of this collection of poems, he summed up the artistic theory of the Crescent Poetry School from the perspective of the development history of new poetry, and pointed out that the achievements of new poetry in the past ten years, like a trickle in the Yangtze River, are still "quietly walking the endless road in the mountain stream", while the Crescent Poetry School "thinks itself to be just a small water in the mountain stream" and is "patiently opening up a new road". He also said that "advocating the essence of honesty, meticulous skills and strict rules is almost our consistent direction" and "the solemnity of attitude is our confidence". His theoretical propositions have not left the nest of Xu Zhimo's artistic thought.
1931September, Xu zhimo handed over Poetry Magazine to Chen as editor-in-chief. 1 19 10 19, the poet of China national bourgeoisie ran into a mountain in Dangjiazhuang, near Jinan, and his last words and tragic fate aroused Chen's inner shock and deep thought. On the fourth day after his death, Xu Zhimo wrote a new poem "To a Sad Man", criticizing sentimentalism: sadness is a luxury for the poor,/happiness is in people's hands and hearts. /-The world is not all bad.
Soon, in the fourth issue of Poetry Magazine, edited by Chen, he was deeply dissatisfied with the phenomenon that the theme of the later creation of Crescent Poetry School was too narrow today, and said that he would expand the content of new poetry. All these indicate the change of his creative thinking. 1932, Chen sorted out the last manuscript of his teacher, Xu Zhimo, Yunyou Collection, and sorted out his own poems after the summer of 19, which were included as Iron Horse Collection, and then resolutely stopped the publication of the late Crescent Poetry School, ending the student days when infatuation and pain were intertwined.
Just as Chen was planning his future life, the "1 1 28th" war broke out! The rumble of the 19th Route Army's resistance to the Japanese invaders in Shanghai awakened the poet's ardent patriotic passion buried deep in his heart. On the second day of the Anti-Japanese War, I participated in the anti-Japanese propaganda work with my classmate Liu Qi 122 Brigade. Chen and others followed 122 brigade headquarters from Nanxiang to the front line of Ruozaobang via Liuhang, Jiading, Gujiazhai, Zhenru and Dachang. 1 February, 9321day When the army entered nanxiang town, Chen stood at the station for three days and three nights, witnessing the homeless women, children and children stumbling in the rain and snow, and the refugee team on the Shanghai-Nanjing line winding for dozens of miles. His heart ached and he wrote a poem "Mourning" and said, "Who taught us this?" Asked. 1932 February 13, the troops fought against the Japanese invaders in the snow of Jijiaqiao. 1The 5th and 6th regiments of the 22nd Brigade acted as strikers and fought hand-to-hand with the enemy all day. Chen, and others came to the scene of the fire to rescue the wounded. He saw the brave soldiers in China fighting bravely in the hail, and the wounded were covered with blood. Some soldiers still keep their guns pointed when they die. The fields are full of new graves of anti-Japanese martyrs. In front of the soldier's tomb, Chen wrote a touching and tragic poem-"The Battlefield of Algae Lake": On the battlefield of Algae Lake, rows of blood flowers/snow mud open the graves of new ghosts:/There rest our heroes-quietly/stretching uneven teams-fluttering paper banners. /goshawk, red wings and red tail, mourning for a long time. Now lying down, they once stood up/charged in front, they shouted to kill, they slandered,/killed, and now they are all asleep/on the battlefield of jujube sticks. Give it to you, just like a torch followed by a fire, we hope,/hope you will bring back the death of our lives! /Hands bent into fists clenched the bomb and shouted to us:/Go there! Go there! Listen to our alarm! /the whole song is lit with a flame in hand/on the battlefield of algae lake. He also wrote a folk song-style poem "The Old Man" on the front line of Jijiaqiao, depicting the farmers' love for their homeland. These epic works written on the front line of the Anti-Japanese War are precious records of the "1.28" incident. When the poet conceived, he "deliberately got rid of all forms of fetters" (preface to Dreamers Save Poems), which marked that Chen started a new creative stage in both content and form.
In late February, Chen returned to Shanghai from the front line of Songhu. In March, at the invitation of Mr. Wen Yiduo, he became the teaching assistant of Mr. Wen in Qingdao University, and began to study Oracle Bone Inscriptions under the guidance of Mr. Wen. In April, Chen revised his "Song and Shanghai Frontline Poetry" and compiled it into "Chen Frontline Poetry". /kloc-in the summer of 0/932, Wen Yiduo and Chen left Qingdao for Peiping. Before leaving, teachers and students climbed Mount Tai, enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the motherland, and left an unforgettable impression in Chen's heart. In September, Wen Yiduo was appointed as a professor of literature in China, Tsinghua University; Chen was also recommended by the professor of yenching university Institute of Religion to study there. Later, Dean Zhao looked back and forth, and married his daughter, Ms. Zhao, and became a lifelong friend.
1932 10, the claws of the Japanese invaders have reached the pass, and the whole of North China is at stake. On June 22nd, Chen was invited to give a speech entitled Autumn Poems in the South Auditorium of Beijing YMCA. In his speech, Chen shouted: "Let our personal feelings gradually melt into the feelings of the whole nation, and our voices will turn into the crying voices of this large group of people, not only mourning, but also the desire for rejuvenation."
At the beginning of 1933, the Japanese invaders finally trampled on the land of Jehol. Chen was indignant and determined to go out and go to the front to defend the motherland. 65438+ 10 On June 3rd, Fang, Qu Bingsen and other students held a farewell party at the Yanjing Homecoming in dengshikou, Dongcheng, Beiping. The next morning, Chen left Beiping and went to the Great Wall via Gubeikou. On the way, I witnessed the magnificent scenery of Saibei, and my patriotic feelings came into being. According to his impression at that time, his poems such as Gubeikou Daozhong and Chengde Daozhong were unrestrained and unique. The past, the Great Wall of Mount Tai and the Great Song Dynasty
1At the beginning of March, 933, due to the non-resistance policy of the Kuomintang government, Jehol was lost without a fight, and the whole of North China was in danger. Chen's enthusiasm for serving the motherland was in vain, and he angrily returned to Peiping from the front. In September of that year, I worked as a Chinese teacher in Guangyi Middle School in Wuhu, Anhui Province, and lived in Qingyang Road, Lion Mountain. In Wuhu, Chen wrote two magnificent lyric poems, The Past and The Great Wall Song of Mount Tai, which reached the peak of his poetry creation. "The Past" is a work that reviews one's own experience in the form of a long poem, which is divided into three chapters: HarmonyOS system, misery and being far from the land. It is a romantic masterpiece with fantastic and colorful style, which shows the extraordinary talent of the poet. The 800-line poem "Song of Harmony between Mount Tai and the Great Wall" is a wonderful flower in the new poetry garden. Patriotic passion, like a mighty river, bursts with clouds and bursts across the banks, rushing between the lines of poetry in one go, which is dizzying.
This poem is desolate and tragic. Critics believe that it has both the self-restraint of Li Bai's poems and the verve of Cen Can's frontier poems. It is the author's review of his impressions when he climbed Mount Tai in Shandong and went out to fight against the enemy. Coupled with his patriotic poems such as Wildfire in the Western Hills and Ballads of the Yellow River, it is worthy of being a masterpiece in the history of China's new poetry!
1934 1 month, Chen's collection of poems, Ma Tieji, was published by Shanghai Bookstore. In the same month, Chen went to Beiping as a graduate student of yenching university Research Institute, specializing in ancient Chinese characters. At this time, his main energy has shifted to academic research, but after school, he often publishes poems in the literary supplement of Ta Kung Pao in Tianjin and Shanghai, as well as in newspapers and periodicals such as Literature Monthly and New Poetry Monthly. His later poems are mature in poetic style and skillful in techniques, but they have lost the passion of the previous stage, showing a leisurely interest of "catching lice on a hundred sleeves and basking in the sun" (Spring Scene in a Small Temple). 1in August, 935, Chen selected 23 poems from more than 100 poems he wrote over the years, and included them as Poems of the Dreamer, as the settlement of his seven years of writing poems. In the preface of his poetry collection, he summed up the success or failure of his creative path and poured out his aesthetic ideal. However, the poet soon put down his pen, which made us unable to appreciate the ultimate beauty of the poems hovering in his heart.
Chen's artistic achievements have always been praised by literary historians. Chen is known as the happiest lyric poem, and his main artistic achievement lies in lyric poetry. In his creation, his first effort is to create a lyrical image with unique personality. Throughout Chen's poems, we can appreciate the overall image of an elegant and pious young poet.
Every writer practices his own aesthetic pursuit in his creation, and poetry, an exquisite literary form, especially embodies the writer's aesthetic ideal. Mu said that Chen's poems are "as good as the autumn sky, with the beauty of tranquility" (Poems of Dreamers and Collection of Iron Horses), which truly revealed its aesthetic characteristics. Reading Chen's poems, you can feel a kind of pure and simple beauty everywhere. Although the artistic conception and style of Chen's poems are as light as smoke, they are "tireless at first sight" (volume: on the poems of dreamers), which gives people endless aftertaste. His poems are full of philosophy and profound connotations.
Chen's poetry creation is deeply influenced by English romantic poetry, both in artistic thought and expression. He especially praised Blake's poetic style of "a profound outlook on life is hidden behind a simple appearance" (see Anikst: An Outline of the History of English Literature). Chen also won three philosophical interests in Blake's poems with a little mystery. The so-called "dramatic wiping" technique of horsman, a British poet, is good at winning by surprise in the end, resulting in endless artistic effects, and Blake's lyric technique of overlapping poems is skillfully used in his own poetry creation, showing his artistic attainments.
Chen was famous for his poems in the 1930s. He, Wen Yiduo, Xu Zhimo and Zhu Xiang were once called the four great poets of the Crescent Poetry School.
His poems were included in the first English version of China's new poetry anthology "Selected Modern Poems of China" published in London from 65438 to 0936. In evaluating Xu Zhimo's historical contribution in the history of new poetry, Chen said: In this small decade, Mr. Xu Zhimo tried to create a new style of poetry and introduced western poetry ... not only in the form of poetry, but also in the content, he advocated the integration of everything, so that poetry could represent the unmistakable voice of the times or the nation and become the true singing of a person's soul. ("(Narrative of Poetry")
Chen's contribution to new poetry is also in these aspects. However, as Chen said, "He is a man of religious belief, young and talented. What he lacks is a real life and a hard training in life. " (My Poetic Life) Therefore, his voice has never been integrated into the chorus of the people in the NPC era.
1September, 936, Chen got a master's degree and stayed in the Chinese Department of yenching university as a teaching assistant. Since then, he has devoted himself to the study of ancient philology and ancient history in China. Under the guidance of Mr. Wen Yiduo, many crescent poets, such as Sun Yutang, Yu Gang and Sun, have gone from poets to scholars and embarked on the same path. This is by no means accidental coincidence or benefit transmission, but comes from a deep patriotic spirit. As Mr. Wen Yiduo said, I want to be a rut killer. "Because after living in that pile of old newspapers for more than ten years, I definitely and clearly saw us. This is what Chen pursues.
Archaeologist Chen.
1937 in July when War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression broke out, Mr. Chen Jingwen Yiduo recommended him to teach Chinese in Tsinghua University, Changsha. In autumn, I went to teach at National Southwest Associated University in Kunming.
1in the autumn of 944, introduced by Professor Fei Zhengqing and Professor Tsinghua University King of Harvard University, he went to the University of Chicago to teach China's ancient philology. /kloc-in the summer of 0/947, he traveled to Britain, France, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and other countries. He worked hard abroad with great patriotic enthusiasm and amazing perseverance, and devoted himself to collecting information on Chinese bronzes scattered in Europe and America. 1in the autumn of 947, he refused the request of others to persuade him to stay in the United States and resolutely set off for his motherland to continue teaching in Tsinghua. From 65438 to 0952, he became a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, China Academy of Sciences, and concurrently served as a member of the academic committee of the Institute of Archaeology, the editorial board of the Journal of Archaeology, and the deputy editor-in-chief of Archaeological Newsletter.
After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), Mr. Chen devoted himself to teaching and research with great patriotic enthusiasm, and made important academic contributions to the study of ancient philology, chronology and ancient history, winning a high reputation at home and abroad. In his spare time, he kept pace with poets such as Guo Xiaochuan and Ai Qing, and wrote some short literary comments and poems describing objects and scenery, which were very popular with readers.
From 65438 to 0957, Mr. Chen was wrongly classified as a rightist, but the political blow did not make his perseverance in academic research slightly diminished. In those most difficult days, Chen still worked hard in the studio. It took him ten years to check 900 pieces of bronze rubbings in the Forbidden City with the descriptions of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. However, this poet and scholar who devoted his whole life to the development of new poetry and academic career died on September 3, 1966 at the age of 55 under the political persecution of Lin Biao and the Gang of Four.
1978 65438+On February 28th, the Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences held a memorial service for Mr. Chen in Beijing, and spoke highly of his spirit of loving the motherland and the socialist cause.
"Squeeze your own blood and make others drink willingly" ("My Song"), Chen Yisheng fulfilled his promise, and the people will never forget this sincere poet and scholar.