Reef is a short poem written by Ai Qing during his trip to South America in July, 1954. In ordinary people's pen, the reef is always described as an ugly thing that blocks the channel and crashes the ship, but Ai Qing observes and describes it from a new angle. In the poet's view, collision is not the responsibility of the reef, because the fact is that the ship hits the reef rather than the reef collides with the ship. The reef stands on the sea, which is precisely the endless attack of the waves. As a result, the reef described by the poet has become an image of being persecuted and daring to fight: in order to survive, it stubbornly fights against the waves and always "breaks" every "rushing" wave; Although scarred and "like a knife", it still stands tall and looks at the ocean with a smile. As the poet said: "As a nation, as an individual who demands the right to live, what should I do if I encounter continuous persecution?" "This is just an attitude that should be taken from the perspective of a' reef' that has been' endlessly declining'-what other way can there be? However, some people say that rocks are "enemies of ships of all sizes" ... He completely forgot that rocks are immovable, and "ships of all sizes" should not touch those stubborn rocks. This is a different result of looking at the problem from two different angles. " (Preface to Selected Poems of Ai Qing) It can be seen that the reef is a symbol of the power of all oppressed nations and all oppressed people to resist the old forces of the old world.
Ai Qing is good at using symbolism to express his true feelings. In the poem "Reef", the poet projects his unique thinking about life into the symbolic image of "Reef", which not only personifies the reef, but also endows it with "overtones" and "implications beyond the image", thus greatly enhancing the artistic appeal of the work. The language of the whole poem is refined, vivid, implicit and profound, which is the result of the poet's adherence to the principle of realistic creation and "writing with heart"