The concern of the third generation of poets for the common people has its social and historical background. In the mid-1980s, China entered the stage of free competition of capitalism. At this time, the chaotic life makes everyone nervous but has vague admiration for the scenery, opportunities begin to increase, political shadows begin to gradually retreat from the lives of ordinary people, and most people seem to be able to compete as civilians on an equal footing. Civilians have become a new huge group with subjective consciousness, and the third generation of poets live in it, and they have the identity of civilians. Therefore, they are determined to express this most ordinary life. They claim to "live like citizens and think like God", and strive to make poetry secularized, civilian and close to the most ordinary life in their creation. In this pursuit, their creation presents a unique aesthetic style.
First of all, it is the repeated expression of "anti-hero" life experience in their poems.
The so-called "anti-hero" refers to the most ordinary life in life Many poets of the third generation, starting from human survival instinct, appreciate and reflect all the contents of secular life in their poems, such as love and hate, life and death, bitterness and joy, and even drinking and pecking rice, sleeping and going to the toilet.
The representative of this kind of work is the space shuttle Wang Xiaolong Memorial Challenger. This tragic scene, which once attracted the attention of the whole world, presents an absurd side in the poet's pen:
What has this moment changed?
This strange-looking hybrid suddenly disappeared.
Under the cover of thick smoke ...
Undigested breakfast sandwich
The sky is shining brightly.
This description may be true, but it completely absurd the heroic image of the female teacher in the world press, thus deconstructing the existence of heroes.
If Wang Xiaolong's works are deliberately contradictory to heroes, Yu Jian's No.6 Shangyi Street is completely immersed in the description of ordinary life. This long poem reveals the life fragments of a group of young people who often meet in "No.6 Shangyi Street" in a trivial way:
French yellow house
Lao Wu's trousers are hung on the second floor.
Shout your legs and drill your head out with glasses.
The big toilet next door
There is a long queue every morning.
……
The poem says that these friends often spend the night in Lao Wu's house, but at the end of the poem, everyone goes their separate ways:
Everyone finally separated.
The remaining floor is empty.
Like an old record that doesn't play anymore. ...
Long poems are completely colloquial expressions, which are trivial and fragmentary, but under close reading, they have a soothing and sad taste. And this ending gives people a sense of desolation that life is dull and impermanent.
Secondly, it is the anti-sublime cold lyricism deliberately pursued in the works of the third generation of poets.
The third generation poets are used to replacing the obscure poets' idealistic heroism with ordinary people's plain civilian consciousness, showing a kind of almost cynical black humor. For example, in About the Wild Goose Pagoda, people are indifferent to the sight of climbing the pagoda.
Thirdly, anti-cultural modern spoken language and language sense can be seen everywhere in their works.
The application of spoken vocabulary and language sense can be seen in the works such as No.6 Shangyi Street I just quoted. As for the theme of "anti-culture", it can be represented by Zhang Feng's short poem Compendium of Materia Medica:
One or two old withered vines in Ma Zhiyuan.
San Qian Li Shangyin's Bitter Cicada
Half a spoonful of Li Yu decoction in spring water
Drink up the spring water.
They all suffered from depression in China.
The short poems borrowed many famous images from China's classical culture, deconstructed its carefree charm, and expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of femininity and masculinity in China culture.
Generally speaking, the creation of the third generation of poets has undoubtedly enriched the artistic expression of new poetry and stepped into some forbidden areas in the field of poetry, making poetry an artistic form closer to life and people's perceptual life. At the same time, every so-called third-generation poet has his own creative personality and is not unified under the banner of a certain theory. They have their own trajectory, which is still changing. As for the final decision, it is still too early. The summary here is only a very incomplete statement.