From the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, a wave of "misty poetry" appeared in China's poetry circles. Readers who are accustomed to the style of New China's political poems often use it to accuse these writers of being obscure, because they can't find a concise and clear "central idea" in a poem, nor can they see the once familiar high-spirited style. In the process of reading "misty poetry", readers encounter a "symbolic forest", and many images spread wantonly, making the straight and wide road dark. Readers are always threatened by "getting lost" on the "path" and have surprises at any time. This reading experience shocked people's expectation at that time, but it seemed to be more in line with the requirements of poetry itself. Beidao is one of the representatives of "misty poetry". This poem "Lost" not only fully embodies the characteristics of misty poetry, but also becomes an allegory for us to read poetry because of its content.
In line with the psychological pursuit of people in that era.
These poets rediscovered the complexity and versatility of poetic imagery, and revised the monosyllabic and linear thinking mode of previous poems with the jumping, inversion and contradiction of imagery thinking. For example, the "pigeon whistle" in this poem should be a bright and beautiful call, and it really leads to the "search" of "I" in the poem. However, it guided Lin Nakakoji, who covered the sun, and later lost his way, reading notes. There is a contradiction between light and darkness. This contradictory phenomenon appears again in the search results. Blue-gray Lake, Slightly Swaying Reflection and Abyssable are all full of illusory colors, which seem to be just hints of unreality and mistakes in Lost. But the second person's "you" and those "eyes" are undoubtedly true, at least for the poet's psychological expectations. This kind of true and unreal, flickering color comes from the display of ambiguity in the image.
The development of poetry schools
The author of the poem has obvious doubt and introspection consciousness, which further strengthens the ambiguity of poetry. In this poem, the poet is obviously questioning the conventional mode of seeking-overcoming obstacles-seeking, but consciously accepts the "lost road". It is in this deliberate sleep of "rationality" and self-awareness that the sought goal appears. But the poet can't believe this goal unconditionally, because it is just a "reflection" in the water, just a pair of "eyes" with infinite meaning and emptiness. This "eye" may be the temptation to get lost further, but it is also the call for the next search, just like the first "pigeon whistle" in a poem.
In a sense, reading is also a kind of search. We are called by the poet to embark on a journey, but the goal is not clear, just like those eyes, which can only shine in the dark lake deep in the forest. However, the search process is full of meaning. It gropes for progress at the moment of loss, turning and epiphany, and finds personal understanding in contradiction and confusion. Therefore, this poem looks like a reading fable, reminding us of the subtleties in poetry reading.