far and near
Gu Cheng
far and near
You,
Look back at me,
Watch the clouds later.
I think,
When you look at me from a distance,
You observe the clouds up close.
65438+June 0980
Far and near appreciation
(Note: This is a poem written by Gu Cheng/KLOC-0 in June, 980. Gu Cheng is one of the representatives of famous poetry schools in China in 1980s. This kind of poetry pursues the symbol of the whole in form, and the images are opaque and vague. From the content point of view, the pursuit of self-worth often carries a sense of criticism and hardship to history and tradition. Generally speaking, misty poetry is precisely because of the opacity of its image itself and the fragmentation of its combination, which has produced many blank points and uncertainties, and also reserved a lot of imagination and thinking space for readers, making people often read and innovate. With ordinary and simple images, simple language and short poetic structure, it shows readers the greatest imagination and gives poetry unlimited tension. )
The interpretation of Gu Cheng's "distance" has always been controversial. Many people can't understand it, but those who have made some clues often only focus on one aspect, such as reading it from the perspective of love, philosophy and historical reflection, and the results are often ignored. In my opinion, this is indeed a poem expressing love, but it is not only about love, but also contains the poet's strong spiritual sustenance and pursuit. The following is a concrete interpretation of this poem from the following three aspects:
First, simple and complex special feelings:
Judging from the construction of poetic lines, Gu Cheng's Far and Near has only two sections, six lines and twenty-four words. In such a short space, the word "you" is monopolized by one line and has to be noticed, thus playing a prominent role. "I think" is also exclusive. It echoes the first line of "you" in form, implying that all my inner activities and feelings are centered on "you". "I" read your heart from your movements and wandering eyes.
The last section mainly describes your actions objectively and shows your world, which is a free world. The next section mainly describes the inner feelings of "I" to "you", which is a completely independent and "I" world, which can also be said to be the subjective intervention of "I" to "you" world. The basic functions of poetry are "expressing emotion" and "expressing ambition", so the next section is obviously the focus of poetry. Generally speaking, your actions are revealed through my eyes, which gives you all the actions in this poem. On the one hand, it shows concern for your every move, on the other hand, it also shows respect for your heart. Imagine if I were a complete stranger, could I care so much? Therefore, this is a poem expressing love, full of feelings that are both simple and complicated.
Second, the contradiction between the two distances:
In this poem, far and near are both physical distance and psychological distance. Physical distance can be measured and fixed, while psychological distance is really fuzzy and unmeasurable. It is absurd and contradictory for the author to compare these two different and incomparable distances together. However, this is also the embodiment of poetry, because poetry often starts from a place that goes against common sense. Another manifestation of this contradiction is that the contrast objects "I" and "Cloud" are heterogeneous and unequal. "I" is an objective and real person, and "cloud" is an ethereal and illusory natural thing.
According to common sense, the distance between "you" and "cloud" is of course farther than "I", but "you" makes me feel that the distance between "you" and "I" is farther, which is a balance between physiological feeling and psychological distance. "You" facing "I" is so mysterious that I can't figure it out; In the face of "cloud" and nature, it is really so frank that I feel that there will always be an invisible barrier between "you" and "me", which will hinder the communication between our hearts.
The repeated use of two adverbs in the whole poem shows that your eyes are erratic, like dodge and deliberate; "hen" contains more and more meanings. Repeated use makes the sense of distance difference stronger and clearer, and brings endless aftertaste to the poem.
Third, the eternal conflict between spirit and flesh.
It is a tradition to express poetry with images. In this poem, "cloud" is the central image, the eye of the poem, symbolizing the fantastic life elsewhere. "I" symbolizes real life. However, people are always dissatisfied with reality and think that beauty is always far away. Just like "I" and "cloud" in poetry, they symbolize the conflict between reality and ideal, between this shore and the other shore, and between matter and spirit.
Goethe said that everyone has two spirits: one is to indulge in love and stubbornly cling to this dusty surface, and the other is to leave the dusty surface violently and fly to a lofty spiritual realm. The conflict between soul and body is an eternal motif in poetry, so in this poem, it can be said that "you" is actually looking at some fantasy in your heart, while "I" is looking at your actions, so "I" is looking at "you" and clouds, so "you" is actually some fantasy in my heart, and "you" is like a fantasy that I have never seen before.
To sum up, this poem is a poem about love, but it is not only about love, but also contains the author's spiritual pursuit and yearning, revealing an eternal contradiction and conflict in the world, that is, the conflict and opposition between soul and body.