We are Defined by the Past is my first collection of poems. In recent years, writing is really an interesting and lonely thing for me. In 211, I started writing. Before that, although I wrote some words, they were not called literature, but called exam-oriented composition. Perhaps it was a late start and a dull talent, and I was often exposed to writing, which led to no success so far.
In the past, when we went to school, most of the poems taught in Chinese textbooks were ancient poems or modern poems, and it was rare to hear that students read modern poems in unison in the morning reading class. Visible, in the process of modern civilization is still relatively short, people still tend to read ancient or modern poetry.
Before the modern poetry, the classical poetry is more free in meter, and it is not restricted to antithesis, level and length; Modern poetry is more strict, paying attention to level, antithesis and rhyme; For thousands of years, many classic works have emerged in both ancient and modern styles, such as The Book of Songs, Songs of the South and later Tang poems, as well as many outstanding poets such as Li Bai, Du Fu and Lu You.
actually, how to define poetry? I can't find a standard either. Scholars are arguing and even criticizing each other. Let them go. I think, as long as there are good words and thoughts, why not be woven into poetry?
modern poetry exists in our time. In the late Qing Dynasty, western culture began to spread to China, and some poems were introduced and translated into vernacular by students or scholars. As a result, modern poetry began to appear.
Although the course of modern poetry is still relatively short, there are many representative poets and classic works, such as Xu Zhimo and Farewell to Cambridge, Haizi and Facing the Sea, Blooming in Spring, Gu Cheng and Far and Near, Bei Dao and Answer, Ai Qing and I Love This Land, and so on. These are all modern poets and poems that I like very much.
Looking at the past and the present, we know that the river of poetry is bright, and the poems written in the past dynasties are as numerous as the stars in the sky. Some poets have spent their lives writing tens of thousands of poems, but only a few can be sung by word of mouth, which is the greatest recognition of history.
A few years ago, in a tense atmosphere with 3 days to go before the college entrance examination, I sweated and wrote a poem in my notebook with crooked handwriting, and my notebook was branded with sweat marks. When I was a freshman, I submitted it to the college newspaper. Soon after, Firefly, as my first novel, was published in the college newspaper in guangzhou huashang vocational college, which encouraged me to move forward more bravely.
I often think that everyone can be that firefly. Life is like a long river, in which we float, becoming attached to different people, events and things, or marching side by side, or parting ways, or singing Wan Li, or passing by. Everything in life can always evoke a spark in the mind, and perhaps this spark is an instant inspiration.
after all, any art is the carrier of this kind of inspiration, including movies, music, calligraphy and painting, drama and poetry. Over the past few years, I have written many novels and essays, and I am not satisfied with most of them afterwards. I think, if there is fate in the future, novels and essays will definitely meet with you.
I didn't have much original intention to write this collection of poems. I just wanted to write one or two poems once in a while to express my feelings and sentiments. But in the later time, I gradually fell in love with writing this genre. Chinese poetry culture is really fascinating, so I began to consciously pick up my own or others' life fragments and turn them into lines of words. After a long period of time, I want this unintentional "child" to meet you first.
"We are Defined by the Past" contains hundreds of my poems in the past two years, covering childhood, youth, hometown, life and life sentiment. These are not mine, but yours.
She is not as logical as a novel, nor as straightforward as a prose. I believe that my feelings and experiences have been expressed in different forms by people of different times in the course of history, but you may not have read all these things.
In this era of expanding information, we receive a huge amount of information through various social platforms, online forums and consulting software every day, and our time is fragmented. We are so intent on digesting all the information that we can't even read an article with hundreds of words. As a result, today you forgot yesterday's information before you finished reading it, and today you start to forecast tomorrow's information.
Dear readers, poetry is a very refined text. I hope it can accompany you to calm down and enjoy a period of reading in this fidgety era. My reading advice to you is: If you feel tasteful but can't fully understand it for a while, repeat it several times.
everyone has a sad past, and the present will soon become the past. Here, I am lucky to be attached to you, and I will tell you the story in the form of words.
Finally, I would like to thank my friends who put forward suggestions for revision during my creative process, the oncoming encouragement, and the oncoming ridicule and criticism.
I wish you all a wonderful past!
Nie Rongheng
was born in Guangzhou
February 16th, 215.