I. Introduction to the author
Guo Moruo (1892- 1978), formerly known as Kaizhen, was born in Leshan, Sichuan. 19 14 years to study in Japan. 19 16 started writing his own new poems. 192 1 published the poetry collection Goddess, which became the cornerstone of China's modern new poetry and embodied the May 4th spirit of Stourm Delang. In addition, there are poems such as Starry Sky (1923), Aquarius (1925) and Thousand Cats (1928), as well as drama masterpieces such as Qu Yuan and Tiger Symbol. He left behind a large number of literary works. His style is often critical; Not all his works can stand the test of time. But his position in the history of literature is unshakable. After Lu Xun, he became another banner of China's progressive literature. In his works, there is stirring power, full momentum and free and easy demeanor. Among modern writers in China, no one can reach his spiritual strength.
Phoenix Nirvana is a masterpiece in Goddess, and it is also a poem with an important historical position in the history of modern poetry. Guo Moruo was the first poet who felt the historical change, the rebirth of the motherland and the national awakening during the May 4th Movement. This song "Phoenix Nirvana" is an ode to the times. The poet compared the motherland to a phoenix. With the help of Phoenix Legend's transformation and new exposition, the poet solemnly declared that the era of "rebirth from the fire" had arrived. 1920 65438+ 10 month, current affairs news? Deng Xue Supplement made an exception and published this long poem in full page. It claims that "phoenix nirvana" better demonstrates the May 4th spirit than anyone else.
Nirvana of the Phoenix is one of the most distinctive masterpieces in Goddess, which was written during the climax of the May 4th Movement. Although the poet was studying in Japan at that time, far away from the motherland, he finally created a romantic masterpiece like Phoenix Nirvana with his patriotic enthusiasm, close ties with the motherland, profound artistic accomplishment, rich imagination and agile talent. He once told people the specific process of writing this poem: "The long poem" Phoenix Nirvana "was written twice a day. When I was listening to a lecture in the school classroom half a day ago, I suddenly had a poetic attack, so I wrote the first half of the poem in the transcript. When I was about to go to bed at night, my interest in the second half of the poem came again. I squatted on the pillow and wrote with a pencil. I am a little cold all over, and even my teeth are fighting. " Guo Moruo once told readers clearly: "My work" Phoenix Nirvana "symbolizes the rebirth of China." (Spring and Autumn Period of Revolution "is also my own rebirth". (My History of Poetry).
Second, the analysis of works
Phoenix, a legendary bird in China, is an auspicious thing. The ancient book says: "Phoenix is the essence of fire and gives birth to Dan points. It's not that the phoenix tree is not alive, that bamboo is not eaten, and that spring water is not drunk. Prepare five colors, sing five tones, watch the road and fly with the birds. " (See Kangxi Dictionary) At first, the Yin people took the phoenix as their clan totem. The "nirvana" in the title is not silence, but rebirth, which is the rebirth after severe pain and death; It means eternal life
A long poem consists of a "small preface" and four chapters, with a detailed and complete structure. It can be said to be a dramatic poem or a poetic drama (some people call phoenix nirvana a poetic drama). Guo Moruo showed his talent as a poet and dramatist at the beginning of his writing.
Preface is a beautiful essay. The poet told a romantic oriental legend beautifully. This legend can immediately arouse the reader's interest and imagination, and also make the phoenix nirvana begin naturally in a fascinating artistic atmosphere. This was carefully conceived by the poet.
(1) Mental characteristics
Poetry takes the form of poetic drama and is divided into five parts. The "Nirvana" in the title is Sanskrit, which refers to the death of Buddha. After resurrection from death, it extends to the realm beyond life and death, which symbolizes the rebirth of the nation after death in this poem.
overture
The poet chose "New Year's Eve", the time background of Phoenix's self-immolation, to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, symbolizing the exhaustion of life with the "withered" and "relaxed" scenery, thus laying a "sad" atmosphere in the whole poem. It reflects the phoenix's love for the old life in the old country, reveals the heavy burden of the pioneers of the times, and makes people deeply feel that they have to set themselves on fire and rehabilitate themselves, laying a solid emotional foundation for the following.
In "Overture", the poet showed us the scene of Phoenix preparing to burn herself in the third person. On the one hand, the mountains and rivers in Phoenix's life are "vast", "cloudy" and "cold", the ritual spring dries up and everything withers; On the other hand, Phoenix is busy with self-immolation: in the midst of "flaming flames and overflowing fragrance", it "dances" and "sings" in a deep and solemn way, preparing for the severe test after death. This darkness reveals bright colors, and desolation shows majestic scenes, vividly writing the tragic mood and fearless spirit of Nie Jiaqian, a phoenix. In the Overture, the poet used neatly arranged poems (containing the artistic features of antithesis and rhythm of China's classical poems), simple language, detailed descriptions, excerpts from New Year's Eve, which is rich in China's national tradition, and Dan Snow Mountain, a national legend in China, to create an artistic conception and give people rich imagination and association. Through it, we can easily see that the ancient Chinese nation was covered with a layer of decaying dust due to the long-term rule of feudalism and the trampling of imperialism before the May 4th Movement. Only after the baptism of the revolutionary fire can we regain our glory. The symbolic meaning of poetry is thus contained in the artistic conception of poetry. Generally speaking, this very modern poem has distinctive national characteristics here. At the end of the Overture, there appeared a group of "ordinary birds" who descended from the sky to watch the funeral. The poet skillfully revealed the clues of the whole contradiction and conflict, and also laid the groundwork for the later "birdsong". This is another manifestation of the poet's ingenious conception.
2. Main melody melody
"Phoenix Song", "Phoenix Song" and "Phoenix Song" are the second chapter of the long poem and the main theme of the whole poem. The first-person narrator, the poet in the first person, makes contradictions and conflicts fully displayed in the form of monologues.
Phoenix Song is a curse to fate, sharp, rude and tragic, full of anger and resistance. Phoenix is strong, calm and rational. He faced reality squarely and deeply felt the coldness, darkness and filth of the old world. Feng Ge uses the expression of Qu Yuan's Tian Wen to raise various questions about the universe and the mysteries of life. Just like the original questions about the origin of the universe and human beings, the beginning of every great era is based on the reconstruction of the value system. We must think over these original propositions about the origin of the universe and the meaning of life. The irresistible desire for knowledge and the exploration of truth thus constitute a sharp contradiction with the cold and sad reality.
The second paragraph of "Feng Ge" expresses the "Tian Wen" of the May 4th Movement. The poet reborn the spirit of Qu Yuan and injected the milk of the world's excellent culture. The collision declared the revival of the Chinese nation. Here, there is no longer the helplessness of Qu Yuan, but the courage and determination to break all the old rules and be reborn after death, full of the sacred and "supercilious" spirit of the Phoenix King. The lyric hero beats his chest and asks about heaven and earth and the sea, but the sky is good, the land is good and the sea is good, and it is impossible without an answer. This passage expresses the helplessness and loneliness of the pioneers and highlights the decay of the old world. In the poem, the poet warned the world: "Born in such a dirty world, even the treasure knife of diamonds will rust!" " "The horror of the old world lies not only in its filth and decay, but also in its extremely powerful assimilation. Thereby further demonstrating the belief of breaking with the world.
Then, the poet expressed a feeling of no home from the perspective of space in the southeast and northwest. "East, West, North and South" here is not a definite reference in orientation, but an intertextuality. The meaning to be expressed at this time is that the universe is full of "slaughterhouses", "prisons", "graves" and "hell", and there is no pure land. Expressed a denial of the dirty and dark old world.
"Phoenix Song" is magnificent, and the poet painted the problems of life and times on a broad background-the universe, magnificent. Exposing and cursing the old world macroscopically and as a whole also reveals the poet's inner pain in seeking truth.
"Burning Love Song" is delicate, low-key and true. In The Burning Song, the poet gave full play to the wonderful use of metaphor. The poet compared the situation of Phoenix to a leaf "boat" in the vast sea, with no lampstand in front and no coast behind. The ship is "broken sails, rafters and rotten rafters" and is driven by the "ship" in a tired moan. Phoenix's "ethereal floating life" is compared to "a deep dream in the night" and "a moment of wind and smoke in sleep" All the old traditions, old constraints and all their internal influences are strongly cursed by the poet as "dead bodies moving around us" and "dead bodies running through us". From this series of artistic images, it is not difficult for people to understand: to what extent the old China was dark and decadent, and people living in such a world have lost their due value; It is urgent to burn the old China and innovate the new China. The Burning Song focuses on historical review and personal experience to further expose and accuse the old world. "Huang" lamented the "humiliation" and "filth" in his 500-year life, with tears like waterfalls and drops like candles. Deeply aware of her tragic and sinister situation, she couldn't help asking questions and asking such a serious question: "Where are we going to settle down, this ethereal floating life?" Where is the realm of "truth, goodness and beauty" in life? She naturally recalled the "freshness, sweetness, brilliance and love" she had when she was young. This memory of the long history, splendid culture and glorious tradition of the Chinese nation is not only a powerful exposure to the dark and corrupt social reality, but also an untapped desire. Therefore, although the reality is "only some sadness, worry, loneliness and decline", although Huang also has a faint dreamlike life sadness, it is valuable that she is not pessimistic and depressed. At this solemn moment of "Nirvana", she felt that "everything has passed, everything has passed". The blazing flame will burn the old world and you will live forever.
If Song of the Phoenix is a query and curse to the outside world, then Song of the Phoenix is self-dissection. From the perspective of history and time, it expresses the empty inspiration that cannot be "stable". Fuzzy Floating Life appears three times in the first three paragraphs of this chapter, deliberately emphasizing the feeling of not having a home.
Huang takes "solitary boat" as a metaphor of individual life, and a series of images all come from "solitary boat". The poet wrote about desperate, directionless, tattered and tired boats, which further strengthened the feeling of "ethereal". Then, the poet made a position for the pioneers from the surrounding environment, "We are just the smoke in this sleep!" " How difficult it is for this "wind smoke" to wake up the surrounding sleep! Here, the poet bravely analyzed the great difficulties and failures faced by self-healing, as well as the loneliness and sadness of pioneers facing the powerful darkness.
At this point, with the help of the song "Yellow", the poet made a summary description of the surrounding universe: the performance space "around" is full of walking corpses, and the time course "through" is full of walking corpses.
The last paragraph of Song of Burning contrasts the despair in reality with the pursuit of lost "youth". Four questions about "where have you been" should be answered with seven categorical "gone", without hesitation and firm determination.
Although the individual colors and emphases of Phoenix are different, their spiritual essence is the same: they are both songs that curse the darkness and pursue the light, and they are both lightning and thunder when the inner good desire collides with the outer dirty reality. This is the typical flavor of the times in China on the eve of the May 4th Movement, and it is the embodiment of the boiling anger and self-dissection spirit of the young generation of the May 4th Movement, including poets.
The Song of the Phoenix is short and powerful, and with irregular sentence patterns, it shows the resolute and courageous mood of the Phoenix breaking away from the old self, that is, "everything is outside" and "everything is inside". The bizarre and tragic death makes people throb.
In a word, the three main themes are full of verve. No matter whether you are beating your chest to deny the world or dissecting yourself with tears, it embodies the unique negative spirit of the May 4th Movement. One is the denial of bad luck and old China, and the other is the strong denial of the possible numbness in reality.
Step 3 change
The songs of birds are quite beautiful. This chapter consists of six sections, each with four lines; The first sentence begins with "haha", with a frivolous tone, like a clown, full of irony; The first three lines are exactly the same, outlining the despicable psychology and metaphysical thought of gloating with "birds" "Birds" only know the "death" of Phoenix, but they don't want to know that Phoenix is reborn in the fire, which is more beautiful than before. Therefore, their ridicule of Phoenix turned into ridiculous self-mockery. The fourth line of poems, in one sentence, expresses their respective personality characteristics: the essence of belligerence, domineering and cunning, and the thought of sophistication, servility and taming the people. This description of the combination of * * * and personality makes this chapter of poetry also contain philosophical meaning. "Bird" has profound symbolic significance under the poet's satirical brushwork. In fact, it is warlords, politicians, bureaucrats, animal trainers, slaves and shameless literati who are attached to imperialism when the May Fourth Revolution comes. As Hugo said: "Ugliness is next to beauty, deformity is close to beauty, vulgarity is hidden behind sublimity, evil and good coexist, and darkness and light coexist." (Literature) Poets portrayed the negative images of "birds" with their distinct love and hate and unique artistic conception, exposed their souls, lashed their ugliness, and also embodied the noble quality of phoenix's firmness and beauty. From the perspective of drama, Song of Birds externalizes and concretizes contradictions and conflicts. How to solve this contradiction that has developed to no room for reconciliation? This is the key to the complete image and profound thought of long poems.
This is a dying episode of Phoenix. At the end of the overture, it is clearly written "a group of ordinary birds", which shows that the birds are symbols of ordinary people. The loneliness of pioneers stands out in the opposition between "group" and "individual". In this part, the format of each lyric is the same, except for the last sentence, which shows that it does not conform to other people's personality. This passage is in sharp contrast with the context, which is a variation of banter, solemn and shameless, noble and humble, beautiful and ugly. It is not only a mockery of reality, but also a great pressure on "One". It forms an organic echo with the aforementioned "wind smoke".
4, climax song
Keyword explanation:
"Cockcrow" means that new forces will create a new world. So Feng Huang came back to life. Light, the universe has come back to life. New Tide, Spring Tide and Sheng Chao represent the main theme of "life" and are the prelude to the rebirth of Phoenix.
Song of Phoenix Rebirth is the climax of the whole poem. This chapter includes two parts: "Cockcrow" and "Fengming". "Cockcrow" plays a connecting role in the whole poem. Sing a rooster to make the world white and crow announce the arrival of new light and the birth of new universe and phoenix. "Cockcrow" presents readers with a vibrant and brand-new scene. This is a typical environment of "phoenix harmony", and it is also the embodiment of the image of the Chinese nation after the baptism of the May Fourth Revolution in the poet's mind.
The newborn "Phoenix" flies and sings heartily. Every poem in Fengming is parallel and overlapping, and it goes back and forth. The poem is short and powerful, with a brisk rhythm, like a cheerful waltz. The poet enthusiastically praised the "Phoenix" reborn in the fire as more beautiful than before. The whole poem ends with a very harmonious and dazzling scene and a comedy atmosphere of phoenix singing and dancing. Goddess 192 1 the first edition, the subtitle of phoenix nirvana is "phoenix's body", which is the comedy of phoenix. Yes, it is indeed a magnificent comedy.
Guo Moruo repeatedly sang in the Song of Phoenix Rejuvenation: "Everything is one, and it is reborn from the fire." "Everything in No.1 Middle School has been rehabilitated." The "unity of all things" here means that all living things are pushed to the individual, and the "unity of all things" means that the individual is above all living things, that is, the phoenix is integrated with all living things, and you, he and I are reborn as one. "One of all things" also refers to all kinds of individuals. "One of all things" also refers to all kinds of individuals, that is, no matter what kind of beautiful realm, I exist, and I also have all these (fresh, clean, gorgeous, fragrant, warm, loving, happy, harmonious, vivid, free, vigorous and long-lasting). It can be seen that there are traces of "pantheism" thought here. But "pantheism" has become a "bridge" for Guo Moruo to reach a brand-new ideal society here. It is true that the ideal society in which poets completely emancipate their minds from personality is hazy and idealistic, which is the inevitable ideological limitation of Guo Moruo, a revolutionary Democrat studying in Japan. But in the dark and corrupt old China, he showed infinite bright prospects, predicted the birth of new China, and gave people bright hope and confidence in victory, which has his indelible historical achievements. In the ending of "Phoenix Nirvana", bright China replaced dark China, and beautiful things were better after being tempered by fire, which fully showed Guo Moruo's amazing ideological depth, that is, radical revolutionary views and simple dialectical thoughts. This is unmatched by contemporary poets, and it is also one of the important reasons why Guo Moruo became a pioneer of new poetry, although he was not the first person to write new poetry.
The Song of the Phoenix Nirvana embodies the "pantheism" thought in the May 4th period. "Pantheism" was popular in western Europe from 16 to 18 century, and it advocated that God is nature and "God" exists in all things in nature. Guo Moruo summarized it as "Pantheon is not God, and all nature is only the expression of God", and deduced the view that "I am God". "One" in "Everything One" refers to the universal noumenon (God) in nature, and "Everything" in "Everything One" refers to all natural things derived from the noumenon of "One". This passage expresses the great harmony among all things, life and all things.
"Fire" symbolizes the spirit of the times that brings new life to all things, and exists everywhere in human beings and natural things like "God".
The repetition of Fengming gives people a kind of shock, which is the climax of an uncontrollable emotional outburst. Especially when reading aloud, you will feel this way, and you will feel refreshed. The poet also said: "When I was sleeping at night, my interest in the second half of the poem (referring to this poem) came again. Lying on the pillow and writing with a pencil, I am a little cold all over and even my teeth are fighting. " "The repeated stereotype of poetic language is influenced by Wagner's opera, which is an attempt to musicalize poetry, but from the standpoint of psychiatry, it obviously shows a nerve attack. What kind of attack is about the so-called' inspiration'? "
Therefore, the poet praised the scope of light, freshness, beauty, fragrance, harmony, music, enthusiasm, boldness, vividness, freedom, trance, mystery and longevity in more than 100 lines, which reflected the spirit of the times. Each paragraph has the same format, but it replaces a different head word in a fixed position, sings three sighs and repeats endlessly, which is an ode to the new era of the nation and gives people a sense of unity. "Singing" reminds people of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" at the end of the Ninth Symphony, which embodies the great joy and sense of rebirth in the May 4th Movement.
The age when this poem was written (1920) was the magnificent time of the May 4th Movement. With the help of "phoenix nirvana", Guo Moruo found a way for "personal stagnation and national stagnation", so the poet said, "I was going crazy." Phoenix Nirvana is the product of this wild passion. Its imagination, momentum and superb artistic appeal all come from the intersection of the stagnation of the poet and the stagnation of the nation, and finally erupt like a volcano.
But the poet is not blindly noisy and impetuous. Several parts of this poem fully reflect the poet's overall control over the tone and rhythm of the poem. Similar to several movements of a symphony, the change and interweaving of several tones from Allegro, Adagio, minuet to March make the whole poem slow and ups and downs, which makes perfect preparation for the final chorus.
"Phoenix Nirvana" is an ode to historical adolescence, which reflects a youth era and can only be produced in that era. In this sense, the poet's Ode to Joy cannot be repeated by any poet, including himself. Therefore, eight years later, when he received Mo Ruo's poem, the poet himself had greatly abridged the Song of Phoenix Nirvana. Although the text is much simpler and the rhythm is smooth, it also loses its overwhelming momentum, and the artistic infection effect is not as good as the first draft.
(B) "Phoenix Nirvana" artistic features
Phoenix Nirvana is the first excellent romantic lyric poem in the history of new poetry. Its characteristics are mainly manifested in:
1. Romantic features
(1) The application of myths and legends
The author not only found an appropriate metaphor in the image of the phoenix, which represents purity, nobility and beauty in China's traditional aesthetic concept, but also absorbed the metaphorical framework of the "phoenix" who set herself on fire at the age of 500 in ancient Arab myths and legends. The images in the myths and legends of the two nationalities, after being recreated by the poet, constitute a unified and beautiful symbol, which inspires him to create a new artistic world.
(2) Rich imagination and exaggerated images and language greatly enhance the romanticism of this poem.
Imagination and exaggeration get rid of the dependence on the prototype of life, which seems to present an irrationality, but it shows the essence of life more strongly and integrates the authenticity of the poet's emotional color, which is a more reasonable artistic lyric creation. Such as the exaggerated description of the universe in the works: "The vast universe is as cold as iron; The vast universe, dark as paint; The vastness of the universe stinks like blood ",which expresses the poet's anger and curse over the dark China.
(3) Pluralistic absorption of Chinese and foreign artistic nutrients and creative integration have formed a magnificent and romantic artistic style.
"Phoenix Nirvana" is unique in the May 4th poetry circle with its vigorous posture and shakes the world with its rich and high-pitched voice. It is not only brand-new in content, but also embodies the spirit of the May 4th Movement of Strom Delong. But also meet the needs of content, creating the style of modern free poetry and magnificent artistic style.
In his works, there are the solemnity of Goethe's poems, the magnificence of Wagner's music, the boldness of Whitman's lyrics, the femininity of Heine's songs, the wantonness of Wang Yang in Zhuangzi's prose, and the fluency and contrast of Qu Yuan's Sao style. In this extensive absorption, we can clearly see that the poet inherited the tragic aesthetic tradition represented by Qu Yuan's Li Sao and Jiu Ge, which opened up a tragic aesthetic road for the style of new poetry. Guo Moruo has profound attainments in China's classical poems, especially the romantic poems of Qu Yuan, Li Bai and Su Shi. From Feng Ge, we can clearly see that Guo Moruo was inspired by Qu Yuan's Tian Wen. He was studying in Japan and was also influenced by famous European and American poets. "Phoenix Song" and "Phoenix Song" especially show the Whitman-like passion of volcanic eruption. However, he did not stick to the artistic style of an ancient Chinese and foreign poet, but learned from others and created new words by himself.
Throughout the poem, it is not difficult to find that he is not too bohemian because of the passionate Peng Pai like Whitman's Leaves of Grass. On the contrary, it is very elegant and precise: the structure is natural, the layout is just right, the rhyme is sonorous and smooth, the rhythm is relaxed, and even every paragraph is neatly written, which reminds people of China's ancient five-character seven-character poems and folk songs, as well as some poems by Goethe and Heine. Guo Moruo himself once said: "Heine's poems are beautiful but not heroic." Whitman's poems are heroic but not beautiful. I like both of them. Neither of them satisfies me. "("Three Leaves ") also said that Li Xiong's masterpiece is rare in China's classical literature.
Phoenix Nie Jia is a brand-new creation of Guo Moruo in the history of China's new poetry after the May 4th Movement, and it is a free-style new poem with magnificent artistic style. At that time, Mr. Zong Baihua praised Guo Moruo in his letter: "Your phoenix songs are really beautiful, and your poems are philosophical and poetic. Unlike now, many new poems are boring to read. Therefore, vernacular poetry pays special attention to ideological artistic conception and true feelings. " ("Three Leaves Set")
2. The grand artistic style of Phoenix Nirvana can not be formed without poetic language.
In Song of the Phoenix and Song of the Phoenix, the poet chose the words "iron, paint, blood" and "sadness, trouble, loneliness and decline" with similar meanings, which revealed the inner world of the Phoenix, expressed his strong feelings of cursing the dark reality of old China and bidding farewell to old China, and sang the tragic and painful mood of the Phoenix before his death. When we read the singing of the reborn phoenix, what appears in the poem is "singing" and "soaring", which is "fresh, clean, gorgeous and fragrant". These words, with beautiful sound and meaning at the beginning, create a sonorous, warm and harmonious artistic conception as a whole. The beauty and light of the new world and the darkness and ugliness of the old world are in sharp contrast in the poem; The new "Phoenix" sang loudly to the new China and echoed the sad accusation against the old China in front of the new students. This strongly expresses the poet's strong love and hate, changing ideals, and forms a magnificent artistic style.