The second volume is full of glory and splendor in the capital, and the spirit is full of energy in the foggy city. Chapter 232: The Third Chapter (End)
Subtitle of this chapter: Squeak-squeak-squeak!
"Modern Chinese literature began with the May Fourth New Culture Movement, which, in a sense, was a language revolution that opposed classical Chinese and advocated vernacular Chinese.
This language revolution is inextricably linked to the overall development of modern Chinese literature and has a profound impact on modern literature as a whole.
During the vernacular movement, intellectuals emerged one after another to explore this field. They made unremitting research and exploration in terms of language, rhythm, and expression methods.
As a representative figure of the New Culture Movement, Yuan Yanshu holds an irreplaceable, even unique, position in the history of modern Chinese literature and poetry. The unique artistic charm and groundbreaking creative tendencies of his poetry have undoubtedly captivated many readers, making him a rare treasure in modern Chinese literature.
Yuan Yanshu was also a poet with a remarkable talent for languages. He wrote not only in Chinese but also in major languages around the world, including English, Japanese, French, German, and even Hindi. Therefore, he is undoubtedly a leading figure in 20th-century modern poetry.
His friend T.S. Eliot commented that his talent had nowhere to go.
His friend Xu Zhimo said, I write poetry because of two people, one is Yuan and the other is Lin.
But that "Lin" said that Yuan Yanshu not only taught her how to write poetry, but also taught her how to be a good person...
Yes, she was his first female disciple, and people at that time jokingly called her "Big Sister of the Yuan Clan".
Yuan Yanshu himself once mentioned in a lecture: Poetry is the faint whisper coming from the depths of the poet's heart.
This sentence fully demonstrates Yuan Yanshu's concept of poetics: poetry is the reproduction of true thoughts deep in the heart; poetry is the product of emotional saturation; the creation of poetry should be free, unconstrained, and unadorned.
Moreover, Yuan Yanshu established his own poetic style very early on, and his creative ideas can be seen in his "Three Old Essays" published as early as 1921.
At the time, he was suffering from acute tuberculosis, probably the one with the shortest incubation period in history, and his life was hanging by a thread. In this desperate situation, he fought the disease tenaciously and began to write poetry.
What is most surprising is that the first language he used was not his native Chinese or English, which he had already mastered, but the Japanese he had just learned. It was the song "Not Afraid of Wind and Rain" which later became popular all over Japan.
If I were to use one word to describe Yuan Yanshu’s “Not Afraid of Wind and Rain”, it would be - quality.
Perhaps because he was a beginner, the entire poem is as plain as a farmer's self-narration in the countryside, yet it has the power to touch people's hearts.
No wonder Mori Ogai, one of the three great Japanese literary masters, particularly loved this poem and praised Yuan Yanshu as "the Bai Juyi of the 20th century."
At the end of 1921, when he learned that Mr. Yuan had returned to Shanghai, he was overjoyed and wanted to visit him in China. Unfortunately, he died of illness in early 1922..
Later, when Yuan Yanshu visited Japan, she went to Mori Ogai's grave and burned the poem "Not Afraid of Wind and Rain" she wrote for him.
The saying "poetry is not about words" refers to this kind of poetry.
If I were to sum up his "I Love This Land" in one word, it would be - ambition.
One can immediately sense the author's patriotic feelings and the sorrow of his unfulfilled ambitions from the moment he reads this poem. No wonder Lu Xun, who was as famous as Hongjian, particularly loved this poem and even said, "The literati of our generation are unfortunate because of Hongjian."
Yuan Yanshu happened to be out of the country when Lu Xun passed away in 1936. When he heard the tragic news, he burned his own handwritten copy of "I Love This Land" for him.
The saying "poetry is the voice of the heart" refers to this kind of poetry.
To describe his "I Died of Handsomeness" in one word, that is - knowledge.
In fact, this poem is the most typical poetry work of intellectuals.
Unlike "Not Afraid of Wind and Rain", this poem requires a certain level of reading ability to appreciate its beauty; also unlike "I Love This Land", this poem requires careful consideration to understand what the author is saying.
"I Died of Being Handsome" uses a concise format and humorous language to expound rich thoughts and profound philosophy.
If you can understand this poem, you will know that the author is a great poet with a great soul.
As the famous British poet William Butler Yeats said, Yuan Yanshu is a lucky man who is blessed by God with an unparalleled sensitive heart and a finishing touch.
When Yeats died in 1939, Yuan Yanshu was unable to go to London to attend his funeral because she was listed as an unwelcome person by the British government. She had to burn her own handwritten copy of "I Die Handsome" for him.
The so-called natural talent for poetry refers to this kind of poetry.
It has to be said that Yuan Yanshu is a very humorous writer. He translated "I Died of Handsomeness" into Chinese with the title "So Handsome".
There is also an anecdote about this poem. After it was published, some people questioned whether Yuan Yanshu plagiarized Emily Dickinson's "I Died of Beauty". Except for changing "Beauty" to "Handsome", the two poems are exactly the same.
But Yuan Yanshu swore that he had never seen the original work of Ms. Dickinson. He said that when he was seriously ill and unconscious, he always heard a woman reciting this poem in his ear, so he wrote it down.
This became a famous paranormal event. Some paranormal experts claimed that it was the poetic soul of Yuan Yanshu that attracted the poetic soul of Ms. Dickinson.
Other literary figures of the time also defended Yuan Yanshu, saying that a poet of his talent had no need to plagiarize. It is possible that he accidentally heard someone recite the poem and then memorized it.
Later, in order to express her apology, Yuan Yanshu funded the publication of Dickinson's complete poems and gave all the royalties to Dickinson's family.
However, it should be pointed out that Yuan Yanshu did not attach much importance to pure poetry creation. He preferred to compose songs. He once said that poetry that cannot be sung is not really a "song".
On this point, he had a lot in common with his friend Xu Zhimo . The Crescent Moon School to which the latter belonged was dissatisfied with the style of the "free poets" after the May Fourth Movement who neglected the art of poetry and advocated new metrical poetry.
But when Xu Zhimo invited him to join the Crescent Moon School in Shanghai in the spring of 1927, he decisively refused..
The reason for his refusal was that he had many funeral matters to attend to soon and had no time to write poetry.
As for whose funeral he was going to hold, there are detailed records in history.
Later, when someone asked him about his poetry school, Yuan Yanshu said that if he really belonged to a school, it would be the Old School.
Because one of the pen names he often used when publishing his poems was - The Old One..."
——Excerpt from "On the Beauty of Yuan Yanshu's Poetry and Its Influence on the Vernacular Movement"
