Aust Winner 澳洲长风论坛

[钱志富]

浅谈鲁藜的诗
An Initial Research On Luli’s Poems
Qian Zhifu
(PhD, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Ningbo University)
As a poet of July Poets School, Luli makes great achievements and exerts profound influence over contemporary poets. His poets, like himself, have a unique charm. Poet Lin Xizeng writes the following words about Luli at the beginning of an article: “Zhang Zhixin, a good child of the Party, used to take notes of those maxims and poems that had been guiding and motivating her, among which there is a brilliant short poem of four lines:
If look yourself as a pearl
There is worry of being buried by dust
Treat yourself as soil
Allow the people walk over you and turn you into a road
Luli is the author of this poem.”[1] Zhang Zhixin understands poetry. The poem by Luli is indeed penetrating, concise, solid and resounding. Sun Yushi also mentions this poem in his Never Withering Flower – Upon Reading White Flower, “Some memories couldn’t be worn away. I remember in the beginning of 50s when I was in junior middle school I had fallen in love with the short poem named Soil written by Luli.”[2] He further adds, “Though this poem may not be the best among Luli’s creation, I love it and experience the life philosophy with my young heart. At that time, the plain poetic meaning is as simple, pure and transparent as the imagined life.”[3] Certainly, this short poem is not the best creation by Luli, and some may say this is rather a maxim than a poem.
Then, read some of his other creations.
Night Memory consists of three stanzas, the first of which only has three lines: Moonlight flow into the door/I thought it was sunlight/open the door, it is still the night.” Isn’t this a poem?! Couldn’t it be compared with the Thoughts on a Quiet Night by Libai?! Our answer is this poem is even more graceful in style and richer in techniques than Thoughts on a Quiet Night. The poet deepens the feeling of moonlight and exquisitely presents its flowing nature, which is more amazing, beautiful and brilliant than the quiet atmosphere created by Libai. In the Thoughts on a Quiet Night shows the poet’s illusion when he saw the moonlight on the floor, arousing our admiration and wonder: “Moonlight spreading over the floor, like frost I wonder.” However, Night Memory is much better, because though it is still about moonlight, the flowing moonlight is richer in feeling and more beautiful in description than “frost”. In the poem, the poet sees the bright moonlight flowing into the door and thinks it is moonlight, but when he hurries to open the door he finds it is still in the middle of the night. The illusion of moonlight as sunlight enlightens the whole poem, expressing the poet’s desire for sun rising. In the Thoughts on a Quiet Night it tells us in such a beautiful night he, alone traveling, misses his home. However, Luli uses the realistic description as a symbol implicitly and gently revealing his longings for dawn and a bright future. It is said by ancient poets that best poems should contain double meanings, but creation on purpose will spoil a good poem. Luli understands this and creates meaningful poems by expressing his genuine feelings. The second stanza of Night Memory says, “After a while, breeze comes from the north/touching the chord of the moon/then, I hear the sound of dawn,” further revealing the hidden meaning. The signified and the signifying are interweaved, generating profound meanings, thoughts and flavor. Similarly, the senses of hearing, listening and touching are merged together , producing much fresh and new feelings, just like dream or illusion, a grand poetic scene has been born out. It is justifiable to say that this stanza is as excellent as the first one. The last stanza consists of four lines with feelings as rich and fresh as before, “the mountains cast its shadows over the bank/a meteor flashes across the wilderness/I feel the world is still in deep and sound sleep/only I am the first one to be waken up.” It is a blessing to be the first one to be waken up. Luli explicitly expresses his happiness. Thankful to Luli, we can enjoy this sense of happiness in reading the poem.
Mountain collected in To Yan River is wildly quoted. The first stanza consists of only two lines, “In the night/the flowers on the mountains bloom, splendidly,” so simple, fresh, graceful and exquisite that it achieves the level defined by ancient poets to “vividly present the scene beyond description, explicitly reveal the meaning between the lines.” The poet describes the natural scene not only for the purpose of description. The next three lines, “but for the fact that mountains are darker than the night/we would not believe that it is not the star/but the light of the Cave Dwelling,” it imperceptibly portrays out the light in darkness in implicit and gentle words. The last stanza, “if not for/the strip of Yan Rive, like marble/we would feel just like sailors who’s just returned from a voyage/and seen the shore, and the city lights in the night/I came from the dark sea of life/here, I saw the lighthouse.” It is not exaggerating to rank the “the strip of Yan Rive, like marble” as a master line of poem throughout the ages, created by a genius and unthinkable to those who live in seclusion in their own studies. The spirit of the whole poem lies in the last line, where poet “saw the lighthouse”, it is a symbol of the sense of belonging and direction in life and soul.
Some of Luli’s poems are short and incredible, winning wide recognition. Guo Moruo made the following comments, “the poems are pure and firm without any imperfection.” This comment is a high reward. There are more poems like the above mentioned poems, worth this comment. Red Snowflake is short and excellent as his other poems, pure and firm as Guo Moruo’s comments. The first stanza, “In winter, during the battle/we buried a comrade who has fought to his death/snows were piled into a grave/blood turned its surround into red,” it tells us the story that they had buried a dead fellow soldier in a simple and indifferent tone, which is the Luli’s style and writing strategy to write the most enthusiastic poem in unmoved and cold words. In I Love Winter, he says, “I wish my emotion/like the sun in winter/seeming cold/but the inside is burning with flame.” As what A Long says, in his heart Luli is filled with passionate love. In A Comment On When Wake Up, A Long writes, “In his heart, Luli is as pure as a child. And therefore his heart is ready to fall in love with star and earth, wind and snow, flower and weapon, fight and dream, motherland and world, lovely girl and old kind lady, and he also remembers the dead for a bright future. He loves everything, except enemy and the old world.”[4] Luli expresses love for his motherland, “Motherland, my beloved/I behold truth/even I am thrown into ice pit/my blood won’t stop boiling.” We can clearly see a burning heart beneath the seemingly cold words. Luli continues, “Blood and snow merges/into flower like rainbow … under the sunlight, the flower melted/a seed is planted,” in which the reality and the imaged join to achieve success in writing technique. This is another masterpiece that can’t be made on purpose, thoughtful and tender with lasting meaning and implications.
The charm in Luli’s poems is not only unique but also everlasting. He creates a miracle in the history of China New Poetry. Lu Yuan expresses his amazement and admiration at the unique and everlasting charm of Luli’s poems when writing the foreword for Collection of Luli’s Literary-works ; “Most literary young men in 40s have heard of Luli’s name and read his poems. It doesn’t mean how famous he was in poetry or how many photos there were in news and magazines. In fact, because of the difficult journey for postman at that time, he only published a few works, but every piece of which became a gospel from the new world leading the innocent readers into surprise and expectation. Now half a century has passed and white hair appears on Luli and his readers’ head, but his poetry remains fresh and intimate to them, which is strange.”[5] In fact, the source of his poems’ unique and everlasting charm is life, rich life experiences of blood and flesh. Luli says, “Poems are flowers of real life, and flowers has to be grown in fertile lands. Here I want to tell my readers frankly that, I think most of the poems in this collection that are full on spring smell are written when I was fighting in enemy’s rear area.”[6] Therefore Luli believes to expand life experiences and says, “So, you can’t catch the baby tiger unless you enter the tiger’s cave. How can you understand the reality profoundly and represent reality without rich life experiences. This is home truth.”[7] In one poem, he vividly describes his writings as “gift from the field site,” which is also the title of the poem: “in order to restore my health/every morning, I run in the field/farmers think I takes the wrong road/I doesn’t/I run towards the sun//farmers think I am a hunter/but what I get in the field/is a poem alive, not dead birds.” The secret for his poem’s unique and everlasting charm lies here, hidden in the “gift from the field.” The poem I Am Earthworm can help us understand the inter-relationship between him and the blood and flesh reality: “I am earthworm! Oh/I am happy, I am earthworm/I eat earth/I let out earth/I live in earth/I work on earth/ I breath with the earth/every spring, summer, autumn and winter/there is achievement of work/I am earthworm! Oh/I am happy, I am earthworm/I don’t know what is luxury/I only know work/till I am buried with earth/I make the earth more fertile.” Here we should be thankful for the earthworm spirit to work only, bury with earth and make earth more fertile, otherwise, how can we enjoy these beautiful poems?
Indeed, Luli produces miraculous and beautiful poems, which make us drunk, happy and singing a high praise. A Long makes the following comments on Luli’s poems, the most important is emotion, “normally it is burning like fire; sometimes it can be calm, pure and clear like water in a deep pool, but with no substantial differences; this is not because of different perspectives, but because of different intensity or height.”[8] Then he adds, “Some of Luli’s poems belong to this kind, like a deep pool, clear to the bottom without any impurities, waves, ripples, fragrance nor color but extremely simple surface; but inside is filled with penetrating sunlight from the blue sky, solemnly, grandly and clearly accept, embrace and reflect the sun, with every drop transparent life crystals. Waterweeds are dancing delicately; fish are swimming lively. The picture is clear. In addition, people can see their reflections. The red-stripped snakes have no hiding place; bank beavers can’t conceal their bodies. There are not sediments and floating white bubbles. The nature is tranquil; but this tranquility is hidden with a fighting spirit.”[9] Yes, this is a tranquility hidden with a fighting spirit. Luli’s poems are worth the name of July Poets School of Poetry writing. Luli is a poet and soldier as well. He illustrates his belief with his life and poems, “poet and soldier are two embodiments of one god”, which is advocated by Hu Feng. As a soldier, he is a life-first believer with intense subjective fighting spirit, shaping and forging his personality with a strict attitude. A Long made a distinctive analysis on this point, “Luli’s style is pure and simple, solemn and peaceful. This purity is rather like high quality steel in heavy industry than the natural crystal, because this treasure is the result of human efforts and chemical or physical transformation, purifying the foreign substance and increasing the strength. It is not from heritage but from practice. If our generation can accept the iron and fire like test of the time, every one of us can change his personality and reach the state of clarity. Therefore, this simplicity is a high level of integrity of human spirit, the right being right, the wrong being wrong with no compromise and discount. At the same time it is valuable enrichment in the life full of fights, the belief being belief, love being love, hatred being hatred, with everything being real and clear. And the grandness, casting over the vast sky, containing the fertility of the earth, it is because he beholds the whole world in this heart, experiences the happiness and hardships together with the people, responds to the historical rhythm with his own belief, and becomes a man of foresight and optimism due to knowledge of people’s ideal and demand. This grandness is from sincere devotion and generosity rather than from prestige of god or light of mountain, from intimacy rather than from reverence. Hence, the peacefulness should be seen as firm attitude from action, calmness from fighting. This is what is called perfection being tested stove fire, flexible steel being melted hundred times.”[10] “Luli is a frank and forthright person like this. This means he becomes a leading fighter in heavy bombardment is due to his utterly fearless spirit.”[11]
As a poet, Luli is an art-first believer with intense subjective fighting spirit, in him life and art merging into one perfectly. In writing techniques, he firmly follows realism, with his own practice opposing subjective conceptualization, formularization, indifferent description, and objective narration in composition. Luli’s poems win Hu Feng’s praise, “innocent, intoxicated and dreamy poems, but the poet’s innocence, intoxication and dream spring from the hardest battle and from the heart of a most realistic and firm fighter. Luli’s poetry opens a spiritual door leading us to love life and love fighting. He kindles the inspiration of many young poets.”[12] Hu Feng further adds, “I love these poems, which bring happiness and courage. These works coming from the people and the bottom of battles are essence made by the author’s pure and innocent pursuit. The optimistic, philosophical and forthright spirit created by these melodious poems through insistent pursuit, fight, sacrifice, and hardships is the blooming flower of this great time.”[13] Luli, an art-first believer with intense subjective fighting spirit, is extremely strict with poetry composition. He has his own distinctive standard as to the value of art. He says, “The basic elements determining the value of art is content rather than form. In Tang Dynasty, most outstanding poets created distinguished and lasting works while obeying the same rules and forms of classical poetic composition, and the accomplishment each of them achieved is unique in poetry history. This is inseparable to their perfect writing techniques. Chen Zhiming makes the following remarks on Luli’s artistic learning in Emotional Power in Luli’s Poems, “Luli grows up under the nurture of classical poetry, is attracted by Russian poets in 30s, and widely read poems from other countries, which lead to the birth of his own style without trace of imitation. However, he indeed adopts some of the forms. Under the influence of philosophical poems by Tagore, Luli publishes a series of poem collections, such as Filler, Pick, Hope, Spring Silkworm, Resuscitation, Propriety, A Few Words, Seven Poems, Goose Feather, Seed, and Green Leaves, and some individual poems like Thoughts, and To Hedgehog, all of which are sparkling with philosophical ideas.”[15] In addition, Wang Yushu talks about how Luli learns from others, “Luli is a member among workers and farmers, writing in spare time, so that most of his writings directly reflect the people’s life and brings simple and fresh air into poetry. Luli admits that he is influenced by revolutionist poet Jiang Guangchi and Yinfu and loves reading Gao Changhong and Ke Zhongpin of Hurricane Poets School. He lives in suburban Shanghai and is active in Zha Bei area so that his works belong to people, different from writers living in foreign settlement, talking in a lofty strain while seeping coffee. He is more practical than those so-called masters who sit in their studies mourning and sighing.”[16] Certainly, Luli is more accomplished in poetry than Jiang Guangchi, Yinfu, Gao Changhong and Ke Zhongpin. Wang Yushu adds, “Luli industriously studies and strenuously explores the field of art, taking in the essence of various poetry schools, including symbolism and imagism of New Moon Poets School and Modernist Poets School, prose verse created by the Indian master Tagore. This can help us better understand how Luli achieves such success in those difficult times, when he starts to stride in his own distinctive road.”[17] Luli recalls the teacher who introduces him to poetry with emotion, “even now I am grateful and clearly remember my first teacher in literary field. When one drinks water, he must not forget where it comes from, which is common human feelings. At that time, I lived in a Tang people’s slum nicknamed as “twenty-nine rooms” near to Dian City in Nanyue. His appearance brought the golden time in those dark times. He is a wandering dentist of about forties, whose native place is southern Fujian. We called him uncle. He rents a room from my neighbor, which can’t receive sunlight around the year. All day long he brought his tools to customers’ home to work, or cast false tooth in front of his small workbench. When it comes to evening, some old skinny so-called retired southerners, young apprentices from flour shop, noodle shop or eateries would gather around his bed and listened to him chanting classical poems in Southern Fujian dialect.”[18] “At this time, we, young dropouts, stared at this carelessly dressed unshaved man with a withering yellowish face in amazement, who suddenly turned into a beaming elegant scholar. Sometimes his voice is excited and passionate, sometimes soft and gentle. I don’t know if it is because the poems written by ancient upright and noble men are burning in his chest, or because the beautiful Chinese words merged with him.”[19] “Every time he read, his eyes are filled with tears. We, living in foreign lands, seem to hear a great and grand calling from the soul of our motherland.”[20] This is Luli’s early education.
Through reading Luli’s poems, we can find the perfect harmony between reality, life and soul. Once he writes in a poem called I Love Poems that “I love poems/I love the sacred life poems/I love poems that bring light to life/I love poems that bring fragrance to life/I don’t love cold poems/even if they are beautiful like gems/I love the sincere and warm confession from the soul/the fruit of poets heart blood.” He writes in Collection of Smelter that “poet says:/I am like a bee/taste all the bitter in the world/produce a drop of golden honey//life is full of fights/each life is full of conflicts/however, the real soldier can/smile through blood and tears.” And he further writes in Time and Others that “the real poet/seeks after the sincerity of soul.” In Thoughts Record he says, “Poems with life/are not written, but flow from the vein.” It is right to say that most of Luli’s poems “flow from the vein:” with life and are created after much consideration and thinking. However, some of his poems don’t reach the standard he sets for himself, too direct, superficial, wordy without beauty, which is a pity for himself and the poetry world. The most accomplishing period in his life is 1940’s in the twentieth century and his “coming-back” in eighties and nineties. His creation in forties brings extreme happiness to him. He writes in Light, “every night, on my window lattice/the small candle is lighted/in the star-shining nights/or stormy times/I light it with my hands/let it light my life/every night, every night/I am reading, writing, thinking…” It is a fortune that he restores his freshness and perceptive eyes of earlier times. Moon Night produced in this period is a good example, “night/beautiful/I stroll slightly/afraid my shadow may break the moon.” This is an outstanding poem, a miracle in poetry that makes us drunk and happy. He further writes, “Bent river/like a diamond necklace worn by a beautiful woman/the fragrant weeds are in moonlight/crickets sitting in moonlight/sing a clear song.” We can’t say this poem is not good, but it lacks something that exists in his early poems. The following stanzas have the same defects, “night/beautiful/everything is merged in crystal cups/everything is breathing with dream/a blade of grass is trembling/an ant climbs up a lilac/a white star floats toward Milk Way like snowflake/a line of poem flashes across my heart like a thunder.” These lines make readers tired. The following lines come to life, “I walk/walk slightly/afraid to interrupt the thoughtful trees.” The last stanza is even more beautiful and fresher, “night/beautiful/I walk/walk slightly/like a needle penetrating the moonlight.” The last stanza restores the beauty of Luli’s early poems. The Drawing-Water Woman written in March 1983 is another beautiful poem, “dusk/a woman in white comes to the river side/slightly her barrel is full of milk-like water/so, she alone carries the water/also carries away the sunset glow/leaving her back/in my memory.” This poem meets his aesthetic standard, precise and firm, simple and rich. In later years, Luli is still very productive. In Propriety, a short poem says, “If you come to look for me/my door is closed/I am along the river side/in a small forest/pick up spring poems.” The poet who can pick up spring poems is fortunate. Isn’t he happy who can write Collection of Thoughts? “Beauty is not because of number/the rising sun on the sea is like red lips/when she kisses the dawn/the universe is drunk.”
At last, I need to say that Luli has been tortured for one quarter of a century because of poetry. Now Luli passed away, but his poems are still fresh. He has no great to devote himself to poetry. God bless him in heaven.
[1] Lin Xi: Fragrant like Earth – on Reading Luli’s Recent Poems, On Luli, Tianjin Social Science Press, 1990, P46
[2] [3] Sun Yushi: Never Withered Flower – On White Flower, On Luli, Tianjin Social Science Press, 1990, P107
[4] A Long: Excerpt from When Wake Up, People•Poetry•Reality, Life•Reading•New Knowledge, San Lian Press 1986 P231
[5] [12] Lv Yuan: Foreword, On Luli, Tianjin Social Science Press, 1990
[6][7] [14][18][19][20] Luli: Foreword, On Luli, People’s Press, 1983
[8][9] A Long: On Short Poems, On Luli, Tianjin Social Science Press, 1990, P97-98
[10][11] A Long: Excerpt from Practice, People•Poetry•Reality, Life•Reading•New Knowledge, San Lian Press 1986 P237-238
[13] Hu Feng: Postscript of Luli’s Sings on Star, On Hu Feng’s Poems, Hua Cheng Press, 1988 P96-97
[15] Chen Zhiming: Emotional Power of Luli’s Poems, On Luli, Tianjin Social Science Press, 1990, P73-74
[16] [17] Wang Yushu: Devote to Revolution – Luli’s Life and Works I, On Luli, Tianjin Social Science Press, 1990, P173-174