On A Farewell to Cambridge from the Text Level

In fact, no matter according to dialectics or phenomenology, the consistency between object and artistic image should not be taken as the starting point of the method. On the contrary, we should analyze the elements of the writer's creation and imagination from the artistic image. Only in this way can we liberate ourselves from passive praise, and the way to liberate ourselves is "reduction" (which is consistent with the reduction of phenomena in spirit, but more metaphysical and operational), that is, imagine the original state and original semantics that the author has not dealt with, and then compare them with artistic images to reveal the differences/contradictions so that we can analyze them.

Let's start with the title of this poem. Farewell is a farewell. From the original semantics, it should be a farewell person, but here, there is no farewell person. This is the first level of contradiction. In this context, we bid farewell to our alma mater's campus with extended meaning, as the author said earlier, in order not to disturb the campus. It might make sense. If the semantic analysis is not detailed, this is probably enough. But the following poem clearly says not farewell to campus, but:

I waved my hand and said goodbye to the clouds in the western sky.

Deeper contradictions lie ahead. In real life, do you say goodbye to Yun? It can be seen that the author of the previous quotation said that "extraordinary scene reappearance" is an empty talk. The key is to say goodbye to the cloud gently and quietly. Resolutely use the reduction method: since it is a farewell cloud, no matter how big the steps are or how loud the noise is, it is impossible to disturb it. This shows that farewell to clouds is only a poetic imagination, through which you can relive good memories. Another author analyzed this poem and said, "Come gently and go quietly, and describe it in the form of a faint god (press: Is this a description?" ), it contains Qian Qian's grief and sorrow. "I will leave Cambridge soon, and when we leave together, the poet's mood will become painful:" The weight of parting makes the poet silent. " (Appreciation of masterpieces, Facing the Works in 2003) The first four sentences, come smartly and go quietly, where is the sadness? Farewell to clouds means farewell to your own memories. Why is it gentle? Because I'm talking to my heart and my memory. What is written here is not a general memory, but a secret hidden in my heart. It is inappropriate to make noise in universities. Only by lowering your footsteps and voice can you enter the atmosphere of memories and blend into the realm of narcissism.

What kind of state is this? This is a dream realm. It is clearly stated in the poem that he came to the Cambridge River to "seek dreams": "Rainbow-like dreams are precipitated among floating algae", and "precipitation" means that it is the past, not the future; It is in the depths of memory, not on the surface. Therefore, we should pursue "the grass is deeper". Dreams are beautiful, poetic, not ordinary, and certainly not a "nightmare" of Wen Yiduo's style. A series of beautiful words in the poem can be used as evidence (clear spring is rainbow, clear water is soft wave, Vitamin bride). The dream is so beautiful that he wants to sing.

When he wanted to sing a song when he wrote A Ship Full of Stars, he seemed too excited to control himself, but he also said that the song could not be sung. There is a key contradiction in understanding this poem: it is beautiful and worth singing loudly, but it is impossible to sing: "Silence is Cambridge tonight" because it is personal. This eloquently shows that this is the poet's silent aftertaste, narcissism and self-appreciation. This kind of self-appreciation has a big feature, that is, it is secret and cannot be shared with anyone. Even Xia Chong was silent for his secrets and beautiful memories. It can also be seen from here that his quietness is not to disturb the campus. On the contrary, he emphasizes that everything on campus is quietly fulfilling his secrets. "Quiet is a farewell flute", this kind of quiet and exclusive enjoyment is also beautiful and poetic, and silence is a wonderful and happy music.

Knowing this, we can better understand and appreciate the last paragraph:

I left quietly, just as I came quietly, and I waved my hand without taking away a cloud.

The article that advocates that this poem has heavy pain says: "The last sentence of the poem seems to be very chic, but it is actually very heavy. Cambridge is so beautiful, why doesn't the author want to take it away? ..... If you don't take it away, you can't take it away, just like a poet just wants to be a water plant in Cambridge and has to leave. " (2003 10 "Appreciation of Masterpieces", page 52). In my opinion, this is left in a silent aftertaste. "Don't take away a cloud" means that from the objective world, nothing is taken away, only good memories are taken away. These things can't be shared with others, they are private. It is beautiful, relaxed and chic to take away such memories. A commentator said: "After the emotional climax of dreaming, the mood turned to a low ebb. The poet woke up from a drunken dream and returned to the lonely and sad reality from the beautiful memories of the past. All the past, only in the dream, only' silence is Cambridge tonight'. Summer insects are also silent for me. It can be said that people are sad, and they render a kind of sadness and sadness. " "This kind of sadness is the sadness and sadness of bidding farewell to the rainbow-like ideal." (Appreciation of masterpieces, 45 pages, 65438+2003 10)

The author analyzes the essence of this sadness, which is the poet's persistent and futile pursuit of pure faith (love, beauty and freedom). This can naturally be prepared, but according to the above analysis, there is no obvious "sadness and sadness" here. To say the least, there are some elements of losing pure faith, and there is absolutely no need to repeatedly and gently emphasize that a person is secretly narcissistic. Of course, it must be said that it is impossible to leave without a little sadness. Just say there is. This is also the "sweet sadness" expressed in Shayangnala, even sweeter than sadness.

The authors of the above quotations all mentioned Xu Zhimo's Cambridge as I know it. However, it failed to restore the original state, which is exactly a section they ignored and is of great value to restore Xu Zhimo's mentality. In this article, Xu Zhimo emphasizes the appreciation of the scenery, and narcissism is the "first condition":

"Loneliness is an intriguing phenomenon. I sometimes think this is the first condition of any discovery. If you want to find out the truth about your friend, you must have a chance to be alone with him. If you want to discover the truth about yourself, you must give yourself a separate chance. If you want to find a place (as spiritual as a place), you must have a chance to play alone. How many people can I meet in my life? Seriously? How many places can you know? We are all in a hurry and have no chance to be alone. To tell the truth, I don't even know much about my hometown. Cambridge, I think I have a good friendship. Once again, I may just have a new understanding of Fei Lengcui. Oh, those mornings, those nights, I was alone in Cambridge! Absolutely lonely. " ( 1)

After a few paragraphs, I repeated the compliment of "being alone" several times:

"Even the dusk in He Kang is a tonic for the soul. Oh! My honey at that time was sweet, and my leisure was sweet. " (2)

Please note that the emphasis here is not only "solitude", but also "sweet solitude". It is this single, personal and silent sweetness that determines the tone of this poem's tenderness and quietness. Only by understanding this point can we clearly understand why Xu Zhimo's style is incompatible with heaviness, pain and sadness. This single silent beauty is not only emotional, but also rational and profound:

"I have enough leisure, freedom and absolute opportunities. Strange to say, I seem to recognize the light of the stars and the moon, the blue and white fragrance of grass and the hospitality of running water for the first time. " (3)

Critics who don't understand A Farewell to Cambridge often ignore that the beauty of loneliness here is related to freedom.

If we want to further restore, there may be a true secret that Xu Zhimo can't tell. This poem was written in 1928 1 1 month, published in New Moon (according to Bian's Selected Poems of Xu Zhimo) in the same year 1920 Xu Zhimo met with He Lin's father and daughter in London at the beginning of 1 month. Xu Zhimo and Lin "walked through Cambridge together" (adapted from Lin). Lin returned to China with his father in 192 1 year. 1928 In March, Lin and Liang Sicheng got married in Canada and traveled to Europe and Asia until August. June 1928 Travel to America, Britain and India. (According to Han Shishan's Biography of Xu Zhimo). This poem was written by Xu Zhimo after he learned that Lin Liang was married in 1 1. Based on this, it seems to be inferred that this poem by Xu Zhimo should be related to Lin's walk in Cambridge. Why is the hall quiet? It is because the romantic aftertaste of the past has been inconvenient to publicize, unlike his relationship with Lu Xiaoman, which can be perceived from this cowardly world. And he and Lu Xiaoman got married after a vigorous love affair. It is worth noting that this poem by Xu Zhimo is elegant and unique. In his spiritual world, there is no secular sense of loss, let alone pain. This kind of chic is unique to Xu Zhimo. He only keeps the good feelings of the past in his memory and enjoys them alone. Mr. Randy made a pertinent analysis of this: "On the one hand,' not taking away a cloud' means that the poet is free and easy. He is not a man who wants to keep something beautiful for himself. On the other hand, he means not to take away a cloud, so that the emotional world of Cambridge, where dreams revolve around the soul, can be preserved in the most complete appearance, so that the dreams and feelings of the past can be intact. " (Selected Lectures on China's Modern Literary Works, edited by Lin Zhihao, Higher Education Press, 1987, p. 57) This explanation is close to the true meaning of poetry, but it is dismissed as "separation". In fact, as long as Mr. Lan makes a detailed analysis of Farewell to Cambridge, it is not difficult to explain that "gently" and "quietly" are actually a person secretly reliving old dreams. If so, it is not difficult to reveal the spiritual code of the whole poem.

If we want to make an in-depth artistic analysis, we can make some historical comparisons from the artistic development of China's new poetry: in the initial stage of new poetry, Guo Moruo unilaterally understood Wordsworth's "Preface to Lyric Ballads" that "all good poems are the natural expression of strong feelings." This is a romantic and poetic aesthetic program. Guo Moruo's early poems influenced by this poetic style are often called "violent and sharp". However, Guo Moruo's understanding of Wordsworth's writing is more or less one-sided, because Wordsworth also emphasizes that this feeling should be purified through meditation. In Guo Moruo's early days, he could only express the poet's passion more freely, but in Xu Zhimo, he went a step further, not only expressing passion, but also showing chic warmth. This is a great historical leap of China's new poetry. If you have a good accomplishment in the artistic development of new poetry, you can also find from Xu Zhimo's Complete Poems that he wrote a farewell to Cambridge four years ago, which is rough and miscellaneous. Xu Zhimo listed his life in Cambridge too much. It took him nearly 30 lines to finish writing "Farewell to Cambridge, Farewell to Hometown, First Go to America, Tears of Mother's Parting, Stay in America" four years ago. But first I wrote my own "spiritual revolution upsurge", and then I wrote that the swallows will return next year and miss themselves. Then imagine yourself going to Wan Li, and dreams often go around Cambridge: let the Mediterranean gale point to the east/I will go to the west and look forward to it/if my mother asks about making friends overseas/I will count Cambridge first, and then discuss the day and situation in detail before the warm winter night/Chimonanthus praecox/if I am lucky enough to get a bright star, I will be rewarded unexpectedly/then I will come to the spring season, when I will go to the west/start over. I was reluctant to give up my love in the process of returning home by boat, and even wrote how to miss my alma mater after returning home. This way of writing shows a strong passion, but the passion is overwhelmed by complicated processes and details. It should be said that when it comes to parting feelings, it hurts a little: last night, the moon shone in the forest, and I have poured out my heart. This morning, the rain was cold/the birds were unhappy. Is it also because of sadness/affection that vines grow thick and tears turn into zero?

Obviously, this kind of poetry has not completely divorced from the mode of classical poetry, and feelings are still in the mode of parting. The language used, such as "one bird without joy", inner accumulation and deep feeling of weeping, are relatively old, which shows that Xu Zhimo can't get rid of the emotional appeal and language of old poems. By "Farewell to Cambridge", not only did the emotion break away from the mode of classical poetry, but the language was also refined from the pure vernacular close to spoken English. However, getting rid of the drag of old poems unilaterally may fall into the trap of prose. Stay at another level of Yu Pingbo, Kang, Hu Shi, Zheng Zhenduo, Ye Shengtao and Zhou Zuoren's early plain vernacular. But Xu Zhimo is a gifted scholar after all. He quickly learned how to control lyric poetry easily from western romanticism, and concentrated images and emotions on a spiritual focus, which is not the focus of images in general things, but the focus of an action. Without this emphasis, he can't get rid of the second drag from prose sublimation to poetry. Getting rid of these two drags is not only Xu Zhimo's task, but also the historical task of new poetry. However, in five or six years, Xu Zhimo learned to refine, learned to think carefully, concentrated his feelings on the organic idea of "gently and quietly" and bid farewell to "cloud" silently. It took more than 30 lines to express the feelings that 150 lines could not explain. It can be seen that the conception and conception of poetry focus on "gentleness" and "quietness". This coherent conception mode is a historical milestone for the liberation of new poetry from the shackles of old poetry and old prose. This is not only Xu Zhimo's, but also the whole new poem. Without this historical restoration, the classical artistic value of this new poem cannot be fully explained.