grass
The grass is ahead,
The whip is in the back.
Panting bull,
Carrying a plow kite,
Roll your eyes,
Drag the mud and water,
Walking there is "one east and two winters".
"Whoo ..."
"Cow, don't sigh,
Plow quickly, plow quickly,
I will give you the grass. "
"Whoo ..."
"Cow, plow quickly.
You still have to sigh
I will whip you. "
Cow!
Cow!
The grass is ahead,
The whip is in the back.
19 19 February 1 day, Beijing
(Excerpted from Cao, Yadong Library, 1922 edition)
[Appreciation]
The title of this poem is "grass", but the poet did not write about the scenery on "grass", but wrote about cows closely related to grass, implying the fate of people. Yu Pingbo affirmed that Kang's poems were "assimilated from the author himself and all nature and life" in his Preface to Grass. The poem Cao Er, the whole humanity is hidden, is a work that can better reflect the poet's creative spirit in Cao Er, a collection of poems of the same name.
The poem begins with two sentences: "The grass is in front and the whip is behind". It is an inevitable choice to plow cattle with eight words. The grass in front symbolizes the desire for self-survival, and the whip behind symbolizes the intimidation of external pressure. Then the poet described the state of the cow, and "panting" and "rolling their eyes" outlined the expression of the cow. The steps of "carrying water with mud" and "one east and two winters" let readers see the hardships and helplessness of scalper work. The poet accurately grasped the expression and movement of the cow to draw a line, and a few strokes showed the plight of the cow struggling to survive under induction and oppression.
In the third and fourth quarters, the poet shifted his perspective and showed the misery of cattle's survival from the side. "Plow quickly and I'll give you grass." It is said that the only condition for plowing Niu Decao is "quick plowing", and the poet presents the realistic connection of "living material labor" to readers here, which is thought-provoking. The fourth section, "You still have to sigh, and I'll whip you", shows readers that the "working for grass" of a plow cow contains a lot of "pain under oppression", and a plow cow will be whipped as long as it sighs. What else can't be used as a reason for it to suffer from a "whip", and who can hear the sigh of a plow cow? Here, the poet is realistic, leaving readers room for imagination.
In the last section, the poem re-emphasizes the embarrassment of "cow" sandwiched between "grass" and "whip", which echoes the first section and highlights the theme of the poem. Under the foreshadowing of the previous poem, the poet "cow! Cow! " The exclamation is very real and powerful, which reminds us of the peasants in China and the working people in a wider range, as well as all the people who have struggled for survival under desire and pressure for thousands of years.
Grass is the poet's work of "expressing temperament by comparing things". The proper use of symbolism in poetry vividly shows complex social problems and enriches the content and significance of poetry.