Praise of poplar
Poplar is really unusual, I praise poplar!
When the car is driving on the endless plateau, what jumps into your field of vision is a big yellow and green blanket. Yellow is soil, uncultivated wasteland, and the shell of the loess plateau successfully accumulated by great natural forces millions of years ago; What about green? It is the result of human labor defeating nature, and it is a wheat field. The breeze blows gently, turning up green waves-at this time, you will really admire the word "wheat wave" created by the ancients. If it is not a wonderful hand, it is indeed the essence of language. Yellow and green dominate, boundless and magnanimous. At this time, if you are not reminded by the distant peaks side by side (judging by the naked eye, these peaks are at your feet), you will forget that the car is driving on the plateau. At this time, the feelings that come to your mind may be "majestic", "great" and so on. At the same time, however, your eyes may feel a little tired. You close your eyes to the "grandeur" or "greatness" of the moment, but another smell lurks in your mind-"monotony". Yeah, right? A little monotonous, isn't it?
However, in an instant, if you suddenly look up and see a row of trees far ahead-no, or just three or five, one standing proudly like a sentry, what would you feel sleepy? I let out a cry of surprise.
That's poplar, a common tree in northwest China, but it's really not an ordinary tree!
It is a tree that strives for the upper reaches, with straight stems and branches. Its stem is usually ten feet high, as if it were artificially added, and there are no side branches within ten feet. All its branches are upward, they are close together, as if they were artificial, and they have become a bundle, and they will never be separated from each other; Its broad leaves are also upward one by one, and there are almost no oblique leaves, let alone upside down; Its skin is smooth, silvery and slightly blue. This is a tree that stands tenaciously despite the oppression of heavy snow in the north. Even if it is only as thick as a bowl mouth, it strives to develop upwards, reaching a height of two feet, towering and unyielding, facing the northwest wind.
This is the poplar, a common tree in the northwest, but it is by no means an ordinary tree!
It has no swaying posture and no crooked branches. Maybe you should say it's not beautiful. If beauty means "swaying" or "running sideways", then poplar is not a good woman on the tree. But it is stalwart, honest, simple and serious, and it is not lacking in tenderness, not to mention its tenacity and straightness. It's a man in a tree! When you walk on the plateau where the snow has just melted and see such a tree or a row of poplars standing proudly on the flat ground, do you think it is just a tree? Don't you think it is simple, serious, strong and unyielding, at least symbolizing the farmers in the north? Don't you think there are strong and unyielding sentries standing proudly like this poplar in the vast land behind enemy lines, guarding their hometown? Don't you think that a little further away, the poplar trees with dense branches and leaves are now a symbol of the spirit and will to freely write the history of new China in the North China Plain today?
Poplar is not an ordinary tree. It is common and neglected in the northwest, just like farmers in the north; It has a strong vitality, and it can't be broken or oppressed, just like farmers in the north. I praise poplar because it not only symbolizes the farmers in the north, but also symbolizes the simple, strong and progressive spirit that is indispensable in our national liberation struggle today.
Let those who look down on the people, despise the people and stubbornly retrogress praise the noble nanmu (which is also tall and beautiful) and despise this extremely ordinary and easy-to-grow poplar. I want to praise the poplar loudly!
(Originally published in No.3, Volume 6 of Literary Position Monthly,1941March 10)
source
Praise of Poplar is a famous essay by Mao Dun, a modern writer in China. Written in March of 194 1 year, the northern farmers who are persisting in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the simple, strong and enterprising spirit of our nation represented by them were praised through the praise of poplars. This article has been included in the eighth-grade Chinese textbook of Jiangsu Education Press as the twenty-second lesson text and in the eighth-grade Chinese textbook of People's Education Press as the fourteenth lesson text.
Keyword annotation
Praise: reverence and praise.
Vision: the range of vision.
As flat as a stone (dǐ): as flat as a millstone.
Like: very similar, it is simply.
Potential growth: growing secretly and unconsciously. Son, grow up.
Yānyān: You look sleepy.
Lateral escape: refers to (branches) protruding obliquely from the side of the trunk.
Yùn: A fuzzy circle.
The branches and leaves of the tree are floating in the wind, like dancing.
Qiú branch: a branch that spirals like a dragon. Qiu, a legendary dragon.
Strong: burly and tall.
Swing: gallop, kill and assault.
Phoebe bournei (nán) is an evergreen tree with solid wood, which is a valuable wood.
Xiuqi (qí): Beautiful and tall. Qi means tall.
Creation background
This article was written in the most difficult period of China people War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Because the die-hards of the Kuomintang in China are passive in resisting Japan and active in opposing * * *, the anti-Japanese national united front is on the verge of splitting, and the China * * * production party shoulders the arduous War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. 1940 In May, Mao Dun left Xinjiang and returned to the mainland, and was invited by Comrade Zhu De to Yan 'an. During my lecture in Yan 'an, I personally observed the fighting life of the soldiers and civilians in the liberated areas, and saw the spirit of the anti-Japanese army and civilians fighting in unity, which left a deep impression. After the Southern Anhui Incident, the author expressed his love and praise for the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in the north by praising the poplars on the northwest plateau.
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The use of symbolism
The author uses poplars as a symbol of the broad masses of soldiers and civilians in the anti-Japanese base areas behind the enemy lines under the leadership of the China Production Party, praising their lofty spirit and strong will to unite and fight, persevere and persist in the war of resistance to the end. For example, this work, which only writes about poplars for the sake of writing about poplars, is naturally a masterpiece describing the scenery, but its style is much lower. The achievement of this article is that the author adopts symbolic techniques, which makes the article have deeper meaning.
Beautiful writing and rigorous structure.
At the beginning of the article, the topic was pointed out clearly, and the "extraordinary" poplar was warmly praised, but it did not immediately describe its "extraordinary" face, but put aside the writing and described the scenery of the plateau. This makes the article tortuous. When I was writing about the plateau, I suddenly turned to the description of poplar. Poplar is like a different mountain peak, and my spirit does it one brace up, and my feelings tend to be hot. After describing the "extraordinary" poplar in detail, the author first suppressed it and said it was "not a good woman on the tree", which made the mood of the article sink again. Then he turned with "but" and praised Poplar as "the gentleman on the tree". At the same time, rich associations are launched to reveal its symbolic significance layer by layer. The idea of the article has opened up a new realm and the author's feelings have reached a peak. Finally, reprimand those who despise poplars and let their feelings come back. The ending takes care of the beginning, and once again "praises the poplar", which makes the full text full of artistic conception.
The language is concise and the writing is beautiful.
The words used by the author in writing Plateau and Poplar are very accurate and appropriate. For example, write "big" plateau, use "boundless", write "flat" plateau and use "magnanimous as a rock"; To describe the height of poplar, we use "stalwart", "tall and straight", "towering" and "standing proudly". Both praise the "extraordinary" of poplar, but use different sentence patterns to express the change of feelings. At the beginning, saying "Poplar is extraordinary" positively affirmed the extraordinary temperament of Poplar. Later, he repeatedly emphasized that poplar was "extraordinary" and changed it into a negative sentence, which symbolically refuted the viewpoint of belittling the anti-Japanese struggle of the northern people and praised the extraordinary spiritual temperament of poplar with stronger feelings.
Brief introduction of the author
Mao Dun (1896~ 198 1), formerly known as Shen Dehong, was born in Tongxiang, Zhejiang, and was a modern writer in China. 19 16 graduated from Peking University preparatory class. After 19 16, he served as editor-in-chief of Shanghai Commercial Press, editor-in-chief of Novel Monthly, editor-in-chief of Republic of China Daily and one of the founders of Literature Research Association. 1928 went to Japan, 1930 returned to China and joined the Left-wing Writers' League. After the founding of New China, he served as Minister of Culture and Chairman of Chinese Writers Association. His major works are the novel Midnight, the novella Eclipse (trilogy), the short stories Spring Silkworm and Lin Jiapu.