The literary era since 1979

Chapter 67 Poetry and Distance
The slow autumn light splashes among the leaves, covering the entire lakeside in a golden glow, like an oil painting, with delicate yellow all over the ground.

Luo Yihe, Bai Ruoxue and others stared at Fang Yan quietly, motionless, pinching his chin, like a sculpture in deep thought.

"rock……"

Su Ya reminded: "Ahem, "Unnamed Lake" will not start typesetting until five days later, we don't want it right away."

It was as if Fangyan didn't hear what was going on, his mind working rapidly.

The first thing that comes to mind is Haizi's "Facing the Sea, Spring Blossoms", followed by Xi Murong and Lin Qingxuan...

But in the end, his sights were fixed on Wang Guozhen.

This poet, who had great influence, once set off a whirlwind of "Wang Guozhen fever". Many people's enlightenment and love of poetry started with him.

More importantly, Wang Guozhen is not a spoken poet.

His poems are simply colloquial, with a flavor of chicken soup for the soul. Just in these days, the atmosphere of the entire poetry world, shrouded in poetry such as "Obscure Poetry", is somewhat depressed and heavy.

This kind of positive energy "chicken soup for the soul" is exactly what we need!
Therefore, Wang Guozhen caught this trend and became famous for a while.

Even in the early 21st century, this kind of inspirational quote was still very popular, such as Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People".

“I don’t think about whether I succeed…”

Under everyone's expectation, Fangyan took the first step.

“Since you have chosen poetry and distant places, you should just keep going regardless of wind and rain.”

The first sentence, especially the appearance of "poetry and distant places", caused the crowd to suddenly become agitated, and some even shouted out subconsciously.

"Quiet! Quiet!"

Su Ya kept reminding them to keep quiet.

Bai Ruoxue stared at Fang Yan without blinking, and saw him take the third step, and said in a rhythmic tone:
"I don't think about whether I can win love. Since I love thorns and roses, I will bravely express my sincerity..."

Every time you recite a sentence, you take a step forward.

Until the sixth step, Fang Yan stood still and said slowly:

"I don't care whether the future is smooth or muddy. As long as I love life, everything is as expected!"

Bai Ruoxue was greatly surprised. She savored the poem carefully. It was like a fresh autumn breeze blowing towards her, which was very cool.

A simplicity and straightforwardness that is completely different from Misty Poetry!
An ingenious poetic style?!
Thinking of this, I felt like I was electrocuted and was greatly surprised.

"Ruoxue, is this poem good?"

Tang Shengnan saw the crowd fell into silence.

"it is good!"

Bai Ruoxue pondered for a moment, "This poem alone contains four themes: ideals, career, love, and the future. It also gives a direct affirmative answer without beating around the bush."

"It really is!"

Tang Shengnan nodded understandingly.

The Yan University students around them also seemed to be thinking about something.

Bai Ruoxue commented in a low voice: "It is neither mysterious nor obscure. It is concise and easy to understand, but also appropriate and natural. It has a strong appeal and can leave a deep impression on people immediately."

"Indeed, I like the first sentence best."

Tang Shengnan said: "I don't think about whether I will succeed or not. Since I have chosen poetry and distant places, I will just keep going regardless of wind and rain."

"This poem of his is placed in "Weiming Lake", which has a profound meaning."

Bai Ruoxue narrowed her eyes. "Although the magazine will be discontinued soon, it does not mean the poet's career will end. The distant future of poetry is there. It's just that this time, I have to go through wind and rain."

"Oh!"

Although Tang Shengnan didn't understand, she was shocked: "Great, he is so good at writing, but he lied and said he is not good at it."

"He didn't lie. He said he wasn't good at writing obscure poems. This one really isn't obscure at all."

Bai Ruoxue smiled.

"Ruoxue, you are speaking for him again!"

Tang Shengnan pursed her lips.

"This is the word of justice!"

Bai Ruoxue raised her chin and looked at Fang Yan.

At this moment, the students who had come to their senses began to talk about it.

“Why does this poem feel so strange?”

"Why is it strange? You are used to listening to obscure poetry."

"Yes, although it is not a misty poem, it gives me a very powerful feeling, but it also feels like shouting slogans."

"That's good, but can this really be considered a poem?"

"........."

Hearing someone criticizing her brother, Fang Hong narrowed her eyes:
"Just tell me whether this poem is well written or not!"

"well……"

Everyone shrank their heads, but some were brave enough to say:

"Um, teacher, you just read too fast and none of us remembered it all. Could you please read it again?"

"I'll write it to you."

Fangyan said: "Do you have paper and pen?"

"Here it is!"

Luo Yihe immediately handed over a pen and a notebook, "Teacher Fang, what is the name of this poem just now?"

""love lifes"."

I wrote and spoke in dialect. In fact, I made some changes to Wang Guozhen's poem. The original poem was "Since you have chosen the distant place, you should just focus on the journey regardless of wind and rain", which I changed to "Poetry and the distant place".

Luo Yihe repeated it several times in his mouth, and then vowed to put this poem on the front page of "Weiming Lake".

Fangyan smiled and just wrote "Yan Zi" in his signature. If he wanted to promote it, he would promote this "Yan Zi".

The person you want to arrest is Lu Xun. What does it have to do with me, Zhou Shuren?

Everyone agreed readily. After all, it was normal for a writer to have multiple pen names. So, when the students asked him for his autograph, they all got the signature "Yan Zi".

There was a lot of noise and it took a long time for the crowd to disperse.

"Sister Hong, Yanzi, wait a minute." Su Ya was going to take them for a tour around the Yanda campus, although the typesetting and printing of "Weiming Lake" was imminent.

"No need, Xiaoya, just go and do your thing. Yanzi and I will just take a stroll."

Fang Hong waved and said goodbye to Su Ya and others.

"Hey, it's you!"

Fang Yan hadn't walked a few steps when he noticed Tang Shengnan and the other person. "I couldn't find you guys just now. I thought you had left."

"We brought you here, so we have to take you out. I just heard you say that you wanted to take a look around Yanda University?"

Bai Ruoxue smiled and said, "Do you need us to be your guide?"

"Why is this so embarrassing?"

Fangyan shook his head.

"It's one trip, it's two trips, it's all the way." Bai Ruoxue smiled. "Can I ask you a few questions on the way?"

“I can’t answer every question.”

"The question is simple. The poem you just read is unique, easy to understand, and catchy. If you were asked to give a name to this style of poetry, what would you call it?"

"Chicken soup poem, what do you think?"

“Chicken soup poem?!”

"Yes, in ancient times there were doggerel poems, and in modern times there are chicken soup poems."

The dialect roughly explains "chicken soup for the soul".

"You're quite a joker."

Bai Ruoxue didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Why not call it 'colloquial'? It also fits the simple, bright and catchy style of this poem?"

"Poetry should be as simple as possible. The key is whether it can be expressed clearly and touch people's hearts."

Fang Yan turned his head and looked into her eyes.

The poems at this time were basically not colloquial.

In the poetry world, Misty Poetry is still popular.

But everything has its limits. Precisely because Misty Poetry is obscure and difficult to understand, it has become increasingly niche, excluding the general public who want to get started and who like poetry. They have become increasingly dissatisfied with Misty Poetry, and eventually a rebellious trend broke out, also known as the "third generation poetry movement."

Wang Xiaolong's "Memorial", "I want to be a good husband, but the sausages are always sold out", oral poetry came into being.

Originally I just wanted to oppose Misty Poetry, but I didn't expect to overdo it and go too far, and it ended up becoming sloppy poetry.

As a result, it has changed from "spoken poetry" to "nonsense", "pear blossom style", and "shit, piss and fart", and there is no turning back.

However, the third generation of poets have always expelled Wang Guozhen from the poetry books, thinking that Wang Guozhen is not worthy of being associated with them, let alone being called a poet, so the title of "founder of spoken poetry" could never be given to Fangyan.

"So, you also have an opinion on Misty Poetry?"

Bai Ruoxue stared at him intently.

Fangyan did not answer but asked: "You have been discussing Misty Poetry. Then I want to ask you, what is the theory and definition of Misty Poetry? Which poets can be regarded as Misty Poets?"

"Of course it's Gu Cheng, Shu Ting, Jiang He, Bei Dao..."

Tang Shengnan couldn't continue talking after she got to the sixth person.

"See, after all this fuss, we still don't know which poets are considered Misty Poets and which are not."

Fangyan spread his hands.

The earliest discussion of who is considered a Misty Poet can be traced back to 82.

The mimeographed version of "Selected Misty Poems" by the Chinese Department of Liaoning University included works by 12 people including Shu Ting, Mang Ke, Bei Dao, Gu Cheng, and Jiang He, which determined the list of the first batch of Misty Poets.

"You have a point."

Bai Ruoxue's eyes flickered.

"In fact, if I were the editor-in-chief of Weiming Lake, I would do a special issue on Misty Poetry in the last issue, select a group of representative works of Misty Poets, create a big momentum, and tell the poetry world what real Misty Poetry is like!"

Speaking casually in dialect.

"This is a great idea! You are worthy of being the editor of Yenching Literature, so professional!" Bai Ruoxue was surprised and happy.

"Where, where."

Fangyan waved his hand.

"Can our Poetry Exploration borrow this idea?" Bai Ruoxue showed a sly smile on her playful face.

“You guys explore poetry?”

Fangyan was stunned.

"Ruoxue is the assistant editor of Poetry Exploration, and she is the only student recruited by Teacher Xie Mian..."

Tang Shengnan introduced her with a hint of competitiveness, as a small "revenge" for Fang Yan hiding his identity from them.

"It's true that real people don't show their true colors."

Fangyan couldn't help but sigh.

"You too, Mr. Dialect, let's get to know each other again."

Bai Ruoxue introduced herself confidently.

Just as Fangyan was about to open his mouth, he suddenly heard a burst of shouting beside his ear, "Just now at Weiming Lake, a poet named 'Yanzi' wrote a very strange poem, come and see it!"

"Read it quickly! Read it quickly!"

“I don’t think about success or failure.”

"Since I have chosen poetry and distant places, I will just keep going despite wind and rain..."

Colloquial poetry is so catchy.

The imagery is also simple and clear, and it immediately tore a hole in the Yan University campus shrouded in misty poetry, like a warm current flowing in.

Chicken soup is here! Chicken soup cooked by Fang Xiaojiang himself!

YNU students, it’s time to drink soup!

"Love Life" was copied, recited and memorized by many people.

Before the publication of "Wenming Lake", the name of "Yan Zi" had already spread and quickly spread throughout Yan University.

(ps: Ai Qing said in his "On Poetry": Poetry should be written in colloquial language as much as possible, and as easy to understand as possible. The style of poetry is also prose and colloquial, which just fits the colloquialism of dialects.)
　Thanks to Maimai Miaomiao for the 500 Starting Coins and thanks to Tail is a bit long for the 100 Starting Coins.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)