Photographed by Lu Zhen
Huang Fan is a poet, novelist and associate professor. He has published "The Eleventh Commandment", "The Moon Has Lost Sleep", "Floating Colors", "Lamentations in Nanjing", "Waiting for Youth to Disappear", "Mr. Girls' School", "Chinese Walking Disciple", "One Inch Master", "The Empire of Imagery: A Lesson in Poetry Writing", etc. He has won the "2015-2016 Top Ten Good Poems" Nomination Award, The Purple Mountain Literature Award, the Zhong Shan Literature Award, the Writer's Golden Short Story Award, the Beijing Literature Award, the Jinling Literature Award, the "Fangcao" Chinese Biennial Poetry Top Ten Award, the "The Day After Tomorrow" Biennial Culture and Art Award, the Henry Ruth Foundation Chinese Poetry Award, the Boao International Poetry Award, etc. Some of his works have been translated into English, German, Italian, Greek, Korean, French, Japanese, Persian, Romanian, Spanish and other languages.
The tribalization of poetry and the syllabus structure
Huang Fan
I myself have seen clearly the structure of short poems after many years of writing poems. When first writing, there is the ability to grasp the moment, but if there are too many such moments, and you are reluctant to manage the feelings of each moment separately, and the images you have captured, and write them into different short poems, then the many ambitious works seen from the history of poetry will bring a brute force to the first writer, that is, they are eager to put all the feelings, images, and images produced by different moments into a short poem. Even if every moment is written clearly, even if every image has merit, but when it is intended to let them get along with each other, the first writer's loss of control of the overall grasp will make all the excellent parts cancel each other out and cannot become beneficial to the whole. I call the fragmentation and competition of poetry partially tribalized. Tribalization means that the verse is loyal to the unit tribe to which it belongs, which can give the overall gain of the tribe, but once you leave the tribe, the verse is not friendly to other unit tribes, and between the tribe and the tribe, not only the meaning of each other is different, but even detracts from each other and cancels out. In order to let everyone have a concrete understanding of the tribalization of poetry, I had to take my own early poem "Remembrance" (1992), if not for example, this life would not have been intended to publish this poem, after all, it is inconvenient to expose the ugliness of other people's poems.
Miss
The harsh waters were entangled in the urgent sound of the news
Blown into a novel orchard by a gust of fanatical wind
Extravagant suspense smashes the philosopher with the anchor
The genius's way only points in the direction of slashing and killing the genius
Or the confrontation weakens the taboo into the name of a river
Glorious, revealing exhilarating fists between cracks in the lyrics
Innocent thirst marches on the psalms of endless conversation
Worship the delicacy, bringing a shadow of lightness
Or from now on, the stunt of the undead
Make a group of cautious people who walk on glass
Huge ruins once you face the light of the polar regions
The emperor's singing was as absurd as the sea oath
As you can probably see, from the first line, each of the two lines roughly forms a separate unit tribe. For example, the first tribe composed of the first and second lines refers to the scene of the water, the water is entangled by sound, and the wind blows the appearance of the garden. The second tribe of the third and fourth lines is to talk about an anchor, which provokes the philosophers to meditate: the path to genius also destroys genius. The third tribe of the fifth and sixth lines, saying that the original name of the river comes from the confrontation, hides an excited fist in the discord of the lyrics. The fourth tribe of the seventh and eighth lines, which has withdrawn from the waters, speaks of the poetry of human longing, and leaves a shadow in the worship of food... You can think about it, how did the above four tribes stick together? In the second tribe, there are only apparent anchors, which are related to the waters of the first tribe, but the contemplation of the second tribe has little to do with the description of the waters of the first tribe. The third tribe talks about the origin of the river name, and the sharpness of the lyrics, as if they all come from the confrontation of the world, the question is, is the confrontation of the world related to the contemplation of the second tribe? The author did not provide a contact. The fourth tribe, and the fifth and sixth tribes, have completely abandoned the image of the waters and talked about things that had nothing to do with the waters. The connection between the fourth tribe and the third tribe is very weak, and the "psalms" and "lyrics" are the only possible links, but the two tribes talk about nothing. Looking at each other in turn, you can see that the connection between the fourth and fifth, the fifth and the sixth tribe, is almost non-existent. In order to make these tribes that are distracted by each other seem to be able to synthesize into a whole, so as not to seem unreasonable, the author was still quite clever at that time, and painstakingly pondered a vague title "Nostalgia". "Nostalgia" is an abstract concept word, the mystery of the concept word is there, it has a strong generalization power, can encompass a lot of things, with "nostalgia" to glue the above six discrete tribes, it can indeed make the reader feel that the six tribes seem to be synthesized into a whole (thanks to Gestalt psychology), but such a whole is a disaster for the reader, not only bringing obscurity of understanding, but also deviating from the true understanding of human nature. Human nature will require a poem, with the consistency of understanding, the succession of understanding, and not because the poet has the privilege of deliberately gluing as a whole, he cannot let the tribes do their own thing, after all, the understanding created by pure rhetoric will eventually be difficult to convince people with experience.
Avoiding the tribalization of poetry is not only to make the poetry as a whole convincing, but also to test whether the poet is loyal to the understanding from human nature, as the ancients said, "rhetorical sincerity". To deepen my understanding, let me give an example of comparison, and here is Mindy's poem "The Sea Leaf Collection":
From the direction of the water, the sea is a tree
Fish are the wind blowing leaves in the sea
You say that you and he feng shui are not compatible, one belongs to heaven
One territory, one religious, one disobedient to religion
I don't know what to teach, but out of filial piety, I watch the sky every night after you leave
Look at the stars, twenty-five years, a lot of fish
Flying into the sky, some falling, some staying, with their wings folded
The most determined batch, synthesized the Big Dipper
Mother, if you look down into my eyes, you will see more stars
They inhabit my retinas – they are some trees that feel pain
Mindy also starts from the water, and the first and second lines are the first unit, which describes the vivid image of the sea as a tree and the fish as a leaf, which is in line with people's experience of viewing the sea. The third line to the second unit of the eighth behavior tells about the difference between the mother and the father, because the mother believes in the heavens, after she left, I will look at the sky every night to see the stars, to remember her, these stars are "flying to the sky" fish, the most determined to stay in the sky, the synthesis of the Big Dipper. In the first and second units, the apparent connection is fish, and the fish in the sea in the first unit become the celestial stars in the second unit, and the sparkling fish in the sea are similar to the brilliant galaxy in the sky, and the visual experience of people recognizes the similarity. The second unit has a high evaluation of the fish, believing that they ascend to heaven as a celestial sign, here cleverly write the fish as a metaphor through the two units, the fish in the first unit is the fish of the Yang Realm that has accompanied the mother, after the mother left (the poet especially emphasizes that she belongs to the heavens), some of the fish ascended to the heavens as the stars, as the fish of the celestial realm, continue to accompany the mother. In the third unit of the ninth and tenth acts, my mother looked down at me in the celestial realm, and she would see more stars in my eyes, some trees with pain, indicating that the world in my eyes had been changed by my heart, adding pain to the sea and adding brilliance to the starry sky where my mother was. Unit 3 sublimates the sea (tree) of Unit 1, Unit 2 sublimates the fish of Unit 1; Unit 1 and Unit 3 are different perspectives of the same scene: I see the sea (tree) and the fish, and my mother sees the sea (tree) and the fish (star) from my eyes. Using the perspective conversion, the objective seascape of the first unit is led to the seascape of the third unit with subjective feelings. As you can see, the three units are not only closely related to each other, but also tightly sewn together, without redundancy. The structure of Mindy's poem is a short poem structure that I will talk about later.
Solving structural problems is the right way for writers to move from the part to the whole. As far as I can see, there are thousands of structures in short poems, but there are always several structures that are immortal and can withstand the harsh tests of ancient and modern Chinese and foreign poetry. In order to preserve more possibilities for exploring structure, I intend only to talk about a short poetic structure of "norms" or "dogmas", that is, a three-paragraph structure, which is easy to grasp and rigorous, and is represented by a notation: ABA′. The whole poem is divided into three parts, A, B, and A′, and the third part A′ is similar to the first part A, reproducing part of the theme of A, by adding content, or partially changing A, so that A′ is not just a simple reproduction of A, but an elevation of A. B is either a contrast with A, or it is to deepen or expand the elements or part of the theme in A, connecting A and A′ as a whole. For example, the first unit A and the third unit A′ in Mindy's "Sea Leaf Collection" are both written about the scenes that are seen by people, A′ changes the scene I saw in A to the scene that my mother saw from my eyes, A′ and A are still facing the same scene, but A′ has elevated the scene to a part of the spirit. B is written in the past twenty-five years, compared with the present written by A, and at the same time, the image of the fish in A is deepened into a metaphor, that is, the astrology is the fish that flies up to the sky to accompany the mother, and B connects the scene in A by telling the death of the mother, and the scene in A′ in which the mother looks down at my eyes in heaven.
The three-stage structure is a classic structure that spreads in all fields of literature and art, especially suitable for works that are not long, such as Ji Xing Gao Zhao, and have achieved many masters. For example, there is a single trilogy (ABA′) with reproduction in the music, which consists of three segments, the third segment will reproduce the first segment, but not the full reproduction, for example, some will add counterpoint melodies, etc., and the second segment is a variation of the first segment, which will deepen part of the theme of the first segment. Even many longer works such as symphonies, sonatas, concertos, etc., often use a three-part structure to write the first movement. Woolf's novel "To the Lighthouse" adopts a three-part structure ABA′ to achieve a good poetic effect. I think that the three-part structure contains the soul of the rhyme, and when the third paragraph partially reproduces the first paragraph, or seeks to resemble the first paragraph, it is as if one enters the channel of memory, and the perception of similarity to the first paragraph will bring people a pleasure similar to rhyme, equivalent to the whole rhyme of the third and first paragraphs, and the overall poetry will arise from this. The second paragraph can be contrasted with the first paragraph, or it can deepen one of the elements in the first paragraph, from the first paragraph to the second paragraph, they are equivalent to a flip, and formally very similar to the plot in the novel. From the second paragraph to the third paragraph, they are equal to a flip, the same plot. Speaking of which, you can understand why the three-part structure has become a universally loved structure, after all, it is essentially equivalent to rhyme and flip, both scratching the itch of human nature, and people are irresistible in the face of the glorification of rhyming memories or the defamiliarization of flipping. For the convenience of everyone, I have written the three-paragraph structure into a summary sentence: 1, 3 rhyme, 1 to 2 flip (1, 2, 3 represent the first, second, and third paragraphs, respectively). You don't have to remember that 2 to 3 is also flipped, and since 1 to 2 is flipped and 1 and 3 are rhyming, 2 to 3 must be flipped.
Let me give you an example of intuitive painting. For example, Ni Zhan, a master of painting in the Yuan Dynasty, used a three-paragraph structure to create the pinnacle of many literati paintings. He always searched for the visual effects of painting in Taihu Lake, and developed a minimalist three-stage structure, which influenced many descendants, such as the Wumen School. Ni Zhan divided the picture into three segments: foreground, medium, and vista. The foreground is the closest waterfront to the viewer, the middle view is the water and treetops (the white space is used to represent the water), and the distant view is the other bank of the water, which is some low hills. If the elements of each scene are extracted, the three segments in his painting are: near the shore (foreground), water and treetops (middle view), and far shore (distant view). As you can see, the near shore and the far shore are similar, both are waterfronts, but the viewing distance is different, but the far shore adds more hills, so the relationship between the near shore and the far shore is the relationship between A and A′ mentioned above, which is equivalent to the rhyming relationship. The water and treetops of the second section, and the shore of the first section, form the contrast between the water and the shore, which is equivalent to a flip, and the water of the second section to the far shore of the third section is again equivalent to the same flip. Water also serves as a connection between the near and far shores, while the treetops on the near shore cross parts of the water, directing the viewer's attention to the far shore. The second paragraph B (the middle scene), one contrasts with A (the contrast between the water and the shore), and also develops some elements of A (the tree in A, extending its treetops to the middle scene), and the second also connects A and A′ (water merges the two banks into a whole), so Ni Zhan's painting is a very classic ABA′ structure. Of course, his three-segment structure, not his original, is inspired by Huang Gongwang's paintings. I have no interest in tracing the origins of Chinese painting with a three-part structure, only in how to regenerate it in modern poetry.
Na Ye's "The Wind Rises" is an example of a three-stage structure ABA′.
Windy, I love you Reed
A wild expanse
Go with the wind
Not in this faraway place
thought
Only reeds are needed
Like our love, there is no content
The three sections correspond to the three segments of the three-segment formula. The first section talks about my feelings for the reeds and how the reeds look in the wind. The third verse first recreates what the reeds look like in the first section: a wild expanse. Then use the emotional reality of people to interpret the appearance of reeds and make it a metaphor for reality. "Our love" refers either to the love of modern people in general or specifically to the love of "I" and reeds, and no matter how it is understood, the two elements in the first section, emotions and the appearance of reeds, are reproduced and responded to in the third section, and it is not difficult to see that the two are the standard A and A′ relationship, equivalent to rhyming relationships. The interest of the second verse focuses on some of the themes of the first section, "Reeds" and "Following the Wind", and the poet contrasts the subjective view with the reeds that follow the wind, so that the reader agrees that the wilderness, the ideas have been superfluous, and the reeds that follow the wind are more human needs, thus deepening part of the theme of the first section" "Reeds" and "Following the Wind". The second section, through the comparison with the first section (the contrast between subjective perception and objective scene), and the deepening of some of the themes of the first section (deepening the connotation of "reeds following the wind"), make the first and second sections, the relationship between the standard A and B, equivalent to a reversal. The second to third verses are from indulging in visual "going with the wind", abandoning thinking, to talking about love again, which is equivalent to flipping again. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that Na Ye's "The Wind Rises" is a model of the three-stage structure ABA′.
When I wrote "Middle Age" in 2004, I didn't know anything about the three-part structure, but the instinct to write poems into three sections already contained the hidden mechanism of the three-part structure. The full poem of "Middle Age" is as follows:
Youth is gnawed by hatred, covered with teeth-stained bones
It was retreating towards the absurd, a warm steam
Now, how kind my countenance is
The cities you have walked through can also be leveled in your heart
From the distant harbor to the nearby Bell Mountain
The days are all the same old
The happiness I embraced was also as old as a martyr's wife
I've been dragged away by her...
More seeds of youth also become redundant
Even if there is a big river in my body
It also doesn't make a sound. When I was young, I liked to say that the moon was a sickle
But now, it's a gem of good temper
In the face of anyone's inquiry, it only sparkles...
The first section writes about the difference between youth and middle age, forming a sharp contrast between hatred and kindness. The third verse reproduces the theme of the first verse, still writing about the difference between youth and middle age, but the writing method has changed, from the first section to write the difference between youth and middle age with the same image as the moon, to the third section using the same image of the moon to write about the difference between youth and middle age. The first and third sections, is not the typical relationship between A and A′? Equivalent to rhyme? The second section focuses on the development and deepening of part of the theme of the first section: middle age. Unlike the first and third sections that emphasize the peace of middle age, the second section reveals the embarrassment of middle age penetrating life and the embarrassment of pursuing happiness, and pushes the middle-aged theme of the first section forward a big step, which contrasts with the kindness, calmness and calmness of middle age in the first section. Is it a typical A-B relationship? Equivalent to flipping? When judging the three-paragraph structure, we have to act carefully, not all poems written in three stanzas are three-paragraph structures, and not all poems with more than three stanzas are not three-paragraph structures. Mindy's Sea Leaf Collection is more than three sections, but it is still a three-part structure. This structure is concise and to the point, there is no mystery, easy to grasp, the effect of using it is amazing, and through long-term practice, it can become your poetry writing instinct.
Excerpt from The Empire of Imagery: A Lesson in Poetry Writing, by Huang Fan. Published by Guangxi Normal University Press in August 2021
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