— On reading Shipwrecked by Aerdingfu Yiren
By Wu Touwen
From the beginning of vernacular new poems, long poems seem to encounter one dilemma
after another, owing to various reasons. Generally speaking, the reasons are as follows: firstly, China
is a nation which lacks the tradition of long poems, which may be seen as the lack of source, and it
has exerted a great influence on new Chinese poems, but systematic and in-depth research lack in this respect. Secondly, there is no clear definition about long poems: how long is a poem that it can be called a long poem? Which is difficult to reach an agreement that is universally accepted. For quite a long time its definition is a problem which hampers the writing of long poems. Thirdly, besides the definition of the “length” of a long poem, there are some particular requirements for a long poem
concerning content and structure, which is also hard to reach a consensus. Of course, in addition to these, there must be some other reasons to be explored, and it is a fact that it has been ignored in the writing and research of new poems. From the perspective of literary history, the historical value and artistic orientation of long poems are still vague; when long poems fail to gain independent identity in literary history, they can not fully exhibit their artistic characteristics; thus the aesthetic features of long poems can not be highlighted. At the same time, the composition of long poems is a phenomenon which can not be neglected; the history of new Chinese poems does see spectacular long poems. Mr. Ye Lu, a famous Chinese poetry critic, says constructively, “it is the pity and lament of a country or nation if it fails to produce a master who can compose long masterpieces.” (see Ye Lu: Calling for Long Poetic Masterpieces, as preface to Distinguished Chinese Poets in the Past One Hundred Years, editor: Luo Fu; published by Taihai Publishing House; February, 2003; P: 1.) Long poems may be said to have the function of spiritual merestone, and in some degree are representative of the spiritual height of a nation or an epoch. It is challenging to compose long poems, and perhaps it is an important index to examine the poet’s wisdom and talent. Therefore, ambitious poets will plunge themselves into the writing of long poems. Actually, poets who achieve much in long poems tend to get instant attention from readers and critics, which perhaps is the hidden drive force behind poets engaged writing of long poems.
Some foundation may be found to enter into the text when we are talking about Shipwrecked
— Dedicated to the Years That Bear Us by Aerdingfu Yiren, a famous Salar poet, while exhibiting the unique value of this long poem. Seen from the writing experience of Aerdingfu Yiren, he has
established himself at an early stage, and is a poet of actual influence in the circle of contemporary Chinese poetry; particularly in the circle of minority literature he is exerting a universal influence,
and has received many prizes, such as Prize for the 4th Literary Works awarded by Qinghai Provincial People’s Government, “Steed” Prize for the 4th National Literature Creation, and Poetry Prize for Top Ten Most Distinguished Chinese National Poets, etc. Concerning his literary creation, long poems writing constitutes one of his important aspects. In the past thirty years, he has been applying himself to the writing of long poems, and he has produced some masterpieces, such as Hawk Howling Floating on the Surface of the Abyss and Shipwrecked — Dedicated to the Years That Bear Us, which can be called epics. Aerdingfu Yiren’s pattern of writing reveals his unique pursuit in the art of poetry: he is not blinded by the fashion color of poetry, which is hard to stick to. From this we
can see that Aerdingfu Yiren is self-conscious in art and unique in poetry creation, which testifies to
his originality.
When we focus our eyes on the long poem entitled Shipwrecked — Dedicated to the Years That Bear Us, we feel a unique atmosphere enveloping us. This is a work which, in a mysterious atmosphere, reveals a deep sense of tragedy, a sober sense of history and humanistic feelings, and is a long piece with a broad vision of national epic. Seen from the length, the structure is large, composed of 56 stanzas: ranging from over 20 lines to just a few lines in each stanza, and most of them between 10 and 20 lines. While rendering symmetry or evenness to the poem, each stanza can be regarded as an independent vignette; in the movement of one stanza linked with another, the artistic effect is shown as an integrated mass. The author spares no effort in designing the total artistic technique: there is a total symbolic structure in the long poem. In addition to a huge metaphor, the sinking ship is also the core of this total symbolic structure; in the long poem it is handled as an internal basic element, which is omnipresent, but seldom spoken directly, which renders obscurity to the theme of the long poem. Thus effort is needed to understand the theme, but the openness exhibited here leads to the reader’s thorough understanding of social reality and human life in the labyrinth of poetry. In my opinion, the sinking ship, in the long poem, manifests itself as the fusion and reunification of historical pattern of thinking and mythical pattern of thinking; the poet’s thinking is not without a rigorous historical reflective awareness, and under the mighty pen of the poet, national history and reality are subjected under a sharp and painful examination. In this respect, the long poem may be said to of the significance of spiritual root-seeking. There is a backtracking voice in the poem, which is the poet’s own voice, but seemingly it is drowned in the echo of history. Therefore, there is a huge
magnetic field and space behind the voice of the long poem, which deserves our attention.