Repentance

Wen YiduoOct 2017

4.0

Word count: 2.3K words
Chapters: 11

Summary

Wen Yiduo, originally named Wen Jiahua, also known as Duo, Yiduo, and Yiduo, with the courtesy names Yousan and Youshan. A great modern Chinese patriot, poet, scholar, and democratic fighter, and a representative poet of the Crescent Moon School.

Editor's review

"Confession" is included in Wen Yiduo's poetic works, embodying the Crescent Moon School poets' dual pursuit of form and emotion. As a representative poet of the Crescent Moon School, Wen Yiduo paid close attention to the crafting of meter and imagery. This poem, titled "Confession," points toward inner self-examination and emotional disclosure, with concise language rich in musicality. In reading it, one can feel both the experiment in metricalizing new poetry and the poet's early lyrical works' attention to personal emotion and moral self-reflection. Compared with Wen Yiduo's later patriotic poems that directly confront reality, this type of work is better suited to understanding the starting point and evolution of his poetic style. For readers studying modern Chinese new poetry, the poetics of the Crescent Moon School, or the full scope of Wen Yiduo's creative work, this poem offers a lyrical and introspective side. It is recommended to read it alongside Wen Yiduo's poetic theory and works from the same period, to appreciate how his metrical proposition of "dancing in shackles" is put into practice in specific poems.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers interested in modern Chinese new poetry and the Crescent Moon School
University students who need to study the development of Wen Yiduo's poetic creation
Readers who enjoy metrical lyrical short poems and value the musicality of language
Primary and secondary school Chinese teachers preparing to explain the poetics of the Crescent Moon School

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting Wen Yiduo's intense patriotic poems
Readers who prefer plot-driven, narrative literary works
Beginner readers with no interest in formal experiments in modern metrical poetry

Reading tips

First read through once to feel the rhythm, then mark the rhymes and pauses line by line to appreciate the metrical arrangement.
Read it alongside later works such as Wen Yiduo's "Dead Water" to observe the shift in his poetic style from introspection to reality.
Read it in conjunction with the Crescent Moon School's advocacy of the "three beauties," and consider how this poem embodies musical beauty and painterly beauty.
After reading, write down your understanding of the theme of "confession," then check it against the original poem to deepen your impressions.

版权信息
忏悔
黄鸟
艺术底忠臣
初夏一夜底印象
诗债
红荷之魂
别后
诗人
风波
回顾

FAQ

Is this poem suitable for someone just starting to read new poetry?

It can serve as an introductory sample for encountering Crescent Moon School metrical poetry: it is short and its language is concise. But if readers are completely accustomed to free verse, they may first need to understand the background of the Crescent Moon School's emphasis on meter, so that they can better appreciate the formal intent when reading. It is recommended to read it together with a brief introduction to the Crescent Moon School.

Do you need to know Wen Yiduo's life to read this poem?

Knowing his identity as a Crescent Moon School poet and his poetics of emphasizing meter will help, and will allow for a better understanding of the poem's formal pursuits. But the poem itself is mainly lyrical and introspective, and one can enter it without relying on detailed biography. For deeper study, it can be read together with Wen Yiduo's essays on poetics.

What is the difference between this poem and Wen Yiduo's patriotic poems?

This poem leans toward self-examination of personal emotion and lyrical disclosure, with attention to the crafting of meter and imagery; while later works by Wen Yiduo such as "Dead Water" confront social reality more directly, with intense emotion. Reading the two in contrast makes clear the trajectory of the poet's creation from lyrical introspection toward concern with reality.

Related on WeRead

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Wen Yiduo Author · China · 1899–1946

Wen Yiduo, originally named Wen Jiahua, was a native of Xishui, Hubei, and a modern Chinese poet, scholar, and democratic fighter, as well as a representative poet of the Crescent Moon School. He studied at Tsinghua in his early years and later went to the United States to study fine arts. In 1923 he published the poetry collection Red Candle, and he also wrote Dead Water. He taught successively at Wuhan University, Qingdao University, Tsinghua University, and Southwest Associated University, devoting himself to research on the Songs of Chu, the Book of Songs, and Tang poetry. His scholarly works, including New Interpretations of the Classics and Miscellaneous Discussions on Tang Poetry, combine textual scholarship with literary grace, and lecture notes compiled from his teaching also circulated widely. His poems are marked by attention to meter and imagery and by deep feeling, and they have had a profound influence on the history of modern Chinese poetry. On July 15, 1946, he was assassinated by Kuomintang agents in Kunming at the age of forty-seven.