12月14日，中國著名詩人、文學(xué)家、散文家余光中在臺(tái)灣高雄病逝，享壽九十。余光中1928年10月21日生于南京，1949年隨父母遷居香港，次年赴臺(tái)。他從事文學(xué)創(chuàng)作超過半個(gè)世紀(jì)，作品馳譽(yù)海內(nèi)外，著有新詩、散文、評論、翻譯等，一首《鄉(xiāng)愁》在全球華人圈內(nèi)引發(fā)強(qiáng)烈共鳴。時(shí)事評論員黃智賢說：“從小我們都是讀余光中先生的《鄉(xiāng)愁》長大的。那時(shí)候不懂鄉(xiāng)愁，只能從朋友的父母對大陸的懷想，想象那種無盡的思念。直到自己外出讀書，才讀懂先生心中的痛?！薄袢赵僮x余光中，不能不提及《鄉(xiāng)愁》。

Y U Kwang-Chung, Chinese famous poet, litterateur and prosaist died at age of 90 in Kaohsiung City on 14, December. Born on 21, October, 1928 in Nanjing, he moved to Hong Kong with his parents in 1949 and Taiwan the next year. YU Kwang-Chung has engaged in literary creation for more than half a century with renowned works home and abroad, including poetry, prose, criticism,translation, editing etc. His PoemNostalgiahas caused a strong resonance in the global Chinese circle. HUANG Zhixian, a news commentator, said that we grew up by reading theNostalgiawritten by YU Kwang-Chung. We did not understand it at that time, but only imagine the endless thoughts of the mainland from our friends’ parents and could not fully acknowledge the pain of Mr. YU until we left home for studying abroad. --- Recalling YU Kwang-Chung via theNostalgia.

余光中 YU Kwang-chung

在臺(tái)灣文學(xué)中，思鄉(xiāng)更是一個(gè)長久不衰的、令人心動(dòng)的主題。這是因?yàn)樽?895年中日甲午戰(zhàn)爭后，臺(tái)灣被割讓給日本長達(dá)50年。1945年日本戰(zhàn)敗，臺(tái)灣人民回到祖國懷抱。然而，好景不長，1949年國民黨政權(quán)敗退到臺(tái)灣，臺(tái)灣又被硬性與大陸隔開。從此臺(tái)灣人民有家難歸，親情難敘，只好望洋興嘆。正是這樣一種背景下，臺(tái)灣文學(xué)中出現(xiàn)了大量的具象化了的鄉(xiāng)愁。這種文化鄉(xiāng)愁，集中表現(xiàn)出情系大陸、思念故園的強(qiáng)烈的鄉(xiāng)情與親情意識(shí)。

從審美心理學(xué)上說，鄉(xiāng)愁屬于一種缺陷美。根據(jù)格式塔心理學(xué)理論，這種非常態(tài)的情感，在力的結(jié)構(gòu)圖式上呈現(xiàn)出的是一種不對稱的“形”，它在讀者心理上誘發(fā)出一種強(qiáng)烈的“完形”的審美沖動(dòng)，與對稱、和諧的“形”相比較，這種由非常態(tài)情感生成的不對稱的“形”具有更大的審美張力。正因如此，鄉(xiāng)愁成為了中國詩歌史上歷久不衰的主題。無數(shù)文人、騷客，都曾和著淚血寫下了許多以“缺”求“全”的哀婉動(dòng)人的詩篇。

余光中的《鄉(xiāng)愁》，一方面沿用了中國傳統(tǒng)的鄉(xiāng)愁母題，但是另一方面，詩人又站在了當(dāng)代的人文高度，賦予了傳統(tǒng)母題時(shí)代的、個(gè)體的精神內(nèi)涵。

余光中生于大陸，長于大陸，后來去臺(tái)，但他深深眷戀著祖國大陸，他曾在《五陵少年》一詩中寫道：“我的水系中有一條黃河支流…… 我的怒中有燧人氏，淚中有大禹／我的耳中有涿鹿的鼓聲?！彼€說過，中國大陸是“所有母親的母親”“所有父親的父親”“所有祖先的搖籃”。詩人眷戀大陸、思念故鄉(xiāng)情結(jié)之濃重，是可以想見的。但是就《鄉(xiāng)愁》一詩的寫作而言，光是有一股強(qiáng)烈的思鄉(xiāng)情緒還不足以成就一首好詩，重要的是把這種情思轉(zhuǎn)化為意象，這才是對一個(gè)詩人創(chuàng)造能力的檢驗(yàn)。余光中無疑是位有才華、有獨(dú)創(chuàng)性的詩人，他處理起這樣的題材舉重若輕。他從自己的生活經(jīng)歷中選擇與提煉出“郵票”“船票”“墳?zāi)埂薄昂{”這四個(gè)中心意象，構(gòu)成《鄉(xiāng)愁》一詩的骨架。

頭兩個(gè)小節(jié)，用來自生活的“小小的郵票”“窄窄的船票”作為“鄉(xiāng)愁”的表征。由于背井離鄉(xiāng)，只能用貼著郵票的書信溝通信息；由于隔山隔水，難得有買船票相聚的機(jī)會(huì)。這里的郵票與船票暗示了空間的阻隔。

第三小節(jié)的墳?zāi)勾碇劳觥Ｋ劳鍪巧顒?dòng)最具有深刻意義的時(shí)刻，經(jīng)得起死亡檢驗(yàn)的東西，才是生命中最有價(jià)值的東西。把“鄉(xiāng)愁”比成墳?zāi)?，足以表明鄉(xiāng)愁之強(qiáng)烈，有一種永訣般的震撼人心。

最后一節(jié)是點(diǎn)睛之筆。造成鄉(xiāng)愁難解的最根本的原因，是海峽把祖國分成兩個(gè)世界，但是政治上的人為阻隔，比千山萬水的阻隔還要難于逾越。妙處又在于，面對這種難于逾越的巨大阻隔，詩人卻用了“一灣淺淺的海峽”輕輕帶過，這是我國古代思鄉(xiāng)詩的典型的含而不露、哀而不怨的風(fēng)格，在有意淡化的意象描繪中蘊(yùn)含著深郁的情愫，在平靜的敘述背后涌動(dòng)著詩人的心潮。

“郵票”“船票”“墳?zāi)埂薄昂{”，這四個(gè)意象本是各自獨(dú)立，互不相關(guān)的，詩人又是如何把它們組織到一起的呢？

以時(shí)間為序，把最能體現(xiàn)每一時(shí)間段詩人情緒的中心意象凸顯出來，是《鄉(xiāng)愁》一詩意象組合的基本手法。一般說來，詩人情感的觸發(fā)，很大程度上，是來自回顧人生歷程時(shí)升華起的時(shí)間意識(shí)，而身為游子的詩人對于時(shí)間尤其具有特殊的敏感。就《鄉(xiāng)愁》這首詩而言，詩人是遵循自然的時(shí)序而組織意象的。具體說，就是按照“小時(shí)候”“長大后”“后來”“現(xiàn)在”這樣一個(gè)人生成長的自然順序展開的。這種時(shí)間的展開方式，由于詩人的思想感情的脈絡(luò)與現(xiàn)實(shí)的時(shí)序相一致，因而時(shí)間線索清晰，寫來樸實(shí)、真切，并易于為讀者接受。

復(fù)沓的巧妙運(yùn)用，是這首詩的意象組合的又一手法。復(fù)沓是我國古代詩歌，特別是民歌經(jīng)常使用的一種結(jié)構(gòu)方式和表情手段?！对娊?jīng)》中的不少詩篇節(jié)與節(jié)之間結(jié)構(gòu)相似，詞語上也不過只有兩三個(gè)字的變化，但是通過反復(fù)詠嘆，可以獲得意義的集中以及節(jié)奏的美感?！多l(xiāng)愁》一詩，全詩共四節(jié)，以時(shí)間為序，每一節(jié)安排一個(gè)中心意象，時(shí)間詞與中心意象固然不同，但是每節(jié)都運(yùn)用“鄉(xiāng)愁是……”與“我在這頭”“……在那頭”的句式，再加上“一枚小小的……”“一張窄窄的……”“一方矮矮的……”“一灣淺淺的……”這結(jié)構(gòu)相同的數(shù)量詞及疊詞在同一位置的復(fù)現(xiàn)，這便構(gòu)成了節(jié)與節(jié)之間的對稱與均齊。這種復(fù)沓式的結(jié)構(gòu)方式，有助于渲染一種濃烈的氣氛，造成意義的集中，強(qiáng)化詩人所要著力宣泄的情感。此外復(fù)沓還可以加強(qiáng)節(jié)奏的美感，使音韻更為和諧。從起源來說，詩與樂、舞有著天然的聯(lián)系。復(fù)沓便是詩應(yīng)和著樂、舞回旋往復(fù)的節(jié)奏的一種形式。復(fù)沓借助于結(jié)構(gòu)相同和若干不變的詞語，把全詩組織為一個(gè)整體，其相同及相近的音調(diào)造成的聲音的回環(huán)，給讀者一種圓轉(zhuǎn)自如的聲音上的美感。《鄉(xiāng)愁》一詩，之所以能被譜上曲，廣泛傳唱，這也是個(gè)重要原因。

鄉(xiāng)愁

余光中

小時(shí)候

鄉(xiāng)愁是一枚小小的郵票

我在這頭

母親在那頭

長大后

鄉(xiāng)愁是一張窄窄的船票

我在這頭

新娘在那頭

后來啊

鄉(xiāng)愁是一方矮矮的墳?zāi)?/p>

我在外頭

母親在里頭

而現(xiàn)在

鄉(xiāng)愁是一灣淺淺的海峽

我在這頭

大陸在那頭

The homesickness has been a lasting and exciting theme in Taiwan literature. It is because Taiwan has been clocked to Japan for half a century since the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. People in Taiwan returned to the motherland since the defeat of Japan in 1945. However, Taiwan has been forced to separate from the mainland as the Kuomintang retreated to the island in 1949. Since then, Taiwan people lost their homes and beloved ones in the family across the strait. In this context,there emerged a large number of representational homesickness in Taiwan literature, which was centrally reflected through the strong nostalgia and family bond consciousness to the continent and their homelands.

From the aesthetic psychology, nostalgia belongs to a type of defect beauty. This state of emotion, according to Gestalt psychology, presents an asymmetrical "shape" on the structural schema of the force, inducing a strong "perfection" aesthetic impulse in the mind of readers. Compared with the symmetrical and harmonious "shape", the asymmetrical "shape", generated by the very state of emotion, possesses a greater aesthetic tension.It is because of this that nostalgia became the eternal theme in the Chinese history of poetry, as so many writers and poets had created many pathetic poems of missing and complete with tears and blood.

TheNostalgiaof YU Kwang-Chung adheres to the traditional homesickness-and-mother-theme in China, while the poet, on the other hand, stands at the height of contemporary humanity,giving the spiritual connotation to the traditional mother-theme age and individualism.

He also said once, the Chinese mainland is the mother of all mothers, father of all fathers and cradle of all ancestors. The poet's attachment to the mainland and the love of his hometown is so strong and unimaginably immense. However, concerning the creation of theNostalgia, a pure and strong sentiment of homesickness is not enough to achieve a great poem, more importantly, one should turn the feeling into image, which is the true test of a poet’s creative ability. Undoubtedly a talented and original poet, YU Kwang-Chung handles such complicated themes with so much ease by choosing and extracting four central images as stamp, traveling ticket, graveyard and strait from his own life experience to constitute the skeleton ofNostalgia.

The stamp and traveling ticket were used in the first two stanzas as symbols of nostalgia. As a result of exile from his homeland,one can only communicate information with postage stamps. And due to the long distance, the chance of reunion with a purchased traveling ticket is rare. Both the stamp and traveling ticket imply the barrier of space.

The graveyard in the third stanza represents death, as it is the most profound moment of life, and what can stands the test of death is the most valuable thing in life. It is strong enough to demonstrate the strong feeling of homesickness by comparing nostalgia with as grave, a heart-wrenching image to everyone.

The last stanza is the very essence. The most fundamental reason for the homesickness is that the Strait divides the motherland into two worlds, the artificial barrier in politics is much more difficult to conquer than hills and streams. The subtlety lies in that facing such a great barrier, the poet uses such easy words as "shallow Strait", in a typical style of the ancient homesick poetry in China,unrevealed connotation while mourning without complaint,containing deep feelings in the depiction of ambiguous images and the poet’s beating heart behind the calm narration.

With the four images being independent and unrelated, how did the poet connect the stamp, traveling ticket, the graveyard and strait together?

By the order of time, the central image mostly embodying the poet's emotion in every time period is highlighted. It is the basic technique of the image combination ofNostalgia. Generally speaking, the trigger of the poet's emotion, to a large extent,is from the sense of time rising in a review of the course of life,especially as a traveling poet who is especially sensitive to time.In terms of the poemNostalgia, the poet organized the image in accordance with the time sequence of nature. In particular, it is in the natural order of life to grow up according to the "childhood","after grow-up", "later" and "now". The development of this time is consistent with the realistic time sequence of the poet's thoughts and feelings, with clear time clue, simple and real, the poem is much acceptable for readers.

The skillful use of refrains is another technique of image combination in this poem. It is a commonly-used structure and expressive means in ancient Chinese poetry, especially folk songs.Many poems inBook of Songsare similar in structure between parts. With changes in only two or three words, however, we can get the sense of meaning and the beauty of rhythm by chanting repeatedly. With only four stanzas by sequence of time in the poem ofNostalgia, a central image in each one, words denoting time and central images are indeed different, but each stanza uses"Nostalgia seemed…" and "Here am I, And there…" sentence structure, together with the repetition of the same quantifier and reduplication in the same position as A small, "Anarrow…","A short" and "A shallow"…, constituting the symmetry and uniformity between the sections. This refrain structure is conducive to rendering a strong atmosphere, concentrating a sense of meaning and strengthening the emotion that the poet was committed to revealing. In addition, it can also improve the beauty of rhythm and make the phonology more harmonious.Poetry has a natural connection with music and dance in terms of origin and the refrain is a form of rhythm echoing the music and dance. With the same structure and some invariant words, the refrain organizes the poem as a whole structure with echo of the voice caused by the same and similar tones giving readers a sense of beauty in a rounded voice. This is also the crucial reason that the poem ofNostalgiahas been composed into music and passed on widely.

Nostalgia

by YU Kwang-Chung

When I was a child,

Nostalgia seemed a small stamp

Here am I

And there… my mother

Then I was a grown-up

Nostalgia became a narrow traveling ticket

Here am I

And there… my bride.

During the later years,

Nostalgia turned to be a short graveyard

Here am I

And inside… my mother

And now at present

Nostalgia looms large to be a shallow channel

Here am I

And there… my mainland