Walking in the fog is amazing!

Every tree and stone is lonely,

No tree sees another tree,

Every tree is lonely.

When my life was clear,

I had many friends in the world;

Now, because of the heavy fog,

No one is seen anymore.

Indeed, those who do not know darkness,

can never be called wise people,

The darkness that is difficult to escape quietly

Isolate him from everyone.

Walking in the fog is amazing!

Life is about being alone.

No one understands others,

Everyone is lonely.

(Translated by Qian Chunqi)

Appreciation

Hesse won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. In the eyes of the world, he is best known for his works such as "Steppenwolf" and "Steppenwolf". Hesse is famous for his novels such as "The Glass Bead Game", but Hesse himself has always considered himself to be a poet at heart, and he himself is also considered "the last knight of German Romanticism". In an autobiographical essay, he wrote: "I have understood this since I was 13 years old: Either I want to be a poet, or I don't want to do anything else." When he was about 30 years old, he drew up a self-deprecating plan for himself. An epitaph: "The poet Hesse lies here. He is not regarded as a poet, but he is overrated as a recreational novelist." Indeed, compared to Hesse's immortal novels, his poetry has been ignored. In fact, his novels are also full of poetic images and poetic language, with a distinct sense of rhythm and music, which he himself considers to be "poetry in disguise." There are many excellent poems embedded in these "disguised poems". For example, this poem "In the Fog" first appeared in his novel "Autumn Walking Journey" (1906), and later became a separate poem. Collected in various poetry collections. This poem is very famous in German-speaking countries, and it is often included in readers for middle school students in Switzerland and Germany. It is Hesse's consistent practice to embed poetry into novels. For example, his famous "The Glass Bead Game" is also dotted with many poems related to the theme of the novel, but like this one, can be appreciated independently.

"In the Fog" is a poem that the protagonist of "Autumn Hiking" recited after encountering heavy fog during his hiking trip. Its theme is one of the eternal themes of Hesse's works. One: "Loneliness". The whole poem is divided into four sections. In the first and fourth stanzas, in the poem, when the author sees that trees do not see each other, he thinks of people who do not know each other, "every tree is lonely" and "everyone is lonely". From the loneliness of trees to the loneliness of people, one is the natural scenery, the other is the inner experience of the individual, the other is the external loneliness, and the other is the internal loneliness, the two echo each other. This kind of Bixing is also a common expression technique in Hesse's poetry.

In the second section, the poet turns to exposing the vulgar style of real life:

When my life becomes clear,

I have many friends in the world;

Today, due to heavy fog,

no one can be seen anymore.

When everything is going well and your life is clear, people of all kinds flock to you. When something goes wrong ("fog fills the air"), those so-called "friends" become like birds and beasts and disperse one after another, "never look back." Not to anyone”. Hesse also mentioned a similar experience of "the world turns its back on you" in another poem "The Road to Loneliness". After experiencing so many changes, the poet finally realized that "people who do not know darkness can never be called wise people." That is to say, only by knowing and experiencing loneliness can we realize the essence of life. This kind of thinking raises the realm of this poem to a higher level.

Another major feature of this poem is that the language is close to spoken language, and the format is close to German folk songs. The poem itself has a slow rhythm, mostly rhymes, and is rich in music, which is inseparable from his musical literacy. He was particularly fond of Chopin and once said that Chopin was as important to him as Wagner was to Nietzsche. The rhythm of this poem is neat and slow, which perfectly matches the thinking content of this poem. He believes that "poetry is not only the construction of lines, but more importantly, the composition of music", which is also deeply reflected in this poem. According to a 1966 statistics, nearly 305 composers have composed music for 274 of his poems. Since some poems were set to different music by different musicians, all songs composed with Hesse's poems** *There are more than 800 songs. This is an unprecedented record and one of Hesse's glory.

The poem "In the Fog" also embodies the consistent characteristics of Hesse's poetry, that is, the symbols and metaphors he uses are simple and obvious, such as "tree" and "person" in this poem. The analogy between "none of the trees can see other trees" and "every tree is lonely", while writing about the trees has already shown that "everyone is lonely". This may be a weakness of his poetry, but because the poem itself is precise and beautiful, with clear rhythm, strong sense of music, and rich meaning, Hesse's poetry is even more unique and outstanding today when modern poetry that pursues obscure meanings is popular. .

(Wu Liping)