田间:中国二十世纪最杰出的乡土诗人

Tian Jian: the Most Outstanding Local Poet in the 20th-century China

田间是中国20世纪最杰出的乡土诗人。田间是以写乡土诗而登上诗坛的。他一步入诗坛就注视着他的家乡扬子江两岸荒芜的乡村和贫苦的农民,成为左翼诗坛上一位最年轻的歌手。纵观田间漫长的创作生涯,他是20世纪诗坛上同中国农民生活时间最长,生活或走访地区最广,创作以农民、乡村、土地为主题作品最多的诗人,他创作了中国20世纪文人创作的最长的表现乡土、表现农民命运的叙事史诗《赶车传》。田间的诗作不仅表现了乡俗民情,而且反映了20世纪中国农民的反抗斗争,表现了中国农村翻天覆地的变化。田间是一位热情澎湃的歌者,是一位不倦地进行诗歌艺术探索和辛勤革新的诗人。田间对民歌是情有独钟的,他在学习民歌、吸收外国诗歌的特点和继承古典诗词的优良传统的道路上不断探索、不断突破自己,追求着一种农民喜闻乐见的诗体形式和诗歌语言。

Tian Jian, the most outstanding local poet of the 20th century in China, has stepped onto the poetic arena by writing poems on local subject-matters. Since his entry onto the poetic arena, Tian Jian has focused upon the bleak villages and impoverished peasants along the Yangtze River in his hometown, thus becoming the youngest poet in the Left-wing poetic circles. A survey of Tian Jian＇ s long literary career has revealed that he is the sole poet on the 20th-century poetic arena who has lived with Chinese peasants for the longest time, has visited the largest tract of rural areas, has presented the largest number of poems on peasants, rural areas and land, and has written A Story of Cart-driving--the longest narrative epic on native soil and on the fate of peasants in the 20th-century China. In his poems, Tian Jian has not only displayed local customs and public feelings but has also pictured the rebellion and struggle of the 20th-century Chinese peasants as well as the drastic changes in China＇ s rural areas. Tian Jian is both an enthusiastic eulogizer and a poet tirelessly probing into poetic techniques and renovations. With a special love for folk songs, Tian Jian has incessantly explored and transcended above himself in the Course of studying folk songs and absorbing the traits of foreign poems as well as of carrying forward the fine tradition of classical verse so as to pursue a poetic pattern and language loved by peasants.