旧体诗的白话历险:以周氏兄弟和聂绀弩为中心

The Vernacular Adventure of Classical Poetry:Centered on the Zhou Brothers and Nie Gannu

新文学史通常认为,“旧诗属于文言”而“新诗属于白话”。然而这有悖事实——旧诗只是一种诗歌形式,可用文言来写,也可用白话来写。“诗界革命”以来,一批批有志于革新旧诗的诗人直面新词暴涨的挑战,积极吸纳新词,以此革新旧诗。其中,以周氏兄弟和聂绀弩为代表的来自新文学阵营的旧诗诗人,以新词入旧诗,以竹枝词和打油诗为诗体,造就了“诗界革命”以来旧诗革新的又一轮突破。但是,因为他们没有深切意识到:1920年政府颁布法令废除文言后,现代汉语在旧诗中取代古代汉语已成为发展大势,导致革新工作局限于打油诗,未竟全功。反之,英语诗歌的“词汇现代化”工作,虽然比“诗界革命”还晚了二十年,但因艾略特、奥登等现代诗人的强力推进,反取得了成功。他们的经验教训启示我们:旧诗跟文言和古代“有联系”,但不是“必然有联系”,旧诗的语言发展方向,应以现代词为主,清除冷僻的文言词,将旧诗与文言的关系“解绑”,走上新的可能。

Modern Chinese literary history generally holds that“classical poetry belongs to classical Chinese”and“new poetry belongs to vernacular Chinese”.However,this is contrary to the fact that classical poetry is only a form of poetry,which can be written in classical Chinese or vernacular Chinese.Since the“Poetry Revolution”,one group after another of poets who were interested in reforming classical poetry have faced the challenge of the dramatic increase in new vocabulary and actively absorbed new words in order to innovate classical poetry.Among them,the poets from the new literature camp,represented by the Zhou brothers and Nie Gannu,used new words in classical poetry,and used folk-custom poetry(竹枝词)and limericks(打油诗)as poetic styles,making another breakthrough in the innovation of classical poetry since the“Poetry Revolution”.However,because they did not fully realize that after the government issued a decree abolishing classical Chinese in 1920,vernacular Chinese replacing classical Chinese in the classical poetry became a trend,resulting in the reform work limited to limerick poetry,which was not fully achieved.On the contrary,although the work of“Vocabulary Modernization”of English poetry was 20 years later than the“Poetry Revolution”,it succeeded because of the strong promotion of modern poets such as Eliot and Auden.Their experience and lessons have enlightened us:classical poetry is“connected”with classical Chinese and ancient China,but it is not“necessarily connected”.The language development direction of classical poetry should be based on vernacular Chinese,and it should clear away the outdated words in classical Chinese,“unbind”the relationship between classical poetry and classical Chinese,and embark on new possibilities.