Goddess (Revised Edition)

Author: Guo Moruo
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1977-12-01
Features: Guo Moruo (1892—1978), originally named Guo Kaizhen, was born in Leshan County, Sichuan Province. From a young age, he was exposed to a vast amount of classical literary works, particularly developing a strong interest in poetry. During his middle school years, he began to engage with advanced modern democratic ideas and foreign literary works from the West, gradually cultivating a rebellious and defiant personality. In 1914, he went to Japan for studies, initially enrolling in the preparatory course of Tokyo First High School and later entering the medical department of Fukuoka Imperial University. During his time abroad, Guo Moruo read extensively works by foreign thinkers and writers. Spinoza's pantheistic philosophy became his ideological weapon in resisting conventions and asserting his individuality, while the romantic poetry of Tagore, Goethe, Whitman, Heine, and Shelley deeply influenced the themes, artistic style, and overall aesthetic perspective of his own poetry.
From early 1919 to the first half of 1920, Guo Moruo began publishing new poems in the literary supplement Xinwen Bao titled Xuelamp, showcasing his remarkable talent for romantic poetry. In 1921, he co-founded the Creation Society with Yu Dafu, Tian Han, and Zhang Ziping, publishing the poetry collection Goddess, followed by Star, Frontier, and Recovery. After 1929, he embraced Marxist thought, advocating for revolutionary literature and actively participating in and leading progressive cultural and political activities amid intense and complex struggles. In the 1940s, he wrote historical plays such as Qu Yuan, Peacock Liver, Hephaestus, Southern Crown Grass, and Gao Jianli, which powerfully supported the Party's anti-Japanese and anti-Kuomintang struggle while achieving unprecedented artistic heights. Goddess is Guo Moruo's first poetry collection and the first mature new poetry collection in modern Chinese literature. It is a compilation of his early poetic works. Any outstanding literary work is both a product of its time and the result of the author's individual genius. The May Fourth Movement was such a great era that gave birth to many geniuses and masterpieces: the constraints of old thought and literature were broken, yet the authority of new thought and literature had not yet been fully established. Guo Moruo, a young student studying in Japan at the time, strongly felt the infinite possibilities unfolding before him in this turbulent world and the immense creative vitality surging within him. The fervent May Fourth New Culture Movement and patriotic students had transformed ancient China into a restless ocean of change. The hope for the rebirth of the Chinese nation, the confidence in one's own strength, and the yearning for a bright future resonated with each other, and the surging social strongly echoed his inner emotions and waves of passion. Thus, "the accumulation of individual frustrations and the accumulation of societal frustrations" found a volcanic outlet in new poetry, converging into Goddess, filled with passion and optimism.
Wen Yiduo reviewed Goddess by saying, "If we speak of new poetry, Guo Moruo's talent truly deserves the name 'new.' Not only is his work artistically far removed from classical poetry, but more importantly, his spirit is entirely the spirit of the 20th century. Some say that literary works are the children of their time. Goddess is indeed a faithful reflection of its era." Goddess fully embodies the spirit of the May Fourth Movement's vigorous advance, which is key to understanding it.
Throughout Goddess, there is a consistent "lyrical protagonist" image, which can be seen as the product of Guo Moruo's "self-expression." However, this "self" is integrated with his conception of the entire universe, the whole world, and human society. In his poems, the boundaries between the inner and the outer, the subject and the object, the individual and society, and humans and nature have disappeared. The entire universe seems to shimmer and surge with the poet's emotions and passions, while the poet's emotions and passions, in turn, surge and flow throughout the universe. Here, the unity of nature and humanity is a dynamic spiritual unity—the unity of a vibrant nature and a vibrant human being. The Great Wall, the pyramids, the Pacific Ocean, the sun, the universe, the Earth, the Yangtze River, Tagore, Lenin, pantheism—all that the human mind can imagine and accept enter the poems, forming unique images organized within fervent emotions and rapid rhythms, stirring the soul with intense shock and profound aesthetic pleasure. Grandiose concepts, rich imagination, fervent emotions, and rapid melodies form the main characteristics of Goddess's poetry.
Additionally, in the language of the poems, the influence of classical Chinese poetry on rhythm is evident. The use of parallelism, repetition, and other rhetorical devices, along with the coordinated and orderly tonal and rhyming patterns of words, makes the lines both fluid and melodious. Even the roughness of some words does not diminish the poem's dynamic rhythm or its powerful impact, akin to rock music.
In summary, the excellent poems in Goddess are all alive with a distinct lyrical protagonist. He is a May Fourth youth full of youthful vigor, passion, confidence in his own strength, and a yearning for a bright future. He detests all stale things and, hates the darkness and coldness of reality, praises all fresh life, and reveres all great things with vigorous vitality. At the same time, he feels amazed and joyful in the face of his own youthful vitality. The spirit of movement, rebellion, and creation forms the main theme of Goddess.
The artistic features of Goddess are closely tied to its ideological characteristics. Guo Moruo, like Qu Yuan before him, spoke to the entire universe, humanity, and China, which made his poetry largely grand in conception. Poems like Phoenix Nirvana and Rebirth of Goddess explore themes of the rebirth of the world and the rebirth of humanity, with expansive moods and grandiose concepts. The poet's thoughts roam freely across the universe and the world, revealing an extremely rich, swift, and magnificent imagination. Whether in Morning Greetings or I Am an Idol Worshipper, whether in The Heaven Dog or Ode to Bandits, the poet's vision is not limited to concrete things, even not to things he has personally seen or heard. The Great Wall, the pyramids, the Pacific Ocean, the sun, the universe, the Earth, the Yangtze River, Tagore, Lenin, pantheism—all realms of existence, both domestic and foreign, above and below, abstract and concrete—enter the poems, forming unique images organized within fervent emotions and rapid rhythms, stirring the soul with intense shock and profound aesthetic pleasure. Grandiose concepts, rich imagination, fervent emotions, and rapid melodies form the main artistic features of Goddess.
Moreover, in the language of the poems, the influence of classical Chinese poetry on rhythm is evident. The use of parallelism, repetition, and other rhetorical devices, along with the coordinated and orderly tonal and rhyming patterns of words, makes the lines both fluid and melodious. Even the roughness of some words does not diminish the poem's dynamic rhythm or its powerful impact, akin to rock music.