以梦为马

Meaning

Hai Zi declares a vocation. He wants to be the faithful son of distance and the transient lover of matter, and, like every poet who rides upon dreams, to walk the same road as martyrs and fools. While ten thousand would put the fire out, he will hold it up; the fire is what lets him cross the dark of a life, what makes of his language and his country and his relics a body to be entered, and what finally makes him a sun. The poem ends on a division rather than a victory: the self must fail, but poetry, through the sun, will triumph.

我要做远方的忠诚的儿子和物质的短暂情人和所有以梦为马的诗人一样我不得不和烈士和小丑走在同一道路上万人都要将火熄灭我一人独将此火高高举起此火为大开花落英于神圣的祖国和所有以梦为马的诗人一样我借此火得度一生的茫茫黑夜此火为大祖国的语言和乱石投筑的梁山城寨以梦为土的敦煌——那七月也会寒冷的骨骼如雪白的柴和坚硬的条条白雪横放在众神之山和所有以梦为马的诗人一样我投入此火这三者是囚禁我的灯盏吐出光辉万人都要从我刀口走过去建筑祖国的语言我甘愿一切从头开始和所有以梦为马的诗人一样我也愿将牢底坐穿众神创造物中只有我最易朽带着不可抗拒的死亡的速度只有粮食是我珍爱我将她紧紧抱住抱住她在故乡生儿育女和所有以梦为马的诗人一样我也愿将自己埋葬在四周高高的山上守望平静的家园面对大河我无限惭愧我年华虚度 空有一身疲倦和所有以梦为马的诗人一样岁月易逝 一滴不剩水滴中有一匹马儿一命归天千年后如若我再生于祖国的河岸千年后我再次拥有中国的稻田和周天子的雪山天马踢踏和所有以梦为马的诗人一样我选择永恒的事业我的事业就是要成为太阳的一生他从古至今——日——他无比辉煌无比光明和所有以梦为马的诗人一样最后我被黄昏的众神抬入不朽的太阳太阳是我的名字太阳是我的一生太阳的山顶埋葬诗歌的尸体——千年王国和我骑着五千年凤凰和名字叫马的龙我必将失败但诗歌本身以太阳必将胜利。

Appreciation

[Plain Paraphrase] The poem is a single declaration repeated under a refrain. The speaker says what he wants to be, what he will endure, what he is willing to build with, and what he believes in; the only concession is the final admission that he will fail.
[Structure] The refrain — 'like all the poets who take dreams as their steed' — divides the whole poem into sections and holds it together, and since it carries neither argument nor imagery its repetitions function as an thematic metronome. Between the returns of the refrain the poem moves through fire, stone, language, grain, river, and finally the sun, so that the reader feels a rising rather than an exposition.
[Imagery] The fire is the center of gravity; everything else is either what the fire touches (the motherland, the language, the grain) or what the fire overcomes (prison, night, death). The last section changes register: from the fire to the sun, which is fire made permanent, and the poem's closing rhythm — must fail / will triumph — is the same divergence the whole poem has been building.

【白话串讲】 海子写《以梦为马》：“我要做远方的忠诚的儿子和物质的短暂情人”——“和所有以梦为马的诗人一样，我不得不和烈士和小丑走在同一道路上”——“万人都要将火熄灭，我一人独将此火高高举起”——他写以梦为马的追求。 【意象与手法】 “我要做远方的忠诚的儿子和物质的短暂情人”以“远方”与“物质”对举；“和所有以梦为马的诗人一样”反复点题；“万人都要将火熄灭，我一人独将此火高高举起”以“火”的意象写孤独坚守；“但诗歌本身以太阳必将胜利”以太阳写诗歌的力量。意象雄浑、语言炽烈。 【情感与主旨】 海子以“以梦为马”自喻，写诗人对理想、对远方、对诗歌的忠诚与追求，在孤独中坚守精神的火种，是海子诗歌精神的宣言，体现其“麦地之子”式的浪漫与决绝。 【名句点睛】 常考“万人都要将火熄灭，我一人独将此火高高举起”以举火写孤独坚守；“我的事业就是要成为太阳的一生”以太阳写诗人理想。

Allusions

The poem's borrowings are mostly native and mostly material. Liangshan, the stockade of thrown rocks, is the banner hill of the outlaw Zhang Song Jiang; Dunhuang is the desert cave city built of earth; the mountain of the gods is the axis of northern Chinese myth; and the dragon named 'Horse' is a piece of wordplay, since the character for horse is also a syllable that can stand for the animal itself, so that the poet rides a creature whose name is also the word for horseness. The grain that must be held and that will bear children in the homeland is the oldest of Chinese poetic obsessions. The sun, however, is not Chinese in origin: it is the figure of the Western symbolic order, and the poem's devotion to it — the naming of it, the becoming it — belongs to the modern lyric's absorption of European romanticism.

诗中「我要做远方的忠诚的儿子和物质的短暂情人」「万人都要将火熄灭我一人独将此火高高举起」「此火为大开花落英于神圣的祖国」「但诗歌本身以太阳必将胜利」等语，皆含典故故实。「我要做远方的忠诚的儿子和物质的短暂情人」写我要做远方的忠诚的儿子和物质的短暂情人；「万人都要将火熄灭我一人独将此火高高举起」写万人都要将火熄灭我一人独将此火高高举起；「此火为大开花落英于神圣的祖国」写此火为大开花落英于神圣的祖国；「但诗歌本身以太阳必将胜利」用太阳之典（太阳写光明与不朽），写但诗歌本身以太阳必将胜利。诗人用太阳之典入诗，不着痕迹，而把理想咏志之情写得真切可感，是善于熔铸典故的体现。此等用典之法，熔铸古今而不着痕迹，既不炫博以示学，亦不拘泥于旧解，正见诗人学养之深与运思之巧。读者于此等处尤当细心玩味，方能领会其言外之旨与味外之味。

Commentary

The poem is the clearest statement of the vocation that Hai Zi preached and, in his sense of the word, died for. It has had an unusually long life outside poetry criticism: its line about holding the fire aloft is on the walls of Chinese schoolrooms and on the covers of anthologies, and the final couplet is the one most often quoted at funerals and farewells by readers who have never read the rest. Critics have differed about its value — some read it as a authentic declaration of the poet's mission, others as the most successful piece of a self-conscious poet culture — but almost all agree about its technique: one symbol carried to the point of identity with the speaker, one refrain holding the whole in place, and a closing which refuses to resolve the poem's own contradiction.

这首《以梦为马》，是海子写理想咏志之作，写我要做远方的忠诚的儿子、万人都要将火熄灭、此火为大、但诗歌本身以太阳必将胜利之情，雄浑咏志。起「我要做远方的忠诚的儿子，和物质的短暂情人」——我要做远方的忠诚的儿子，和物质的短暂情人。写我要做远方的忠诚的儿子：我要做远方的忠诚的儿子、和物质的短暂情人——忠诚的儿子、短暂情人；「万人都要将火熄灭，我一人独将此火高高举起」——万人都要将火熄灭，我一人独将此火高高举起。写万人都要将火熄灭：万人都要将火熄灭、我一人独将此火高高举起——将火熄灭、高高举起；「此火为大，开花落英于神圣的祖国」——此火为大，开花落英于神圣的祖国。写此火为大：此火为大、开花落英于神圣的祖国——此火为大、神圣的祖国；结「但诗歌本身以太阳必将胜利」——但诗歌本身以太阳必将胜利。写但诗歌本身以太阳必将胜利：但诗歌本身、以太阳必将胜利——诗歌本身、必将胜利。这「但诗歌本身以太阳必将胜利」，是全诗之结：以太阳必将胜利写其咏志。全诗雄浑咏志，以火写情，正是海子诗中的名篇。

Prosody

Line by line

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