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With great effort and after reading it three times, I finally have a better understanding of the irony that O`Henry employs in his lesser-known story, “The Poet and the Peasant.” Once understood, it elicits an understanding smile, just as it did when I finished the last word. I looked up many words in my dictionary. The author is truly a wordsmith, much like Winston Churchill, who also possessed a mastery of the English language. He died leaving behind his words. Allow me to share a translated passage from my WeChat moment by Professor Xinmin Zheng from Shanghai Foreign Studies University, discussing lexical freedom: “Some pursue financial freedom; others seek freedom of speech; some yearn for intellectual freedom. Currently, I aspire to pursue a different kind of freedom: lexical freedom, the ability to use vocabulary freely. It means having a rich and diverse vocabulary at my disposal to express thoughts and emotions with precision and creativity.” Professor Zheng has garnered a crowd of fans with his graceful and beautiful English on the internet. His translations are admirable, as they are both idiomatic and natural, reflecting his mastery of the English language. He serves as an excellent example for me. But who am I? This is an important question for each of us. In Greek philosophy, “know thyself” is the first lesson imparted. Throughout your life, your mission is to discover yourself. Reading is my way of finding myself. When I read, I feel at ease; I feel my existence; I feel my soul at peace within my body; I feel happy and idyllic. “The Poet and the Peasant” explores the theme of idyllic life in reality and poetry, with a strong undertone of irony. In reality, a rustic, bucolic man is looked down upon in the city when he dresses as if he were born from nature: “His trousers were corduroy, his coat short-sleeved, with buttons in the middle of his back… And above one ear, in his hair, was a wisp of hay…” He carries $950 in his valise, which the author describes as an impossible task. A Boston man would not use it to carry his lunch or law books to the office. He is rejected everywhere. Ironically, those who praise the idyllic life also reject him. Those who claim to love the idyllic life only love it in their imagination, not in reality. Rusticity satisfies them with its romantic imagination and dreamy scenes, but the reality of rustic life and affairs frightens them away. A peasant struggling to make a living is highly unlikely to write a poem praising the idyllic life. In the story, a poet named Conant writes a poem called “The Doe and the Brook.” The author writes that it is a fine specimen of the kind of work you would expect from a poet who has only experienced nature through the florist’s windows and had ornithological discussions with waiters. Despite his lack of rural life experience, the editor appreciates the poem: “When I read the first line of 'The Doe and the Brook,’” said the editor, “I knew it was the work of someone who has a deep connection with nature. The artistic quality of the line did not blind me to that fact. To use a somewhat simple comparison, it was as if a wild, free child of the woods and fields were to dress in fashionable attire and walk down Broadway. The true nature of the person would still shine through.” I quote the entire paragraph because even a missing word would affect the desired outcome the author intends to achieve through the masterful use of words. And please, dear reader, imagine that shabbily dressed peasant who owned a large sum of money and bought fashionable attire to walk down Broadway! What happened? “In an instant, the wisest and sharpest eyes in the city had their attention fixed on him.” A false idyllic poet would receive a check on Thursday due to his false depiction of an idyllic life, while a genuine idyllic peasant would be welcomed for his false portrayal of a city man. Such irony! |
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