詩人的追求

應修人，1925年加入中國共產黨。1932年，任中共江蘇省委宣傳部長。革命烈士。為了黨的事業，多少先烈以自己的生命舖筑前進之路……

我一遍又一遍讀應修人的日記，讀他的詩，一次又一次去他的故居。應修人是個憂國憂民，又將憂愁情愫訴之筆墨的人；而且他不是個單純的筆墨訴情者，而是樹立了理想并付諸行動的人。這一切讓我對這一介書生懷有一種敬仰之情。中國共產黨成立90周年之時，也是應修人誕辰110周年之際，我重讀了《應修人日記》。坦率地說，這是一本很少有文學色彩的記事本，是一介書生自述的流水賬，晨起何時，晚臥何時，工作、讀書、寫詩，或外出訪友，或回鄉與親人團聚，去哪兒訪誰都記得一清二楚，在家與誰在一起也記得明明白白，偶爾抒發一些心聲……但這屬私密性的文字，卻讓我有感而發，寫一寫應修人在成為中國共產黨黨員之前的故事。

應修人的日記“始丙辰之端陽日”，即1916年6月5日。以后，至少有四年，即1917、1919、1922和1923年，他差不多每天讀書看報，每天有書刊進出。

應修人出生于慈城南一個叫應家河塘的村莊。他的詩《山里人家》描寫家鄉的景色：溪外面是李樹擁梅樹，溪里面是桑樹領茶樹，溪水琤琮地流過伊家底門前，伊家是住在那邊的竹園邊。

100多年前，這個浙北沿海小村的鄉民以繡花為職業，有錢人家到上海開繡花店，無錢的則送子弟到鄉親的繡花店當學徒。應修人的祖父應玉祥在繡花店賺了錢，就與朋友合資開了繡花店。父親應慶泰在寧波的布店當店員，有一定股份。因為應修人是家里的獨子，也是家里唯一孩子，父母、姨父母等親戚都十分寶貝他，上學讀書比鄉鄰晚一些。14歲的應修人小學畢業那年，應父便送他去上海妹夫親戚那兒，希望兒子能在父親起業發家的地方再次發跡而振興家族。

事實也是如此，應修人從鄉村到十里洋場的上海，在豫源錢莊謀生，收入不錯，又頗得這位親戚經理的賞識，秦先生常叫他寫這寫那的，他轉入上海中國棉業銀行做職員時，秦先生又特聘他為個人書記。這樣的職業，這樣的待遇，可謂捧上了金飯碗。而他卻一心籌劃自己的追求——如何重歸農村。“吾國危急，非興實業未可言救”；“學商何如學農好，想共鄉人樂歲穰。”這皆是他歸農的旨意。

為此，應修人一邊買了《新農村》《農業淺說》《耕種學》《植物學》《肥料學》諸多農業類書刊讀研，一邊聯系南京省立第一農校想讀書深造。他離家后常有書信向父親稟報。應父也以書信教示。他回信告父：“習農甚有興趣，更細告鄉民之無識，及歐美日等國之如何如何考察，所以民富國強，兒實憫之，故習農，此兒之志，誓必達到；商則非兒所長，覺甚無味，惟大人鑒之。”

應父竭力反對他的棄商歸農。應修人也理解父親的反對，便寄書信給舅父、伯父等親戚，以求得他們的支持：“庶不負家父一番跋涉，歸農為報國與家，及造福鄉里而起。”之后，他不斷向父親寄有關農業的書刊，如養雞、菜籽提油技術，寄一些新種子、新樹種。為了實現歸農的理想，1917年秋天，應修人特告假回家考察農業。其間，他與他的朋友一起看山地，試想租賃種植樹木；他蹲在田頭觀察農人割稻情形，向農人請教如何栽植番薯。不知是兒子執著的舉動，還是未來農業的誘惑，這年10月14日，“歸農事，已蒙雙親許”。此刻的應修人高興極了，擬資本預算：一千，少或七八百；初期三四年，能養雞五百只，養羊一百只；三四年植樹……他開始實現自己的計劃。沒多久，他的歸農終因親友十之八不贊成，山地租賃受人欺壓而受挫。

眼看歸農無望，應修人又將自己的字“修士”改為“修人”，于1922年元旦自勉：“以詩畫修煉”。同年4月，他去杭州會詩友，與汪靜之、潘漠華、馮雪峰游覽西湖景色。5日組結了“湖畔詩社”。湖畔詩社成立于新詩最興旺的日子里，朱自清說過：據我所知，新文學運動以來，新詩最興旺的日子是1919到1923這四年間。之后，應修人籌銀195元出版了《湖畔》詩集。詩集出版后得到了郭沫若、郁達夫、葉圣陶等好評，朱自清還撰寫了《讀“湖畔”詩集》專文揄揚。由于詩集反映了五四精神，唱出了時代的新聲，所以它影響了一代人，特別是年輕人。著名文學家胡風，回憶起《湖畔》對他的影響時說，這本詩集“教給我被五四運動喚醒了‘自我’的年輕人的感覺，救出了我被周圍的生活圍困了的心情”“使我真正接近了文學也接近了人生”。后來小說家柔石等人曾要求加入湖畔詩社，不讓他們加入，他們還不高興。

刊出《湖畔》詩集后，應修人一邊籌款幫助朋友，尤其是在校的學生朋友出詩集，一邊思索新詩如何傳承古詩之原理。1922年7月31日，他給一位作家的信中寫道：“我很有個妄想，創個適合中國字的詩體，因我覺得現在的新詩，多像譯出來的有韻無韻的詩，很少一些中國原有的詩或俗謠的風俗。”這一觀點，今天讀來雖不完整，但頗似聞一多的詩學觀點，即新詩的“三美（音韻、畫面和格律）學說，這在新詩創作初露端倪的年代是多么富有學術意義。

從應修人的日記得知，買書讀書是他的主要的業余愛好。應修人買書化費時常超出自己的預算，買的書很雜，除上述農業、詩歌方面書刊外，還有《小說月報》《世界格言》《意志修養法》等，買來的書自己讀完后，再贈送給朋友。1918年元旦，他的《成功人傳》送諸友，書中夾附詩一首，其中有“國恥民苦吾儕責”句以表他的理想。

應修人于1919年4月20日創辦“修士書箱”，他將收藏的書刊編出書目，供友人借閱。四個月后，“修士書箱”改名“共書社”。“共書社”后又成為上海通訊圖書館的基礎。修人先生所倡導的“以無猜忌的真情接待借書者，不收租費，不討保證，也不希望任何酬勞”的上海通訊圖書館運行方式成了上海第一家“完全公開的圖書館。”讀者至少150人，其中有鄭振鐸、郭沫若、葉圣陶、郁達夫等新文學作家。

合上《應修人日記》一書，讓我又想起日記中的一段話：“這是我的日記，庸庸碌碌，瑣瑣碎碎，很不足看的。看了徒然糟蹋諸君寶貴的光陰，我看諸君還是不看好。”想必作日記時，修人先生不曾想過他的日記于后人的意義，更不會想到在他的百年之后，日記被整理后出版。應該說，書生的追求后來升華成一個共產黨人的治國平天下的崇高理想。1933年5月14日，應修人去上海昆山路昆山花園7號聯系工作，抗拒特務追逼而墜樓身亡成為革命烈士。應修人革命行動壯烈，而日記中絲毫沒有一句豪言壯語，有的是類似“國危民苦是誰責，工困商疲待孰伸”——一種帶有詩人意氣的淡淡的憂愁。這讓人們讀到一個先烈曾經的理想，讓人們讀到了一個革命者的樸素情懷。

Young Poet’s Pursuit

By Wang Jing

Ying Xiuren (1900-1933)， born in Cicheng Town， Ningbo City， Zhejiang Province， is remembered largely because he was one of the preeminent poets of the Lakefront Poets Society of Hangzhou， the very first modern poetry organization in the modern history of China. Other members of the society include Pan Mohua， Feng Xuefeng， and Wang Jingzhi， all preeminent poets. Ying， however， was more than a modern poet， as indicated by history and by his private journal that he kept for years.

During the May 30th Movement of 1925， Ying Xiuren joined the Communist Party of China， and entered Moscow Zhongshan University in November 1927 for further education. He finished his study in Soviet Union and went back to China in 1930. He worked as the director of Information/Publicity Department of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China. He was also a member of the League of Chinese Left-Wing Writers. On May 14th， 1933， he went to meet his comrades at a safe house in Shanghai and KMT special agents were waiting for him there. He refused to be arrested and jumped off the roof and killed himself. He was 33 years old.

The “Diary of Ying Xiuren” reveals who he was before he became a communist in 1925.

Born in a small village in Cicheng Town on February 7， 1900， Ying was the only child of his parents. Like most of the fellow villagers， his grandfather made money in embroidery business and started a joint venture with some friends. His father worked in a cloth store in Ningbo. Ying Xiuren started primary school later than his peers and graduated at age 14. The boy never got a chance to continue his study. He was sent to work in a private bank in Shanghai where a relative was a manager. The relative appreciated the young man’s capability. Later， Ying was transferred to work as a secretary in China Cotton Industry Bank of Shanghai.

The job was well paid， but the young man was discontented with this job. He dreamed of reconstructing China through modern agriculture undertakings. In order to make his dream come true， he bought books and began to study modern agriculture and he contacted an agricultural academy in Nanjing. As he spent money on preparations for his dream， he was often broke. After finding the son failed to make his ends meet， the father wrote him a letter instructing him how to save money. Ying Xiuren wrote back saying that he was very much interested in farming. His father objected the son’s unrealistic ambition， but Ying Xiuren asked his uncles to persuade his father. In the autumn of 1917， Ying went on leave and returned to his hometown for a field study. In an entry in his diary dated October 14， 1917， Ying Xiuren wrote that his parents had agreed for him to quit the job in Shanghai and come home to try his hands at farming.

Though he had prepared for his farming project for three years， he ran into setbacks one after another. His relatives refused to support him financially， believing the project had no chance to succeed. And he had a dispute about the rented farmland.

His farming project failed and he came back to Shanghai. But the hope still lingered. He advised his father to grow certain vegetables. And he began to save money for his future projects.

As his zeal for farming gradually faded， his passion for writing poems began to flame up vehemently. Though he did not have proper school education， he read extensively. His diary indicated that for four years， he read and wrote almost every day. He began to publish from 1920 on.

In April， 1922， he traveled to the West Lake in Hangzhou. He and his friends set up the Lakefront Poets Society in this ancient capital and published “Lakefront”， a collection of the poems by Ying and his friends. According to Zhu Ziqing， a poet and aesthetic of the 20th century China， the four years from 1919 to 1923 marked the culmination of new poetry in China. The collection was published with 195 silver dollars raised by Ying Xiuren. The collection received favorable reviews from literary giants of the time such as Guo Moruo， Yu Dafu， Ye Shengtao， and Zhu Ziqing. The poems in the collection fully expressed the spirit of the May Fourth Movement and gave voice to the aspirations of the era. The poems influenced a lot of young people.

Ying Xiuren bought and read books. His diary indicates that he spent a great deal of time reading， cultivating his temperament. On April 20， 1919， he set up a small library with his books. He made a list of all the books in his private library and made them available to his friends. He named the library after himself. Four months later， he removed his name from the title and made it a library of shared books. Ying and his friends contributed their own books to the library and turned it into a correspondence library， the first ever public library in Shanghai. Records show that at the peak time， the library had more than 150 readers across China and abroad.

After he joined the CPC and undertook secret work in Shanghai， Ying gradually gave up poem writing， though he was still a member of the League of Left-Wing Writers.

Though a staunch revolutionary， his diary does not have purple entries about his revolutionary ambition. At the bottom of his heart， he was a scholar. His ambition and political undertakings all pointed to his people-oriented care. He cared for the future of the nation and the people.