The History Of Boom And Drop Of Red Flag Ballads

As the product of "new ballads movement", Red Flag Ballads obtained muchaffirmation and praise since it was published in1959. However, the phenomena didnot last long, Red Flag Ballads gradually faded from people’s memory along with theend of the "new ballads". When Red Flag Ballads was reprinted in1979, it sufferedfrom unexpected negation and criticism. Until now, such evaluation has neverdisappeared. The mixed comments not only reflect the change of social context butalso reflect the different choices about aesthetic taste and poetry road, even thetransition of people’s mentality.This essay includes three parts. The first part describes the origin of Red FlagBallads through analysis and interpretation of related articles, thus presenting thegeneral situation of Red Flag Ballads ’boom and the historical reason why it is praised.Finally, it is concluded that the main reasons are: the transition of literature policy, thedemand of the public and the requirement of poetry’s internal development.The second part summarizes the historical process of Red Flag Ballads’ declineand presents the public’s question and negation to Red Flag Ballads. During thisperiod, people denying Red Flag Ballads shows their new value orientation, they willno longer believe in "literature should serve for politics", they object to "politicalcriterion first" and doubt the development road of new poetry tending to folk song.The third part focuses on the enlightenment from rise and decline of Red FlagBallads. In regard to comment on literature, it is common to see that different peoplehave different views and any comment involves its value standpoint. It is often saidthat every era has its own literature, so we might as well give more attention togeneration and development of a literature rather than use current theory and interestto measure it. In a word, we should regard literature as human’s spiritual history, thusunderstanding compatriots’ dream and passion during "Great Leap Forward" around 1958from Red Flag Ballads, which is also an important spiritual history.