Chapter 4: “Analogy” in Yang Huan’s Children’s Poetry

Section 1: Aesthetic Foundation — Empathy (Emotional Projection)
From the perspective of modern aesthetics, “analogy” originates from “empathy” (empathy). “Empathy” refers to projecting one’s own emotions onto external objects, as if perceiving that external objects also possess the same emotions. This is a very common aesthetic experience. Based on the author’s long-term and extensive reading of modern poetry, three of the most frequently used expressive rhetorical devices are summarized: metaphor, description, and analogy. Especially in children’s poetry, the frequency of analogy is even higher. This is of course because in the developmental process of children’s mind and body, during the Preoperational stage and the Concrete Operational stage, children still retain an intuitive (instinctive) mode of thinking toward concrete objects. Even though such intuition is often not consistent with logic and empirical rules, it reflects the innocent and lovely nature of children.

Section 2: The Rhetorical Structure of “Analogy”
The rhetorical structure of “analogy” includes the “analogical subject” (implied entity), the “analogical object” (target entity), and the “analogical words” applied to the analogical subject. Although the “analogical subject” in analogy is explicit, it generally does not appear in the text; instead, only the “analogical words” are transferred and applied to the “analogical object.” The most common case is using verbs and adjectives describing humans to describe objects, or using personal pronouns and nouns referring to humans to designate things, or using names of objects to refer to people. Analogy also has an imitative nature (also called “imitability”), which, through associative similarity, transforms A into B for description, thereby giving A the characteristics or image of B. Thus, between the analogical object and the analogical subject, there are often points of similarity.

Section 3: The Use of “Analogy” in Yang Huan’s Children’s Poetry
In the history of modern Taiwanese poetry, the poet Yang Huan is undoubtedly a pioneer of children’s poetry. After coming to Taiwan with the military, he began creating a substantial number of high-quality children’s poems, injecting a continuous stream of vitality into children’s literature, which at that time was still in a barren state. The use of “analogy” in Yang Huan’s children’s poetry mainly includes three types: “personification,” “objectification,” and “object-to-object substitution.”

1. Personification
This refers to describing an object as a human being, projecting human emotions and characteristics onto it. According to subject matter, it can be divided into: (1) personification of living beings; (2) personification of non-living things; (3) personification of abstract objects or concepts. For expressive needs, human essential characteristics (speech, thinking, action, creation, and emotion) are transferred onto other things, allowing them to possess certain human traits. This makes the depiction of objects concrete and vivid (visualized), making readers feel intimacy and easily emotionally affected.

1. Personification of Living Beings
“Poem of the Forest”
“Good morning, sun! Good morning, morning!”
Miss Magpie is the first to open her eyes,
opens the green shutters,
and toward the sun that has just come to work,
toward the morning that has just gotten up,
calls again and again.

Carrying dewdrops on their heads,
the little fungi gather from all directions,
lining up into rows of small squads,
letting Mr. Wind be the commander,
on a playground covered with wildflowers,
beginning their exercises.

Woodpecker uncle is the most respected by everyone,
because he is a kind-hearted good doctor.
Every day he is busy from morning to night,
before even having breakfast,
he is called away to treat the old cedar tree grandpa.
Without a thermometer,
and without a stethoscope,
he carefully examines the old cedar tree,
using his long, sharp, pointed beak.

Little white rabbit brother is the most obedient to his mother,
getting up early to brush his teeth and wash his long ears.
He is a diligent little gardener,
not lazy, loving work.
He plants small flowers and grasses,
a field of small beans, and also a field of cucumbers.
What makes him happiest is seeing
the seeds he planted grow into tender sprouts.

Miss Oriole is a little musician,
but she is unwilling to stay at home playing the harmonica.
She fears her forest friends are too lonely,
so she flies everywhere to visit them,
letting tired friends sit down and rest,
and sings a few of the best songs in the world.

Foxes and wolves no longer do bad things,
they are now close friendly neighbors,
a pair of diligent good students.
They walk together, go to school together,
Teacher Bee teaches them to sing and read,
and the forest is their big classroom.

The owl always wears a pair of big glasses,
you should know he is the most learned old doctor.
In the daytime he locks himself in his room,
reading thick hardbound books one after another,
and at night he does not want to sleep at all,
continuously telling stories to the moon and stars,
and when he becomes happy, he lets out strange laughter.

In each section of “Poem of the Forest,” several characters appear in personified form, in the following order:
First section: Miss Magpie, Sun, Morning, Little Fungi, Mr. Wind
Second section: Woodpecker, Old Cedar Tree
Third section: Little White Rabbit
Fourth section: Miss Oriole
Fifth section: Fox, Wolf, Teacher Bee
Sixth section: Owl
Among them, Sun, Morning, and Mr. Wind belong to “personification of non-living things.”

2. Personification of Non-Living Things
“Rainbow of Colors”
Upon receiving the order from the Sun King for a great cleaning,
the little raindrops all boarded the fast-running dark clouds,
and raced away from the heavenly palace.

They gave rice fields and rivers a full drink of water,
they bathed the filthy valleys,
and then came to clean the city that the cleaners could never fully sweep,
and also washed the humid, dusty sky.

To reward their great ability,
the Sun King gave them a beautiful long ribbon,
which became the seven-colored rainbow
of red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple
hanging in the bright post-rain sky.

In this poem, “Sun King,” “little raindrops,” “dark clouds,” and “valleys” are all personified non-living things.

3. Personification of Abstract Objects or Concepts
“Home”
Tree leaves are the cradle of caterpillars.
Flowers are the beds of butterflies.
Every singing bird has a comfortable nest.
Hardworking ants and bees all live in beautiful dormitories.
Crabs and small fish’s homes are in the blue little river.
The vast green field is the homeland of grasshoppers and dragonflies.

Poor wind has no home,
running everywhere but unable to find a place to rest.
Drifting clouds have no home,
and when the sky turns cloudy they anxiously cry without stopping.

Little brothers and sisters are the happiest!
From birth, parents prepare a home for them,
where they grow up safely and peacefully.

“Home” is an abstract collective noun. Through observation of nature’s animals and plants, Yang Huan uses vivid imagery to outline various forms of “home.”

In addition, the combined use of personification is very common in Yang Huan’s children’s poetry.

“Paper Boat”
Hurry up and fold a small paper boat,
do not be reluctant to use a sheet of white craft paper,
and use your colorful crayons
to draw a little sailor wearing a crooked white hat.

Little crickets are going to attend a music concert,
crossing the river to sing;
little ants, tired from a busy day, miss their mothers,
and must cross the river to hurry home.

Look, look—they are all getting anxious!

When Mr. Sun says farewell to the daytime,
when Miss Cloud is kissed into a blushing face,
when tadpole children hide under the riverbed to rest,
let your little paper boat set sail!

Let it float across the small bridge,
let it gently float across the small bridge,
do not wake the evening glow sleeping on the river.

Hurry row! Hurry row!
Strictly remind your little sailor
not to stop the boat halfway,
not to let it drift ashore to pick golden dandelion flowers for his little lover.

You should know that at this moment,
the lively music concert has already sounded its bright little trumpet once again.
Even the mother of the little ants is anxiously waiting for him to come home for dinner.

When the moon girl looks into the river as a mirror;
when the stars mischievously pop their heads out;
when the night wind whispers to the grass;
when all flowers sleep and all insects sleep,
fireflies should also come carrying lanterns,
to welcome your little paper boat and its faithful sailor,
safely turning into the quiet little harbor filled with reeds.

In this poem, Yang Huan uses both animate and inanimate personification, making each sequentially unfolding scene vivid and lively, filled with warm and sweet childlike charm.

II. Object Transformation (Metaphorical Reification / “Imitating Objects”)

“To describe a person by comparing them to things, projecting the characteristics of external objects onto humans. According to subject matter, it can be divided into: (1) imitation of living objects, and (2) imitation of non-living objects. According to length, it can be divided into: (1) full-text object transformation, and (2) sentence-level object transformation. In ‘object poems,’ if the poem adopts the perspective of the object itself and is narrated in the first person ‘I,’ it mostly employs object transformation.”

1. Imitation of Living Objects

〈The Little Snail〉
I carry my little house on my back as I walk,
I carry my little house on my back as I climb trees,
slowly, slowly,
not rushing, not panicking.
I carry my little house when I travel,
visiting everywhere,
visiting the sun that kisses flowers and grass.
I want to ask him:
why does he not come
to shine
on
my home—
such a damp and filthy place?

〈The Little Ants〉
We are a group of hardworking little laborers who never slack off,
unable to carry big brother’s storybook,
unable to drag away big sister’s colorful yarn,
we come to carry the crumbs left by little sister.
When it rains,
little mushrooms hold up the most beautiful umbrellas for us;
when crossing a river,
flower petals row us across in the most stable boats.

〈The Little Cricket〉
Klee-li! Klee-li!
Mother’s stories are so pleasant.
Klee-li! Klee-li!
The doll’s eyes are so beautiful.
Klee-li! Klee-li!
Who made your little face and hands so black and dirty?
Klee-li! Klee-li!
Stop crying and making noise, just sleep,
my song will continue until dawn.

〈The Little Spider〉
To stick the mosquito’s annoying pointed mouth.
To stick the fly’s restless little wings.
Careful, little sister bee,
do not fly here and bring me honey!
The wind blows falling flowers onto my web,
dew hangs pearls on my web:
it is beautiful,
it is my home.

These four children’s poems themed around insects all adopt a first-person “I” narrative perspective. Such object poems generally use object transformation, imagining oneself as a specific creature in order to express its characteristics while also embedding the poet’s emotions and thoughts.

2. Imitation of Non-Living Objects

〈Song of Soap〉
Children, you must all know me,
saying I am a good bar of soap.
I am not like those colorful fragrant soaps
displayed in luxurious shop windows of large department stores.
From the moment I was born,
I was placed by workers into a rough wooden box.
But I am very happy,
and I am also very proud.
I am willing to help your mothers wash clothes with hardship,
and I am even more willing to accompany you in blowing joyful bubbles.
Come, let us become good friends!
Let me wash away your black and dirty little hands every day,
and happily watch you wear clean and beautiful clothes
as you go to school!

In this poem, the poet imagines himself as a bar of soap. From the soap’s perspective, he describes how, although born into humble circumstances, he is highly useful. This mirrors the poet’s own background of poverty yet striving upward, making the poem to some extent autobiographical in intent.

III. Object-to-Object Transformation

“Object-to-object transformation refers to comparing one object to another, whereby the former is endowed with the ‘characteristics’ or ‘attributes’ of the latter. Scholar Huang Lizhen classifies object-to-object transformation under ‘object imitation,’ but the present author argues that although the ‘imaged subject’ in object imitation is also an object, the primary agent is still human, which differs from object-to-object transformation in which both subject and target are objects.”

〈Summer Night〉
Butterflies and bees return carrying the honey of flowers,
flocks of sheep and herds of cattle bid farewell to the fields and return home,
the red sun also rolls home on its fiery wheel,
when street lamps light up and bid goodnight to the village,
summer night quietly arrives.

It slowly climbs down from the hillside.
It comes! It comes!
It slowly climbs down from the tops of coconut trees.
It scatters pearls across the sky and a large bright silver coin.
……

In this poem, the red sun is compared to a fiery wheel, stars are compared to scattered pearls across the sky, and the moon is compared to a large bright silver coin. The imagery becomes more vivid and lively. This poem was once included in elementary school textbooks; its lively visual sequences provide children with rich imaginative space and serve as an excellent aesthetic teaching material.

〈Key〉
I have a bunch of keys.
The clumsy and short ones are like fools and dwarfs,
the delicate and graceful ones are like a princess in her beauty.

When I am restless,
they insist on quarrelling loudly,
like a set of cold and emotionless shackles;
when I am calm,
they whisper softly,
making me recall
the ringing of cattle and sheep bells in a mature autumn.

The clumsy and short keys are like fools and dwarfs; the delicate and graceful keys are like a beautiful princess. Both sentences are cases of object-to-object transformation. After this transformation, the image of the keys becomes concrete and vivid. Readers may appreciate it as a continuous sequence of visual scenes, experiencing the author’s aesthetic perception of the keys.

〈Fan〉
The poet says: wind is flowing water rolling in the Milky Way;
I think: then this fan must be a waterwheel.
In these flowing days,
in these drought-stricken days,
it works busily,
guiding the rolling waters toward me…
making my thoughts calm and beautiful,
like lovers walking on a moonlit forest path,
making my poetic heart rest comfortably,
like an infant sleeping in a kingdom of lush green banana leaves.

Comparing a fan to a waterwheel is indeed a beautiful imagination. Through image transfer, fan and waterwheel merge into one. This is an associative connection based on similar function—guidance—thus belonging to “analogical association.” In the 1940s, when electric fans were not yet widespread, having a fan to cool oneself and relieve heat was considered a wonderful enjoyment of life.

〈Eyes〉
The little black cat has two large yellow eyes,
and on nights without the moon,
those eyes are its lamps.
The little sparrow’s eyes are the most agile,
joyfully flying about,
searching for lonely children and singing them the happiest songs.

The little mouse’s eyes open only at night,
not daring to come out to bask in the sun or take a walk,
forever guarding a dark and damp little hole in the ground.

Mother’s eyes are as warm and bright as the sun,
she looks at you with a smile, and she blesses you forever,
because you are her most beloved treasure.

Your eyes are windows,
open them toward the bright sun!
Open them toward the blue sky!
Open them toward the best path you will walk!
Do not, upon seeing books, lazily complain: “Oh! My head hurts!”
and then tightly shut them like a closed clam shell.

This poem “Eyes” sequentially compares the cat’s eyes to “lamps,” the mother’s eyes to the “sun,” and your eyes to “windows.” Although literal metaphor is used, each image immediately expands into the characteristics of its target. Therefore, from a semantic perspective, it is closer to “object transformation.”