Phoenix Papaya is a poem in The Book of Songs, the first collection of poems in ancient China. The whole poem consists of three chapters, each with four sentences. There is a lot of controversy about the theme of this poem. After textual research and interpretation by Han people, Song people, Qing people and even today's scholars, there are seven sayings about this poem in the history of literature, such as "Beauty Qi Huangong", "Men and women give each other a gift and answer each other", "Courtiers give each other a gift and answer each other", "Satire gives each other a bribe" and "Express the meaning of reciprocity". In art, the sentences of the whole poem have a high degree of overlap and repetition, and have a strong musicality. However, the uneven sentence patterns have caused ups and downs, achieving the effect of both sound and emotion, with a strong folk song color.
Give me papaya (1) and Joan (2). Robbery is also (3), always think it's good!
Vote for me with Mu Tao (4) and repay me with Qiong Yao. Not to thank you, always cherish your feelings.
Give me a plum [5] and repay me with Joan wine. Not to thank you, always cherish your feelings. [ 1]
⑴ Papaya: Deciduous shrub (or small tree) of Rosaceae, with oblong, yellow and fragrant fruit, eaten after boiling or soaking in honey. Press: The papaya produced in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Taiwan Province and other places today is called raw papaya, which is different from the papaya here.
⑵ Joan (jū): A beautiful jade name. The following "Qiong Jiu" and "Qiong Yao" have the same meaning.
(3) Bandits: the same as "no", no.
(4) Mutao: the fruit name is hawthorn, which is smaller than papaya.
5. Muli: The name of the fruit, namely hawthorn, is also called Muli. [2][3]
You give me papaya, and I give it to Joan in return. Not just thanking, but cherishing feelings and being friends forever.
You give me Mu Tao, and I will give Qiong Yao in return. Not just thanking, but cherishing feelings and being friends forever.
You give me Muli, and I'll take Joan Jiu in return. Not just thanking, but cherishing feelings and being friends forever. [2][3]
There are many different explanations about the creation background of Feng Wei Papaya, an ancient poem in pre-Qin dynasty. According to the statistics of Zhang Shubo's Collection of National Styles, there are mainly seven kinds of statements. The Preface to Mao Poetry in the Han Dynasty said: "Papaya is beautiful now. Tijen was defeated by Cao in Wei, but Qi Huangong saved him and sealed him, leaving only his chariots and horses. Wei people think about it, want to report it thick, and make poems. " This view was supported by Yan Gan and others in the Song Dynasty, and by Wei Yuan and others in the Qing Dynasty. According to the textual research of three poems about the same period as Mao Dawei, Chen Qiaozong's Textual Research on Lu's Legacy, Lu's "writing this article to reward the courtiers' thoughts" and Wang Xianqian's "The Collection of Three Poets' Righteousness" also have the same opinion. Since Zhu in the Song Dynasty, the theory of "men and women answering each other" has become popular. "Biography of Poetry" said: "I want to repay you with a little thing. Although it is not enough to repay you, I want to think it is good and don't forget my ears. Doubt is also a word that men and women give answers to, such as "fine woman." This reflects the innovative spirit and the spirit of doubting the ancient times of the school of poetic abandonment in Song Dynasty. However, this statement was refuted by Yao Jiheng, one of the important representatives of the independent thought poetry school in Qing Dynasty. "The Book of Songs General Theory" said: "It is ridiculous to be a friend, why should it be a man or a woman!" Modern scholars generally draw lessons from Zhu's theory and point out more clearly that this poem is a love poem and the author should be a young man. [2][3]
There is a saying in Daya called "Give me a peach and return the plum", and later "Give me a peach and return the plum" became an idiom, meaning to give the other person a reply and return the gift. Comparatively speaking, although Feng Wei's Papaya also has the idiom "Give a papaya (peach, plum) and return it to Qiong (Yao, Jiu)" (for example, Song Youmao's Poems of the Tang Dynasty recorded that "Give a tree to Qiong, and it will be righteous"), Feng Wei's Papaya is more widely read and is the most widely read in the Book of Songs.
Due to different opinions on the theme of this poem, papaya, as a literary image, has been endowed with many different symbolic meanings. Among them, "courtiers are loyal to the monarch", "affection is more precious than jade" and "courtesy is lighter than affection" have gradually become the mainstream connotation of the image of "papaya".
Feng Wei's Papaya is a poem with distinctive features in terms of text and sentence structure. First of all, there is no typical sentence pattern in The Book of Songs-four sentences. It is not impossible to use four words (using four words will become "give me papaya (peach, plum) and give me Joan (Yao, Jiu); Bandits think that reporting is always good, but the author intentionally or unintentionally uses this sentence pattern to create a kind of ups and downs charm, and it is easy to achieve the effect of sound and emotion when singing. Secondly, statements have a very high degree of coincidence and overlap. Don't say that the last two sentences in each chapter are exactly the same, even the first two sentences are only one word apart, and although the meanings of the three words "Qionggui", "Qiongyao" and "Qiongjiu" are slightly different, papaya ","Mutao "and" Li Mu "belong to the same plant according to Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica, and the differences between them are roughly the same as oranges, tangerines and tangerines. These three chapters are basically repetitive, and such a high degree of repetition is not much in the whole Book of Songs. The format looks like the music of Three Chapters of Yangguan written by Wang Weishi in Tang Dynasty, which is naturally determined by the duality of music and literature in The Book of Songs.
"You give me the fruit, and I will give you the jade", which is different from "returning peaches to plums". The value of returned things is far greater than that of donated things, which embodies a noble feeling of human beings (including love and friendship). This kind of emotion focuses on soul-to-heart, which is a spiritual fit. Therefore, the returned things and their value are actually symbolic here, showing the treasure of others for their family, so there is a saying that "bandits repay you." The deep meaning of "Give me papaya (peach and plum) and repay my gratitude with Qiong Cong (Yao Jiu)" is: Although you give me papaya (peach and plum), your affection is more expensive than Qiong Cong (Yao Jiu); I cannot thank you enough for your kindness. It is inappropriate to take things that have been basically abstracted, such as papaya and Qiong Yao, too seriously. In fact, the author is too broad-minded to measure the thickness at all. What he wants to express is that cherishing and understanding the feelings of others is the noblest affection. From this point of view, in the later Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng's Four Sorrow Poems said, "The beauty gave me Jin Cuodao. How can I repay Britain and Qiong Yao?" Although it says "reward jade with gold." It has the same meaning as "throwing wood at Joan". [3]
Jia Yi's Book of Rites in the Han Dynasty: "So, you are so merciful. ..... The poem says,' Give me a papaya and give it to Joan. Bandits are always good. "If you invest less, you have to use your body to pay the bill. I dare say that it is good to report it for a long time. What is stored in the past will be rewarded by what is stored below. "
Zheng Xuan's Notes on Mao Poetry in Han Dynasty: "Bandits are not upright. I want to dare to repay the kindness of papaya with Joan, and I want Qi Chang to think that I am doing well and being kind to my country. "
Niu Yunzhen's poem in Qing Dynasty: "There are people who benefit from papaya, but taking papaya as an example is a way to set off one grid after another;" Qiong Yao was enough to report it, but she said that the bandit's report was a layer of stripping. " [2][3][4]
[1] Zhu. Biography of the Book of Songs. Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House. 1987: 28-29
[2] Wang Xiumei's translation. The Book of Songs (I): National Style. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company.2015:131-132.
[3] Jiang Liangfu et al. Dictionary of pre-Qin poetry appreciation. Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House. 1998: 129- 13 1.
[4] Wei Hongmei. On the evolution of the image of "papaya" in The Book of Songs [J]. Appreciation of masterpieces, 20 1 1, 05.