Huang Tingjian, a poet of the Song Dynasty, said that the most difficult verses to write in self-composed language are: self-composed poetry is the most difficult, Lao Du wrote poems, and retreated into compositions, without a single word coming out of nowhere.
The original text comes from Huang Tingjian's "Reply to Hong Ju's Father". Original text: Composing one's own words is the most difficult. Lao Du wrote poems, but when he retired, he wrote compositions. Every word was useless. Gai's descendants were less well-educated, so it was said that Han and Du made this statement on their own. Those who can write in ancient times can really cultivate all things. Even if they take the ancient people's statements and put them into calligraphy and ink, it is like a magic pill that turns iron into gold. The article is the last thing a Confucian scholar can write, but if you want to study it, you must not know its twists and turns, but you should think about it carefully. As for pushing it to make it high, it is like the rise of Mount Tai, like the clouds hanging from the sky; making it majestic, like the waves of the Cangjiang River in August, and the fish swallowing the boat in the sea, but you can't keep it simple and make it frugal.
The Song Dynasty writer Huang Tingjian's "A Letter to Hong Ju's Father" is a letter written to his nephew Hong Ju's father. The article talks about some of Huang Tingjian's views on literary creation issues. Regarding Hong Jufu's creation, Huang Tingjian affirmed that literary creation must be "interesting" and focused on the form aspect.
He emphasized the need to learn the skills of the predecessors in "cultivating all things", advocated reading more and integrating ancient times, and summarized it as a method of "turning iron into gold". This work is the most important theoretical program of the Jiangxi Poetry School, especially the arguments put forward by Huang Tingjian that "no word has its origin" and "turning iron into gold", which has a wide influence on the poetry world.
Creative background
This "Answer to Hong Ju's Father" is a letter written by Huang Tingjian to his nephew Hong Ju's father when he was fifty-nine years old (1104). The letter talks about himself. Some views on literary creation issues. In the letter, Huang Tingjian criticized his nephew for not reading enough, and earnestly taught him to read more books by the ancients, and then he could reach the realm of the ancients.