What is a good poem? ?
? —— Dong Benpeng
This issue has been debated for thousands of years, with different standards and different opinions. However, both creation and appreciation are unavoidable problems for new and old artists. The difference between good and bad is firstly the author, and secondly the reader. Different times and backgrounds have different requirements for poetry, but these are not the criteria for distinguishing good from bad. Good is good, and bad is bad. The good can be sung for thousands of years, and the bad will eventually be overwhelmed by time.
But is there a uniform standard?
The ancients said, "Emotion moves in China, and form is in words". Poetry is the carrier of emotion, that is, poetry is lyrical. The word "moved" here contains two meanings. The first is moved and moved. Touching is that external things and things stimulate the author's heart, produce feelings and express the author's thoughts in the form of poetry. In order to express this kind of mood, the ancients used the form of "xing". For example, The Book of Songs, The Book of Songs and Guanluo, "Guanluo is right, in Hezhou, a gentle and graceful lady and a gentle and graceful gentleman", I heard the cooing of water birds and saw them playing freely in pairs by the river. And this process of thinking is the process of "xing". "Xing" is a noun here. Read it. "Gentle and graceful" here does not mean slim, but refers to "connotation and temperament", and "good" is pronounced here. Another is that you have an idea in your heart and want to express it through poetry, so you say it with the help of external things. This is what the ancients called "comparison". For example, in the Book of Songs, because I was exploited, it was like a mouse stealing my food. Comparing an exploiter with a mouse is called "comparison". "Xing" is a process from external things to heart, and "Bi" is a process from heart to external things. Another meaning of "move" is "move and incite". Of course, this statement is not very accurate, but my understanding is that a good poem must touch the readers as well as yourself. This is a question of effect and result, as well as the quality of poetry. The quality of poetry is like a drum. No sound is not a good drum. When it rings, it can't produce * * * and it's not a good drum. Only when it can ring and produce * * *, and it must be louder than the original sound, is a good drum. In other words, after the emotion expressed by the author is passed on to the reader, the reader will feel it, and the reader can feel it more than the author. If you don't touch the reader, it is not a good work, and it is not enough to touch the author himself.
Therefore, "Wen Xin Diao Long Shi Ming" said: "People have seven emotions, and they should feel things and sing their aspirations." You saw the changes of external things, touched your emotions, and made you have the passion to create. Passion is sung, showing "ambition", that is, "poetry expresses ambition". Just like Li Houzhu's "Hui Huan", "The flowers in the forest wither in spring, which is too hasty, and the cold rain comes early and the wind comes late", how can I prevent the flowers and trees in the forest from dying, and the spring passes in such a hurry, with the cold rain in the morning and the cool wind at night? Life is like this flower tree. Glory and decay are fleeting. Will the short-lived glory finally wither? Here, "early" and "late" are a kind of antithesis, which means always. ) Is this wind and rain only aimed at flowers and trees? Therefore, Xin Qiji said, "It's a pity that the years fly by, and the wind and rain are sad, but the trees are still like this ("It's a feast for the eyes that the hoses are hidden in health "). Isn't this an understanding of life? And this feeling is a poetic heart. When all the life outside hits your mind, it will produce a kind of * * * sound with your mind. This kind of * * sound is your poetry, which is based on "enlightenment", and "enlightenment" is from the heart. If this "feeling" is gone, the poem will die. Is poetry dead? No, the heart is dead, so it is said that "sorrow is greater than heart death, followed by death." "
"Preface to Poetry" also said: "Angry animals are touching, so they are full of temperament and dance." In other words, with the change of seasons, "things" are also changing, and this change will touch the poet's heart, so he will be full of temperament and dance. "High curative value withered maple leaf forest, Wushan Wuxia Xiao Sen gas. There are rough waves between the river and the sky, and clouds cover the fog. " Datang, which experienced the fall of its capital twice, began to approach the brink of recession, both of which were experienced by poets. The war displaced the poet all his life. In his later years, he wanted to go back to the north and see the capital. When he arrived at the Three Gorges, he saw that "the waves between the river and the sky were rough and the clouds covered the fog." Only in this way can I feel the feeling that "Cong Ju is crying another day, and she is alone in her hometown".
There is also a kind of expression technique called "Fu", which is the expression that the mind is the thing. No description, no emotion and discussion, just a straightforward description. For example, The Book of Songs, General Zheng Feng Zhong Zi and General Zhong Zi Xi are no more than me, nor are they as neat as me. Dare to love? Afraid of my parents. Zhong kehuai, parents' words, can also be. "The poem says," Second brother, don't come over the wall to find me. You stepped on my branch. How dare I love you? " ? I'm afraid of my parents. I know you love me too, but what my parents said scares me even more. "This simple narrative outlines the ambivalence of the master. There is no description and description here, but it is reasonable.
The three expressions of "Fu, Bi and Xing" have been mentioned in many articles before, but the core is the relationship between mind and things, and between things and heart. So this involves a problem of "image" and "taking images from poems". "Xiang" first appeared in the Book of Changes, and "-"was used to represent Yang. Use "-"to indicate yin. The superposition of yin and yang constitutes four images. Four images plus yin and yang make eight diagrams, and eight diagrams together produce sixty-four hexagrams. People call these figures "images". When people say life two, life two, life three and life three, it is these three combinations. And this "image" represents everything in the world. Then "taking the image of poetry" refers to all things that can serve your creative feelings in poetry creation, and act, replace or render the author's feelings according to the laws of nature. Therefore, images in poetry refer to objects, events and images. Objects are natural scenery, including mountains and rivers, the sun, the moon, wind, electricity, the seasons of animals and plants, and so on; Matters include allusions, historical events, events and people; Images include all the people and things in the author's imaginary space, the relationship between man and nature, the relationship between motion and stillness, the relationship between time and space, the relationship between time and space, the development order of events and the author's emotional line, which is called "relationship" for short.
Material things are not dead things, but signs of life. It is everything touched by the author's senses and thoughts. Therefore, to capture images in poetry is to incorporate everything that can serve "me" into poetry, so that my feelings can be conveyed to readers incisively and vividly, which can have a greater impact. This is a good poem. The quality of poetry itself is a qualitative concept and cannot be measured by quantity. Only the reader knows whether a poem is good or not, and the author thinks it is good, which is not necessarily true.
Let's look at three small poems with the same topic, compare the functions of objects in the poems, and then see who is good and who is bad.
Sigh on the jade steps
Wisteria blows flowering trees, and yellow birds spend green branches. When I think of you, I sigh, and my bitter tears will be said.
Your Highness, at dusk, fireflies fly to rest. Sewing Luo clothes all night, I wonder why you are so extreme.
Jade steps gave birth to high dew, and her silk soles were wet, and she lingered there for so long. Go back to my room and put down the crystal curtain, still looking at the exquisite moon through the curtain.
Jade clan is an old topic in Han Yuefu, which has been written by many people in later generations. Most of them are about women's sadness. In ancient times, women had no status or career. A woman's only hope is to be loved and accompanied by a man she likes. If they can't marry a good man, it will be the pain of a woman's life. Therefore, men also deeply understand women's pain, so many literati will imitate women's tone and write some works of lovesickness, sadness and loneliness. Most of the ancient palace words are of this kind, and there are many such words in Huajian words.
Let's look at the first song of three songs, "Wisteria blows flowers, and yellow birds bloom." Our first impression is a beautiful season. We used wisteria, flower tree, yellow bird and green branch in the picture. These images are common creatures in the natural environment and have a strong sense of color. But are these images intrinsically related? I didn't see it, and I don't understand it. And these two verbs are not used correctly. The action of "rowing" is that something with its root on the top and its tip on the bottom floats up, which is called "rowing". Such as "dust"; Zhou Bangyan has "waving cotton to take off the color", and Li Shangyin has "a cigarette willow that blows the ground and shakes the wind for a long time". The "strokes" here refer to the posture of willow trees. Wisteria can't "brush" the flower tree, it is entangled and clings to the flower tree. It might be better to use "left and right". In addition, the "degree" is not allowed, and the action of "degree" is very slow. In the Tang Dynasty, Xue Qiong described the yellow bird's action by "turning over", saying that "the yellow bird turned over the mangrove tree", Wang Wei wrote Ban Jieyu's poem "The jade window is full of fireflies, and the golden palace is silent", "It's good to smell the phoenix blowing, and the golden jade is outside the door", and Wei "lost the couple to find a mountain to throw into the forest and cry for the north". Today, I will be alone at night, knowing the shadows and living alone "("I smell birds singing alone at night "). From the perspective of projection, the distance between green branches is not too big, and it is more accurate to use "crossing" or "sweeping". It makes sense to use "the bluebird crosses the green forest" "When I think of you, I sigh, and my tears should be said." I sighed when I thought of you, and then I cried. I told my sadness in narrative language. The whole process of the poem is that I saw wisteria brushing the flower trees, yellow birds flying over the green branches, I thought of you, and I cried when I thought of you. It is such a simple picture that none of the four images can replace and render the sadness of "I", nor can they bring inspiration and compassion to readers, so this is not a good poem. In addition, "wisteria" specifically refers to "flower tree" generally refers to. The use of concrete images and general images is itself a taboo in writing poetry. For example, the yellow bird crosses Lin Qiu, and the yellow bird refers specifically to Lin Qiu. The forest in autumn can be called Lin Qiu, which is vague and not specific, meaning that if it is changed to "yellow birds crossing the forest", it can give people a sense of hierarchy. If it is changed to "Yellow Birds Crossing Yulin", it will be more specific and let people know that it is this rather than that. The relationship between specific reference and general reference is rather confusing, and there is no real feeling.
The second song "Your Highness's bead curtain at dusk, fireflies fly to rest". In the evening, the bead curtain of the palace has fallen, and the fireflies flying back and forth have rested. "Sewing Luo Yi all night, I miss you so much." How do I spend the long night? Sewing Luo Yi. At this time, I am sewing Luo Yi in my hand, and I miss you so much in my heart! The image of this song is better than the last one "Night, Long Night", and the time is right; "Temple", the location is taken as an image; "Pearl curtain, firefly, Luo Yi", shooting environment; "Si Jun" is just like taking pictures. Taking pictures can be labeled as "Jade Family". Not everyone can use the ancient jade steps, only luxurious houses or palaces can be used, and ordinary people can't afford them. Therefore, the poems use images such as "Temple", "Pearl Curtain" and "Luo Yi", which can only be used by people with status. These images not only reveal the identity of "I", but also reflect the identity of "I". Buddhism talks about the practice of not eating after noon and wearing patchwork clothes. Why? Lust is human nature. When your material life is fully satisfied, people will pursue the quality of spiritual life. When "I" have these, how painful it is for me to "miss you" here and now because of the loneliness in the long night? The structure of this poem aims at thinking about the monarch, and a lonely atmosphere is everywhere. "Evening" should be the date time, but "under the bead curtain" is closed, and the word "Xia" is used wonderfully. Li Yishan wrote two poems by his wife, "No one listens to politics, and if he wants to dust off, he will fall down on the bed." After his wife died, no one came, and the building was empty, so he "hung up the curtain" and there was no one on the bed, so he "slept". How lonely is it? The firefly flickered outside the window, and its light could lock my eyes from time to time, but at this time it had already rested, leaving me alone. "Looking for a move, my heart is shaking." (Wen Xin Diao Long Search) This "long night" is hard, so I'll "sew Luo Yi". Sewing clothes has two meanings in ancient poetry. A mother misses her son, "the thread in the hands of a loving mother makes clothes for her wayward son"; Another is a wife who misses her husband. "I heard that in the middle of the night, the geese were heartbroken, and the lights were extinguished alone." (Uncle Yuan's "My Misfortune") "Not long after recruiting people, Nianfang returned to China. Sewing clothes at night in candlelight, leaning on hands in cold spring. I would like to return to yan zhen, because the book is sent to Gaoliu. " (Southern and Northern Dynasties, Yu Jianwu's "Spring Night") And the use of these images is in line with reality, and at the same time, there is the emotion of "thinking about the monarch" in it. Finally, "What is the extreme of thinking about the monarch?"
This poem is better than the last one. It can shoot images properly, and the relationship between each image is reasonable, which can drag out the author's feelings. The two pairs of images in the last poem, "wisteria, flower tree" and "yellow bird and green branch", are wrong in their mutual connection, which is a low-level mistake. Then his senior mistake is that these images do not bring out the author's feelings, nor can they arouse readers' deep thinking, so they feel boring to read. Although the latter song is better than the last one, although the use of objects and images is more reasonable, the emotional expression is also in place and it is very touching to read. But overall, it feels straightforward to read, with no aftertaste and aftertaste. It's not as light and tasteful as the "Zhong Zhongzi" mentioned earlier. Shen Deqian commented on this poem and said it was "the highest in the Tang Dynasty", but I don't think so.
Let's look at the third song. Jade steps give birth to Jade Dew. Her silk soles are wet, and she lingers there for so long. Go back to my room and put down the crystal curtain, still looking at the exquisite moon through the curtain. Here, the images of "jade steps, jade dew, crystal curtain and autumn moon" are transparent, exquisite and bright, creating a cold artistic conception. The word "jade" was used in the first sentence, which was deliberately arranged by the author. It is ok to have cold dew on the jade steps, but there is no transparent feeling of jade dew. The second sentence, her silk bottom is wet, she lingered there for so long, did she violate the stockings at night? Of course not. How can you violate socks at night? It was the cold and dew at night that soaked my socks. A long adjective is used here, and socks are also used. They are too thin to be invaded. These two sentences are raw jade, cold invades clothes, and the perspective is cold. If it is "long-term violation of fox skin at night", that would be bad. Fox skin is very warm and can't reflect the chill. "Silk stockings with dust" is not only a beauty costume, but also a symbol of beauty. After standing for a long time, I went back to the house, then put down the crystal curtain and looked at the delicate autumn moon through it. What are you thinking at this time? The people in my heart care about me the most. Putting down the crystal curtains is a failure of a beautiful prospect. How did it fail? Yulu was born outside, and my socks were invaded inside. Only then did I look at my hope so far away and beautiful, just like the autumn moon in front of me. When can we get together, and when can it be realized? This poem is noble and noble everywhere, and there is a chill everywhere, which makes people have infinite yearning and loneliness of "an old man fishing in the cold river-snow".
There are several verbs to pay attention to: "life, invasion, summer, king". The images in four poems have different effects under the action of four verbs. "Prosperity and invasion" are passive to "I" and "Xia" is active, but it has also become passive after being decorated with "que", leaving only one "king". In this way, different image colors are formed. Under the action of "fate", the chill of the first sentence increased; The second sentence, under the action of "invasion", time has increased; The third sentence, under the action of "summer", the sadness has increased; The fourth sentence, under the action of "hope", loneliness has increased. The whole article is on the rise, and this kind of weather is getting stronger and stronger. Finally, people are left with infinite reverie. Poetry, like calligraphy, sometimes pays attention to "potential", although "meaning" must be in place before writing. What is "potential"? For example, a person with a knife in his hand will pose a threat to people around him. This is the potential; A pair of bows and arrows, when he pulled the bow away, although not pointing directly at someone, he created a "potential". This is the role of image. I talked about the objects and matters earlier, which is easier to understand. The concept of image is abstract in literary criticism, but it is not easy to understand. I put it here, but I still didn't make it clear. I will explain it in detail in The Relationship between Image and Emotion in Poetry.
There was also a "Xia" in the last song. "Down" means closed and isolated. Under the decoration of the horse, this "Xia" means to put down and place, reflecting a feeling of helplessness. Although these two words have similar meanings, they have different poetic effects, which should be understood slowly. Although "bead curtain" and "crystal curtain" are high-grade ornaments and curtains, bead curtain gives people the feeling of luxury. The second volume of Miscellanies of Xijing tells: "Zhaoyang Hall, weaving beads as curtains, the wind will sound like the sound of honing", and Yu Xin also uses this to render the voice of disgruntled women. "The bead curtain rings on the embroidery worker and the dust is scattered." It's time to miss your wife and serve for a long time. Who will cherish the spring breeze if the beauty is not here? "Although the' crystal curtain' was noble in ancient times, it felt more transparent. It was also called "water curtain" in ancient times. (The inscription "Jiangchengzi" is also called "Crystal Curtain") Liu Yuxi said that "amber lights are red and crystal curtains are more ventilated". There was a "Luo" in the last song, and so did this one. The last song was Sewing Luo, and this one is Invading Luo. It takes a needle to sew Luo, and it moves repeatedly, which means lingering; The invasion of Romania emphasizes the thinness of Romania, which is permeated with a chill. The last song was Long Night, and this song is Long Night. It is the boring "sewing clothes" of "Long Night" and the boring "invading socks" of "Long Night". Although they are all long and lonely, the effect is different.
Speaking of which, I want to tell you the authors of three poems. The first is Yu Yan in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the second is Xie Tiao in the Southern Dynasties, and the third is Li Bai. The reason why I didn't tell the author in advance is to let everyone think about the quality of poetry purely and avoid a misunderstanding caused by celebrity effect. Nowadays, many people blindly worship great poets, famous poets and ancient people without thinking. This is not right.
Of these three poems, Li Bai's is the best, Xie Tiao's is average and Yu Yan's is the worst. Li Bai's song is entrusted. He has been pursuing his career all his life, and he wants to dedicate his talents to the country. When he first became an official, his poems were regarded as pleasing materials by the emperor, so he left angrily. He left behind a dirty little world, but his heart was still filled with human beings, so Li Bai's poems were magnificent and powerful. As for his poems, there is always a wildness in them, which is the expression of his character. I will elaborate Li Bai's creative style in the article "The Influence of Poet's Cultivation on His Works". But in this poem, his persistent and unyielding pursuit of beauty can still be reflected. "Behind her closed window, why is she still waiting" is an unsuccessful pursuit, but he still has the pursuit of "looking at the moon". So there is a sustenance in this poem, and I express my thoughts in the tone of a dissatisfied wife. This kind of temperament is not shown in the other two songs. Xie Tiao's songs only talk about loneliness and resentment. Although the expression is extremely in place, it has no aftertaste and aftertaste, so it is second. Yu Yan's songs have many flaws, so I won't say more.
Regarding good poetry and bad poetry, the angle of judgment should be various, not limited to one point. China's poetic style has undergone several changes. In each period, the change of poetic style is accompanied by the change of evaluation criteria. But I think, no matter how it changes, poetry is the medium for the communication between the author's mind and the reader's mind. Poetry should convey more and more information to readers through different methods and channels, and can infect readers. This is the process from meaning to image and from image to meaning, which I call "image". As for the quantity, size, thickness and depth that can be transmitted, it is also the standard to judge the quality of poetry.
These words were originally used to answer the questions raised by several poetry friends at the last annual meeting of poetry, but now they are arranged in written form and presented for discussion. As for whether the answer is accurate or not, it's hard to say, because some of the views in the article are predecessors' and some are my own. For example, Mr. Ye Jiaying put forward "object image, event image and metaphorical image" and made a systematic exposition, but I think the term "metaphorical image" is still limited. She evolved the term "metaphorical image" on the basis of Bi Xing. The theory of "artistic conception" put forward by Mr. Wang Guowei at that time only put forward a theory of the goal of poetry creation, but as for how to accomplish it, it was not completely clear. Yan Yu said in Cang Lang Shi Hua that there are nine kinds of poems: high, ancient, deep, far, long, healthy, elegant and sad. But what is Gogu? How can it be tragic? The more you read, the more confused you get. The more you read it, the more mysterious it becomes. Therefore, I put forward my understanding of poetry and discuss it with you. I also welcome your different views on my poems.