Thanks to Minshi Shu for his views on Wen Chun Fuxue: Articles should be like "flowing clouds and flowing water", "always do what you should do, always stop at what you must do, be natural in literature and science, and have a posture that covers the forest."
"A Letter of Reply to Master Xie" is an epistolary essay written by Su Shi. The author uses vivid, concise and free-flowing pen and ink to praise Master Xie's poems and summarize his own creations. experience. This letter is an expression of Su Shi's basic views on literary creation.
Looking at the full text, the first and last two paragraphs of the letter are about the friendship with Master Xie and the answers to relevant questions. The middle paragraph is the main part of the letter. In concise and vivid language, he expresses his own opinions on the article by commenting on Xie Minshi's article. Hong Luan pointed out that writing articles should be "literary and natural" and should be like flowing clouds and flowing water. In connection with this, it is also advocated that words should be mainly used to express ideas, but literary talent should not be ignored.
In Su Shi's view, "speaking well" and having literary talent are completely unified. To achieve "expressiveness", you must first have a deep understanding of things, make in-depth observations and comprehensive understanding of things, so that they are "clear in your mind", and then you must be good at conveying ideas and expressing them in concise and accurate language. , to make it "understandable by mouth and hands", it must have literary talent, so he said: "If words can be understood, words cannot be used."
On the other hand, he opposed elaboration and pretending to be difficult, and criticized Yang Xiong. These insights of Su Shi are very valuable, and they are also a summary of his life's creative experience. This literary letter should be concise, make good use of metaphors and specific facts, and quote Confucius to illustrate his point of view. The writing style of the whole text is flowing and free, which can well reflect the characteristics of Su Shi's articles.
About the author:
Su Shi (1038-1102), courtesy name Zizhan, also known as Dongpo Jushi, was a native of Meizhou, Meishan, Northern Song Dynasty. He is a famous writer and one of the eight great writers of prose in Tang and Song Dynasties. He is knowledgeable and versatile, and has high attainments in calligraphy, painting, poetry, and prose.
His calligraphy, together with Cai Xiang, Huang Tingjian and Mi Fu, is known as the "Four Calligraphers of the Song Dynasty"; he is good at painting bamboo, wood and strange rocks, and he also has outstanding opinions on painting and calligraphy. He is the literary leader after Ouyang Xiu in the Northern Song Dynasty. His prose is as famous as Ouyang Xiu; his poetry is as famous as Huang Tingjian; his poetry is majestic and bold in style. Instead of the elegance of his poetry, he is called "Su Xin" together with Xin Qiji in the Southern Song Dynasty, and he is the most bold and bold. Send a lyricist.