Hard-working people, heaven rewards hard work, and never stops. More than 3,000 armour can swallow Wu.
-Pu Songling wrote self-encouragement couplets
Note (1) cross the rubicon: Records of the Historian Xiang Yu's Chronicle: "When Xiang Yu learned that he was leading his troops to cross the river, they all sank, destroyed his cauldron, burned his huts, and gave three meals to show that his soldiers would die, and none of them returned home." (2) Sleeping hard: "Historical Records of Gou Jian's Family": "When Wu pardoned Yue, Gou Jian, the king of Yue, returned to China, but he was afraid to sit down for fear of his health. I was afraid when I sat down, and my diet tasted courage. " (3) Pu Songling (1640- 17 15): a famous writer in Qing Dynasty. Zi, Zi, whose real name is Liu Quan, was called Mr. Liaozhai in the world and was born in Zichuan, Shandong (now Zibo). He is a talented young man, and he is proud of himself. 19 years old won the first place in county, government and road. From then on, I concentrated on my studies, hoping to gain fame and get rewards for my ambition. Throughout his life, he was not proud of the examination room and tried again and again. At the age of 7 1, he helped to be a volunteer. Long-term poverty, teaching as a career. There are many works in his life, especially the collection of short stories "Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio", which reached the peak of China's creation of classical Chinese novels and was praised by later generations. There are also Poems of Liaozhai and Collected Works of Liaozhai. Pu Songling was extremely clever and was keen on starting a career when he was young. However, he was unhappy because he "lost his wings every year and failed in the exam every year." In order to motivate myself to keep learning and creating, I carved this couplet on a copper ruler for pressing paper.
In the appreciation, Xiang Yu's allusion to cross the rubicon and defeat Qin Bing was used to show his determination to fight to the end and never look back. The second couplet uses the allusion that Gou Jian, the king of Yue, devoted himself to humiliating Wu, and said that he should learn from Gou Jian's perseverance and hard work. Pu Songling wrote this couplet to inspire himself to read and write, just like these two characters have the spirit of not giving up until they reach their goals. Do anything with determination and perseverance, will it still be unsuccessful? Pu Songling was determined to write books all his life and made great achievements, not only in poetry, ci fu, opera and folk songs, but also in the novel Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, which set up a monument for classical literature. Fortunately, the decadent imperial examination system did not let Pu Songling enter the official career, otherwise a superstar would be destroyed in the history of literature.
This couplet is neat, subtle and philosophical. Its greatest feature is that the use of allusions is flexible and innovative, and the upper and lower couplets echo nature, just like running water.
Citation is a common conception method in couplets. The use of allusions and puns enriches the content of couplets and makes people fantasize. Moreover, comparing allusions with reality deepens the depth of thought. Using allusion as metaphor also makes the meaning of couplets implicit.
Allusions use a wide range of materials, including historical stories, myths and legends, famous sayings, ancient books and ancient sayings and operas. The allusions of Pu Songling's self-encouragement association are two historical stories. The allusion of a couplet in Huanggang Chibi is ancient characters;
Copper-clad iron plate, the river of no return;
There are few stars on the moon, and blackbirds fly south.
The first part comes from Wen Bao's "Record of Blowing Sword": "The bachelor's words will sing" River of No Return "with Kansai Han, copper pipa and iron rake." Bachelor refers to Su Dongpo, who traveled in Chibi and wrote Niannujiao River Never Returns and Red Cliff Fu, which reflected his bold and unconstrained style. The second couplet is a poem in Cao Cao's Short Songs.
The position of allusions in couplets mostly corresponds to that of upper and lower couplets, but some are not in the same position, such as the couplets on Zhou Yu's tomb in Yueyang:
The leisure of ancient songs does not hinder Cao Zhen's career;
It tastes mellow and elegant, and it is too bright and heroic.
The first couplet "Ancient Songs" means that Zhou Yu is good at music. At that time, there was a folk song saying, "Wrong song, yi." Canon out "the reflection of Zhou Yu biography". The second couplet "Holy Beam" is quoted from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Before he died, Zhou Yu lamented: "Since Yu was born, why bother to give birth to Liang!" There is no such record in the History of the Three Kingdoms. These two allusions are in tandem in couplets. It is normal to use only one dictionary;
Smell the chicken dancing;
Jump to spring.
The allusion of "Smelling Chicken Dancing" in the first book comes from Biography of Zu Ti in the Book of Jin Dynasty, which means that Zu Ti, a famous Jin Dynasty star, was determined to serve his country, encouraged each other with Liu Kun, got up at midnight when he heard a chicken crow and drew his sword and danced.
There are two kinds of allusions: bright and dark. The so-called light and shade means that readers can see the allusions in use, but they can't. Guangdong Pearl River Pavilion has a couplet:
A group of sages are complete, and a few are long and salty;
The breeze blows gently and the water can't reach the surface.
On the surface, it looks like useless allusions, but in fact it uses allusions. The first part is a sentence from Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Pavilion, and the second part is taken from Su Dongpo's Qian Chibi Fu. The author skillfully blends the allusions in the couplets without leaving a trace. Even if readers don't know that these allusions are being used, it doesn't affect their understanding of the meaning of couplets. It makes more sense to know that they are using allusions. This is the beauty of secretly using allusions.
It is not advisable to use allusions, so as not to be greedy, obscure, improper, or to look at flowers in the fog, or to guess riddles, because allusions hurt your meaning. It is difficult to use new classics, but it is not expensive to hide them.
1 Xiang Yu "cross the rubicon"
2 Goujian's "Taste the Gallbladder"
Pu Songling wrote Liaozhai (he hung this couplet in his study).
I wonder if this answer is satisfactory?