The original text is taken from Huang Tingjian's Letter to Hong Ju's Father. Original: It is the hardest to make your own words. Lao Du wrote a poem and retired his composition without a word. Gai's descendants read less, so Han and Du made up their own words. People who could write articles in ancient times really cultivated everything. Although the old saying enters calligraphy, it is like a panacea, turning stone into gold. The article is the last thing of Confucian scholars, but it is very difficult to learn, and you can't help but know its twists and turns. Fortunately, think about it. As for pushing it high, it is like the rise of Mount Tai, like a cloud hanging in the sky; Make it magnificent, such as the waves of the Cangjiang River in August and the fish swallowed by the sea, but you can't leave a rope of ink and you can't be frugal.
Huang Tingjian, a writer in Song Dynasty, wrote a letter to his nephew Hong Ju's father. This paper discusses Huang Tingjian's view of literary creation. In view of Hong Ju's father's creation, Huang Tingjian affirmed that literary creation should be "interesting" and pay attention to form.
He emphasized the need to learn from the predecessors' skills of "cultivating everything" and advocated reading more books to melt the ancient times, which was summarized as the testimony of "turning iron into gold". This book is the most important theoretical program of Jiangxi poetry school, especially Huang Tingjian's arguments such as "no words without evidence" and "a little iron becomes gold", which have a wide influence in poetry circles.
Creation background
This letter "Reply to Father Hong Ju" was written by Huang Tingjian to his nephew, Father Hong Ju, at the age of 59 (1 104), in which he talked about his views on literary creation. In his letter, Huang Tingjian criticized his nephew for reading less, and earnestly taught him to read more ancient books in order to reach the realm of the ancients.