original text
Is it true to hear the world say that poets are poor? Most of the poets handed down from the world came from the words of the poor in ancient times. Those who have everything but can't give it to the world are more willing to put themselves outside the mountains and rivers.
It is often strange to see insects, fish, vegetation, clouds, birds and beasts. There is a kind of pent-up sorrow and anger, which is mainly based on resentment, and it is difficult to write human feelings. The poorer you build, the more you do. However, it is not poetry that can help the poor. The poor will have to work in the future.
As a friend of Mei, I seldom take shade as a collector, and I am tired of learning, and I have been stuck in a county for more than ten years. At the age of 50, I still start writing books, helping others, and suppressing what I have stored, so I can't work hard in my career. His home is in Wanling, and he has been used to poetry since he was a child. His words surprised the elders. Since it is a long story, it is to learn from the theory of benevolence and righteousness of the Six Classics, which is an article, simple and pure, and not seeking for the world.
Only people in the world know his poems. However, when there are no saints and fools, the poet must seek holiness, and holiness is also happy to write poems because of his unsuccessful people, so he has done more in poetry all his life. It is well known to the world, but it has not been recommended to the above. Yesterday, Wang sighed when he saw this scene: "I haven't done this for two hundred years!" " Although I have a deep understanding, I dare not recommend it.
If you are lucky enough to be used by the court as an ode to elegance and praise the merits of the Great Song Dynasty, wouldn't it be soft if the Qing court admired writers such as Shang, Zhou and so on? Why make it old and frustrated, but it is a poor man's poem, just a sad sigh. I like my job, but I don't know how long I have been poor, and I will grow old! Do not hesitate!
Yu Sheng has many poems, so he didn't organize himself. Xie Jingchu, his wife's younger brother and son, was afraid of losing too much. Since Luo Yang arrived in Xing Wu, he has brought ten volumes of works. I am addicted to Yu Sheng's poems, but I can't do all this. I like Xie's ability to keep it in order.
In the next fifteen years, Yu Sheng died in the capital, and I cried and thought of it. Because I lived in his house, I got more than 1000 manuscripts, of which 677 were collected in the old collection and made 15 volumes. Oh! I am so meticulous in Yu Sheng's poetics that I no longer have a cloud.
Preface to Ouyang Xiu of Luling.
translate
I have heard the world say that the poet's career is not so prosperous, but he has more. Is that really the case? Probably because most of the poems handed down in the world were written by ancient people in distress. Most literati who hide their talents but can't fully display them in the world like to go to the hillside and water to indulge in wild fun. When they see insects, fish, vegetation, birds and animals, they often explore their strangeness.
There is a kind of depression of sadness, emotion and anger in my heart, which turns into poetry, that is, it is pinned on resentment and irony, expressing the lament of the courtier widow and writing the feelings that people can't express. The harder you are, the more skilled you are at writing. In this way, it is not writing poetry that makes people poor, but it is probably after they are poor that they can write good poems.
My friend Mei was a junior official when she was young. She passed the imperial examination many times, but she was always suppressed by the examiner's office, and she was in trouble in the local area for more than ten years. I'm 50 years old, and I have to rely on others to send me a letter of appointment as a clerk. You can't fully display your talents and wisdom in your career.
My hometown is Wanling, and I studied poetry as a child. Writing poems from an early age surprised the elders. When I grew up, I learned the knowledge of the six classics of benevolence and righteousness. The article is simple and pure, and I don't want to please the world. The world only knows that he can write poems.
However, at that time, whether people were smart or stupid, it was inevitable to ask Yu Sheng for advice when talking about poetry. Yu Sheng also likes to vent his frustration through poetry, so he usually writes many poems.
The society has known him, but no one recommended him to the court. Once upon a time, Wang once saw his poems and sighed, "There have been no such works for two hundred years!" " Although I know him well, I still didn't recommend him.
If he was lucky enough to be appointed by the imperial court, wouldn't it be magnificent to write works like Ya and Song in the Book of Songs to praise the great achievements of the Song Dynasty and dedicate them to the ancestral temple, so that he could be compared with the authors such as Shang Yang, Zhu Xi and Zhu Xi? It's a pity that he is too old to succeed.
I can only write the poems of the victims, and express my pity and melancholy sigh in vain on the insect fish. Isn't it worth lamenting that society only loves the ingenuity in his poems, but doesn't know that he will die of old age after long suffering?
Yu Sheng has many poems, but he doesn't arrange them by himself. His nephew Xie Jingchu was worried about too many lost works, so he selected his works from Luoyang to Xing Wu and compiled them into ten volumes. I used to like Yu Sheng's poems, and I'm afraid I can't get all of them. I'm glad that Xie can sort them out, so I preface them and keep them.
Since then, 15 years have passed. Yu Sheng died of illness in the capital. I have written an epitaph for him in tears, so I asked his family to get more than 1000 manuscripts, plus 677 particularly good ones, divided into 15 volumes. Ah, I have commented a lot on Yu Sheng's poems, so I won't go into details.