You can pick lotus in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are fields of lotus leaves①. Fish play among the lotus leaves. The lotus leaves are to the east, the lotus leaves are to the west, the lotus leaves are to the south, and the lotus leaves are to the north②.
Notes ① Tian Tian: The appearance of lotus leaves floating on water. ②These four sentences expressly describe fish swimming, which is a metaphor for the friendly play of young men and women in the labor process.
Appreciation
When reading "Jiangnan", a Han Yuefu folk song, we can easily think of a famous story in "Zhuangzi Autumn Water", and we can't help but sigh that the aesthetic experience they express is So similar. The story goes that Zhuangzi and Huizi, a pair of playful friends, were playing by the Haoshui River one day. Zhuangzi said: "It's so happy to swim like a fish in the water!" Huizi asked: "You are not a fish. , how do you know the happiness of fish?" Zhuangzi retorted: "You are not me, how do you know that I don't know the happiness of fish?" After that, he further stated: "I know the happiness of fish." This argument is logically speaking. , Zhuangzi is clearly sophistry. Because as a human being, Keiko can understand that human emotions are incompatible with fish; but his mistake lies in using rational logic to measure emotional activities. The key point is that Zhuangzi has already said: He experienced the happiness of fish from above the Hao River, that is, from his own feeling.
This involves some aesthetic and psychological issues. When people observe the movement of external things, they often produce corresponding imitative activities in their hearts, or project their own emotions onto these things. Through repeated exchanges, they reach the state of oneness between things and themselves. For example, when we watch a goshawk gliding in the sky, we will have a sense of smooth, carefree and balanced movement in our hearts, so we feel that the hawk has become the embodiment of ourselves, as if we ourselves are circling the sky so freely and freely. Aestheticians call this phenomenon "endo-imitation" and "transference." In addition, some psychologists also pointed out that certain movement patterns and rhythms can directly trigger corresponding emotions. For example, a person may not always dance when he is happy, but the rhythm of dance can breed happy emotions. In this way, we can understand what Zhuangzi means by "fish happiness". It is impossible to know whether a fish is really happy, but its brisk and free swimming in the water can arouse a similar sense of movement in the hearts of fish watchers. The shape and rhythm of this movement make people feel happy. In a sensory world where humans and fish become one, it seems that fish are also happy.
Let’s talk about “Jiangnan” again. This poem belongs to "Xianghe Song Ci" in the Yuefu classification. "Xianghege" was originally sung by one person in harmony with many people, so some scholars believe that the following four lines of "Fish Playing with Lotus Ye Dong" are harmony. Judging from the structure of the poem, this possibility is very high. In any case, the first three sentences are the main body of the poem, and the last four sentences are just a performance of the third sentence "fish playing among the lotus leaves", which play the role of exaggeration and foil.
The three sentences in the main part describe the scenery of lotus picking in the south of the Yangtze River, and actually focus on expressing the happiness of lotus pickers. The beginning of "Lotus can be picked in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are fields of lotus leaves" first introduces the reader to a picture of bright green leaves and a small boat traveling through it. "He Tiantian" expresses a tone of exclamation and praise, which is emotional in itself. Although no people are written about it, people are already in it. It makes us think: With such beautiful scenery and beautiful scenery on such a good time, people picking lotus will naturally have a lot of fun. What's more, the work of picking lotus is always done by young girls. They are usually tightly restrained, but now they are like birds coming out of their cages, and they are also in groups, happy and lively, and naturally rippling like water. However, the poem was amusing here for a while, but it stopped writing and ended up "fish playing among the lotus leaves". "Play" means playing for fun. After the first two sentences, there should be a "play" of people, but the author turns it into a "play" of fish. This is what empathy looks like. But although it is about fish, the emotion of "drama" flows from the previous two sentences. Therefore, you don’t have to think clearly about what is hidden here, you can intuitively appreciate the interest of the lotus pickers. However, this is not a metaphor or symbol; the "fish play" is also a real scene and part of a complete picture. Lotus collectors are inherently happy. When they see groups of fish passing by, diving, and jumping, they seem to be just like the fish, relaxed, lively, free, and unencumbered.
At this point, the poetry is complete. The last four sentences just expand "the fish plays among the lotus leaves" one by one into the east, west, south and north of the fish playing on the lotus leaves. However, without these four sentences, the whole poem is boring. Because the main function of poetry is to move readers with beauty. As for the sentence "fish playing among the lotus leaves", the narrative meaning is more important than the description, and it is a solitary sentence. It really cannot create a rich atmosphere that can move the readers. It must be laid out and rendered by the next four sentences. These four sentences are really naive and magical. First, it is so simply written all the way east, west, south and north, but it makes you seem to see a group of fish moving back and forth quickly and lively. Second, this simple repetition creates a bright rhythm. Therefore, the image and emotion of poetry are not only presented through the meaning of language, but also flowed out in the rhythm of language. If you remember that this is a song, and the last four lines are chorus harmony, this feeling is even stronger. Third, a simple and complete melody, after singing and chanting, will form a self-repetition in people's feelings and linger for a long time. Therefore, with these four sentences, the fish school is also the lively and lively lotus picker, which is vividly expressed. What's more important is that on the reader's side, they can feel the image and music rhythm reflected in the language.
It seemed that there were a group of lively fish playing freely in his heart. He could not help but sigh like Zhuangzi on the sea: "These fish are so happy!" So he also became a fish, and he became a fish. The lotus picker. The feelings are communicated and integrated.
There is another very important point: when the poet transforms the happiness of lotus pickers into "fish happiness", this happiness is separated from the specific background and reasons and becomes a simple, ethereal The emotion reaches the state of complete forgetfulness. Take the example used before, we gaze at the goshawk gliding high in the sky, and our emotions flow like the goshawk among the blue sky and white clouds. We feel the greatest happiness; but this happiness is only at this moment. There is no specific content, it is pure beauty. In fact, there are different opinions on the actual background of the poem "Jiangnan". Some people say that "fish playing with lotus leaves" is a metaphor for the love between men and women, while others say that it is just the joy of working life. Both are reasonable, but they cannot be confirmed in the end. But I think this may not have any important meaning to readers. We only need the innocent and pure beauty in the poem, with which we can evoke the joy of life.
This poem is really very simple and naive. Although many of its advantages can be pointed out, we cannot say that it has particularly high artistic attainments. So, why does it inspire admiration from future generations? The reason is that such poems are completely triggered by heaven's secrets and are the natural expression of human aesthetic instinct. Moreover, its simplicity and naivety cannot be imitated. So this poem can always maintain its uniqueness and freshness. Later generations of Yuefu poems such as "Lotus Picking Song" and "Jiangnan Lane" are all evolutions of it, but when it comes to expression techniques, they can only find new ways.
Jiangnan [Han Yuefu]
Lotus can be picked in Jiangnan. Lotus leaves are everywhere, and fish are playing among the lotus leaves. The leaves of the lotus are to the east, the leaves of the lotus are to the west, the leaves of the lotus are to the south, and the leaves of the lotus are to the north. ______________________________________________________________________________
[Notes] 1. Tian Tian: Describes the appearance of lush lotus leaves.
[Brief Analysis] The last four sentences of this poem use repeated sentence patterns to show the light and agile appearance of fish shuttling among the lotus leaves, conveying the joyful mood of the lotus pickers.
Hai*yue (shihuai) edited this post on 2006-8-23 19:05:19