First, what is a symbol?
Symbol refers to concepts, thoughts and feelings that express similar or similar characteristics through concrete images that are easy to associate.
Second, the use of symbols in ancient poetry examples
In Qu Yuan's Li Sao, he compared talented people and accomplished people to "beauties": "I'm afraid of the disappearance of beauties". He described his actions of "leaving the river and staying in Qiu Lan to admire" and "embracing beauty every morning and staying in the wild all night", and praised the ancestors of ancient sages for "pepper mixed with mushrooms, not just sticking to their husbands". These fragrant vanilla trees are symbolic: First, they show the noble character of the beautiful things that Qu Yuan pursues. Second, it is a metaphor for a good minister. This symbolic technique of "beauty is grass" has a far-reaching influence on later literary creation.
Another example is Li Deyu's "Climbing a Cliff Can Be Made":
The continuous green hills seem to want to keep me, and they have surrounded Cliff County for hundreds of times.
These two sentences describe that green hills are surrounded by mountains, and the counties and cities where they are located are being tightly blocked and blocked. It symbolizes the persecution of his political opponents and writes the sadness that he can't go back.
Third, the common symbolic images in ancient poems
1, a symbol of ice and snow, loyalty and noble character.
For example, "Luoyang relatives and friends ask each other, and a piece of ice heart is in the jade pot." (Wang Changling's Farewell to Xin Jian at Furong Inn) Bing Xin: A noble soul. The ancients used "as clear as jade pot ice" as a metaphor for a person's open and aboveboard mind.
The moon has become a symbol of parting and homesickness.
For example, "looking up, I found that it was moonlight, and then sinking, I suddenly remembered home." (Li Bai's Silent Night Thinking) For example, "The small building was easterly again last night, so my country could not bear to look back on the bright moon." (Li Yu's "Yu Meiren") Looking at the moon and thinking about the old country shows the special pain of the monarch who has perished.
3. Willow, a symbol of farewell.
For example, Liu Yong's "The Rain Rings" expresses the sadness of parting with words like "Where to wake up tonight and where the breeze will go".
Cicada symbolizes noble conduct.
The ancients thought that the cicada meal was a portrayal of nobility, so the ancients often expressed their noble character with the nobility of cicada. "Tang Poetry" says: "Every time a cicada sings, it respects its nature." Because cicadas live on high branches, eat wind and sleep outdoors, and don't eat fireworks, so their moral character belongs to lofty type.
5, vegetation, prosperous and desolate, used to express ups and downs in ancient poetry.
For example, "after ten miles of spring breeze, wheat is green." (Jiang Kui's "Yangzhou Slow") The spring breeze is ten miles, and Yangzhou Road, which was once very prosperous, is now full of green wheat and desolate. "It's spring when the grass is green in front of the steps, and birds are singing happily under the leaves." A generation of sages and their achievements have disappeared. Now, only the grass reflected by the green stone steps gives birth to spring scenery every year (spring scenery is beautiful), and the oriole makes this beautiful cry in vain. The poet lamented that the past was empty and deeply regretted.
6. Nanpu, in China's ancient poems, is the place where water is bound.
Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs of Hebo": "Fight with the sons and send the beauties to Nanpu." Jiang Yan's "Biefu": "Spring grass is green and spring water is surging. It's so sad to send you to Nanpu!" Fan Chengda's "Hengtang": "Nanpu spring comes to a blue river, and the stone bridge and the tower are still two." The ancient people's farewell to the water is not only in Nanpu, because of the long-term national culture, Nanpu has become the proper name of the farewell place to the water.