The ancient meaning is: catkins are similar in shape and dynamics to snowflakes, giving people imagination and beauty, and the metaphor is very vivid.
The current meaning is: it heralds the coming of spring. , has profound meaning.
Speech No. 2 No. 71, The Talent of Yongxue
(Original text) Xie Taifu Hanxue gathered in the evening to talk about the meaning of thesis with his children. Suddenly, the snow suddenly fell, and the Duke happily said: " What does the white snow look like? "Brother Hu'er said: "Sprinkle salt in the air to make a difference." Brother and daughter said: "It's not like catkins blowing up due to the wind." The father laughed. That is to say, the eldest brother Gong has no daughter, and she is the wife of General Wang Ning of the left.
On a cold snowy day, Taifu Xie (An) gathered his family members to discuss the principles of the article with the younger generation. After a while, the snow began to fall rapidly, and Taifu said happily: "What does this heavy snow look like?" The elder brother's eldest son Hu'er said: "It's like spreading salt in the air." The elder brother's daughter said: "It's better to compare it to the wind blowing catkins flying all over the sky." The Taifu laughed happily. (Xie Daoyun) is the daughter of Taifu eldest brother Xie Wuyi and the wife of General Wang Ningzhi of the left.
Finally, he added Dao Yun’s identity, which was a strong hint that he appreciated Dao Yun’s talent.
1. Which of the two metaphors is better?
What Xie Daoyun writes is spiritually similar. What he writes is a romantic attitude. The catkins are like rootless things, just like the aristocratic families who crossed the river and lived abroad. The rich family also has a romantic meaning and sadness that fits the mood
But Ahu is just similar in appearance
Xiehu's answer lacks poetry and is not vivid enough. It is not like the snow in the south floating, but similar to the snow in the north. So rough. But the snow that day should be snow from the south. Xie Daoyun's answer matches the picture and has obvious fluttering characteristics. Good.
"Catkins" is a good metaphor. It gives people the feeling that spring is coming. As the great British poet Shelley said, "Winter is here, can spring be far behind?" ("Ode to the West Wind"), It has a profound meaning; but what is missing in the metaphor of "sprinkling salt" is precisely the meaning - "sprinkling salt in the air", what is it for? No one knows. Good poetry must have imagery, and imagery is the unity of object and meaning. The metaphor "catkins" is good because it has an image; the metaphor "spreading salt" only has an image but no connotation, so it is not good.
There are two opposite opinions: one opinion is that "sprinkling salt" is a good metaphor, and the color and falling state of snow are closer to salt; while catkins are gray-white and tend to rise in the wind. It even flies very high and far, which is different from the way snow dances. When writing things, we must first achieve physical resemblance and then achieve spiritual resemblance. Resemblance is the foundation. From this we can see that the former metaphor is good and the latter metaphor is not.