Based on the lessons learned when I read Liu Collection, I changed to writing notes in stages for collections with a large number of volumes. The first volume is the collection of poems from Volumes 1 to 4, that is, the four volumes classified as "satires" total more than 170 poems. There are many volumes of Lotte's poetry collection, and I didn't know much about him before. I only read the notes written in four volumes here, which must be very biased. I hope you can forgive me.
I had no intention of reading Lotte’s poems, but after I finished reading “The Iliad” on my phone and couldn’t find any other books, I put a scan of his poetry collection on my phone. Take it out and read it when you have free time, and you may continue to read the next five volumes in this way.
Originally I wanted to write in a more organized manner, but my writing skills and academic ability are not enough, so my writing is still very piecemeal. While reading, I took simple notes on some individual chapters, which was troublesome to organize. Although I didn’t think it was of much value, I wasn’t willing to throw them all away. I felt helpless but finally cut off those notes.
Lotte uses poetry as a propaganda tool. Obviously a poem is easier to read than an article. "New Yuefu Preface" expresses this creative concept:
"In short, I write for the king, for the ministers, for the people, for things, for things, not for literature."
Therefore, his focus is not on himself but on others, and his allegorical poems are written for others. What he wrote was poetry, and he retained the implicit nature of poetry. Many of his allegorical poems used the "comparison" technique of the Six Arts of Poetry. But he was also worried that readers would not understand what he meant, so he tried every means to make readers understand. The result was to explain the poem in the poem. The "death chapter showing the will" mentioned in "New Yuefu Preface" is its embodiment. This will inevitably lead to the complexity of poetry. Mr. Qian Zhongshu made it very clear in "Tan Yi Lu": "When Xiangshan writes poetry, he wants the old woman to understand it, but every time he writes poetry, he wants to make the old woman understand it. Xiangshan Dujie; if you ask the old woman to explain it, the meaning of the words must be simple, and if the old woman explains it, the meaning of the words must be simple, but the meaning of the words must be simple."
He himself is also aware of this problem, " "Heda Shi Preface" describes his illness:
"In the examination room, he often writes and inkstones with his stepmother, and looks at each other every time he writes. He suffers from the fact that his meaning is too clear and reasonable. Taizhou. Therefore, the words of Taizhou are too complex, and the meaning of words is too intense. Those who are harmonious are still suffering from the disease before."
When I read "Huifeng Ci Hua" a few years ago, I was deeply impressed by this article:
"The meaning in my poem is for fear of others. I don't know, so I just outline it. I will understand the meaning of my words after I outline them, so why not let them know the meaning of my words? "Yu said: "I don't know what to do." Bantang said: "It's a comment, but people still don't know what to do. The words can be understood but not understood. The so-called confusion caused by smoke and water is the supreme vehicle." ”
Although words and poetry are very different, and their creative concepts are also different, the problem of interpreting poetry in poetry is still obvious.
His poems are actually more suitable for writing into essays: For example, "Poetry of Harmony and the Big Bird" also uses birds as a metaphor, and Liu Zihou's "Falcon Story" is a good fable. Another example is "Reply to Sihao Temple", which is even more exquisite when written as a refutation essay. In short, Lotte simply put content that is more suitable for the text into the poem.
Letian writes the content of the text into poetry, and inevitably uses the text as a poem, such as the opening line of "Poetry of Harmony and Pheasant Matchmaking":
"Yin Jun and Pheasant Matchmaker, what are you saying?" He sighed again. How late is it to make peace? Today is the beginning of the story. "
This paragraph can obviously be regarded as the beginning of a reply. It is natural in a letter but seems redundant in a poem.
Poetry and literature have similarities, but poetry and literature must not be completely reconciled. An article can quote from many sources and discuss repeatedly, just to explain the truth, which is something that poetry cannot do. Poetry has implicit beauty, and one of the roots of this beauty lies in the loss of literary meaning in the process of poeticization.
The first step is to use poetry to spread what you want to say, and the second step is to hope that the problems reflected in the poem can be solved. This is a concept that has existed since the era of "The Book of Songs". Lotte tried its best to achieve the first point, but the second point is uncertain. It may have a certain effect, but it doesn't seem to be big. I am opposed to his theory of poetry, but I respect his will.
Although the Book of Songs can be used as a tool for education, the author of the Book of Songs and the person who uses the Book of Songs for education are not the same person. If the text of the Book of Songs itself clearly states the purpose of enlightenment, then why do we need various commentaries from later generations? Annotations are just an explanation of the text of The Book of Songs. Even if the author of The Book of Songs really had an educational purpose, he did not try his best to make all readers understand his meaning like Lotte.
Although Lotte reconciled the differences between poetry and prose, and although Lotte used various methods to make the meaning he wanted to express clear, he sacrificed the beauty of the poem's text for this purpose. However, he may not have noticed that, What was lost in the capacity of poetry was not just the beauty of words that he did not care about.
Taking his "New Yuefu·Salt Merchant's Woman" as an example, Mr. Chen Shulu said in his article "The Transformation and Significance of Agricultural and Commercial Concepts in Poetry from the Middle Tang Dynasty to the Middle Ming Dynasty":
"Bai Juyi on the one hand opposed those who abandoned benevolence, righteousness and morality. The merchants emphasized "removing bad laws and eliminating profiteers", while on the other hand he advocated the "harmony of the four people (people)" including scholars, farmers, workers and merchants. "
"He advocated the adjustment of priorities and policies. The price of money, grain, and property regulates the relationship between the "four people" such as scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants, so that "the four people (people) can benefit and benefit", "make department stores circulate, and the four people" ""
"However, his poetry creation is sometimes inconsistent with the idea of ??"agricultural and commercial exchanges", and even has some retrogressive phenomena."
"(" "New Yuefu·Salt Merchant's Wife") The poem's final call to "Sang Hongyang" is intended to be a throwback to the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, which "emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce" (here specifically refers to the imperial court's agricultural and commercial policy)."
< p> For agricultural and commercial problems, he could put forward insightful countermeasures in his policy papers, but in his poems he could only expose the problem itself. After exposing the problem, the poem no longer had room for him to write countermeasures, so he had no choice but to move out "Sang Hongyang". In fact, he doesn't think it's enough to copy Sang Hongyang's approach. The "Sang Hongyang" here is more like a symbol representing solutions to agricultural and commercial problems. The focus of policy theory is to solve problems, while the focus of poetry is to expose problems. He wanted poetry to assume the role of articles, but as a result, the solutions to problems given in poetry could only use a nondescript symbol. Not only this article, but Wang Kaiyun's review of "New Yuefu·Red Thread Carpet" pointed out that the last two sentences "can be used to bully scholars." When I was reading, I also noted some unreasonable points, but it seemed unnecessary to question those contents one by one, so I omitted them.Lotte is a talented poet. He does not pursue the beauty of words in his satirical poems, but sometimes he unconsciously poeticizes the content he writes, such as "Big Water":
"The vast sea is full of color, and the vast sky is green."
It was originally a poem about floods, but these two lines of positive descriptions of floods give people a sense of beauty. In other words, he does not Consciously write in an appreciative tone. Of course, there are not many like this. Other parts of the poem "Big Water" that describe water:
"The buildings are half floating, and the battlements are many."
"The wind blows and the white waves turn, the sun turns white. Frozen red and boiling."
These parts have lost their beauty and have the feeling of a flood.
In addition to the above-mentioned unconscious poetic content, he is not uniformly opposed to some objectionable things. His aesthetics are not bound by his moral values, which is also a reflection of his status as a poet. For example, "New Yuefu·Wuxiantan":
"The first and second strings are ropey, and the autumn wind blows loose and sparse rhymes.
The third and fourth strings are cold, and the night crane recalls the child. The sound of the fifth string is the most muted, and the water is so cold that it cannot flow.
The five strings are played together, and the sound is mournful.
The sound of iron hitting the coral makes thousands of noises.
The sound of iron kills and the sound of ice is cold.
The sound of killing touches the ears and makes the skin bleed.
The music ended in a state of ecstasy for a long time, and we all sat there feeling speechless."
This long section of music description is extremely poetic, if it were not for the passage of " The technique of "death to express one's ambition" points out that the main theme is "evil Zheng seizes elegance", and it is almost becoming a famous piece of music writing. To a certain extent, such description weakens the nature of allegory, which is not only a requirement of the beauty of poetry, but also a reflection of his character as a poet (rather than as a moralist).
Another example is "Xin Yuefu·Lingyuan Concubine":
"Songmen arrives at Xiaoyue Peihui, and the sun and wind are desolate all over Baicheng.
Songmen Bai The city is deep and seclusion, smelling the cicadas and listening to the swallows, I feel the time.
Seeing the chrysanthemums weeping during the Double Ninth Festival, holding the pear blossoms in my hands, no one can see the tears. The green walls are surrounded by moss. Courtyard."
"Xinyuefu·Shangyang White-haired Man":
"The autumn night is long, the night is long and the sky is unclear.
Geng Geng Can Deng Behind the wall, there is the sound of rain hitting the window.
The spring is late, and it is difficult to sit alone in the evening.
The orioles in the palace are twittering and they are tired of hearing, and Liang and Yan are both old and jealous.
The orioles return to the swallows and go away quietly, and the spring and autumn come and go without remembering the year.
Just look at the bright moon in the deep palace, and the east and west circles will turn four or five hundred times.
These parts are all excellent palace resentment poems. Although this subject is generally written with more or less sympathy, compared with other sympathetic themes, palace resentment or boudoir resentment poems are more aesthetic. Lotte has not eliminated this aesthetic quality here either.
The reason why tragedy is a tragedy is that it is separated from the real world, so it can be appreciated. Lotte's allegorical poems strive to eliminate this gap, eliminate the value of appreciation, and stand directly in front of people's eyes the tragic reality that people have escaped. The above-mentioned articles have more or less increased this gap.
Also a representative work of the New Yuefu movement, "New Yuefu" is much better than "Qin Zhongyin", and the advantages of the song style are evident. The song line pays attention to natural phonology, and Lotte is obviously good at this aspect.
His talent can be seen just from the fact that he wrote all aspects of people's feelings and worldly affairs into his poems.
Although I don't like the poems such as "Qin Zhong Yin" and "New Yuefu", he wrote everything he wanted to write in these poems, and he must have put a lot of effort into the wording, sentences, and structural arrangements. These efforts will not be reduced because the text is plain. To be able to encompass everything in poetry is an undeniable talent. Works like "The Poetry of Yan Shows Liu Sou" that reflect the current situation are definitely not good poems, and it is not easy to write them into poems.
Some of Lotte's allegorical poems have changed in later generations, and "Xin Yuefu·The Silver Ping at the Bottom of the Well" is one of its representatives:
"The silver bottle at the bottom of the well, the silver bottle of desire" The silk rope is cut off.
The jade hairpin is ground on the stone, and the jade hairpin is folded in the middle. > "The bottle sinks and the hairpin breaks" is often used as an image of the separation of men and women in Song poetry, and its original meaning is "to stop prostitution and run away". Later poets obviously paid more attention to his writing itself than to the content of his satire. Although this was not his original intention, it was indeed a reflection of his talent.
Some of his allegorical poems are quite rational and interesting, such as "Allegorical Poems (Pandering Two Mysterious Birds)" and "Ask a Friend". This kind of poem requires readers to savor it, has the implicit nature of poetry, and is closer to poetry than works such as "The Haunted House". But in the final analysis, it is not the best poetry.
Lotte's "Ten Continuations of Ancient Poems" is unique among the four volumes of allegorical poems. In particular, "Hiding Tears and Farewell to Hometown" is the best. It has an ancient meaning and a swaying appearance. It can be said to be the highlight of the four volumes.
Although the four volumes of poems are all classified as allegorical, the works written after being banished to Jiangzhou, such as "Release the Fish", are different from the previous works. Compared with the previous "Outward", this poem Closer to "inward". The same is an allegorical poem, including "New Cloth Fur":
"A husband is both valuable and helpful, so how can he be good at it alone."
A fur coat of thousands of miles can be wrapped around the perimeter.
Everyone who is stable and warm is like me, and there is no cold person in the world."
There is also a quote from "Reading History (Misfortune is like a silk thread)":
"Why not follow this. Traveling, transcending the net. "
"If you are poor, you can be good for yourself; if you are prosperous, you can help the world." The content of these allegorical poems is closer to chanting, and it is different from criticizing the current ills.
Mr. Wang Shumin's "Certificate of Zhong Rong's Poems" mentioned that Ying Xiulian's poems were the first to open Bai poetry. Mr. Song Yuren's "Three Tang Poems" also pointed out that Lotte's poems came from Xiulian's poems. The only complete collection of Xiulian's poems is "One Hundred and One Poems (Irresistible)" recorded in Volume 21 of "Wenxuan", and there are more than ten fragmented sentences and works whose completeness cannot be judged (such as "Art and Literature Collection"). "One Hundred and One Poems (Nian Ming in Sangyu)" recorded in Volume 24). Although many of Xiulian's poems have been lost, the connection with Lotte's poems can indeed be seen from the existing texts.
Although the poem selected by Xiu Lian in "Selected Works" is very similar to Lotte's satire, the writing is ancient, and Xiu Lian's inclusion in the middle grade of "Poetry" is also due to the skill of the writing itself. Ancient writing does not mean that it is difficult to understand, but the popularization that Lotte pursues is definitely more difficult than ancient writing. At least from the point of view of Lotte's poetry struggling to explain itself, it is already inferior to Xiulian's poetry.
Xiulian's other poems, such as "One Hundred and One Poems (Life is in Sangyu)", have similar meanings to "Qin Zhongyin·Shangzhai", "New Yuefu·Xingwei Liang", "One Hundred and One Poems" (Forbidden Silk Silk in Luoshui River)" has the meaning of "New Yuefu·Kunming Pool". Not listed here.
In short, if you only look at his satirical poems, you will find that he has more than enough talent but not enough poetic heart. However, he did not consider these issues at all when he wrote allegorical poems, and his focus was completely different.
2016-02-09