Looking at Qu Yuan’s ideological and character essay from "Ode to Orange"
Abstract: "Ode to Orange" uses oranges to write about people, praising the poet's independent and unyielding spiritual character, which is horizontal but not current. , firm and unyielding personality, adhering to faith, optimistic and cheerful, and high-spirited spirit.
Keywords: "Ode to Orange" Qu Yuan's personality and spirit
Qu Yuan was a great patriotic poet, and people called him the brilliance of his personality. "Qu Yuan's spirit" or "Qu Zi's spirit" is regarded as a precious spiritual and cultural heritage of the Chinese nation. "Ode to Orange" is Qu Yuan's early work. It is the first poem in the history of Chinese literature that chants things and expresses ambitions. The poet Liu Chenweng of the Southern Song Dynasty called it "the ancestor of chanting things". It compares orange trees to people and personifies orange trees, reflecting the mentality and personality of young Qu Yuan. Wang Yi's note on "Ode to Orange" in "Chapter of Chu Ci" says: "The beautiful orange has virtues, so it is called Ode." But orange is just a plant in nature. Saying that orange has virtue and praising it obviously shows that "Ode to Orange" actually means "Ode to Orange". The poem above is an ode to people and a self-explanation of the poet. Wang Fuzhi of the Qing Dynasty commented in "Chu Ci Tong Ci": "Because of the comparison of things and their categories, I eulogized them to express my own admiration." Lin Yunming said in "Chu Ci Deng": "Every sentence is an ode to orange, but every sentence is not a eulogy. Orange, but seeing that the original and the orange are indistinguishable, they reflect each other, like a mirror, a flower in the water, and the moon." This characteristic of Qu Yuan's self-comparison with the orange is clearly shown. This poem is written around the orange tree, but it embodies the poet's own spiritual character everywhere. It integrates the orange tree with the poet, praising both oranges and people, embodying the glorious artistic image of the orange tree and the poet. . The unique quality of orange is consistent with Qu Yuan's own quality, and the orange tree became the embodiment of the poet. So, what ideological qualities does the poet praise through orange?
1. The sense of mission to fulfill one’s duty after being ordered by Heaven, and it is difficult to leave one’s homeland.
Ju Ju “will not move after being ordered to live in the south.” According to “Yanzi’s Spring and Autumn Period Six Miscellaneous Parts”: “Infant It is said that oranges grown in Huainan are called tangerines, and those grown in Huaibei are called tangerines. The leaves are similar, but the taste is different. Why? The water and soil are different. "It can be seen that tangerines are loyal to the land where they grow and have an unmovable nature. Born in the south of the Yangtze River, it cannot be moved because it is destined by the inherent nature of heaven. It is deeply rooted and cannot be moved. This fundamental habit of the orange has become a symbol of personality. Qu was born in Chu and grew up in Chu. He had deep feelings for Chu and could not bear to leave Chu. He kept this belief in his heart and never changed it. Qu Yuan used the orange tree to compare his own qualities. The author not only wrote about oranges, but also about his love for his country and his country. This is why Qu Yuan repeatedly stated in his works that he did not want to go far away. Precisely because he upheld the heavy responsibility given by heaven and earth, he fulfilled his duties, was loyal to the Chu State, and worked hard for the prosperity of the Chu State. The author of "Ode to the Orange" expresses his firm ambition to love the motherland and never leave it far away by singing about the inseparable nature of the orange tree from its homeland.
2. Ambitious ideals, advocating "independence", and unyielding pursuit of personality
In "Li Sao", Qu Yuan once expressed his views on "Qiang has no reality but long appearance". "Lan", "Jiao" and other generations are despised for "resigning themselves to beauty and following the vulgarity". This is not the case with the orange tree. Although it is young, it has already embraced the firm ambition of being "independent and unyielding." Although it is strong and bright, even in the face of the end of the year when all the flowers "wither", it is still lush and green, never willing to succumb to the cold. The sentence "May you be grateful for the rest of the year and be friends forever" is a magical way to communicate "things and self". The image of the orange tree that made Aoshuang fight against the snow was superimposed on Qu Yuan himself, who was slandered and deposed but did not change his conduct. Then the whole article is concluded with "Traveling like Boyi, thinking like Xi". In the distant reflection of ancient and modern patriots, the spirit of the orange tree praised in the previous article has become one of the spirits of great patriots who do not change their conduct despite adversity. symbol.
Embracing lofty ideals and pursuing noble personality are the essence of Qu Yuan’s spirit. In traditional Chinese culture, it is a spirit to take one's own responsibility according to the Tao and attach importance to personality cultivation. During the Warring States Period, there were many lobbyists. They served Qin, Mu, and Chu, and could serve any prince who was willing to appoint them. Qu Principle was a person who attached great importance to local and national concepts, so he paid special attention to "not moving after being ordered to do so" and emphasized "independence of the world." "Horizontal but not flowing", this character was the belief and spiritual pillar of Qu Yuan's life. "Ode to Orange" is an epitome of Qu Yuan's noble personality and personality. Qu Yuan did not follow the crowd, always insisted on the correct direction of his life, overcame the pressure that ordinary people could not overcome, and kept searching to realize his great ambition of helping the king and strengthening the country. Just as he said in "Li Sao", "Everyone has their own happiness in life, but I only like to cultivate. Although I have understood it, I have not changed, so I can't punish it." It means that everyone has his own I like to enhance my self-cultivation. Even if I am shattered to pieces, my heart will not change because I am afraid of being punished. Qu Yuan always encouraged himself and believed in his own choices and future. The poet enthusiastically praised the orange tree from its appearance to its inner qualities, but what the poet valued most was its "independence" integrity, which expressed Qu Yuan's feelings about "independence and inability to move", "deep strength and difficulty in moving", and "independence in the world". , the admiration and admiration for the moral spirit of "horizontal but not current", full of love for the motherland and the spirit of perseverance and never following the trend. Qu Yuan firmly believed that "Fragrance and beauty are mixed together, and the fragrance of Qiang comes out from the middle. The gloomy and gloomy steam comes from far away, filling the inside and spreading out."
Love and trust can be preserved, and Qiang lives in hiding and hears the rules." ("Thinking of Beauty"), even if the fragrant grass and filth are mixed together, the fragrant flowers can emerge from it.
3. A spirit of firm belief, optimism, cheerfulness, and high morale
The entire text of "Ode to Orange" is optimistic, cheerful, and high-spirited, showing full and positive emotional characteristics of being self-sufficient in reality and confident in the future. The poem uses personification to express the poet's subjective emotions and ambitions by singing about the appearance and inner qualities of the orange tree, just like a traveler who has just embarked on a journey, full of firm belief in the future goal, but not yet aware of the hardships and dangers of the future. Rationally, he is ready to sacrifice everything and even his life, but emotionally he has not experienced the pain, sorrow, anger and despair that arise in his heart when all kinds of hardships and disasters come upon him. A work of ambition, "Ode to Orange", with its clear and open emotional tone, gorgeous rhetoric and sentence patterns, and artistic techniques of blending scenes, plays an irreplaceable and important position not only in "Chu Ci" but also in the history of Chinese literature.
Through analogy and association, the work expresses aspirations through objects. The colorful and prosperous "Empress Jia Shu" is superimposed on the heroic young Qu Yuan. The independent, unyielding, hard-to-move natural nature and Qu Yuan's perfection The unity of personality, the ingenious integration of objective things and subjective psychology, the grand ambition of "being independent in the world, being horizontal but not flowing", "being virtuous and selfless, towering over heaven and earth", and the spirit of "walking more like Boyi, thinking of others" Self-encouragement is by no means comparable to that of a playboy and an ordinary person. There is no sadness or resentment in the whole poem. On the contrary, it is full of high-spirited and high-spirited sentiment. "Ode to Orange" reflects Qu Yuan's firm belief and sober attitude towards life. I know that "the road is long and difficult", but I still want to "search for it high and low".
References:
Wang Fengxia. The image of Qu Yuan in "Ode to Orange" [J]. Journal of Hotan Normal College, 2008, (2).
Gong Honglin. Orange and the spirit of Qu Zi - Rereading "Ode to Orange" [J]. Journal of China Three Gorges University (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition), 2002, (4). ;