I was sorting out the bookcases in the afternoon and casually flipped through Mr. Cai Yijiang's "Commentaries on Poems, Music, and Poem of a Dream of Red Mansions". I suddenly felt that Mr. Cai's comments on the three "Crab Ode" poems had a sense of "the times" and seemed to have a " I thought it was too cliche, so I wrote a few words to reflect my own understanding.
Mr. Cai said, "Of these three poems, the first two are foils, and the descriptions in the novel have been explained. Although there are also references to be found in them, they mainly serve as introductions to the latter. For the time being, I won’t go into details. As Huimu said, the focus of this section is to introduce Baochai’s poems. It can be seen that Mr. Cai believes that the first two of the three poems are dispensable and are at best a foil. Study carefully." The third poem by Baochai introduced next focuses on the theme: "Although "A Dream of Red Mansions" more fully embodies the creative principles of realism than other classical novels, the author dare not directly say what he wants to say' Words that hurt the world are often used as references or through the mouths and pens of characters in novels..."
Obviously, according to Mr. Cai's understanding, Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, and Xue Baochai The three "Crab Odes" written by people have only one purpose in writing, using the small to contain the big, and aiming to scold the world. In Xue's poem, "The road in front of you has no longitude and latitude, and the spring and autumn sky in the skin is black and yellow" became the entire "Crab Ode" The three poems are very eye-catching, so this crab chant is completely "a political satirical poem disguised as a leisurely chant about the scenery."
The three "crab chants" come from the third chapter of "Dream of Red Mansions" Chapter 18 "Lin Xiaoxiang's Chrysanthemum Poetry, Xue Hengwu's Satire and Crab Ode" is after the poetry club finished writing the chrysanthemum poem and began to "hold the chela" to appreciate the osmanthus. Jia Baoyu's lingering excitement blurted out "Crab Ode" , thus leading to two other poems. Judging from the original intention of Cao Xueqin's writing, Mr. Cai's understanding of Xue's poem "Crab Ode" is not unreasonable. However, if the other two "Crab Ode" written by Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu are both classified as "political satire" "Poem" as a foil, at least buried the feelings of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu.
The three crab chants are as follows:
One (Jia Baoyu)
He who holds chela prefers the coolness of cinnamon, and pours vinegar on ginger to make him crazy.
A gluttonous king and grandson should have wine, but a tyrannical son has no intestines.
There is cold accumulation in the navel and forgetfulness, and the fishy fingers are still fragrant after being washed away.
Po Xian once laughed at the busy life of the world.
The second one (Lin Daiyu)
The iron-armored and long-lasting battle has not been forgotten, and the pile of plates and colors are the first to taste.
The chelated seals are both full of tender jade, and the shell is convex with red fat pieces that are fragrant.
The more fleshy you are, the more pity you have on your eight legs. Who can help me and persuade me to have a thousand cups of wine?
Pour fine products to celebrate the festival, the osmanthus blows clear, the wind chrysanthemum carries frost.
Third (Xue Baochai)
Sitting in the shade of Gui Ai and Tong Li raising his wine cup, Chang'an salivates in anticipation of the Double Ninth Festival.
The road in front of you has no longitude and latitude, and the spring and autumn sky in the skin is black and yellow.
Chrysanthemum is used before the wine can wash away the fishy smell, and ginger can be used to prevent cold accumulation.
What’s the point of leaving the cauldron today? The fragrance of grain and millet remains in the sky on the moon.
After reading through the three "Crab Rimes", is it difficult to read the consistent "political satire" effect? That’s how I feel anyway. If this is the case, then Mr. Cai's so-called foil effect will be out of the question. In fact, although novels can embody realism and can borrow "the mouth and pen of novel characters" to express their feelings directly, this borrowing cannot be too outrageous. Jiao Dabian can never use poetic language to expose the corrupt life of the descendants of Ningguo Mansion. He It can only be fixed on a drunken curse. Similarly, due to the limitations of the characters of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, and Xue Baochai, these three "Crab Songs" have become direct expressions of the temperament of these three people.
In a few lines of Jia Baoyu's poems, his naivety and cheerfulness are perfectly reflected. He holds a chela to appreciate the osmanthus and laughs all his life, which not only excuses his greed and madness, but also excuses his inaction. Self-satire and self-deprecation; and the word "crazy" and the word "香" are the whole mood of Baoyu at that time, his temperament is straightforward, and he naturally reveals his thoughts and character.
Let’s look at Lin Daiyu’s poems again. It goes against the world’s view of crabs being rampant. From the opening line “Iron-armored soldiers never forget the death”, we are told that crab shells are used as armor and claws are used as claws. Ge, this is a poem about breaking away from the world and praising the courageous fighting spirit of the crab. Although it has died, it is still full of tender jade and fragrant red fat. What it brings to Daiyu is to pour out the best products and help me drink thousands of cups. Lin Daiyu's uncharacteristic poetic expression is actually a self-portrait of her rebellious and unconventional character.
As for Xue Baochai's "Crab Ode", if you look at it solely from the perspective of a human being, the word "vulgar" can be used instead. Of course, this understanding is too narrow. However, for Baoyu and Daiyu, although they may sigh, "It's time to scold me! My poems should be burned.", after all, they are not the same people as Baochai. Therefore, although there are three "Crab Ode" together in "A Dream of Red Mansions", due to the limitations of the character's personality, Cao Xueqin's ultimate goal is to express each of his feelings, and it is by no means a poetry that appears as a foil.
Sitting under the shade of Gui Ai Tong and raising his wine cup, Chang'an salivates in anticipation of the Double Ninth Festival.
The road in front of me has no longitude and latitude, and the sky in the spring and autumn is black and yellow.
;
What’s the point of leaving the cauldron today? The fragrance of grain and millet remains in the sky on the moon.
First of all, because this is a good poem. It has to be admitted that the poetry works of many characters in "A Dream of Red Mansions" are of varying quality. Even if they are written by Bao Dai, the best among them, strictly speaking, they are rare masterpieces. This crab poem itself has novel ideas and sharp words. In addition, it is placed in the grand environment of the Grand View Garden, a fairyland on earth, and its satire on worldly affairs is even more rare. Secondly, due to the special role of expressing the character of the characters in the book, the appearance of this poem is well-intentioned. It stands to reason that this kind of poem should be written by characters with two types of characters: Daiyu or Xiangyun; but Cao Xueqin did not agree. He arranged this "too poisonous" poem under the name of Xue Baochai. Why?
Because he wanted to write a different kind of Xue Baochai, a perfect woman Xue Baochai that was different from the eyes of the world at that time. This poem shows that Xue Baochai is not only a well-educated, considerate, gentle and considerate lady. In addition, on the other side of her character, she also has a disgust for the dark side of human nature, aversion to the world, and a fascination with conspiracy. Hatred and praise for retribution. This poem may be intended to highlight Xue Baochai's profundity, or it may be used to refer to the eldest lady's palace, but in any case, it helps to complete the character image, making her more vivid and perfect. It is not easy for such a girl who understands human nature to still be kind to others and be kind to herself, while at the same time having a positive attitude towards life. From this perspective, her understanding of world affairs is based on the process of "denial of negation"; her attitude towards life even has some of the ancient sage style of "hiding in the public", perhaps even more so than Lin Daiyu. A cut above.