Contrast between men and women: Why are ancient poets so keen to express this?

When it comes to the artistic achievement of the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan's Lisao, "Beauty Vanilla" must be an unavoidable topic. "Beauty Vanilla" is a symbolic metaphor system created by Qu Yuan. The image of "beauty" is generally understood as self-comparison or metaphor of kings, while "vanilla" is opposite to "evil grass", which symbolizes the evil forces in political struggle and helps to set off the noble image of "beauty". Later poets, following Qu Yuan's example, wrote sentences such as "Many women are jealous of my beauty and say that I am good-natured" and compared themselves to beauty. On the subject matter of writing, it is expressed as "erotic poems". According to Mr. Zhu Ziqing's definition in Yan Shizhi, the so-called "erotic poetry" is to compare men and women with monarch and minister. Friends who know Li Sao will know that Qu Yuan wrote this way to express his dissatisfaction with politics, which can be said to be the first analogy between the relationship between men and women and the encounter between the monarch and the minister. Later poets also expressed some of their political ideals in this way. The poet's choice of this creative technique is not only a simple imitation of Qu Yuan, but also multiple social and cultural reasons. First of all, the relationship between men and women and the encounter between monarch and minister are heterogeneous and isomorphic. The structure of home and country is similar, and the ancients have long realized this. There is a saying in the preface to the Book of Changes: "Where there is heaven and earth, there is everything, there is everything, there are men and women, there are men and women, there are couples, there are fathers and sons, there are princes and ministers, and there are ups and downs. There are ups and downs, and then the etiquette is wrong. " Home and country are similar maintenance and operation modes, with the order of up and down. Then the core relationship between the two models-the relationship between men and women and the relationship between monarch and minister-is similar and unequal. Being a minister in front of a monarch is just like a woman's inferiority to a man, which is the basis of their analogy. When a poet (male) writes in my heart forever and Palace Complaints, his original intention is probably to express some political opinions. Therefore, in this kind of poems, lovesickness can be expressed as a desire to serve, the decline of beauty can be understood as the lack of talent, the love of women is king in analogy with the reuse of men, and the abandonment of wives means the alienation of poets. Secondly, the words of the king should be euphemistic. In ancient China, the king had absolute authority and could not make mistakes. Therefore, many ministers in history attributed the king's mistakes to the confusion of treacherous court officials or sang "the theory of femme fatale" to make women scapegoats for the king's mistakes. Then in the relationship between the monarch and the minister, the king will never let the officials feel wronged. If a person is not reused, it is very dangerous to blame the king's ignorance for his mistakes. Meng Haoran said: "I was exiled by Mingjun because of my slip of the tongue, and I didn't see my friends after a long illness." Liu Yong said: "I forbear to be superficial, but I changed my mind." As a result, although the emperors didn't explicitly say that they were unhappy with these two poems, they had secretly pulled them into the blacklist. In contrast, Sima Xiangru, a senior student, is much better. He wrote "Longmen Fu" in order to increase the chips for Queen Chen, but what a coincidence! Shortly after Queen Chen fell out of favor, she was framed for taking bribes and lost her official position. It is said that when the "Changmen Fu" fell into the hands of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, Chen Ajiao did not get more glory, but Sima Xiangru's frustrated days were suspended. I once saw a monument to a minister of the Qing Dynasty in a museum. Before indicating his intention, he made a lot of preparations, mobilized all similar practices of the previous generation, and then came to his own opinion. I just want to express this. In feudal society, courtiers paid special attention to expression skills, and the relationship with beauty Chen has gradually become a conventional usage since Qu Yuan, which is logical. Besides, for aesthetic reasons. Generally speaking, the literati in ancient China were very particular. If you think about it a little, you will know that we need a certain platform to realize our political ideals, that is to say, the return of ideals to reality should be based on fame and fortune in the eyes of the secular. Then they can't directly ask the king for promotion and rank, and they can't show the image of a poor scholar who needs pity. In our words today, eating should not be too ugly. The poet compares himself to a young woman, so he can resolve the discord between the monarch and the minister like a gifted scholar and a beautiful woman and put on the beautiful coat of love. Moreover, when literati choose to express their political ideals in the form of literature, they must pay attention to the aesthetics of literature. When you want to express your expectation of being reused, or vent your ambitions, or even be alienated or exiled for no reason, you will definitely follow the principle of "mourning without hurting, complaining without anger". Through the relationship between men and women, the encounter between monarch and minister is expressed euphemistically and implicitly, which makes people feel the hidden meaning of the poet in the aesthetic experience. The contrast between men and women is favored by later poets: Cao Zhi's poem "Seven Sorrow" expresses her loyalty and the anguish that she can't communicate with the king in the voice of a woman who is afraid of her husband's abandonment; In the ninth poem of Quasi-Difficult Travel, Bao Zhao reflects his political frustration over the fate of his abandoned wife. In the preface of Bai Juyi's "The Road to New Yuefu", it is clearly stated that the poem is "borrowing a couple to mock the endless life of the monarch and his subjects", and the love of women in the poem is a portrayal of the bad feelings between the monarch and his subjects. Free and easy as Li Bai, he also said in "Yu Hu Yin": "Shi Ying smiles and frowns, and ugly women are tired. Although the king loves moths, he has no choice but to kill people in the palace! " Use beauty to envy to compare your situation; Even Xin Qiji, the real man of the Golden Goma Railway, said in Fishing: "The Nagato incident was well planned, but it was wrong. Some people are jealous of Mei Mei, and her daughter bought it as a gift. Who will complain about this situation? " "With the allusions of Queen Chen, I will express my sadness. I have no chance to show my determination and ability to defend the country against the enemy. Recently, I like this poem "Hating the Spring Palace" written by Du Xunhe, a poet in the Tang Dynasty: I am unlucky to know beauty and sigh in front of the mirror. Ok, ok, not on the pretty face; Finally, in order to please who, ask me to decorate. The bird's song is broken, it is for the warm spring breeze; When the sun is at noon, the flower shadows will appear thick. I really miss my female companion in Yuexi Hu Sha every year; Song laughed and picked hibiscus casually. The woman in the poem strayed into the palace because she was young and beautiful, but she didn't want to dress herself up. In any case, she will not be favored. The real reason for being favored is not beauty, so it is interesting to write here. The phrase "please a critical emperor" alludes to many people-some are villains who make their way through all their efforts, and some are emperors who are blinded by ignorance of talents. At the end of the poem, the woman misses the free days of dancing and picking hibiscus in Yuexi very much. Compared with the poet himself, the poet seems to have the ambition to leave the officialdom. We don't need to consider whether the poets who wrote such poems really didn't display their talents. What we need to understand is that it is this implicit expression that makes China's poetry garden bloom one unobtrusive flower after another, but it is full of fragrance. Of course, when we appreciate China's classical poems, we should also take into account "poetry has no reference" (in short, there are many directions for the interpretation of poetry). Not all poets write about the relationship between men and women, but at least, it is a way to understand poetry.