Junshan, also known as Dongting Mountain, is located in Dongting Lake in Hunan Province. According to ancient Chinese myths and legends, Xiangjun, the concubine of Shun, and her sisters transformed into the gods of Xiangshui and traveled over Dongting Lake and Mountain, so Junshan is also called Hushan. It is its beautiful lakes and mountains and touching myths and legends that attracted poets of all ages to write wonderful poems with great aesthetic value. The above-mentioned "Ti Junshan" by Yong Tao, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, and "Ti Junshan" by Fang Qian (some say the author is Cheng He) are among the representative works. These two poems with the same title both sing about the Junshan Mountain in Dongting Lake. Their ideas are both novel and ingenious, and each has its own merits.
Poetry requires innovation, especially in terms of conception, it must be unconventional, find new ways, and choose new angles of expression. Only in this way can poetry have poetic flavor, be thought-provoking, and spread like wildfire. Yong Tao and Fang Qian were deeply involved in this samadhi. Their poems about Junshan paid attention to avoid repeating the poetic scenery of their predecessors, and wrote new ideas. Yongtao's "Inscription on Junshan" describes the beautiful scenery of Junshan in Dongting, and his writing is unusual from the beginning: "The smoke is still and the shadow is sinking." Here, the poet does not describe Junshan directly, but starts from its reflection in Dongting Lake, with " The word "Unmoving" clearly means that the lake is calm and the waves are not stirring. The word "Shen" highlights the depth and solemnity of the reflection color of Junshan, which is a hidden theme and unique. The second sentence focuses on color, describing the color of the lake as "no blue color at all" and describing the color of the mountains as "deep green color". The two contrast with each other. The above two sentences describe the natural beauty of the lakes and mountains, and paint a static reflection of the lakes and mountains for us. The writing style of the last two sentences changes from the real reflection of the mountains in the lake to the fictional myths and legends, and is integrated with the description of the lakes and mountains. "Suspected to be the place where Narcissus washes her hands" means: Dongting Junshan is probably the place where the water nymphs, Sister Xiangjun, wash their clothes! Although this sentence wants to fall into the sky, it is still in the present, because the basis of "suspect is" is in the first two sentences. Without the actual description of the lakes and mountains in the first two sentences, there would be no factors to stimulate imagination, and this sentence would appear abrupt. "A snail in the center of the indigo mirror" is a clever metaphor: the calm lake surface is a mirror, and Junshan reflected in the lake is the narcissus indigo-colored snail bun in the mirror. Here, the poet uses green snails to compare Junshan, which is obviously influenced by Liu Yuxi's "Looking at the green mountains and rivers of Dongting in the distance, a green snail in the silver plate" ("Looking at Dongting"), and made a breakthrough. Liu's poem uses green snails as a metaphor for Junshan, and his imagination is novel, and he compares reality with reality, while Yong's poem blends ancient myths and legends, contrasting virtuality with reality, making his imagination strange and ethereal, and his images seem like illusion and reality.
Fang Qian's "Inscription on Junshan" depicts and praises the wonder of Junshan. He chooses to explore its origins and completes it through the poet's journey to fairyland. It is completely different from Yong's poems in conception. The first sentence is about the poet traveling in fairyland and meeting the fairy Magu. "Fangwai" refers to the place where gods live. "Magu" is a female fairy in Chinese mythology and legend. Ge Hong's "Biography of Immortals" says that she was from Jianchang and practiced Taoism at Guyu Mountain in the southeast of Mouzhou. During the reign of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, she was summoned by Wang Fangping and came to Cai Jingjia. She was able to throw rice into beads at the age of eighteen or nine. "Ma Gu said that since she took over, she has seen three fields of mulberry fields in the East China Sea." It can be seen that Magu has great supernatural powers and is well aware of the changes in world affairs. The poet was amazed by the beauty of Junshan and wanted to explore its origin. But there is nothing the world can do to help, even Sister Shuixian Xiangjun may not be able to answer it. Therefore, the poet chose Magu, a female fairy who had gone through many vicissitudes of life, to write about his visit to Wonderland, meeting Magu, and learning about the origin of Junshan. This is exactly what the last three lines of the poem express. Cleverly, the question and process of the poet's consultation are omitted in the poem, and the word "heard and said" is used to directly lead to the answer: There was no Junshan in ancient times, but later there was Junshan, and "Yuanshi" (originally it was) the top of Kunlun Mountain The spiritual stone on the mountain was blown down to Dongting Lake by the huge sea wind. Kunlun Mountain is a place where immortals roam in ancient Chinese myths and legends. It has Yaochi Langyuan and many beautiful jade. The Junshan jade from Kunlun was blown down to Dongting Lake by the sea breeze. Needless to say, it is so beautiful. This poem is about the poet's visit to the fairyland. It does not try to exaggerate the beauty and magic of the fairyland like Li Bai's poems such as "Dream Wandering in Heaven and Saying Farewell". Instead, it is written according to the following ideas: The poet travels in the fairyland → meets the fairy Magu → asks her for advice. The origin of Junshan (this question is omitted in the poem) → I learned the origin of Junshan from Magu: It turned out that the spiritual stone from the top of Kunlun Mountain was blown down to Dongting Lake by the sea breeze → This is how to reproduce the beauty of Junshan ("Nothing is a matter of one") The words are all romantic"), the imagination is strange and amazing.
In short, Yongtao's "Inscription on Junshan" chants about Junshan. He starts from the reflection of Junshan in the lake and writes about the natural beauty of the lake and mountain. Then, with the help of strange imagination and clever metaphors, he fictionally writes about Xiangjun. The myths and legends of the sisters alternate between fiction and reality, thus depicting Junshan as extremely beautiful, innovative and unique. Fang Qian's "Inscription on Junshan" eulogizes Junshan, unlike Yong's poetry, which switches from describing the natural beauty of lakes and mountains to fictional myths and legends. Instead, it directly uses the form of "Wandering to Immortals", through traveling to fairyland and meeting fairy aunts, to deify it. The extraordinary origin of Junshan indirectly shows the beauty of Junshan, and its novel and ingenious conception is unique to Yong's poems. It can be seen from this that although the object of chanting is the same, different poets can conceive different masterpieces of poetry. This is also worthy of thinking and practice by today's poets.