What is a good poem? Different styles and schools in history have different opinions, some advocate mode theory, some advocate charm theory, some advocate charm theory, muscle theory and so on. Most of them are biased towards a certain aspect or angle, which can be summarized as follows: meter, language, image, composition and realm.
According to these five points, we have formulated five standards, so that we have a basic reference and evaluation standard. With this standard, editors and authors can write, revise, read and talk about poems in order to have a foothold. With tangible crutches, they can increase their consciousness, reduce blindness and measure the level of a poem more truly.
The first criterion is "rigorous metrical style", which is mainly aimed at modern poetry (metrical poems and quatrains).
Metric is the first threshold for us to learn poetry. In fact, it is only a formal "rules of the game", not to mention art, such as playing chess, flying to the sun, flying like a field, shooting mountains with guns and killing lines with cars. This is like the "rhythm" of chess.
Metric is the guide that leads us into the atmosphere of classical poetry. Metric is a law formed by the ancients who developed the musical beauty of Chinese syllables to the extreme. After thousands of years of research, the ancients believed that this arrangement of Chinese syllables was the most beautiful, which fully mobilized the beauty of music.
The second criterion is "clear language"
The first requirement of poetry for language is to write the language of poetry fluently, so that readers can understand it at a glance and guide readers to enter your aesthetic thinking smoothly. As I said before, meter did not enter the art field, but language entered the art field. Language is both technology and art.
There are many requirements for language, among which fluency is the first and the most basic requirement. Don't think that you can write clearly if you make it clear. There is a gap. We can repeat it when we speak, and ask in person when we don't understand it. The communication between readers and authors is mainly through words. He can't ask you face to face, and you can't explain it right away. Therefore, the requirement for language clarity is higher than the language communication itself in our real life.
Through words, readers can't see your gestures and expressions. You must use a few sentences in a poem to convey your thoughts and feelings and what you want to say, and you must not let readers misunderstand and go the wrong way.
Some poems written by the author are clear to himself, but not to the readers. Don't think that if you speak clearly, there will be no problem with your poems. Language issues must be taken seriously.
In addition, pun and ambiguity in poetry are two different things. "Ambiguity" means that readers can't understand the author's original intention, but they understand it as another meaning and come to a fork in the road. Ambiguity is not the author's intention, but the reader understands it after writing it. The two meanings of "pun intended" are what the author wants to say. On the surface, through some connection, there is another meaning behind it, which is called pun. Both of these meanings are correct, and the author wants to express them, but the author focuses on the layer behind them.
For example, Liu Yuxi's "Zhi Zhu Ci": "The east rises and the west falls, and the road is sunny and sunny." The word "sunshine" is a pun. It is both "sunny" weather and "love" of love. This is the author's intention, the author's intentional artistic creation, not ambiguity.
The language of poetry should be clear, that is, it should not make readers' understanding ambiguous. Don't let readers go the wrong way and misunderstand your meaning. Don't let the reader walk in the maze and turn around without knowing what you are talking about.
The third criterion is "typical image"
The artistic creation of poetry mainly relies on thinking in images to express emotions, which is the aesthetic feature and essential feature of poetry. It takes thinking in images (artistic thinking) as the main way of thinking. We call the image that reflects the author's thoughts and feelings "image". Images in poetry should be called images strictly.
Expressing emotion with images is one of the main characteristics of poetry art. On the Eve of Jinshi Zhang by Zhu Qingyu, a poet in Tang Dynasty;
Last night, the candles in the bridal chamber were lit all night, waiting for dawn to worship the parents-in-law.
After putting on makeup, I whispered to my husband: Thrush is very deep and fashionable.
This poem tells us a trick to write poetry. In other words, we must use images to convey our feelings. You see, it is not appropriate for him to write a new wife and ask her husband if the thrush depth is appropriate, but the poem we read is entitled "To Secretary Zhang on the Eve of Jinshi", which is written for the examiner and has nothing to do with the new wife. He wants to ask Zhang Ji, the examiner, to point out the gains and losses and defects of his article and ask his article to be "outdated". Zhu Qingyu came to take part in the imperial examination, but said nothing about the article. Instead, she conveyed her true feelings through the image of a newly married woman. This is the correct way to write poetry.
This is an inspiration to our poetry friends. When we write a poem, we can refer to this poem and think that we should express our feelings through images, don't say it, don't label it, and instill our feelings into the created images. This is the characteristic of poetry artistic creation, and it is also what we should pursue all our lives.
Image creation can be divided into many types, generally the following:
One is a portrait, which is used the most. The red candle stopped in the bridal chamber last night is a portrait of a new bride.
The second is image. Li He's History of Horse: "This horse is extraordinary, and the house star is the star. Knock the bone forward and you will bring your own copper sound. " This is an image. The image of things is also a lot of sustenance for poets to express their feelings.
The third is the scene. Such as Du Fu's "two orioles singing green willows, and a line of egrets flying into the sky. The window contains autumn snow in Xiling, and the Wu Dong Wan Li boat stops at the door. " This is a landscape painting, a landscape. This is also more. Poets often use more than one image, but mostly the combination of human image, material image and scenery.
The fourth is the spiritual image. Psychological images, without characters and scenery, are only psychological descriptions, and the images of characters are mapped by psychological images. Li Yi's "Jiangnan Qu" "Since I married a Qutang businessman, he has broken his promise day by day. If I thought the tide was so regular, I might choose a river boy. " This is to write a new state of mind. "Get rid of the oriole, get rid of all the music on the tree. When she dreamed that she went to meet him in Liaoxi camp, they woke her up. " This is also a description of psychological image.
Fifth, things are different. Writing one thing, in which the characters are not obvious, is just a process of one thing. This is less in orthodox poetry and more in ancient style. Li Shangyin "Untitled", "Light phoenix tail yarn, double fragrance, Biwen dome every night. It's too late to cover up the encounter with a fan; But you drove by, speechless. Once lonely and sleepless, I missed candles; But I haven't heard from you until the pomegranate blossoms. I will tie my horse to a willow tree by the river and stay in the southwest. " This is a rare narrative poem in the seven laws, and only two have been found so far. The other is Du Fu's The Guest Arrives.
The sixth is the dark image. There seems to be no clear image in the poem, but it gives a very clear and profound impression, which we call the dark image. For example, Li Qingzhao's "Life is a hero and death is a ghost." I still miss Xiang Yu and refuse to cross Jiangdong. "She is praising Xiang Yu's heroism, not describing Xiang Yu's character. But in front of readers, Xiang Yu's tall image is vivid. This technique is called dark image, which is a more advanced artistic technique.
Seventh, elephants. In a poem, not one image, but many images form a whole and convey some feelings. Li Shangyin's Untitled: Dongfeng, Baihua, Spring Silkworm, Wax Torch, Xiaojing, Yunbin, Moonlight, Pengshan and Jade Bird have many images; Du Fu's quatrains are also full of images.
The relationship between image and emotion is not one-to-one correspondence. Generally speaking, an image can express different feelings, and an emotion can also choose different images. For us, we just need to choose the image that you are most familiar with and feel. Like the moon. The moon is a common image of the ancients, but the feelings expressed are quite different. Li Bai said, "Is there frost already?" This is an emotion; He also said, "When I was a child, I didn't understand the moon, but I was called Bai Yupan", which is another feeling; He also said, "Until, holding up my cup, I asked the bright moon to bring me my shadow and let the three of us". Look, he is dancing with the moon again. When he arrived at Su Dongpo, he said, "I hope people will live for a long time and have a beautiful scenery thousands of miles away." It is different from Li Bai's feelings; There is also Xin Qiji's "A Round of Autumn Shadow Turning to Golden Wave". The flying mirror is reground. Asking Heng E whether he is white-haired and helpless about wine is another completely different feeling.
The fourth criterion is "strict discipline"
Poetry should have layout, structure, beginning, end, transition and care. This is the same as the composition, so we should arrange its structure. Because the poem is short, it is quite compact and exciting. To consider the whole story, there must be an unfolding logic. Generally speaking, it is developed according to certain logic, or in chronological order, or in accordance with spatial perception.
The fifth criterion is "noble realm"
The realm is the highest realm of poetry-the spiritual realm, the spiritual achievement extracted from the language, image and composition of poetry, and the spiritual height reflected and achieved by poetry. Generally, we can divide poetry into three levels: basic (technical) level, creative (artistic) level and spiritual (philosophical) level. Among the above four standards, meter belongs to the basic level, language runs through three levels, and image and composition belong to the artistic level.
In fact, there are not only these five standards, but also a sixth standard, that is, "distinctive style." However, this refers to mature poets.