The earliest poems about Yan can be traced back to the Yin and Shang Dynasties. One of the "Ode" in "The Book of Songs" is "Xuanniao". "The Book of Songs" was compiled by Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, around the middle of the sixth century BC. It is my country's first collection of poems and contains 305 works, divided into three categories: "Wind", "Elegance" and "Song". Some of them are named after music. "Feng" is a local tune, which contains folk songs from 15 countries at that time; "Ya" is divided into major and minor genres, mostly composed by nobles; "Song" is a song used for ancestral temple sacrifices.
"Xuanniao" sings: "The blackbird of destiny descends to give birth to Shang, and the home is Yin. The ancient emperor ordered Wutang to be in the four directions." The black bird is a swallow. Legend has it that Jian Di, the daughter of the Nu family, swallowed the egg of a swallow and gave birth to the ancestor of Shang Dynasty. This may be the reason why the swallow became the totem of Shang Dynasty. "Xuanniao" is a poem by the princes of the Song Dynasty to worship Emperor Gaozong Wuding of the Yin Dynasty. It traces the achievements of Chengtang, the founder of the Yin Shang nation and the founding monarch, and warmly praises the revival of the Yin Shang Dynasty by Wu Ding, Emperor Gaozong of the Yin Dynasty. A solemn sacrificial atmosphere and pious wishes. "Xuanniao" outlines the historical events of the Yin and Shang Dynasties with concise pen and ink. The historical writing is full of myths, and he never forgets his orders. It is clear that the Yin people "led the people to serve the gods." The poem creates a hero who combines man and god, "King Wu is invincible", which shows the power of man. "The Book of Songs" sings about swallows, and "Gu Feng" "thinks of two flying swallows, carrying a mud nest in the king's house", "Yan Yan" has "Swallows are newly married, like brothers", "Swallows are flying, and their feathers are different, and their sons are in the sky" Return and send him far into the wild."
Swallows are migratory birds that migrate with seasonal changes. They come north in spring and return south in autumn. It embodies the "faith" of Confucian and Confucian culture, so it was favored by the ancients. When spring comes, they will definitely come in pairs, going in and out of other people's houses or under the eaves. They have become the favorite images of poets and often appear in ancient poems. They may cherish the spring and despise the autumn, or exaggerate the sorrow of separation, or express lovesickness, or express sentiments about current events. The richness of the images and the richness of the expressions are beyond the reach of other objects. For example, Du Fu's "Quequatrains": "The mud melts and the swallows fly, and the sand is warm and the mandarin ducks sleep." Bai Juyi's "Spring Journey to Qiantang Lake": "A few early orioles compete for the warm trees, and whose new swallows peck at the spring mud." However, swallows flying together are often used as contrast. The loneliness of separation is like Yan Shu's "Butterflies in Love with Flowers": "The chrysanthemums on the threshold are worried about the mist orchids weeping with dew, and the curtains are light and cold, and the swallows fly away. The bright moon does not know the bitterness of separation, and the slanting light carves the dawn through the Zhuhu." Yan Jidao, "Lin Jidao" "Jiang Xian": "The falling flower is independent, and the swift swallows fly together." When we read and appreciate ancient poems, we must have the ability to interpret these images, and we must be able to draw inferences from one instance to another in extensive reading.
First of all, many poets beautify and praise it as a symbol of spring. For example, Wei Yingwu's poem "Meeting Feng Zhu in Chang'an" in the Tang Dynasty has the sentence "The flowers are blooming, and the swallow's new breasts are blooming". Yan Shu's poem "Po Zhenzi" in the Song Dynasty has the sentence "The swallows come to Xinshe, and the pear blossoms lag behind the Qingming Festival". Ren Qiaoji's song "Tianjingsha·Jishi" has the line "The orioles and swallows are spring and spring, the flowers and willows are real, everything is rich and rhyming". The Southern Song Dynasty poet Shi Dazu even used Yan as his lyrics, in "Shuangshuang" It is written in "Yan·Yongyan": "I still look at the caisson with carved beams, and I can't decide with soft words. The flowers are floating in the air, and the green tail separates the red shadow." It is very similar in form and spirit. Spring is bright and brilliant, and the swallows are petite and cute. In addition, the literati are sentimental. When spring passes, the poet will be infinitely sad. Therefore, Ouyang Xiu's "Picking Mulberries" lamented: "The tourists have left after the music and songs have dispersed, and I can only feel the spring sky. When the curtains are lowered, the swallows return and the drizzle falls." middle".
Second, ancient poets used swallows to express the beauty of love and express the longing for their lover. Swallows have always been a symbol of love because the male and female fight each other and follow each other when flying. "The Book of Songs: Valley Wind" has Yunying "Thinking of two flying swallows, holding the king's house in the mud nest". "The Book of Songs: Swallows" has "Swallows are newly married." "Like brothers, like brothers", "Swallows fly, but their feathers are different, and their sons return and are sent far away into the wild". It is precisely because of the pairing of swallows that it causes lovers to place their affection on the swallows and desire to fly together. thoughts. Therefore, there is the loneliness of the empty boudoir in Xue Daoheng's "Xi Xi Salt", "The cobwebs hang in the dark window, and the swallows fall on the empty beams." 》The loneliness and desolation of "The curtain is light and cold, and the swallows fly away", there is Zhou Deqing's "Happy Spring Comes", the frustration and desolation of "The moon first rises over the yellow willow, the swallows return to the emerald tower first", and Zhang Kejiu's "Qingjiang Yin" "The flowers are blooming" Traveling far away, jade alleviates the pain of spring, and the nostalgic longing for "swallows flying in the east wind thatched cottage". All these kinds of songs about love are endless.
Thirdly, it expresses the changes of time as things change and the stars change, and expresses the emotion and grief of past prosperity and present decline, personnel changes, and the destruction of the country and the family. Swallows never forget their old nests as autumn passes and spring comes back. Poets have seized on this characteristic to express their inner indignation. The most famous one is Liu Yuxi’s "Woyi Alley": "There are wild flowers and wild flowers beside the Suzaku Bridge, and the setting sun is setting at the entrance of Wuyi Alley." In the old days, the swallows in front of Wang Xietang flew into the homes of ordinary people." In addition, there are also Yan Shu's "Huanxi Sand" "The flowers fell helplessly, and the familiar swallows returned, wandering alone in the fragrant path of the small garden", and Li Haogu's "Visiting Kinmen·Reminiscence of the Former Residence". "Swallows come back and hold the embroidered curtain, but the old nest is nowhere to be found", Jiang Kui's "Red Lips" "Swallow geese are unintentional, wandering on the west bank of Taihu Lake, following the clouds. Counting the peaks are miserable, Shanglue is raining at dusk", Zhang Yan's "Gao Balcony" "The swallows knew where they were, but the moss was deep and the grass was dark, and the river was dark." Wen Tianxiang's "Jinling Station" "The grass closes and the palace turns to the sunset, and the solitary clouds wander back to where they are. The scenery of mountains and rivers is the same, and the people in the city walls are the same. Half of it is gone. The reeds are all over the ground and I am old. Who are the swallows flying next to from my old home? From now on, we will leave the Jiangnan Road and return home in the form of cuckoos with blood.
Yanzi has no intention, but he has witnessed the changes in current events and endured the suffering of the country and his family. The swallow's load can be said to be heavy.
Fourth, pass letters from generation to generation to secretly express the pain of separation. Cao Xueqin's "A Dream of Red Mansions" has the sentence "The swallows between Liang are too ruthless". He wrote a poem about Yan Zu, a daughter of the Tang Dynasty, and passed it down to her husband Ren Zong. Ren Zong left home and traveled to Jiahu and did not return for several years. Shao Lan wrote poems and tied them to Yan Zu. At that time, Renzong was in Jingzhou, and Yan suddenly parked on his shoulder. He saw the book tied to his feet, and he looked at it. It was sent by his wife, and he returned home in tears. His poem "Sending a Husband" says: "My son-in-law went to Chonghu, wept at the window and wrote a letter of blood, and his diligence was sent to his unlucky husband with the wings of a swallow." It was precisely because of the affection of the swallow that the husband changed his mind and the couple met. Guo Shaolan is lucky. Some unfortunate women used Yan to send letters, but they were never heard from again. For example, Zhang Kejiu's "Sai Hongqiu Spring Love" wrote, "The sad swallow leaves a red line on its feet, and the annoying luan shadow is leisurely fanning." Feng Yansi's " "Butterfly Loves Flowers" writes, "With teary eyes, I leaned against the building and kept talking to myself. When the two swallows come, will they meet on the street?" The sadness and pain and longing for it make people moved, and then shed tears.
There is also a poem "Ode to Burial Flowers" in "A Dream of Red Mansions", which is the representative of all the lamentations of Lin Daiyu lamenting her life experience. It is an important work by Cao Xueqin to shape Lin Daiyu's artistic image and express her character. The poem has the image of swallows in the lines "In March, the fragrant nest has been built, and the swallows in the beams are too ruthless. Although the flowers can be pecked next year, they will fall into the empty nests if people go to the beams." Pity the fallen flowers and complain about the return of the swallows. The so-called "the fragrant nest has been built" probably means that Bao Dai's marriage has been basically decided in the spring. That is, in the autumn, something unexpected happened, just like the swallows flying ruthlessly between the beams. In that case, Baoyu was forced to run away from home. By next year, although the flowering hair can be pecked, the people will have gone and the nest will be empty. Therefore, she lamented that "the souls of flowers and birds are always hard to keep", and then left with the fantasy that she could "give birth to two wings". She cried sadly day and night, and finally "all her tears came to bear witness to her fate."
Fifth, it expresses the sorrow of traveling and describes the pain of wandering. “Holistic, intuitive, and analogy are the dominant ways of thinking of the Han nation.” Flowers, birds, insects and fish are all described by literati, and birds and animals all show the talent of poets. The crow of wild geese mourns the autumn, the song of the ape touches the clothes, the fish passes on the ruler, and the cicada flies high. The uncertain habitat of the swallows leaves the poet with rich imagination space, or wandering, such as Zhou Bangyan's "Man Ting Fang" "It looks new every year." "Yan, drifting across the vast sea, came to post and repair rafters"; or his life experience may have been ups and downs, such as Zhang Kejiu's "Happiness in Front of the Palace", "Looking at Chang'an, the future is dim and stained, following the conquering Yan from south to north, the journey is difficult"; or they meet and say goodbye, For example, in Su Shi's "Send Chen Mu Zhi Tanzhou" "It's like a swallow and a flying red, they still see each other off before they meet"; or they are separated from time to time, such as Liu An's "Huainanzi" "Magnet flies up, mica comes to water, earth dragon brings rain, swallow Wild geese fly on their behalf.” The swallow is no longer just a swallow, it has become a symbol of the traditional culture of the Chinese nation and has been integrated into the blood of every descendant of the Yan and Huang Dynasties.
Swallows have a very special and outstanding status among ancient literati. The flowers, trees and birds in poems are mostly used for empathy. For the more elegant ones, the bamboos and orchids convey a sense of transcendence and open-mindedness; the chrysanthemums on the fence and the wells with balconies convey a sense of aloofness and escaping from the world. In more popular terms, peonies signify wealth and honor, magpies signify auspicious events, plucked willows signify farewells, and red beans are picked to comfort lovesickness. The screams of autumn cicadas are used to accentuate the desolation, the cries of Du Yu are used to highlight the sadness, the catkins are used to lament the wandering life, and so on. Various flowers, birds and grasses have corresponding emotional meanings. Everyone abides by these ancient agreements and interprets endless poems with the same intention. This situation is prevalent in every corner of traditional culture. However, the swallow is very special. It is free from this correspondence, flying very lightly and freely in another world of poetry.
Swallows belong to another role in the poet's mind. It is not a carrier to express one's feelings when one is sad, angry or sad, but is the most natural and lovely smile in one's field of vision when leisurely and leisurely looking at the spring scenery outside the window. In addition to this faint joy, there is also a bit of pity. This is the simplest emotion, almost transparent, loaded with nothing, and does not require any interpretation. Swallows are like this.
Any poem about the fleeting wings of a swallow always conveys the fresh and lovely atmosphere of early spring. "The swallows come to Xinshe, and the pear blossoms lag behind the Qingming Festival." The most lovely time of the year is given to the swallows every bit. Flowers alone are not enough. Although they are beautiful, they are too quiet. In addition to "the wild flowers gradually become charming to the eyes", there must always be added "whose new swallows peck at the spring mud". This is the whole spring. If the spring is still early, "the petrels have not returned", it will inevitably be a bit disappointing; "the swallows have not returned, the spring is late, and the apricot blossoms are cold in the misty rain", it seems that the whole spring is specially set up for the swallows. Therefore, it is not difficult to see the unique love and affection that literati have for swallows.
Du Fu wrote in "The Swallows Come to the Boat": "Hunan is a guest in the spring, and the swallows have mud twice in their mouths. The common sense master who came to his hometown is now seeing people from afar. Poor Chaojun everywhere. The room is so fluttering. The ship's rafters are still up, and the flowers are soaked in the water. "The literati's passion may be due to the passion of the swallows themselves.
There are many migratory birds, but none of them are as close to people as swallows. Not only do they build their nests under painted beams and live under the same roof with people, but they also fall in love with their old owners when they return every year. , never abandon it, "In the old days, the swallows in front of the king's palace flew into the homes of ordinary people." That was a last resort. If the carved beams of the old days were still there, the swallows would never go to another house. There is a sentence in the Song Dynasty: "For whom are you returning and for whom are you coming? The master's kindness is so great that the bead curtain rolls around the curtain." It is indeed pure love for people to return to Yan, and for Yan to come for others.
The familiar returning swallow has touched the softest and most tender world in the hearts of many poets. Swallows are a special love for literati, and this love has lasted through thousands of years of time and space to this day. Wait until next spring, you will still see the familiar fluttering swallows, returning from Yan Shu's beautiful words.
"There is no choice but the flowers fall away, and the familiar swallows return", which made Yan Shu enjoy the reputation of poetry throughout the ages. This graceful poet seems to have a special preference for swallows. In addition to the popular song "Huanxisha", many poems mention: "Swallows are passing behind the curtains in the small pavilion", "After the swallows have passed, the orioles return", "The orioles are hidden in the green leaves, and the swallows are separated by the bead curtain", "The soft curtain is cold, and the swallows fly away"... there are too many to mention. In fact, if you pay a little attention, it is not difficult to find that this is not Yan Shu's preference. The word "swallow", with its unique lightness and delicateness, is scattered in countless clear words and sentences in the classical poetry world.
"The flowers fell helplessly, and the swallows returned as if they had known each other before." This is a "poetic" feeling that people have in their hearts but not in their writings. "There is nothing to do" is the author's feeling and sigh; "the flowers fall away" is an objective law that does not depend on people's will. Facing the reality of "flowers falling away", the author couldn't help but feel a sense of regret. There is nothing the author can do about this, and he can only say "nothing can be done". The next sentence "seemingly familiar" is also the author's feelings and exclamations. As autumn passes and spring comes, swallows come according to the season and keep their word. Whenever the New Year comes, they will clip their feathers, fly close to the ground, and murmur to each other. Because they have the same body shape and move erratically, it is difficult for people to identify whether they are indeed the twin swallows from the old nest, so they are called "acquaintance" before "acquaintance". The two words "like it used to be". "The return of swallows" is also an objective law that does not depend on people's will. Every time the two "flowers fall away" and "swallows return" alternate, a year passes, and it is in this endless alternation that life gradually ages until death. The old face has disappeared forever, and the new face appears in front of you. History is silently extending forward in this alternation between the old and the new. Faced with this reality, the author couldn't help but wander and meditate on the path covered with fallen flowers.
Su Shi was heroic by nature and stubborn in real life. No hardship could knock him down. He writes euphemistic words about lovesickness and separation, so it is different from other people's blind indulgence. "Butterfly Loves Flowers" said: "The flowers have faded to red, green and apricots are small. When the swallows fly, the green water is surrounded by people. There are few willows blowing on the branches. There is no grass anywhere in the world! There are swings in the wall and roads outside the wall. People walk outside the wall. The beauty smiles. The laughter gradually fades away, but the sentiment is ruthlessly annoyed."
This is not a love poem, but we often use some of its sentences for love, especially when it comes to boys. When you are broken up in love, it is always easy to think of this sentence: "There is no grass anywhere in the world." "The flowers are faded, red and green, and the apricots are small. When the swallows fly, the green water is surrounded by people." It's like a movie scene, shot by shot. The last remaining flowers have all faded, and the apricots have just grown. "When the swallows are flying, the green water is surrounded by people." This should be late spring or early summer. "There are few willow cotton blowing on the branches, and there are no fragrant grasses anywhere in the world." Flying catkins are a scene in spring, but the spring flowers have faded, and even the catkins on the trees in spring are almost gone. But Su Dongpo Being very optimistic, he said, "There is no grass anywhere in the world." "Swings inside the wall, outside the wall", who is swinging on the wall? Of course it was a woman. The woman was locked in the house and playing on the swing. The person standing outside the wall was of course Su Dongpo. This is connected with his previous sentence "There is no grass anywhere in the world", "A traveler outside the wall, the beauty inside the wall laughs." Su Dongpo knew that this was a beauty by the beautiful laughter inside the wall, and he left , the laughter became smaller and smaller. So he said, "You are passionate but you are annoyed by ruthlessness." He is passionate, but a girl may not be ruthless. He has never seen her at all. This poem is not considered ruthless. In fact, his ruthless annoyance is more of a free and optimistic mood. However, the phrase "passionate but annoyed by ruthlessness" is often used by us in love.
Su Dongpo was demoted everywhere in his life. He traveled very far. It is said that he had a concubine named Wang Chaoyun. He heard others singing these two lines: "There are few willows blowing on the branches, and there are no flowers anywhere in the world." "Fragrant Grass", she was so sad that she cried because she thought of them wandering around. How unlucky was Su Dongpo? He was demoted to a certain place, but before he reached that place, the court issued another order and he was demoted even further.
Xin Qiji was a patriotic poet in the Southern Song Dynasty. The courtesy name is You'an and the nickname is Jiaxuan. He was born in Licheng (now Jinan, Shandong). When he was born, Shandong was already occupied by the Jin soldiers. At the age of 21, he joined the anti-Jin rebel army and soon returned to the Southern Song Dynasty. He successively served as the pacifier of Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan, Fujian, and eastern Zhejiang. During his tenure, he took active measures to recruit exiles, train the army, reward farming and fighting, crack down on corruption and powerful people, and pay attention to stabilizing people's livelihood. He firmly advocated resisting gold throughout his life. The poems he wrote express the patriotic enthusiasm of trying to restore the country's unity, express the sorrow and indignation of unrealized ambitions, expose and criticize the humiliating surrender of the upper-class ruling group of the Southern Song Dynasty; there are also many works that sing about the mountains and rivers of the motherland. There are various artistic styles, but the main ones are bold and unrestrained. Enthusiastic, generous and tragic, with strong writing power, he is called "Su Xin" together with Su Shi.
He also has a poem about swallows, "Birth Cha Zi": "Last year, the swallows came, deep in the curtain. The fragrant paths were covered with mud, and they all soiled the piano and books. This year, when the swallows come, who will listen to their whispers?" ? No one is seen rolling the curtain, but there is a twilight rain."
Ancient Chinese poets' chants about swallows have also deeply influenced the world of poetry. The American poet Rex Roth traveled throughout the Midwestern region of the United States when he was young, so his poems also reveal the aura of the mountains.
Reading his poems, we seem to have a sense of déjà vu, because his poems are similar to Chinese landscape poetry. His poems can see the tranquility, profoundness, elegance and elegance unique to Chinese landscape poetry. Rexroth likes to incorporate translated Chinese poetry into his own creations. He has a short poem "Mountain Village":
Wild flowers and wild grass
grow on the stone steps of the ancient temple
. The sun sets
among the green mountains. Swallows
used to build their nests under the palace walls
under the painted buildings
Tonight they flew to the homes of lumberjacks and masons.
Much older than the stone steps
It is the stone wall
The flat boulders
covered with moss and ferns. If you
sneak up and imitate the calls of the
tree frogs that live here, you can converse with them
all day long.
This title is composed of two stanzas. The first stanza is obviously the poem "Wo Yi Xiang" by Liu Yuxi, translated by Rex Roth. It can be seen that Rexroth's translation has translated the basic artistic conception of the original poem. The second stanza is entirely his own creation, and is an association triggered by the artistic conception of the first stanza. There are many poems like this that are half translation and half creation in Rexroth's collection of poems.
In 1970, Rex Roth also admitted in an interview: "I think Chinese poetry has a far greater influence on me than other poetry. When I write poetry myself, I mostly follow a Chinese style. "The law of style." He further explained that this Chinese style law is to express specific pictures and movements and appeal to the images of the five senses in poetry, and to create a "poetic state". The so-called "poetic realm" must have a specific place and a specific time. Just like this poem, a few swallows are murmuring, and the setting sun shines on the wild grass and flowers beside the ancient bridge. This was once the residence of princes and nobles, but now it has declined and has become the home of ordinary people. The swallow returned to its old nesting place. It puts the reader in this "poetic realm" and makes him feel like he is on the stage and becomes one of the actors. This is a basic technique of Chinese poetry. The imagery used by Rexroth in the poem quoted above is also Chinese. This is not only the impact of Chinese poetry about swallows on the world poetry world, but also the impact of Chinese poetry on the world poetry world. Poets around the world have also learned the typical images often used by Chinese poets.