Read to my son on winter nights.
The ancients learned nothing, and it takes time to grow old.
What you get on paper is so shallow that you never know what you have to do.
Creation background
During his five years in Song Ningzong, the poet indulged in his research and liked to read poetry collections on cold winter nights. The north wind roared outside the window, and the air conditioning was oppressive. In the silent night, the poet could not restrain his surging emotions. He wrote this philosophical poem and gave it to his son Yu Zi with deep affection.
Literary appreciation
The first poets praised the ancient people's spirit of diligent study. Transfer training means the difficulty of learning. The first two sentences of the poem praise the ancient people's spirit of hard study and the difficulty of learning. It shows that only when you develop good study habits and lay a good foundation can you achieve something in the future. The poet begins with the knowledge of the ancients. The word "effortless" describes the diligence and persistence of the ancients in learning, which is both vivid and vivid. The poet earnestly warned his son to seize the good time, work hard while he was young, and don't let his youth go to waste.
The last two couplets emphasize the importance of where the learning effort should be. It is important to study knowledge tirelessly and persistently, but it is not enough, because it is only book knowledge and a summary of previous practical experience. It is not an armchair strategist, but "hands-on". A person who has both book knowledge and practical experience is truly learned. Book knowledge is the summary of predecessors' practical experience, and whether it can conform to the situation here and now remains to be tested by practice. Only through personal practice can we turn the knowledge in books into our own practical skills. Starting from the relationship between book knowledge and social practice, poets emphasize the importance of practice and highlight their own insights. "Practice" has two meanings: first, practice in the process of learning, and strive to achieve "mouth to mouth, hands to heart"; The other is to practice knowledge and turn it into your own for your own use. The poet's intention is very obvious, aiming at encouraging his son not to be unilaterally satisfied with book knowledge, but to consolidate and further sublimate in practice.
This is a godson poem, and the poet emphasizes the importance of practice in the relationship between books and practice. Indirect experience is a way for people to draw nutrition from books and learn the knowledge and skills of their predecessors. Direct experience is an understanding that comes directly from practice, and it is a more important way to acquire knowledge. Only by "practice" can we turn book knowledge into practical knowledge and play the guiding role of what we have learned in practice. By describing Lu You's education to his son Yu Zi, this poem tells readers to have a tireless and persistent learning spirit. A person who has both book knowledge and practical spirit is a truly learned person.