Metaphor has a natural bond with poets, just as paddles are to sailors and plows are to farmers. Poets expect it to paddle the boat of poetry and sail through the waves in the ocean of life, and also expect it to cultivate the flowers of poetry to compete for beauty in the social land. I'm afraid "incomparably poetic" is not a joke.
When it comes to metaphor, people will always think of simile, metaphor, metonymy and other formats divided by modern rhetoric textbooks, and they will never forget its definition: "When an object is similar to something else, it deliberately uses something else to describe its object. This kind of rhetoric is called' taking comparison to make it clear' or' metaphor' for short. " (Wu Shiwen's Rhetorical Speech) In fact, the formats mentioned by Wu and the requirements of "similarity" may be suitable for general style, but for "between chanting, the voice of pearls and jade is breathed; The poem "Stretching the Color of the Storm" ("Wen Xin Diao Long") is far from enough, even one-sided. Of course, there are many conventional metaphors in poetry, but blindly emphasizing and sticking to the similarities between the vehicle and the ontology, and even concluding that "one is long and the other is round, how can it be compared" ("Rhetorical Speech"), it is a self-restraint, which hinders the poetry metaphor from being extraordinary and refined and winning by surprise. "I don't know who cut the thin leaves, and the spring breeze in February is like scissors" (He Zhizhang's "Singing Willow"), which is a wonderful metaphor recognized in ancient and modern times. What are the similarities between "spring breeze" and "scissors" in shape, color and attribute? It should be noted that "poets have a sense of things, and they are not poor." Wandering in Vientiane, Shen Yin's audio-visual area "(Wen Xin Diao Long). A brilliant poet will never be satisfied with the direct and superficial "similarity" that ordinary people can see and think of-this will bound the imagination and creativity of poetry in a narrow space-time and lead to the formality and mediocrity of metaphor. What they are striving for is a circuitous and deep-seated "similarity" that goes beyond the routine of life and conforms to artistic rationality, or it is called "impossibility". In Hegel's words, "the farthest things are unexpectedly combined." (Aesthetics) In this way, the vehicle can strongly contrast and protrude the noumenon, and can strongly * * * and shake the reader's aesthetic psychology, so that the works can get the best aesthetic effect in novelty and escape.
Since the Book of Songs, the traditional Chinese ancient poetry of Bixing has been started, and some of its strange and wonderful metaphors, which have been sung through the ages, are the artistic models of this kind of similarity. The breakthrough and creative ancient poets did not always focus on the "similarities" between things in their creative practice, but tried to get rid of this limitation and restriction, deployed and comprehensively used other artistic means and artistic factors, and showed the characteristics of variety and complexity in metaphor. Here, we try to talk about several aspects from the perspective of artistic innovation and breakthrough, and make a brief tasting.
first, metaphor and imagination are integrated with association. The vitality of metaphor lies in providing people with fresh images and vast artistic space, which makes people marvel at it in novelty and surprise. However, the old, repetitive metaphor with obvious "similarities" is difficult to have this freshness, enlightenment and appeal. The so-called first flower metaphor for a woman is a genius, the second is a mediocrity, and the third is a fool. This is the irony. Therefore, outstanding poets in ancient times often broke through the routine of metaphor comparison in the same attribute category (such as using sound metaphor, color metaphor and form metaphor), deliberately confusing the differences between things with different attributes, and widening the "distance" between metaphor and ontology as much as possible. However, with the infinite potential of imagination and association, they captured the opportunities and contacts that should be combined in a long distance, so that they suddenly joined up and combined together to maintain an artistic unity. Li He, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, is the representative of this artistic genius. Mr. Qian Zhongshu said: "Changji is often similar at one end and pushed to the other end that is not similar at first." ("Talking about Art Record") is a broken word, which tells the samadhi of Li He's poems. This kind of twists and turns, which combines artistic imagination and association, will feel nondescript and inexplicable if we look for "similarities" from a conventional perspective; However, once readers change their perspectives and mobilize their own life experiences to imagine, associate and think, they will find it interesting and meaningful. Let's look at his following shocking metaphor: Tianhe turns back to the stars at night, and Yinpu clouds learn underwater sound. (A Ballad in the Sky)
xi he knocks on the glass of the sun, robbing the ashes of the past and the present. (Drinking by the King of Qin)
When the jade wheel is rolled and exposed, Luan Pei meets the stranger in Gui Xiang. (Dream of Heaven) Clouds and running water can flow, the sun and glass can shine together, and the jade wheel and the moon are similar in shape. This metaphor is easier to understand, but it is not new. The poet went beyond this "similarity" and boldly endowed the cloud with the sound of running water, the sun with the sound of glass, and the moon with the function of rolling. There is no similarity between them. What is the reason for metaphor? This "likeness" and "reason" exist in the poet's imagination and association, which need to be understood in a roundabout way: flowing clouds can be compared to running water, and running water can make sounds; Then lend the underwater sound to the cloud, so "Yinpu cloud learns underwater sound" is not reasonable? Similarly, since the sun is like glass, it will naturally make a clear sound like glass under the knock of xi he (the legendary god who drives the sun). The moon is shaped like a jade wheel, and it is not surprising that it runs in the sky and crushes the wet star dew. Obviously, the vivid similarities of these poems are not obvious at a glance, but obscure, graceful and seemingly absent, which requires careful taste and chewing to understand. Li He's superman is that he doesn't directly point out the metaphorical relationship, but seeks similarity in the dissimilarity and reason in the irrationality with the help of imagination and association, which makes the flat and static things dynamic and stereoscopic, and the fantasy is vividly presented to the readers.
among ancient poets, this exquisite and wonderful metaphor skill and technique is not unique to Li He. For example, Du Fu's poem "The whiter the bird on the river, the blue and white flowers on the mountain will burn" ("Two quatrains"), how can the flowers on the mountain "burn"? It is obviously associated with bonuses like fire; Li Shangyin's "If there are tears, it is the wettest flower" ("Tianya"), how can there be "tears" when Oriole sings on the branch? How to "wet flowers"? It is undoubtedly derived from the word "cry" (crying); Wen Tingyun's "Hills overlap, and the clouds on the temples want to make the cheeks snow" ("Bodhisattva Man") says that the beauty's hair is like clouds, which is a common metaphor, and then that half-covering and half-covering is "desire", which is very humane ... The reason why these seemingly far-flung and unreasonable phenomena are linked and combined to become touching famous sentences lies in artistic imagination and imagination. In ancient poetry, there is also a kind of affirmation and negation between vehicle and noumenon, which is even more ingenious and amusing. Let's look at Lv Benzhong's "Picking Mulberry Seeds": Hating the monarch is not like the moon, north and south, east and west, north and south, only accompanying each other.
hating the monarch is like a river building on a moon. When will you be reunited? To say "unlike" and "like" may violate the "law of contradiction" of formal logic. However, in the artistic logic, the feeling of acacia's parting is shown in a zigzag way, and it fully reflects the poet's artistic ingenuity in deliberately pursuing novelty, strangeness and ingenuity in using metaphor.
the second is the integration of metaphor, contrast and contrast. There is a saying in ancient literary theory that "there is something exciting in comparison" and "there is something exciting in comparison", which means that the poet often blends image metaphor with artistic contrast, contrast, symbol and hint while transcending "similarities", so that metaphor not only plays a role in highlighting a certain aspect of things and making people pretend to be profound, but also has many functions such as setting off the environmental atmosphere, expressing subjective feelings and deepening the theme interest. Han Yu has a saying: "The sea is rich, and Deng Linduo is surprised by the wind." ("Seawater") Chen Ling, a Qing dynasty man, pointed out in "Poetry is better than Xing Jian": "Yu Shidao's difficulties are unpredictable. Those who live by the storm and lose their lives because of the storm are different in size. " What I said is the truth that there is interest in this comparison and the metaphor is set off. We read Du Fu's Two Dreams of Li Bai: there were waters to cross, they were wild and tossing and if you fell, there were dragons and rivermonsters. (1)
by river and lake-the storms, the wrecks, the fears that are borne on a little boat. (2) This is a dream-proof poem written by Du Fu in memory of Li Bai in Qin Zhou, with metaphors such as "dragon", "storm" and "boat". On the one hand, it shows that Li Bai in his dream came from Jiangnan on a starry night, and returned from Qin Zhou on a starry night, with difficulties and obstacles on a thousand-mile journey and deep friendship; On the other hand, it also metaphorically implies the terrible situation of Li Bai's exile in Yelang in reality, praying anxiously for Li Bai's fate, and insinuating and mocking the treacherous villain who framed and slandered Li Bai. Metaphors are numerous, and the emptiness contains reality. The tide of feelings turns back and forth, which makes people cry. Just as Pu Qilong said, "For me?" For that? Cry at once! " ("Reading Du Xin Jie")
Being good at writing and metaphorically expressing sorrow is a great feat of ancient poets. Luo Dajing listed Du Fu's "Sorrow Ends in the South" ("Going to Fengxian County from Beijing to chant 5 words"), Li Yu's "How worried you are, just like a spring water flowing eastward" ("Yu Mei Ren") and Qin Guan's "Falling in love and worrying like the sea" (" Yichuan tobacco, the wind in the city, plum yellow rain. This is indeed a unique stroke of genius, and the author deserves the reputation of "He Meizi"! Its beauty lies in the combination of various expressive skills, that is, setting a metaphor for the scene and using a metaphor for multiple purposes; Both the invisible and intangible "leisure worries" are vividly portrayed from the external state to the internal quality-people can feel the boundless "leisure worries" from the "tobacco" everywhere; From the madness of "wind", we can feel the confusion of "leisure"; From the "misty rain", you can feel the continuous "leisure sorrow"! At the same time, it is combined with describing the environment and rendering the atmosphere without trace. It is a realistic picture of the misty rain in the late spring in the south of the Yangtze River-in Huangmei season, the tobacco is flourishing, the misty rain is falling, and the wind is floating ... And this misty scene, gloomy tone, appropriately sets off the inner world of the protagonist's melancholy, confusion and bitterness. Luo Dajing said: "Gai is more worried than the three, which is particularly novel, and it is more meaningful." It's right for Ken. Comparable with it, there is also Li Qingzhao's Wuling Spring: "I am afraid that the boat will not move, and there will be many worries." Putting "sorrow" on the boat, and it is so heavy that it can't be carried on the boat, it is already a metaphor; What's even better is that "sorrow" comes from the previous sentence "boat", and "boat" comes from "double streams". Metaphor and scenery description are natural, and the reality and reality complement each other, which fully shows the skillful and superb artistic skills of female poets.
the third is the integration of metaphor and aesthetic synaesthesia. People have "five senses"-eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body; The five senses-seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching-can communicate and transform with each other, which is what modern aesthetic psychology calls synaesthesia. Although there was no such concept in ancient times, poets seemed to consciously and unconsciously recognize this psychological phenomenon and comprehend this creative theory in their creative practice. Therefore, they boldly linked things belonging to different senses and crossed and compared them in metaphor, which not only made visual images and auditory images bypass each other, but also linked visual and auditory images with taste, smell and touch images, and constructed many bizarre and subtle metaphors. Here, the ancient poets did not mechanically and clumsily seek the "similarity" between metaphor and nature, but carefully captured the sensing point and the meeting point in the irrelevant things, so that metaphor completely broke through the rigid and single-board pattern and galloped imagination and creativity in a wider artistic space. In the Tang Dynasty, several masterpieces describing musical works, such as "hummed, whispered-and then were intermingled, like a pouring of large and small pearls into a plate of jade" in Bai Juyi's Pipa, "Striving to be magnificent, warriors go to the battlefield" in Han Yu's "Li Ping's introduction" and "The phoenix cries in Kunshan, and the lotus cries and smiles in Xianglan", are praised. People have talked a lot about this, so let's not rap. Let's look at Li He's first poem "Horse Poetry": This horse is extraordinary, and the house star is a star. Knock on the thin bones forward, and you will bring your own copper sound! The opening is straight, and there is not much poetic flavor. The beauty lies in "knocking the bones forward, and still bringing the copper sound"! Metaphoring a horse with the sound of copper, turning reality into emptiness, vividly shows the skinny and strong characteristics of a horse! As a rule, the difference between "copper sound" and "thin bone" is far more than thousands of miles. How can it be compared? However, it is vigorous and dignified to read, and it is shocking! Because the "copper sound" evokes a crisp, loud, sophisticated and rough feeling in hearing, it naturally reminds people that the horse in front of them is as healthy, extraordinary and SHEN WOO as the "house star" (Tianma)! This virtual image of audio-visual interaction, drawing sound and shadow, not only can highlight and strengthen the extraordinary image of this horse far more than direct attachment or deliberate description, but also creates the artistic conception of combining things and people, with both form and spirit, and the graceful song expresses the stagnation and injustice of the poet's talent.
Breaking the boundaries of the senses and using the aesthetic experience of "synaesthesia" to construct strange and wonderful metaphors are beautiful in ancient poetry: Han Yu's "Or if you are shocked" (Nanshan Poetry) compares the grotesque shape of Nanshan stone to the scream of a pheasant, which describes vision with hearing; Jia Dao's "The sound of promoting weaving is as sharp as a needle" (Kesi), which describes hearing by touch, and Li He's "Tired of fragrant spring powder and black separation" (New Bamboo Shoots in Changgu North Garden), where the new bamboo shoots are as beautiful as a beauty's powder fragrance, which describes vision by smell ... The most intriguing thing is the next film of Li Qingzhao's famous "Drunken Flower Yin": Dongliba. Mo Tao is not ecstasy, the curtain rolls west wind, and people are thinner than yellow flowers. The whole poem mainly expresses a * * *' s feelings of parting and lovesickness, but "without a word, it's all romantic". What is presented to the readers is only the lens of the poetess standing in the autumn dusk and enjoying the chrysanthemum with wine, as well as her unique psychological feelings and fluctuations. The beauty here lies in the application of "synaesthesia" technique. The poetess does not simply compare the sadness of autumn with the yellow flowers in the wind and frost, but first feels the "full sleeves" from the "dark fragrance" of the residual flowers, which is already extraordinary; In turn, it caused "ecstasy" sadness, and finally spit out a shocking metaphor: "People are thinner than yellow flowers." A word shocked the ancient and modern, pity the flowers? Have pity on others? It's all in silence. It is under the artistic imagination and contemplation of "Wan Ren's mind is wandering, and it is exquisite" that the visual picture, auditory sound, smell, tactile feeling and so on of the world are all connected, connected and integrated, and they are in a hazy state of inseparable, Ruo Xu's reality and continuity. In a word, poets rely on "synaesthesia" to intersperse, contrast and print, which makes the world of metaphor broader and more colorful, thus expanding the range of poetic image jumping, strengthening the appeal and enlightenment of poetry, and enriching and deepening the artistic conception and charm of poetry in a word.
The aspects mentioned above are only personal experiences and understandings for the metaphorical techniques of colorful ancient poems, and may not be comprehensive and appropriate. However, one thing is certain: for metaphor, especially the metaphor of poetry, you should write the four characters of "being unconventional" on your own flag! The more poets