"The Second Song of Shooting with Zhang Pu"
Lulun
The grass in the forest is frightened by the wind, and the general draws his bow at night.
I looked for the white feather in plain sight, but it was missing among the stone edges.
This poem describes a general who was hunting at night. He saw wind and grass moving deep in the forest. He thought it was a tiger, so he bent his bow and shot fiercely. At dawn, I saw that the arrow had shot into a stone. Through this typical plot, the general's bravery is shown. The material of the poem comes from "Historical Records: Biography of General Li". According to records, Li Guang, a famous general in the Han Dynasty, was good at shooting. When he was the governor of Youbeiping, he had such a dramatic experience: "When Guang was hunting, he saw a stone in the grass and thought it was a tiger. He shot it. There was no arrowhead in the stone, so he saw it as a stone." Because he shot again, he could not return to the stone. "The first sentence writes that the general's night hunting place was a dark and deep forest; it was already late, and the wind was blowing, and the grass and trees were covered with it. This not only explains the specific time and place, but also creates an atmosphere. Youbeiping is an area with many tigers. The deep mountains and dense forests are the hiding place of tigers, the king of beasts. Tigers often come out of the mountains at dusk and night. "The forest is dark and the grass is frightened by the wind." The word "frightened" not only makes people feel natural Thinking of the tiger among them, it is about to emerge, exaggerating an extremely tense atmosphere, and also hinting at how vigilant the general is, paving the way for the following "drawing the bow". The next sentence continues to write "shoot". But instead of talking about "shooting", let's talk about "drawing the bow". This is not only because the poem has to rhyme, but also because "drawing" is the preparatory action of "shooting". Writing this way can inspire readers to imagine and appreciate what it is like for a general to face danger. Be calm and collected. After being "surprised", the general immediately nocked his arrows and fired his bow. His movements were quick and powerful but not hasty. He was both imposing and his image became more vivid. The last two sentences describe the miracle of "having no stone to drink from the feather", which postpones the time to the next morning ("Pingming"). The general searches for prey and finds that the person hit by the arrow is not a tiger, but a crouching stone. It makes people read and surprised at first. Then he lamented that the arrow with the white feather at the end of the shaft was "missed in the edge of the stone" and penetrated three-thirds of the way into the stone. This way of writing is not only more tortuous, with time and scene changes, but also dramatic. The "stone edge" is the protruding part of the stone. It is unimaginable to drill an arrow into it. The mythical exaggeration paints the image of the poem with a romantic color. It is very enjoyable to read, and you only feel its wonderfulness without taking it seriously.