Every time I study "Two Chapters of the Book of Songs" with my disciples, I always feel the infinite charm of the classic work. It has a huge energy accumulated over time, attracting us to travel through history and understand the present, ** *On the future. Especially "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Caiwei", I deeply believe that this work with a distinctive realism style is more suitable to be classified as "Guofeng".
When reviewing lessons, students are always asked which sentences in "Plucking Wei" they like best and explain why they like it. Everyone almost unanimously says that they like the last chapter of the poem the best. The last chapter of this poem describes such an unforgettable scene: a cold wind blowing, rain and snow falling, a retired soldier walking alone on his way back home. The road is rugged and muddy, and we are hungry and thirsty; but the borders are getting farther and farther away, and the countryside is getting closer. During the wind and snow journey, he looked at his hometown in the distance and recalled the past. He couldn't help but have many thoughts and mixed feelings.
But when asked why they like this chapter, everyone has different thoughts. Among them, some disciples quoted Jiang Kui's "Yangzhou Slow" "Abandoned ponds and trees, still saying that we are tired of soldiers" to express the view that "Caiwei" is the originator of war-weary poetry. Recalling three thousand years ago, a soldier who had been stationed for a long time lamented on his way back: the arduous military life, the fierce and tragic battle scenes, and the repeated choruses expressed his deep homesickness and war weariness.
Weary of war and homesickness is the most distinctive theme of this poem and an eternal theme throughout the development of human civilization. If "Caiwei" is placed in the perspective of the history of world literature, compared with earlier Western epics that eulogized the war and later poems that reflected reflections on the war and even anti-war novels, "Caiwei" is, in terms of content, It can be called the ancestor of war-weary poetry through the ages.
As far as the work itself is concerned, the emotional theme that covers the entire article is the sad thought of home. Perhaps the sudden falling snowflakes awakened the garrison, and he returned to reality from his memories, and then fell into deeper sadness. Looking back on the past and looking back at the present, I can’t help but make “my heart sad” as I learn from the pain. The first four sentences of the last chapter describe the scenery and are even more lyrical and sad. Individual life exists in time, and in the changing situations of present and past, coming and going, rain, snow and willows, the garrison soldiers deeply experienced the waste of life, the passage of life and the negation of the value of life by war. It is not difficult to draw a conclusion from this: the theme of homesickness and anti-war appeared three thousand years ago, and "Plucking Wei" is actually the originator of anti-war poetry.