[Author] anonymous? [Dynasty] Pre-Qin
Broken bamboo, continued bamboo; Fly the earth, and drive away.
Tags: Hunting Folk Poetry Scenes
Cut down wild bamboos and connect them to make bows;
play mud bullets and chase prey. Notes on "Dange"
① Dange: the name of an ancient ballad. Han Zhao Ye's "Biography of Wu Yue Chun Qiu Gou Jian's Conspiracy" shows that Fan Lijin is good at shooting, and Gou Jian inquired about the theory of bow and bullet. Chen Yin quoted an ancient song in response: "Break bamboo, continue bamboo, fly soil, and kill one by one." There is a song "Playing Songs" in the first volume of "Ancient Source", saying: "Break bamboo, continue bamboo, fly soil, and drive it away." "Wen Xin Diao Long Zhang Sentence" is a ballad of "Bamboo Bomb".
② "rou": the ancient word for "rou".
Appreciation of "Playing Songs"
This article and "Yi's Wax Ci" are ancient ballads. The so-called ancient ballads refer to folk ballads that originated in primitive society and early slave society, and were oral creations of the people before The Classic. Due to the long history, few oral creations in primitive society have been passed down to later generations and recorded. Most of the ancient songs that can be seen now are the products after entering the slave society. It is found in Zhouyi, and occasionally recorded in ancient books such as Shangshu and Book of Rites. In ancient times, the productivity was backward, and there was no division of labor between manual labor and mental labor, so it was impossible for the so-called "pure literature" to appear in later generations.
The greatest feature of ancient ballads in ideological content is their close connection with real life. In terms of artistic form, as an ancient folk oral creation, it generally has the characteristics of short words, simple language and lively rhythm. Through the appreciation of "Playing Songs", readers can deepen their knowledge and understanding of ancient ballads more specifically.
Dan Ge is selected from Wu Yue Chun Qiu. "Wu Yue Chun Qiu" records that during the Spring and Autumn Period, Gou Jian, the monarch of the State of Yue, asked Chen Yin, an archer of Chu, about the truth of bowing and playing, and Chen Yin quoted this song "Playing Songs" in his reply. Wu Yue Chun Qiu was written by Zhao Ye in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it was written late. However, judging from the language and content of Tange, this short song was probably handed down orally from primitive society and written by later generations. This is a two-character poem that reflects the hunting life in primitive society. The sentence is short and hurried, and the rhythm is lively, which is very interesting to read.
The poem is only eight words long, but it describes the whole process from making tools to hunting. Making tools is divided into two steps. First, "breaking bamboo", that is, cutting bamboo. Guided by these two words, the reader seems to see a group of primitive ancestors wrapped in leaves and skins cutting down bamboo roots with bone knives and stone axes in their forehands beside the dense primitive bamboo forest. "Continued bamboo" is the second step in the production process. The song doesn't explain how to cut branches, remove leaves and break bamboo into pieces after "broken bamboo". From the perspective of the combination of pictures, from "broken bamboo" to "continued bamboo", the middle has been omitted and carried forward. The so-called "bamboo" refers to the slingshot made by connecting the two ends of bamboo slices with tough plants such as wild rattan. At this point, hunting tools have been made. The following will be followed by hunting.
hunting is also divided into two steps. First, "flying soil", put the mud bomb on the bow and hit it out. As for the process of making clay bombs, the poem also does not explain, but from "bamboo" to "flying soil", it is conceivable that there is another link in making clay bombs. The target of "flying soil", either birds or animals, once hit, runs to the prey. "Chasing away" means chasing the injured birds and animals. "Mao" is the ancient word "meat", which refers to birds and animals.
According to the history of social development and the study of paleoanthropology, it has been the Neolithic age of primitive society that humans learned to make hunting tools such as bows and arrows. At that time, how human beings carried out productive labor and life can only be explored from the remaining primitive cave wall paintings, ancient songs and archaeological discoveries. At this point, this ancient "Playing Songs" has played the role of a living fossil. Because of it, later generations can get a glimpse of some vivid pictures of the production and life of our ancestors in the flood era.
From the perspective of artistic expression, although this song is only short in eight words, it covers the whole process from making tools to getting prey, with a large capacity, and it is also successful in artistic expression of hunting. Of course, this brevity is a reflection that the early written language expression is still in its infancy. However, aesthetics is historic. From the perspective of modern people's artistic appreciation, we can find that the author unconsciously uses ellipsis, multi-use and clever use of verbs. Not only the subject "we" of each sentence is omitted, but also the secondary processes in and between scenes are omitted. Each sentence is brought out by a verb, which makes the picture dynamic and easy to arouse people's association with the process of "breaking", "continuing", "flying" and "chasing". The language of this poem is one word at a time, with a lively rhythm and dignified power. The rhyming words "bamboo", "bamboo" and "Mao" are rhymed with entering tone "-K", which adds to the solemn feeling of the poem and reminds people of the hard working scene of the primitive people under extremely low productivity and harsh natural conditions.