"Couplet in Ode to Snow"
Original text of the work
Couplet in Ode to Snow
What does the white snow look like? (Xie An)
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The difference in the air can be adjusted by spreading salt. (Xie Lang)
Not like catkins blowing up in the wind. (Xie Daoyun)
Appreciation of Works
According to the "Book of Jin? Biography of Wang Ning's Wife Xie" and "Shishuoxinyu? Words", Xie An Hanxue Richang Neiji, and The children were talking about the meaning of literature, and suddenly the snow suddenly fell, and An Xinran sang rhymes. Brother Zi Lang and brother daughter Tao Yun Geng sang (the poem is as above), An Xin laughed and had fun.
Xie An's joy lies in the fact that his hair and hair are not inferior to his men's hair, and his niece's poetic talent is even better than that of his nephew. According to Xie Lang's rare literary name, the "Shi Shuo Xin Yu Yu" chapter cited "Xu Jin Yang Qiu" and called him "Literally brilliant", and the "Literature" chapter cited "Zhongxing Shu" to call him "Extensive and talented" ?. Therefore, the uncle came up with the rhyme and the title, and the nephew immediately sang the harmony, which shows his talent and quick thinking. To be fair, "sprinkling salt on the ground" can be regarded as an analogy. Snow, with its pink and white glittering and translucent floating down, Xie Lang took the nearby example and used salt on the ground to draw it. Although it is not clever, it can't be described.
However, the smart sister is not superstitious about her brother's talent. She felt that it was good to use salt to simulate snow, but it did not describe the fundamental characteristics of snowflakes with six petals, fluttering in the wind, and being boundless. So, she made a bold correction to her brother's original sentence: "It's not like catkins blowing in the wind." ?
Catkins, as a spring scenery, have the characteristics of looking like flowers but not flowers, rising due to the wind, drifting without roots, and flying all over the sky. "Liu Hua Fu" compiled by Jin Wu once described: "A few flowers are flying while the snow is flying, or the wind is blowing back and the swimming is thin, or the fog is chaotic and soaring, the fields are clean and filthy but falling together, everything is uniformly colored and bright." ?Xie Daoyun compared this to the north wind blowing snow all over the sky, which is very consistent. The catkins are used to describe their size, which points out the scene of sudden snowfall at that time, and because of the wind, it also points out the natural characteristics of the catkins fluttering in the wind and being boundless. (The lyrics of He Zhu's "Qingyu Case" in the Song Dynasty include the sentence "City full of wind and catkins".) In comparison, snowflakes and catkins can be said to be different but have the same interest. If we look at the metaphor of "sprinkling salt in the air" again, it seems to be a bit too narrow.
Shen Deqian, a native of the Qing Dynasty, said: It is difficult to explain something clearly, and it is difficult to explain the reason in detail. ? ("Speaking of Poems and Words", Volume 2) Metaphor is the basic rhetorical technique of poetry. The key is to be expressive, novel and wonderful. This is where Xie Daoyun's sentence is superior to his brother's.
According to the original biography of "Book of Jin", Xie Daoyun's couplet was not only praised by her uncle, but also unanimously praised by the guests present. This couplet became a popular story, and Xie Daoyun also won the reputation of "Yong Xucai". Later, Liang Liu Xiaochuo of the Southern Dynasty wrote a "Poetry on Snow", in which "the osmanthus flowers are extremely bright and the catkins are also falling." It's more beautiful than Xianchi's song, flying thousands of miles away? Maybe it was inspired by Xie Daoyun.
What needs to be explained is Xie Daoyun’s excellent couplets. It is not a temporary achievement or a moment of inspiration, but it is based on her profound literary accomplishment. The Shishuo Xinyu "Words" chapter quotes "Women's Collection" as saying that she has literary talent, and her poems, rhymes and poems have been passed down to the world. It is a pity that most of them have not been preserved to this day.