Moonlight on the Lotus Pond is a beautiful article. It is the first text that I 1982 taught when I first joined the work. Later, I taught it dozens of times, and every time I taught it, I had a new experience. At the beginning of September this year (200 1), I taught this beautiful article again, and I learned more than before.
General prose, the beginning will not write in a bad mood. In Mr. Zhu Ziqing's prose, the opening words show that there are few restless people. The opening sentence of this essay, "My heart is quite restless these days", seems so abrupt that readers are puzzled: Why not be quiet? What's the matter with you? If something goes wrong, it comes from both life and work. What else can there be? Judging from the available data, there are neither unpleasant things in life nor troubles at work, but they come from the third aspect: political factors. This sentence sets the tone for the full text, which is a key for us to interpret this article and also the "literary eye" of the full text.
Since it is obvious that the mood is not calm, it is natural to write it out. No, the author wrote "suddenly thought" of the lotus pond. Trying to figure out the author's psychology seems to be: I am restless and want to find a place to solve it. Where are you going? Suddenly I remembered the lotus pond. As a result, the "lotus pond" appeared. "There must be something else under the light of this full moon." This sentence is worth pondering. In the dark night, it is not good; In the light of the full moon, it will probably inspire a little. Lotus and bright moon have always been the sustenance for literati to express their feelings, which makes the natural scenery without affection have a strong emotional color. When people read it, they will think about it in a conditioned way. This is probably what the artist calls "the principle of empathy". "There must be something else" tells us that the lotus pond in the daytime usually passes by every day and is tired of watching it. There's really nothing to miss. "Always Should" reveals the author's longing mood, even a little complaining. Complain about what? There is too little peace in real life. The child is not noisy, and the wife is going to sleep. This is a rare period of peace. Let the author relax in this quiet environment. The first paragraph seems to be a "prelude", which slowly opens a gap.
The second paragraph is not about the beautiful scenery of the lotus pond, but about the "small cinder road" leading to the lotus pond. This road is "quiet" and "lonely", which sets off the environmental atmosphere well. How does the author feel about walking on such a small road? In the third paragraph, the author wrote his feelings. It can be seen that the scenery description in the second paragraph paves the way for the "talking" in the third paragraph.
"I was the only one on the road, walking around with my hands behind my back. This world seems to be mine; I also like to go beyond myself and go to another world. " It seems to be mine shows that the author wants to have a world of his own. How nice it would be to have a world of your own! The "heaven and earth" here is the living space of thought and spirit, and it is a "vacuum" that is not affected by any external factors. This realm is pursued by countless intellectuals. "The other world" is an ideal world, but drawing the real world is not ideal. The author said: "I love excitement and peace; Love to live in groups and love to be alone. " Yes, Mr. Zhu Ziqing is a very modest intellectual. He not only needs to live and work with others, but also wants to have a relatively quiet and independent living space. Without family, friends and colleagues, you will feel lonely, because a busy life can bring fun. On the other hand, a quiet and independent living space can be used to think about life and society and learn knowledge. Probably "Noisy" and "Quiet" are two indispensable realms in life, and their alternating existence is the cornerstone to support life. At this time, what Mr. Zhu Ziqing needs most is "quietness", because the external interference makes his heart restless, affects his normal life and work, and his mental balance is tilted, so he feels pain, hesitation and boredom. He wants to clear up his confused thoughts and keep the balance of life in the quiet moonlight of the lotus pond. He said: "Just like tonight, under this boundless moon, a person can think of anything or nothing, so he feels like a free man." At this point, we seem to understand that the author is not free during the day! The reason why I said at the beginning that "my heart is quite uneasy these days" is because of the lack of freedom. What is not free? The author said, "Whatever you do or say during the day, you can ignore it now." In other words, some things are unwilling to do during the day and have to be done; There are some things I don't want to say during the day, but I have to say them. This kind of feeling is very common in life and work, and many people feel the same way. But Zhu Ziqing's troubles have deeper reasons. Although the author doesn't say it clearly, careful readers can understand it. The author is evasive, implicit and euphemistic, neither giving you a glance nor letting you fully see it. Such a language is worth pondering.
The fourth paragraph begins with the lotus pond. With the rendering of the first three paragraphs, readers naturally realize that the author is visiting the lotus pond with an emotion, and the natural scenery of the moonlight in the lotus pond will inevitably be covered up by the author's subjective feelings. The author writes the lotus pond in the order of lotus leaf, lotus flower, lotus fragrance and lotus wave. Many readers have expressed wonderful opinions on this, and I have also written the article "The Structure and Scenery of Moonlight in the Lotus Pond", so I won't go into details here. I just want to add two points: first, in the past, the phrase "like a beautiful woman who just took a shower" was deleted from textbooks, which buried a wonderful "metaphor". And now he's back. It's good. This is an improvement. Why write lotus as "like a beautiful woman who just took a shower"? Mainly to show the spotless lotus, it is so pure and sacred! Lotus is the object of praise of ancient China literati, especially after the publication of Zhou Dunyi's "The Theory of Love Lotus", it has become a symbol of noble personality and a criterion for upright people to be human. This idiom is used to describe the freshness, purity and natural beauty of lotus flowers or women. Mr. Zhu Ziqing used this idiom when he used "a beautiful woman who just took a bath". In addition, this metaphor and the first two metaphors show the lotus from different angles, which is the requirement of using metaphors. Secondly, the word "pulse" is well used in the sentence "under the leaves is running water with pulses" The original meaning of this word is to stare with emotion, which means to stop talking. In nineteen ancient poems, there is a saying that "one water is full of flowers, and the pulse is unspeakable", while in Fishing, Xin Qiji has a saying that "a thousand dollars is bought as a gift, who can complain about the pulse?" The text "Jiangnan Dream" has the saying that "there is nothing, and the twilight is full of water". These famous sentences all express a word "love". Of course, the "pulse" here is not to express the love between men and women, but to express the love of a pool of clear water to protect the lotus. It is under the care of love the water that "the leaves are more exposed to the wind." The water here is covered with leaves, which the author didn't see. This is a complete fiction. The author has feelings, and water also has feelings. As the author said in "Answering the Editor's Questions about Literary Knowledge in Prose Writing": "Artistic conception seems to be vivid, abstract and has concrete hints. The creation of artistic conception depends on observation and imagination. " (Complete Works of Zhu Ziqing, Volume 4, Page 482, Jiangsu Education Press 1990)
The fifth paragraph is about moonlight. The author writes Moonlight in three levels. First of all, the author wrote about the hazy beauty of moonlight through leaves and flowers. "Moonlight, like running water, pours quietly on this leaf and flower. There is a mist floating in the lotus pond. Leaves and flowers seem to have been washed in milk; It's like a dream, with a layer of gauze inside. " Moonlight is invisible and intangible. Zhang said in "Moonlit Night on a Spring River" that it "can't be rolled in the curtain of a jade household, but it can be brushed back on the anvil." If you want to write Moonlight well, you have to use other things. Zhu Ziqing knows this well. Secondly, he used clouds in the sky to write that moonlight can't be bright. Thirdly, the author uses the shadow of the tree to write multi-tones in the moonlight, which shows the harmony of the moonlight. If writing the hazy beauty of moonlight is influenced by "the smoke cage is cold and the moon is full of sand" (Bo Qinhuai by Du Mu) and "flying freely is as light as a dream" (Huanxisha by Qin Guan), then writing the moon with a shadow is to use the famous phrase "The moon is high and loose, and the shadow falls like a picture" (the text is the same as Xinqingshan Moon). It is with different levels that the moonlight is extremely beautiful, leaving a deep impression on readers.
The fourth and fifth paragraphs describe the scenery in detail, and the author, like Dan Qing's skillful hand, presents readers with a beautiful realm of smoke, dream and poem. The author is intoxicated with it, and so are the readers. But what fascinates the author even more is the beautiful scenery of picking lotus in Jiangnan 1600 years ago! If the moonlight in the lotus pond is the real scene in front of us, then picking lotus in the south of the Yangtze River is the author's imagination. The author spreads the wings of imagination and flies to that distant era and that romantic season! "Picking lotus is a young woman. They are swinging boats and singing colorful songs. Needless to say, there are many lotus pickers. It was a lively season and a romantic season. " There is a feeling of joy and longing between the lines. This paragraph was also deleted in the past, which unfortunately affected the correct understanding of the original work. The author thinks of the lotus pond in front of him from the "Lotus Head" in Xizhou Song. "If there is a lotus picker tonight, the lotus here is also over the head; It's no good just seeing some shadows of running water. This makes me really miss Jiangnan. " Why don't you see the shadow of running water? Because "lotus is as clear as water"! Without the pure feeling of clear water, how can it be a perfect picture? This is a pity. In connection with one point: "But the excitement is theirs, and I have nothing", readers can realize that Mr. Zhu Ziqing always feels that something is missing in his life. What is this? Is it lively? Is it fun? So "I'm very upset these days." Just as the author was immersed in the imagination of picking lotus in Jiangnan, "I don't think it is my own door; Gently push the door in, there is no sound, and my wife has been sleeping for a long time. " There are huge ups and downs before and after, literally calm, followed by waves.
So, what exactly caused Mr. Zhu Ziqing to be quite upset? 1989 wrote an essay on the theme of moonlight on the lotus pond and published it in sinology. I think Mr. Zhu Ziqing's agitation comes from politics. Now, according to the information I have, I want to add something to this.
Moonlight on the Lotus Pond was written in July 1927. Some researchers believe that the agitation is due to the "412" counter-revolutionary coup, which shows the author's yearning for the bright theme. This is not unreasonable, because an intellectual who cares about the fate of the country can't be indifferent to such a major political event and can't miss a bright and beautiful life. However, any judgment must always be combined with reality, and a seemingly reasonable but funny thinking mode cannot be applied. Let's take a look at Zhu Ziqing's mood after "412".
1one afternoon in may, 927, Zhu ziqing was in a bad mood and wrote a song "and bodhisattva Li Bai":
Smoke cages carry trees like power, and green hills are colorless. At dusk, leaning against the building, it was dark and shocking! Half the yard is covered with yellow leaves, and the ducks are crying. About the wandering of travel, where to go?
On June 23, he wrote another song, "Older People Leak More":
Brocade is cold, honeymoons are tired, and red candles are drunk. It's raining, the sky is dark, the breeze is blowing gently, and the paper window grilles are still broken. Hand in hand, Jiangtou Road, do you know how many times you have stayed? Night after night, watching again, thinking that dreams can't come true.
On September 27th, he wrote a letter, including:
The changes in the south this year are beyond people's expectation. I knew his trace at first; I don't know anything for half a year. How on earth did he lead a stormy life? That's what I thought.
From the above poem, we can see that Zhu Ziqing misses his good friends Ye Shengtao and Xia Mianzun all the time, and it is because of Iraq that he is "haggard". The author's mourning for his friends did not begin on April 12, but it was even stronger at this time, so that he could not sleep at night. 1928 In February, Zhu Ziqing wrote a long article "Where to Go" (the fourth volume of Zhu Ziqing's complete works, Jiangsu Education Press, 1990), which showed his thoughts and personality in detail and was an important material for studying Zhu Ziqing's thoughts. He wrote in his article, "I often feel a little shadow in my heart" and "I feel that the shadow in my heart is getting bigger and bigger, which is quite melancholy". The author himself explained: "I know the origin of this mood. When I came to Shanghai in spring, I had planted seeds; Later, it gradually developed, until today, just like a shady tree, its roots are flat and it is difficult to get rid of it. There was no revolution in Shanghai at that time; I just met a striking tram worker. ..... "What the author wrote happened in 1927 65438+ 10. Zhu Ziqing went back to Baima Lake to take his family to Beijing and stopped by Shanghai for a short time. Shanghai at this time is the time when the workers' movement reached its climax. In order to cooperate with the attack of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Shanghai workers launched the first armed uprising in June 1926+00, and actively prepared for the second armed uprising after failure. Zhu Ziqing walked from Baoshan Road to Tianhou Palace Bridge, and the street was crowded with people, "like dense clouds, like waves, like flames". That night, his good friend Ye Shengtao came to see him. At this time, Ye Shengtao actively participated in the anti-imperialist and anti-warlord struggle activities and wrote the famous Rain on May 31st. He broke the habit of sleeping at nine o'clock in the evening, composing music while writing, and sometimes fighting all night. In twenty-two days, Ye Shengtao published nine articles under the pseudonym "Ice City". (See Biography of Ye Shengtao, by Liu Zengren, Jiangsu Literature and Art Publishing House)
The sharp convergence of China's new literature writers to the trend of the times generally occurred in the mid-1920s. Especially after the "April 12th", the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party broke down, and many progressive writers saw clearly the reactionary features of the Kuomintang, took a clear-cut stand in the revolutionary ranks, or tended to the * * * production party in political attitude. After the "April 12th" coup, Ye Shengtao gnashed his teeth at the perversion of the Kuomintang. He tore the Kuomintang party card to pieces and made a clean break with the Kuomintang. 19271June 10 published a short story "Night", which exposed the inhumanity of the Kuomintang in the form of art.
At this time, Zhu Ziqing "in recent years, he has been busy with food and clothing for his family and his position every day, and he has no time to sit down and think; There seems to be everything in my heart, and it seems that there is nothing. " "Now the ideological circle, I have been greatly separated" ("Where to Go"). Beijing is far away from the "flame or whirlpool" of the times, and Zhu Ziqing is not keen on political struggle, so some friends say that he has "regressed". But where to go? He hesitated for this, and the more he hesitated, the more he missed his friends far away.
And directly in Zhu Ziqing heart ripples, is one night after he and his family arrived in Beijing:
One night after arriving in Beijing, Li Jun made a sudden visit. It was a fine moonlit night, and we walked back and forth countless times along a secluded path by the pond. We walked slowly and talked quickly. He suggested that I join the party. He said that people like me should join their group. The scope of work is not fixed; Of course, politics and military affairs are the same, as are academics and literature and art-get as close as you can. Finally, he said that in the future, he was afraid that if he left the party, his life would not develop. Even a job is not easy to find. ("Go there")
The Biography of Zhu Ziqing written by Mr. Chen Xiaoquan (Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House, 199 1) said on page 128: "Li Jun is a national party member", which naturally persuaded him to join the Kuomintang. Mr. Zhu Ziqing said that he wanted to discuss with his friends. He asked several friends, but none of them agreed to join the Kuomintang. He is not interested in it himself. So, this matter has come to an end. However, the waves it aroused in Mr. Zhu Ziqing's heart could not be calm for several days. It is natural to be "very upset these days". At that time, Zhu Ziqing didn't know much about the Kuomintang and the * * * production party. He knew: "Only by participating in the revolution or counter-revolution can this panic be solved. When you can't or don't want to participate in such practical actions, there is only one way to escape temporarily. " He added: "Since I can't take part in the revolution or counter-revolution, I have to find a foundation to live with peace of mind. I was looking for something, threw myself into it and ruined my life. Finally found the topic of Chinese studies and began to walk like a child. This is going to a' dead end'; But I am willing to go this way, there is no way. " At this time, Mr. Zhu Ziqing began to study China classical literature and began to write ancient poems. And Wu wrote in Zhu Ziqing's Chronicle (Anhui Education Press, 1996):
Entering Tsinghua, due to the need of classical poetry teaching, Zhu Ziqing began to write old poems. Huang Jie (Huiwen), an ancient writer, is a teacher in writing poems, and he often asks Yu Pingbo for advice in writing lyrics.
At this point, we can say that the main reason for "My heart is quite uneasy these days" in Moonlight on the Lotus Pond is the political turmoil in the country. The author misses his friends far away and is depressed that he has chosen a life path.
Zhu Ziqing's feelings are understandable. In terms of personality, Zhu Ziqing is a very emotional person. When the times are turbulent and the people are suffering, he will naturally miss his friends in the whirlpool. Zhu Ziqing, a southerner, grew up in Yangzhou, a mountainous country and a sleepy hometown. The lotus in front of him naturally reminds him of his hometown and his concern for his friends. Facing the crossroads of life and the advice of his friends, he really can't keep calm inside. Zhu Ziqing is also a progressive intellectual with a sense of justice. Faced with the chaos of the national political situation, he was worried. It is commendable that he did not throw himself into the arms of the Kuomintang. He pursued a quiet and free academic road, made outstanding contributions to the promotion of national traditional culture, and fulfilled the responsibility of an intellectual, which is admirable. Today, after studying this beautiful article again, we feel the personality charm of Mr. Zhu Ziqing more truly. It seems that it can be summed up by Lu You's poem: "Scattered into mud, crushed into dust, only the fragrance remains."