Speaking of "wooden leaves"
Lin Geng
"The autumn wind is blowing, and the waves in the cave are under the wooden leaves." ("Nine Songs") Ever since Qu Yuan sang it This moving poem and its vivid image have influenced poets in subsequent generations. Many poems that have been recited were inspired by this. For example, Xiezhuang's "Moon Fu" said: "The waves are beginning in the Dongting, and the wooden leaves are slightly peeled off." Lu Jue's "Song of the Linjiang King's Festival" also says: "Under the wooden leaves, the waves of the river are continuous, and the autumn moon shines on the clouds resting on the mountain." As for Wang Bao's famous sentence in "Crossing Hebei": "The autumn wind blows the leaves of the trees, and they are still like waves in the Dongting." The influence is even more obvious. Here we see how prominently "Konoha" has become a beloved image in poets' works.
What is "Konoha"? According to the literal interpretation, "wood" means "tree" and "wood leaf" means "leaf". This seems to need no further explanation; but the question is why we rarely see the use of "leaf" in ancient poetry. Woolen cloth? In fact, "tree" is quite common. For example, Qu Yuan said in "Ode to Oranges": "The Empress has many beautiful trees, and oranges are everywhere." And in "Recruiting Hermits" from Huainan Xiaoshan, it is said: "There are clusters of osmanthus trees growing on the mountains. "Secret." Anonymous' ancient poem also said: "There are strange trees in the garden, with lush green leaves." But why are "leaves" alone not common? Generally speaking, when you encounter "leaf", you just call it "ye" for short. For example: "The dense leaves prevent birds from flying, and the wind is light and the flowers fall late." (Xiao Gang's "Folding Willows") "The bright moon among the clouds , Burning leaves of China." (Tao Yuanming's "Ancient") This can of course be said to be due to the refinement of the poets' words, but this explanation does not solve the problem, because when one meets "Konoha", the situation changes. It is obviously different; poets no longer seem to consider the issue of refining words, but try their best to use "wooden leaves" to write famous sentences that are popular among people, such as: "Under the wooden leaves of Tinggao, the autumn clouds are flying in Longshou." (Liu Yun's "Poetry of Punching Clothes") "The cold anvils in September urge the leaves of the wood, and the ten years of military expeditions recall Liaoyang." (Shen Quanqi's "Ancient Meaning") It can be seen that refinement cannot be the reason for the exclusive use of the word "leaf", then "leaves" "Why has no one ever asked? At least it never produced brilliant poetry. And the fact is exactly like this. Since Qu Yuan discovered the mystery of "Konoha" with his astonishing genius, poets since then have never let it go easily; so use it again and again, practice makes perfect; and in the language of poetry Among them, it is not limited to the word "Konoha". For example, Du Fu's famous poem "Deng Gao" said: "The endless falling trees are rustling down, and the endless Yangtze River is rolling in." This is a famous sentence that everyone is familiar with, and the "falling trees" here are undoubtedly from the "falling trees" in Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs". "Konoha" developed. According to the meaning of "falling wood rustling down", of course it means that the leaves are rustling down. According to our ordinary thinking, it seems that the word "leaf" should not be omitted. For example, we might as well say: "the boundless fallen leaves are rustling down", wouldn't it be more Do you understand? However, the genius Du Fu would rather omit the "leaf" of "Konoha" than give up the "wood" of "Konoha". What is the reason for this? In fact, before Du Fu, Yu Xin had already said in "Ai Jiangnan Fu": "I left Dongting to visit Luo Mu, and went to Xuanyang to visit Jipu." Here we can see that the word "Luo Mu" is indeed no accident. Ancient poets learned from the creations of their predecessors and created in their own learning, which made the language of Chinese poetry so rich and colorful. This is just a small example.
The key to the development from "wood leaves" to "fallen leaves" is obviously the word "wood", which is also the difference from "leaves" or "fallen leaves". It goes without saying that "leaves" are rarely used in ancient poetry; even "fallen leaves", although common, are just general images. It turns out that the subtlety of poetic language is different from ordinary concepts, and even a little difference can lead to a lot; and this is why poetic language cannot rely solely on concepts. Conceptually speaking, "wooden leaves" are "leaves", and there is nothing to argue about. However, when it comes to the image thinking of poetry, no one cares about the latter, while the former continues to develop; like "the boundless falling trees are rustling" With such a bold display of creativity, aren't you afraid that hard-hearted people will mistake it for wood falling from the sky? But our poet Du Fu was willing to take this risk and create a poem with a vivid image that has been passed down through the ages; this risk and this image are actually all in the word "wood", but the origin of this word is not great. Thinking? Here we have to analyze the word "wood" first.
First of all, it seems that we should study, on what occasions did ancient poets use the word "wood"? That is to say, under what circumstances can the word "wood" just constitute exquisite poetic language; in fact, they are not used everywhere, if so, it would become a "universal ingot". Since Qu Yuan began to use it accurately in a season of autumn leaves falling, subsequent poets, including Xiezhuang, Lu Jue, Liu Yun, Wang Bao, Shen Quanqi, Du Fu, and Huang Tingjian, all used it in the autumn scene. Achieving a distinct image is no accident. For example, Wu Jun's "Reply to Liu Yun" says: "The autumn moon shines on the ridges, and the cold wind sweeps the tall trees." Is it okay to use "tall trees" here? Of course it is possible; Cao Zhi's "The Journey of the Yellow Bird in Noda" says: "The tall trees are full of sad winds, and the sea water stirs up their waves." This is also a famous saying through the ages, but the "tall trees are full of sad winds" does not have the image of fallen leaves. The "cold wind sweeping over the tall trees" is obviously a scene of fallen leaves.
The former uses the blowing of the leaves on the trees to express the deep unevenness like the ocean tide. The more leaves here, the fuller the feelings; while the latter is a situation where there are fewer and fewer leaves. Is it true that the so-called "sweeping the tall trees" Isn’t it the spaciousness of “falling trees and thousands of mountains”? However, "tall trees" are full, while "tall trees" are empty; this is where "wood" and "tree" are similar but different. "Wood" here appears to be simpler than "tree". The so-called "withered mulberry trees know the wind in the sky" seems to be closer to "wood"; it seems to contain an element of falling leaves, which is exactly what "wood" means. "The first artistic feature.
To explain why "wood" has this characteristic, we have to touch on the issue of suggestiveness in poetic language. This suggestiveness seems to be the shadow of a concept, often hiding behind the concept, and we don't pay attention to it. You won't notice its existence. Sensitive and well-educated poets are able to recognize all the potential forces in language images, and interweave and combine these potential forces with the meanings in concepts, thus becoming colorful and indescribable speech; it affects people unconsciously. We; it is here that it is full of contagion and inspiration, and it is also here that it does not fall short of words. While "wood" is the concept of "tree", it also has the shadow of general "wood", "timber", "plank", etc. This potential image often affects us to think more of tree trunks, and very often Shaohui thought of leaves, because leaves are not originally woody, so "leaves" are often excluded from the sparse image of "wood". This exclusion is why it implies falling leaves. And what about "tree"? It has lush branches and leaves, and both it and "leaves" are associated with dense layers of shade. As the saying goes: "The beautiful trees at noon are pure and round." (Zhou Bangyan's "Man Ting Fang") If the word "wood" is used here, it will lack the more realistic image of "noon". However, not only are the images of "tree" and "leaf" not mutually exclusive, but they are also very consistent; and precisely because there are so many similarities between them, "leaf" will not be more different than a single "leaf" Bring something. In classical poetry, which is accustomed to using words, the word "leaf" is rarely seen. As for "Konoha", it's completely different. Here we need to talk about the second artistic feature of “wood” in its image.
"Wood" not only reminds us of tree trunks, but also brings the color implied by "wood". The color of the tree, as far as the trunk is concerned, is generally brown-green, which is relatively similar to the leaves; as for the "wood", it may be yellow, and it may be tactilely Dry rather than wet; the door bolts, sticks, masts, etc. we are familiar with are all like this; here there is a more common character of the word "wood". Although "wood" appears here as a special concept like "tree", the more general potential implications of "wood" still influence this image, so "wood leaves" naturally have the meaning of fallen leaves. Slightly yellow and dry, it brings a refreshing autumn atmosphere. "The autumn wind is blowing, and the waves in the Dongting are under the wooden leaves." These fallen leaves are definitely not green and soft leaves, but rustling and slightly yellow leaves. We seem to hear the sighs of the departed people and think of the wandering wanderers; this is The reason why the image of "Konoha" is so vivid. It is different from the fallen leaves in: "The beautiful lady is idle, picking mulberries on the crossroads; the soft branches are blooming, and the fallen leaves are graceful." (Cao Zhi's "Beauty Chapter"), because they are dense leaves full of moisture at the turn of spring and summer. . It is also different from the yellow leaves in "Quiet night with no neighbors, living in desolate old industry and poverty; yellow-leafed trees in the rain, white-headed people under the lamp." (Sikong Shu's "Happy Brother Lu Lun Sees the Stay"), because the yellow leaves are still growing quietly. Full on a tree, in the misty rain, although it has the yellowish color of "wood leaves", it does not have the dry feeling of "wood leaves", so it lacks the meaning of drifting; and its yellow color is due to The wetness of the rain also obviously made it too yellow. Therefore, "Konoha" belongs to the wind rather than to the rain, and to the refreshing clear sky rather than the heavy cloudy sky; this is a typical Qingqiu character. As for "falling wood", it is even more spacious than "wooden leaves". It even washes away the dense meaning retained by the word "leaf": "At dusk, the wind blows, and the leaves fall on the branches." (Wu Jun's "Song of Qingxi Sister") is enough to illustrate the lingering side of this "leaf". However, there is still a certain distance between "wooden leaves" and "falling wood". It is the unity of "wood" and "leaf", the intertwining of sparseness and denseness, a beautiful image of distance and deep affection. This is exactly the character image of Mrs. Xiang in "Nine Songs".
The difference between "wood leaf" and "leaf" is just one word. Conceptually, "wood" and "tree" are almost the same. However, in the field of artistic images, the difference here is Almost literally.