On Thirty Poems·Sixteen Original Text:
The eternal love of autumn insects, the ghosts in Dengqian Mountain burst into tears. There is no one to write about the beautiful spring in Jianhu Lake, "Peach blossoms bloom on the shore and the waves are blooming." Thirty Poems·Sixteen Appreciations
This poem is a comment on the secluded and cold poetic style. All the romance works of the ages are as sad as the mournful cries of autumn insects; the descriptions of scenes are also as sad as the tears of mountain ghosts. The first two sentences broadly describe the tragedies of ancient and modern times, creating a sad and miserable realm. It is generally believed that these two sentences refer to Li He, because Li He's poems often contain the images of "autumn insects" and "mountain ghosts"; others think that they refer to Li He and Meng Jiao, because Meng Jiao often refers to himself as "autumn insects". These two sentences can be interpreted as a general description of all poets with similar styles. Both Meng Jiao and Li He were poor and miserable, and they both liked to compose poems, and their poetry style was relatively cold. Being poor is a misfortune in life and is understandable. The problem lies in how to deal with poverty. Yuan Haowen's attitude is very clear, and he believes that it should be "not pity for poverty, and not resentment for loss" ("Collected Works of Yang Shuneng Xiaoheng"). Meng Jiao and Li He were obviously not so calm. The sounds of begging could be heard endlessly, and the poem was cold and sad. Yuan Haowen opposed the secluded and desolate realm of poetry, which is what he said, "It is necessary to create a niche, not to seek a living in a ghost cave" (Volume 54, "Poetry and Prose Self-Warning"). Meng Jiao's poetry can be said to be a microcosm, but what he gained was nothing more than subtle things like autumn insects. The same is true for Li He. Some of his poems come from "looking for livelihood in ghost caves." The poetic style of Meng Jiao and Li He was contrary to Yuan Haowen's purpose of advocating magnificence and advocating nature, so Yuan Haowen ridiculed it.
The last two sentences, "No one has written about the beauty of spring in Jianhu Lake, and the peach blossoms and golden waves are growing on the shore." As Zong Tingfu said, they are "said in the context of poetry." "The peach blossoms blooming on the shores of the golden waves" is a poem in Li Bai's "Parrot Island". Yuan Haowen used this to describe the spring scenery of Jianhu Lake (also known as Jinghu Lake). It shows an open, clear, and bright scenery that is very different from Meng Jiao and Li He. A fresh and lively realm. The words "no one writes poetry" also indicate that the object of his criticism is not the individual poets Meng Jiao and Li He, but the poor literati of the middle and late Tang Dynasty represented by them, especially some poets similar to Meng Jiao. It can be seen that this poem is a criticism of the poor and melancholy poets in the middle and late Tang Dynasty through Meng Jiao and Li He. They are not as open and bright as the prosperous Tang Dynasty, but are secluded and cold.
Poetry works: Thirty Poems·Sixteen Poems Author: Jin Dynasty Yuan Haowen Poetry Category: Commentary, Poetry Group