From a large scale, the word refining in ancient poetry is nothing more than refining content words and function words.
Let’s talk about the actual words first.
The first is to practice quantifiers.
Quantifiers are probably closely related to mathematics and physics, which emphasize concepts and logic. Therefore, from the perspective of literature, especially poetry, they seem boring. In fact, it is not the case. The pen of an excellent poet is like a magic wand in a fairy tale that can make an oasis emerge from the desert. The carefully selected and refined quantifiers can produce rich and meaningful poetry under their driving.
Example 1: "One-inch fish, two-inch fish, three poles and two poles of bamboo" in Yu Xin's "Xiao Yuan Fu", the predecessors called it "reading it is so erotic and exciting".
Example 2: Li Shangyin's "Jin Se" begins with "The Jin Se has fifty strings for no reason, each string and one column reflects the past." "Fifty strings", "one string" and "one column" are not poetic quantifiers, but in the poet's writing, they have gained a hazy beauty and a beauty of multiple meanings.
Example 3: "In the deep snow in the Qian Village, several branches bloomed last night." Zheng Gu changed the "several branches blooming" in the poem "Early Plum Blossoms" by the poet Qi Ji to "one branch blooming". The meaning of "Yizhi" and "Zhao" are closely intertwined. Qi Ji therefore worshiped Zheng Gu as "one-character master".
The second is to refine adjectives.
Poetry is a subjective expression of social life, and it is indispensable to imitate scenes, transform abstraction into concreteness, and transform the intangible into tangible, making people feel like hearing their voices, seeing their people, and touching their objects. Like experiencing the situation. A considerable part of this task is undertaken by adjectives. In ancient Chinese poetry, there are two situations that deserve special attention. One is the overlapping use of adjectives, and the other is the use of color adjectives at the beginning and end of sentences.
Example 1: Sentences 34 and 34 of Wang Wei's "Guan Yu": "The grass is dry and the hawk's eyes are sick, and the snow is gone and the horse's hooves are light." These two sentences have four sentence forms, "Wither" "Disease", "extreme" and "light" are all predicates. However, "dry" and "end" are common predicates, while "disease" and "light" are refined words. After the grass withered, the eagle's eyes could see more clearly. The poet did not say he could see clearly, but said "quickly". "Quickly" is more vivid than "clearly". After the snow cleared, the horse's hooves walked faster. The poet didn't say fast, but said "light". "Light" is more vivid than "fast".
Example 2: Wang Wei's "The solitary smoke stretches straight across the desert, and the sun sets over the long river." This couplet is like a huge landscape painting, vividly depicting the desolate scene beyond the Great Wall. The word "straight" shows a kind of upright and persevering beauty; the round shape of the setting sun is set off against the background of thousands of miles of Gobi, giving people a sense of vastness. The two characters combine the beauty of straight lines and the beauty of roundness.
The third is to practice verbs.
A poem is composed of some poetic images according to a certain artistic conception, and it is a word that can truly form a distinct image that transforms beauty into charm. Mainly express dynamic concrete verbs. Because a noun is often just a stated object in a poem, it itself has no expressiveness. What can give a vivid form to the noun as the subject is mainly the verb that often acts as a predicate. In this way, the refinement of concrete verbs becomes The main content of calligraphy in Chinese classical poetry, without the verbs, the art of calligraphy will be eclipsed.
Example 1: The first song of Li Bai's "Song under the Sai": "Watch the battle at dawn with the golden drum, sleep with the jade saddle in the arms." The two words "sui" and "hold" are both well practiced. . The drum is the signal to march, so only the word "sui" is most suitable. "Hold the jade saddle while sleeping" is much better than "accompany the jade saddle", "beside the jade saddle" and other expressions, because only the word "hold" can show the tense situation of being prepared for danger.
Example 2: Li Bai's "Visiting Dai Tianshan Taoist Unexpectedly": "In the sound of dogs barking in the water, peach blossoms are thick with dew. When the trees are deep, deers are seen from time to time, and no bells are heard in the stream at noon. Wild bamboos are divided into green mist, and flying springs Hanging on the green peak. No one knows where to go, and I lean on two or three pines in sorrow. "The couplets on the neck are neatly matched and the artistic conception is beautiful. The wild bamboos and the clouds are connected. This is a quiet scene, but the poet uses the word "fen" to make it dynamic. It reminds people of the scene of clouds and mist moving slowly along the mountains and constantly passing by the tops of wild bamboos. A line of spring water cascades in the sky. This is originally a moving scene, but the poet uses the word "hang" to change the scene from motion to stillness. It makes people want to see the steepness of the mountain peaks and the vertical falling springs.
Example 3: Sentences 342 and 34 of Du Fu's "Spring Hope": "When I feel the flowers splashing with tears, I hate the other birds that are startled." "Splash" and "Jing" are both compound characters. They are both causative verbs: flowers make tears splash, birds make people feel frightened. When spring comes, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant, which should have brought laughter and joy; but now that the country is in chaos and the family is scattered, the fragrance of flowers and birds can only make the poet shed tears and frighten him.
The fourth is to practice special words.
In poetry, there are some words that are unique in themselves. There are mainly two categories as follows:
1. Repeated words: There are two main categories of repeated words in ancient poetry. One is verb overlap, and the other is adjective overlap. Its function is to enhance the rhythm of the language. Second, it can play an emphasis role.
For example, in Liu Yuxi's "Zhuzhi Ci" Part One, "The willows are green and the Qingjiang River is level, and I can hear the singing on the Langjiang River." "Qingqing" is a repeated word, and the degree of prominence means "very green".
For example, the first three sentences of Li Qingzhao's "Slow Voice" "Looking for each other, deserted and lonely, miserable and miserable", seven groups of repeated words are used in a row (the first and second groups are verb overlaps, and the last five groups are (overlapping adjectives), expressing the three-level progressive artistic conception of trance, loneliness, and sadness. It is really like big beads and small beads falling on a jade plate.
Tang Guizhang's "Brief Interpretation of Tang and Song Ci" once said that it is graceful and graceful: the center is uncertain, and if something is missing, it is called "searching, searching, searching". The room is quiet and the bed is empty, so it is called "deserted and deserted". The six words "miserable and pitiful" go deeper and describe the suffering of loneliness, making it even more difficult to bear.
2. Onomatopoeia: Its main function is to make the poem more vivid and make people feel immersed in the scene.
For example, in Li Yu's "Lang Tao Sha", "The rain is gurgling outside the curtain, the spring is fading, and the quilt cannot bear the cold at dawn." The "gurgling" in it is onomatopoeia.
Another example is the "Xiao Xiao" in Du Fu's "Ascend the High", "The endless falling trees rustle down, and the endless Yangtze River rolls in". 3. Color words: These words are sometimes used as predicates, sometimes as attributives, and sometimes as subjects or objects. But it has only one function. Color generally expresses mood, enhances the sense of color and picture of description, and exaggerates the atmosphere.
When appreciating, you may grasp the words that can express the combination of colors and appreciate the rich painting and distinct rhythm of the poem. For example, "Two orioles sing in the green willows, and a row of egrets ascends to the blue sky." The four colors of yellow, emerald, white, and green are well-proportioned and extend from point to line toward the infinite space. The picture is still and full of movement. Distinctive three-dimensional rhythm.
Or grasp the words that can express sharp contrasting colors and experience the intensity of the emotional color of the poem: "The flowing light can easily throw people away, red cherries, green bananas." Red and green expressed Jiang Jie's sigh Time flies and spring is fleeting, this "colorful thought".
You can feel the poet's passion even in words that capture a single color: "Remember the green skirt, pity the grass everywhere." "Whoever comes in the morning and is drunk in the frost forest will always shed tears when leaving ! "The feelings of pity and sadness are all in "green" and "drunken red".