An appreciation of Qian Zai’s painting poem expresses his admiration for the painter Xu Daoji’s noble personality

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a famous calligrapher and painter named Qian Zai. Qian Zai’s calligraphy and painting skills have always been highly praised by people at the time, and he also had his own characteristics in poetry creation, and he became a famous poet. also. Qian Zai is the great-grandson of Chen Shu, a famous female painter in the Qing Dynasty. He is better at ink painting, especially orchid and bamboo. The poet was an official in his early years and reached the second rank. In his later years, when he became an official, his family fell into decline and he once made a living by selling paintings. Wang Chang praised him for his "long forest and cultivated bamboos, which are so wonderful that the rain leaves the leaves and the wind blows the branches." Such a painter naturally has many poems on paintings. Let's appreciate a poem on paintings by Qian Zai. This poem is called "Picture of Bamboo Figures Inscribed on Xu Qiu Cao Daoji" and was written in the fifteenth year of Qianlong's reign, when Qian Zai was forty-two years old.

"Bamboo Man" is the real thing among big bamboos. Pi Rixiu's "Sending Yang Zhenwen's Ancestors to Guiyang for a Reunion" says: "The bamboo people come to the water to welcome the Fu Festival, and the wind mother wears the clouds to avoid the letter flag." Note: "Cao Pi's "Xiangzhong Fu" says: Yuandangzhong Real, there is reality inside, and the shape is like a human being. "People with bamboo virtues are called bamboo people. Bamboo people are straight and clean." When writing a painting, he starts from the person. "The method is not based on the sticky painting." . The beautiful things in nature only show their beauty as a hint of human beings. The poet appreciates and praises the characteristics of "bamboo people's virtual straightness and purity", which is regarded as a mimicry of human noble spirit. Praising bamboo people is actually exalting people who are consistent with the characteristics of bamboo people. In the first two sentences, the poet expresses his ambition and highly affirms the meaning of Xu Daoji's "Bamboo Figure", implying the inspiration for the painter's noble personality.

The following eight sentences of "Huo Zhai" are narrated. Huo Zhai, Xu Daoji, Haining. "Li Kai" was a native of the Zhenghuang Banner of the Han Army. During the Qianlong Emperor's first time, he tried to write erudite poems, but he didn't meet him and hid in Panshan. There is "Han Zhongji". "The picture remained open and closed frequently for more than a month", which gave the poet the opportunity to repeatedly ponder and become familiar with the painting. Therefore, it is said that "when sitting opposite each other, one becomes friendly". It can be imagined that the poet gradually developed feelings when facing the bamboo pictures, and then became friendly and imaginative. But the poet still feels regretful that "the south of the city is knocking on the door without shaking hands, while the north of the city is chattering." In terms of "the sorrow of wanting to go", it means that he was unable to visit the painter's house in the south of the city, so he had to talk casually. The poet said it modestly. The following writing style takes a turn, suddenly starting from a wish I had made ten years ago: "Ou Township has been blocked by ten frosts for ten years."

"Ou Township", annotated by Liu Jun in "Shishuoxinyu" Quote from "Zhuangzi" "There are people on the sea who like gulls. Every time they swim on the sea, there are hundreds of gulls coming. His father said: I heard gulls swimming by you, so I took them to play with. Tomorrow When you reach the sea, the European birds dance without descending. "Ou Xiang and Ou Meng both refer to a secluded life. The poet lamented that ten years of frost and cold had blocked his return journey. If we look at the poet's situation when he traveled to the capital for ten years but did not become a Jinshi, it can be understood that he was tired of the life of being an official. In such a mood, it is hot and depressing, and sitting in front of the scroll with the delicate bamboo figures, it is natural to feel like entering the bamboo forest, leaning back and contented, feeling refreshed. This further touched the poet's idea of ????going back. The poet was expressing his emotions and also praised Xu Daoji's paintings for their uniqueness and infectiousness.

The four sentences of "Last Night" are full of ups and downs, and the writing is clear and correct. The supplementary narration about a storm last night and the broken locust trees in the hometown garden in the dream strongly express the poet's homesickness. So I went on to feel sorry for myself: "My hometown is now peaceful. I am not a hungry phoenix, but I would rather have no nest!" "Hungry phoenix", Li Bai's "Ancient Style" says: "A hungry phoenix does not peck at millet, and what it eats is only flavour. How can it be like a flock of chickens? "Zhuangzi: Qiu Shui" says: "The young phoenix sprouts from the South China Sea and flies to the North Sea. It will not stop unless it is a phoenix tree, it will not eat unless it is cooked, and it will not drink unless it is a sweet spring." It can be seen that the only food for phoenix is ??bamboo. The poet said "I am not a hungry phoenix", which means that he is mad and high-minded and cannot adapt to the vulgar world. This is indeed the case with Qian Zai's personality. "Since I was young, I have been impatient with the work of establishing a business. For this reason, I often find strange things that are not in line with the times, so I cannot sell them." The story of "Hungry Phoenix" is introduced in the poem, which is an admiration for the bamboo painting and a re-exaltation of Xu Daoji's personality. Therefore, the two sentences "one pole" directly express the distant situation.

"Sacred Mountain Ao" comes from the story of Lu Zhao in "Tayan". In later generations, he ascended the throne. "One pole" came out of imagination from the picture in front of me. The poet said that if he could use the bamboo pole in the picture to accompany him all the time, go fishing in rivers and lakes, and then focus on the sea, he would not be envious of becoming an official. At the end, he twists the original title, praising the painter for having the virtues of a bamboo man, and encouraging the painter to make his moral character as noble, clear, and refreshing as the autumn sky. The poet also uses this to encourage himself. Wu Yinghe said that Qian Zai's poetry learning was "particularly attributed to Shaoling." He also said: "This kind of Qi Gu can capture the spirit of Shaoling without copying its traces." This poem on painting is quite similar to Du Fu's Qi Gu Fengshen. It can be read together with Shaoling's "Song of Landscape Barriers Painted by Liu Shaofu" and "Song of Landscape Paintings Painted by Wang Zai" written by Shaoling.

The structure of Qian Zai's poem is strange and scattered, but the meaning is consistent, reflecting the cordial, natural and lively characteristics of Qian Zai's painting poems. At first glance, this poem seems to be in the form of an essay, with occasional discussions and narrations, as if something comes to mind and said in a mixed manner. But if you read it carefully, you will find that there are layers of frustrations, like rushing waves and reverse twists, and twists and turns. It is precisely what later generations commented that "the poems of Ji Shi Zhai are full of language creation and specialize in striving for novelty in chapters and sentences." This poem is also good at expressing feelings through small objects and large things. The author compares the personality of the "bamboo man" to the beauty of Kuang, expressing his high praise for the personality of the painter Xu Daoji, which then triggers his emotions about the major issues in life such as entering and exiting. He writes about the waves in his heart through the scroll poems, allowing us to feel the author's deep feelings. Homesickness.