In ancient times, what was the role of being able to write a good poem? The answer to this question is sometimes quite unexpected. Just to give you a few examples:
The great poet Wang Wei saved his life by a poem. After Wang Wei was captured by the rebels, he served as a small civilian official in the rebel camp, and then the Rebellion of the An Officials was quelled, and the emperor wanted to kill him when he learned of it. Therefore, Wang Wei took out a poem he had written under the rebels to prove that he was forced to be helpless. When the emperor saw it, he trusted him again.
The great poet Bai Juyi won favor by a poem. At that time, the fledgling Bai Juyi went to the capital to catch the exam, and like other talents, he handed out posts everywhere, begging his predecessors to push himself. At first, the great poet Gu Guan still looked down on him, and finally looked at him differently just because of a song "Sending Farewell to the Ancient Grass". With the blessing of Gu Guan, Bai Ju changed his name for a while, and gradually gained a foothold in Chang'an.
The above two examples, a poem to save life, a poem into a "stepping stone", has been considered very legendary. What I want to tell you in this issue is another good story that happened in the poetry circle of the Tang Dynasty.
It is said that in the late Tang Dynasty, there was a young man named Li Pin in Xishan, who was upright and talented, and wrote good poetry. Li Pin heard that there was a Taishou named Yao He in Hangzhou, who commented on poetry very well and was very recognized by the poetry world. Therefore, Li Pin rushed to Hangzhou and visited the door.
After the meeting, Li Pin took out a song of his own Seven Laws and sincerely asked Yao He to help him see it. As a result, the more Yao Tasted the poem, the more he put it down, he asked, "Has Xianqi ever had a family?" Li Pin shook his head. In this way, Li Pin married a rich man with this poem, and since then he has relied on his career and poetry.
With a poem to earn a thousand gold as a wife, this matter later spread more and more "God" in the poetry world. In the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, many poetry collections included this poem.
But somehow, this poem has not been very popular since it reached modern times. Not to mention that ordinary netizens rarely read it, even some senior poetry fans I know also said: This poem is just like this, probably because of that legendary marriage has been elevated!
Is this really the case? Let's read this poem together:
"Xiangkou Sending Friends" The middle stream wants to see the Xiang smoke at dusk, and the reed bank is infinitely connected to Chu Tian. Go to the wild goose far away to rush the clouds and dream of snow, and leave the people alone on the cave court boat. The wind and waves turn around the mountains, and the stars and hans pass to the water. Scattered plum blossoms over the wax, the old garden is drunk and New Year's Day.
This is a farewell poem, which belongs to the most common poetic style in the Tang Dynasty. The poet sent people off at the ferry port by Dongting Lake, and there was a sense of emotion for a while, and the scenes blended together, which was quite flavorful.
The first link, writing about the mist in the evening, gives the farewell a big background at the beginning and renders the atmosphere of parting. The next two couplets introduce many images such as geese, distant boats, distant mountains, starry skies in the night, and vast lakes, which are spread out layer by layer, full of artistic beauty. Tail link, from writing scenes to writing people, hopes that in the near future, friends will be reunited with their families.
The brilliance of this poem is that when writing scenes, it is written in one breath, and a sentence counts scenes, but it does not appear cumbersome; when narrating, a stroke is spread out, written lightly, and sentenced lightly. At the same time, feelings are also rich, both parting reluctance and vision for the future.
For this poem, ancient poetry critics were very admired. For example, Jin Shengsi once spent a lot of pen and ink to recommend it to literati inkers; He Zhuo and others even called it "a strange hand in danger!" ”
So why does such a work, which was highly respected in ancient times, find it very ordinary in modern times? It was only after I understood the thoughts of the fans that I understood why.
Many modern poetry fans have watched too many top classic works, Du Fu's "Ascendant", Li Bai's "Will Enter the Wine", Wang Bo's "Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion", only these works, they can see the eye. Compared with these works, Li Pin's poems are indeed quite poor.
But what I hope you understand is that in the star-studded years of the Tang Dynasty, there were more than 2,000 poets who left their names in the history books alone. It is conceivable that there should be many poets and talents who have not left their names. In the "Quan Tang Poems", tens of thousands of works are included. Many of our modern people have never seen many works in life, but if they were not famous at that time, they could not be passed down to this day.
It can be seen that even in the Tang Dynasty, it was not easy to write a good poem. Ordinary poets and talents cannot write a work that amazes the world in their lifetime. And Li Pin's poem, from the overall level, is obviously not bad. Everything depends on whose work it is compared to. After all, not everyone is Li Bai and Du Fu.
Therefore, whenever I think of Li Pin's good story, the author admires those poets with high quality rates more and more. People can write one poem in a lifetime is a legend, and poets like Li Shangyin, there are dozens of poems included in the "Three Hundred Poems of Tang Dynasty" alone, and the high rate of fine works is impressive. What do you think about this? Discussion is welcome.