The cultural ideals and life emotions of ancient Chinese poetry have cultivated generations of Chinese. However, today's era and the traditional society on which ancient poetry is based have undergone great changes, and how to understand the inherent cultural spirit of ancient poetry and better carry forward the eternal values embodied in it is particularly important. To appreciate the Chinese aesthetic, we should pay more attention to the understanding of the Chinese cultural spirit reflected in the poems.
Reading poetry can be both emotional and philosophical
As far as the interpretation of literary classics is concerned, general hermeneutics has two paths: one is conformism, and since Aristotle, Western literature and art have occupied a more mainstream position. Chinese literary and art criticism is basically based on conformity theory.
"Mencius Ten Thousand Chapters" Yun: "Praise his poems, read his books, do not know his people? It is also about its world. This is the famous "Theory of Knowing Man on the World." The "Theory of Knowing The World" has a great influence on future generations, and it requires an understanding of the original meaning of the creator, the background of the author and the occurrence of the text, personal experience and other elements. The understanding of the general language teaching requirements is now also based on this.
The other is the theory of horizon fusion, which emphasizes the reader's reading experience and attaches great importance to the dialogue between the author and the reader, especially represented by the view of "horizon fusion" proposed by Gadamer, the main figure of modern hermeneutics, who believes that understanding is not only a copying act, but always a creative act. When we read ancient poetry today, we should have both conformity and vision fusion theory.
In addition, in traditional Chinese poetry, more emphasis is placed on the emotional value of poetry, "Shang Shu" says "poetry and speech", Lu Ji says "poetry love", "zhi" is love, "love" is emotion, all belong to the modern emotional category. Therefore, most of the ancient poetry is lyric poetry, but poetry is not unreasonable, reason poetry is more common in Song poetry, in addition, Wei Jin's Xuanyan poems and Tang and Song Zen poems also have many reasoning content. It's just that reasoning poetry, like lyric poetry, must have a distinct artistic image. When we read ancient poetry today, we should also emphasize both emotional and philosophical dimensions, rather than favoring one over the other.
Paying attention to the above three points, reading ancient poetry can be said to have cultural awareness and modern vision. With this vision, you may wish to appreciate and analyze a few ancient poems.
Broaden the mood and empathize with today's people
Take Meng Haoran's "Su jian de jiang" of the Tang Dynasty as an example: "Moving boats to berth Yanzhu, the sun is sad and new." Wild sky low trees, Jiang Qingyue is close to people. ”
The protagonist of this poem is a lonely poet, wandering to a foreign land, and the twilight and cooking smoke in the distance rise slowly, evoking the poet's strong nostalgia. The poet then turned his gaze to the distant landscape, and he saw that on the vast plain, the sky was hanging low, and it was connected with the distant trees, as if it were a huge embrace, soothing everything in the world; the river was so clear, reflecting a round of bright moon, like an amorous old man, caring for frustrated travelers. Thus, the melancholy of a frustrated poet slowly fades in the face of beautiful nature.
The whole natural world in the poem is humanized, the landscape is close to the people, and the river and the moon are sentient, which is the artistic expression of the concept of the unity of heaven and man in Chinese philosophy. There are all kinds of helplessness in life, and wandering is only one of them. But Chinese's vision of the world is the same, natural landscape is not independent of the object and others outside of human beings, but the embrace and home in which people live, and all kinds of loneliness and frustration in life can be alleviated by the fusion of things and self.
Middle school students recite ancient poems of the Mid-Autumn Festival
Take the Song Dynasty He Zhu's "Qingyu Case" as an example: "Ling Bo is not hengtang road, but the eyes are sent and the dust is gone." Who is the degree of Kinsehua Nian? Moon Bridge Flower Courtyard, Trivial Window Zhuhu, only Spring Knowledge. FeiYun Ran Ran Gao Twilight, color pen new title broken intestine sentence. How much leisure do you have? A river of tobacco, full of wind in the city, plums yellow when the rain. ”
On the surface, this poem seems to be written with the idleness missed by the beauty, but if it is thought to express idleness, it is not lofty enough to read. In the past, some commentators have noticed that this "Qingyu Case" may have another sustenance, which is to use the tradition of "vanilla beauty" to express their emotions that they have not met, and the author agrees with this. However, if we stop at this understanding, we will inevitably be limited to the traditional aesthetic model, and the artistic conception is still not broad enough, and the empathy with today's people is not enough.
In the author's opinion, although the woman in this may be met in reality, it can be understood as a symbol of the beauty of the three springs, and symbolizes the youthful feelings and youth of the lyricist, which is not enough for outsiders, and others are not easy to understand, which is the so-called "only spring knowledge". It is particularly noteworthy that the clever time conversion in the words, "Su Gao Twilight" and "Plum Yellow", is not difficult to experience a kind of helplessness in the order of the knots and the years. The wind and rain are all early summer scenes, and there are large seasonal jumps compared to the spring love mentioned in the film above this word. From the transformation of spring and summer, it brings out the change of mood. Spring has gone, many years of less mood is gone, replaced by the face of middle-aged dazedness, middle age is just like a period of inexplicable and inexplicable unprovoked melancholy, is to make a choice between the pressure of life and the dignity of life. Therefore, we may regard this word as a youth sacrifice of the lyricist himself. This understanding may be more able to achieve the integration of ancient and modern horizons.
The Chinese aesthetic is profound
Taking Liu Zongyuan's "Fisherman" of the Tang Dynasty as an example, from the perspective of the contrast and integration of Chinese and Western aesthetic horizons, what new experiences do people have today?
Shi Yun: "The fisherman leans towards the West Rock Lodge at night, and Xiao Ji Qingxiang burns Chu Bamboo." Smoke sales sunrise does not see anyone, but a sound of green water. Looking back at the middle stream under the sky, there are no heartless clouds on the rocks. ”
The poem is generally believed to have been written during The Fall of Liu Zongyuan to Yongzhou. The image of "Fisherman" has a deep foundation in Chinese culture, and there are "Fisher Father" chapters in Zhuangzi and Chu Ci, and "Fisher Father" is the image of a high-ranking person in both texts. Among them, the "Chu Ci" quotes the image of the fisherman father of the waves of "Qing Si Mao Miao, Turbid Si Mao Foot", which is particularly vivid. In later literary and artistic works, the image of the fisherman (father) appeared repeatedly, such as Zhang Zhihe's lyric "Fishing Songzi" and the novel "Journey to the West". It can be said that the fisherman is a special symbol in Chinese culture, with a strong symbol of seclusion, which is the opposite of the dark officialdom and the red dust world.
This poem points out that the opening time is in the evening, "Xiao Ji Qing Xiang Burning Chu Zhu" is extremely beautiful in the construction of sentences, although it writes about human affairs, it does not mix with fireworks. It is common for fishermen to get up early in the morning to fetch water and cook firewood, and the magic lies in the use of "Qingxiang" instead of water and "Chu bamboo" instead of firewood, which is reminiscent of the beauty of the Xiangjiang River and Chudi, "Ji" is to fetch water, there is a sound, and there is also a sound for cooking rice. At this time, the smoke has not dissipated, only the sense of hearing, the magic is that although there are people and people are not seen. The most peculiar thing is the fourth sentence, "欸乃一水青", "欸乃" is the sound of rocking, or the song of the boat. The sound of the rocking is more beautiful, and the sound of the boat song is loud, which seems reasonable.
"Smoke sales sunrise", the natural appearance of green landscapes, in fact, is not related to the sound or song, but Liu Zongyuan connects "欸乃" and "landscape green", as if it is the activities of fishermen that make the beauty of natural landscapes appear. This can be understood as the natural world was originally in a state of obscuration, showing existence and life because of human activity, and was able to "open up". Thus in the dialogue between man and the landscape, the truth of nature is revealed. Due to the candlelight of the poet's artistic vision, the external nature suddenly becomes a vibrant humanized nature, and the realm is lofty. In addition, it can also be explained that the characteristics of Western aesthetics are to promote visual beauty and ignore other sensory experiences, while in Chinese aesthetics, it pays attention to the use of vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, where the auditory generation of vision, the fisherman's image disappears at a moment, the sound of the bridge sounds, and the beautiful natural landscape suddenly appears cute and loved.
"Looking back at the middle stream under the sky, the heartless clouds on the rock are chasing each other" two sentences, which are intended to highlight the "heartless" state. Su Shi once said: "Poetry is based on strange fun, and abnormal harmony is fun." Familiar with this poem, there is a curiosity. However, the last two sentences are not necessary. ("Shu Liu Zi Hou "Fisherman's" poem) believes that the last two sentences can be deleted. Indeed, literally writing "no heart", in fact, already has a heart, it is better not to write and let people understand.
Classical poetry is often read and often new
Next, read a Song Dynasty Gong Xiang's expository poem "Learning Poetry": "Learning poetry is like learning To Zen, and realizing that Fang Zhi is nian." Turning iron into gold is still delusional, and the mountain water is still flowing. ”
This is a small poem full of philosophy and rich in images, telling the author's experience of learning poetry. Learning poetry, like zen meditation, emphasizes enlightenment. After we have a real understanding of the aesthetic nature of poetry and the laws of creation, we will understand that poetry emphasizes personality and cannot blindly imitate its predecessors. Just as gold has the use of gold, iron has the value of iron, and there is no need to turn iron into gold. As long as it is a good poem, whether it is bold and unrestrained or deep and gentle, you can always find a confidant. This is a good illustration of poetic personality and nature, while borrowing allusions and images of alpine flowing water.
In summary, when reading ancient poetry, today's people should pay attention to grasping the overall spirit of Chinese culture, dialogue with the ancients from the perspective of today's people, and it is best to take into account different perspectives, and attach equal importance to reason, so that reading ancient poetry can often be read and renewed.
The picture shows primary school students competing in ancient poems and feeling the charm of traditional culture. Photo source: Xinhua News Agency
(The author is a professor at Shanghai Theatre Academy)