A brief introduction to the allusions of ancient poetry

Kim Kai-cheng

I heard that a student asked the teacher that the scale of the Grand View Garden described in "Dream of the Red Chamber" is not small, and there must be many paths in it. Why does the creation of the thirty-eighth chrysanthemum poem only say "three paths"? For example, the poem "Offering Chrysanthemum" says that "the incense is divided into three paths dew", the poem "Qiu Ju" says "the short sideburns are cold and wet with three paths", and the poem "Ju Ying" says "The divinity is secretly moved in the three paths" and so on. The teacher replied that the roads in the Grand View Garden may not be planted with chrysanthemums on every roadside, and perhaps there are only three paths for planting chrysanthemums. It is also said that in ancient texts, three and nine can be used to indicate the majority, three is slightly more, and nine is many. "Three paths" may also mean many paths.

Later, when the student listened to another teacher talk about Tao Yuanming's "Return to the Word", when talking about the two sentences of "the three paths are barren, and the pine chrysanthemums still exist", the teacher specifically pointed out that the "three paths" were allusions because of Tao Yuanming's famous work, and were mostly found in the poems of Yongju in later generations. The students suddenly realized that the previous teacher was unlearned and answered the questions for granted.

In fact, there are earlier sources of the "three paths". Li Shan's annotations in the "Selected Texts and Returns to the Dictionary" quote Zhao Qi of the Eastern Han Dynasty's "Three Auxiliary Decisions", saying that at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Yanzhou Assassin Shi Jiang Xue returned to hiding, "The three paths in the house, but the yang zhong and qiu zhong followed the journey, all of which frustrated lian and escaped from the name." As a result, the "three paths" became synonymous with the hermit's residence. Tao Yuanming wrote the "Return to the Word" because of the retreat, in which the "three paths" are used as a code, and there may not be three small roads in the small garden. In the early Tang Dynasty, Lu Zhaolin's poem "Yuan Ri Shu Huai" first explained that "Xiao Ren has no rank, and there are foreign ministers in the cultivation", and only later describes his residence as "three paths of grass color fans, and the scenery moves the four neighbors". It can be seen that the relationship between the "three paths" and the retreat.

However, after the "Three Paths" were used by Tao Yuanming's "Return to the Word", it was related to Song Ju again. However, pine is mostly found in the mountains, and the pines in the mountains have a posture and a strong temperament; so they are not put in the garden to write, and they are not connected with the "three paths". The situation of chrysanthemum is different, it is mainly born in the garden, and "Yuanming Ai Chrysanthemum" is popular because of "picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, leisurely seeing the South Mountain", so Yongju is often associated with the "three paths".

Judging from this meaning, the second teacher mentioned above said that the poems of The Later Wing Ju were more than "three paths" because of the "Return to the Word", which is also OK. If you can trace it back to the story of Jiang Xu, it shows that the "three paths" in Tao Yuanming's words have an earlier provenance, of course, it is better; because according to the rules, you cannot forget your ancestors.

Ancient Chinese Gelug poetry (such as Vinaya and Piao) was subject to the canon (in a broad sense, the words also had a provenance). This, as a creative experience, does not need to be judged much now; for whatever the result of the review, it is impossible for most writers to write the ancient grammatical poems anyway. A few people are still interested in writing old-style poems, mostly for their own amusement, and do not want to impose their own ideas on others.

However, ancient poetry, as a historical cultural heritage and creative achievement, is still studied and appreciated by many people. Therefore, from the perspective of appreciation, how to look at the subordinate code is worth mentioning.

One situation is to "drop the book bag" in the creation of poetry, piling up allusions. This kind of writing does not give people a sense of beauty, does not play a contagious effect; so even in ancient times there have been many criticisms, and today of course it cannot be appreciated.

In another case, such as the previous people praised Du Fu's poems as "without a word and no origin", is this praise correct? Let's illustrate by example. For example, du shi 'Wangyue' sentence "Qilu Qing is not yet gone"; Qiu Zhao'ao's annotation quotes "Midnight Song" "The cold clothes have not yet arrived"; "The creation of Zhong Shenxiu, yin and yang cut the dawn" two sentences; Qiu's note quotes "Zhuangzi" "The beginning of creation, the change of yin and yang"; the sentence "Decisively entering the bird"; Qiu Zhu quotes Cao Zhi's poem "Return to the bird to Qiaolin"; "Will be the top of the ling"; Qiu Zhu quotes Wang's poem "The top of the day is still sunny"; Shen Yue's poem "The top is full of lonely circles"; "A view of the mountains is small"; Qiu's note quotes "The world says" Wang Xun's words "If you make the strange article smooth, then you can see it all", and so on. It can be seen from these notes that Qiu Zhao'ao did have a learned knowledge; but if the origin of the words in the poem is sought in this way, then all those who write poems in language and writing, old and new, must be roughly "without a word and no origin", whether old or new; because the vast majority of the words he uses must have been used by previous generations. Therefore, the origin of words for excavation and verification like this has nothing to do with appreciation. In fact, Du Fu himself or other poets could not have intentionally pursued such a pursuit.

There are three main situations in which the codex is worth appreciating:

01

The first case is that the lyricism is as gentle as possible, and the use of the code is more suitable for expression than the use of the code. For example, in Xin's "Touching the Fish", the words on the song are used as metaphors for cherishing spring and hurting spring, and the twists and turns express the patriotic feelings of the world when feeling worried; the lower part is based on "Nagato matter, quasi-good period and mistake, moth eyebrows have been jealous." Thousands of gold and gold are like endowments, and the pulse of this sentiment who sues" and "Jun Mo dance, Jun does not see the jade ring flying swallows are dust" and other allusions, to express his grief and indignation because of the inability to implement the anti-enemy proposition, excellent talent against being slandered and reviled, and warn the people of the slander will not have a good end. From the comparison of the relationship between the upper and lower parts of this article, it can be seen that the use of the dictionary is actually a metaphor, but it is only used as a metaphor for the old classics of stories in history and culture, and its euphemistic and ironic role is completely consistent with the general metaphor. The national corruption and personal setbacks expressed in xin's words were obviously difficult to express directly in the reality of the time, and even if I dared to say it, it was impossible to be as elegant and contagious as this one.

02

The second case is that it is related to history and culture because of the use of codex, which has a corresponding meaning. For example, the second half of Wang Bo's "Preface to the Pavilion of King Teng" shows a strong sense of Huai Cai not meeting, under "Guan Shan is difficult to cross, who is sad to lose the road; Pingshui meets, all are guests of other towns", and even uses "Emperor Huai is not seen, what year is the FengXuan Room" "Feng Tang is old, Li Guang is difficult to seal." Qu Jiayi is in Changsha, not without a holy lord; Channeling Liang Hong in Haiqu, is it not a lack of ming" and other classics, laying out the various situations of the ancient Huai Cai who did not meet, showing a strong sense of loss. However, if such a young man as he suddenly breaks into a joyful grand meeting, if he only talks about the grief that he does not encounter, it is inevitable that it will be contrary to the specific situational atmosphere and not very decent. Therefore, he immediately wrote a few very powerful words: "The gentleman who relies on him is poor, and the master knows his destiny." Old and strong, rather know the heart of the white head; poor and strong, do not fall into the ambition of the clouds! Then there was a series of allusions: "Meng tasted high purity, empty of the ambition to serve the country; Ruan Was rampant, did he not cry out in the end?" "There is no way to ask for help, wait for the weak crown of the final army; there is a long wind of Huaitou Pen, Mu Zong's sorrow!" They all say two sentences of nostalgia first, and then say two sentences of determination, so there are great ups and downs, which is the specific play of the four sentences of "Lao Dang". All these allusions not only vividly show the frustration and enterprising spirit of a young scholar, but also because this scholar mentality is connected with the rich life experience accumulated in history, it makes people feel the heavy historical and cultural meaning, and thus induces the reader's nostalgia. In general, the use of many allusions in the "Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion" is skillful and colorful, very expressive and infectious, and can be playfully appreciated.

03

The third case is that the codex itself constitutes a beautiful image and arouses associations and imaginations. For example, the seven writers of Du Fu's "Eight Songs of Autumn Xing" remember the Kunming Pond of Chang'an. Kunming Pond was excavated by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and its remains still exist in the Tang Dynasty; the poet still recalls his travels in Chang'an in his later years in Kuizhou. In the poem, the two sentences of "Weaver Machine Silk Void Night Moon, Stone Whale Scales and Armor Moving Autumn Wind" are linked, qiu Zhao'ao notes Cao Bi's "Zhi Wei" "Kunming Pond as two stone people, east and west, like morning glory weaver girl"; also quotes "Xijing Miscellaneous Records" "Kunming Pond carved jade for whales, every thunderstorm often roars, the tail is moving", it can be seen that the old classic is used to describe the landscape of Kunming Pond. However, Du Fu's poem is not simply the use of old classics, but through active image thinking and emotional investment, it is cast into new imagery, which can induce different associations and imaginations of different readers. For example, Yang Shen of the Ming Dynasty said that these two sentences are "the sorrow of the wild smoke and weeds is seen outside the words", and the next two sentences are said: "The situation of the soldiers and the chaos is all seen." Du Shi's magic is in being able to translate ancient languages." However, Qian Qianyi, a Qing dynasty, said that "Du Gong recounted Han affairs with the Tang Dynasty, and the Traces of Mozi Chen, so there are sentences of night moon and autumn wind", and summed up the whole poem as "self-harm and far away and cannot be seen". It can be seen that different associations and imaginations also lead to different understandings. The Tang Dynasty poet Li Shangyin was also a master at using old classics to cast new imagery, such as the poem "Zhuang Sheng Xiao dreamed of butterflies, Wangdi Chunxin trusted the cuckoo; the pearl of the sea and the moon had tears, and the blue field was warm and jade and smoke", which is a famous sentence of typical significance in this regard, which is very inducing association and imagination. "The imagery of the old classics" can be said to be a new experience provided by the poets of the Tang Dynasty in the use of classics. This experience had a great influence on the poetry of later generations; even modern new poets may wish to adapt it, which may help to add to the historical and cultural connotations of poetry and make it more intriguing to appreciate.