Why do people write poetry?
The Great Preface to the Book of Poetry has a saying: "The poet, who is also the place of the heart, is the will in the heart, and the speech is the poem." Emotions are in the middle and form in words, words are insufficient, so sigh, sigh is insufficient, so eternal song is insufficient, do not know the foot of the dance of the hand. ”
Poetry is used to vent feelings that cannot be expressed in ordinary language.
I grew up with no ambitions, and I didn't know what family and country feelings were, just an ordinary boy who didn't need to study and was naughty and playful. After reading in middle school, I suddenly became fascinated with reading poetry and writing poetry, and at that time I just thought that the language of poetry was very beautiful, and I hoped that I could write such a beautiful language, and so on. Listening to others say that "familiar with reading three hundred Tang poems, can not chant poems will also chant", so I bought a copy of "Three Hundred Tang Poems", read it with half understanding, did not expect to read more and more tasteful, and later learned to "chant" without a teacher, which increased the fun of reading poetry, and since then I have formed an indissoluble relationship with poetry. In the second grade of junior high school, he also wasted his homework because he was too obsessed with reading and doing poetry, and tasted the bitter fruit of "repetition".
I wrote this poem in my eighties:
Aging
Little gossip is always too stupid,
Middle-aged and half-hearted poems.
Thatched eaves dripping rain sleepless nights,
When the village wine is not drunk on the lips.
The Blue Bridge in Dreams is not the Old Testament,
The red bean in the sentence is acacia.
What does it look like to have old feelings?
It is not tied to the flat boat letter.
Two points to illustrate:
1. Middle-aged and depressed: At the age of twenty-seven (1957), he was awarded the "right" crown for his poetry and paintings to mock current events, and was assigned to "supervised labor" in rural areas.
2. Blue Bridge, Red Bean: There was a hazy relationship during my studies.
The whole poem is a record of my life course, and it is also the sustenance and catharsis of my inner feelings. I learned to write poetry purely because of the needs of feelings.
To write poetry, you must first understand a little basic knowledge of the rhythm of poetry: such as asanas, rhyme feet (can be wide), flat (to be strict), sticky, confrontation and so on.
At that time, I bought a copy of "Poetry Rhymes", which is an important tool book for me to write poetry, and there are also some enlightenment books such as "Poetry Enlightenment" and "Kasa Weng Rhymes".
I write poetry that is more "obedient", there are rules for absolute sentences, and there are rules for rhythmic poems. For example, in 1979, I was lucky enough to be named one of the first batch of special teachers in Shanghai, and looking back on my ups and downs in my life, I once wrote such a poem as the Seven Laws:
Old career of green felt tents,
Ten years of zero dreams also yeah?
Destroyed once smelled poisonous flowers,
Sinking and flawless.
Spring silkworms are not dead,
Chu Ke can chant easily.
Recently proposed new Zilan Jiuqi,
Fang Xin can comfort the sideburns,
This is a relatively neat seven laws, and the flat servants, the confrontation, and the starting and turning all conform to the "specifications" of the seven laws, which can be said to be meticulous. I think that since it is written as a grammatical poem, the grammatical law must be strict, and if a poem is not in harmony, sticks to the right and is confused, or does not care about the ordinary at all, and becomes a free body, but it must also be marked in the name of the law poem and the sentence, it is just a deception to the layman. Of course, there are exceptions, some poets (especially the great poets) deliberately do not follow the rules of poetry, use the awkward body, and pursue a high ancient charm, which is another matter, such as the first half of Cui Hao's famous poem "Yellow Crane Tower", but it still does not affect it to become a song for eternity. But I think that this kind of awkward body can only be done by great poets, and beginners of my generation must not learn it, or it is better to honestly "abide by discipline and law".
The combination of seven sentences seems to be very complicated, but in fact, it is only four fixed formats, which is not difficult to learn, and I learned it when I was in junior high school. I call them "basic forms", taking the seven-sentence sentence as an example (five sentences only need to remove the first two words of each sentence) A grammatical poem, whether it is four sentences (absolute sentences), eight sentences (rhythmic poems) or even more than ten sentences (rowing laws), are just different arrangements and combinations of these four basic forms.
Basic formula of the grid:
(Ping Ping) 仄仄平平仄
(仄仄) Ping Ping Ping
(仄仄) Plain and plain
(Pingping) 仄仄仄平平
Taking the seven sentences as an example, the change of each sentence is only in the last three words, and the first four words are either flat or flat, and the changes are not big.
Its combination law is: the first sentence is flat (平平) - the second sentence must be 仄對 (仄仄) - the third sentence is sticky (仄仄) - the fourth sentence must be flat pair (平平)
By the way, explain what is "right" and "sticky". For example, the above basic formula is a total of four sentences, and each of the two sentences is a couplet. The flatness between two sentences is two opposites, and the relationship between these two sentences is called "right". What is stickiness? Sticking is the relationship between the two couplets, that is, the second word of the first sentence of the next couplet must be the same as the second word of the second sentence of the previous couplet, as if the two couplets are tightly "glued" together. It can be seen that "right" is about the relationship between sentences and sentences, and "sticky" is the relationship between union and union. Any absolute sentence or law is composed of "sticky" and "pair" combined into a whole. It is not allowed to do Grammatical poetry "loss of stick". Of course, there are also those who do not abide by this rule, such as Li Bai's Seven Laws "Dengjin ling phoenix platform" in the middle of the two pairs are all out of stick. The great poet is willful, and you can do anything about it!
Poetry must be "chanted", and chanting can help us better enter the poetic realm. If you understand the rules, you can learn "chanting". I learned "Oh" at the age of fifteen or sixteen, that is, to chant softly according to the ordinary rules of the verses. The bard is actually very simple: the "two, four, six" words of each verse are long if they are flat; if they are slang, they are shorter, so that they form a rhythm of alternating long and short tones. In addition to paying attention to the rules, the bard also integrates into the feelings. The ancients said: "When reading poetry, you must sweep your chest and purify it, and then chant up and down, satirize calmly, make people feel inspired, and only then will it be meritorious." Ouyang Xiu once had a saying "Youhuai sit alone", and Qiu Jin also wrote the poem "Small sitting near the window to roll oh", which shows that Oh poetry (softly chanting) is a good spiritual enjoyment.
Learning to chant is the only way to learn to write poetry. To learn to appreciate poetry, chanting is also an important means. The so-called "three points of poetry rely on seven points of chanting", chanting can help us better understand poetry, feel the beauty of poetry language, artistic beauty.
I know a teacher Peng Shiqiang, who is very good at chanting, but his chanting is closer to "singing", which is very pleasant, but unfortunately people who lack the talent to sing cannot learn it.
Du Fu has a saying: "The new poem is changed from the long chant", which refers to the process of further deliberation and deliberation after the verse is modified and then the elongated tone of the chant is used. But if the poem is not in line with the level, it will feel awkward when it is long.
The first poem I wrote in my life was Seven Absolutes, and there was nothing wrong with pingshu, when I was a second-year junior high school student:
Emura walks alone
A touch of slanting sun with sunset,
Gangchon has no trees and no raves.
Everyone who came was drunk,
Knowing is the front near the restaurant.
I began to write "decent" rhythmic poems in the second semester of the second year of junior high school, when the school organized students to travel to Hangzhou, and I wrote several poems, including one of the five laws, which was the first time in my life that I wrote this kind of poetry:
Climb the North Peak of Hangzhou South Peak
I don't see Sky Ridge,
Twin Peaks is self-sufficient.
Not exhausted to the highest place,
I have felt that the mountains are low.
The world is far away from the dust,
Phenom and eye to eye.
And you have to be at the top,
Don't wait for the sun to set.
At that time, my Chinese language teacher gave a high evaluation of this poem, and the comment on the jaw association "not poor and highest, has felt that the mountains are low" was: "Young and crazy". I think this "crazy" word is very well evaluated, and at that time, I did have a bit of a "first three years of school, the world goes" frenzy.
The poets of the Five Laws mostly like to use flowing water pairs, which seem to be opposites and non-pairs, and the semantic meanings are connected. For example, Wang Wei's "Yuanchuan Idle House Gift Pei Xiu Caidi":
The cold mountains turn green, and the autumn water is babbling. Leaning on the cane outside the firewood door, the wind listens to the twilight cicadas. The sun sets over the head, and there is lone smoke in the ruins. Compound value received public opinion drunk, singing wildly before five willows.
Jaw link "Leaning on the staff... Linfeng..."It's the flowing water pair.
My five-law jaw link (not exhausted...) I have felt... ), is also an attempt to imitate the flow of water pairs.
Some people say that the common man binds the mind.
In fact, according to my experience of learning poetry, once you have the consciousness of Ping Shu and have developed a habit in continuous chanting, Ping Shu will not only not bind the mind, but will become a tool to help compose the verse.
Poetry has a poetic vocabulary, and not all modern words can be included in poetry. Why is the so-called "old stem body" and "Goethe body" annoying? It is because there are too many slogans and songs of praise. Some poems advertise themselves as absolute verses, but the wording is like a slip of the tongue and an allegro book, because the author's reserved vocabulary is insufficient. To increase the vocabulary of poetry, it is necessary to rely on reading more and memorizing ancient and modern poetry masterpieces, but also using the "heart" to feel their colors and sounds, and taste the beauty of their language and artistic conception.
Some people say that Du Fu's poems have no word and no source, which is of course exaggerated, and the merits of poetry do not depend on whether the words used have a history. But sometimes some words that look vulgar, if they have a history, may become vulgar and elegant, and can also enrich the "connotation" of the poem.
For example, I have a seven-law poem like this:
Moved to Taoyuan New Village
Two Xi Jia ming and two negatives,
Moving home coincides with the evening sunshine.
Three thousand white hairs in the mirror,
100,000 branches of red ying under the eyes.
I can really laugh in my life,
Don't think about the article behind closed doors.
Groaning side allows me to be mad,
Only peach blossoms are allowed to shine on the wine.
This poem was written by me when I moved to Jiading Taoyuan New Village. The village is planted with peach trees and is named after it. This poem is combined with the previous sentence to apply Li Bai's poem "White hair three thousand zhang, the fate of sorrow is like a long", the depth of the "sorrow" is very long, the next sentence to "red Ying 100,000 branches", from "mirror" to "under the eyes" of the time and space conversion, one white and one red, one sad and one happy, forming a strong contrast of lyrical effect, at this time the "application" does not feel like "plagiarism". "Open mouth laughter" and "closed door thinking" in the neck link seem to be just common familiar words, but the former comes from Du Mu's poem "It is rare for people to open their mouths and laugh, and chrysanthemums must be inserted into the head", and the latter is out of Wang Tingjian's poem "Looking for Sentences Behind Closed Doors Chen Wu self, waving at guests qin less travel", because with the origin, it is not vulgar, and the "thickness" of the verses is increased.
Before the second year of junior high school, I had memorized almost all of the "Three Hundred Poems of Tang Dynasty". I also read some poems and words, which not only increased the accumulation of vocabulary, but also improved the appreciation of poetry, which helped me a lot in learning to write poetry. At that time, a reference book I used often, "Poetry Rhymes", also provided a lot of poetry vocabulary.
My understanding of a good poem is "six words": shallow meaning, deep affection,
Tang poems are the model in my heart.
Shallow language, then understand as words, elegant and common appreciation. Do not use secluded canons, secluded words, and strive to avoid obscurity and pretense, such as:
Bright moon pine light, clear spring stone upstream.
Yellow-leaved trees in the rain, bald men under the lights.
Boundless falling wood, the Endless Yangtze River rolling in.
All the good sentences and famous sentences that have been recited throughout the ages and are popular among the people are all shallow and profound.
Deep meaning, that is, rich in connotation, inexhaustible meaning outside the words, intriguing, and tireless in reading. Such as Yuan Shu poem:
The ancient palace is few and far away, and the palace flowers are lonely and red.
The white-headed palace lady was there, sitting idly and saying Xuanzong.
The author did not write anything about the white-headed palace lady "saying" Xuanzong, but the whole poem is full of the vicissitudes of the present and the past, and it is evocative to read. Some people say that this short two crosses is worth a "long hate song".
Another example is Li Shangyin's:
Chang'e should repent of stealing the elixir, the blue sea and the blue sky and night heart.
Take a wrong step and regret it for life. How much remorse and loneliness are all contained in these fourteen words, which can be said to be a little better than a little.
I have two exercises, and I have also tried to win more with less, with a limited number of words to pin a deeper and more complex feeling. One was composed at the age of sixteen:
Hangzhou Cold Spring Pavilion inscription wall
Climb the tired green mountain and sing tired songs,
How about a temporary rest in a dangerous pavilion?
It can be known that the underground springs were once hot,
A lot of red dust.
The other is composed after middle age:
Climb the Great Wall and tour the Mengjiang Ancestral Hall
The Great Wall city looks down on the sky,
Meritorious sins are not yet discussed.
The legacy of the Blazing Ancestral Dragon is in,
Sadness is not a good wife!
I tried to pursue an expression effect that "implied inexhaustible meaning", but I wondered if I had achieved my goal?
Writing a sentence, three or four sentences is the key, especially the ending sentence, which is often the finishing touch, which makes people think deeply to read.
True affection, must be revealed, from the heart, not pretentious, do not moan without illness. as:
The flames lasted for three months, and the family letter arrived at ten thousand gold.
There are no colorful phoenix wings, and the heart has a sharp point.
Both.
There is a poem that has been accused of being "sentimental":
Silkworm woman
Yesterday I went into the city and came back in tears.
A person who is full of silkworms is not a silkworm keeper.
This poem is actually good, the problem is in the sentence "Return to tears", even if there is a relationship, why "tears"? Because it is too much, it appears "false". Poetry must be true, and no matter how good a verse is, if it commits a "false" disease, it will fall behind.
I have a poem called "Forty Years of Bondage":
Silky self-concentric knot,
Life is a boat together.
Hundreds of housekeepers are too tired,
I am worried about the unprovoked coronation.
It is difficult to grow old in front of the lamp,
In the mirror, Xiao Is loose and easy to autumn.
Forty streams of light are like dreams,
Tonight I regret the moon when the building.
There is also a song "Butterfly Loves Flowers":
Remember that year's autumn water obstruction, honey tenderness, pulse by whom to sue? If you want to go hand in hand, you will travel all over the world.
The red clouds on the ground are green trees, and the trees are withered and always mistaken by the autumn wind. In the mirror, Zhu Yan had no plan to stay, leaving Spring for Yi Xinshang.
A word in a poem may not be superior, but the love contained in the words is sincere.
Poetry is the monologue of the soul, the song of the walker.
Rough experience, may Qian Ya teach!
(This article is a lecture given by the author Mr. Qian Menglong at the Yangpu District Institute of Education in Shanghai on December 11, 2014, compiled by Yang Xianguo according to the notes of the lecture, revised and finalized by the author, and published in Friends of Language Teaching, No. 1, 2022.) ）
About author:Qian Menglong, a native of Jiading, Jiangsu Province (now Jiading District, Shanghai), is a famous language educator. Model worker in the national education system. He is currently the principal of Shanghai Taoyuan Experimental School, the president of the Language Education Art Research Association, the member of the Subject Review Committee of the Primary and Secondary School Textbook Approval Committee of the Ministry of Education, and the special editor and reviewer of the Chinese textbooks of the People's Education Publishing Du Middle School. He has been engaged in language education for a long time and has made remarkable achievements. He is the author of "Exploring the Language Guide Method", "The Art of Guided Reading", "Talking to Young Teachers about Language", etc.