The master of traditional Chinese studies, Huang Kan, once wrote such a passage in the "Notes on the Dragon carved in the heart of the text":
Since the Han Dynasty, the poets rarely use Xingyi, the decline of the fixed edge of poetry, but also from the work of words, interesting to metaphor, the reader trance is difficult to understand, then the work of moving is not obvious. With a ratio of forgetting to be happy, the situation makes it so, although it is similar to the ziyun, it is not as good as it is.
However, since the famous passages of the past, or the existence of Bixing, the timely migration and trade of the world, and the solution is only beneficial, and the poems of one volume are not different. Nine originals do not do, annihilated without words. It is the poem of Xie Sizong, then the first poem to ridicule the Zen Dynasty, the work of Du Ling, then the passage is read to the imperial court, although at that time it may not be without relying on things to start, and future generations can not deviate from words and seek images.
- "Notes on the Dragon carved in wenxin"
As a kind of figurative art, vivid and vivid imagery is the focus of the vitality of poetry. In the history of Chinese literature, the most basic image-shaping methods are nothing more than bi and xing, which are transmitted from the Book of Poetry.
Although Bi and Xing are flowers born on the same branch, they have suffered completely different fates in later life. Huang Kan keenly observed that since the Han Dynasty, the poets' creations have become more and more obvious in their preference for contrast, while Xing has gradually been snubbed.
This phenomenon of favoritism cannot simply be explained by the phrase "predestination in past lives", for in the 305 works of the Book of Verses, the metaphors produced by the ratio are no more or better than the images produced by the revival.
So, why did Xingxing and Xingxiang suffer irreparable decline in future generations?
On this issue, Huang Kan explained that it was rooted in the fact that the mechanism of xingxiang and metaphor was different. The principle of rejuvenation, we may wish to understand it simply as "seeing things and thinking about people".
When a familiar object appears in front of my eyes, maybe a smoked yellow pipe, or maybe a half-cut lipstick, what do I think of?
The pipe may remind me of my teacher's teachings, and the lipstick may have triggered my own infinite emotions.
The ancients often said that the initiation of happiness is "from the object and the heart". Pipes and lipstick are things, in other words, a concrete and sensible image, and the remembrance of the teacher or the attachment to the lover is the hidden intention in my heart, and it is a heart song that is unclear to others. If I don't have this pipe, without this lipstick, what else can I use to dissect my heart to you?
The problem is that each of us has very different experiences and memories. Even if the same object is in front of you and me, it may still evoke different feelings. When I mentioned the pipe, I expected to lead the conversation to a touching encounter between me and my mentor.
But perhaps, when you see this pipe, you make God think of your father. Taking a step back, even if you think of your teacher from the pipe I described, it is possible that he left you with less memories than those left by my teacher.
A spring wind and rain, an autumn frost cold. Although we all start from the starting point of the pipe, you and I are not free from the opposite direction.
The charm of Qixing lies in the fact that it uses the narrative logic of "by things and hearts" to simulate the emotional trigger mechanism of seeing things and thinking about people.
As readers, if we can accurately trace the sentiment it points to by virtue of the poet's image, then we will reach empathy with the poet in a natural process.
The problem of xingxing is precisely here: xingxiang is too open, and the understanding is too diverse. Even the poet who single-handedly shaped it cannot forcibly lead the reader's thoughts to the end of the poet's preset through the excitement of the pen, which will lead to the "misunderstanding caused by a pipe" mentioned above.
In the final analysis, it is still for the purpose of communication, even if it is for the sake of a dialogue with a stranger who is a thousand years later.
As a medium of communication, if Xingxiang often causes misunderstandings between authors and readers, it loses its value and meaning of existence, which is probably the main reason for the decline of Xingxiang in Chinese literature.
I have to admit that Huang Kan's analysis of Xing and Xingxiang is to the point.
However, the revival is not only an important phenomenon in the history of Chinese literature that cannot be ignored, but when we encounter the xingxiang in the classic works in person, it is always difficult to pretend to be blind and go around, and it is still inevitable to spend a lot of effort to figure out the true meaning behind it. How to solve the problem of xingxiang?
When I talk about this, I can't help but think of the case of "Shijing Weifeng Hao". The full text of this narrative poem is very long, and it goes like this:
The worm of the mound, holding the cloth silk. Bandits come to trade silk, come to me.
Send the son wading in Ki, as for Dunqiu. Bandit me for a long time, and there is no good medium.
There will be no anger, and the autumn will last.
Ride on the wall in the hope of returning. There was no return, and there were tears and tears.
Seeing the repetition, laughing and saying. Erbul, no guilt.
Come with a car, bribe me.
Mulberry has not fallen, its leaf Wo Ruo. Yu Yu Dove, no food mulberry!
Yu Yu Nu Xi, no delay with the soldiers! The delay of the soldiers can be said to be also.
Women are procrastinating, not to be said.
Mulberry falls, its yellow and meteorite. Self-wandering, three years old food poor.
Qishui soup soup, gradually car drapery. Women are also not happy, and the soldiers are second to their own.
Soldiers are also reckless, two or three virtues.
Three years old as a woman, the room is tired, dreaming of sleeping at night, and the sun is full of dynasty.
As for the violence. The brother did not know, and laughed.
Quietly think about it, bow down to mourn.
And Er with old age, old make me resentful. Ki has a shore, and a pan has a pan.
The feast of the horns, smiling and smiling. Take the oath and don't think about it.
On the contrary, I don't think about it, and I have already done it!
- "Poetry, Wei Feng, Rogue"
Let's take out the third and fourth chapters of this poem separately:
The poet's topic gradually transitions from the process of the mulberry leaves gradually becoming withered to the tragic transformation of the hostess's family life from sweet to bleak.
Undoubtedly, in this narrative, "mulberry leaf" is a standard sign. What did it rise to? The interpretation of Mao's poems is:
Hua fell and faded, and the backsliding was abandoned.
- "Mao Shi Justice"
The mistress of the poet's description, Weng, should be a mulberry girl who has been abandoned by a negative man. Since she was engaged in picking mulberry silk, mulberry trees should be the most familiar thing in her life. Therefore, when she wanted to talk about something, she couldn't help but start with mulberry leaves.
The "Biography of Mao" says that "the unfallen mulberry" is reminiscent of a woman's youth and beauty, while "the fall of the mulberry" hints at her old age and decline. No mulberry leaf can resist the natural law from "woro" to "fall", and of course, no woman can keep her delicate face and never wither.
Fading and love relaxation are often causally linked in ancient poetry. Mao Chuan is probably influenced by this inertial thinking, so he believes that there is a rising correspondence between "mulberry leaves" and "women".
Unfortunately, the textual structure of the poem does not support this correspondence. Let's look at the following four sentences:
Yu Yu Dove, no food mulberry! Yu Yu Nu Xi, no delay with the soldiers!
Analyzing the expression form of these four verses, "dove food mulberry" and "female and shi delay" two things.
In their correspondence, the element corresponding to the "female" is the "dove", and the element corresponding to the "soldier" is the "mulberry". The Biography of Mao mistakenly aligns "female" with "sang", which obviously does not match the structure of the text.
The next question is, what kind of homogeneous relationship does the mulberry have with the soldier (that is, the negative man who abandoned the hostess), and why is it he who rises from the image of the mulberry?
The Tale of Mao explains that if the dove eats too much mulberry, it will get drunk—much like a woman who loses her sober judgment if she indulges in the fantasy of love.
Judging from the first chapter of "Hu", the hostess Weng is such a mulberry girl who is not more troublesome. And her unhappy marriage began with a rash decision.
This short four-sentence poem reveals a lot of important information. Careful friends may have noticed that in this poem, the title of the hostess weng to the man is always changing: at first it is called "rogue", then it is called "son", and finally it is called "soldier".
The Qing Dynasty scholar Ma Ruichen believes that the change of these titles indirectly reflects the trajectory of the evolution of the relationship between men and women. The word "氓" refers to strangers—the original meaning of the word, which Wei Yuan interpreted in the word splitting method, is "dead-people", that is, people who are wandering away.
Isn't a homeless man from a foreign country an irrelevant stranger in the eyes of the natives of the local country? The strange man came to the bazaar to trade, used the excuse of buying silk to talk to the naïve mulberry picker, and even boldly expressed his desire to propose to her without the words of a matchmaker.
In other words, an adult with a little life experience, it is probably not difficult to see the frivolous attitude of men, but the mulberry woman actually mistakes this for simplicity and kindness.
The word "蚩蚩" in the poem is beautifully ambiguous here. Ma Ruichen said that "clams" is a playful look, in other words, it is this man's hippie smiley face, greasy mouth and slippery tongue.
However, the "Biography of Mao" interprets "蚩蚩" as the appearance of Dun Hou. Two explanations, two faces, just happen to outline the fantasies of the sang women about men and the terrible truth behind the fantasies.
We can imagine this: the naïve mulberry woman credulously believed the man's conversation and mistook him for a simple and kind man.
And the poet who recounted this incident was like a cold-eyed spectator, watching the girl fall into the trap woven by the prodigal son of love with lies. In this scenario simulation, the word "clam" reveals a chilling and dangerous atmosphere.
Of course, we may as well imagine another situation, imagining that after three years, the real mulberry woman of the day was finally cruelly abandoned by this negative man, and she finally recognized the true face of the man's frivolity.
Thinking back to the beginning, I would actually think that people like him were honest and loyal... If the simulated scene was like this, then the "clam" brought out the unspeakable regret of the sang woman.
Of course, it is entirely possible that when the poet first wrote the word "蚩蚩", he only wanted to describe the meaning explained by Ma Ruichen or the "Biography of Mao Shi", but this does not prevent us from giving multiple connotations to the word "蚩蚩" when reading.
Even this multiple connotations can be implanted in different contexts to obtain richer meaning. However, in either case, the story ultimately points to a tragic ending:
Although the strange man's hasty marriage proposal, although the mulberry woman did not immediately answer, she was obviously touched by the other party. The evidence is that her title for the man was changed from the strange "hu" to the affectionate title of "son".
Not only did she change her name, but she was also worried that rejecting the man's marriage proposal would annoy him, so she made a decision, comforting the man, saying: "When the autumn comes, I will marry you."
Such a woman who is overwhelmed by love, like a dove bird who does not eat mulberries and is intoxicated?
But summer will eventually pass. When the autumn wind strikes, the mulberry leaves fall, and the delicious mulberries are no longer found on the bare branches, the bitter days of the dove are coming.
— THE END —
The text | Prince of Jin
Typography | cream belly
The picture | the network