"A pot of wine between flowers, drinking alone without blind dates" "Bright moon matsuma photo, Qingquan stone upstream"... These famous Tang poems were born in a world before the popularization of printing, and since then, based on handwritten manuscripts and oral performances, they have come to us step by step through the wind and sand of the times.
When we enter the era of information explosion, "short and fast" stimulating entertainment methods compete for people's attention, do modern people still need to read Tang poems? The Paper invited Feng Naixi, assistant professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies in The Humanities and Social Sciences of Tsinghua University, to walk into the world of Tang Dynasty poetry together.
There are poems from Tang Dynasty
@Surging netizen NV3Ezi: Why are ancient poems in the Tang Dynasty highly prosperous, but words are rarely mentioned?
Feng Naixi: Compared with Tang Dynasty poetry, words are not so famous, and there are many reasons for this. First of all, our understanding of ancient literature today is deeply influenced by the saying that "there is literature from generation to generation", and "Tang poetry, Song Poetry, Yuanqu, Ming and Qing Novels" has become a kind of "common sense" thinking, as if the words before the Song Dynasty were not good, as if there were no novels before the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which is obviously misleading. This line of thinking is brought about by the traditional narrative of literary history, and we should keep reflecting on it.
Secondly, compared with poetry, the word creation of the Tang Dynasty was generally limited to more private banquets and entertainment occasions, and it was around the middle and late Tang Dynasties that it gradually became popular. The number of extant Tang Dynasty words is also relatively limited, and the works of Wen Tingjun and Wei Zhuang are familiar to everyone. The Tang Dynasty words were compiled into a collection of words later, and it was not until the Five Dynasties period that the famous "Huajian Words" was born. In contrast, the poetry of the Tang Dynasty was created on a larger scale, and the Collection of Tang Poetry had been produced since the Tang Dynasty, and it seemed to be more prosperous.
Finally, scholars usually study the words of the Tang and Five Dynasties together, analyze their relationship with Lefu poetry and Gelug poetry, and also analyze their influence on Song Dynasty poetry. Tang Dynasty words are highly valued in academic circles, and it can only be said that it is not as famous as Tang poetry among ordinary readers.
@Magic Waltz: There is a saying that The Tang and Song poems were sung in the earliest days, so many of the rhymes are different from today. Is this really the case?
Feng Naixi: Ancient Chinese poetry and music are very closely related. For example, the Book of Poetry was revised based on the folk songs of the time; most of the Han Le Fu poems also had specific tunes that could be performed and chanted. The word plates we see in song words today (such as "Ru Meng Ling") and the Yuan Ming Qu cards (such as "Tianjing Sha") have fixed grammatical requirements, which also means that they were once able to be supplemented with music and could be sung. It is true that poetry can be sung, but this is not the reason why some of the words in Tang poetry are different from today.
Our Chinese pronunciation today has undergone a long process of evolution, and has become different from the Tang Dynasty, which is a relatively complex linguistic problem. Simply put, the pronunciation of the Tang Dynasty was more complex and more tonal than that of today's Mandarin (such as the Tang Dynasty had but modern Mandarin did not have), and some scholars say that it is closer to today's Cantonese or Hakka. This change in linguistic characteristics makes some verses appear less pronounced in Mandarin.
@ surging netizen niIrqe: In ancient times, there was no network, how was a poem written and known by the same people, and how did it spread to the circle of the people? Will there be no good works that can't be passed on for miles?
Feng Naixi: In the era before the popularization of printing, poetry was created and disseminated by both paper and pencil, as well as by mouth. It is not what we envision today of the poet "writing" a definite text and then copying it, but gradually spreading in the process of copying, singing, and performing.
In the Tang Dynasty, poetry could be inscribed on temple walls, on mountain stones, or sung by children and singers. Readers can borrow a friend's poetry to copy, and there are often poems in the temple. As the saying goes, "one pass ten, ten pass a hundred", can be used to describe the spread of ancient poetry. The book "There Are Poems from the Tang Dynasty" explains in detail how Tang Dynasty poetry was circulated, and if you are interested, you can read it.
"Poetry from the Tang Dynasty: Tang Dynasty Poetry and Its Tangible World", by Ni Jian, translated by Feng Naixi, Century Wenjing / Shanghai People's Publishing House, September 2021.
Do modern people still have to read Tang poems?
@ God's Fish: Why do we have to let our children insist on reading Tang poems from childhood to adulthood? In modern society, does ancient poetry have any other meaning besides beauty?
Feng Naixi: As the essence of ancient Chinese culture, ancient poetry has a significance that can not only bring us aesthetic experience. Modern society, especially cyberspace, is full of unpolished, redundant and even too crude vocabulary expressions, which will affect children's literacy and aesthetic taste in the long run.
The significance of returning to the literary classics is first of all to impact the potential vulgarization tendencies in popular culture and balance the problems caused by the "short and fast" stimulating entertainment methods. Tang poetry has its condensed language expression, which is a good language training for children, and can enhance their "Xindaya" language ability in a subtle way. Tang poems also show many profound images and scenes, such as the magnificence of mountains and rivers, the hardships of border life, and the joy of reunion after a long absence, these experiences and emotions are worth pondering repeatedly, and we find the power of nature and life from them.
I also believe that reading Tang poems should not be mechanical rote memorization, but should be combined with real-life scenes. For example, if you take your child to see a willow tree in the spring, you can naturally teach him to "not know who cut the fine leaves, and the spring breeze in February is like scissors." In the process of recitation, children not only learn the language, but also observe the appearance of willow leaves and imagine the shape of the spring wind. It is a comprehensive and enjoyable learning experience.
@Surging netizen NV3Ezi: How to look at the poetry analysis on primary and secondary school textbooks, does Tang poetry have a fixed interpretation method? Or how should we read ancient poems?
Feng Naixi: Our current understanding of an ancient poem is influenced by multiple factors. The literal meaning of the work itself is easy to change due to the differences in the experience and ways of life in ancient and modern times. At the same time, the interpretation of successive generations of critics and editors may have an important impact on the circulation of works, which will also shape our understanding today. The case of fixed imagery that you mentioned is often a problem that arises after the classicization of the work.
Perhaps the first poem can be interpreted in many ways, it can be a chant, a puzzle, or it can express love or resentment at the same time. But this pluralistic and fluid meaning will gradually become fixed in the process of circulation and be incorporated into a certain interpretation. In my opinion, reading ancient poetry should return to the text itself, starting from the scene, image and even sound itself constructed by the words, and experience the content and aesthetic characteristics of the poem.
What other questions do you have about Tang Dynasty poetry? Welcome to the surging bar to ask questions, or leave a message to discuss together!