In ready-made schools, unless you are specialized in ancient poetry writing, chinese teachers do not talk about how to compose poetry, on the one hand, this thing is really difficult to talk about, the teacher himself may not be able to, on the other hand, the ancient poetry of the textbook is more important to appreciate and recite, not to teach you how to write. Moreover, all the articles we can see related to ancient poetry, in addition to the original text of ancient poetry, are commentaries. The original text does not tell you how to write, and the comments only say where is good, but they do not say how to be so good.
So it's not easy to write poetry, and it's even harder to find a teacher to teach you how to write! But now there is a ready-made teacher there, ready to consult, and there is no charge. This teacher is Lin Daiyu in "Dream of the Red Chamber".
Lin Daiyu
Xiang Ling wanted to learn poetry from Dai Yu, and Dai Yu said, "Anything difficult is worth learning!" But it is a combination of bearing and turning, in which the relay is two pairs, the flat sound to the servant sound, the virtual to the real, the real to the virtual, if there is a strange sentence, even the flat and the virtual are not right. He also said, "Whether the words and sentences are the last thing, the first intention is important." If the meaning is true, the conjunction does not need to be modified, it is good, this is called 'not harming the meaning with words'. ”
Here Dai Yu said two important aspects of poetry: one is intention, and the other is embellishment. The most important of these is the intention, to 'not harm the meaning with words'. Not harming meaning with words here is the only way to compose poetry. In the fifth episode of "Dream of the Red Chamber", "Jia Baoyu's Divine Journey to the Void Realm, the Police Illusion Immortal Performs the Dream of the Red Chamber", when the Police Fantasy Fairy asked Bao Yu to look at the song of the Dream of the Red Chamber, he said: "This song is not better than the legendary song filled in the earthly world, there must be a life and a pure end, and there is also the limit of the nine palaces of the north and the south. This or aria, or a nostalgia, even into a song, can be scored into the orchestra. If you are not a person, you don't know the magic of it", this is the meaning.
Xiangling learns poetry
This is fully reflected in all the poems of the Dream of the Red Chamber. The poems in the dream of the Red Chamber, because of their excellence, are now published by publishing houses, which are novel and self-contained, all of which embody the essence of "not harming the meaning of words".
This is the first aspect, the intention, emphasizing "not to harm the meaning of words", which is the general outline. The second aspect, grooming, is how to improve the level of poetry, which is the method.
Dai Yu said, "You only listen to me, if you really want to learn, I have here the "Complete Works of Wang Mojie" and you read a hundred of his five-word laws, carefully and thoroughly understand them, and then read one or two hundred of Lao Du's seven-word laws, and then Read one or two hundred of Li Qinglian's seven-word sentences." The stomach first had these three people as the foundation, and then took a look at Tao Yuanming, Ying Yue, Xie, Ruan, Yu, Bao and others. You are also a very intelligent and clever person, and you don't need a year's work, don't worry about not being a poet! ”
Xiangling
Here's how to learn. The first step is to read the "Complete Works of Wang Mojie", focusing on the five-word poem and emphasizing the four words of "pondering and knowing". It seems that Wang Wei's poems are the foundation, and we must make real efforts, read them intensively, and even recite them. The second step, du fu and Li Bai's poems, emphasizes the seven-word rhythm poem, which is to improve. The third step, Tao Yuanming, Ying Yue, Xie, Ruan, Yu, and Bao, is to expand the area, so that the structure is broad and the pattern is broad.
Although the text of the above methods is not long, it is like the elder on the side, the ear is raised to face the life, but after reading it, it makes people feel empowered. It's just a pity that such talent, but the ending is so miserable.
These theories are said to come from daiyu's mouth, but of course, they are actually Mr. Cao Xueqin's insights. In his imperial masterpiece, he wrote a series of beautiful words from the perspective of different characters with a large brush like rafters. Once again, I salute Mr. Cao Xueqin.
So, do you know who the four people Mentioned by Dai Yu when Dai Yu taught Xiang Ling to write poems, Xie, Ruan, Yu, and Bao?