Zhang Wei | Five poets of the Tang Dynasty | Where do the best sentences come from

Statue of Wang Wei of the Tang Dynasty

Wang Weiwen's lexicography matured very early, and his teenage works have the details of the text, and the layout and planning have a considerable aesthetic balance, which shows that it is both precocious and has the skill of a young child. "The ancient tomb is like a cangling mountain, and the palace is like a purple platform." The stars are separated by seven dawns, and the nine springs of the river Han are open. There are sea people who rather cross, and no spring geese do not return. More smell of loose rhyme, suspected to be the doctor's mourning. "When writing this poem "Passing the Tomb of the Qin Emperor", Wang Wei was only fifteen years old, with a pharaoh's way, a majestic weather, and a kind of vigor beyond his age. "September 9th Remembrance of Shandong Brothers" is known as the ancient song of the journey of thinking of relatives, with profound meaning, and he was only seventeen years old when he wrote this poem. At the age of nineteen, he wrote the seven-character ancient poem "Taoyuan Xing", which was rated by posterity as "a narrative of shunwen, without having to give opinions, but yi yu rong and, inexhaustible." (Qing Shen Deqian's "Tang Poems") It can be seen that Wang Wei is really a brilliant person, and the advantages of the word chapter are so significant. The benefits of this for a person to complete the great article of a lifetime are self-evident; but will a person rely on and take advantage of it too much? If you use too much in the difficult period of writing, you may lose the will of the soul to be honed, and lack some overlapping traces of setbacks.

People with superior words will unconsciously believe in the power and function of the words themselves, rely on the words themselves to derive poetry, and gradually become habits. The words themselves do have this function, and they will certainly produce the beauty of words, but this breeding capacity is extremely limited. When this limitation is perceived and recognized by a person, it is often too late. Because as far as human nature is concerned, the natural existence of the accommodating mind, the accommodation of words, the accommodation of inertia, over time is irrepressible, and the words themselves have become obstacles.

Some of Wang Wei's poems have many dictionaries and rhetoric, but they are not as appealing as other verses, and the reason may be that the mind has not arrived with the words, and the two are somewhat separated. Li Du, who was his contemporary, had very rare situations, and they impressed people with the power of their hearts and minds, that is, their radiance. Some people may think that this is only due to the difference in style, because Wang Wei is originally a faint and ethereal person. This understanding seems to be reasonable, but it is not precise enough, because at a time when he had not yet developed this style, especially those poems of response, farewell and resentment that were not characterized by this style, there was already a sense of rhetoric. In the author's skillful combination of words and words, the wonderful talent does not overflow, does not lead to the depth of life, leaving more of the color of the words themselves. The ability of lexicon is really a double-edged sword in poetry.

Sometimes in the mediocre modern reading, we often lament the roughness, barrenness and sloppiness of the words; sometimes we feel that the writer lacks long-term solid text training, and will take a most basic requirement as the supreme requirement. In fact, the lesson of writing is indeed the most difficult and lifelong, but this kind of lesson must occur in parallel with the persistent inquiry into the meaning of life, and it must be subordinated to the latter, and the two cannot be stripped away. Once the power of this inquiry diminishes, the text is invoked as a treasure chest and toolbox, and it is used repeatedly. We have taken all sorts of ingenious tools to cover up and replace incompetence and barrenness. Sometimes this vacuous and powerless state of life is really covered up, but it can only be used for a while, and it is difficult to last long. The traces left by the whole process of life, in the long river of words or sonorous, or joyful, or moaning, or mediocrity, or protrusion, or fierceness, or excellence, can be exposed in the listening of time.

Words are tools that propel all elements, and their growth is the explicit external part, like the hairs of the earth, the trees on the hills. The vibrant green is lovely and foreshadows the richness of life, but we also have to look at the original color of the earth and the bones of the mountains. When using a paintbrush to highlight their hard essence, one may look for the earth of the north, in the relatively small and sparse bushes, among the barren and bare hills and rocks, and even in the desert, to feel its strength and desolation. This kind of bone beauty, essential beauty, can profoundly impress us, form a confrontation with life, and form a dialogue between life that is powerful, uncovered, and even a little desperate and cruel.

It turns out that the faded mountains and the earth are also a kind of speech, which is speaking, but it is just another kind of speech, a simpler and more direct nakedness that is rarely concealed. It is also growing, and there is an inexhaustible force rushing within it. This power will not be weakened by the change of seasons, and will not be deformed and disappeared by the severe cold and snow.

Serious years harvest the surface. Where are they after harvest? What's left behind? We should know all this.

When evaluating ancient poets, people unconsciously adopt a criterion, that is, to see how many good sentences they have circulated in the world. With the continuation of time, a thousand years or more have passed, and a country and an ethnic group will inevitably leave some good sentences. They are often mentioned, difficult to get around, and whenever there is a certain scene and moment, it will naturally come to mind and blurt out. If we start from the source of Chinese poetry, we often think of some sentences like this: "Ladies and gentlemen, gentlemen are good." ("Shijing Zhounan Guan ju") "The road is long and its cultivation is far away, and I will seek up and down." (Qu Yuan's "Leaving the Troubles") "Song to wine, life is geometric." (Han Cao Cao's "Short Song Line") "Under the eastern fence of picking chrysanthemums, leisurely seeing the South Mountain" (Jin Tao Yuanming's "Drinking Twenty Songs • Five") "Confidant in the sea, the end of the world is like a neighbor." (Tang Wang Bo, "Send Du Shaofu to Ren Shu Prefecture") "The sea is born of the bright moon, and the end of the world is at this time." (Tang Zhang Jiuling, "Looking at the Moon and Huaiyuan") "The flow is three thousand feet straight down, and it is suspected that the Milky Way has fallen for nine days." (Tang Li Bai,"Wanglushan Waterfall") "Alone in a foreign land as a stranger, every festive season is doubly thinking of relatives." (Tang Wang Wei, "Remembering the Shandong Brothers on September 9") "Reading books breaks through ten thousand volumes, and the next pen is like a god." (Tang Du Fu's "Twenty-two Rhymes to Wei Zuo Chengzhang") "The wildfires burn endlessly, and the spring wind blows and grows again." (Tang Bai Juyi, "Endowed with Ancient Grass farewell") "Spring silkworms to the end of the dead silk, the wax torch into gray tears began to dry." (Tang Li Shangyin, "Untitled") "I hope that people will be long-lasting, and thousands of miles will be cherished together." (Song Sushi, "Water Tune Song Head, When is the Bright Moon") "The mountains and rivers are doubtful and there is no way, and the willows are dark and the flowers are bright and another village." (Southern Song Dynasty Lu You", "You Shanxi Village") "Who has not died since ancient times, keep Dan's heart and sweat and youth." (Southern Song Dynasty Wen Tianxiang", "Crossing Zero Ding Yang") "Horizontal eyebrows are cold to a thousand fingers, and bow down to the cows." (Lu Xun's "Self-Deprecation") and so on. These sentences have to be counted, they are too many. Each good sentence is followed by an unforgettable face and figure, and they are also immortal.

Of course, we cannot measure a person's overall achievement, and look at an artist, a writer, a thinker, and we cannot use this as a criterion entirely. But it is indeed a symbol and symbol that cannot be bypassed. Can we forget Li Bai's "An can destroy the eyebrows and bend the waist of the magnate, so that I can't be happy" ("Sleepwalking in heaven and staying away"), "The snowflakes of Yanshan Mountain are as big as a seat" ("North Wind"), "One husband should be closed, and all husbands cannot be opened" ("Shu Dao Is Difficult")? Can you forget Du Fu's "Will be the top of the mountain, overlooking the mountains and small" ("Wangyue"), "two yellow orioles singing green willows, a line of egrets on the blue sky" ("Absolute Sentence")? Can you forget Bai Juyi's "The sunrise and the river flowers are red and the fire is better than the fire, and the spring river is as green as blue" ("Remembering Jiangnan"), "Looking back at a smile and a hundred beautiful students", "Wishing to be a bird in heaven, wishing to be a lianli branch in the earth" ("Long Hate Song"), "At this time, silence is better than sound", "The same is the end of the world, why should we have known each other" ("Pipa Line") "This can be a memory, but at that time it was already confused" ("Jinse") reminds us of Li Shangyin. The beauty of good sentences is indescribable, they are the diamonds of language, the legends of spirit. Without them, our language would be barren, how thin our poetic history would be, and how sparse the relationship between poetry and life, with the people, and with society would be. They are like a long color train that connects different eras, connects daily life, connects spirit and material.

Although the creator of literature and art does not have to take it as his duty to pursue good sentences, the good sentences that are born naturally seem to be the explanation of long and arduous labor. They exist there, shimmering and glowing, and their light is not obscured by the dust of time, what a powerful spiritual and civilized penetrating force. Sometimes we marvel at the fact that when you pick up the best sentences, you will find that many sentences are concentrated on a certain person or a certain person at a certain moment. What a great soul, some spirit of art. Therefore, there are many good sentences in the past, and making a simple comparison is also a way to summarize and recall.

The meaning of good sentences is different, the colors are different, and the temperament is different. Some are desolate, some are beautiful, some are mysterious, some are hazy, and some are strange. But one thing in common is that they can deeply touch you, attract you, and make you remember. "Death before the master is successful, and the hero is full of tears." ("Shu Xiang") "Er cao's body and name are destroyed, and the rivers and rivers are not wasted." ("Drama for Six Absolute Sentences · II") "Good rain knows the season, when spring is happening." Dive into the night with the wind, and the moisturizer is silent. "('Happy Rain on Spring Night') These good sentences are so sonorous and powerful that they can't be done without Du Fu." Lanling wine tulips, jade bowls filled with amber light, but so that the owner can drunk guests, do not know where is the other country. "I was born to be useful, and I will come back when all the money is gone." ("Will Enter the Wine") "The flow is three thousand feet straight down, and it is suspected that the Milky Way has fallen for nine days." ("Wanglushan Waterfall") This belongs to the romantic and flowing Li Bai. When Qu indexes, you will find that Li Du left the most good sentences, followed by Su Dongpo and so on. Wang Wei has at least five or six groups, and there are also three or four groups of those who use it more frequently, although one or two of them have disputes over authenticity, but they are still remarkable. Generally speaking, poets work hard and spend their entire lives, and it is quite amazing that they can leave one or two good sentences.

Taking Wang Wei as an example, we can divide its good sentences into three levels: First, the academic level of poetic research, that is, the good sentences that researchers cannot neglect. This part is deep and peculiar, and the writing is exquisite, although it does not hurt the poetic connotation, but it is not as smooth as the other kind. For example, "The birds are changing, sitting for a long time and falling flowers" ("From the King of Qi to the Yang Clan Beiye Should Be Taught"), "The Sound of the Spring Throat Dangerous Stone, the Sun Cold Green Pine" ("Over the Xiangji Temple"), "The grass in the rain is green, and the peach blossoms at the water's edge are red" ("Lingchuan Beiye") and so on. The second is the cultural level, that is, the good sentences that are often quoted by intellectuals. Such as "empty mountains after new rain, the weather comes late in autumn." ("Mountain Residence Autumn Dawn"), "The sun sets in the head of the river, and there is lonely smoke in the ruins." ("Pei Xiucaidi") "Jun comes from his hometown and should know about his hometown." ("Three Miscellaneous Poems, II") "The fruits of the mountain fall in the rain, and the grass and insects under the lamp" ("Sitting Alone on Autumn Night"), "The Loose Wind Blows the Belt, and the Mountain Moon Plays the Piano" ("Reward Zhang Shaofu") and so on. These good sentences are recited only among cultural people with considerable knowledge. The third is the level of life, such as "being a stranger in a foreign land alone, thinking of relatives every festive season" ("Remembering the Shandong Brothers on september 9"), "Bright Moon Pine Illumination, Qingquan Stone Upstream" ("Mountain Residence Autumn Breeze"), "Persuade the Jun to drink a cup of wine, and go out of the West out of Yangguan without a reason" ("Send Yuan Er Envoy Anxi"), "Red beans are born in the southern country, and spring comes to send a few branches" ("Acacia") and so on. These verses are almost household names, known to women and children.

The birth of Jiaju is not accidental, it is an externalized way of life texture, and it is the "ore seedling" exposed before the mining of talent. Generally speaking, to become a good sentence, it is not only gorgeous and smooth, but also specific and deep enough, both unforgettable, but also direct to the depths of the soul, its vividness and generalization express the universal experience of human beings, and it is a concentrated expression. Here, the fine work of the text and the popularity of the folk have been integrated, and such a realm is really difficult, so good sentences can always be encountered but not sought. It is difficult to make a good sentence because it still lacks deep and long-term vitality, and it has not yet reached the level of wide acceptance in the depth and breadth of human universal experience.

Good sentences need to break through the elegance in the general sense, need to be activated, need to break the work of general words, enter the interior from the appearance, and let the spiritual movement be closely integrated with the contemporary and folk, and be highly unified at the two levels of popular and elegant. This fit is difficult. We will find that this so-called clever hand is always frequent in the pen of the great poet. We will then know that their criteria for selection are not only academic, but rather rely on the intuition of life, and are collectively determined after some special weighing. Those who rely on the creation of the text itself, rely too much on the words, and most of them have lost the power to reach the hearts of the people. The relationship between good sentences and people's emotional depth and persistence is the greatest, that is to say, the depth of physical and mental friction and the profound interlacing of spiritual traces in real life have greater decisive significance. The arrival of this moment, the popularity of its manifestations is very important. In the general sense, straightforwardness and popularity do not ensure its permanence, nor will it find a deep inheritor and interpreter; and once the maintenance of generations is lacking, it is ultimately difficult to become what we call a good sentence.

Good sentences need to be repeated, repetition is emphasis, this is the maintenance of time. Therefore, there are too many conditions needed to become a good sentence. Some of Wang Wei's best sentences are always circulating at different levels, and some are not only quoted frequently, but also used in a wider range. Some of them are only cited at the academic level, and the scope is relatively narrow. Therefore, the meaning of these two good sentences is different, and comparatively speaking, the former is the real good sentence.

Zhang wei