Beauty in the Book of Poetry: Beauty is one thing, love is another丨Read poetry on weekends
I remember seeing a woman in an ancient note:
On the afternoon of the youth season, she rested with everyone under the pavilion, and when everyone was about to leave, she said that it looked like it would rain, and the people did not listen, and went in a hurry, only she sat still.
Sure enough, soon it began to rain, and the rain fell quite heavily, and everyone turned back in a hurry, drenched, but saw that the woman was still sitting upright, as if nothing had happened.
I always remember this woman, the author did not write what she looked like, but I seemed to see her, never forget, and felt the same as the author: the beauty of this woman is incredible!
Written by | Three books
To write about appearance is to die, and to write about God is to live
Lin Fengmian "Lady Picture"
"The Book of Poetry, Weifeng and Shuoren"
Huge people, brocade clothes. Son of Marquis Qi, wife of Marquis Wei, sister of Donggong, aunt of Marquis Xing, and private servant of Tan.
The hands are like soft curds, the skin is like curd, the collar is like a grub, the teeth are like a rhinoceros, and the head of the moth is eyebrows. Smile delicately, beautiful eyes.
Shuoren Ao Ao, said in the suburbs of agriculture. Four oysters are arrogant, and Zhu Wei is proud. Zhai Ming to the dynasty. The doctor retired, and there was no envoy.
The river is oceanic and the north flow is alive. Shi Yi is stunned, and the tuna is hairy. The glow is revealed, the ginger is sins, and the sin is revealed.
Since ancient times, every era has valued people by appearance, and although the aesthetic standards are different, all people love beauty. The heroine in a love story must first be beautiful, otherwise she will not be romantic, even if she is born an ugly duckling, she must later become a swan.
I often observe swans in the park, their beauty or elegance, can only be seen from afar, up close they are a little unbearable, like ducks, they will pout their butts high, plunge their long necks into the water to prey, and their snow-white fat butts swing awkwardly on the water. This is not to blame the swan, the swan does not regard itself as a swan, just as a duck does not consider itself a duck, this is all a separate creation of us humans.
As a human being, I can't be beautiful and ugly, and I admit that I also look good, and I am not far from the standards of my contemporaries. Maybe we have different tastes, but there is a general consensus, not to mention that there is always a certain beauty, so beautiful that everyone cannot deny it, and you feel as if you have been enchanted.
Zhuang Jiang in "Shuoren" is such a beauty. Let's first admire her appearance, no, it should be temperament first, after all, temperament is more important:
Huge people, brocade clothes. Son of Marquis Qi, wife of Marquis Wei, sister of Donggong, aunt of Marquis Xing, and private servant of Tan.
Tall and long, covered with a linen cape over the brocade clothes, Zhuang Jiang appeared in the photo, in a word: noble.
The first two sentences, the first two words, "shuoren", that is, tall, "its jaw", is slender. Since ancient times, growing up is beautiful, until a few decades ago, when I married a bride in the countryside, everyone praised the bride for her good appearance, and said, "Full door in and out of the house." Low stature, it seems that the aura is weak, easy to be ignored, this is really no way. Now the aesthetic standards have changed, but not much, everyone still likes to be tall, like white, and the saying "one white covers all ugliness" is still valid.
In the next five sentences, Zhuang Jiang's origins are listed, and his father, brothers and husbands are all princes of various princely states: the daughter of the Duke of Qi Zhuang, the wife of the Duke of Wei Zhuang, the sister of the Prince of Qi and the courtier, and the sister-in-law of Marquis Xing and Duke Tan.
Then the poet zooms in and lets us see what she looks like:
The hands are like soft curds, the skin is like curd, the collar is like a grub, the teeth are like a rhinoceros, and the head of the moth is eyebrows.
From the hand, this is also strange! Zhuang Jiang's slender hands are as tender as soft shades, the skin is shiny like curd, the neck is like a white and long scorpion, the teeth are white and neat like gourd seeds, the forehead is wide, and the eyebrows are slender.
Is this beautiful looking? Maybe you, like me, not only don't feel it, but you even feel a little weird. Despite the poet's great efforts and a series of metaphors to make us look closely at the beauty of Zhuang Jiang, these physical descriptions are still dead.
It wasn't until the last two sentences were put to the finishing touch that the beauty came to life and looked forward to flying. As the saying goes, writing about appearance is death, and writing about God is life. "Smile delicately, beautiful eyes," these two sentences, as beautiful as beauty, still feel alive when read today.
The whole poem is extravagant, three or four chapters and two chapters write about the ceremonial guard of welcoming and sending marriages, from the carriages and horses to the men and women who dowry, the momentum is huge, the scene is solemn, and even the river is oceanic, the sound of the water, the action of casting the net, the sound of the fish's tail hitting the water, the reeds by the river, all natural landscapes are also grand because of Zhuang Jiang, full of joy and blessing.
So, is this a poem of celebration? A pure hymn? Of course not. In a world of binary opposites, there is no pure hymn or pure celebration, only the singing of lost lamentations. When we talk about death, we talk about something else; When we talk about something else, we talk about death. That's it, "Shuo Man" is also a lament. The more the poet praised Zhuang Jiang's beauty, and the more extravagant he played up the wedding, the more sad and emotional Zhuang Jiang's fate became.
Duke Wei Zhuang married Zhuang Jiang, who was born noble and beautiful as heaven, but he did not love her, but was obsessed with concubines, and did not understand it all the time, holding grievances for Zhuang Jiang, condemning Wei Zhuanggong for being mediocre, and the history books said that he was "confused by concubines and made arrogance a tyrant", but love is unreasonable. Zhuang Jiang was snubbed and childless for life, and the people of the country sympathized with her and worried about her. The poet wrote the song "Shuoren" because of this.
In addition to sighing, I think that there are many such things in the world, no matter who you are, after all, beauty is one thing, love is another. Beauty may have a public scale, but love is primitive and wild, perfect marriage can be disguised, and sadness never lies.
Beauty is confusing?
Qing Fei Danxu's "Banana Beauty" (partial)
"The Book of Poetry, Wind, Gentleman and Elder"
The gentleman is old, and the deputy is the sixth master. The commission is like a mountain like a river, and it is appropriate to wear an elephant. What is the cloud?
Zhai Xi, its Zhai also. Hair like a cloud, disdainful of hair. Tama no Yuya, Elephant no Takaya, Yang and no Aya. Hu Tianye? Hu Zhi Diye?
The exhibition is also. Montbi crepe silk is also a silk loop. The purity of the son, the face of the child. Zhan Ru is a person, Bang Zhiyuan is also!
The beauty in this poem is Xuan Jiang, also from the State of Qi, is the niece of Zhuang Jiang in "Shuoren", Jiang is the national surname of the State of Qi, and Jiang Qi is named after Jiang Taigong being sealed in Qi. Zhuang Jiang is the wife of the Duke of Wei Zhuang, and Xuanjiang is the wife of the Duke of Wei Xuan.
It is said that this poem is intended to satirize Xuan Jiang Wuliang, "Mao Poem Preface" Yun: ""Gentleman and Elder", Lady Assassin Wei also. Madame fornication, the way of a wrecked gentleman, so the virtue of Chen Renjun, the flourishing of clothing, it is appropriate to be old with a gentleman. "Mao Xuan often wears chisels, but this time is not unfounded, Xuanjiang's private life is indeed a bit chaotic, she was originally the fiancée of Wei Xuangong's son Ling, but she was occupied by Xuangong, and later had stubborn adultery with Shuzi. Not only that, according to the "Legend of Lienu · Legend of Wei Xuan Gong Jiang", "Wei Zhi Xuan Jiang, the prince who is in danger, wants to establish a son of life, Yin set up a warrior, Shou Nai is dead, Wei Guo is in danger, the fifth generation is restless, and chaos starts from Jiang." "This crime is too big.
These entangled scandals, this kind of historical narrative of "chaotic bandits descended from heaven and born from women", we can only listen to them at most, and we don't have to take them too seriously. It can be imagined that if all parties are concerned, it must be a darker and more ups and downs of "Rashomon". Only the parties themselves know what happened, and the parties may not know why.
"Gentlemen and old men", the first sentence is abrupt, exuding a strong irony. The purpose of the poem in the first chapter is clear, as Zhu Xi said in the "Collection of Poems", "Madame Yan should grow old with a gentleman, so her dress is so prosperous, and she is graceful and self-satisfied, and she is peaceful and broad, and she is suitable for her elephant clothing." This is the case with the unkindness of Jiang, even if it is served, it will be the same! Words are not called either. That is, Xuan Jiang should have grown old with Xuan Gong, her clothes are so grand, and her appearance is so luxurious and graceful, but it is a pity that her virtues are not worthy of her appearance, "Zizhi is not shut, what is Yunru?" ”
Beauty confuses people. The princesses of the State of Qi are all beautiful women, Zhuang Jiang, Xuan Jiang, Wen Jiang, Yi Jiang, Zhuang Jiang himself is good, but fate is tragic, and the other three Jiang are riddled with scandals, and then involved in the life and death struggle for power. The three winds of Shao, Yan and Wei, collectively known as "Weifeng" when Ji Za, the son of Wu Guogong, watched music, and many poems in Weifeng are related to Zhujiang, which shows that human beings have an instinctive interest in scandals.
This poem writes about the beauty of Xuan Jiang, and it is really well written: "Commissioned Tuo Tuo, like a mountain like a river" "Hu Tianye? Hu Zhi Diye? "The charm is natural, the divine light is clutched, I am afraid that no one will be clear-headed when I see such a beauty."
Li Yannian of the Western Han Dynasty sang the "Song of Beautiful People" to Emperor Wudi of Han: "There are beautiful people in the north, peerless and independent. One cares about the people's city, and then cares about the people's country. Ning does not know the city and the country, and it is difficult to get a beautiful person. After hearing this, Emperor Wudi of Han sighed in confusion: "How can there be such a beautiful person in the world? "It's thrilling to write about beauty like this, but don't forget that this is also a serious warning.
Beauty is invisible, unquantifiable
Beauty is difficult to draw and write, and the depiction of the face is fell. Today, people often say "face value", the popularity of this Japanese source word, shows that we really live in an era of lack of words, and many adjectives in Chinese to express beauty are bluntly unified as "face value". Beauty can be quantified, it can be scored, only modern people can think of it.
Similarly, there are "humorous value", "aesthetics", "popularity" and "readability". These "academic" abstract terms seem to be objective and accurate, but in fact they are just roundabouts. An article is lively and engaging, but it should be said to be "quite readable"; A person who is famous and famous must be said to have "high popularity". Chinese, who originally saw his life and had a rich expression, was put up on crutches and became cold and unintelligible.
Language is the home of human existence, and it is not only people who are being treated roughly, but also language. Vernacular Chinese has undergone all kinds of looting, common words have long been used indiscriminately, emotional expressions have dried up and single, not to mention how to write beauty, and now even sincere depictions have fallen into the crisis of expression.
"Nineteen Ancient Poems" "There are tall buildings in the northwest", the poet heard someone playing the piano upstairs, he did not see the woman, but heard her beauty: "Qing Shang is with the wind, and the middle song is wandering." There is also the woman upstairs who only writes about her posture and the delicate posture of her hands, which makes people feel amazing.
Another example is Wen Tingjun's "Dream Jiangnan": "Freshen up, lean on the river tower alone." Over a thousand sails are not, the slanting pulse is leisurely, and the intestines are broken and the white apple is broken. "How much is this woman worth?
Each small order in "Between Flowers" is like a picture of a lady, allowing you to see their expressions, hear them play the flute or stroke the piano, or hear them sigh or two, you can't see their faces clearly, but you think they are beautiful.