Oil poetry is a unique genre in the poetry world, which does not require a flat battle, but only humor and fun, which can make people laugh. Although this kind of poem is not so lofty, it is close to life, can resonate with everyone, and is sometimes more popular than regular ancient poems. So when did limerick poetry arise, and which is the originator of limerick poetry?
Image: Stills from writing poems
1. The origin of limericks
The earliest limerick poems in the mainland came from the Tang Dynasty, when there was a scholar named Zhang Dayou, but his true identity is not very certain, and some people say that he was a peasant. Zhang Dayou is particularly fond of slang songs, that is, popular songs composed by ordinary people, which embody the thoughts, feelings and good wishes of working people. Most of these slang songs are straightforward and cannot compete with ornate poems, but they are clear and clear, and they are especially popular with the villagers.
One winter, when the snow fell, the villagers were very excited to see the snow, and asked Zhang Dayou to write a poem about the snow. Zhang Dayou looked at the snow scene outside, and saw two dogs, one yellow and one white, playing, and suddenly became interested together, and chanted: "The country is general, and the well is black and holey." The yellow dog is white, and the white dog is swollen. ”
When the villagers heard this, they clapped their hands in amazement, this poem does not seem to mention "snow" in a single word, but in fact, the whole poem describes the snow scene, slowly shifting from the panorama to the close-up, from the surface to the inside, all aspects.
Image: Stills from the snowfall
The meaning of the first two sentences is that it snows, and the rivers and mountains have become uniformly white, and the well in the courtyard is like a deep black hole. These two sentences compare the snow-covered rivers and mountains with the small wellhead, which seems to be a bit exaggerated, but in fact it is more prominent that the snow is heavy and white.
The last two sentences describe the picture of two dogs, one yellow and one white, chasing each other in the snow, the yellow dog is dyed by the snow and becomes a "white dog", and the white dog seems to wear a snow-white white fur coat, becoming more bloated and bulky.
Through the change of two different colors of dogs in the snow, it is very vivid and vivid to show that the snow is falling very heavily from the side. Although there is not a single word of "snow" in the whole poem, it humorously and vividly depicts the snow scenes that are fluttering one after another, just as Wang Wei said, "There are paintings in the poems".
In this way, this poem was passed on by word of mouth, and the people in the village praised Zhang Dayou in every way, and Zhang Dayou's name was also spread. Later, everyone named some easy-to-understand slang poems after Zhang Dayou, calling them "limerick poems".
Image: Stills of heavy snowfall
Second, Su Dongpo's bamboo shoots stewed meat
No bamboo makes people vulgar, and no meat makes people thin.
Not vulgar and not thin, braised pork with bamboo shoots.
As we all know, Su Dongpo is a complete foodie, and he is not happy without meat, and the famous dish "Dongpo meat" that has been passed down for thousands of years was invented by him. The smoke and fire in the kitchen are too heavy, generally speaking, most of the ancient literati are far away from the kitchen, they think that the cook is too tacky to cook, and deviates from the "elegance" they pursue, only the Northern Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo is a "wonderful", he can take into account both "vulgar" and "elegant".
In addition to those poems that amazed the world, his original food is endlessly evocative, since the invention of Dongpo meat and Dongpo elbow, Su Dongpo has become more and more fascinated by pork, and also wrote a pork ode to express his love for pork.
However, in Su Shi's heart, there is a more important ingredient than pork, that is, bamboo. Bamboo is one of the four gentlemen in the flower, it symbolizes nobility, integrity, deeply loved by the ancient literati, according to legend, Wang Xizhi's son Wang Huizhi is particularly fond of bamboo, and even issued a sigh of "how can there be no such gentleman for a day".
Image: Stills from the chef cooking
Su Shi is no exception, he would rather not eat meat, and also requires that there must be bamboo next to the residence, and where there is bamboo growing, there must be bamboo shoots, so bamboo shoots have also become one of Su Shi's favorite ingredients. Since pork and bamboo shoots are both Su Dongpo's favorites, why not make them into the same dish?
He did just that, stir-frying the bamboo shoots and pork together to make a stewed pork dish with bamboo shoots, the freshness of the bamboo shoots and the tenderness of the meat blended together, giving the two ordinary ingredients a unique flavor that is still the best match today, hundreds of years later.
For Su Dongpo, eating meat is just to satisfy the appetite, but bamboo is a symbol of noble character, if people are thin, they can get fat back by eating a little more other things, but if they lose their morality, it is really hopeless. Therefore, of course, the material is a little inferior to the spiritual.
Although bamboo is more important than pork, there is no stipulation that you must choose one of the two, so Su Dongpo wanted to have both, and stewed pork with bamboo shoots was born in this situation.
Image: Screenshot of braised pork with bamboo shoots
Third, the spring rain of Xie Jin is as expensive as oil
Spring rain is as expensive as oil, and it rains all over the streets.
Fell down and laughed to death a herd of cows.
Xie Jin is a famous genius in the Ming Dynasty, he was born in a scholarly family, he has read poetry and books since he was a child, and he is even called a "prodigy" by the people around him. Why did he write this limerick poem?
Legend has it that on the day of Xie Jin's imperial examination in high school, he was overjoyed to get the good news and couldn't wait to share the good news with his relatives and friends, but he didn't expect the floor to become particularly slippery because of the rain, and Xie Jin accidentally fell. The elders and villagers in the county laughed out loud when they saw that the little literati were covered with mud and embarrassed, and the laughter was as loud as spring thunder, deafening.
At that moment, Xie Jin felt both embarrassed and embarrassed, and after calming down for a while, he suddenly had an idea and wrote a limerick poem to describe the wrestling. Everyone knew Xie Jin's talent, and the onlookers listened attentively, but they didn't expect Xie Jin's poem to ridicule them, and for a while, everyone felt very embarrassed.
Image: Stills from onlookers
The first two lines of the limerick poem seem to be Xie Jin's excuse for his fall, because the rain is like oil, falling down makes the streets slippery and easy to fall. These two sentences not only praised the spring rain, but also alleviated the embarrassment for themselves, and "the spring rain is as expensive as oil" has also become a folk saying that has been praised for hundreds of years.
The last two sentences are even more ingenious, meaning that when the bachelor fell, a herd of cows laughed beside him. The bachelor Xie here refers to Xie Jin himself, because he entered high school for the first time in the imperial examination, and he became famous at a young age, and it is not inappropriate to call himself a bachelor.
A group of cattle refers to the passers-by who watched him fall and laughed, in fact, he compared his talented and knowledgeable self with those vulgar and ignorant passers-by, which not only alleviated the embarrassment of being ridiculed, but also satirized those passers-by, which happened to kill two birds with one stone, and he deserved to be a talent comparable to Tang Bohu.
The picture comes from the Internet: Xie Jin's character introduction
In modern times, there are many limericks that seem to be funny and nonsensical, but in fact have some truth, such as:
What is the use of natural materials? It is too heavy to move bricks on the construction site.
Nothing can be established, and it has been like a dream for 30 years.
In fact, this poem is a thirty-year-old person's self-deprecation of himself, obviously he has reached the age of standing, he should have achieved something, but he didn't do anything, in the final analysis, he didn't work hard enough, and he was tired of wanting to do anything.
However, the world is so big that not everyone can live as the world expects, and some people can do it without confusion in their twenties, start a company as a CEO, and become a multimillionaire. And some people are still in their thirties with nothing, no direction in life, and no family.
In fact, thirty years old is the age of prosperity, as long as you are willing to work hard, you will be able to accumulate a lot, thirty is just that, don't be too anxious, even if you fail, there is still a chance to start again. Although limericks do not have beautiful words and artistic conceptions, they are philosophical and humorous, do you have a favorite limerick?