Source: Linxia Literature and Art 2024-04-17 11:10 Gansu
A Comparative Study of "Flowers" and the Book of Songs: Content and MaterialLu Xuehui's "Book of Songs" is the earliest collection of poetry in mainland China, which collects more than 300 poems from the early Western Zhou Dynasty to the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period (from the 11th century BC to the 6th century BC), and is the source of realist poetry in the mainland. "Flowers" is known as a "living Book of Poetry" in the Northwest Folk Culture Corridor, which is approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list, and is a folk song that circulates in Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang and other provinces and regions, and is sung by Han, Hui, Tibet, Dongxiang, Baoan, Sala, Tu, Yugu and other ethnic groups. As artistic wonders, the two have many similarities and similarities, as well as obvious differences. The Book of Songs and "Flowers" were produced in different periods and social backgrounds, and were affected by various factors, so there are some similarities in content and materials, but there are also many differences. 1. The similarities between the Book of Songs and the "Flowers" in terms of content and materials. 01 Most of them are based on the theme of love, and "The Book of Songs", like "Flowers", has a lot of content that shows the love between men and women. The "National Style" section of the "Book of Songs" collects poems from fifteen different regions, and most of these contents describe the emotional entanglements between men and women: for example, "Zhaonan Youmei", which expresses women's yearning for a good marriage, ostensibly depicts the process of the gradual reduction of plums on the tree, but in fact expresses women's urgent yearning for a better marriage, such as "Zheng Feng: Female Chicken Song", which expresses the daily life of men and women Through the life-like situation between men and women, the details of daily life at that time are reproduced; for example, "Wei Feng Gangster", which shows women rising up and resisting, shows the determination of women from love to abandonment, and "Wei Feng Papaya", which shows the love between men and women, and passes gifts to each other, showing the pure and beautiful love between lovers...... In "Flowers", there is also a large number of expressions of love between men and women, and most of these lyrics are from the perspective of the lyrical protagonist, focusing on the various emotional experiences of young men and women in their daily lives. There are those who express their admiration for the opposite sex, such as: the red-billed crow fell on a river beach, the grunting goose landed on the grass beach, and the sister who pulled the grass sat on the ridge, like a peony that had just bloomed. Peony is recognized as the king of flowers in the minds of people in the place where "flowers" are sung, and his sweetheart is compared to "the peony that blooms", which can be described as the most beautiful praise. There are those that express the pain of parting, such as: the whips of the horses are broken, the steps of the horses are disordered, the brothers in their hearts go out, and the knives are rotten. Imagine the pain brought about by "Ga knife twisting the heart" to appropriately express the sorrow of parting, and the words are sincere and touching. There are those who realize their loyalty, such as: the water of the Yellow River does not dry up for thousands of years, and the blue sky does not collapse for thousands of years; The rustic vows accurately express the hero's steadfastness towards love. There are entertainment that show the joy of men and women, such as: the yurt is given to the mountain roots, the cattle and sheep are driving miles in the mountains, and the elder brother sits for the sister, and it is still a short mile in June. By depicting the sweet and happy moments when young men and women are together, it vividly reflects the emotion of the passing of happy times. There are those who show emotional frustration and regret, such as: Jiang Ziya destroyed the army into soup, picked the star tower and burned the king; tears flowed on the way to the road, this is the fate of the Uyghurs. It expresses the extreme chagrin of a young man who was hurt by love and regretted not being at the beginning. ...... 02 All show real life scenes from a period of literary works, which are the reproduction of social reality in a specific period. Judging from the production process of "The Book of Songs" and "Flowers", it is not difficult to find that as a relatively similar literary style, they are deeply influenced by social reality. Although the Book of Songs was used by the ruling class as a tool to promote the education of etiquette and music, and was used in various occasions such as temple sacrifices, court banquets, and aristocratic gatherings, whether it was the "Pu Jia" that expressed marriage and love, or the "Qiao" that reflected the life scenes of laborers, or the poem "Drumming" that described war, they are all true portrayals of real life. Influenced by art forms such as the Book of Songs, "Flowers" also inherited the stylistic characteristics of reflecting social reality, in addition to a large number of content showing the theme of love, there are many works closely related to working people and social life, such as: the sun on the east mountain back to the west mountain, dog days, the meat rolls on the back, 360 days in a year, really pitiful, the stomach is not full for a day. It depicts the image and labor scene of an extremely difficult worker in the old society, and the scorching sun is only a short-term microcosm, reflecting the embarrassment of the laborers at that time who still can't eat even if they work all year round. Another example: Yellow lotus was boiled in the pot of bitter gall, and Ma Bufang became the commander; A bloody display of that brutal, tumultuous dark age. Of course, there are: the bowls of the three forts rattle, the rock sugar and the tea are brewed; the days of Ga are more and more beautiful, like the bees falling on the flowers. It embodies the working people in the northwest in the new era, and the happy and comfortable sweet life after getting rid of poverty and becoming well-off. 03 The conveyance of love is unrestrained and bold, gentle, subtle and introverted, which is the significant characteristics of traditional Chinese poetry to convey affection, which is clearly reflected in "Hua'er" and "Book of Songs", but the straightforwardness and boldness shown by the two together are rare in other literary styles. For example, in the sentence "I don't see you for a day, like three autumns" and in "Flowers": the blue stone Ga Mo'er turns left and the white face flows from the grinding mouth; The expression is similar, seemingly exaggerated, but in fact, it accurately expresses the true state of those young men and women who are trapped in love for lovesickness, eager to stay together all the time, and if they are separated slightly, they don't think about tea and dinner, and live like a year. Another example is "Drumming" in "Death and Life are broad, and it is said to be true." Hold the hand of the son, and grow old with the son. In the sentence of "flowers": the grass on the mountain blocks cattle and sheep, there are many red flowers, and the more the cliff blooms, the more prosperous it is; It is quite similar, although there is no too much flowery language, no extravagant embellishment, but the oath that is said slowly and indifferently is enough to shock every reader. It is very commendable that "Flowers" and similar works in the "Book of Songs" appeared in an era or region with extremely conservative ideas. Although these contents are bold and unrestrained, their thoughts are pure and will not make people have evil thoughts, just as Confucius sighed when he commented on the Book of Songs: "Three hundred poems, in a word, are innocent." Isn't this a characteristic of "flowers"!
2. The differences between the "Book of Songs" and "Flowers" in terms of content and materials01 The difference in the content and theme of the "Book of Songs", also known as "Poems", includes three parts: wind, elegance and song, the wind is the "wind of the fifteen countries", which mainly records the customs and culture of these fifteen regions, and can be divided into love poems, agricultural poems, war poems, military service poems, satirical poems, epics, etc. For example, "July" directly reflects the agricultural production and life of the Zhou people; "No Clothes" in Qin Feng shows the determination of the old Qin people to fight against foreign insults in the same hatred of the enemy; and "Cutting Tan" and "Shuo Rat" in Wei Feng satirize those who are greedy and greedy for nothing, and expose the shamelessness and ugliness of the rulers. Ya is the local music under the direct jurisdiction of the Zhou Dynasty, and it is the music of the court banquet and court meeting. Song is a ballad of the temple sacrifice, and the content is mostly to praise the deeds of the ancestors. For example, "Deer Song" is a poem of the guests of the Son of Heaven's banquet, and "Shengmin" and "Daming" belong to the epic of the Zhou people. It can be seen that the scope of the Book of Songs is very extensive, showing the social life and ritual culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty from all aspects. In contrast, "Flowers" is relatively narrow in terms of subject matter. Most of the content of "Flowers" mainly shows the love between men and women, although it also reflects other life scenes and social phenomena, but the number is very small. On the tree of peppercorns, you are on the branches; In the Zhuangzi, you sang it, and you sang it because the old men scolded you. It can be seen that in the process of singing "flowers", due to the influence of conservative ideas, it is strictly forbidden to sing "flowers" in villages and other places where there are "classmates". The tiger that goes up the mountain and the wolf that goes down the mountain are no more fierce than Ma Bufang's gang; Today's money and tomorrow's food, the common people live a wicked life. It reflects the tragic situation of the people in the region who are under the control of brutal warlords. In addition, most of the singers of "flowers" belong to ordinary working people at the bottom of the society, and their own cultural literacy is not high, so in the creation of flower lyrics, they can only be based on popular literature, and they are limited by personal vision and regional culture, many of the contents of "flowers" reflect the unique regional customs of Hezhou, which also determines the scope of its subject matter, although there is also the content of local social life, but the theme is relatively focused on the reflection of the love between men and women, so it is obviously more than the "Book of Songs" in terms of content and selection Much smaller. 02 Reflecting the difference in reality"The Book of Songs" and "Flowers", as two poetry systems in different periods, also have their own characteristics in reflecting reality. The Book of Songs is rich in content, reflecting labor and love, war and conscription, oppression and resistance, customs and marriage, ancestor worship and banquets, and even celestial phenomena, landforms, animals, plants and other aspects, which is a mirror of the social life of the Zhou Dynasty and has strong practical significance. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the ritual and music civilization was extremely prosperous, the political and cultural center at that time was mainly concentrated in the Central Plains, mainly based on agricultural civilization, and the working people worked in the fields, "the hungry sang about their food, and the laborers sang about their things", and the poems also came into being. The land of Hezhou, located in the northwest plateau, is far away from the city, the economic development is relatively lagging behind, and the people have been in a state of semi-farming and semi-animal husbandry for a long time or going out to work for a long time. 03 Differences in emotional expression The bishop of wind poetry and the politics of poetry in the Book of Poetry are strongly related to real life, which generally reflects the social development status of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the people's life emotions, and has strong practical significance, fully reflecting the expectations of the general public for love, the eulogy of life, and the rejection of war, etc., which have been explained above. "Flowers" is also known as the song of the outgoing people, the catharsis of the inner pain of the rafters looking for life on the crest of the waves, the solace of the lonely heart of the foot brother who travels south and north to seek time, and the resentment of the left-behind women who farm and raise children to the outgoing people...... Although there are also praises of a happy life, dissatisfaction with imprisoned thoughts, such as: the sparrow's green wings of Huahua, which fell on the plane tree; Chairman Mao is like a red sun, illuminating the whole country. It praised the great achievements of the great people and the love of the common people. The long pears are hanging on the treetops, afraid of the rain in the sky, and the mother and son have mismatched the marriage, and I am afraid that I will flash you. The rope in the well is short, and the frost beats the plum of the wax moon; The good things of the two of us are broken up, and the mother and son are broken. It reflects the dissatisfaction with arranged marriages in the old society. However, there are relatively few such works, which also reflects the pragmatic quality of people living in the great northwest to a certain extent.
In short, both the Book of Songs and the "Flowers" are nourished by the land in which they were born and sung, which truly reflect the worldview, outlook on life and values of the people at that time, and have an infinite reference and positive impact on the cultural creation of later generations.
About author:Lv Xuehui, a native of Linxia County, is a rural teacher born in the 80s, and a member of the Linxia Prefecture Writers Association and the People's Association. His poems, essays and "flowers" research papers have won many awards in state and county essays and competitions, and some of his works have been scattered in media and publications such as "National Daily", "Linxia Literature and Art", "Chinese Flowers" and so on.
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