"Extremely high bones, brilliant words": Cao Zhi's Jiangnan American imagination
"Miscellaneous Poems: Beautiful People in the Southern Kingdom"
Cao Zhi
The beauty of the southern country,
Rong Huaruo peach plum.
Towards the north bank of the river,
Xi Su Xiao Xiang Lan.
Fashionable thin Zhu Yan,
Who has teeth?
Pitching the years will twilight,
Glory is hard to live on.
Xiao Tong's "Selected Writings" selects six poems of Cao Zhi's "Miscellaneous Poems", which have been appreciated and affirmed by poetry critics of all generations, and are famous chapters in Cao Zhi's poetry. This poem is the fourth of these.
This poem was written by Cao Zhi in the later period, using a figurative technique to express the bitterness that he did not encounter. Cao Zhi was not only highly talented in literature, but also had political ambitions, hoping to make meritorious achievements and become famous in history. Cao Cao once wanted to make Cao Zhi crown prince, but this did not materialize. After Cao Cao's death, he was jealous and repressed by his brother Cao Pi (Emperor Wen of Wei) and nephew Cao Rui (Emperor Ming of Wei), and he repeatedly moved to fiefdoms, and even his life was very unstable, and he could not talk about realizing his political ambitions at all. This poem compares herself to a beautiful person: the beauty of the beautiful person is like a peach and plum flower, which is a metaphor for the excellence of his own talents; the two sentences of "fashion" say that the beauty and singing ability of the beautiful people are not appreciated by the people of the time, and the metaphor of their own nostalgia is not met; the second sentence of "pitching" says that time has passed, and the beauty's Ronghua is difficult to be ashamed of for a long time, sending a deep sigh that he could not exert his ambitions in his prime.
In China's classical literature, starting from Qu Yuan's rhetoric, a tradition of using beauty vanilla as a metaphor for the virtuous has been formed. Cao Zhi's poem is clearly a study of Qu Fu in conception and writing. Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs" in the Xiangjun and Xiang Lady two gods, their travels are roughly in the Yuan, Xiang, Yangtze River area, "Xiang Lady" has the sentence "Wen Jia Ren Xi Summoned", referring to Lady Xiang with a beautiful person. The first four sentences of Cao Zhi's poem, their conceptual language, are probably derived from the "Xiang Jun" and "Xiang Lady". "Leaving the Riot" Yun: "If yu Yu will not be able to reach xi, I am afraid that the years will not be with me." "But the grass and trees are scattered, and the beauty of the twilight is feared." The last two sentences of Cao's poem are born from them again. This inheritance and development relationship can help illustrate that the theme of this poem is to express the bitterness that Huai Cai does not encounter. The Yuan Dynasty Liu Lu's "Supplementary Notes on Selected Poems" (vol. 2) explains the inscription of this article: "This is also self-proclaimed beauty is useful enough, but now it is a place of wandering and idleness, and it does not take care of the current world, and it will change the time of fear, and the work has not been built, so it has disappeared and is unknown." Therefore, borrowing a good person as a metaphor for self-harm also. The Qing Dynasty Zhang Yuyu's "Appreciation of Ancient Poems" (vol. 9) also said: "This poem hurts oneself and embraces the wizards, the servants move the domain, no one adjusts the side of the king, and the old general is also old." The whole body is compared to a beautiful person, the first two are self-conscious, the middle four are self-pitying, the last two are self-pitying, and the sound is long. ”
The explanations of Both Liu and Zhang are quite pertinent. In the article "Seeking Self-Examination Table", Cao Zhi strongly expressed his desire to make political contributions, and there are clouds in the later part of the text: "The subjects feel that the former emperor collapsed early, the King of Wei abandoned the world, and the subjects alone, who can be long-lasting!" It is often feared that the first to fill the gully with dew, the grave soil is not dry, and the name of the body is destroyed. The meaning of this passage is also closely related to the content of the two sentences of this article, "The years will be twilight, and the glory will not be long-lasting."
There is a theory that the theme of this poem is not the author's self-harm, but the grievances for Cao Biao. "Beauty" Gai refers to Biao, then Wu Wangye. "Wei Zhi": Biao was enfeoffed as king of Wu in the third year of the Huang Dynasty, changed to Shouchun County in five years, and was enfeoffed as Baima in seven years. Pilgrimage, sunset, yu migration is uncertain. (See Huang Jie's "Notes on Cao Zijian's Poems", Vol. 1) Cao Biao was Cao Zhi's half-brother, and Cao Zhi and Cao Biao were both suppressed by the suspicion of the imperial court and had a sense of pity for the same disease.
Comrade Xu Gongzhi said: "According to Cao Biao, although he was knighted by King Wu, his domain was not really in Wudi. At that time, from the south of the river, all under the control of the Sun clan, Cao Biao had no reason to go to Jiangnan. He, the King of Wu, was sealed near Shouchun, and Cao Zhi would not be unaware of this. Therefore, the poems written "Southern Country", "Beautiful People", "Towards the North Bank of the River, Day and Night Su Xianglan", etc., cannot refer to Cao Biao, but borrow the mood and idioms of Chu Ci to express their feelings about 'fashionable and thin Zhu Yan', the main purpose of which is that Huai Cai will not meet. It makes sense to say that.
This poem is equivalent to the theme of Cao Zhi's other famous work", "Beauty Chapter", but there is a difference between plumpness and simplicity in artistic description, which can be compared. The whole poem of "Beauty" is long, and the excerpt is as follows:
Beauty and idleness, picking mulberry between the wrong roads. Soft strips are rising, and the leaves are falling. See the sleeve of the plain hand, the wrist about the golden ring. …… Ask the woman where she lives, but at the southern end of the city, The Qinglou is adjacent to the main road, and the high gate is closed. Rong Hua Yao Chaori, who does not want to ling Yan? Where is the mediator camp, and the jade is safe from time to time? Beauty Mu Gaoyi, seeking the virtuous and the difficult. The crowd groaned in vain, and ann knew what he was watching. In the middle of the year, the room is in the room, and the night alone sighs.
The theme of "Beauty" has been pointed out by many commentators in the past that it is Cao Zhi comparing himself to a beautiful woman, comparing him to embracing talents and not being able to exert them. For example, The Qing Dynasty King Yaoqu's "Ancient Tang Poetry Combined Interpretation" (vol. 3) said: "Zi Jian asked for self-examination and did not see any use, just as the beauty did not see the sale, so it was compared." "The Beauty Chapter" and the "Miscellaneous Poems" "Southern Kingdom Chapter" have the same theme, and use the same metaphorical technique, the southern beauty of the city and the southern beauty, are Cao Zhi's self-comparison. The following four sentences of "Beauty" "Beauty Mu Gaoyi" say that the beauty of the south of the city is not understood by everyone, and the meaning is the same as the "customs" of the "southern country chapter", pointing out the main theme of "Huai Cai does not meet". The two sentences of "The room in the prime of the year" are also the same as the two sentences of "pitching" in the "Southern Kingdom Chapter", and show a deep sigh at the end.
The above quotation of "Beauty" omits ten sentences under the two sentences of "sleeves", and these ten sentences, together with the two sentences of "sleeves", are written about the posture and attire of the woman in the south of the city, portraying her beauty from all aspects, while the "south country" article writes about the beauty of the beauty, and only uses the sentence "Rong Huaruo picks Li", which is very concise. The description of "Beauty" in other aspects is also more plump than that of "Southern Country", but the paragraph that writes about the posture and dress of beautiful women is particularly prominent. These two poems use figurative methods to write the same theme, but use a slightly different way of writing, the "Southern Kingdom" section is concise and cheerful, the "Beauty Chapter" is vivid and vivid, each is good at winning in art, and there is no sense of similarity in the use of words and sentences, which shows Cao Zhi's superb writing ability.
Zhong Rong's "Poetry" commented on Cao Zhi's poetry: "The bones are extremely high, the words are gorgeous, the love and elegance are complaining, and the body is of literary quality." "This is a very profound comment on Cao Zhi's poetry." "Love and Ya Grievance" is on the content of thought, pointing out that Cao Zhi's poems have the characteristics of "Xiao Ya complains and does not mess up", and many of Cao Zhi's later poems, pouring out sorrows, are indeed similar to Xiao Ya's grievances, and the "Miscellaneous Poems" "Southern Kingdom Chapter" and "Beauty Chapter" are examples. Bone qi is qi bone, that is, wind bone. "Extremely high bones" is to praise Cao Zhishi's rich style and bones, that is, rich in cheerful and strong style. "Words are rich in words" is to praise the rich language of Cao Zhi's poetry. Zhong Rong advocated that poetry should be "dry with wind power (that is, wind bones) and run with Dancai" ("Poetry Sequence"), that is, with the smooth and strong wind bones as the backbone, and then embellished with gorgeous words, the two are combined to achieve a beautiful artistic realm. Cao Zhi's poem "Extremely high bone qi and gorgeous words" meets his artistic standards, so it receives extremely high praise. Ming Hu Yinglin commented on Cao Zhi's poems "Five Journeys" and "Ascension to Heaven": "The rhetoric is magnificent and rich, and the qi and bones are clear. (Volume I of the Poetry Of Poetry) also inherits Zhong Rong's criteria for criticism.
Cao Zhi's poems, in general, have both wind bones and word collection, but careful analysis shows that different poems often focus on a certain aspect, some wind bones are more vigorous, and some words are more magnificent. Some of his poems, such as "Zhen Zhen Yin", "Beauty Chapter", "White Horse Chapter", "Mingdu Chapter", etc., are about a little longer, and there are more dual sentences and laying language, and the characteristics of their words are more prominent, but they still have a wind bone. In addition, there are some poems, such as "Noda Yellow Bird Line", "Taishan Liang Fu Xing", "Miscellaneous Poems", etc., which are slightly shorter in length, the description is more concise, and the dual sentences and laying out language are few, and this kind of poem more vividly shows the characteristics of high bone, but it still has a lyrical style.
Wang Shizhen commented on Cao Zhishi: "Zijian is a genius and fluent, although he has a reputation for thousands of years, he is a father and brother. Why? The material is too high, the word is too hua. Wang Shizhen believes that Cao Zhishi's achievements are lower than those of Cao Cao and Cao Pi, and his opinion may not be fair, but Cao Zhishi's poetry does greatly exceed his father and brother in this regard, especially poems such as "Zhen Zhen Yin" and "Beautiful Women". Wang Shizhen also said: "Zi Huan's "Miscellaneous Poems" two, Zi Jianzhi's "Miscellaneous Poems" six, can be included in the "Nineteen Poems", can not be distinguished. (Ibid.) He also gave a high evaluation to The six poems of Cao Zhi's "Miscellaneous Poems" from the aspect of simplicity and robustness of the style, believing that they could be on a par with the "Nineteen Ancient Poems" of the Anonymous Han Dynasty. Wang Shizhen did not like the gorgeous style of writing, so he made such an evaluation of Cao Zhi, but it can also be seen that Cao Zhi's different poems do have some emphasis in one aspect of both wind and bone and word collection.
The poem "Southern Kingdom" of the "Miscellaneous Poems", in which the two sentences of "Fashion and Customs and Thin Zhu Yan", are also brilliant; but in general, the main features of its art are concise and straight, short and long, rich in content, and profound in artistic conception, although it is not as meticulous as the "Beauty Chapter", the rhetoric is gorgeous, but it also has a kind of refreshing and natural beauty, which can withstand chanting and chewing.
The article is reproduced from the public number: everyone's small book
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College China Cultural Development Foundation
Dunhe Foundation
Zhang Huang Guoxue
There is a depth of mass Sinology
Interesting youth studies
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Zhang Taiyan Huang kan Academic Research Center of Beijing Normal University
Laboratory of Chinese Character Research and Modern Applications, Beijing Normal University
Institute of Ancient Chinese, College of Literature, Beijing Normal University
Institute of Ancient Literature, College of Literature, Beijing Normal University
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