Meaning: There is a person who lost his needle and could not find it, but suddenly found it by chance; it was not that his eyes became brighter, but he found it by looking back.

From the Qing Dynasty Yuan Mei's "Suiyuan Poetry Talk" Volume 2·15 "It is difficult to change a poem but to write a poem".

Original text:

It is difficult to change a poem but to write a poem, so why? When composing a poem, the excitement of the meeting has passed, it will be easy to write a poem; when changing the poem, the excitement of the meeting has passed, the overall situation has been decided, one or two words are uneasy in the heart, and with all the efforts, it will not be easy. There are people who found it accidentally after a month or two. Liu Yanhe said that "I am rich in thousands of articles, but embarrassed by one word", which is a bittersweet statement.

Xunzi said: "When people miss a needle, they can't find it, but suddenly find it; it's not a matter of eyesight, but a matter of looking at it." There is a saying from the Tang Dynasty: "You can't find it all the time, but sometimes it comes by itself." That is, "you can find it with your eyes."

Translation:

It is more difficult to revise a poem than to write one. Why? When writing a poem, you have interest and inspiration, and it is easy to complete it in one go. But when you revise it later, the interest and inspiration are gone. The original poem is generally finalized, but I always feel that one or two words are not appropriate. Uneasy, Baal spent a lot of time and effort, but could never change it well and was always dissatisfied. Sometimes, after a month or two, I accidentally think of it and change it.

Liu Yanhe once said, "I can write ten thousand poems, but I feel embarrassed for one word." This is a wise saying that comes from a deep understanding of the hardships involved.

Xunzi said: "There is a person who lost his needle and couldn't find it. Suddenly he found it. It was not that his eyes became brighter, but that he found it by looking back." What he said is " "eyes" does not mean that the eyes are brighter than before, but it means seeing by chance. Someone in the Tang Dynasty said: You can't find something if you look all day long, but sometimes it seems to come naturally. That is, "you can get it with your eyes".

Extended information

Yuan Mei was poor when he was young and could not afford to buy books. Every time he passed the shop, he would look through them with saliva and would not leave for a long time. However, Yuan Mei was smart, studious and rarely talented. At the age of 24, he He was a Jinshi in high school and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. Because he was "impatient with Manchu", he failed the Manchu language examination and was demoted to a commoner. He was later transferred to other places and served as county magistrate of Shuyang, Jiangning, Shangyuan and other places. Yuan Mei was very talented. He is good, governs clearly, is not afraid of the powerful, has political voice, and is very popular among the local people.

After he served as a county magistrate for several years, he resigned on the grounds that he would return to his hometown to support his mother. He bought an abandoned garden in Nanjing, renovated it and named it Suiyuan. From then on, he stayed away from officialdom, ran Suiyuan and wrote "Suiyuan Poems".

"Suiyuan Poetry Talk" contains more than 6,900 poems by poets from various places at that time in the form of essays, arranged in sections and commented on one by one. The book has 16 volumes, and there is also an "Supplement" Ten volumes and nearly 570,000 words, the scale is unprecedented and rare.

The compilation of this book aims to advocate the "Xingling Theory" poetic theory, in order to oppose the Shen Deqian style theory popular in Qianlong's poetry circle and Weng Fanggang's trend of using textual research as poetry.

It was compiled into a book in the 55th year of Qianlong's reign (1790), and was published with funding from Bi Yuan and others. The addendum was written until the author's death, and the book was completed during the Jiaqing period. This book caused a sensation after it came out. Paper was expensive in Luoyang for a while, and many people came to seek advice.

"Suiyuan Poetry Talk" discusses a wide range of things, including the poet's innate qualifications, acquired moral cultivation, reading and learning and social practice, describing scenes, romance, chanting objects, chanting history, conceiving ideas, planning and refining sentences, Various artistic techniques and styles such as comparison and sustenance, as well as the revision of poems, the appreciation of poems, and the compilation and selection of poems? All aspects related to poems are covered.

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, poetry had a renaissance, and many schools and theories emerged, such as Weng Fanggang's "texture theory", Wang Shizhen's "charm theory", and Shen Deqian's "style theory". Under the praise of everyone in these poetry circles, some views have gone to extremes. In this regard, Yuan Mei dared to challenge authority and opposed "style theory, texture theory" and other unhealthy poetic styles. He believed that some views of certain doctrines were even nonsense.

Yuan Mei advocated expressing individuality and expressing temperament, so he founded the "Xingling" theory of Suiyuan School, expressed dissatisfaction with Confucian "poetry", and attacked Han Confucianism and Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

Baidu Encyclopedia--Suiyuan Poetry