"Ma Shuo" is an essay by Han Yu, a writer in the Tang Dynasty, which borrows metaphorical meanings from objects. It belongs to the essay style. It was originally the fourth chapter of "Miscellaneous Shuo" written by Han Yu. The title "Ma Shuo" came to later generations. added. The following is an appreciation of the classical Chinese text "Horses" that I compiled for you. I hope it will be helpful to you!
Original text
There is a Bole in the world, and then there is a thousand-mile horse. A thousand-mile horse often exists, but a bole does not always exist. Therefore, even though there is a thousand-mile horse, it will be carelessly grown and grow up dead in a stall, never being called as a thousand-mile horse.
A horse that travels a thousand miles can eat as much grain as it can eat (sù) or a stone (the ancient pronunciation is dan, the modern pronunciation is shi). Those who eat (sì) horses don’t know that they can run a thousand miles and eat (sì) them. Although this horse is capable of running a thousand-mile, it is not full of food, lacks strength, and its talent is not visible to the outside world. Moreover, if you want it to be the same as an ordinary horse, how can you expect it to be able to run a thousand-mile?
If the horse is not driven in the right way, if the food is not used to its full potential, if the sound is heard but the meaning is not understood, then one approaches it with the policy in hand and says: "There is no horse in the world!" Woohoo! There really is no horse. )?In fact, I really don’t know horses.
Appreciation:
This "Ma Shuo" was written approximately between the eleventh and sixteenth years of Zhenyuan. At this time, Han Yu started his official career and was very frustrated. He wrote to the prime minister three times asking for promotion. It's a pity that he, who was "worrying about the world", was not accepted in the end. Later, he attached himself to some Jiedu envoys one after another, feeling depressed and frustrated. In addition, at that time, traitors were in power, the politics was dark, and talented people were not valued, so he lamented that "Bo Le is not always available."
Using the metaphor that a thousand-mile horse rarely meets a bole, it is a metaphor that a wise man rarely meets a wise master and is eventually buried. It reveals the phenomenon of feudal rulers not recognizing talents and burying talents, and also expresses the author's indignation at not recognizing talents.
"The Story of Horses" is an argumentative essay, which looks like a fable but is actually not an allegory. It uses metaphors to reason but does not directly explain the arguments held and does not impose personal opinions on the readers. To describe the experience of Chollima through image thinking, he puts forward the facts and saves the need for words to explain the truth. The author uses function words in ancient Chinese (particles, interjections and connectives) to reflect the taste and artistic conception of singing three sighs. Bole's allusions were cited several times by Han Yu (see Han Yu's "Book of Recommendations" and "Preface to Sending Wen Chushi to Heyang"), which shows Han Yu's rough fate.
The first sentence of "The Theory of Horses" is the major premise: "There is a Bole and then there is a thousand-mile horse." This proposition is illogical. Because existence determines consciousness, the knowledge and experience of Bo Leshan's horses must be obtained from the large number of horses that exist in society (or in nature), and then gradually summarized. Therefore, some people think that Han Yu's words are putting the cart before the horse and are idealistic. From the perspective of materialist principles, this statement is wrong. Han Yu used it as a language, but it was a thought-provoking aphorism and a famous saying. Because there are too few people in the world with Bole's knowledge and skills. Therefore, the author clearly points out the main idea below and expresses Chollima's infinite grievances. Precisely because "Bole is not always available", many Chollimas not only cannot find a good herder, but are "only humiliated in the hands of slaves" and are spoiled by ignorant villains. These BMWs died in the stables, suffering misfortunes and ending tragically. If these horses are not regarded as thousand-mile horses, the death of the thousand-mile horse will be insignificant. "Not called a thousand-mile horse" contains the following meaning: no one even sympathizes with them, let alone expresses regret, regret, remorse and heartache for the death of a thousand-mile horse. From the surface of the article, the author has said it thoroughly, but there is a lot of bitterness and pain that has not been revealed. It seems unrestrained, but in fact it has rich connotations.
The author depicts the contradiction between the "horse eater" and the thousand-mile horse. The contrast between the two depicts not only the depression and injustice of the thousand-mile horse, but also the ignorance and tyranny of those who do not recognize true talent. When no one creates favorable objective conditions for a thousand-mile horse, sometimes it wants to show its talents but has nowhere to use it. Finally, it reaches the point where it is powerless and cannot even compare with an ordinary horse, and cannot realize the function of running a thousand miles a day. , so the treatment is not as good as that of an "ordinary horse". Humiliation and death are not surprising and will not attract people's attention.
Because of being a horse eater, the horse cannot fulfill its duties and will be criticized and punished. It is often beaten up and its treatment becomes even worse (it cannot use its food to its full potential). On the surface, "horse eater" is not a bole and does not understand horse language, but it implies that it is useless for people with unappreciated talents to appeal to ignorant and tyrannical rulers.
At this point in the article, the author still felt that it was not enough, so he went on to describe it in depth from the "human" aspect by using "it sounds but cannot understand its meaning". It makes the article vivid and profound, and also shows the author's anger. The author did not immediately condemn this kind of "person" who does not know horses. Instead, he asked him to pretend to understand when faced with a thousand-mile horse, and said that "there is no horse in the world." This means that such a "person" is quite good in terms of subjective motivation. It's not that he doesn't want to select talents, and it's not that he has no desire to seek and use talents. Unfortunately, there are too few talented people. It is obviously the subjective problem of "people", but the formation of this situation is attributed to the unsatisfactory and unsatisfactory objective conditions. There was a thousand-mile horse in front of him, but the horse eater lamented that "there is no horse in the world" at the thousand-mile horse, thinking that it was just a horse that was not even as good as an ordinary horse. This is the author's irony. When the article is written here, the author immediately points out the theme and ends with Wuhu! Is it true that there is no horse? (yé)? Is it true that I don’t know horses!, which brings the contradiction between "no horses" and "I don’t know horses" to a climax. This is the result of Han Yu’s condensation and concentration techniques.
Evaluation of the work
"The Story of Horses" reveals the author's cynicism and the emotion and resentment of not being able to appreciate his talent. It expresses the author's strong indignation against the feudal rulers' inability to identify talents, destroy talents, and bury talents.
Fu Zhengyi, a professor at Chongqing Technology and Business University: The structure of "Horse Theory" is very exquisite. Ask questions from the front. With a twist of the pen, the discussion started from the opposite side. The author issued an angry rebuke to the feudal rulers, including sarcasm, rhetorical questions, sighs, and repeated emphatic remarks.
Han Yu described talents as "thousand-mile horses" and people who can discover, appreciate and appoint talents as Bole. This concept of talents is representative in China.