Xie An held a family reunion on a cold snowy day, explaining poetry with his son and nephew. Soon, it snowed heavily, and the guardian said happily, "What kind of snow is this?" ? "Xie Lang, his brother's eldest son, said," The air in the air is almost comparable. "."His eldest brother's daughter said, "Catkin can dance with the wind better than the wind." . "Guardian of the empire laughed. She is the daughter of Xie An, the daughter of Xie An, and the wife of the left-wing general Wang Ningzhi.
This is a sketch in Shi Shuo Xin Yu, with Xie An and his niece as the protagonists. Xie's family is a big family in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The so-called "Lao Wang Xie Yan" refers to the family of Wang Langya and Chen. Yongjia Rebellion, the Western Jin Dynasty died in Xiongnu, and Wang Dao assisted Si Marui, the king of Langya, to establish power in the south, and made great achievements. Xie Jia is also unequivocal. Xie An, a leading figure, later commanded 80,000 troops to defeat the former Qin army, which claimed to be a million, and turned the corner.
In this sketch, Xie Taifu is Xie An, Hu Er is the eldest son of Xie An's brother Xie Yi, and Xie Lang's sister Xie Daowen is his brother and sister. Xie Daowen is a famous talented woman in history. The Book of Jin is dedicated to her biography, saying that she is "intelligent and eloquent". Once, her brother-in-law Wang Xianzhi (Xie Daowen's husband is Wang Xizhi's second son, Wang Ningzhi and Wang Xianzhi's younger brother) had an argument with her guests, and she was almost exhausted. Xie Daowen sent her maid to tell Wang Xianzhi quietly that she wanted to save Xiao Lang. So he argued with the guest through a green silk from Wang Xianzhi's point of view, "The guest can't bend over".
Today, with the help of Xie Daowen, a young woman in literature and art, I want to talk about the theory of poetry: What is poetry? What is the function of poetry? This kind of question sounds useless, yes, this kind of question belongs to the category of aesthetic theory, which really doesn't help exams and employment, just like philosophy. But I still advocate learning and thinking about these problems, because they are just like internal skills in martial arts novels. It is common that a hero practices or gains profound internal skills because of unexpected opportunities, but he just doesn't know how to use them, so he behaves like an ordinary person. Once they learn specific martial arts moves, even the most basic entry moves, they have deep internal forces and immediately become masters.
What is poetry?
It is not easy to define poetry, but we can sum up some characteristics of poetry from this short passage. Obviously, "catkins are not caused by the wind" is better than "sprinkling salt in the air", but where is it? A key factor is a more hazy feeling. The evaluation of Xie Lang in history books is also a "rare talent", and his "sprinkling salt in the air" should also be well-founded. I guess Xie Lang described the scene when it just snowed. When the snow begins to fall, it is often not a big snowflake, but a small ice particle. It is not soft on the ground, but slightly hard, and sometimes it will roll when it is blown by the wind. In fact, this kind of first snow has a scientific name of "Xi an", and in "Moonlight Night on a Spring River", there is a saying that "the river flows around Fangdian, and the moonlight flowers and forests are all like graupel".
Compared with "sprinkling salt in the air", the snow at this stage is actually quite realistic, but the problem is that it is too realistic and lacks aesthetic feeling. "Once upon a time, there was a mountain and a temple on it" and "One two three four five, go up the mountain and shoot tigers". These sentences are also neat and rhyming, but we don't think they are poems because they are too realistic and have no hazy feeling.
"No catkins because of the wind" is different. It describes how the snow flies after it snows heavily. It seems realistic to describe the snow with catkins, but this realism has entered a new level, because the image of catkins gives readers more imagination. "A stream of tobacco, catkins flying all over the city" is near late spring in Liu, which is an image that people can easily think of when they feel that spring is fleeting and catkins are erratic and suddenly come. In a word, catkins cause more associations than salt, and provide readers with more hazy impressions and richer experiences when facing physical objects, thus causing more reading pleasure. Therefore, poetry should be hazy, not purely realistic.
In addition, poetry also has some formal requirements, such as neat sentences and pleasant rhyme. These words of Gu Jie, old and young, though not poems, also feel a little linked. No matter Xie Lang or Xie Daowen, they can rhyme with Xie An's first sentence "What is snow like". Modern poetry is not as strict as ancient poetry in antithesis and rhyme, but it is still obviously different from prose, especially in rhyme and rhythm. Although it is not necessarily strict rhyme, sentence breaks, light and heavy sounds and so on are actually carefully considered.
What's the use of poetry?
Things must exist for a reason, and poetry is no exception. But what is the use of poetry? Think about it, it's really confusing. Reasoning is argumentative, narration is narrative, and lyric prose can express our emotions well. So what is the value of poetry as a literary genre?
It is generally believed that mastering and using poetry can improve the literariness and aesthetic feeling of our expression. For example, in the face of beautiful scenery, you can say "the sunset is lonely in Qi Fei, and the autumn water makes the sky look the same" instead of the unchanging "I k, it's so fucking beautiful!" But a story about Xie Daowen, who is also a talented woman, subverts this view.
According to the biography of Xie Daowen in the Book of Jin, Xie An once asked which sentence is the best in the Book of Songs? He replied: after repeated seasons, Zhongshan is only treasured forever to comfort his heart. Xie An was satisfied and thought she was "elegant and profound". What does this poem mean? From the Book of Songs-Zheng Ren. The meaning of this poem is to order his minister Zhong to build a city in Qi. Minister Yin Jifu praised the meritocracy and wrote a farewell poem when Zhong left, encouraging him to work hard and live up to his mission. What kind of literary interest is this? It is hard for us to imagine that Lin and Zhang Ailing, or any young woman in literature and art today, would make such a choice.
Xie Daowen's choice has its own reasons. Sell it here first, and then talk about it later. Let's start with a deep and wide cave on the Eurasian continent tens of thousands of years ago. It is the place where the burning bonfire in the cave produces poetry.
Today, human language is very mature, and ordinary people have the ability to read and write, so we will question the function of poetry. Let's imagine that in the early days of language-let alone words, it would take tens of thousands of years to appear-in a primitive tribe, there were very few people who could make things clear. Words have been endowed with mysterious meanings for a long time after their appearance. Even as the object of worship, language is bound to have mysterious colors when it first appears. When the most respected and knowledgeable people in the tribe (usually wizards) say a few words with regular length and beautiful rhyme, for many primitive people, it is tantamount to the revelation from God. In the long night, people sang those words around the burning bonfire, and the individuals gradually merged into a whole. When people appear in such ceremonies and slogans, their fear of nature seems to decrease and their understanding of the collective seems to increase. Poetry was born in the original quasi-religious ceremony of human beings.
Therefore, the function of poetry at the beginning of its production is religious and ceremonial. Those catchy poems recited in chorus at the rally seem to have some magic, which excites the central nervous system and produces a strong sense of identity with the groups they live in. It is obviously beneficial to organize such ceremonies before hunting or fighting other tribes.
To this day, such genes may still be embedded in our DNA. For example, in speeches and debates, if you want to win the support of the audience, a big taboo is to make logical and theoretical analysis. On the contrary, a sentence full of passion and rhythm will immediately arouse warm applause. It is far from instinct for modern people to overcome perceptual impulses and look at problems objectively and rationally, but they need to learn the day after tomorrow.
The person in charge of poetry creation is a knowledgeable and respected wizard in the tribe. Over time, the poems created by wizards recorded the history of the tribe, which is the prototype of the epic. In the long years without words, history and knowledge are passed down from mouth to mouth, and rhythmic poetry is of course the best carrier to help memory.
Many nationalities in the world have epics, and their common features are their own myths and the legend of heroes. For example, two Greek epics, Iliad and Odyssey, are the most famous. There are also two Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, Song of Nibelungen in Germany, Expedition of Igor in Russia, Beowulf in Britain, Poetry of Sid in Spain and Song of Roland in France. For China, Tibetan people have Biography of King Gesar, Kirgiz people have Manas, and Mongolian people have Jianger. But it is strange that there is no epic in the Han nationality, which is a mystery in the history of literature. Chinese and foreign scholars have done a lot of research and explanation, but so far there is no conclusion. ?
The mysticism tradition of poetry changed around 500 BC, because all the major civilizations in this period began to enter the rational era. Confucius in China, Laozi, Sakyamuni in India and Socrates in ancient Greece are all figures of this era, and their thoughts have always influenced mankind to this day, so people call that period the "axis era"-history revolves around this axis from now on.
Socrates said: "The most ridiculous thing is to describe the greatest god as ugly. Such as the behavior of Uranus described by hesiod, and Cronus's revenge on him, as well as Cronus's behavior and his son's behavior towards him. " Uranus and Cronus are the kings of the first and second generation gods in Greek mythology respectively. Cronus overthrew his father Uranus, and Uranus predicted that Cronus's children would overthrow him, so Cronus ate all his children. )
Socrates also said: "For innocent young people, it is best to keep silent about these stories. If you have to tell them, you can only let a few people listen ... Never let young people hear the intrigue between immortals. "
Plato, a student of Socrates, simply advocated driving the poet out of the city-state.
Confucius is not as absolute as Plato. He is a bit like Socrates. As we all know, the Book of Songs circulated today was edited by Confucius. It is said that Confucius selected 300 poems from more than 3000 poems and revised them, which have been passed down to this day. What are the criteria for deletion? "The Analects of Confucius-Being Two Kings": Confucius said, there are 300 poems. In short, thinking is innocent.
If Confucius and Socrates had the chance to meet each other, they would certainly appreciate each other: those poems circulating among the people are really disgusting. How do young people receive such education? We should guide them with noble sentiments and principles of integrity and let them study hard! The two old people talked more and more speculatively, and their hands were tightly held together. ...
Therefore, after Confucius, the main function of poetry is enlightenment, which is the so-called "poetry teaching". From this, we can understand why young women in literature and art in the Eastern Jin Dynasty chose "Ji Fu recites and Zhong Chang comforts her heart" as the best golden sentence in the Book of Songs. The criterion she chooses is not beauty, but whether it is beneficial to education.
Today, the mysterious function of poetry has long been forgotten, and the educational function of poetry has become an old sesame rotten millet. So what's the use of poetry today? Why do we learn poetry just to appear a little learned when we speak, or does it have a more profound effect? I hope everyone will think about this problem.