People often say that when writing poetry, "words harm the meaning." What does this sentence mean?

China’s poetic culture has been passed down for three thousand years. After generations of people, they have worked hard. Only then can Chinese poetry stand at the pinnacle of world culture.

But some Chinese people are unwilling to learn, nor are they willing to devote time, energy, and concentrate on inheriting the essence of poetic culture. But they have to pretend to be cultured and understand poetry. They had no choice but to single out various so-called "faults" and even take the remarks of famous figures out of context. Come and find reasons for your ignorance and excuses for your laziness.

What’s more, one day it happened on a whim. With a little cleverness, I wrote four sentences with twenty-eight characters, which seemed to have some rhyme. Post it on social media and euphemistically call it "Qijue". Attracting relatives and friends, all kinds of praises and talented voices are heard endlessly. Immediately, a sense of pride arose spontaneously, and then I would hold back "poetry" every day to find a sense of existence. Ha ha! Did I get it right? You, I'm talking about you.

So, what are their high-sounding reasons and excuses? Let's talk further. Tao Yuanming and Li Bai did not write metrical poetry

It is true that Tao Gong did not write metrical poetry, but Li Bai did. Li Taibai's poems are indeed mostly in ancient style. Li Bai has more than 900 poems, but only less than 100 metrical poems. Adding some quatrains, Li Bai only has more than 100 metrical poems.

Come on now. Don't wait to hear me out. The reason why Tao Gong and Li Bai did not write metrical poems. That's because Tao Gong didn't know what metrical poetry was. Li Bai rarely wrote metrical poetry, because at that time, metrical poetry was shaped by Song Zhiwen and others. When there was the concept of metrical poetry, Li Bai's poetry style was already established. Metric poetry developed and took shape during the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

It will be clearer if we take Du Fu as an example. Song Zhiwen shaped metrical poetry, and Du Fu carried forward metrical poetry. Du Fu was 11 years younger than Li Bai, and Li and Du first met in 744 AD. At that time, Du Fu was 33 years old and Li Bai was 44 years old. In 744 AD, Du Fu did not write much metrical poetry because the concept of metrical poetry had just taken shape at that time and had not yet been popularized. Li Bai died in 762. In other words, metrical poetry only became popular when Li Bai was in his 50s. How many metrical poems do you think Li Bai could write at that time?

Some people would also say that since ancient times, only a few people can be considered great poets. Tao Li is among them. They can still be called great even if they don't write metrical poetry. So why should I learn metrical poetry? It's the same when I write ancient styles.

First of all, the Tang people replaced the ancient style with metrical poetry, which is an inevitable trend in the development of poetry culture, and the times are progressing. Rhythmically, metrical poetry surpasses ancient poetry by an unknown amount. The only drawback is that it's more difficult.

Secondly, in three thousand years of poetry culture, there is only one Tao Gong and one Li Bai. I believe that if they had been born in the era of metrical poetry, they would have become great poets if they had written not only in ancient style but in meter. True greatness will not change just because of a few mediocrities. Isn't it Du Fu? Taking a step back, can you compare to Tao Li? From the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties plus the Sui Dynasty, how many people wrote about ancient styles? How can they compare with the rhythms of Du Fu and Dongpo? This is not a question of rhythm and ancient style at all, but a question of writing poets. Therefore, Tao Gong and Li Bai said, if you don't write metrical poems, don't let us take the blame, and we won't take the blame. Please let go. Using words to harm meaning

This sentence is the most annoying thing I hear. You touch your chest and ask yourself, do you know rhythm? If you don't know how, why do you say that? If you can, then fine, if you don’t write in straight lines and rhymes, what kind of masterpiece can you make when you write about ancient styles? If it is negative, there is no other reason than that you are not good at learning.

If you are really good at rhythm, you can write poems with a very high artistic conception, and no one will blame you because you are out of rhythm in one or two places. In fact, most ordinary people write four lines and twenty-eight characters, or eight lines and fifty-six characters. It's good if you can express your feelings, so what else can you say about the high artistic conception. If you are really good at rhythm, if you encounter any problems when composing poems, you can solve them by thinking about the words.

Most people say that words harm meaning, and they all saw it when Xiang Ling studied poetry in "A Dream of Red Mansions". But I want to say that you are taking it out of context. Read the original text first:

" Daiyu said: "No matter how difficult it is, it is worth learning! It's just a combination of starting, inheriting and turning. Among them, Cheng and Zhuan are two pairs, flat tones to oblique tones, imaginary to solid, solid to imaginary. If there are odd sentences, even flat to oblique tones will become wrong.

Do you think that when Daiyu taught Xiangling to learn poetry, she was teaching her to write in ancient styles? She teaches metrical poetry.

What Daiyu wanted to express was not to tell Xiangling not to learn rhythm but to learn ancient style. What she expresses is: "If you learn rhythm well, when you write poetry, you will really think of something strange, and you don't need to care about the rhythm of a sentence or two." Look at the original text again:

"Dai Yu said:" It is for this reason that the words are the last thing, and the intention is the most important. If the meaning is true, the connected words and sentences do not need to be modified, which is good. This is called "not harming the meaning with words"... Just listen to me. If you really want to learn, I have "The Complete Works of Wang Mojie" here for you to read. He read a hundred of his five-character rhymes and carefully studied them, then read one or two hundred of Lao Du's seven-character rhymes, and then read one or two hundred of Li Qinglian's seven-character quatrains.

Is what you call "harming meaning with words" the same as what Daiyu said? Let’s look at the poems recommended to Xiang Ling later. Look carefully at what they are. Therefore, Daiyu does not take the blame. Good poems have been written by the people of the Tang Dynasty

This sentence was said by Mr. Lu Xun, but I don’t quite agree with this view. Let’s look at it from another perspective. What are Chinese people best at? take an exam. Thousands of people cross the single-plank bridge, and the college entrance examination is the best opportunity to change their lives. Therefore, it goes without saying that people across the country are enthusiastic about the college entrance examination.

For the college entrance examination, everyone from the individual to the family and even the entire family has gone all out. The ability of the Chinese people to take the exam is really the strongest. Why should I talk about the college entrance examination?

Because the college entrance examination in the Tang Dynasty required metrical poetry, and metrical poetry was the most important part. It’s not that the people of the Tang Dynasty were more talented at composing poetry than us, but that they studied poetry more diligently than we did. Imagine if you started learning poetry in kindergarten, and metrical poetry writing would account for 100 points in the college entrance examination. I think that within 50 years at most, our next generation will be able to compete with the people of the Tang Dynasty in terms of poetry writing ability. Who dares to say that there are not many "Li Bai and Du Fu" besides him?

Of course, when I say this, I don’t mean to say that metrical poetry is so important. But it shows from the side that it was not that the Tang people finished writing poems, but that they put poems at the top of their learning list. Is it difficult to learn metrical poetry?

Learning metrical poetry is not difficult at all. If you have a certain foundation in literature and you are already familiar with ancient styles, it will take at least half a month to learn the basics of metrical poetry. Then you practice writing thirty or fifty metrical poems, and you will basically be able to do it.

If you have no foundation at all in optical poetry rhythm, it doesn’t take long to get started with rhythm in a month. But making up ideas and refining words is a long-term accumulation process. There is no shortcut to this. Conclusion

"No one is born with knowledge, and no one can be confused." No one will laugh at you. If you write poorly, no one will laugh at you. It’s not good if you don’t know and are unwilling to learn. Look more, ask more, think more. Metrical poetry is not a beast, but it is endless fun. As long as you are willing to calm down and study, I believe you will soon experience the fun brought by metrical poetry.