Appreciation and Translation of Ouyang Xiu's Preface to Mei Poetry

"Preface to the Poems of Mei" Original: I said that poets are few and poor, how can a husband do it? Most of the poets handed down from the world came from the words of the poor in ancient times. Every scholar has everything he has, but he can't give it to the world. He likes to put it outside the landscape, and he often feels strange when he sees insects, fish, vegetation, clouds, birds and animals. There is pent-up anger in my heart, the joy of complaining and stabbing, and the embarrassment of widows sighing, but I have written human feelings. The poorer you build, the more you do. However, it is not poetry that can help the poor. The poor will have to work in the future.

As a friend of Mei, I seldom take shade as a collector, and I am tired of learning, and I have been stuck in a county for more than ten years. At the age of 50, I still start writing books, helping others, and suppressing what I have stored, so I can't work hard in my career. His home is in Wanling, and he has been used to poetry since he was a child. His words surprised the elders. Since it is a long story, it is to learn from the theory of benevolence and righteousness of the Six Classics, which is an article, simple and pure, and not seeking for the world. Only people in the world know his poems. However, when there is no virtuous fool, the poet must seek holiness; Yu Sheng was also happy to write poetry, because he was frustrated, so he did more in poetry all his life. It is well known to the world, but it has not been recommended to the above. Yesterday, Wang tasted it and sighed, "We haven't done this for 200 years! Although I have a deep understanding, I dare not recommend it. If you are lucky enough to be used by the imperial court, it would be great to praise the merits of the Great Song Dynasty and recommend the Qing Palace, while recalling the authors of Shang, Zhou and Zhou Dynasties! Why make it old and frustrated, but it is a poor man's poem, just a sad sigh. I like my job, but I don't know how long I have been poor, and I will grow old! Do not hesitate!

Yu Sheng has many poems, so he didn't organize himself. His wife's brother and son Xie Jingchu are afraid of losing too much. He has brought ten volumes of what he has done since Luo Yang went to Xing Wu. I am addicted to Yu Sheng's poems, but I can't do all this. I like Xie's ability to keep it in order.

In the next fifteen years, Yu Sheng died in the capital, and I cried and thought of it. Because I lived in his house, I got more than 1000 manuscripts, of which 677 were collected in the old collection and made 15 volumes. Oh! I am so meticulous in Yu Sheng's poetics that I no longer have a cloud.

Preface to Ouyang Xiu of Luling.

I've heard the world often say that a poet's career is less prosperous and more difficult. Is that really the case? Probably because most of the poems handed down in the world were written by ancient people in distress. Most of the literati who hide their talents but can't fully display them in the world like to indulge in wild fun at the water's edge in Shan Ye. When they see insects, fish, vegetation, clouds, birds and animals, they often explore their strangeness and strangeness. There is a sense of depression in their hearts, and these emotions are transformed into poetry, that is, relying on resentment and irony, expressing the lament of the widow who pursues the minister and writing the feelings that people can't express. The harder you are, the more skilled you are at writing. In this way, it is not writing poetry that makes people poor, but it is probably after they are poor that they can write good poems. My friend Mei was a junior official when she was young. She passed the imperial examination many times, but she was always suppressed by the examiner's office, and she was in trouble in the local area for more than ten years. I'm 50 years old, and I have to rely on others to send me a letter of appointment as a clerk. I am trapped in my talent and wisdom, and I can't fully display it in my career. My hometown is Wanling, and I studied poetry as a child. Writing poems from an early age surprised the elders. When I grew up, I learned the knowledge of the six classics of benevolence and righteousness. The article is simple and pure, and I don't want to please the world. The world only knows that he can write poems. However, at that time, whether people were smart or stupid, it was inevitable to ask Yu Sheng for advice when talking about poetry. Yu Sheng also likes to vent his frustration through poetry, so he usually writes many poems. The society has known him, but no one recommended him to the court. Once upon a time, Wang saw his poems and sighed, "There have been no such works for two hundred years! Although I know him well, I still didn't recommend him. If he was lucky enough to be appointed by the imperial court, wouldn't it be magnificent to write works like Ya and Song in the Book of Songs to praise the great achievements of the Song Dynasty and dedicate them to the ancestral temple, so that he could be compared with the authors such as Shang Yang, Zhu Xi and Zhu Xi? It's a pity that he is too old to succeed, so he can only write poems of fallen people and express his poor and melancholy sigh in vain on worms and fish. Isn't it worth lamenting that society only loves the ingenuity in his poems, but doesn't know that he will die of old age after long suffering? Yu Sheng has many poems, but he doesn't arrange them by himself. His nephew Xie Jingchu was worried about too many lost works, so he selected his works from Luoyang to Xing Wu and compiled them into ten volumes. I used to like Yu Sheng's poems, and I'm afraid I can't get all of them. I'm glad that Xie can sort them out, so I preface them and keep them. Since then, 15 years have passed. Yu Sheng died of illness in the capital. I have written an epitaph for him in tears, so I asked his family to get more than 1000 manuscripts, plus 677 particularly good ones, divided into 15 volumes. Ah, I have commented a lot on Yu Sheng's poems, so I won't go into details. Preface to Ouyang Xiu of Luling.

The preface of Mei's poetry collection Ouyang Xiu has always been valued, mainly because the author put forward the creative idea of "poverty and backwardness". Wu Chucai and others said in China's View of Ancient Literature: "The word' poverty and backwardness' is an original statement of Ou Gong, and it is actually an eternal theory. Ouyang Xiu's theory of "thinking about change if you are poor" comes down in one continuous line with Sima Qian's theory of "angry works" and Han Yu's theory of "speaking out if you are not fair", and * * * plays a universal theoretical role in literary creation.

The language of "doing it in anger" originated from Sima Qian's Biographies of Historical Records and Taishigong. He thinks that Zhouyi, Spring and Autumn Annals, Lisao, Mandarin, Sun Tzu's Art of War, Lu Lan and The Book of Songs are "mostly done for the anger of sages", which is a criticism of Qu Yuan. Li Zhi explained this idea concisely in "Introduction to Loyalty and Righteousness": "The sages of the ancient times did it without anger." Do not be angry and arrogant, such as trembling, but * * * also, although what do you think! The person who wrote Water Margin was very angry. Pu Songling also called his work Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio a lonely and angry book. It can be seen that "work with gas" is the traditional thought of China's literary theory.

The phrase "if it's unfair, it will sound" comes from Han Yu's Preface to Send Meng Dongye: "If everything is unfair, it will sound ... so will people's words. Those who talk only when they want to talk, their songs are also thoughtful, and they are pregnant when they cry. " Han Yu's "injustice is the sound" is a further development of Sima Qian's "anger" and has a great influence on later generations. Why did he say in Volume 3, Preface to Poems, Notes on Water and Heaven Residence: "Everything is elegant, and it is peaceful from now on. If it is in the author's mind, it is unfair from the beginning! " If you make peace, how can the irony and exhortation of beauty be born, and how can prosperity, prospect, group life and resentment unfold? Wang Guowei's "Words on Earth" also said: "An ancient poem said:" Who can think without singing, and who can be hungry without eating? Poetry, things can't be calm. So "happy words are hard to work, sad words are easy to use." Thus, it can be seen that "injustice makes a sound" is also an important thought of China's traditional literary theory.

The first paragraph of Ouyang Xiu's Preface to Mei Poetry mainly expounds the creative thought of "working after poverty" from three aspects: First, he thinks that "poets handed down from ancient times have more words from the poor". "Poverty" here refers to a bumpy career and a hard life. It is true that ups and downs make a poet, and it is difficult to make a poet. The second is to emphasize that "there is a stagnation and anger of thought" before you can write a poem. Because of "poverty", I can feel the truth, think deeply and have intense feelings, which is the necessary motivation and source of literary creation. The third is to affirm that "the poorer you are, the harder you work." The workers are nice and beautiful. This reminds people of Mencius' saying: "Heaven will be great to Sri Lanka, so we must first suffer from its heart", and "trap its heart, consider it calmly, and then do it". Put the above three levels together, that is, the profundity of "poverty", the intensity of "stagnation" and the intensity of "superior anger", so it can become a good poem of "multi-work". This is in line with the basic principles of epistemology, practice and creationism.

From the key point of view, the theory of "working with anger" emphasizes that creation needs a strong sense of * * *, while the theory of "working after poverty" emphasizes that this kind of * * comes from inner injustice, while the theory of "working after poverty" emphasizes that this kind of * * and this kind of injustice comes from poverty and stagnation of life. In fact, these three theories are consistent in spirit. The two complement each other and exert each other. Together, they constructed a systematic theory about the origin of literary creation. What is the motivation and source of literary creation, especially poetry creation? These three theories all focus on the internal accumulation and emotion of the creative subject. It is inevitable that you can have it in your chest and in your pen. But these three factors do not exclude the original meaning of objective reality: how did "anger" come about? Where does "injustice" come from? In particular, Ouyang Xiu emphasized "poverty" and closely linked "anger" and "injustice" with the reality of social life. Therefore, China's theory of the origin of traditional literary creation, which is centered on the three theories of "Leaving Angry Works", "If there are grievances" and "Being Poor and Being Backward", is a comprehensive theory, which should be fully affirmed and carried forward.

The Preface to the Poems of Mei has the artistic feature of 1 The full text is guided by the idea of "poverty first and then work". At the beginning of the article, the creative thought of "being poor first and then working" is expounded theoretically, thus forming a strategic theme, and always keeping the words "poverty" and "working" in mind, which is quite ingenious. The second paragraph describes Mei's life and creation, focusing on "poverty" in life and "work" in creation, which is an example of reasoning in the first paragraph. Although the third and fourth paragraphs are the process of writing poems, the author's love for Mei Sheng and Yu Qi's poems is everywhere, which can be regarded as a side foil to Shi Mei's works. There are praises and sighs: praise points to the "merit" of his poems and sighs to the "poverty" of his people. Moreover, the advantages of the author's writing are: although he wants to stick to the "poor workers", he is not anxious or sticky; Although it is the process of writing a book, I never forget the "poor workers". This is everyone's inseparable and carefree hand.

2. The style of writing is ups and downs, and it is longer than change. This is mainly reflected in the following three aspects: first, reasoning first sets the opposite. The author could have started talking about "working after poverty" in a positive way, but that would have been too dull. Therefore, in the first sentence, the author reveals the secular and popular view that "poets are poor when they are young", and then analyzes the inaccuracy of this view and discusses it according to the trend, thus naturally drawing the conclusion that "the poor are backward laborers" and "the poorer they are, the more they work". The second is to prove the argument from many angles and skills. In order to highlight Shi Mei's "works", the author first said that he was amazing when he was a child, which was a paving technique; Secondly, his article is "simple, ancient and pure", but people only know his poems, which are works that set off poems with the beauty of words; What's more, "when there is no wisdom and stupidity, the poet must seek holiness", which is a work praised by the public; He also wrote about the king and admiration, taking famous sentences as circumstantial evidence. Finally, through the author's own love for Shi Mei, Shi Mei's works are highlighted. The third is the combination of reality and reality, ups and downs to write feelings. After writing Shi Mei's works, the article felt and followed the trend. In order to fully express this feeling, the author first wrote in vain that if it can be used in the imperial court, it will be magnificent, which is a great success; After the words turn sharply, through the real writing, the sigh will eventually fail, and it will get old over time, which makes people sad. This is a great repression. A virtual reality and a common depravity are not only antagonistic actions, but also clear things, emotional ups and downs and touching.

The writing background of Preface to Mei Shi Mei, a poet in the Northern Song Dynasty, was unhappy all her life. Poetry mostly reflects social contradictions and people's livelihood, and its style is plain and simple, which means correcting the tendency of extravagance and beauty in the early Song Dynasty. It advocated and practiced the change of poetic style in Song Dynasty, and was highly praised by Lu You and others. Theoretically speaking, he pays attention to the political content of poetry, and thinks that writing poetry should be "like the present situation, with endless opinions, and then do it", which has a great influence on later generations. He prefaces Mei's poems, on the one hand, affirming Mei's achievements in correcting the impetuous poetic style in the early Song Dynasty, and on the other hand, promoting his literary proposition of "thinking about change if you are poor".

Preface to the Poems of Mei consists of four paragraphs. The first paragraph is a theoretical exposition of the literary creation theory of "pursuing hard". First of all, from the secular point of view, "poets are poor when they are young"; Then, it is clarified that all the poems handed down from generation to generation are the products of the poor who are angry after accumulating advantages for a long time and then happy with resentment; Finally, draw a conclusion according to the trend; Poverty and backwardness.

The second paragraph is about Mei and her poems. It is divided into three layers: the first layer describes his life and highlights the word "poor"; The second layer comments on his poems, highlighting the word "work"; The third layer lamented that he was too talented to be used by the world, and he would be sad when he was old. The connotation of this sadness is still "poverty" and "work". It can be said that the second paragraph takes Mei as an example and proves the truth of "working first and then getting rid of poverty" with facts.

The third and fourth paragraphs are the process of collecting, sorting out, compiling and prefacing Mei's poems. This is the proper content of "preface" It can also be seen that Ouyang Xiu loves Mei and her poems, which sets off Mei's poems from the side.

As a preface to a collection of poems. This paper embodies the basic elements of the "preface" style: first, it should explain the basic situation of the book. The third and fourth paragraphs of the article accomplish this task. The second is to introduce the author's thoughts and creations, and to comment on the main features of his works. This is the main content and task of the preface, so the second paragraph of this article uses more pens. Third, there should be a leading idea of preface, which should be closely related to books and their authors, thus forming the soul of the whole preface and even the whole book. The thought of "poverty first and then work" expounded at the beginning of this paper has played the role of this soul.

Poetry: Mei's Preface to Poetry Author: Ouyang Xiu Classification of Song Poetry: View and Preface of Ancient Chinese Literature