Aesthetics of antithetical couplets and the view of Yin and Yang

Aesthetics of antithetical couplets and the view of Yin and Yang

Zhangfan

The whole emphasis of couplets lies in antithesis. First of all, we should pay attention to the so-called "correct use of words", that is, the number of words, the meaning, the part of speech and the level of words used in the upper and lower couplets should be correct. Secondly, we should pay attention to the so-called "righteousness", that is, we should also oppose what is described in the upper and lower couplets. If these stresses are linked with aesthetics, "right" is equivalent to the so-called "formal beauty"; "Rightness of meaning" is equivalent to the so-called "artistic beauty". As far as form is concerned, couplets can also play many tricks called "grid", such as embedding words, rolling curtains, homophonic, pun, word analysis, couplets, repetition, thimble and so on. These stresses can be described as "unity of opposites" to the extreme.

The law of unity of opposites belongs to the foundation of Marxist philosophy-very advanced. However, in China culture, the idea of "unity of opposites" has existed for more than 5,000 years, which is the concept of "Yin and Yang". The concept of Yin and Yang is China's oldest philosophical thought. Oracle Bone Inscriptions recorded divination with two symbols, one is called "Yin Yao" and the other is called "Yang Yao". According to the concept of yin and yang, things can be divided into yin and yang, such as the moon is yin, the sun is yang, the water is yin, the mountains are yang, women are yin, men are yang and so on. At the same time, the concept of Yin and Yang also holds that everything has its negative side and positive side. For example, a mountain has sunny slopes and shady slopes, and the human body is yang in the exterior, yin in the interior, yang in the back and yin in the abdomen. Chinese medicine, China Wushu, China architecture, China gardens, China calligraphy and painting are all deeply rooted in the fertile soil of Yin and Yang. As a wonderful flower in the world culture, China's couplets reflect the aesthetic pursuit of Yin and Yang most directly, vividly and intensively.

A good couplet is amazing and memorable. How do you pluck the strings in people's hearts? This involves "aesthetics". When it comes to aesthetics, people may think of Hegel, Baum Tong Jia, Croce and even Mark Jimenez. In fact, those scholastic articles, like the evening dresses of the court, look imposing and may not be appropriate to wear, which is not as wonderful as China's couplets. If someone, Rainbow Guowei's "Human Thorn", intends to write a "China Couplet Aesthetics", it will be beneficial to carry forward the couplets culture and even China's poetry. The author is not talented, but occasionally has new ideas, just to attract jade.

Wang Guowei believes that beauty is an artistic conception, the so-called "meaning" is an ideal, and the so-called "realm" is a reality. When reality meets ideal, it produces aesthetic feeling. In other words, beauty is neither purely objective nor completely subjective. Beauty is a combination of subjective and objective. Then, in the face of objective scenes, how to match the concept of yin and yang and trigger aesthetic feeling? In other words, under the influence of the cultural gene of inheriting the concept of Yin and Yang, how should we look for "poetry"?

The concept of Yin and Yang should come from the simple intuition of primitive ancestors, the sun and shadow, the outside and inside of caves, the red and green faces of fruits, the life world of Yang and the underworld, etc. , so that our ancestors perceived the concepts of "Yang" and "Yin", and through abstract analogy, extended the concepts of Yin and Yang to the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, Xia Han, day and night, movement, rigidity, advance and retreat. When this intuition is sublimated into rational thinking, it becomes a kind of culture, perhaps tens of thousands of years of inheritance, and it becomes the cultural gene of the Chinese nation, which is naturally reflected in the aesthetic concept of the Chinese nation.

To make a long story short, simplify it. Let's start with the analysis of Sun Ranweng's "The First Couplet in the World" and see how it fits the aesthetic pursuit of Yin and Yang. Record the link first, as follows:

Five hundred miles of Dianchi Lake, rushing to the fundus, wearing a shawl on the shore, happy. The east sees God, the west sees spirit, the north sees collaterals and the south sees mourning. It is better to choose the winner than to board the board. Take advantage of the crab island snail state, comb and wrap the windward fog temples. It is even flatter, dotted with some jade feathers and Danxia. Live up to fragrant rice, clear sand, September hibiscus and March willow.

A thousand years ago, remember to my heart, empty the wine, sigh who is the hero! I want to learn from China Ship, Tang Biao Iron Column, Song yu fu and Yuan Dynasty Leather Bag. Wei Lie played an important role in moving mountains and rivers. Draw a building with a bead curtain, and the volume is not as good as the sunset rain. Then I broke the remains and paid for them. Only won a few minutes, fishing in half a river, two rows of autumn geese and a pillow of frost removal.

From the perspective of yin and yang, there are the following points:

1. Generally speaking, this connection is based on history and time to space, and it has a grand aesthetic feeling, that is, the beauty of the universe.

Space is visible lakes and mountains, but the time behind it is invisible, so space is yang and time is yin. Huainan Ziyun: The universe is called the universe from top to bottom, and it has been called the universe since ancient times. The universe is time and space, grand and eternal. Looking up at the starry sky, we only feel mysterious and awe, touching our heartstrings. Therefore, the writing of time to space is to describe the beauty of the universe, not to be generous.

At the same time, the grandeur and eternity of the universe also show the smallness and brevity of life, so it will be even more touching.

2. Motion is Yang and quietness is Yin, so it is a wonderful pen to write with motion and write with motion.

Look at the four scenes written by the first couplet: the east peak is like a galloping horse, the phoenix is still soaring in Xiling, the north mountain is like a snake, and the south mountain is like a crane spreading its wings. Writing static into dynamic is very vivid in the view of yin and yang. Such brushwork is easy to make people feel beautiful, and vice versa.

3. Actually, it is Yang, and deficiency is Yin. Natural landscape is opposite to historical allusions, and the beauty of nature and humanity complement each other.

In the second part, the four allusions of Han, Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties are all stories about the separation and integration of Yunnan and the mainland: Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty trained the navy in Chang 'an Kunming Pool, and finally got through the southwest and destroyed Yunnan. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty unified Nanzhao State, and made great contributions by setting up iron pillars beside Erhai Lake. At the beginning of Song Taizu's reign, he was too busy solving internal affairs to take care of the southwest, so Yufu drew the west of the Dadu River on the map, saying that it was not my land outside the river. This blow isolated the Song Dynasty from Yunnan for 300 years. Until the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan led the army to cut across the Jinsha River and unify Yunnan.

Narrating history is also a process of narrating civilization, and it is a humanistic beauty as opposed to natural beauty.

At the same time, after the military action of thousands of troops and horses, there was silence again, only the midnight bell, the fishing fire on the river, the geese in the autumn sky and the frost under the moon. Moving to the extreme, quiet to the extreme, Jin Ge's iron horse vanished into thin air and turned into a magnificent sadness, which made you unable to resist.

4. Life is Yang, and death is Yin. Life and death, thrilling.

It is the logical association of "the wind blows the fog and burns the temples", the beauty of the country, the beauty is late, and the beauty is late. It is also the self-criticism in the second antithetical couplet: "Painting a bead curtain on a building" versus "Dusk Rain against Clouds" and "Broken Monument" versus "Light Smoke Setting the Sun" will bring out the question of life and death. Life and death are eternal themes of philosophical and aesthetic thinking. Life is yang, death is yin. "Three spring" and "Nine summer", autumn makes spring brilliant. When the publicity of vitality is intertwined with the fear of death, it highlights the tragedy of life and is thrilling enough.

5. The inversion of Yin and Yang has a special aesthetic feeling.

There is "Hirata Di Wei" on the couplet. Originally, duckweed floats in the water and reed flowers fly in the sky, but here it is used upside down, and yin and yang are reversed, which produces a special aesthetic feeling. Associating Mao Zedong's "Qinyuanchun Changsha", there is "Fish Xiang shallow bottom". If you write "Fish swim shallow bottom", it will be general.

Six. The alternation of cold summer and yin and yang is the beauty of rhythm.

There are nine summer hibiscus, three spring willows, two rows of autumn geese and a pillow with clear frost in the couplet. Seasonal changes and alternation of yin and yang are the beauty of rhythm.

Why do poets always feel particularly moved by the changes of seasons and stars? In the final analysis, it lies in the fact that "things are unpredictable and time waits for no one", which touches people's subconscious anxiety complex about death.

In a word, this couplet contains the beauty of time and space, life, nature and humanity, which completely conforms to the aesthetic pursuit of Yin and Yang, so it has achieved excellent aesthetic effect.