Appreciation of Ma Zhiyuan's "Autumn Thoughts on the Pure Sky"

(1)

The reason why this poem has received such high praise is partly because it It depicts a wonderful late autumn evening scene, which truly shows the loneliness and sorrow of people who have fallen to the end of the world. Although the mood is low, it reflects the dull atmosphere of the times at that time and has certain social significance. On the other hand, the more important thing is that it has high artistic achievements. The more obvious characteristics are:

1. Simplicity and depth are dependent on each other

The ancient Song Yu once used the saying that if you increase it by one point, it will be too long, and if you decrease it by one point, it will be too short, to describe the body of a beautiful woman. Just the right amount. The refinement of the text in "Tian Jing Sha Qiu Si" can also be said to have reached the point where no more words can be added or subtracted. There are only five sentences and twenty-eight characters in the whole article. There is no exaggeration or allusion. It is purely drawn in white to outline such a vivid picture: In the dusk of late autumn, a traveler who has traveled a lot, riding a thin horse, is facing the Bursts of cold west wind were walking alone on the ancient road. He walked past an old tree covered with withered vines and saw dusk crows about to return to their nests circling on the treetops; he walked across a small bridge across the stream and came to the doors of several houses by the stream. The sun was about to set, but he had not yet found a place to stay. Another long night would greet him, and he couldn't help but feel sad and heartbroken. As for why the wanderer wanders here? Where exactly is he going? These implication are left to the readers' imagination. This little order is indeed worthy of being a masterpiece that is concise and meaningful, and uses less to win more. The first three sentences of Xiaoling contain eighteen characters, and they describe nine kinds of things: vines, trees, crows, bridges, water, homes, roads, winds and horses. One word for each word and one scene for each word. Cherish ink like gold. However, it is concise but not crude. The names of the nine kinds of things are preceded by modifiers that express their respective characteristics, such as dry, old, faint, small, flowing, human, ancient, western, thin, etc., giving each thing a distinctive Personality makes things that are originally unrelated to each other form a unity under the desolate late autumn twilight. The author did not write about the location of these things, nor the relationship between these things and the activities of the wanderers, but readers can imagine and closely connect them. Simplicity reveals depth.

2. Silent scenes and moving scenes complement each other

The artistic effect of "Autumn Thoughts on the Pure Sky and Sand" is also due to the successful use of contrasting techniques. The author combines many relatively independent things into one picture at the same time, thus forming a contrast between movement and stillness, light and darkness, background and subject: the flowing water in motion contrasts with the static houses on the small bridge, which makes it even more vivid. The environment is quiet; the west wind echoes the ancient road, making the road more desolate; in the autumn landscape sketched by the author, on one side are withered vines, old trees, and dusky crows in the autumn wind, and on the other side are the afterglow of the setting sun giving the withered vines, The old trees and dusky crows are painted with a touch of golden color; the small bridges and flowing water and the houses present an elegant and comfortable scene, which contrasts with the wanderers who have fallen into a foreign land, making the heartbroken people even more sad. Looking at the entire composition, the first four sentences describe the scenery, and the last sentence describes the people. But people are the main body, and scenery is the background of people's activities. If the background is fully written, the main body will be highlighted. This is the wonderful effect of complementing each other.

3. Scenery and emotions blend together.

Poetry expresses aspirations. This little order is intended to express the misery of people who have fallen to the end of the world. But human thoughts and feelings are abstract things and difficult to express. The author uses the traditional writing method of placing feelings on things to vividly depict this miserable and sorrowful feeling. Withered vines, old trees, dusky crows, west winds, thin horses, and sunsets. These tangible and sensible things have obvious late autumn colors and are similar to the intangible and abstract sadness. They use the tangible to express the intangible. It makes people feel concrete and vivid. Just like asking how much sorrow can you have? It is just like a river of spring water flowing eastward. There is no connection between sorrow and water. However, the author uses the abundance of river water to describe the abundance of sorrow. There are similarities between the two. He uses the scene of river water flowing eastward. It expresses infinite sadness and is very profound. Natural scenery originally has no thoughts and feelings, but when poets incorporate these objective things into aesthetic understanding and feelings, these things are given emotional colors and integrated with people's thoughts and feelings. Small bridges and flowing water with people's houses are just very common ordinary scenery, but when they are in the same picture as the heart-broken people at the end of the world, they are no longer an isolated scene, but become a trigger that breaks the heart of the heart-broken people, making the picture Brings a sad atmosphere. This is the saying that emotions appear because of scenery, and scenery arises because of emotions. "Autumn Thoughts on the Pure Sands" can be called a masterpiece in which there is love in the scenery, scenery in the love, and the scenes are wonderfully combined without leaving any trace.

(2)

In order to further understand the artistic achievements of this poem, we might as well make the following comparative analysis. According to records in "Lao Xue Cong Tan" by Sheng Ruzi of the Yuan Dynasty, there are actually three poems in "Tian Jing Sha" written by Ma Zhiyuan.

One of them is:

Skinny vine ("Dry vine" in "New Sound of Yuefu") old tree with faint crows.

Far away in the mountains (as a small bridge in "New Voices of Yuefu") there are people living in flowing water.

The ancient road has a westerly wind and a thin horse. The setting sun (the setting sun in "New Voices of Yuefu") sets in the west.

The Heartbroken Man Goes to the End of the World ("New Sound of Yuefu" was written in the End of the World).

The second one is:

Flat sand with patches of fine grass. The meandering stream is gurgling. It's cold in the early Qingqiu period. A new goose. Yellow clouds, red leaves and green mountains.

The third one is:

The west wind blocks the beard. The moon is bright and the pipa is playing. That (the word is doubtful) Zhaojun hates a lot (the word is doubtful). Li Ling's audience. Light smoke, decaying grass and yellow sand.

Although the second and third poems are all about autumn scenery and use less words to describe more than seven or eight kinds of scenery, they are not as beautiful as the sunset in "Autumn Thoughts on the Pure Sky and Shasha". The atmosphere of night is approaching, the second song has a scene but no one is there, the third song quotes allusions, there is hatred and sadness, but the autumn mood is not strong. As for the words "Slender Vine in the Far Mountains and the Setting Sun Going to the End of the World" in the first poem, it may be Ma Zhiyuan's first work, or it may be a copying error. If compared with "Tian Jing Sha Qiu Si", not to mention whether the "shou" in "Skin Vine", the "distant mountain" in the setting sun, and the "go" in "Go to the End of the World" are phonologically appropriate, it only depends on the meaning of these words. It is said that it is far less accurate than the "Tian Jing Sha Qiu Si" that we see now. Compared with the withered vine, the thin vine has the characteristics of aging and decay. The word thin is mostly used to describe people and animals, and is rarely used to describe vegetation. Moreover, the word thin here is repeated with the word thin horse below, which is obviously inappropriate; distant mountains Compared with the small bridge, combined with the previous sentence, withered vines, old trees, and dusky crows are a group of closely connected scenery. Small bridges, flowing water, and people are also a group of interdependent scenery, and since the small stream can be seen , it should be a close-up view, and the small bridge is more appropriate than the distant mountains; compared with the setting sun, the setting sun is also called the sun's setting, and the setting sun is the evening sun, so setting sun is more accurate; compared with going to the end of the world and being in the end of the world, the end of the world is here. Speaking of foreign lands, the environment that tourists are in is already a foreign land, and being in a foreign land is naturally more real than going to a foreign land.

The ancients said that poetry and prose that have been refined over time are not easy to write even one word. Through the above comparison, we can better appreciate the skill of Ma Zhiyuan's poem "Autumn Thoughts on the Pure Sky and Shasha" in choosing words and sentences, and we can also see his artistic ingenuity in expressing expressions. The original text of Ma Zhiyuan's "Autumn Thoughts on the Pure Sky and Sand"

"Autumn Thoughts on the Pure Sky and Sand"

Withered vines, old trees and dim crows, small bridges and flowing water. The ancient road has a westerly wind and a thin horse. The sun sets in the west, and the heartbroken people are at the end of the world. Translation of Ma Zhiyuan's "Autumn Thoughts on the Pure Sky and Shasha"

① Withered vines, old old trees, and a listless crow under the setting sun, flapping its wings, landed on the bare branches. The delicate and unique bridges, the gurgling water, and the low and dilapidated thatched huts make it seem more peaceful and warm. On the desolate ancient road, a thin and haggard horse carried an equally tired and haggard wanderer from a foreign land, hesitating in the west wind of a foreign land. The setting sun is gradually setting, but where is the destination for the wanderers outside? Where is the hometown? Thinking of this, how can the wandering wanderers in the world not feel heartbroken!

② Withered vines, wrapped around the ancient trees, at dusk The crows of the hour fly back to roost in the trees. Under the small bridge, the stream flows through the houses on both sides. There was a traveler riding a tired, thin horse, walking slowly on the ancient and desolate road in the biting autumn wind. The evening sun was setting in the west, and the traveler was extremely sad, wandering far away from his hometown.