Text Chapter 35 The Origin of the Article's Need for Elegant Sentences
All natural things that are born of heaven and earth, like the symmetry of human limbs, appear in pairs. The fundamental truth is that nothing can survive and reproduce alone. All articles and books, the words and phrases expressed in them, should originally be the author's inner feelings and ambitions. Often, even well-thought-out rhetorical passages need to be symmetrical and sequential in order to conform to the natural taste and win a vivid reading effect.
Far away in the era of Tang Yao and Yu Shun, whether it is words or descriptions, there is no rhyme that pays attention to literary style. However, in "Shangshu • Da Yu Mo", Gao Tao said, "The crime is only light, and the merit is serious." (If there is any doubt about the guilt, it should be dealt with lightly; If there is any doubt about the merits, they will still be rewarded heavily. Among them, there is also a minister Yi Ze who said, "Full of losses, humble benefits." (Pride and complacency invite harm, humility and prudence benefit oneself.) The words of the two of them, although they are not deliberately chewing words, are completely dual.
Moreover, the "Wenyan" and "Dictionaries" of "Zhou Yi" are all masterpieces of the meticulous ideas of the sages and sages. For example, in "Zhou Yi Wenyan", when explaining the "Yuan, Heng, Li, and Zhen" of the "Four Virtues" of the Qiangua, the words are obviously sentences that are connected and coupled, such as "Yunlong, Fenghu" and other sentences that interpret the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" of the Qiangua, and the words with harmonious rhythm and harmony are all beads. Another example is "Zhou Yi • Dictionaries", when explaining "Qiankun Yi Jian" layer by layer, the words and sentences are tactful and fluent, such as the wording of "the sun and the moon come and go", echoing up and down, and yin and yang are frustrated.
For example, in the above-mentioned ancient classics, although the number of words in the sentence is different, the semantics of the words and words are always symmetrical to each other. As for the "Book of Songs" that prevailed in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and then there were words and words exchanged between doctors in the Spring and Autumn Period, there were also dualities everywhere, and all of this was completely a natural phenomenon, and it was by no means the result of deliberately carving chapters and sentences.
After entering the Han Dynasty, since Yang Ziyun, Sima Xiangru, Zhang Heng, Cai Yong and others, they took the lead in advocating even sentences. The reason why they have such a cultural posture is originally like Song Yuanjun's admiration for frank painting in "Zhuangzi • Tian Zifang", and also like the promotion of the cadre Mo Ye in "Wu Yue Chunqiu: The Inner Biography of Lu Lu", which focuses on sword casting, aiming to express a kind of concentration and meticulous work in artistic pursuit. However, the result of their pioneering and exemplary behaviors has contributed to the social style of popular and beautiful sentences, which has led to the formal meaning of the sense of pun and rhyme and rhythm in the prose and verses. In the Wei and Jin dynasties, famous literary and artistic artists were not only more devoted to carving chapters and sentences, but even considered and scrutinized to the extent that they were meticulous and incomprehensible. Under such a social fashion and literary atmosphere, those who are well versed in the evolution of popular trends are still able to take advantage of the situation and rely on ingenuity to make up for their clumsiness, so as to be wonderful. However, most impetuous imitators who blindly follow the tide often fall into the quagmire of pretentiousness and end up with a tragic result of no effort.
In the sentence of the article, the so-called puppet couple, there are usually four situations: first, it is easy to say the right thing; In the two, it is more difficult to deal with each other; Three, opposition (battle) is preferred; Fourth, it is against clumsiness. "Pairs of words" are usually only neat and even pairs of words and sentences, and examples and analogies are generally not used in the association of meanings; "Thing" echoes the connotation of righteousness, and makes the semantics more clear and vivid by comparing and giving examples; As for those who are "opposed", for example, "Xibo is quiet and easy, and Zhou Dan is obvious and ritualistic." "The sentence structure, in the description of words and deeds and the state of affairs, seems to hold one end of the spectrum, seemingly unrelated to each other, but in terms of fundamental interests, it is completely consistent; The defect of the so-called "positive pair" lies in the sentence structure and chapters of the couple, even if the two are completely different in words, but the moral connotation of their expression must be similar or similar.
For the above four sentence formats, if we take them for example: for example, in Sima Xiangru's "Shanglin Fu" in the early Han Dynasty, "Xiurong is like the garden of "rites", and soars to the garden of "books". (Meaning: Use the "Rites" to standardize the national customs, and publicize the "Book" to educate the people.) ) belongs to the category of "right words"; In Chudi Song Yu's "Goddess Fu", "Mao Yan is in a garment, and the program is insufficient; Shih Tzu hides his face, which is more colorless than it. (Meaning: The beauty in Song Yu's dream, Mao Yan saw the sleeves covering her face, and she didn't dare to compare; Xi Shi saw that he covered his face with his hands, and he knew that he was inferior. Categorized as "right"; Furthermore, in Wang Cang's "Ascending the Tower" during the Three Kingdoms, "Zhong Yi is quiet and Chu plays, and Zhuang Yi is obvious and more chanting." (Meaning: Zhong Yi was imprisoned in the Jin Kingdom, but still played Chu Sheng; Zhuang Yuan was an official of Chu State, and he groaned and spoke Yue during his illness. ) falls under the category of "against"; Like Zhang Zai's "Seven Mourning Poems" in the Western Jin Dynasty, "Han Zu wants to be a elm, and Guangwu thinks of white water." (Meaning: Han Gaozu was homesick and cherished Yu, and Emperor Guangwu was homesick and missed Baishui.) It's clearly "right".
Examining the above example sentences, roughly speaking: the "right words" that express the heart directly are often concise and interesting, so the duality is natural and easier; "Doing the right thing" requires the accumulation of knowledge and familiarity, so there is a certain degree of difficulty; "Opposition" requires understanding, understanding, and propagating the moral truth of "yin and yang are one, right and wrong together", and if used appropriately and without losing bias, it must be extraordinary; The application of "positive" is often mostly secular common sense, or general knowledge or popular common sense that is well known to the public, although it is clear and simple at a glance, but it also seems thin, shallow and clumsy. In fact, in the specific application of "right words" and "right things", there is a difference between "opposition" and "right thing" between the words themselves. Therefore, the four categories of divisions mentioned above are only a way to facilitate comparative explanations. Both the author and the reader, once they have a clear understanding of the essence of duality, they will immediately become clear, and then use it flexibly, and be able to draw inferences from one another.
In addition to some of the famous sentences of the puppet body listed above, for example, there is a sentence in Zhang Hua's "Miscellaneous Poems" of the Western Jin Dynasty: "The wild goose flies more than the wings, and the return to the Hongzhi is connected." (The wild geese fly with wings, and the birds fly with wings when they return.) And Liu Kun, who was his contemporary, in a poem "Regift to Lu Chen", has: "Xuanni is sad to win Lin, and the west is crying Kong Qiu." (Hearing that Lin Zhong Ni was sad, he knew that he was crying in the west of Kongqiu.) Such a kind of contrasting and echoing sentence in the article is a cumbersome failure in the puppet speech.
Looking at the use of beautiful words and even sentences in the article, it seems easy to "say the right word", but if you can achieve a beautiful effect, it is important to be a delicate match. In the same way, if the "right thing" can be just right, you must have a good understanding of the knowledge and allusions in advance, and then you can use it easily and reach the appropriate level of analogy. In addition, in the middle of the "right thing", if the words and phrases of the even pair do not match each other, it will be like the horsepower arrangement of the horse and the suit in the driver's wheel, if the match is unbalanced, not only is it difficult to run far, but also there is a danger of overturning the car that restricts it.
In all articles, whether it is to express feelings or expound righteousness, if you do not use at least two or more "things right" to complement each other, but one thing to the end, or one case alone, it must be like the legendary one-legged dragon, the more large and burly, once the jump and obvious limp, the more embarrassing and ugly it becomes. Therefore, if the text is bland in temperament, coupled with the mediocre color of the chapters and sentences, it will surely make the reader chew wax and fall asleep. Therefore, only the comprehension and mellowness of emotional righteousness, and the harmony of words and rhymes, can make the use of words and words, like the colorful Peiyu, although the shape is different, but the same golden sound and jade vibrate, square and complement each other.
To sum up: all things are created, and nature comes in pairs; Eloquent words, vivid articles. It is easy to say that the left and right are taken into account, and the reason is shown in pairs. The flowers are particularly gorgeous, and the mirror shadow is extraordinarily delicate; Peiyu has always been in pairs, and articles have been monotonous since ancient times.