All real classical literature is modern literature.
Today, the topic I am discussing with you is the modern charm of classical poetry. Some friends may ask, classical poetry is traditional literature. Does traditional literature have anything to do with modern people? Is it useful? Is it attractive? Here I'd like to quote a famous Italian scholar Croce, "All real history is modern history". Now I will extend his words a little. I think "all real classical literature is modern literature". Why do you say that? Because many problems faced, described and expressed by ancient writers still exist today, and they are still problems that we have to face today, which is also the universal value of classical poetry. The spiritual world of the ancients is connected with us, and the modern charm of classical poetry has two meanings. Objectively speaking, there are indeed many places in classical poetry that are interlinked with our modern times. Secondly, subjectively speaking, reading classical poetry should have a modern vision.
There are still many problems we are facing now, but I think the most common or severe problems should be two points: first, the natural environment has been seriously damaged; Second, the moral level has seriously declined. These two problems actually involve the relationship between man and nature, and the relationship between people.
Now, we talk about harmony every day. In fact, harmony has two basic meanings. First of all, we should establish a harmonious relationship between man and nature. Second, we should rebuild the harmonious relationship between people. The harmonious relationship between man and nature and the harmonious relationship between people are the two basic themes of China's classical poems.
See the difference between ancient and modern at a dinner party.
Meng Haoran has many good works. Today, we have chosen a work that is more harmonious with nature and people. Let me read it to you first:
Prepare chicken and rice for me, old friend,
You entertained me on your farm.
We look at the green trees around your village.
And pale blue in remote mountainous areas.
We open your window to the garden and fields,
Talking about Sang Ma with a glass in hand.
By the time we spend our holidays in the mountains,
I'll come back at chrysanthemum time.
One feature of Meng Haoran's poems is that the language is relatively dull, and he does not use any allusions or carve words. But the meaning is profound, and the so-called language cannot be thin.
The first sentence is about food for guests. I ate chicken and millet. At that time, chickens were walking chickens, and millet was also grown at home. An old friend invited his good friend Meng Haoran to come over and eat healthy food and safe food when the chicken grew up and the millet matured. And our friends here should say that many people have acquaintances, friends and old friends in the suburbs of Guangzhou. When their longan is ripe and the chicken grows up, will they invite you? I don't think so. This shows that your relationship is not as good as that of Meng Haoran and his friends. It is not necessarily comparable to us modern people to entertain good friends with our own chickens and millet. How many people in big cities invite friends home for dinner now? Usually eat in restaurants. Eating in a restaurant probably has several meanings. The first is that you are too lazy to do it, and the second is to show off. Third, I am not a close friend. I don't want to take you home and let you know too much. Therefore, this relationship is far apart. The ancients ate at home and faced the threshing floor and vegetable garden, which showed that they didn't treat him as an outsider.
What did the other one say at dinner? "Talk about mulberry with hemp with a cup", and when the villagers are together, there is nothing else. Miscellaneous words are messy words. He said, "Talk about Sang Ma with a cup", and did not talk about state affairs, because the topic of state affairs is too important for a farmer to bear. Unlike us going to the countryside alone now, we like to talk about national affairs and Obama, which are not appropriate. Finally, will you come back next time after eating? This is very important. If this banquet had any utilitarian purpose, he wouldn't say, "I'll come back when I'm on vacation in the mountains and in the chrysanthemum season." This banquet is purely about catching up with friends, without any utilitarian purpose, and it is difficult for us to do it. Why don't we learn how to entertain guests as happily as the ancients did? Because it is inevitable that we invite you to dinner now for utilitarian purposes. We may say that my son is a senior three this year. Don't you know Wang Wei and Chao Zong? Can you find him a seat in Jingzhou? Therefore, they don't have so many worldly considerations.
Classical poetry helps people return to the "original ecology"
People in China believe that literature coexists with heaven and earth, and Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long is also a great virtue. Those who are born with heaven and earth have seven emotions and feelings for things. It's not natural to sing with emotion and ambition. Man has secular desires, because he was moved by this kind of thing in nature and he began to write. This process is natural. So this is a very important feature of China's ancient literary creation. The "thing" here is nature, and poetry is the organic integration of man and nature, and the organic integration of human emotions. Therefore, it is called "the beast of Qi, the object is touching, so it shakes its temperament and dances."
In these ancient works, we can see the unity of heaven and man and the relationship between man and nature, but it is different in modern industrial society. Modern industry deprives people of direct experience of nature, and makes people far away from the original ecology of nature. Nowadays, most of the natural environment has been replaced by human beings. From the perspective of vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell, the world we experience and understand has been processed by human beings, which is no longer direct and original, but indirect. We live in a city, so there is no direct experience between man and the earth. Concrete covers all living things that may grow out of the soil, and buildings cover natural beauty. Our drinking water comes from taps, not from streams or blue sky, and the vegetation is also limited by human thinking and changed by human tastes. This is the description of developed capitalist countries by American scholars.
The ancients described the primitive nature, and the language used by the ancients was uncut and wild. Some languages are not like this now. Famous contemporary American writers say that the best language is a "wild" language, and ordinary good articles are like a garden, where after weeding and careful cultivation, what you want grows out. However, a really good article is not bound by the garden fence. It may be a row of beans, or a few flowers, wild peas, big lilies and American tea. It is more unpredictable and contains deeper and wider intellectual activities, so we say that classical poetry describes the original ecology of nature, and the language used is wild language, natural language and uncut language.
China's classical poems can help us remember primitive nature and simple, sincere and kind interpersonal relationships. Because classical poetry is first of all a perceptual existence, a beautiful existence and an artistic existence, this restoration is first of all a perceptual process, an aesthetic process and an artistic appreciation process. The modern charm of classical poetry is not only embodied in spirit but also in aesthetics.