Zhang Zao, known as one of the "Five Gentlemen of Bashu", is famous for his poems such as Byakki Smoker and Who Are You, and he is a very talented poet. His poems are good at image description, and image description is generally accomplished through metaphorical symbols, so this paper mainly discusses the rhetorical devices of metaphorical symbols. The common images in Zhang Zao's poems are mirrors, flowers (chrysanthemums and plum blossoms), stars and butterflies. Taking Zhang Zao's Byakki Smoker, The Story of Late Autumn and Butterfly as examples, this paper compares and appreciates the use of various rhetorical devices in poetry, among which image description (metaphor) is the main one.
In the Mirror is regarded as one of Zhang Zao's best works. The image of "mirror" appears in this poem, in addition to the classic images commonly used in ancient poems such as Plum Blossom and Nanshan.
In the mirror:
As long as you remember the things you regret in your life.
Plum blossoms have fallen.
Like watching her swim across the river.
Like climbing a pine ladder.
Dangerous things are beautiful.
Why don't you watch her ride back?
Warm cheeks,
Shame. Bow your head and answer the emperor.
A mirror is always waiting for her.
Let her sit in the mirror where she often sits.
Looking out of the window, as long as I think of things I regret in my life.
Plum blossoms fall in the south mountain.
The poem says that I think of things I regret in my life, starting with "Plum Blossom Fall" and ending with "Plum Blossom Fall to Nanshan". Therefore, the poet thought for a long time, until time changed, the poet was still thinking, remembering and regretting. At the beginning and end of the poem, the phrase "as long as you remember what you regret in this life" is mentioned, and rhetorical devices are repeatedly used to emphasize the content. As for what to regret, the poet did not clearly put forward, and readers can only imagine it themselves. Both the beginning and the end of the poem mention the most regretful thing and plum blossom. It breaks the linear description and forms a ring structure, which makes the whole poem present a more beautiful external form. However, this form is not deliberately carved by Zhang Zao, but rather comes from nature rather than carving, so it is more natural and beautiful.
The poem mentioned that "dangerous things are beautiful" probably means "she swam to the other side of the river" or "climbed a loose ladder" in the context. Although these things are beautiful, they are still not as warm and shy as "she rode back" Through the way of foil, we can feel the beauty and shyness of "her".
Plum blossoms are clean and beautiful, but they can't escape the fate of falling to the ground and grinding into dust, so they are also a symbol of fleeting good things. Plum blossoms fall in Nanshan again, and Nanshan is easy to remind people of Tao Qian's sentence of "picking chrysanthemums under the hedge and seeing Nanshan leisurely". As a symbol of a quiet place, Nanshan should be a good place for plum blossoms to bloom.
"She" is sitting in the mirror and remembering things she regrets in her life, so this memory seems to be in front of her. This is the role of the "mirror". She sat in front of the mirror and recalled the past to her face, so she felt as if the past was in front of her.
As an omni-directional soul image, "mirror" runs through the whole poem, which is a tool for poets to express their feelings and a carrier for poets to recall the past.
The story of late autumn;
A few more days in late autumn/I will accept her shocking back/she opens her mouth and says that Jiangnan is like a tree/the scenery in front of me will begin to bear fruit/start to deliver; Oh, she said the season/as if facing a person who went upstream/blossomed over the sworn arch bridge.
When a leaf falls/I know it's the year of Jiazi/the old people around me/rise like chrysanthemums and fall to the ground/where do lovers eat somewhere else/she says Jiangnan looks like her hairstyle/when it doesn't rain, paper is folded into milk swallows.
And I gradually climbed the sunny steps/there were railings in the poem, and the map in front of me/began to wither and converge/I cleaned up the fallen flowers with my fingers/read my name over and over again, as if
There are many small stone bridges in the south of the Yangtze River/I will pass by one day, just like her silent ears/the beautiful climate is hidden in her cuffs/and the whole place/I will look at her face/Maybe we won't disturb the old people/They will fall to the ground like chrysanthemums/Clear and fragrant.
In this poem, the poet uses "chrysanthemum" as a metaphor for a dying old man. "Old people around me" are experiencing the same growth process as chrysanthemums-"rising and landing like chrysanthemums" and withering and landing like chrysanthemums in late autumn, which is the only life course for old people. In the next paragraph, "she" compares the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan to her hair style, from which it can be seen that "she" must be as gentle as Jiangnan. Then he went on to say that "when it doesn't rain, the paper is folded into a milk swallow", which is not without exaggeration, just to illustrate the ingenuity of origami people.
Later, it was said that places belonging to "lovers" are "eating away" other places like silkworms. The anthropomorphic technique is used here, and the following "map in front of me/starting to wither" is also anthropomorphic technique, which gives life to still life, so the map can wither like a flower with the change of seasons. Jiangnan is compared to a beautiful woman in the poem, so it is said that "there is a beautiful climate hidden in her silent ears/cuffs". From this metaphor, we can see that Jiangnan is a gentle place like a lady.
The main image in this poem is "chrysanthemum" This poem mentions twice that old people like chrysanthemums. They "rise and fall like chrysanthemums" and "rise and fall like chrysanthemums/fragrance". Although it appeared twice before and after, there are still subtle differences in description between them. After the old people rose and landed like chrysanthemums, they were not forgotten, nor did they become the past. They were still as clear and fragrant as chrysanthemums. This is not only the story of late autumn, but also the story of life.
Butterfly:
If we become a couple now,
Butterfly, we will talk loudly about this night.
Go on with this endless argument
Tell the story of butterflies' experience of God.
Then god must be a different scene, like
Everything is like the afterlife under the lamp.
Oh, blue-eyed girl, thinking of you.
The butterfly passed out in pain on my chest.
I can't think of your last face.
I don't know how carefully I should draw.
How to eat and feed the gentle internal organs and wings?
But I remember what we went through.
We used to bite our teeth and play with blood.
Or is it really just a game?
With God's acquiescence, the walking dead are golden.
Facing picturesque snow, rain and rain, rain and sunshine.
Colorful rainbow, a specimen that never hurts people.
Now everything is in the sun.
Creeping and curling, oh, we are intoxicated with the pollen of our limbs.
We share the happy language of the afterlife.
Under your gentle breath, it is endless.
All the mirrors screamed when they saw us.
We also touched the knife, but we stopped stabbing ourselves.
The overturned body stood behind like the end of the century.
Corner and tree, you are a kind skirt.
Are we still alive? Mouth and forefinger damaged?
Still living next to the broken wine stars?
God, this is the afterlife.
The head of a butterfly we can't stand.
Write down the night, people, the moon and houses, and things you have never seen before.
A couple was whispering to each other.
In this poem, the image of "butterfly" runs through the poem. The girl with blue eyes passed out on my chest like a butterfly. Here, the girl with blue eyes is compared to a butterfly. The couple, who were incarnated as butterflies, once "bit the blood to play", and finally the butterfly that was made into a specimen no longer felt pain. "All the mirrors met us and screamed in unison." This beautiful and unusual butterfly image constitutes a strange and beautiful picture. By the time the stuffed butterflies look back, they have reached the afterlife, and their beautiful, dissectable heads have already seen "a pair of whispering lovers." Maybe this pair of whispering lovers is the afterlife? I thought it was okay to understand it this way.
In the last verse of the poem, "we" put forward such a question: "Are we still alive?" The reason why this question is raised is because as butterflies, their mouths and forefingers have become depressed because of injury, and they can't believe the fact that they are still alive, especially "still living next to the stars that have broken chickens and dogs." The fact that they are still alive is even more amazing because of the harsh environment. In the way of asking questions, three question marks are used to express butterflies' doubts about their own survival.
But the next sentence explains the reason: unlike butterflies, they are still tenacious, but they have quietly reached the afterlife. It can also be seen from here that butterflies are made into specimens because of their beauty. Even if they become lovers whispering after reincarnation, the image of butterflies is still a symbol of fleeting and beautiful images.
In Zhang Zao's poems, the repeated use of images such as "mirror", "chrysanthemum" and "butterfly" is a very common phenomenon. They are almost fleeting symbols of beauty. The "mirror" witnessed the short and beautiful lives of "flowers" and "butterflies", but isn't this fleeting? You can see everything in the mirror, remember everything and regret everything, but once the mirror falls to the ground, nothing exists in an instant, and you can only sigh at the debris alone. Perhaps it is through a series of metaphors that these images of brief and beautiful are portrayed, which endows Zhang Zao's poems with unique charm and eternal beauty.