Catkin is an important part of willow, and the theme of catkin has experienced a long development process.
Willow is mainly composed of willow branches? Catkin? Made of willow leaves. Willow branches are slender and delicate, and the breeze is swaying. The charming posture of willows in the wind has long attracted people's attention, and the classic description of "willow in one" appeared in the Book of Songs. Since the Han and Wei Dynasties, willow as an independent performance object began to enter the literati's field of vision, and the creation of willow fu reached a climax, including Mei Cheng's Liu Fu in Forgetting Worry and Wei Wendi's Cao Pi? RoyceWong? Fan Qin? Should? They all have "Liu Fu". Among these Liu Fu, the main focus is willow branches. Fuck? The description of leaves shows its vigorous vitality and practical value for people to enjoy the cool. With the appearance of Liu Yang's Fu, Liu Yong's poems appeared one after another in the Six Dynasties. Comparatively speaking, people pay attention to catkin later. It was not until the Jin Dynasty that the first poem about willow appeared, namely "Liu Hua Fu" edited by Wu Ji: "Looking at the moon on the river, feeling the love of spring and willow. Hanging leaves and clouds, flying flowers and snow. Or the wind is thin, or the fog is falling, the wild is clean and filthy, and everything has the same color and the same name. " Although it is not a simple description of willow branches, it also involves willow branches? Leaves, but this is the first time to color catkins in the form of catkins? The more vivid description of body plays a certain role in promoting the production of catkin poems. A long time after the appearance of catkin fu, from the middle Tang Dynasty, there appeared willow-chanting poems.
Catkin first appeared as the image of spring. Catkin, as a spring scene, is a symbol of spring, which often appears in poems about spring, such as "Peach red catkins are white, and the sun shines with the wind" (Liang Yusheng's Poem on Spring), "Catkin is drunk, and plum blossoms suddenly enter the clothes" (Liang's poem on Huang Chunri), etc. Where is catkin the same as peach blossoms? Plum blossoms are all in spring. Catkin, as an important part of willow, attracted wide attention in the broken willow in Yuefu from the Six Dynasties to the early Tang Dynasty. For example, Zhang's "Folding Willow" says: "The willow is half suspended in the air and curled up in the middle of spring. Branches sparse Dong Zejian, leaves fold Chu bow. Color reflects the long river, flowers fly high and trees have wind. Mo Yan is in the palace and does not close the Yang Palace. " What does this poem mean to the branches of willow trees? Leaves? Color? The description of flowers and overall posture is comprehensive, catkins are not prominent, and they are directly described without any rhetorical devices. Jiang Zong's Folding Willow: "There are thousands of willow knots in Wan Li. If you don't know garden flowers, you will stay away from the snow. The spring heart is mighty, and the spring trees talk about the sky and climb. * * * This love is helpless. " Here, catkin, like catkin, is in a conspicuous position, and figurative rhetoric is also used, and snow is used to compare catkin.
Since the Middle Tang Dynasty, there have been poems chanting willow. Bai Juyi and Liu Yuxi have made great contributions to the development of willow theme. They not only wrote Yang Liuzhi's Yuefu poems, but also wrote poems about willow. Liu Yuxi has four catkin poems, namely three Liu Hua poems and one catkin poem, and Bai Juyi has one catkin poem. What color is catkin? Posture? Verve has made a comprehensive image description. After that, there were more and more works of chanting willow, such as Luo (also known as Zhang Qiao), Xue Neng, and? Wu Rong? Miracle has a "Huayang", and Yang Ning? Forever? Li zhong? Ye Luo? Xue Tao has a catkin, and Sun Fu's catkin chant. In the Song Dynasty, the theme of catkin had a great development. There are about 22 poems about catkin in Tang Dynasty, accounting for 5.6% of nearly 400 poems about catkin in Tang Dynasty, and about 54 poems about catkin in Song Dynasty, accounting for 2 1.6% of nearly 250 poems about catkin in Song Dynasty. No matter in relative quantity or absolute quantity, there are far more poems chanting willow in Song Dynasty than in Tang Dynasty. Moreover, the poetry of chanting catkins in Song Dynasty is deeper than that in Tang Dynasty, which is mainly reflected in the fact that the description of catkins no longer stays at the shallow level of looking for charm, but develops to a deeper level, excavating the personality significance of catkins, that is, paying attention to catkins with the concept of gentleman's virtue and demoting catkins into "romantic flowers" and "crazy flowers". In Song Dynasty, there were also special words praising catkins, among which there were many classic works. For example, the second rhyme of Su Shi's Shui Longyin and Zhang Fu Hua Yang Ci not only captured Huayang's biological characteristics, but also vividly described Huayang's tragic charm as a woman. After the Song Dynasty, after Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, there were about 80 kinds of catkins, which is not a small number. A large number of catkin poems in China's classical literature constitute an indispensable part of catkin literature, and some excellent catkin works have become the classics of China literature.
Throughout the works of chanting willow in past dynasties, people's aesthetic attention to catkin mainly focuses on two aspects: first, catkin, as a spring scene, is a symbol of spring and a symbol of late spring; Second, catkin as a flower, what are the colors of literati? Shape? Posture? Aesthetic grasp of lasting appeal. People's aesthetic understanding of catkin has gone through a process from "similarity in shape" to "similarity in spirit".
As a spring scene, willow is a symbol of spring, which has long been reflected in literature. Emperor Yuan of Liang has a poem "Liu Fei Hua Shu, borrowing the floor for spring". Willow branches? Catkin, as an important part of willow, is an important reason why willow becomes a symbol of spring, but both of them are phenological symbols of spring, and they are very different. The germination of willow branches is a symbol of early spring, while the flying catkins are a symbol of late spring, which is also reflected in poetry. Du (Wei's works)' Looking at the Early Spring Tour of Lucheng in Jinling': "Only wanderers can come, which is always shocking by new beauty. White clouds and red clouds appear from the sea, and in spring they are in wild plums and river willows. " In early spring, plum blossoms germinate and spit green before peaches, plums and other flowers and trees, which indicates the arrival of spring. Catkin flying, meaning the departure of spring, such as "early plum blossoms greet summer knots, and residual catkins send spring flying" (Bai Juyi's "Wandering the Country in Late Spring and Early Summer") and "Fangcheng Road is green, and Liuchun is late" (Liu Yuxi's "Send Cui to"). In addition, catkin is the seed of poplar and willow, with white fluff on it, which flutters with the wind and looks like catkin of cotton, hence the name catkin, also called Yang Shuhua? Willow catkins are usually considered as the flowers of willow, for example, the flowers of the group are short. For example, "the peaches and plums in the East Garden have rested, and there are different flowers in late spring" (Huayang Luo), "All flowers hate the wind, and only flowers love the wind alone" (Huayang). Willow branches are mainly made of wood, and willow trees are often associated with plum trees. Peach and plum are combined as a symbol of spring; Combine phoenix tree as a symbol of garden hometown; The rise and fall of willow trees are often compared with the evergreen seasons of pine and cypress. Is willow a natural thing? Representation of the order of the four seasons; Compared with pines and cypresses that never wither after winter, willows have become a symbol of unruly literati. As the aesthetic connotation of trees, willow has attracted more researchers' attention, but as a flower, willow flower has received little attention. It is of unique significance to pay attention to willow from the perspective of catkins and investigate the relationship between catkins' characteristics and aesthetic feeling.
As a flower, catkins are very different from ordinary flowers. Yang Shuhua and catkins are very similar, both catkins. The seeds in the fruit are attached with white fluff and fly with the wind when they mature. Poplar and willow spread their seeds far away through flying catkins. In addition, Populus davidiana spreads pollen by wind and belongs to wind-borne flowers. Wind-blown flowers are generally small, and most of them have no bright perianth and are rich in fragrance. Different from other peach and plum flowers, most of them belong to insect-borne flowers, which spread pollen by insects. Most of them have bright perianth and rich fragrance. We know that a flower can arouse people's aesthetic pleasure, and the most important thing is its gorgeous color? A pleasant smell? Charming posture, and the charm it brings, as gardeners think, the beauty of flowers lies in "color?" Is it sweet? Pose? Rhyme "1. Catkin is pure white, tasteless and odorless. They don't have the colorful colors and refreshing fragrance of ordinary flowers. It seems that it can't be called "flower" in common sense, and catkin is also called "poplar"? "Liu Hua", as Su Shi said, "looks like a flower but not a flower". Say it is a flower, mainly because the catkins of poplar are white and fluffy, soft and small, changeable, dancing with the wind, and the shape of catkins flying snow is not inferior to ordinary flowers. The flowers of peaches, plums, lilies and laurels, though colorful and attractive, can't stand the ravages of strong winds. Once the wind blows at first, these flowers are blown off one after another, scattered into mud, and the fragrance disappears. Catkin is different. They can only reproduce and sow with the help of the wind. As Wu Rong said, "All flowers hate the wind, only Huayang loves the wind alone" (Wu Rong's Huayang). Another song "Late Spring" by Wang Anshi: "Infinite residual red flies to the ground, and a chicken head surrounds the tree. Huayang has a unique spring breeze, and she will never return to the clear sky. " Therefore, unlike other flowers, catkins win by flying freely in the wind. The charming posture of catkins in the wind has long been noticed. Jin Shu? Biography of Women Heroes: "Xie Shi, the wife of Wang Ningzhi, is eloquent, and the daughter of General Anxi is also intelligent and eloquent. ..... tasting the inner cover, it suddenly snowed, and Ann said,' How's it going?' Brother An Zi Lang said, "The air difference of salting can be simulated." Lu Tao said, "If catkins are not caused by the wind." An Dayue "(2) Xie Daowen used catkins dancing with the wind to describe snowflakes flying all over the sky, just right. Even Xie An, who was beyond words, was moved by it and couldn't help but be overjoyed. Kasper? Wen said that catkin and snow are inextricably linked. Scholars use flying snow to chant snow, and willow to chant snow. The reason is that catkin and snow are similar in the following two aspects: first, the color is plain white; The second is posture, the posture of both flying in the air. Poems chanting willow in past dynasties mostly started from these two aspects.
Look at the color of catkins first. Catkin is a plain white color, and it is really suitable to fly catkins with white snow. There are many such examples, such as "the leaves in the mirror are like eyebrows, and the flowers outside the customs are like snow" (Wei Chengqing's "Folding Willow"), "The flowers are bright and moist, and the leaves are warm and golden" (Li Bai's "Folding Willow"), "The flowers blow like the snow in Penglai, and the old ones are better than the customs" (Mei's "Although it is appropriate to use white snow to simulate flying catkins, it feels dull and cannot cause fresh beauty. Bai Juyi's "Catkin": "March is full of days, and it is even more reluctant to part with spring. Use songbirds as a way to show flowers to young people, and don't let go of the spring breeze. "In the spring of February and March, catkins flew all over the sky, fell on people and dyed their hair white. Catkin is white, which is a sign of late spring. Catkin dancing symbolizes the departure of spring, the passage of time and the aging of life. Therefore, the poet hopes that the oriole on the willow tree will send a message to Huayang, asking her to travel in the spring breeze and not letting it come back. Here, white catkin is used as a metaphor for white hair, which is unique and unconventional. Similarly, there is the eternal "Catkin": "No wind reaches the ground, but the wind is still full. The edge canal is like snow, not near. "People often use frost and snow as a metaphor for white hair, and catkins are like snow, so catkins are used as a metaphor for white hair. Although catkins are flying in the air, they are light and lovely, but they remind people of people's white hair and the aging of their lives, so people still don't want to see Liu Xufei on their heads, which is similar to Bai Juyi's catkins. Zhang Hu's Huayang: "Scattered evenly everywhere with the wind, a few days ago, the court snowflakes were new. Provoke Pan Lang's temple for no reason, and scared the pink man in the green window. "Because catkins are plain white, they fall on people like white hair. Catkin falls on the handsome Pan An, which surprises the girls who like Pan An. I thought Pan 'an was suddenly full of flowers. Describing white hair with catkins breaks through the model of simulating catkins with white snow, which is refreshing and has both form and spirit. In addition, the white catkin has been given a certain symbolic meaning of personality. For example, Wu Rong's Huayang: "If you don't fight, you won't be red, and it will be sunny and snowy. Flowers hate the wind, and only Huayang loves the wind alone. "As mentioned earlier, Populus davidiana is an anemophilous flower, which spreads pollen, breeds and sows by the wind, so there is no bright color and attractive fragrance. This is the biological characteristics of Populus davidiana, but Wu Rong endowed it with certain symbolic significance of personality. He thinks that the pure white color of Populus davidiana shows that Populus davidiana is unwilling to compete with other flowers dying in the wind, but flying freely in the wind, so Populus davidiana has become a different custom? Flowers of noble deeds.
Look at the catkin posture again. Catkins are small and numerous. In late spring, its flying posture often stirs people's thoughts, and the "catkins" of catkins are homophonic with the "lines" of thoughts, which makes people think more. For example, a sentence in Liu Yuxi's Three Poems of Liu Hua: "Lightness is true, and lightness is worthy. Dancing in the clear sky is thought-provoking. " Catkin is the symbol of spring and the catalyst of Chun Qing, which can easily arouse people's lovesickness. Catkin types are often used to compare the intensity of acacia. Acacia is easy to lead to spring sorrow, and catkins have become a cause of sorrow. Catkin is often used as a metaphor for leisure in literature, such as He Zhu's Jade Case: "How much leisure do you ask?" Yichuan tobacco, full of wind, plum yellow rain! " Do you use the concrete image of "the wind in the city" to compare abstract leisure troubles, or do you use catkins to compare many troubles? The breadth of worry. Another example is "stirring spring sorrow is like catkin, and long dreams are nowhere to be found" (Feng Yansi's Magpie Tread), "Leisure sorrow is like a flower" (Shi Dazu's Xijiang Moon? Boudoir thinking), and so on, are catkins as a metaphor for leisure.
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Xie Daowen praised "catkins born by the wind" as a metaphor of snowflakes. On the contrary, flying snow is just like catkins, so it is used repeatedly by future generations. Imitation of floc with snow, mainly focusing on modeling. With the improvement of people's aesthetic understanding and artistic expression skills, catkin chanting should not only pay attention to its shape, but also explore its charm, as Zou Zhimo said in Yuan Zhizhai's Ci: "The fact of chanting should not be deliberately too similar. It is better to take shape than to take shape, and to use things unintentionally. " ③
On the one hand, the falling of catkins is often used to symbolize the falling of life. Catkin floats with the wind, I don't know where it is, and some of it falls into the water and becomes duckweed, drifting with the flow. No matter catkin or duckweed, they are rootless and wandering all the time. Catkin is drifting. Can't exist independently, drifting with human beings? Being unable to grasp your own destiny is similar, so catkins are often used to symbolize wandering life. This is reflected in poetry. In the late Tang Dynasty, Xue Neng sang Liu Hua: "The ups and downs are frequent, and the sheep are drifting away." Describe the unfortunate experience of catkins floating in the air with anthropomorphic techniques. Xue Tao, a famous prostitute in Shu, wrote catkins: "Flowers are light in February, and the spring breeze shakes people's clothes. His family is a heartless thing, flying north and south. " Use catkins to express the feelings of life experience. We know that both singers who convince people by their talents and prostitutes who convince people by their colors are in an insulted and damaged position, unable to control their own destiny, unable to love and be loved, and have no sense of belonging in spirit. Catkins floating in the wind fit their emotional state and life state. Ming Yuqian's "Huayang Qu": "Hanging glistening flowers, fluttering to Wan Li. Affectionate bees and butterflies follow in disorder, no matter where they live Life is a wandering without a trace, just like a little flower taking advantage of the warm wind. Go west today and the wheels will go east tomorrow. The poor don't know the way back. Once they get to the mountain, it will be very heavy. Yang Hua is a heartless thing, annoyed that life is among the guests. " (Su Zhong Ji) more aptly describes the heterogeneous and isomorphic relationship between Huayang's wandering and life wandering.
On the other hand, catkins fluttering in the air are often associated with negative moral personality symbols. For women, the flirtation of catkins is easy to be associated with women's flirtation. Catkins are relegated to "the flower of love" and described as a slutty woman with frivolous virtue. For men, the dancing of catkins can easily remind people of the pride and obsession of villains, so catkins are relegated to "wild flowers". As we know, Confucius' "The benevolent enjoys Leshan, and the wise enjoys water" started the tradition of China's gentleman's virtue, that is, it linked the beauty of nature with the personality of literati, and thought that the natural attributes of flowers and trees had a corresponding relationship with the literati's character and moral integrity. In the Song Dynasty, due to the upsurge of feudal moral consciousness and the rise of Neo-Confucianism, scholars paid more attention to the construction of ideal moral personality and were subordinate to the trend. A frivolous and indulgent villain is extremely contemptible. The morality and sexiness of gentlemen are also rising. In this context, Zhou Dunyi's "Love Lotus Theory" came into being: "Chrysanthemums, flowers are also hermits; Peony, blooming with wealth; Lotus, the gentleman of flowers. " Reflected in catkin literature, it is to take the spirit from the appearance and pay attention to the symbolic significance of catkin personality. Catkin flying in the wind? Into the water for peace? Going with the flow is easy to associate with easy virtue? Prostitutes and snobs? A smug little man.
Catkin's negative moral evaluation of women appeared at the latest in the late Tang Dynasty. In the eyes of Miracle in the late Tang Dynasty, catkins were romantic flowers. In Huayang, he said, "Singing white is romantic. It's easy to move to Japan because the wind there is freer. "Catkin looks like snowflakes on the surface, with white color, beautiful posture and flying all over the sky, but there is no noble character of snowflakes in the bones. It is essentially a romantic flower. Since the Song Dynasty, aesthetic comprehension, who is interested in catkin, has been more and more inclined to explain the personality meaning of his flower posture and charm, which embodies the personality interest of the aesthetic subject. Catkin has been degraded as "unnatural and steady flower" because of its light floating posture. Catkin changed from a thinking female image with low moral evaluation to a "prostitute" image with strong moral meaning. Most of the changes in catkin image appeared in the word Chun Qing in My Heart. Han Qi was the prime minister of the Three Dynasties and a typical representative of orthodoxy. In Han Qi's eyes, catkin is not a "steady flower" by nature. Look at the sentence in his "Three Catkins and Two Catkins": "I am used to being annoyed by the east wind, uncertain about my home, long buildings and unbearable loneliness. "A spring mood is chaotic, not a natural and stable flower." "Two Ques of Catkin" Part II: "The snow group is not self-sustaining, and it is full of spring scenery. Sometimes I wear flowers and cuttings, and infinite bees fly in groups. " Another song "Catkin": "Liuhua doesn't like branches, but depends on them all day long. Gather under the court as a bowling ball and scatter it in the air to fly snow. Idle * * * falling into the sea and drifting away, static and butterfly dancing diagonally. It's not easy to see Fang Jun's precious spring, so I have to be frivolous and not bother him. " Catkin floats in the air with the wind, but its passive posture has become a disturbing spring return here? Disturbing people? Flirtatious indulgence? The frivolous flowers that attract bees and butterflies have a strong sense of moral evaluation. There are many examples in this regard, such as "Laughing too frivolous" (The Story of Quanzhou Enbuku in Song Dynasty), "Bofang Caoan" (Late Spring in Xichou, Wu Song), "I don't blame myself for being frivolous, but I was a willow flower in my last life" (Ping was absent in Yuan and Song Dynasties), and so on.
Catkin was applied to the negative moral evaluation of men earlier, beginning with Du Fu. Du Fu's Queque Manxing: "Crazy catkins go with the wind, and fine peach blossoms come with the water." Here, catkins, like peach blossoms, are frivolous flowers, crazy and arrogant, and get carried away. Du Fu also said: "No matter whether peach blossoms are red or brocade, catkins are whiter than cotton." (See Six Servants Off the Palace Road) Although catkin is whiter than cotton, it is not as practical and flashy as cotton. In addition, Li Shen's poem "Watching Flowers Fly Wild" is also similar to five frivolous tombs (Willow), in which catkins are the symbol of frivolous people. The negative moral evaluation of catkin in Song Dynasty mainly continued the "crazy" side of catkin discovered by Du Fu, such as "the peach blossom is frivolous and the willow flower is crazy" (Spring Day by Lu You in Song Dynasty), "Crazy at the end of the road, but turning duckweed into green wave" (Catkin by He Mengjia in Song Dynasty), and "Crazy up and down in order to see the early return of spring breeze" (Wu Song Xi after Song Dynasty) Even think that catkins are useless, and they are not worthy to be called willow cotton, and they are not worthy to be compared with flying snow, because "square cotton is not enough for clothes, and imitation of snow is useless" (playing catkins to quote the poem "King James Set") "Originally useless, but they are also good at floating names" (Liu catkins quoted the poem "King James Set"). In a word, catkin is a special image and theme in China's classical literature. As a spring scene, catkin dancing is a symbol of late spring. As spring flowers, catkins are "like flowers but not like flowers". Catkin first appeared as an image of spring in poems about spring. Since the Middle Tang Dynasty, there have been poems chanting willow. Since then, there have been more and more works about catkin, and the creation of catkin has also experienced a development process from scratch and from less to more. People's aesthetic understanding of catkin has gone through a process from similarity to similarity, and the imitation of catkin by Piaoxue mainly focuses on the "similarity" of catkin. With the improvement of aesthetic comprehension and performance skills, people gradually mastered the charm of catkin and endowed it with certain symbolic meaning of personality.