Appreciation of Gao's works I

The most striking thing about the goddess in Gao Tang Mi is her unrestrained and bold pursuit of love. The so-called "Wen Jun swims in Gaotang and would like to recommend pillows". This is the natural expression of naked primitive passion and desire, and it is the direct publicity of human nature that is not bound by any feudal ethics. This kind of casual and laissez-faire sexual relationship is not Song Yu's imagination, but a true reflection of primitive people's love life and a hazy memory of "free" marriage in primitive times. In other words, in the specific development stage of primitive society, there did exist unrestricted casual marriage and laissez-faire sexual relations. And after the end of primitive society, this situation continues. Not to mention further, even at the end of primitive society where monogamy was established and at the beginning of slavery society where the spouse relationship was relatively stable, the relationship between the sexes was quite laissez-faire under the influence of traditional customs, as Engels pointed out: "The relative freedom of sexual intercourse in the old society never disappeared with the victory of pairing marriage or even individual marriage." As for some specific periods, such as some major festivals, sexual relations are more casual and laissez-faire. In ancient Rome, Sothern Festival held mass feasts and carnivals, and at the same time, "sexual freedom prevailed", so Sothern Festival became synonymous with indulgence and joy. The same is true in ancient China. "Zhou Li Local Officials Media Home" said: "The mid-spring moon brings men and women together, so when it comes to it, runners can't bear it ... All the yin lawsuits of men and women are tried by the club that wins the country." Zheng Xuan's note: "shady lawsuits, those who argue in the middle, touch the law." From the cases of "letting men and women meet", "running away" and even marriage disputes, it shows that sexual relations at that time were quite free. What is recorded in Zhou Li is the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, which is the continuation and development of traditional customs. Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine the greater freedom and laissez-faire of sexual relations in the primitive times when myths were born. From this point of view, it is easy to understand that Wushan Goddess "is willing to recommend pillows" and actively seeks love with a puppet: it is neither abnormal nor "seductive", but a very normal and universal behavior in her era (that is, the mythical era).

Another important feature of the myth of Wushan Goddess is her magical change: "My concubine is in the sun of Wushan, but she is blocked by high hills. Dan is a cloud, and dusk is rain. Sooner or later, under the balcony. " The witch mountain goddess turned into sex directly, without any intermediate links, which was amazing. This situation can not be explained by experience and reason at all, but only by the logic of myth-the law of deformation. In the eyes of primitive people, "there is no special difference in different areas of life." Nothing has a definite static state: everything can be transformed into everything due to a sudden deformation. If there are any typical features and outstanding features in the mythical world, if there are any laws governing it, it is the law of this deformation. "Primitive people's imagination is rich and bold because it is easy to cross the boundaries that determine the nature of things.

The above two aspects, that is, the way of pursuing love and the magical changes, fully show that the goddess in high school is a mythical figure with obvious primitive mythological characteristics and an out-and-out goddess. Regarding the theme of "Gao Tang Mi", some scholars believe that it is the artistic imagination of the goddess of Gao Tang. Because this kind of imagination shows the feeling of floating like clouds and misty like rain when men and women make love, it conforms to people's psychological foundation, so it becomes a literary image and has a great influence on later generations. This artistic imagination is the inspiration of Song Yu's whim and an important contribution to China literature. These sound reasonable, but they are not practical.

In fact, it is not Song Yu's invention to link sex and sex between men and women. Some scholars have proved that this connection is an ancient religious concept with a large number of facts at home and abroad in ancient times, and it is a reflection of the religious concept of sexual intercourse and seeking rain. Primitive religion thinks that man and nature are mutual induction, and people's subjective thoughts and behaviors can influence the development of objective things. The principle of "similarity law" of witchcraft holds that "anything he wants to do can only be achieved through imitation", and the rainfall induced by coitus between men and women is a reflection of this mysterious sympathetic concept. They believe that clouds and rain are the result of the intersection of heaven and earth, and the so-called "heaven and earth meet to drop dew." (Chapter 32 of Laozi) The Book of Changes: "The secret of heaven and earth is the alcohol of all things; Both men and women are fine, and everything is transformed. " And sex and rain are the most important conditions for all things to metaplasia. Primitive people prayed for rain in a variety of ways, and the way of copulation for rain became a common way for them because of its own characteristics, and some ethnic groups also formed related religious ceremonies.

The idea that coitus brings rain and promotes harvest, prosperity and prosperity is the product of specific religious and folk customs background, and it is a "reality" that has happened many times. The story that the Goddess of Gaotang and Wang Huai became sexual after coitus is a reflection of their myths and a faithful record of Song Yu's traditional religions and myths. Song Yu's genius lies in his bold absorption of folk myths and clever use to serve his own ideas: expressing the theme of his works with the help of the inherent conceptual connotation and cultural implication of myths. In other words, "Gao" is recreated on the basis of the inherent cultural concept of this myth. It clarifies the relationship between "Gao Tang Mi" and the myth of the goddess of Gao Tang and its cultural concept implication, and actually finds the ideological direction of understanding the works.

"Gao Tang Mi" consists of preface and text, and actually contains three aspects: 1. Goddess myth of Gao Tang and its religious concept of courtship and rain. The reason why such a fairy tale is told at the beginning of the work is to control the whole text with its cultural concept implication. Second, the mountains and rivers after the rain are more magnificent and everything is full of vitality. This part is the longest, which is the image expression of the cultural concept implication of the above-mentioned religious myths. Third, encourage Wang Xiang to meet the goddess, hoping to bring benefits to the country and individuals by having sex with the goddess. This part is the end of the full text, explaining the purpose of going to see the goddess. This purpose is completely consistent with the cultural concept of the above-mentioned religious myths.

The theme of Gao can be summarized as follows: According to traditional religious myths, Song Yu encouraged to meet the goddess and have sex in her fu, hoping to achieve the goals of political clarity, national rejuvenation, national prosperity, personal physical and mental health and longevity. At the same time, I sincerely praise the grandeur and prosperity of mountains and rivers, and praise the vitality and vitality brought by the goddess of sex and rain. It can be seen that the conception of "Gao" is completely based on the traditional religious myths and ideas, and is written according to the cultural concepts of ancient myths. Therefore, the whole text is based on the concepts of copulation and promoting harvest, prosperity and prosperity. It is precisely because of this that the original concept of nature worship can be vaguely seen from the sincere praise of mountains, rivers, land and sex. Understanding the theme of Gao in this way, organically combining the preface with the text, fundamentally avoids the disadvantages of "two things" caused by other statements, and can be further confirmed from the fairy story itself: the third story quotes Zhu Jiu's biography in Xiangyang to go to Gaotang to have sex with the goddess, and the goddess said when she left, "My concubine is in the middle." I am lucky to meet your soul today. Fujun Miao will be between Jianghan. "If you don't abandon my inferiority complex and love me, I will bless your children and grandchildren and make them live among rivers and rivers from generation to generation. "The fairy tale itself shows that having sex with the goddess can be blessed by the goddess, which makes the population multiply and the nation prosper. This is very enlightening for understanding the theme of Gao. The main space is used to write about the scenery. So Mr. Qian Zhongshu said, "This poem is about the scenery of Wushan ... and it should be included in the" tour "door." This sentence shows that Gao's Tang Fu is a landscape literary work written in Fu style. Unique climatic conditions in eastern Sichuan. The incarnation of the goddess in Song Yu's works is not a mountain peak, but "it is raining at dusk", that is, two interrelated weather phenomena. This is also closely related to the natural geographical environment of Wushan. The climate in Badong area is characterized by cloudy and rainy nights.

The climate in Badong is characterized by high air humidity and cloudy days. The average number of cloudy days in Chongqing is as many as 2 19.6 days per year, which is amazing. Especially in the winter half year, it is cloudy for two and a half days almost every three days in 65438+February in Chongqing. In this case, it is conceivable that the sky around Badong is overcast all the year round. Correspondingly, another climate feature is rainy, especially at night, so that "late rain" has become the most prominent climate feature in this area. The main factors that form these climatic characteristics are the ground structure and atmospheric circulation, and the mechanism between them will not be detailed here, because the relevant knowledge is too professional, which is close to the common sense of climatology. Here, the author must emphasize that the two incarnations of "morning clouds and dusk rain" arranged by Song Yu for the goddess are really a high generalization of Wushan's climate landscape, which people who are not familiar with the climate characteristics here can't understand.

Many people can notice cloudy weather when they pass through Wushan. Lu You once recorded his personal experience of entering Shu:

It's sunny, and I can't see anything, but there are some white clouds on the goddess peak, like a phoenix, and a crane is dancing, which can last for a long time.

This is an accidental observation. Fan Chengda, who passed by here a little later than him, described this in Wu Luchuan:

The most beautiful place in Wuxia Mountain is cloudy and windy, no matter rain or shine, you can't draw. I have seen the other two, and what I saw is natural. It happens occasionally when I pass by, and of course, the language of the cloud is well-founded.

Although the word is still cautious, it means to discuss probability. Although the author has only "crossed twice", each time it is random, and "rain or shine, it is often cloudy", plus the results of random observation by others, it should be said that it is not too difficult to draw the conclusion that "the words of the clouds are also justified".

In contrast, it is much more difficult to find that the sentence "It rains at dusk" is "justified". Because most people are passing by, there are relatively few people staying at dusk. Those who spend the night may not encounter "rain"; Even if it rains, this accidental meeting is not surprising, and it is difficult to explain the perennial situation. Therefore, if we want to find the climate characteristics of "rainy night" in this area, we must have a deeper understanding of the natural environment in this area. Therefore, most people seldom regard "twilight rain" as the real climate feature of Bashan area when pouring images such as "goddess" and "sex and rain". There are many quasi-Yuefu poems with Wushan Gao as the theme, such as Liu Hua, a Qi person in the Southern Dynasties:

Gaotang and Wushan face each other alternately; Burning in the clouds, the atmosphere is out of the clouds. Scattered rain closes the dusk platform, and the clouds roll up the morning barrier; It's not easy to entangle, Juanjuan is disappointed.

What Shen Quanqi did in the early Tang Dynasty:

Goddess to Gaotang, Wushan sunset; Pei Hui went to beg for rain, and Grace Fu went after Wang Jing. The film Before the River Falls, Foreign Minister Lei Shengxia; There is no auspicious rhyme, and the pavilion is pale.

It is difficult to identify the relationship between the image of "sex and rain" in these poems and the natural environment in real life.

Of course, there are also some articles that pay attention to the climate characteristics of Wushan rainy night. The most famous is Li Shangyin's well-known "A Note to Friends in the North on a Rainy Night": You asked to return within a time limit, and the rain rose in the autumn pool at night; When * * * cut the candle at the west window, but talk about the rain at night.

Needless to say, the writing of this poem is based on the author's actual life experience. It is not difficult to infer that Song Yu's definition of the incarnation of the goddess as "morning cloud" and "dusk rain" is indeed the result of a real understanding of the climate characteristics of Wushan. Imagine that if the goddess head he set was not "rain in the morning and evening"-not to mention the wind, frost and lightning, even if it was "rain in the morning and evening" or regardless of the rain in the morning and evening-this literary image is bound to fade a lot. Although there is not much difference in aesthetic feeling in that way, it is difficult to find the symbol of the goddess in real life, because it violates the operating law of Wushan natural environment. It is hard to imagine the vitality of such a literary image, because it is not easy to be "said".

It is worth pointing out that "night rain" is not a unique climate feature of Badong. This phenomenon is very common in Sichuan basin and the vast southwest mountainous areas, and the rate of night rain in many places even exceeds that in Badong. However, as far as Chu State with Jianghan as the center is concerned, the phenomenon of night rain near it is more prominent in Badong area. It should be said that the ground structure and climate characteristics are the main reasons why Song Yu located the place where the goddess lived in Wushan. Otherwise, if there is such a suitable place within the scope of "Cloud Dream", Song Yu will definitely not go further. Although this is far from unattainable. The ecological value of scenery description in Gaotang Fu and other Gaotang Fu begins with the description of Wushan Yu Yun, the description of "endless changes" of "clouds" and the description of clouds that suddenly "hinder the sun", such as galloping horses in the air, leading to a storm ... and bringing readers into a mysterious field. Then, Song Yu described the majestic mountains and steep waters, beautiful trees and fragrant grass, rare birds and animals, and the grand scenes of hunting and offering sacrifices to gods gathered by alchemists in all directions, at multiple levels and from multiple angles. Although exaggeration and exaggeration are inevitable in the description, Gao still paints us a true picture of the geographical environment and natural ecology in Wushan area of the Three Gorges more than 2,000 years ago, which is of great historical value for us to understand and study the meteorology, ecological human living environment, primitive natural ecology and historical changes of the Three Gorges. Song Yu and King Xiang of Chu "swim in the cloud and dream platform and watch the scenery of Gaotang". Of course, even if you stand on the platform of Yunmengze, you can't see the scenery of Wushan Gaotang. Song Yu's description is due to his familiarity and deep feelings for the Three Gorges. Therefore, Song Yu used extremely refined words and a series of extreme adjectives to describe the scenery around Wushan Gaotang in general: "It's too cold at the top, and the line of sight is far away." Broad and extensive, everything is ancestor. The upper layer belongs to the sky and the lower layer belongs to the abyss. Very strange, very strange, and I can't say it. "It should be said that this description conforms to the objective reality of physical geography in Wushan area of the Three Gorges. According to the Records of Wushan County (199 1 edition), "the county is bounded by the junction of Daba Mountain, Wushan Mountain and Qiyan Mountain. Wushan stands in the southeast ... Daba Mountain stands in the north ... Qiyao Mountain stands in the middle ... These mountains constitute the county mountain. The total mountainous area is over 97%. " "There are 33 peaks, with county boundary1500m". Wushan Mountain Range starts from Bawu River in the north of the territory ... and extends to the south and west, reaching Xianfeng, Hubei directly. East to Badong, west to Fengjie. Elevation of ridge1500 ~ 2500m. "Taiping Mountain, the highest peak of Daba Mountain, is 2680 meters above sea level. In the eyes of people living in Jianghan Plain and Yunmengze, this is really "tall and obvious!" "Wushan He Qi has no domain! The geological structure of Wushan County is complex, which is mainly characterized by "fold structure", "fracture structure" and "joint cracks", resulting in steep mountains and steep slopes, steep peaks and steep rocks, deep valleys and deep gullies, and wide topographic differences, as stated in the Fu: "There are flowers everywhere on the shore, rocky mountains and cliffs. "County Records: The water area in China accounts for about 3% of the land area, but the river cutting density is high." The Yangtze River runs from west to east, crosscutting the central part of the county, and its tributaries are developed. "There are many streams in China, including 54 streams such as Daning River and Maduhe River, which are distributed in a tree shape all over the country. Waterfalls and springs between rocks can be seen everywhere, which is spectacular." Climb up the rock and look down, and the grain in the earth is stored. When it rains, you will see the collection of all the valleys ... you will give it four times, and you will stop. Changfeng waves, like an acre of isolated Mount Li; The potential is thin and touching, and the communication leads to each other, but it must be ... The water is full, and Hongbo is a dissolute person; Pentium surging, colliding with each other, the sound of Yun Qi ... "is a true portrayal of Wushan's beautiful and magnificent natural water landscape. The modern landforms in the Three Gorges area were basically formed after the Himalayan orogeny about 40 million years ago. Although it is still in motion recently, the landform is roughly the same as that of the Warring States period. For more than two thousand years, human activities and natural disasters have not been enough to change its basic appearance. Therefore, the natural landscape of Wushan described by Gao is quite familiar and cordial to modern people. It is a bit exaggerated but true to describe the wide and rich distribution of animal and plant species in Wushan area of the Three Gorges with "everything is ancestor". The unique natural geographical environment of the Three Gorges makes it a "refuge" for the third relic species and a natural animal and plant park. The northeast of Wushan is adjacent to Shennongjia primeval forest, which has a well-preserved primitive ecosystem and is the gene bank of many primitive rare species. "Xuanmu Dongrong, Huang Huangying Ying, grabbing people's attention, rotten if the stars are listed ... the hazel forest is rich, and Yuan Hua covers it. When the double chair hangs down from the room, the branches will be straightened ... The green leaves are purple, the stems are Bai Di, and the fibers lament like rustling ... "This is a description of various trees and forest scenery." "Xuanmu" should be a branch of evergreen, and its leaves are tough and shiny; Chair "is a kind of fruit-laden Jatropha curcas" hazelnut "is a common tree species in the Three Gorges. There is a place name "hazel ridge" on Xingshan Plateau, which is named after hazel trees everywhere. Green leaves, purple flowers and red stems. I don't know why flowers and trees are planted in Bai Di, but they are also exotic flowers and trees. Chu people have a special liking for herbs, and their poems show "fragrant herbs and flowers": Qiu Lan, Angelica dahurica, Cao Hui, Li Jiang, Belamcanda, Jieche ... The fragrant herbs and flowers in the mountains constitute a colorful world. This shows that during the Warring States period, Wushan area was lush with flowers and fruits and lush grass. The coverage of forests and vegetation is very high, and the original ecology is well maintained. The beautiful natural environment makes Song Yu "moved" and makes her soul stir ... Looking at modern Wushan, it is hard to see this picturesque green world, which is inevitably not as good as the past! The animals described in Gao are mainly birds living in the jungle and fish and turtles "riding the sun of Zhu". Aquatic animals such as giant salamander, giant salamander, sturgeon, etc. It often appears in Song of the South. They were the specialty of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River at that time, but it is difficult for modern people to see them. The birds mentioned above are the best of all birds: Wang Sui, Huang Li, Zheng Ming, Chu Yu, Cassia, Sifu, Hammer ... What kind of bird is Zheng Ming? Ancient and modern annotators failed to solve it; "Wang Sui" and "Chu" are respectively "Guan Guan Sui" in The Book of Songs Nan Zhou, which means "Zigui" bird, which is related to the origin of Zigui county name. The name of the bird "thinking woman" comes from folklore. In Selected Works, it is noted that "once upon a time, there was a thinking woman who climbed the mountain in the north in despair and died anxiously because she thought it was a name. "I guess the bird's cry must be sad and euphemistic. "Hanging chickens from a high nest" may belong to the category of chickens, but pheasants living in high nests are unknown in modern times. All the birds mentioned in Fu are rare birds, which shows that the ancient Three Gorges is the hometown of rare birds and animals. According to the Records of Wushan County, there are still more than 100 species of birds living and distributed in China, but there are no rare birds described in Gaotangmi. Xunzi said: "the mountains and rivers are lush, and all the animals return", "the shadows of trees are dancing and the birds are resting"; If the river dries up, the ichthyosaur will go. "If the mountain forest is in danger, the birds and beasts will go." Ancient and modern scholars have highly praised Gao's artistic achievements, and most of them think that this poem is unique in fully displaying the natural landscape of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, and can be called the ancestor of China's landscape literature. However, some scholars believe that the keynote of Song Yu's works is to "persuade a hundred people to satirize one person", and "Gao" clearly describes mountains and rivers and implies the meaning of "Qu Jian". Song Yu talked about the scenery of Wushan Mountain in order to persuade Wang Xiang not to give up Wuxian and Qianzhong. Ming Changdi pointed out in "The Ancient Sound and Meaning of Qu and Song": "According to Gao, we began to describe graceful clouds and strange stones embedded in mountains and rivers, which are extremely fine, including animals, insects, trees, wonders, and even watching the bottom, grass, birds, immortals, temples, songs and hunting." Zhang's "Han Shu Gossip" made a further analysis of this: "Gaiwu and Ying can fly at once, and the so-called' farewell to Bai Di, staying in Jiangling at dusk' is a danger in the upper reaches of Chu, and that's all. Although he was left behind, he refused to cut for Qin; Since Xiang Wang was established, it was appropriate to send troops to guard him, but he didn't think about it at that time, so he gave a feeling. The Wushan scenery in Gao's works is both typical and distinctive. Fu Yun said: "High display, far display. Broad and omnipotent, everything is the ancestor, the upper belongs to the sky, and the lower sees the deep. Jane is too strange to say. "Such a magnificent natural geographical environment, such a steep landscape momentum, such a primitive ecology, etc., only the Wushan area of the Three Gorges can be regarded as it. Since the Han and Tang Dynasties, poets have vividly described Wushan in the gorge in the form of Wushan height: Wushan height is not extremely high, Wushan height is not poor, Wushan is near the sky, Wushan height is half a day, and Gaotang and Wushan cross each other ... This is comparable to the saying in Fu that "only the height of Gaotang is general, but there is no image". "Wushan River has no domain, Xi…… ..." Just confirm each other. Where can I find such a high and steep mountain in Yunmeng area of Jianghan Plain? Let's talk about water again: "there is plenty of water, and Qutang is fighting for a door." The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River is a place where hundreds of rivers converge. In Wushan area, there are waterfalls and fountains on both sides of the river, and there are dangerous beaches and deep pools below. The endless Yangtze River is rolling in and surging ... Is this magnificent and magnificent water potential comparable to the intersection of the Han River and the Yangtze River? The Wushan described in Song Yu's Gao Tang Mi is undoubtedly the Wushan in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. The Gaotang Temple and balcony are all in the sunshine of Wushan. Wushan area of the Three Gorges is a region with unique natural geographical environment and unique national cultural customs. Since the history of human activities in the Three Gorges area, it has vividly existed in ancient myths and legends and frequently appeared in the records of pre-Qin documents, which is irreplaceable by any mountain or any region. The Origin and Cultural Significance of "Gaotang" (Excerpt)

It is no accident that the word "Yang" appeared twice in Gao's Sun of Wushan and Under the Balcony. The appearance of the goddess Yao Ji on the balcony of the high Wushan Mountain means that the Chu people have closely combined the worship of the ancestor sun God with the worship of love and reproduction. Scholars have different explanations and views on the cultural connotation and significance of "Gaotang". These opinions seem different, but when you think about it carefully, you find that what they say is not contradictory, but the angles of discussion are different. The cultural connotation of "Gaotang" is rich and profound, which determines its complexity and diversity.

Gao not only reflects Song Yu's own outlook on life and world, but also reflects the religious belief, worship of gods, folk customs, social life and many other aspects of Chu people in the Warring States period. It has high cultural and historical value and is a very precious cultural heritage.