A Story of a Poem

Author: Wang Yingya
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-31
Features: All great literary works created have a little-known story behind them. This book carefully selects 100 fascinating and moving poetry stories from the pre-Qin era to the Qing Dynasty, allowing you to savor the beauty of poetic imagery while exploring the poets' personal experiences and the timeless sincerity of emotions hidden behind the verses. Whether it's the poet's emotional entanglements or their persistent pursuit of external things, you can find it all in these 100 stories and poems, sipping and reciting with deep reflection.
[Preface]
Autobiographical Preface
During the summer vacation of my first year in middle school, a scorching afternoon made everyone drowsy. My father carried a box of books into the house. For us, having new books to read was exciting. We gathered around the box, eager to tear off the wrapping. What appeared were thirty-six red-bound sets of books, with gold-lettered classical fonts on the cover reading "Selected Collection of Chinese Literary Appreciation." Seeing the title, our enthusiasm immediately cooled, as such "scholarly" books were considered "boring" to middle and elementary school students, and there was nothing interesting about them. These books became mere decorations in the bookshelf. We only took them out of the "ice palace" when we needed references for homework, and they turned out to be quite useful reference books.
I had originally thought that those supposedly difficult-to-read classical poems would never become a part of my life. Although poetry works always appeared in textbooks, for someone with a decent grasp of Chinese, passing exams was no problem. It wasn’t until the university results came out, and I found out I had been admitted to the Chinese Department, that I realized meeting those books with fiery red and gold covers during that summer vacation in middle school was my destined fate!
During my four years of university, whenever we appeared on campus with heavy tomes that seemed impossible to live without, friends from other departments would inevitably exclaim, “Wow, impressive! The Shuowen Jiezi!” “Outline of Chinese Phonology, that’s so scholarly!” Then they would inevitably ask, “What classes are you taking next?” We innocently replied, “Selected Lyrics and Creative Writing.” Then we’d see their “admiring” gaze: “That sounds so romantic!”
What we often heard were self-deprecating remarks: “Sigh, I don’t have the gift for it—I can’t understand those poems and verses at all!” In reality, nothing is what it seems! Attending the supposedly “cultured” Chinese Department was merely the result of my college entrance exam scores. As for why I chose to put Chinese as my major, my reason was simple—I had no brain for math, and after being tormented by it for years, I thought studying Chinese might finally free me from its grasp. So, my decision to study Chinese had absolutely nothing to do with romance, and I definitely didn’t do it because I had a natural talent for it!
Perhaps fate was kind to me, as these classical poems, songs, and odes didn’t give me too much trouble. I also discovered that they weren’t as inaccessible as I had imagined. However, the language used in those times is no longer used in our daily lives today, so it’s natural to feel a sense of distance. Many books on classical literature or poetry available in the market, though detailed and scholarly, lack a certain (affinity). Without some literary foundation, one might give up after just a minute.
But these cultural treasures left by our ancestors, the (crystallization) of painstaking effort, should they always be left gathering dust in a corner of bookstores, forever treated as mere reference materials for exams? Now, take a cup of coffee or warm a pot of tea, snuggle up with a comfortable and soft pillow, and for a moment, set aside the stereotype that “Chinese poetry is dull and boring.” Relax and enter this enchanting world of one hundred lyric and poetry stories—some interesting, some heartwarming, some deeply moving, and some that will touch your heart—without any burden.