However, in a limited space, it is difficult to make a comprehensive comparison of all aspects of Chinese and Western poetry without generalizing and becoming superficial. Based on the idea that it is better to be profound and one-sided than superficial and comprehensive, this paper intends to make an investigation on the theme of Chinese and western love poems.
As we all know, love has been recognized as an "eternal theme" in literature. Once it is sung by a poet with a good heart and exquisite artistic processing, it is most likely to arouse the readers' hearts. The famous Chinese and Western love poems with deep feelings and heartfelt words are often engraved in the readers' hearts like knives, so there are many theories to study Chinese and Western love poems.
For a long time, it is generally believed that China's love poems are dwarfed by similar themes in the West. This view is biased. In fact, China and the exotic flowers of western love poems are swaying with their own unique charm, emitting totally different fragrance and flashing totally different national colors.
From the time point of view, China's love poems originated in 3 poems, and they were produced from the 11th century BC to the 6th century BC. His first article "Guanluo" tells the story of men's admiration and pursuit of my fair lady. Another example is the scene of a young man and a young woman trysting in a corner of the city, which shows the sweetness of their love life through the detailed description of the girl's "love but not seeing", which causes the young man to "stumble". Zheng Feng Qin Yan > It depicts the young men and women playing by the river when the spring blossoms, reflecting the harmony and joy of their love. Poetry 3 not only describes men's love for women, but also often shows women's love for men. Try reading "marked with plum"
It is marked with plum, but it is actually seven. Beg me to be humble and lucky!
it's marked plum, but it's actually three Xi. Beg me to be humble, and make it today!
it's marked plum, and it's in the basket. Beg my humble soil and call it!
This poem, with the yellow fall of plums as a metaphor, expresses a girl's desire to get married in time. The same content is also frequently seen in such famous works as Nan Zhou Juan Er, Gao Feng You Ku Ye, Gao Feng Jian Xi, Yong Feng Bai Zhou, Zheng Feng Cuntong and Zheng Feng Zi Mi. From the early generation of love poems and women's bold love for men, ancient Greece and Rome in the west can't be compared with those in ancient China. Regrettably, when the society entered the feudal society, due to the shackles of the ethical concepts of the Three Cardinal Principles and the Five Permanent Principles, the principle of neutralization of "expressing feelings and stopping at ceremony" and the suppression of the tradition of "expressing ambition through poetry", this kind of woman expressed her chest directly and poured out her voice with enthusiasm. It gradually weakened, and even some periods were silent, which brought the kind of China's lack of understanding of love poems.
Western love poems originated in Greece in the 8th century BC. A little later than the epic, and the history of love poems, like China's, originated from simple folk songs, which are mostly used for singing, often accompanied by musical instruments, and divided into two categories: solo and chorus. The solo style is completely an expression of personal feelings, losing the collectivity of clan literature. Sappho, praised by Plato as the "tenth goddess of literature and art", was the most famous singer at that time. Her love poems mostly expressed the passion, sadness, parting pain and jealousy of lovers, with the characteristics of simple language, sincere feelings and strong musicality, which was particularly touching. Later, in his twilight years, the great Rousseau hoped that he would die singing Sappho's wonderful love songs. However, Sappho's poems, which have been handed down from history to the present, are few and incomplete, which is really regrettable.
Love poems are perfect in the west, and they are unforgettable because of their quantity and quality. They are medieval knight lyric poems. In the middle ages, due to the formation of chivalry, the chivalry class came into being. Knights have their own feudal lords and ladies who worship and adore. In order to win the lady's heart, they are willing to take risks, fight and serve her. Although they die nine times without regret, they die ten thousand times without leaving. As for Rousseau's saying, "I would rather sacrifice my own happiness for the happiness of the people I love." There is the shadow of chivalry. The love between a knight and a lady is different from marriage, and the ultimate goal is not to marry her, but a deformed "spiritual love" outside marriage, which is the accumulation of love theory in Plato's philosophy in the middle ages. "It is always beautiful to be attached to a person for the sake of morality" has a great influence on people's mentality. Some people even assume in their hearts that a woman will fight for it. The Song of Dawn, the main representative work of knight lyricism in Provence, describes the inseparable feelings of knight and lady at dawn, and does not shy away from the description of sensuality, which has the significance of denying feudal morality and church asceticism, because under the dual system of feudalism and church at that time, men and women were bound together, and often lacked the foundation of love, but pursued freedom and had an ideal chivalry. The love poems of knights in the 12th and 3rd centuries contributed to the development of love poems in Europe in the future.
Mr. Xu Siyuan thinks in his posthumous work "The Characteristics of China's Poems" that China's poems began in 3 poems, flourished in Jian 'an and flourished in Tang Dynasty, and the theme of metrical patterns has hardly gained since Song Dynasty. The growth process of China's poems is about 1,8 years, while the western poems originated in Greece, which started in the 12th and 13th centuries. They flourished twice in the renaissance of literature and the early 19th century, and declined sharply at the end of 19th century, with only 7 years before and after. From here, it seems that we can see the development track of love poems accompanying the growth of Chinese and western poems.
Love is an attractive theme. Beautiful love poems are dizzying, and people are often fascinated. When we explore the Range Rover in colorful Chinese and Western love poems, we often feel this way. Many China poets write poems under the guise of women. For example,
Ask my husband in a low voice after putting on makeup, and the thrush depth is out of date.
"Jiangnan Qu" (Yu Gu)
My husband has no news, but he hates the diviners at the bridge.
Always in my heart (Anonymous)
when shall we lie again on our screen, watching this bright light with no more tears?? "Moonlit Night" (Du Fu)
Candles have a heart to say goodbye and weep for others until dawn. Farewell to Du Mu
Theoretically, in the feudal society of the west and China, the status of men and women was essentially superior to that of women, but the degree of China was much more harmful. For example, in China, the word order of husband and wife, husband and wife, children, men and women shows that the principle that men come first and women come last cannot be reversed. In the past, married women should be preceded by their husband's surname; In Chinese, there are many bad words, and the word "female" is often used as the radical, such as jealousy, seduction, adultery and so on. It can be seen that women's status is low. At the same time, literati and poets attach great importance to fame and fortune, and pursue the immortality of "meritorious service, legislation and statement" Women have no place in men's hearts, and their choice of spouse depends on the words of their parents' matchmakers. After marriage, they must be "fed by the Lord" and "served by a broom" and have children. Women's educational conditions are poor and few, and "women without talent are virtue", which will inevitably lead to few female poets. Coupled with the division of labor between men and women, women "go into the kitchen" at home and "send cold clothes" when their husbands are away, so women generally suffer from inner pain, which is naturally discovered and used by male poets. Therefore, China's love poets often sing about their deep love for men and husbands under the guise of women, express their lovesickness and bitterness, and vent their resentment and hatred of being abandoned.
In the West, religion is strong, people are deeply obsessed with the legend of the Virgin and the Baby, and influenced by the chivalry of the Middle Ages. The status of women is much higher than that of China. For example, in ancient Greek legends, human beings are spherical creatures with four hands and four feet, a round head and two faces. Zeus, the king of gods, was afraid that the power of human beings was too strong, endangering his rule of monarchy on Olympus, so he raised his lightning and cane and split the human beings in two, but the separated half rushed at the other half desperately, trying to reunite. This is the innate love of human beings, so western men traditionally called their wives "my better half". Therefore, women's personality ideals, wisdom, talents and even knowledge are often For example, Ben Jonson's Song for Celia:
Just make a toast to me with your eye,
I will repay you with my eye,
or leave a kiss on the cup,
I don't need to find wine to drink,
I am thirsty from the depths of my soul,
I can only pray for a cup of fairy pulp to moisten my throat,
Because of the fragrance you have smelled,
then throw it back to me.
since then, it has grown and smelled fragrant, not from it,
but from you, I dare say.
Sophocles, a famous Greek tragedian, said, "There are a lot of exotic treasures in the world, but it is hard to find such wonderful things as people." As the soul of heaven and earth, the spirit of all things is long. He must have all kinds of ideals and demands, demanding "full satisfaction in both rationality and sensibility". Require the perfect filling of life. Among people's many requirements, "career complex" and "love complex" are two points that cannot be ignored. Whether in China or in the West, men's life is dominated by "career complex", while women are "love complex". Generally speaking, when there is a contradiction between career and love, the individuality of western culture makes western men often give up their career and get love. They believe that love is the motive force of career and can promote the success of career; They think that the greatest happiness in life is love, and the greatest pain in life is the loss of love. Happiness is the pursuit of life, and love is a major event in life. In Voltaire's view, there are two real deaths in life: "One is to stop loving, and the other is to stop being loved. These are unbearable deaths. As for dying, there is nothing." "Love stirs up active emotions, it can revive the dead, it can make the desert inhabited, and it can make the illusion of loved ones reappear." Dumas, The Knight in the Red House. These ideas are very common in the west.
In China, men tend to value fame, and love will never compete with fame. On the contrary, they think that it is extremely disgraceful to fall in love and be immersed in love, which will make people degenerate and sink, and will lead to career failure. As the saying goes: "A knife is on the head of the color word", so it is very common for a husband to abandon his wife and children, go to Beijing to take the exam, pursue fame, guard the border, serve the country and the people, serve the battlefield, travel north and south, leave home and travel everywhere, and it is natural for the two places to separate; In addition, men like the new and hate the old, empathize with others, and have three wives and four concubines. It is also doomed that there are many "resentment" poems in China's love poems.
Marrying a rich husband for no reason is a disgrace to Elsholtzia. "for you" (Li shangyin)
thinking of you is like running water, and you can smell sobs for a long time. "Coming out from the monarch" (Yong Yuzhi)
and a moment that ought to have lasted for ever, has come and gone before I knew. Jinse (Li Shangyin)
you may see the tears now, bright on her cheek, but not the man she so bitterly loves. "Resentment" (Li Bai)
Like this kind of parting feelings, always in my heart's "resentment" poems in Shengong are everywhere.
Since the Middle Ages in the West, due to the influence of chivalry, men have sought the meritorious service of honorary chivalry not for their own promotion, but to win the favor of their rivals and lovers. Byron wrote "fame-if I am interested in you, I don't want to hear your loud boasting;" It is to see her burning eyes-she also understands that I am not unworthy of her! " This is the portrayal of western men seeking women's favor, representing the consciousness of western men's groups, so western love poems express their admiration for women everywhere. Among them, Shakespeare's sonnets, short poems by Xue Rong and Browning are the best places to admire. We can fully feel this when we read Marx's To Yan Ni.
As previously analyzed, the concept of love between the East and the West is very different. Westerners attach importance to love and have the slogan of "love is supreme". Therefore, most love poems are written before marriage, and they often praise looks and appeal for love. Petrarch to Laura; Spencer versus Elizabeth; Byron's Don Juan to Haide; Rousseau to philson, Gordon, Mrs Warren, Dales; Dante to Beatrice; Bai Langning to his wife, it is too numerous to mention. China, on the other hand, values marriage and despises love, and most of his love poems are written after marriage. The love between husband and wife is often concealed or disdained by the literati. It is a shame for Confucianism to "follow the four women's skirts". Only those who are down and out, bored, pessimistic and world-weary, such as Li Houzhu, Emperor Yangdi, are willing to openly express their feelings, but they are all criticized by the world. China's poems of true love are often excellent works of farewell and mourning. For example, Su Shi's "Jiangchengzi" "Ten years of life and death are ambiguous, and you will never forget it without thinking." Li Qingzhao's "Who pities and languishes more? It's boring to try the lamp, and I'm not in the mood to walk through the snow", "Things are people who don't do anything, and want to shed tears" and we can find examples of this from Lu You, Li Shangyin, Na Lanrong, Chen Cengshou and other poems.
Mr. Zhu Guangqian pointed out in the Comparison of Chinese and Western Poetry in Taste that "Western poets want to realize their lives in love, while China poets often only seek to amuse themselves in love poems. China poets are down-to-earth, and love is just love; Western poets are more forward-looking, and there are some philosophies of life and religious sentiments in love. " Indeed, western poetry has a strong religious color. When we turn over western poetry, we can feel the strong breath.
In Greek mythology, Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, dominates human love, which, like wine of temptation, makes people intoxicated. Make people crazy, make people energetic; Make people's hearts burn. It is the bold pursuit of love coupled with a pious and obsessed emotion that constitutes a religion with a wide range of meanings. Try to read Shakespeare's sonnet No.116 "Love is a beacon of eternal light":
Oh, never, love is a beacon of eternal light,
It looks intently at the storm but is unmoved;
Love is another star that guides the lost boat.
You can measure how high it is, but its value is infinite.
Love is not affected by time, although beauty,
and white teeth are inevitably affected by time;
Love doesn't change with instant changes,
It stands tall until the end of the doomsday.
This poem praises the eternity and greatness of love, has a strong speculative color, and expounds a philosophy close to the doctrine, which is very intriguing and thoughtful.
Another example is Fei Duofei's:
I would like to be a tree, if you were a flower on the tree;
I would like to be a flower, if you are dew;
I would like to be dew, if you are sunshine;
so that we can be together forever.
Besides, girl, if you are the sky,
I would like to be a star in the sky,
However, girl, you are hell,
I would like to fall into hell forever.
This poem also shows the persistence and stubbornness of western poets in their pursuit of love.