2. Poetry: “Not Quite” and “Precisely”

It is said that in ancient times, an emperor summoned artists from all over the realm to assess their talents. The test was to paint “Deep in the mountains, there is an ancient temple”. When the submissions were unveiled, most were stereotypical and mediocre: either a temple stood on a mountain peak with grand bells, or an ancient edifice tucked halfway up the mountains, shrouded in mist. In short, the artists often directly portrayed the “deep mountains” and the “ancient temple”, failing to take a unique approach. The winning piece, however, presented a scene with just a monk by a stream, fetching water with his bucket, and behind him loomed a mountain reaching into the clouds. In this way, the idea of “A Temple in the Deep Mountains” was brilliantly and unconventionally captured. The success of this painting lies in its conceptualisation. The same holds true for poetry, where the concept is pivotal. Without a transcendent concept, poems of the same theme would inevitably clash. Lu Fangweng remarked, “Without ingenious ideas, one’s talent will run dry.” Whether a stirring emotion can transform into a moving poem largely depends on underlying concept. Yuan Mei of the Qing Dynasty wrote in his Suiyuan Poetry Talks that poets should not be confined to the external appearance of things but should seek different perspectives and unique concepts. He stated, “The charm often lies in the indirect and the unexpected; it’s about capturing the spirit of the subject, while a poem is not quite the subject, yet it precisely is.”

2. 詩者：「不是」與「恰是」

據說，古代一位皇帝召見天下畫師，面試他們的才能。《深山有古寺》，這就是皇帝出的考題。作品交卷了，大多是雷同的平庸之作：或是山峰上立著廟宇，古剎大鐘；或是山腰間隱著古寺，雲纏霧繞。總之，畫師們往往直接落墨於「深山」與「古寺」，不能獨辟蹊徑。奪魁之作是這樣一幅畫：畫面上，只有一個正提著水桶在溪邊汲水的和尚，他的背後是入雲的高山。這樣，「深山有古寺」這一立意便被不落窠臼地表現出來了。這幅畫的成功秘密正在於它的構思。對於詩，構思舉足輕重。沒有超凡脫俗的構思，在同一題材上，詩就會撞車。陸放翁說：「詩無傑思知才盡。」激動人心的情能否變為一首激動人心的詩，很大程度上取決於構思。清代袁枚在《隨園詩話》中說，詩人不能局限在事物外貌，而是要尋找不同的角度和側面，尋找不同凡響的構思，他說：「其妙處總在旁見側出，吸取題神；不是此詩，恰是此詩。」