In order to ensure that the family voice does not fall, the sages left many family teachings. The views on poetry teaching in family instructions show different value orientations, which is worth pondering.



"Jade without polish is not a tool; people do not learn, they do not know." the ancient family motto often encouraged their children to devote themselves to learning poetry. Confucius once said to his son Kongli, "if you don't learn poetry, you can't speak" and "if you don't learn etiquette, you can't stand". This not only indicates what should be learned, but also the origin of Chinese court training. According to Zhang Qixian's poem "Hu's Hualin calligraphy hall in Yuzhang" in the Tang Dynasty, the Hu family "has the children and grandchildren singing, dancing, poetry and books, and the villagers' party is in a friendly and courteous way." It is precisely because the children are required to enjoy immersing themselves in poetry and books that Hualin academy has trained a large number of talents. There are 55 successful candidates in Hu family alone, and many of them are ministers and prime ministers. Su Song, a scholar of the Northern Song Dynasty, also gave instructions to his children that "poetry should be gentle, easy to understand and modest". It should be pointed out that the so-called "poetry" of the sages refers to all poetry in a broad sense; In a narrow sense, it refers to the bookofsongs. "A poet should hold on to human nature", "holding on to it is a training, and there is no rhyme". As one of the Confucian classics, the bookofsongs, "in a word, it is said that thinking is innocent", so the sages of all dynasties have taken to educate their children.



In addition, many family instructions also require their children to be able to engage in poetry creation. Dufu said in his poem Zongwu's birthday, "poetry is my family's business." Dufu's grandfather dushenyan is famous for his poems. Dufu once said that "my ancestor's poems are the most ancient". No wonder he thinks that poetry creation is his family tradition. Dufu's great achievements in the art of poetry are related to his own life experience and helping others, but it can not be ruled out that there is an internal connection with his family style. Wang Yucheng, a poet of the Northern Song Dynasty, once said, "family style attacks elegant seals"; Li Qingzhao also said, "I still recite strange sentences from new poems, which salt Xu's family style people promised." Here, Li Qingzhao implicitly uses Xie Daokai's allusion of willow catkins to describe snow. It is recorded in Shishuoxinyu that "Fu Xie gathered in the cold snow day to talk about the text with his children. When the snow fell suddenly in Russia, the public was pleased to say: 'what is the similarity of the snow?' brother and son hu'er said: 'the salt can be removed from the sky.' brother and daughter said: 'if willow catkins rise because of the wind.' the public laughed happily." Because Xie Lang and Xie Daoyi's answers contain the words "salt" and "Xu", later generations use "salt Xu" to refer to beautiful poems or poetic talents. Li Qingzhao not only thinks that reciting poetry is his family style, but also points out that this family style has been affirmed by the world. His words are somewhat proud and proud.



Hua Yi, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, once wrote a poem that said, "chanting is a family custom. You laugh like a master. You can't afford to write a sentence. You can't read a poem. You can't read a book. The rhyme is calm. You should forgive children. You should write a red letter in the silk circle. You can send it to a poor customer in Chang'an and show your eyebrows." Hua Yi pointed out that reciting poetry is his family style. Although his son's poetic style is not strong, his attainments are not good enough to comfort. In Hua Yi's works, poetry recitation has also become the spiritual food for his son. Even if he can't afford to smoke and can't continue his supper, he will take it lightly, which means that Confucius is happy.



Zeng Guofan told his son Zeng Jize in his family instruction: "it is most appropriate to pay attention to the tone of poetry." "If you want to write five and seven ancient poems, you must be familiar with dozens of chapters of the five and seven ancient poems. First, you should read them aloud to enrich their Qi; then you should chant them in secret to play with their flavor. The two go hand in hand, so that the tone of the ancients can be brushed. If you are familiar with my voice, when you write a poem, you must have a sentence to your wrist. When you read the poem, you also feel that it can be recited, leading to a kind of interest." Zeng Guofan's instructions to his son not only revealed his own poetic experience, but also highlighted his own poetic ideas.



There are many reasons why the sages asked their children to learn poetry in their family instructions. Confucius asked his son to learn poetry from a practical point of view. He once said to Kongli, "is it OK for a woman to be Zhounan or Zhaonan? If a man is not Zhounan or Zhaonan, he is still standing on the wall?" In Confucius' opinion, Zhounan and Zhaonan contain the etiquette norms of self-cultivation, so he requires his son to devote himself to learning, otherwise he will stand on the wall and be unable to move. Yan Zhitui asked his children to devote themselves to learning poetry from the perspective of artistic life and aesthetic daily life. He extremely despised the noble children. "At the public banquets on March 9, he would write poems with his own hands." in the Yan family instructions, he warned his children that if they would not write poems, "they would talk about ancient poetry at public and private banquets, but SEMER would bow his head and stretch his head.". There is a saying that "poetry will be sent to relatives at a fair", while neglect of poetic art will inevitably lead to the embarrassment of revealing the quality of the skin on the occasion of banquets and poetry writing. What is more tragic is that not only are they embarrassed, but they are also disdained by others, "look on knowingly and enter the ground on their behalf." So YanZhitui pointed out that instead of making a fool of himself, he said, "how can you spare years of hard work and suffer a lifetime of shame!" Luyou pointed out in his poem "family style": "it's not easy to chant. My disciples are not poor in poetry." Luyou believes that it is impossible for his children not to recite poetry, and poverty is by no means the result of reciting poetry. Ouyangxiu, who was before Luyou, once said, "poetry can not help the poor, but the poor can work later." Wang Ling also said, "it is the ancient sages who are angry. They are poor if they are not related to poetry." In addition to agreeing with Ouyangxiu and Wang Ling, Luyou also warned his children that even if they were poor, they should not abandon poetry.



Compared with the commonality of family instructions for learning poetry and being able to write poetry, some sages also asked their children to stay away from poetry in their instructions. Su Shi said in his poem "Xi'er" that "everyone hopes to have a smart adopted son, but I have been misled by my wisdom. I wish that my child would be stupid and Lu, and that he would be able to reach Gongqing without disaster." Su Shi was relegated to Huangzhou because of the "Wutai poem case". During his stay in Huangzhou, his concubine Chao Yun gave birth to a boy for whom the poem of washing children was written. Su Shi is not a great scholar, and his cleverness is fully reflected in his poems; However, poetry and prose are the disaster stage for Su Shi to suffer political persecution, so he has such indignant words. In 1936, when Lu Xun was seriously ill, he wrote a will at the end of his prose death, the fifth point of which was an instruction to his son zhouhaiying: "when a child grows up, if he has no talent, he can find something small to live on. He must not be a short-term writer or artist." This fully highlights Lu Xun's down-to-earth expectations for his son and his rejection of empty articles. Later, zhouhaiying became an expert in radio instead of writing, which means that he did not rely on his father's shadow, but the result of his own efforts. We should treat dialectically the view that the sages asked their children to stay away from poetry and prose. We must not swallow it and accept it completely.



The poetry teaching in the family instruction is supposed to help develop a good family style, help the children become talents, and help the family keep its voice. However, the ideas of poetry teaching in family instructions show a trend of diversification, which is rooted in the different life experiences and values of the sages. (zhumeilu, Professor of Guizhou University of Finance and Economics)