死麕、鸱鸮和郑女的诗与真——《诗经·国风》阅读记

The Poetry and Truth of the Dead Deer,the Owl and the Woman of Zheng--Reading The Book of Poetry's“Lessons from the States”

今人与《诗经》的时代相隔数千年,但诚如朱自清所说,时代有古今,人情不相远。《诗经》所表现的不外其时的人情世故、生活经验,包括政治及道德上的规则与潜规则。因此后人解读《诗经》,虽然有必要回顾彼时的礼教风俗习惯和社会政治情况,但不能固执所谓“美刺”观念以礼说诗,教条地把全部《诗经》一概解为道德礼教之演绎,也不能单凭训诂学孤立地说文解诗、强为之说,而必须注意《诗经》的文学特性,努力把握诗本文的上下贯通,并注意古今生活经验的相互激发。五四以来的现代《诗经》学继承并发展了朱子注重“诗人道言语,皆发乎情,又不比他书”的文学特性、力求从《诗》本文寻求《诗》本义的解诗思路,将《诗经》研究从经学时代推进到文学时代,成果相当丰硕。只是具体到一些诗作的解读还有未尽未善之处。重新解读《诗经·国风》的七首诗可知:《野有死麕》叙写一个小伙赴约途中机智地解决姑娘提出的“无使尨也吠”难题,展现了乡村儿女的爱情情趣;《狡童》等五首郑诗构成一组关连诗,完整呈现了“郑女”与“狡童”的婚变连续剧;《鸱鸮》则是藏在“公将不利于孺子”的明言后的政治“流言诗”,确实关系到周初的重大政治事变。

The Book of Poetry(《诗经》),the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry,is a manifestation of the worldly wisdom,life experience and the political and moral rules.When interpreting The Book of Poetry,it is necessary to review the etiquette,customs,and social and political conditions at that time,but we cannot reduce the entire collection dogmatically to morality and etiquette.Nor is the philological style that explains the poems in isolation.In contrast,we must pay considerable attention to its literary characteristics,study its textual connections,and try to activate the ancient classics by our modern living experience.“An Artful Boy”(狡童)and other four correlated poems in“Songs of Zheng”(郑风)fully unfold the drama of a marriage crisis between“a women of Zheng”and her“artful boy”.The poem“The Owl”(《鸱鸮》)is a“poem of gossip”related to major political events in the early Zhou Dynasty.