Moonlight on the Lotus Pond was written in February 1927. At that time, the author was teaching in the Chinese Department of Tsinghua University. While teaching, he devoted himself to the study of classical literature. However, he took an evasive attitude towards the bloody reality of harsh white terror after the failure of the Great Revolution, but he could not turn a blind eye, so there were always many contradictions and sorrows in his thoughts. His famous prose mainly describes the beautiful scenery of the lotus pond in the moonlight, which also reflects some shadows of his contradictions and depression.
The full text can be divided into three paragraphs.
The first paragraph (the first natural paragraph) points out the theme, creates a quiet and beautiful atmosphere and leads to the full text.
This paragraph closely follows the title of the article and points out the content of the description with an appetizing thought ("it suddenly occurred to me that ... should be different"); Then describe the dead of night from the aspects of "the moon", "children's laughter" and "sleepy songs", and gradually introduce readers into a quiet realm, which becomes an excellent cause of the full text. The whole paragraph has a description of artistic conception, scenery, time and place, with refreshing eyes and natural writing.
The second paragraph (the second to sixth natural paragraphs) focuses on the beautiful scenery of the moonlight in the lotus pond. Write the route first (the second and third paragraphs). "Along the lotus pond, it is a winding little cinder road", secluded and lonely, surrounded by "lush" trees, and then caged with "light"
In this quiet world, "I" seem to be in another world, suddenly feel that I am a "free man" and express my special appreciation and love for this world.
Following the lotus pond (the fourth natural section), this is to write lotus leaves and crystal lotus in the field first; Leaves are different from flowers. The more delicate and clean, the more fragrant they are. Write lotus fragrance again, fragrant but not turbid, "like a faint song in a distant building." Compared with Lianxiang, Singing is really novel, penetrating and charming, and conveys a lingering fragrance. Where there is a breeze, there must be anecdotes. From the dynamic point of view, leaves and flowers present a cheerful and lively situation. This dynamic reflects the static state above, making the image more vivid. Finally, the "flowing water" covered with lotus leaves is pointed out. Although you can't "see some colors", it is true that the leaves are "more attractive" and the whole picture is more charming.
Then write moonlight (the fifth paragraph). First, write "like running water" and moonlight "quietly leaking on this leaf and flower", that is, paint the picture with a background color: plain, quiet and soft. "Thin blue fog floating in the lotus pond" makes the picture look confused and empty. In this color, "leaves and flowers seem to be washed in milk; Like a dream with a veil. Vivid and charming. The first two sentences describe static things as dynamic, and the verbs "leakage" and "floating" in the sentence are vividly chosen, which shows that the author's observation is fine, and his workmanship and language are carefully tempered. The two metaphors in the next two sentences are so vivid and poetic. Then write shadows. The shadow is moonlight. Therefore, it naturally becomes a foil to the moonlight. " Uneven mottled tree shadows, sparse and beautiful images and images painted on lotus leaves are just like a faint ink painting. Finally, they wrote light and shadow together: "The moonlight in the pond is uneven; But light and shadow have a harmonious melody. "For example, the famous song played by Van Gogh Ling is a magical metaphor derived from association. Through association and comparison, the author makes this moonlight picture of the lotus pond more vivid.
In the sixth paragraph, write about the lotus pond area under the moon. "Far and near are trees", always written around. "Shady" tree color, "at first glance, like a cloud of smoke", "but the charm of willow can also be distinguished in the smoke", which is close, and then he wrote a distant mountain with only a vague concept. However, the street lamps that are "listless" and "sleepy" leak through the cracks in the trees, which is still a quiet and peaceful scene. "The most lively things at this time are cicadas in the tree and frogs in the water." This "lively" noise is a contrast.
The above is the second paragraph, focusing on the beautiful moonlight of the lotus pond. There are sketches, detailed descriptions, renderings, sets off, flexible and orderly, attracting readers to be there and sharing beautiful feelings with the author.
The third paragraph (the last few natural paragraphs) is mainly lyrical, expressing the homesickness inspired by the scenery under the moon.
It's a new idea to "suddenly think about picking lotus". Then, the article was put aside, tracing back to the grand occasion of lotus picking in history, and quoting the poems in the Western Zhou Dynasty Qu to express the yearning for the lotus picking event. Then, it was recalled to the scene in front of me, "If there are lotus pickers tonight, the lotus here will be considered as' over the top'", echoing the above.
This emotional text, from far and near, is the most vivid and tortuous work.
To sum up, Moonlight on the Lotus Pond vividly depicts the charming scene of the lotus pond on a moonlit night, expresses the author's appreciation and joy for the natural scenery, and also reveals a touch of homesickness, which is the projection of the author's depressed and contradictory mood in his works at that time.
The writing features of this essay are:
1, rigorous and natural structure:
The article "Moonlight on the Lotus Pond" starts from a "rather restless" mood, indicating that going to see the moonlight on the lotus pond is to pursue a moment of leisure in a hurry. The author naturally wants to talk about it. In the second part of the article, the author wrote about the scenery. Here, the clues of "I" along the way are manifested at different levels: from the path leading to the lotus pond, from a person carrying his hand, standing around, and then reading carefully, endless. It also reveals the faint joy of "a rare moment of freedom". The last part is improvisation, expressing faint homesickness and sadness in imagination. The full text is written closely around the topic, which seems to be effortless. In fact, it is a meticulous but not rigid, rigorous and extremely natural art of structural planning.
2, describe fine and vivid:
The images described in prose, regardless of lotus leaf, lotus flower, moonlight and shadow, are very vivid and graceful. The author is good at grasping the characteristics of images and describing them vividly with wonderful associations and appropriate metaphors. For example, comparing the lotus leaf to a "dancer's skirt" and the lotus flower to a "pearl" and a "star in the blue sky" are all vivid and vivid expressions. For example, the fragrance of lotus flowers and the quietness of moonlight are hard to describe in words. For these scenes, which are extremely difficult to describe, the author can express them with his magical associations and vivid metaphors, so that readers can enter an artistic conception of blending scenes and experience the feeling of beauty.
Natural, meticulous and vivid description must be based on meticulous observation and feeling, not just on the accumulation of beautiful words. Without careful observation and feeling, we can't pursue metaphor, association and other techniques. Mr. Zhu Ziqing attaches great importance to careful observation and feelings. He thinks that only in this way can he "distinguish many new and different flavors" and obtain "unique secrets".