Chapter 490
Chapter 490
After much inner turmoil, the Madman Nan ultimately broke a certain rule of the examination hall, achieving a private sense of accomplishment and pleasure he could not share with others.
The third day of the examination officially began. Today's subject was poetry and prose, an important subject accounting for thirty percent of the total score. To be precise, it was the subject of poetry and prose-poetry, requiring not only the composition of a poem but also a piece of prose.
What is a prose-poem? According to the *Wenxin Diaolong*, *fu*, or prose-poetry, means 'to spread out'—to elaborate a literary style to embody objects and describe the writer's inner thoughts. The *Book of Han* defines it as something recited but not sung. It differs from poetry and verse, yet it is also distinct from ordinary prose, occupying a space between the two. In the *Classic of Poetry*, there are the Six Principles: *feng* (airs), *fu* (exposition), *bi* (comparison), *xing* (affective image), *ya* (odes), and *song* (hymns). *Feng*, *ya*, and *song* are three poetic forms, while *fu*, *bi*, and *xing* are expressive techniques.
In Shen Lang's view, poems were relatively long, while prose-poems were shorter and less refined. Yet, he defined a prose-poem as something that, when read, made one feel an urge to sing.
After the clear sound of a gong, the examination papers were distributed. Today's test would last only six hours—exactly half a day. The topic for the poetry and prose was even more abstract than before. The examiner for this subject was once again King Ning Yuanxian. The king would never pass up an opportunity to show off his own talent.
Madman Nan unfolded the paper and saw that the topic was quite brief.
In other words, if one wrote a poem about the goose, one must write a prose-poem about the Great Peng, and vice versa. In truth, the king's heart was a tangle of complexities when he set this topic. He had once asked Eunuch Lü Jun a question: If a king is like the sun, shining its light upon all things but unapproachable, then was he, in fact, like the sun or not? If he were the sun, how could anyone draw so close to him? But if he were not the sun, did that not mean he was not a great monarch?
Hearing this fatal question, the Grand Eunuch Lü Jun had nearly burst into tears. Ning Yuanxian had always possessed a contradictory heart. On one hand, he wanted to be an enlightened ruler whose name would last for a thousand autumns. His idol was Emperor Jiang Li, a monarch who had once devoured the world and swept across the land. However, the king also knew his own character traits: sensitive, narrow-minded, prone to sentimentality, and with a touch of romanticism. Deep down, he realized he could never become a great monarch for the ages. What a person aspired to in their heart was one thing; actually achieving it was another entirely.
The goose is a real creature, while the Great Peng is a legendary divine beast from ancient times, existing only in fantasy. So, was the aspiration to become a great monarch for the ages also a mere fantasy? Did such a thing not exist in reality? The Great Peng existed only in one's ideals, only in the heart. The goose was true reality.
King Ning Yuanxian knew he was not a Great Peng, but merely a goose. Later, he would even say that there was no such thing as a Great Peng in this world. To put it more directly, all the monarchs of the world were geese, yet they all pretended to be Great Pengs. Since everyone was in the same boat, no one should act as if they were an emperor for the ages.
The great wild goose is an ordinary bird; it can be injured, cry mournfully, and experience joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. The Great Peng is a divine bird, flawless and supremely powerful, incapable of being wounded or worried. All the monarchs in the real world are ordinary people, each with their own flaws. Only the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors from the legends of antiquity were as perfect as divine beings.
Through this topic, King Ning Yuanxian revealed his character completely. He was self-pitying yet pessimistic, romantic yet narrow-minded. It was harsh, yet it laid his personality bare. Madman Nan stared at the topic, momentarily stunned.
'Young Master Shen is truly like a divine man! How could he have predicted the topics for both the poem and the prose-poem so perfectly?'
So, did Shen Lang possess some sort of supernatural power? Yes and no. This time, Shen Lang had not painstakingly selected the predicted topics. He now had such a profound understanding of King Ning Yuanxian that he simply chose essays and poems that resonated with the king's heart and had Madman Nan memorize them. However, in a way, Shen Lang had made him memorize over a thousand essays and several thousand poems and proses, so the probability of hitting the mark was certainly high.
Madman Nan was not Jin Mucong. Jin Mucong was no genius; he had to memorize by transcribing, making his memorization efficiency quite low. He could only memorize a few dozen essays, in particular. In contrast, Madman Nan had memorized over a thousand essays and several thousand poems and proses, essentially covering almost every canonical work from thousands of years of Chinese history. In a civilization with a culture based on Chinese characters, it would be harder to come up with a topic that fell outside this scope.
Moreover, the poetry and prose questions were not like the eight-legged essay, which bound one to a rigid style, nor did they require the rote memorization of passages from the Four Books and Five Classics, leaving no room for the writer's own thoughts. The writer could say whatever they wished. Soon, Madman Nan began to write, his brush flying as if possessed. First, he composed a poem on the theme of the autumn goose.
The long wind bears the goose ten thousand li away; a fine day to climb a high tower and drink my fill.
The transcendent prose of Penglai, the sharp verse of the court, and in their midst, the fresh spirit of the poet Xiao Yan.
All with soaring spirits and grand imagination, eager to rise to the blue heavens and behold the bright moon.
Draw a sword to cut the water, yet the water flows on; raise a cup to drown your sorrows, yet they only deepen.
When life in this world does not go as one wishes, let down your hair tomorrow and drift away in a boat.>
Was this poem not magnificent? Even without knowing its title or author, anyone who read it would feel a chill run down their spine, the hairs on their neck standing on end. They would recognize it at a glance as a masterpiece for the ages. Such was the allure of a classic work that had been passed down for over a thousand years. It needed no promotion or embellishment; a single glance was enough to resonate deep within a person's soul.
This was a work by the Poet Immortal, Li Bai. Of course, Shen Lang had slightly modified its content. In this world, there was no Jian'an City, nor was there a Xie Tiao, as mentioned in the original poem. The "Xiao Yan" mentioned here referred to this world's greatest literary master, Yan Lin, who had written countless masterpieces of poetry and prose throughout his life. Nevertheless, his magnum opus would forever be the single volume of *The Tale of Dongli*, which told the story of Emperor Jiang Li.
In terms of pure literary skill and artistic achievement, *The Tale of Dongli* was inferior to his other works, yet it was undeniably a work that would endure for ages, far more than his others. Countless people throughout the entire Eastern world, and even in the Western world, had read it. Its circulation was likely the highest in this world for the past millennium. The author had originally lived in Jingjing, the capital of the Great Qian Kingdom, and had even served as an official, submitting numerous proposals to Jiang Li. But when all his suggestions were rejected, Yan Lin left the Great Qian Kingdom in anger and wandered the world. He made a living solely by writing and eventually became the preeminent literary master of the Eastern world.
After Emperor Jiang Li's sudden death, the Great Yan Empire summoned Yan Lin to become an official and ordered him to write a book denigrating Jiang Li. Yan Lin refused the empire's demands, set a mountain on fire, and burned himself to death. Though he had never been favored by Jiang Li in his lifetime, and had even turned his back on him in anger, in the end, he chose to be buried with Jiang Li in death. Thus, Yan Lin's name was etched into history.
When Madman Nan had memorized the poem Shen Lang modified, he had trembled inwardly, his heart overflowing with an indescribable emotion that brought tears to his eyes. It was not just because he had encountered a work so magnificent it could literally shake one's soul, but also because he faintly sensed that Yan Lin might have been one of his teachers as a child. To be precise, he was a teacher to over thirty children. This was just a feeling, however, so Madman Nan could not be certain.
Although this poem by the great master Li Bai was less famous than his other representative works, its quality was by no means inferior. King Ning Yuanxian, in particular, would surely tremble upon seeing it. Ning Yuanxian had revered Jiang Li his entire life, and in a way, Jiang Li's downfall had broken his wings, making him realize that there were no Great Pengs in this world, only geese. Therefore, the sorrowful heart expressed in this poem would reach the deepest corners of Ning Yuanxian's soul. Not only Ning Yuanxian, but any scholar who read this poem would feel a fatal thrill. It was such a magnificent poem that every candidate who saw it would feel insignificant, and every examiner would be left spellbound. It was truly a classic poem, the likes of which appeared perhaps once in a century.
***
Having written a poem on the great wild goose, all that remained was to compose a prose-poem on the Great Peng. If the goose expressed pessimism and the sorrow of helplessness, the prose-poem on the Great Peng needed to break free from such sad and sentimental feelings. It also had to contain philosophical principles and a grand spirit. Thus, the great master Jia Yi's *Prose-Poem on the Peng Bird* was perfectly suited. In terms of artistic achievement alone, Jia Yi's *Prose-Poem on the Peng Bird* was in no way inferior to Li Bai's *A Farewell to Secretary Shuyun at the Xie Tiao Pavilion in Xuanzhou*. Let us now look at the poem.
Is this passage not also magnificent? Whether one understands the meaning of this prose-poem or not, regardless of who the author was or the background of its creation, one cannot help but tremble inwardly upon reading it. This is the power of a classic text. Only such supremely magnificent writings can withstand the great waves of a thousand years and be passed down to posterity.
When Madman Nan memorized this poem and prose, not only did a chill run down his spine, but he trembled so much his knees went weak. He was so moved that he even lost his appetite. That alone was enough to guess the level of these works. Furthermore, Madman Nan believed that Shen Lang himself had written these pieces, which made him even more afraid. Because no matter how hard he searched his memory, he had no recollection of ever seeing such writing in any book.