Letters and repetitions: Remembering a bygone era of pen talk

1.
Although I am writing this letter to you now, I cannot help but think that the letter has lost its lofty and effective place in our time. "Conversation with the absent", some people call the letters that are no longer, the kind of communication before Email and social networking sites (that seems to be a very distant era, unpredictable, even memories can't make it clear shape). Although you are not here, I want to speak to you; this is the first word hidden before anything I say.

More than 200 years have passed since Kierkegaard's time. According to Kierkegaard, love letters were still a powerful tool for chasing girls back then. You can write long or short; long writing can show off your talent and ingenuity, while short writing can be emotional and let the other party read it with endless aftertastes. (As for whether love letters really have such power, or whether Kierkegaard himself has won the goodwill of others when they met; this needs to be verified by historians.) In short, letters used to have a great influence on other people. A person's perception of a person; it's no wonder that there was an era when people were keen to "send wasteful texts" today, but they were happy to pass on letters of unknown, meaningful and ingenious to each other.

2.
I am writing this letter to you, in addition to what I have said before, I would like to talk to you about another topic. I don't know if you still remember? You once said: You don't appreciate traditional metrical poetry very much. This surprised me a bit. Because before you said it, a man whose name I won't mention again also said this. But I don't quite understand why you are so ambitious. I can better understand why some people are less able to appreciate modern poetry; because I am also such a person. When I read modern poetry, I often don't know where to start to understand the author's meaning.

In fact, the same "metrical poem" is written by different people, but it is also ever-changing, and each has its own characteristics. But where are they in common? Rhythmic poetry is tied up in word count, rhyme, and tone, and every word appears where it's prescribed; it sounds very rigid and boring. But if you look at it from another angle: just because everything has been set the rules and repeated, so once there is a little subtle change, we can easily detect it. And often in these places of change, the author injects the messages he arranges, leaving the thoughts that he most want to keep. Perhaps it can also be said: apart from the difficult words brought by the gap of the times, metrical poetry is actually one of the easiest genres for us to understand and appreciate.

3.
Although there are so many metrical poems, what I want to introduce to you most is a non-metrical traditional poet. Because I like the sincere and pure feelings in his works, even after the repression and destruction of reality, the feelings are forcibly endured, but there is still a touch of sadness.

The world is on the boat, and you can live in peace along the way?

"Along" is the two ways of sailing, "along" is along the river, "hui" is against the river. Everything in the world is like a boat in the waves, no matter whether it is upstream or downstream, it can never stay in the happiest time we want to stay. These two sentences are the end of a poem, bringing together the descriptions at the front of the poem; from this moment, looking back at all the memories the two shared. The poem is a letter. After the author left, he sent the poem back to the place while he was sailing to his future destination.

When you leave, will you write me a poem? Although you said you don't like writing poetry. We, don't know when the next time we will meet again; maybe, we won't have the chance to meet again?

Desolately to dear, flooded into smoke;

Returning to the people of Luoyang, the bells and the trees of Guangling.

This is the farewell today, where will we meet again?

The world's waves are on the boat, and they can live along the road. "In the beginning, Yangzi sent Yuan University's school letter. Wei Yingwu>

"Qiqi" means sad; "Fanfan" means the fog has no shape, neither dry nor wet, blocking the sight. How long can we keep this connection after we separate today? Maybe I'll take the first step soon and the relationship will be over. Our relationships, our lives, our futures are all at a loss, as if surrounded by a thick fog.

One of the reasons I like Wei Yingwu is that I think he is not afraid of "repeating" this. Many authors are afraid of repeating what others have written, fearing that they are too similar to their predecessors. I feel that as long as it is similar to others, it is not a message that can be left by me, only myself. But Wei Yingwu seems to seldom consider this. He wrote poems when he met people he knew, when he married his daughter, when he saw him off, he wrote poems as gifts, and when he separated, he wrote poems as letters and sent them over. He knew his feelings were real; the words he wrote were the messages he wanted to convey to that person.

Then why should I worry about losing my identity like everyone else? Because of my life, the experiences and connections I have known with you, no one can replace or destroy. It doesn't matter if any message I leave is in the same format as most people, the same way as other authors. I am here, and I have said something to you; you have memories of me in your eyes, and testimony about me in your mouth, whether that be in defense or against.

So, I want to say to you, "I am your friend." Listen, this is what you once said to me. If this letter mentions too much about myself and very little about you, I hope you don't get offended by it. Because what I really mean is: I also want to know more about you.

Further reading

Levinas, Totality and Infinity. Translated by Zhu Gang

Kierkegaard, Diary of a Seducer. Translated by Yu Lingling

Wei Yingwu, "Early Development of the Yangtze River, Sending Yuan University School Letters"

Wang Tao, "The Bishop's Epistemic Space: The Reflection of Augustine's Communication Paradigm in the Epistles"