小说与文学2016newhumanist.org.uk
为什么诗歌对理性头脑有益
Why poetry is good for the rational mind
导读
这篇短文讨论诗歌为何对理性思维有益：它训练人容纳歧义、多义和局部意义，而不是只追求唯一正确答案。对写作者来说，这提醒我们逻辑与创造可以互相滋养，适当放松对精确控制的执念，反而更容易写出有弹性的文字。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
在逻辑写作和创作之间来回切换，像站坐交替一样，能让思维保持弹性。
- 02
写作时允许歧义和多义存在，接受自己不一定全对，也接受意义可以是局部的、个人的。
- 03
面对创作任务，先放下寻找“精确参数”的执念，动手实验，再在过程中调整。
- 04
写格律或受限文本时，真正的难点是让形式不僵硬；必要时可借旧式语言服务节奏和意义。
HN 评论精选
逻辑与创作交替进行，能保持思维健康。
作为一名偶尔写诗的软件工程师，我非常同意。在“逻辑”和“创造”之间来回切换感觉很健康，就像在桌前站立和坐下交替——一种状态持续久了，换另一种就很舒服。他还附了一首诗，写害怕带着未消耗的热情、未真正活过的人生死去。
calebm查看英文原文
As a software engineer who occasionally writes poetry, I strongly agree with this. Going back and forth (between the "logical" and "creative" sides) feels healthy - kind of like switching between standing and sitting at a desk - once you've done one for a while, the other feels good. Here's one of my poems: What's my great fear? I'll tell you; come near. To lay down in death with so much left. Passion not spent - Oh cowardly regret! For fear of others? The thousand deaths. I'm afraid to die With no twinkle in my eye To pass meagerly by Yet hidden inside. To walk through life Not truly alive And to pass in the night With an unfelt "goodbye". Here's some more of my poetry: http://calebmadrigal.com/topics/poetry/
创作要放下精确控制，允许实验和不完美。
他引用文章说，允许歧义意味着接受自己不一定对、认知有限、可能同时发生多件事，意义也可以是局部的而非普遍化的。他讲自己参加“红酒与绘画”课：习惯做全栈项目后，一开始像写程序一样找精确输入和参数，结果很挫败、画得也差；后来学会“放手”、实验不同画法，成品不完美但自己很喜欢，还挂在办公室。他由此意识到需要这类练习让头脑更有弹性，生活本就不像程序那样完美。
Yhippa查看英文原文
> Allowing ambiguity to exist means accepting, for example, that I'm not always right, that there are limits to what I can know, that more than one thing may be going on simultaneously, and that there can be kinds of meaning that are local or individual rather than universalisable. Two weekends ago I did a wine and painting class. They basically blow up a picture of your pet, greyscale it, and put it on a canvas. Using some guidance and some help from the instructor you paint your pet (while enjoying delicious wine of your choosing). I've been heads-down in a full-stack project for months and haven't had a creative outlet and it was very difficult for me to get started with this. I approached it like I did with my programs looking for exact inputs and parameters as to how to go about painting. It was very frustrating because I was falling behind the rest of the class and it looked terrible. At some point I figured out I just needed to "let go" and start painting and trying out different things. I experimented and ended up with something that wasn't perfect but I was very happy with. It's on my wall in my office in fact. I realize that I need these types of exercises to make my mind more plastic. Being so rigid for so long I feel really stresses me out and that releases like this are needed to let the pressure blow out. It takes things like this to get remind me that life really is ambiguous and not nearly perfect like my programs and dev ops processes.
格律诗写作像解题，难点是让形式不僵硬。
在发现数学和编程其实很有创造性之前，我从写诗中获得快感。反过来，没试过的人可能会发现，写诗和写程序一样能带来理性/解题的快感。写不显僵硬的格律诗尤其难；他附了一首以河流与海洋为喻、结尾带对话和喝茶动作的诗。
noam87查看英文原文
Before I discovered that math and programming were actually a whole lot of creative fun, I got my kick writing poetry. Conversely, if you've never tried, you might discover you'll get the same rational / problem-solving kick writing poetry as you do writing programs. Writing metered poetry that does not sound "stiff" is particularly challenging. I like how this one came out: --- I would not mind floating downstream; End up among the fish and whales. Of the ocean waters, dark and deep, I’m not afraid, for I do know That, once you’ve lived among the corals, The muddy currents, pebbles and rocks, And parlous contours of the stream Against whose tide you’d rather swim Are banes you’ll gladly leave behind; For deep at sea you’re not confined By rocks and edges that grind and rasp– The river’s water may be sweet, But just as sweet, the river’s shallow; I’d rather down its torrent follow, Follow to the salted sea.” (At this you quickly sipped your tea) “Yes, in the sea I’ll freely trace The peaceful ebbs of open space, More free than any shallow stream; As free as logic in a dream.” Again you sipped, and leaned, and laughed, Then played a moment with your scarf; And I suspect you did agree. --- I have a few more writings of different types at https://noamswebsite.wordpress.com/category/poems-and-fiction/ :) I miss writing! I think after this startup thing, if it's successful, I'll take some time to write again. I'm probably very rusty! And it's incredibly challenging. Writing something meaningful and lyrical can be as much of a brain workout as designing a complex recursive algorithm. I've no qualms about placing Shakespeare under the same category of genius as Newton or Gauss. It's kind of a shame that today the two worlds seem so separate... both sides are poorer for it.
押韵可借助历史读音或旧式语言，为格律和意义服务。
关于布莱克《老虎》中“What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”的押韵，已有许多讨论。简言之，在布莱克时代，这两个词可能都以相同的双元音 [əi] 结尾，或者这种读音还足够新近，仍被接受为押韵。诗歌常借用略旧的语言来配合格律和意义。
evincarofautumn查看英文原文
> The poem from which those familiar phrases come, William Blake’s “The Tyger”, has a lovely cockney rhyme at the end of its first verse: A lot has been written about the rhyme of “What immortal hand or eye / could frame thy fearful symmetry?”. Long story short, these words were probably pronounced with the same final diphthong [əi] in Blake’s time, or they had been pronounced that way recently enough (the past century or so) that it was still accepted as a rhyme. Poetry often relies on somewhat old-fashioned language to fit the meter and sense of a piece.
同类还值得读
乔治·奥威尔1940年对《我的奋斗》的书评
George Orwell’s 1940 Review of Mein Kampf
这是奥威尔 1940 年对《我的奋斗》的书评，他没有简单谴责，而是认真分析希特勒的宣传手法为何奏效、又暴露了哪些思维特征。
小说与文学2022 · 499 分 · 545 评4 条写作要点编辑精选我们都是极客：尼尔·斯蒂芬森的文学作品
We are all nerds: The literary works of Neal Stephenson
这是一篇讨论 Neal Stephenson 科幻小说的文章，评论区读者围绕《Anathem》《钻石年代》《Snow Crash》等作品，聊世界构建、结尾处理和写作风格的变化。
小说与文学2022 · 307 分 · 220 评4 条写作要点编辑精选又一部我不会再去写的小说
Yet another novel I will no longer write
科幻作家 Charles Stross 讲述自己为何放弃一部已经构思好的小说：COVID-19 疫情让他的病毒灾难设定显得多余，现实给所有人上了一堂生动的疫情应对课。
小说与文学2020 · 304 分 · 169 评4 条写作要点编辑精选用图画写作：理查德·斯卡里与儿童文学的艺术
Writing in Pictures: Richard Scarry and the art of children's literature
这是《耶鲁评论》上漫画家 Chris Ware 写的文章，分析童书作家 Richard Scarry 如何用图画而不是文字来讲故事。
小说与文学2024 · 297 分 · 131 评4 条写作要点编辑精选如何写一部小说
How to Write a Novel
这篇来自 The Millions 的文章讨论写小说的两种路径——“计划派”（planners）与“即兴派”（pantsers，即“跟着感觉走、边写边编”）。
小说与文学2016 · 238 分 · 112 评4 条写作要点编辑精选