Hometown for every wanderer, it is a sacred place in the heart, no matter how long away, no matter where you are, as long as you think of your hometown, you will definitely be sad. After all, there are the most innocent childhoods there, and the closest relatives, from the moment they leave their hometown, that emotion has been integrated into life. There are many homesick works in ancient poetry, and every poet's feelings for his hometown are the same, especially those who have not returned to their hometown for decades, and every time they think of their hometown, they are even more heartbroken.
In his later years, the Yuan Dynasty poet Yu Ji repeatedly requested to return to the south, but he was not allowed, which also made him very sad, and because he could not return to his hometown, it also made him miss his hometown all the time. For an old man, that kind of homesickness may be more pure and more profound than that of a young person. From his youth, he remained an official in Dadu (present-day Beijing) until he returned to his hometown several times in his later years, but was rejected by Emperor Wenzong of Yuan, which made the poet miss his hometown more and more.
Yu Ji , Zi Bosheng , a famous poet of the Yuan Dynasty, the fifth grandson of yu Yunwen of the Southern Song Dynasty, was born in Linchuan, Jiangxi in 1272 AD, and Yu Ji showed extraordinary talent in his youth, and then with his own efforts, he eventually became a generation of literary masters. Yu Ji's poems are also very distinctive, mainly manifested in homesickness, the most typical of which is this "Sitting Alone in the Courtyard", this poem writes down the helplessness of life in a very sad tone, as well as the longing for the hometown, it is precisely because of the repeated requests to return to the south after being rejected, the poet can be described as full of emotions, so write such a sentimental work, the whole poem is not a word without sorrow, without a word without sadness.
Where it lives in the year, there is always affection on the mountain and the river.
For no reason, the pine trees grow around the house, and the sound of the wind is the sound of rain.
The time of writing this poem is not clearly indicated, but we can speculate that in 1319 (the sixth year of Yanyou), Yu Ji was 49 years old, and at this time he entered the Hanlin Academy as an official, until 1332 AD (Yuan Wenzong to Shun three years), when Yuan Wenzong died, and Yu Ji, who was already 60 years old at the time, was able to return to his hometown Linchuan, so literally, it should be written in the first few years of 1332 AD, when he repeatedly requested to return to his hometown of Linchuan, Jiangxi, for retirement, but Yuan Wenzong refused his request. It was not until after his death that the poet was able to return to Jiangnan.
The whole poem is poignant, the words are full of infinite sorrow, when the poet was sitting alone in the courtyard, this time he thought back to his hometown thousands of miles away, and he was sad for a while, so in the first two sentences, the poet was directly lyrical, where is it in this life, where should I spend my future life? For me, I pay attention to my hometown all the time, pay attention to the landscape and water of my hometown, nothing more than because I love my hometown too much and have always wanted to go back.
The last two sentences return to reality from the distant homesickness, taking this as a starting point, focusing on the state of mind at that time, as well as the pain of grief in the bones, "for no reason to go around the house to grow pine trees, as far as the wind and rain sound." The pine trees that grew around the roof had now grown into towering trees, almost above the roof, and there was a wind at night, blowing the pine branches and making a very loud sound, which also made me mistakenly think that it was the sound of the waves in the river.
In this poem, Yu Ji describes the helplessness of an old man and the pain of homesickness deeply, although there are only four short sentences, a total of twenty-eight words, but each sentence hits people's hearts, and each sentence is full of sorrow. When the poet sat alone in the courtyard at night, he thought of more hometown, wanted to return to his hometown, and live a plain life, but in real life, he could not go back, nor did he have that opportunity, which also made the poet have a little worry, did not know where to live this life, this delicate and affectionate description, but also let this poem have a unique charm, let people experience the helplessness of the poet.