The Forgotten Corner of "Love" - Talking about Love's "Long Hate Song"

"That rose, like all roses

It only opened one morning

One by one Balzak"

This is the introduction to Love's "Long Hate Song", which was originally an integral part of the "sacred territory" of the poem; but it was abandoned by connoisseurs, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and the Dictionary of New Poetry Appreciation says nothing about it.

The reason for the abandonment is simple, connoisseurs believe that this poem, like Bai Juyi's "Long Hate Song", is also written about the love tragedy of Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei. Therefore, this introduction is nothing more than a metaphor or symbol of the "tragedy of love", and what else is there to explore?

But the question is, is this poem written about the love tragedy of Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei?????

If we examine the "literal logic" of the introduction, we will find that the "tragedy of love" does not go well.

According to the view of "love tragedy", "rose" refers to "love", and "only one morning" is naturally "love tragedy".

At first glance, it seems logical; if you think about it, it doesn't make sense. According to this statement, it is not true

"All love in the world is a tragedy"

at? How ridiculous is this!

What to do?

We have to look for the answer from the connotation of the "introduction" itself. Since the name of this quotation is "Balzac", we also know that Balzac was a famous French novelist; then this introduction must be from one of Balzac's novels. Now the Internet is so convenient, a casual search can know that it is from the novel "Tall Old Man". It would be best if you could read through the novel; if you couldn't read through it, you could also read the synopsis.

Here are two web posts I found:

"The Tall Old Man" tells the story of the protagonist Old Man Gao, a flour merchant who started during the French Revolution, lost his wife in middle age, he poured all his love into his two daughters, in order to squeeze them into high society, gave them a good education from an early age, and gave them a dowry of 800,000 francs each when he married, but his two daughters lived a debauched life, spending money like dirt, and his love was easily overcome by the principle of the supremacy of money. This work is of representative significance in showing the breadth and depth of social life, in reflecting the progressiveness and limitations of the writer's world view, and in expressing the artistic achievements and shortcomings of "Comedy on Earth". His artistic style is one of the works that best represents balzac's characteristics.

"The Tall Old Man" focuses on exposing and criticizing the naked financial relations between people in the capitalist world. Set in Paris from the end of 1819 to the beginning of 1820, the novel focuses on two parallel and intersecting stories: the old man Gaurio, a retired flour merchant, was snubbed by his two daughters and tragically died in the attic of the voguet apartment; the young Rastigné was constantly changing under the corrosion of Parisian society, but still maintained justice and morality. It is also interspersed with the stories of Madame De Beauséon and Voltaire. Through the two main stages of alternating between shabby apartments and luxurious aristocratic salons, the writer paints a picture of the materialism and extreme ugliness of Parisian society, reveals the moral degeneration of the bourgeoisie under the domination of the power of money and the ruthlessness between people, reveals the inevitable demise of the aristocratic class under the attack of the bourgeoisie, and truly reflects the characteristics of the Bourbon Restoration period.

Judging from the online articles, "Tall Old Man" and "Love Tragedy" seem to be incompatible, but it is related to the "tragedy of fate" of the characters.

Let's collect the search "That rose, like all roses, only opened for one morning", from whose mouth is in the book? The following is another quoted web article:

Miss Mixuno came in softly, nodded to the crowd without a word, and sat down next to the three wives.

　　"As soon as I saw her, she snorted, this old bat," Pian Xun whispered to Voltaire, pointing at Mixuno. "I studied the osteopathy of Ying'er (Ying'er 1758-1828, German doctor, the first osteopharmacy) and found that she had the anti-bone of Judah."

　　"Does your husband know Judah?" Volta asked coldly.

　　"Who hasn't met Judas?" Pi anxun answered. "I bet this bloodless old girl, like those long worms, the beams will be hollowed out."

　　Volta looked at his sideburns and said, "This is called, child, that rose, like all roses, has only been open for one morning." ”

Although I have quoted a lot of words, readers who have not read a novel are still confused. Honestly, I was also sharpening the gun and only read a small part of the front.

Where does this come from? Let's start with the "Judas" mentioned in the dialogue. Yes, Judas mentioned here is the man in the Bible who betrayed Jesus. Pi Anxun's intuition was also not wrong at all, this bloodless, skinny old girl Miss Mixuno did later sell the fugitive Fu Tuo Leng nicknamed "Ghost Deceived" - "Miss Mi Xu Nuo, she accepted the police station's secret agent to spy on Fu Tuo Leng's identity. She was anesthetic in a drink of voltron, and volta was drunk and unconscious. Mixuno took off his coat and slapped him on the shoulder, and the words "slave" immediately appeared on his bright red skin. When Vulture woke up, the police had surrounded the Vogail apartment. ”

But doesn't this seem to have anything to do with "that rose, like all roses, only opened for one morning"? Without any hurry, we then analyze the conversation between Pi Anxun and Volta.

"I bet this bloodless old girl, like those long worms, the beams will be hollowed out."

What Pi Anxun meant was that the reason why the old girl Mixuno was now old and ugly, like an old bat, could not marry out, was entirely because of excessive indulgence when she was young, her body was hollowed out, and she could not recover.

Volta is nicknamed "ghost deceived", people to middle age, look at the problem is more essential, of course, will not agree with her words, so said out:

"It's called, O child, that rose, like all roses, blooms for only one morning."

Such a famous quote.

Volta means that a woman's face is extremely short-lived, like a rose flower blooming only one morning.

From the above three aspects: "the logic of the text", "the story synopsis of "The Tall Old Man" and "the famous words of Volta", I can roughly conclude that Love's "Long Hate Song" is not a love tragedy between Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei, but a tragedy of Yang Guifei's fate.

Why is it the tragedy of Yang Guifei's fate? Stay tuned for the next section.