As we all know, the word is a carrier of Chinese literature, which began in the Liang Dynasty, was formed in the Tang Dynasty, and flourished in the Two Song Dynasties. Today we appreciate this excellent poem by Li Yu, the last monarch of the Southern Tang Dynasty, "When is the Spring Flower and Autumn Moon of Yu Meiren". This "Yu Meiren" is a famous work that Li Yu has been reciting for thousands of years, and it is also his desperate word.
In the third year of the Northern Song Dynasty (978), Li Yu had been imprisoned in Beijing for nearly three years. Legend has it that on the night of Li Yu's birthday on July 7, he sang this word in his residence and in a song and a prostitute, and when Emperor Taizong of Song heard about it, zhao Guangyi ordered someone to poison him with poisoned wine, and he was only forty-one years old.
Through the contrast between the sharp contradiction between the eternity of nature and the impermanence of life, Li Yu expresses the sadness of feeling that life has been lost after the fall of the country, which is a lament for life and a masterpiece of the author, which has its own unique features in art, showing the infinite grievances of a king of the fallen country.
Yu Meiren
— Li Yu
When is the Spring Flower autumn moon? How much do you know about the past! Xiao Lou had another east wind last night, and the homeland could not look back at the middle of the moon.
The carved fence jade should still be there, but Zhu Yan changed. How much sorrow can you have? Just like a river of spring water flowing east!
I. Author Profile
Li Yu (937–973), the last monarch of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was a native of Xuzhou (present-day Jiangsu).
Although Li Yu was politically mediocre and incompetent, he was versatile, good at painting, fine music, poetry and literature, especially the highest achievement of words, the most accomplished poet of the five generations, known as the "Emperor of Words through the Ages", and also a first-class person in the entire history of words. Thirty-eight extant words can be determined, and sixteen poems are preserved.
His words are divided by the subjugation of the country, and in the early period, he often describes court pleasures and male and female love, and the style of words is beautiful; In the later period, he wrote more about the pain of the fall of the country and the remembrance of the life of the emperors in the past, and the style was mournful and poignant. In terms of artistic techniques, he is good at using white painting, directly expressing the chest and expressing the thoughts and feelings of the characters; In terms of theme and artistic conception, he broke through the confinement and narrowness of the words between flowers, and expanded the functions of words to express life and lyrical speech. Therefore, Wang Guowei said in "Words and Sayings on Earth": "After the words of Li Hou Lord, the vision began to be large, and the feelings were deepened."
II. Translation:
Spring flowers bloom every year, autumn moons bright every year, when will the time come to an end? Last night, the spring breeze blew on the small building again, how could I endure the pain of remembering my homeland on this night when the moon was empty.
In the old days, the elaborately carved railings and jade steps in Jinling City should still be there, but the people who lived inside had changed, and the people who missed them had aged. Ask me how much sorrow I have in my heart, probably like the endless and endless water of the spring river.
III. Notes:
Yu Meiren: It is the name of the word brand, also known as "One River Spring Water", "Jade Kettle Water", "Wushan Twelve Peaks" and so on. When is it? When will it be finished. DONE: The end, the end.
East Wind Again: East Wind Blows Again. It means that spring is here again.
Homeland: A guide to Jinling (present-day Nanjing), the former capital of the Tang Dynasty.
Can't look back: Can't bear to look back.
Carved railing jade: carved railings and white jade steps. Here's a guide to the architecture of the Tang Palace. Appendix, a "column". Masonry, steps.
It should still be there: it should still exist, right? Yes, "still".
Zhu Yan changed: Her rosy face became haggard. Here borrowed the guide Tang Palace lady became old and haggard.
Ask the King: The author asked, but in fact, he asked himself.
A few more: how much.
IV. Appreciation:
The language of this word is clear, condensed, beautiful and fresh, starting with questioning, using a variety of rhetorical techniques such as metaphor, comparison, contrast, and questioning to answer the conclusion, from asking the sky, asking people to asking questions, highly summarizing and vividly expressing the author's true feelings. Through the tone of the poignant and the artistic structure of twists and turns, the author's melancholy thoughts run through the whole process, forming a refreshing aesthetic effect.
The words began abruptly and asked, "When is the spring flower and autumn moon?" How much do you know about the past?" Borrowing the cycle of nature, it continues endlessly, lamenting the shortness and impermanence of life and the fate of many fates. Spring returns to autumn, flowers blossom and thank you, the moon chart is missing, and the cycle is endless. And when the flowers are still blooming, the moon is missing and the moon is full, but the past that can be lost- the glory of the Southern Tang Dynasty and the life when he was an emperor, "once he was classified as a vassal", will never reappear. Its meaning is regrettable, and its sentiment is sad. "Little night and east wind", on the surface, is a scenic phrase that explains the reality of time and space, but in fact it contains a very rich emotional content. In the scene, the feelings are extremely deep, and the pain is overflowing with words. "The homeland can't look back at the moon and the middle of the moon", the bright moon is still the same, the country and the mountains have changed masters, and now it is not the same as in the past, is it not touching the sense of life? At this point, the waves of feelings broke the embankment and rushed out, until the lyricist's grief was exhausted. The lyricist said that the "homeland" was "unbearable to look back", but in fact, he "looked back" everywhere, "looked back" all the time, and it was impossible not to "look back". This is also the penmanship that wants to be promoted first. Mr. Tang Guizhang said that the "small" sentence "shrinks the pen and swallows", and the "homeland" sentence "put the pen call sign", which is indeed the case. "The carved fence jade should still be there, but Zhu Yan changed", inheriting the sentence of "homeland". Looking back on the past, the writer emits a sad exclamation that things are not human. "Zhu Yan Gai" can be understood as the lyricist self-injured and became a "vassal" of the Zhao and Song Dynasties, and the "carved fence jade brick" is still the same, but he is getting older and unable to restore the country; It can also be understood that the miyagi concubines who used to be happy with themselves are now no longer in their charm. But this is all just a literal meaning, and what the writer actually wants to say is that the country has changed, only because he does not dare to speak directly, so he borrows it. In the first six sentences, the author adopts a three-dimensional contrast, interval between the passages, and repeatedly compares the eternal invariance of the universe with the transience and impermanence of life, which is extremely philosophical and rational. The first two sentences are compared with the "spring flowers and autumn moon" in nature and the number of "past events" in the human world; The third sentence "Little last night and the east wind" is compared with the fourth sentence "The homeland can not look back", and the "Eastern Spring" Sanyu flips back to echo the first sentence "Spring Flower" and "When is it"; The fourth sentence, "Unbearable to look back", echoes the second sentence "How much do you know about the past"; The fifth sentence, "The carved fence jade should still be there", is compared with the sixth sentence "Zhu Yanjie". So back and forth, singing three sighs, condensing the pain of the lyricist's loss of the country and the grief and indignation together, to the end of the sentence "Suddenly flowing out of the lungs", it burst out - "Ask the king how many sorrows can there be, just like a river of spring water flowing eastward." This timeless metaphorical melancholy sentence uses extremely exaggerated and appropriate metaphors to visualize abstract melancholy, colored and sound, perceptible and palpable, and with questions and answers, doubling out a "melancholy" word, so that the whole word has reached the realm of pre-echo and post-response in tone, flowing away from nature.
Wang Guowei commented in the "Deleted Manuscript of Human Words": "The words of the five generations of the Tang Dynasty have sentences but no passages. The words of the famous masters of the Southern Song Dynasty have a chapter but no sentence. There is a sentence that only Li Hou lord descended to the Song Dynasty and YongShu, Zi Zhan, Shao You, Mei Cheng, and Jia Xuan. Needless to say in terms of structure, "Ask the king how many sorrows he can have, just like a river of spring water flowing eastward" has become a famous sentence that has been recited for thousands of years; As for the layout of the plot, it seems that it has not been deliberately arranged, but it is in harmony with the nature, the flow shows the level, the endowing, and the gesture is smooth, showing the superb artistic skills of the lyricist.