Ascend to the Fast Pavilion
【Song Dynasty】 Huang Tingjian
Idiot but public affairs, fast cabinet things rely on the evening sun. The sky is vast, and the Chengjiang River is clearly divided. Zhu Xian has been a beautiful person, and the blue eyes chat because of the wine. Wanli returned to the ship to get the flute, this heart I and the white gull alliance.
Translations
I finished my business, climbed up to the Fast Pavilion, and leaned against the railing in the afterglow of the evening sun.
Looking at the countless autumn mountains in the distance, the leaves are drifting to zero, and the heavens and the earth are even more vast. The Chengjiang River flows under the bright moon, and the moonlight looks even more empty and clear.
Friends are far away, there is no interest in playing strings, only when they see fine wine, their eyes show joy.
I returned by boat from thousands of miles away, and on the boat I played the flute; this heart of mine will be willing to befriend the white gull.
Creative background
This poem was written in 1082 (the fifth year of Emperor Yuanfeng of the Song Dynasty), when Huang Tingjian was in Zhi County, Taihe County, Jizhou (now part of Jiangxi), and in addition to official business, poets often went to the Kuaige Pavilion of "Above the Chengjiang River, named after the vast and vast rivers and mountains, and the scenery qinghua" ("Qing Yi Rule Ji'an Fu"), which was felt by the feeling.
Appreciation
This is a lyric poem written by Huang Tingjian when he was in Taihe Zhi County.
Generally speaking, the beginning of an article or poem is often difficult, so that some literary scholars often cut off the beginning of it, because at the beginning, the author has not yet integrated with the context of the work, so it is easy to act. At the beginning of this poem, it is told in colloquial language, but it can be conceived wonderfully and fascinatingly. The poet said, "I, the idiot, finished my business, ascended to the Fast Pavilion, and in the afterglow of this night, I leaned on the railing and looked out. These two sentences, which seem to be popular and shallow, contain extremely rich content: the previous sentence is in the words of Xiahou Ji contained in the "Biography of Fu Xian" of the Book of Jin, "Give birth to a child, official affairs, and official affairs are not easy." Things are sitting stupid, back to the fast ear! The latter sentence uses Du Fu's "Gaze at the Hanjiang Leaning Mountain Pavilion" and Li Shangyin's "Ancient Virginity Soul Leaning on Twilight Xia" classics, and there are many renovations that are surprising. The word "idiot" translates the meaning of the predecessors, and directly recognizes himself as "idiot", which is one of the humors; the word "but" renders the poet's cheerful mood of relief, which echoes with the "fast" of "fast pavilion", thus increasing the sense of being in one breath.
Not only that, the three words of "Leaning on the Evening Qing" also paved the way for the description of the next sentence, so that the poet burst out of the song of "falling wood and a thousand mountains and the sky is far away, and the Chengjiang River is clear and the moon is distinct". Looking at countless autumn mountains in the distance, the fallen leaves on the mountains are drifting zero, the vast sky appears to be more vast and broad at this time, and the clear and jade-like Chengjiang River flows under the Kuaige Pavilion, and a crescent moon is reflected in the river water, which is more empty and clear. This is a depiction of the scenery that the poet saw when he first boarded the Kuaige Pavilion, and it is also a portrayal of the poet's heart. Reading such verses, one cannot help but be reminded of Du Fu's famous sentences of "Boundless falling wood is under Xiao Xiao, and the Yangtze River is not endless" and Xie Guan's "Yu Xia is scattered into Qi, and the Chengjiang River is pure as practice". However, the sentence of the Yellow Valley not only draws on the nutrients of the predecessors to be tempered and melted, but also reproduces a new realm. Therefore, previous generations have commented on these two sentences: "Its artistic conception is open, but it can really split the mysteries of ancient and modern times." (Zhang Zongtai's "Lu Zhai's Collection of Learning")
The fifth and sixth sentences are the middle sentences of the poet's clever use of allusions. The previous sentence uses the story of Bo Ya holding the piano Xie Zhiyin. The "Lü's Spring and Autumn Benwei Chapter" says: "Zhong Zi died during the period, Bo Ya broke the strings of the piano, and never returned to the drum and piano for life, thinking that there was no enough to return to the drum and piano." The latter sentence uses Nguyen's blue and white eyes. Shi Zai Nguyen Was good as a green and white eye, "seeing the people of etiquette and customs, with white eyes to them", seeing the people who are pleasing, "seeing the blue eyes" (Jin Shu Nguyen Book Biography). The poet's two sentences basically mean that because Zhiyin was not there, I broke the strings on the piano and stopped playing, so I had to clear the bottle of wine and chat to relieve my worries. The word "horizontal" is used very vividly here, holding out the image of the poet helpless, lonely and bored.
The poet said that he hoped to get on the return boat, play the melodious flute, and return to the distant hometown--my heart had already made a covenant with the white gull. Judging from the structure of the whole poem, this ending is quite wonderful: the poet at the beginning begins with "idiots but official family affairs", revealing the boredom of the official career and the desire to enjoy the natural scenery of the Fast Pavilion; then, gradually entering a better situation, the poet revels in the beautiful scenery of the falling wood and the moon and the moon of the Chengjiang River, which is in stark contrast with the beginning of the "public affairs" of "but"; the five or six sentences of the poet make a series of repetitions: In the beautiful scenery of the good day, the worries in the poet's heart come for no reason, and the poet feels that his ambitions cannot be realized. The pain of no one understands in their own bosom. So, what is the way out of liberation? This naturally leads to the poet's idea of "returning to the ship" and "white gull". This ending not only echoes the beginning, but also ends with the trend, giving people the feeling of "circling down in one breath" (Pan Boying's comment). And the meaning is timeless, making people imagine endlessly.
About the Author
Huang Tingjian (9 August 1045 – 24 May 1105), courtesy name Luzhi, was a native of Fuweng, Hongzhou (present-day Xiushui County, Jiujiang, Jiangxi). A famous writer and calligrapher of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the founder of the Jiangxi poetry school. With the same name as Su Shi, he is known as "Su Huang". [] Huang Tingjian put forward poetic theories such as "turning iron into gold" and "taking the birth and changing the bones", which had a profound impact on Song poetry and later generations, and his works include "Valley Words" and "DengkuiGe". In 1105, he died in Yizhou (Yishan County, Guangxi), posthumously honoring Wenjie.