In daily life, drinking and partying with three or five friends, it is inevitable that they will say some dirty words to ridicule and laugh, and friends with a little culture will also quote some ancient poems, which seems to be very standard.
If you want to ask which poem you use most often when "driving", it is estimated that the first reaction of many friends is "a tree of pear blossoms pressing begonias". But recently some people think that this poem is not as "dirty" as we think, if you don't know the meaning of it, or don't mess with it, what is going on?
Image: Stills from friends drinking and partying
First, the relationship between "dirty poetry" and Su Shi
1. Imposed name
In the eyes of many people, although the poem "a tree of pear blossoms pressing begonias" reads very beautiful and elegant, it is not a "serious" poem, which stems from a story that has been circulating in the folk.
It is said that when Su Shi, a great literary hero of the Song Dynasty, ridiculed Zhang Xianna's concubine, he wrote: "Eighteen brides and eighty langs, pale hair and red makeup." Mandarin ducks are lined up in double nights, and a tree of pear blossoms presses begonias. "The implications are really intriguing.
However, in recent years, with the continuous digging and examination of scholars, it has been basically determined that this poem is not from Su Shi's handwriting, but a folk passage that originated in the Ming Dynasty, according to the ming dynasty scholar Jiang Yikui in the "Yaoshan TangWaiji" record.
The general meaning is to translate it for everyone, saying that a person is sixty years old, but still prefers female color, and as a result, when it comes to the cave flower candle, the woman is like a swallow in spring, but the man is like a long-term sick patient. At the end of the story there is also a commentary on the poem, in which "a tree of pear blossoms presses begonias".
In the late Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, this poem also occasionally appeared in the rivers and lakes, but it had nothing to do with Su Shi, and it was not until the 1980s that someone wrote this poem into Su Shi's anecdotes and anecdotes, which was widely popularized.
It is undeniable that as a famous talent in the history of ancient literature, Su Shi's life can also be described as a continuous red face, such as Su Xiaomei and so on, but the problem is that these have not been completed in the end.
Image: Stills of the Night of the Cave House Flower Candles
2. The real protagonist
According to folk rumors, the male protagonist of "a tree of pear blossoms pressing begonias" is called Zhang Xian, who is 47 years older than Su Shi, and he lived until he died at the age of 88, which can be described as a real "ancient rarity" in that era when the average life expectancy was less than 40.
The person who can make Su Shi laugh, it must not be an ordinary person, in fact, this Zhang Xian is an outstanding representative of the Song Dynasty's gentle literature, in his works, we can easily see the love between men and women in the Song Dynasty, which shows that his own temperament is also very free and open.
So aside from folklore, there are many anecdotes about Zhang Xian in history, such as when he was eighty years old, he took a concubine who was only eighteen years old.
Su Shi once made a poem called "Zhang Ziye Nian Eighty-Five Shangwen Buy Concubine Shu Gu Ling Poem", the "Zhang Ziye" in this title is not someone else, or refers to Zhang Xian, "Ziye" is Zhang Xian's word.
In this poem, "Mr. Jinli laughs at himself, mo cheats nine feet of sideburns" describes Zhang Xian's proud appearance to the fullest, the whole text is too explicit, I will not quote, you can go to see for yourself.
Image: Screenshot of Su Shi's portrait data
Second, the deep meaning of the verse
1. The epitome of the times
Every sentence in "Zhang Ziye's Eighty-Five Shangwen BuyIng Concubines Recounting Ancient Ling Poems" is very interesting, and careful reading can also find the source, such as "Mr. Jinli" in the first sentence is a poor hermit in Du Fu's poem, and the second sentence of "Yingying Yanyan" belongs to the familiar idiom, referring to those flocks of concubines or wind and dust women.
When it comes to the sentence "Xiangjun under the pillar still has teeth", it is more fragrant, which is a historical story, the protagonist is zhang cang, the minister of the Han Dynasty, it is said that after he was old, his teeth were lost, but he also took pleasure in sucking human milk every day.
And Zhang Cang's wives and concubines were in groups, and the highest record reached more than a hundred people, and it was estimated that all the emperors of all generations would retreat. But on the contrary, Zhang Cang also successfully lived to be more than a hundred years old before he died under the "help" of these wives and concubines.
In Dahui's view, Su Shi's poem "Zhang Ziye Nian Eighty-Five Shangwen Buy Concubines Shu Guling Poem" can be much more open and explicit than a simple sentence "a tree of pear blossoms pressing begonias", but why is the latter famous through the ages? To put it bluntly, it is still because it is popular and beautiful to read, and it does not lose its mood.
So even if this poem has a "stain", everyone is full of praise, after all, in special occasions, there is still a "miracle effect", so why can't this poem be used indiscriminately?
Image from the Internet: A tree of pear blossom pressed begonias
2, do not understand do not use indiscriminately
We can analyze it in conjunction with the context of this poem, we all know that "pear blossom" is white in most cases, if you use this word to describe people, then the other party must be a white-haired elderly person, "begonia" is red, that is, refers to a young woman with a red face.
Sandwiched between the two words is a "pressure" word, the meaning of which is self-evident, what does it mean? In layman's terms, "a tree of pear blossoms pressing begonias" is similar to what people now understand as "old cows eat tender grass".
Friends who often watch movies should know that there was once a very popular movie that was introduced into China, and the translated name was called "A Tree of Pear Blossoms Pressing Begonias", yes, this is the famous word "Lolita".
This Chinese translation of the name at that time attracted a lot of praise, many viewers think that it is very in line with the introverted temperament of the Chinese people, and does not lose the ingenuity of literature and art, it is a perfect integration of traditional Chinese culture and Western literature and art, but in Dahui's view, this film in addition to the protagonist in the age of a little "a tree of pear blossoms pressed begonias" meaning, other connotations are almost bad.
Image: Screenshot of the Lolita clip
In ancient poetry, the status of concubines is insignificant, completely passive, to put it bluntly, they are victims of that era, and they have no right to choose their destiny.
The protagonist is an elderly man like Zhang Xian, and more importantly, "a tree of pear blossoms pressing begonias" only has the meaning of ridicule between friends, but there is no irony, after all, as a man of that era, everyone acquiesced to this.
Image: Stills of an elderly man and a concubine
But in the movie is different, Lolita has become an absolute protagonist, although it is a victim, but also has its own choice and right to speak, due to the great difference in historical background, the heroine and the concubine in the poem are simply worlds apart, if you use "a tree of pear blossoms to press begonias" to interpret, this is obviously insufficient in connotation and depth.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!