The Southern Song Dynasty lyricist Jiang Kui came from a poor background. Because of his personal experience and talent, he has similarities with the great poet Du Mu of the Tang Dynasty, so when he creates poetry, he especially likes to "use" Du Mu's sentences.
When Jiang Kui was twenty-two years old, passing through Yangzhou after the soldiers, he recalled Du Mu's wind and snow in Yangzhou in those years, and recalled the past and wrote a "self-du song" "Yangzhou Slow Huaizuo Mingdu".
In this poem, Jiang Kui cleverly used Du Mu's five-sentence poem, using a strong contrast between ancient and modern, to write the "sorrow of separation" of the destruction of the country and the death of the family, and the pain of the prodigal son who fell into the rivers and lakes.
Appreciation of "Yangzhou Slow Huaizuo Mingdu"
"Yangzhou Slow Huaizuo Mingdu" - Southern Song Dynasty Jiang Kui
Chun Hee Bing Shen to the day, to Wei Yang. The night snow is at first, and the grass is looking forward to it. Entering the city, they look around at the depression, the cold water is blue, the twilight is gradually rising, and the horns are groaning. Yu Huairan sighed in the past and the present, because he had lived this song. Old Man Qianyan thought that there was a sadness of "detachment".
Huaizuo Mingdu, Zhuxi Jia, Xie An Shao stationed in the initial journey. Ten miles through the spring breeze, as far as the grass wheat green. Since Huma peeped into the river, the pond trees were abandoned, and the soldiers were tired of talking. Gradually dusk, the clear horn blows cold, all in the empty city.
Du Lang Jun's reward is now heavy enough to be shocked. Cardamom word workers, Qinglou dreams well, it is difficult to give affection. The Twenty-Four Bridges are still there, and the waves are turbulent and the cold moon is silent. Read the red medicine by the bridge, and know for whom you are born every year?
Vernacular Translation:
On this day of the winter solstice in the third year of Chunxi (1176 AD), I passed through Yangzhou. It had snowed heavily overnight, had just stopped, and the weather had turned clear. I looked over and saw that the outside of the city was full of cabbage and wheat.
But when I looked around the city, I saw a depression. The water in the moat is turquoise and miserable. In the evening, the trumpets of the army rang in the ears.
I felt sad and lamented the changes in ancient and modern times, so I created my own song and filled in this song. Mr. Senyan thought that this poem was a bit "sad of separation", so he wrote it down.
This is the famous city of Huaidong and the place where Zhuxi Pavilion is located. Unsaddle the horse and make a stop for a moment, as this is where my trip began. Who ever wanted to walk through the "Spring Breeze Ten Mile Yangzhou Road", but what they saw was green buckwheat and wild wheat everywhere.
Since the Jin soldiers invaded the Yangtze River and returned, the abandoned ponds and trees in the city seem to tell the disgust of war. The sky gradually darkened, and the sound of the trumpet blew a cold chill, all of which happened in an empty city.
When Du Mu first "went down to Yangzhou", how graceful he was. If he had come back today, he would have been surprised to see this in front of me.
Even though he has the talent to create "cardamom words", even though he has good memories of the "Qinglou Dream", I am afraid that he cannot write any deep affection in the face of this scene.
The Twenty-Four Bridges are still the Twenty-Four Bridges of the year, but the jade man who blew the whistle on the bridge has long disappeared. I saw that in the middle of the water wave under the bridge, there was a little ripple, reflecting the bright moon in the sky, cold and silent.
I miss the red peony flowers that once bloomed by the bridge, and when winter turns to spring, it will surely bloom again. But at that time, will anyone still appreciate its beauty, and for whom was it born?
In this poem "Yangzhou Slow Huaizuo Mingdu", Jiang Kui has 5 places to "use" Du Mu's verses, and each sentence is used just right.
The first and second sentences of the words, "Huaizuo Mingdu, Zhuxi Jia", come from Du Mu's "Title Yangzhou ZenZhi Temple"; "Who knows Zhuxi Road, the song blows is Yangzhou", "Spring Wind Ten Miles" and "Cardamom Word Worker", all of which are from Du Mu's "Farewell Two Songs".
"Qinglou Dream Good", from Du Mu's "Farewell" in "Win the Qinglou Bo Xingming"; "Twenty-Four Bridges", from "Twenty-four Bridges Han Qiu Judge" in "Twenty-four Bridges Bright Moon Night, Where jade people teach blowing pipes".
In this poem, Jiang Fu traveled to Yangzhou City while recalling Du Mu's experience of "wrapping 100,000 yuan around his waist and riding a crane down to Yangzhou" when he was a teenager. This is used as a comparison between ancient and modern times, evoking sorrow for the rise and fall of the homeland.
The first half of the word focuses on the contrast between the scenery of "Spring Wind Ten Mile Yangzhou Road" and "Tsubame Mi Wang" outside the city, and simply explains the time and place of the incident.
Jiang Kui was only twenty-two years old when he composed this poem, just like Du Mu, who "rode a crane down to Yangzhou". He mentions in the third sentence of the word that Yangzhou is his "initial journey". It means to imply that this is the starting point of his life.
Jiang Fu was born in a family of fallen eunuchs, and his father served in Hanyang Zhi County. This is also similar to Du Mu, except that Du Mu's family power is far greater than that of the Jiang family.
When Jiang Fu was fourteen years old, his father died of illness, and he lived with his married sister until he became an adult. When he was twenty years old, Jiang Kui participated in a scientific expedition, but did not win the move.
Two years later, Jiang Fu began his career as a traveler, and his first stop was Yangzhou. At that time, Du Mu also participated in the imperial examination at his same age, and after zhongju, he came to Yangzhou and worked as an errand under the cattle monks and children.
After comparing the prosperity of Yangzhou Road in the Tang Dynasty with the wild wu outside the city of Yangzhou in the present dynasty, Jiang Kui's eyes turned to the abandoned ponds and trees in the city. He thought that the scenery on the edge of the pond in the bustling past was so beautiful, but now it was empty.
So Jiang Fu said "waste pond trees", as if to tell people's disgust for war. Therefore, even if the Song and Jin countries are now in a "truce" period, people will not return to their homes.
Chinese love to say that "the homeland is difficult to leave", if it is not because the war has caused a huge shadow on people's psychology, then how can they refuse to return to their hometown?
The second half of the word starts from Du Mu's past in Yangzhou to make a comparison between the present and the past. In Yangzhou City, there used to be Du Mu's past affair, there were "cardamom beauties", there were also "Qinglou Dreams", and there were so many places that made him unforgettable.
But once it became a ruined empty city, then even if Du Mu was reborn, there was no way to praise it affectionately. The Twenty-Four Bridges where Du Mu listened to Han Yu blowing the flute were still there, but the person who blew the flute was gone.
The two sentences of "wave heart, cold moon is silent" are quite intriguing. Jiang Fu suddenly found that the center of the waves under the Twenty-Four Bridges had a ripple. It was as if something was responding to the pathos of his heart.
Jiang Fu looked down again, but saw a cold moon reflected in the water, and there was no sound around him. In the face of this famous city destroyed by the war, the endless sorrow that arose in his heart was that he could not find a person to tell.
At this time, Jiang Fu was like the red peony that grew on the edge of the Twenty-Fourth Bridge. By the spring of the following year, even if it can bloom smoothly, I am afraid that no one will come back to appreciate it.
This poem is written here, Jiang Kui is to bring his own personal experience into the body of the red peony, in order to express the sadness in his heart.
epilogue
After Jiang Fu finished writing "Yangzhou Slow Huaizuo Mingdu", he participated in three more imperial examinations, but all of them were named Luosun Mountain. He did not marry a wife until he was in his thirties. A few years later, he went to a place called Baishi Cave to live in seclusion, so he called himself "Baishi Daoren".
Around the age of forty-three, Because of his musical talent, Jiang Kui once got a chance to directly take the rebbe examination, but he did not pass the exam. Since then, he has become a "jianghu wanderer". He became a famous jianghu poet of the Southern Song Dynasty.
Jiang Fu's life was not ruined, so his lyrics often had the color of personal tragedy. At the same time, because he often befriended celebrities such as Fan Dacheng and Xin Shuyi, in order to write about the hatred of the country and the family, the "Sorrow of Departure" of "Shijing Wang Feng" can often be seen in the poems.
This style of work that blends the hatred of the country and the family with personal tragedy can already be seen in the song "Yangzhou Slow Huaizuo Mingdu" composed by Jiang Fu when he was a teenager.