Autumn Eve 丨 Ancient Poetry Appreciation

Autumn Sunset

Du Mu [Tang Dynasty]

Silver candle autumn light cold painting screen, light luo small fan fluttering firefly.

The night is as cool as water, lying down to watch the morning glory Vega.

Translations

The candlelight of the silver candle reflects the cold picture screen, and the small fan of Ayara in his hand fights the fireflies.

The stone steps in the night are cool as cold water, sitting and staring at the morning glory Vega on both sides of the Tianhe River.

Appreciation

This poem writes about the lonely grievances of the life of a frustrated palace girl.

The first two sentences already paint a picture of life in a deep palace. On an autumn evening, the silver-white candles glow faintly, adding a dim and gloomy hue to the pictures on the screen. At this time, a lonely palace maid was using a small fan to flutter the fireflies flying around. The phrase "lightly fan fluttering fireflies" is very subtle, which contains three meanings: First, the ancients said that rotting grass fireflies, although unscientific, but fireflies always grow in those desolate places between the grass mounds. Nowadays, there are flowing fireflies flying in the courtyard where the palace women live, and the desolation of the palace women's life can be imagined. Second, from the action of the palace girl fluttering fireflies, we can imagine her loneliness and boredom. She had nothing to do but fling fireflies to entertain her lonely years. She used a small fan to beat the fluorescent fireflies, and suddenly fell to the ground, as if she wanted to drive away the loneliness and loneliness that surrounded her, but it was useless. Third, the small fan held by the palace maid has symbolic significance, the fan was originally used to cool off in the summer, and it is useless in the autumn, so the ancient poem often uses the autumn fan as a metaphor for abandoning women. The "light luo small fan" in this poem symbolizes the fate of the palace lady who holds the fan and is abandoned.

In "Heavenly Steps are as cool as water at night", "Heavenly Steps" refers to the stone steps in the Imperial Palace. "The night is as cold as water" implies that the night is already deep, the chill is attacking, and it is time to go into the house to sleep. However, the palace maid was still sitting on the stone steps, looking up at the morning glory stars and Vega stars on both sides of the Tianhe River. According to folklore, the Weaver Girl is the granddaughter of the Emperor of Heaven, married to a morning glory, and meets him once a year when crossing the river on Tanabata, with a magpie as a bridge. The "Roundabout Morning Glory" in the "Nineteen Ancient Poems" of the Han Dynasty is to write their stories. The palace maid looked at the morning glory weaver for a long time, and did not want to sleep late at night, because the story of the morning glory weaver touched her heart, reminded her of her unfortunate life, and also made her yearn for true love. It can be said that all my heart is in this look.

Mei Shengyu said: "It will be possible to write a difficult scene as in the present, with inexhaustible opinions outside the words, and then for the ultimate." These two sentences can explain the artistic characteristics of this poem. The first and third sentences write the scene, and the scene of the autumn night of the deep palace is very realistic in front of the reader's eyes. The word "cold", used as an adjective as a verb, is very atmospheric. The metaphor of "cool as water" has not only a sense of color, but also a sense of temperature. The second and fourth sentences are written about the palace women, implicitly and implicitly, and are very intriguing. Although there is not a single lyrical word in the poem, the complex feelings of the palace maid intertwined with grief and expectation are seen outside the words, reflecting the tragic fate of women in the feudal era from one side.

This poem is cleverly conceived, the language is simple and fluent, the feelings are gentle, and the artistic appeal is very strong, which can represent Du Mu's artistic achievements. From the perspective of form and structure, the combination of the whole poem depicts the scene and the narrative lyricism, showing a flexible posture, which is quite moving. The former aims to create an atmosphere for the latter, the latter intends to regulate the meaning of the former, and the two complement each other.

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