"Reading for All" Mengman: Wang Changling's "Lotus Picking Song"

Mengman: Wang Changling's "Lotus Picking Song"

Readable for all

★★★★★

Today I would like to share with you Wang Changling's "Lotus Picking Song".

Lotus skirt one-color cut,

Fleur opened her face to either side.

Can't see in the pool,

When I heard the song, I realized that someone was coming.

Picking lotuses is an important theme in classical Chinese poetry. Why? Because although picking lotuses is a kind of labor, this kind of labor is different from other labors, it has its own beauty and poetry. General labor, for example, Li Sheng's "Mercy Farmer", "when the day of hoeing is noon, the sweat drops are under the soil", good nature is good, deep feelings, but it is not beautiful. But the lotus picking is different, everyone thinks, in the middle of summer, the turquoise lotus leaves, the delicate lotus flowers, plus the lively and beautiful lotus girl, itself is a painting, is a poem. Let people see it, and naturally there will be an urge to chant.

The earliest poem about picking lotuses can be seen at present, and of course, the most wonderful one is "Jiangnan" of Han Le Fu. Everyone knows that "Jiangnan can pick lotus, lotus leaves He Tiantian, fish play between lotus leaves." Fish play lotus leaf east, fish play lotus leaf west, fish play lotus leaf south, fish play lotus leaf north". This is le fu, le fu is originally sung. How to sing it? According to Mr. Yu Yingshi's research, the first three sentences are the lead singer, and the last four sentences are choruses.

The lead singer sketches out the overall style of Jiangnan Lotus Pond, and the chorus is a repeated chant of the same sentence, reflecting the fish moving around the lotus leaves, lively and bright, which is really a natural sound! In fact, there are more interesting places in this poem, you see since the lotus picking, naturally there should be both people and flowers, but this song of music, there is no lotus picker, there is no lotus flower, just with a field of lotus leaves and a few shuttle fish, let us automatically make up a pool of delicate lotus flowers, a group of beautiful lotus girls, and even several young men who have nothing to do next to them, no words to find words, and constantly dedicate themselves. Why?

Because folk songs like Bixing the most, the most exquisite pun, "lotus" of "lotus leaf" harmonic "pity" of "pity", so "fish play between lotus leaves" symbolizes a young man chasing around the girl, these images in ancient Chinese seem to be self-evident things. So although this Songle Fu didn't say anything, we can all make up for it, which is really beautiful.

At the time of the Han Dynasty, the main economic zone was still in the north, so although there was a music house like "Jiangnan" that talked about picking lotuses, it was not common. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties period, because of the Wuhu Chaohua, a large number of northerners moved south, and Jiangnan was further developed, so the most Jiangnan style of lotus picking songs suddenly increased. Like Emperor Wu of Liang and Emperor Yuan of the Southern Dynasty, father and son, they all wrote lotus songs, and they wrote well. For example, Emperor Liang Yuan's "Picking Lotus Fu" received such a poem: "Jasper little family daughter, to marry the king of Runan." The lotus flowers are chaotic, and the lotus leaves are mixed with incense. Because he was a gentleman who was willing to attack Furong", liu jasper, the concubine of the famous jasper king of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in Chinese history, also dressed up as a lotus-picking woman, saying that her face was like a lotus flower, and her incense was like a lotus leaf. You see that although this poem also has a folk song style, compared with the music house just said, the literati atmosphere is obviously a lot heavier. But no matter how it changes, the theme of the lotus song is always the same. What theme? The beautiful scenery, the cheerful labor, and the vague admiration between the lotus girl and the young man.

Is this the same thing about Wang Changling's lotus picking song? Let's look at the first two sentences:

These two sentences are so beautifully written! Where beautiful, first of all, the color is beautiful. What color? In the first sentence, since it is "lotus leaf skirt one color cut", then this color is naturally green. The second sentence, "Hibiscus opens to both sides of the face", can be pink or pink, anyway, it is the color of the lotus, and it is also the face of a young girl. This is a beautiful match, it is not the tender green with burnt yellow in spring, nor the green with old red in autumn, but the most vital thick green with bright pink. This is the color of summer, and it is also the color of young women's lives!

This is the first beauty, where is the second beauty? Syntax is also beautiful. You see these two poems are nothing more than saying that the lotus woman's skirt is as green as a lotus leaf, and the lotus woman's face is as red as a lotus flower, so the metaphor is naturally good, but it is too common to be amazing. So how does the poet write? He does not write about who looks like whom, but says that lotus leaves and luo skirts are one color, and they are both cut, which is actually a reverse metaphor and an anthropomorphic treatment. Because the luo skirt was indeed cut, how could the lotus leaf be cut? But the poet will say this, "Lotus skirt is cut in one color", which is fresh. The "hibiscus opens to both sides of the face" is the same, he does not say that the face of the lotus girl is like a lotus flower, but that the hibiscus, that is, the lotus flower, is open to the face of the lotus woman, is this not still a reverse metaphor anthropomorphic treatment? Lotus flowers and lotus leaves all seem to have life, and they are all moving closer to the lotus picking woman, and they are all echoing with the lotus picking woman. In this way, we will also understand, don't look at these two sentences written about lotus leaves and lotus flowers, who is the real protagonist of the poem, the scenery of the lotus pond or the girl who picks lotuses? Of course it was the girl who picked the lotus.

Then connecting these two sentences together is actually very similar to what Emperor Liang Yuandi said, "The lotus flower is chaotic, and the lotus leaves are miscellaneous". But you see that Emperor Liang Yuan used white painting, while Wang Changling used a contrast, so it is much more flexible. We all seem to be able to see that in that piece of green leaf and red lotus, the lotus picking woman's green Luo skirt has been integrated into the field lotus leaf, and it is not clear who is the lotus leaf and who is the Luo skirt. The face of the lotus-picking woman also corresponds to the delicate lotus flower, and the flowers are difficult to distinguish. These lotus picking women are simply part of the lotus pond, that is, the lotus fairy! You see that although these two sentences also have the verbs of "cut" and "open", in general, the scene is still quiet and beautiful.

The next two sentences are not the same, it suddenly moves.

What is "random intrusion"? The so-called "chaotic entry" is not a chaotic entry, it is the meaning of mixing. The phrase "can't be seen in the pool" actually describes the poet's feelings between a trance. The first two sentences have not been fully laid, the lotus leaf skirt, the hibiscus face, has been in a trance, it is difficult to distinguish. The poet had probably been staring at it before, and at this moment, for a moment of trance, a little wandering, the lotus-picking girls seemed to be gone, they had all gone deep into the lotus, merged into the green leaves and red lotuses, and melted into part of the green leaves and red lotuses. Yes, it is also true and illusory, what a beautiful sight. However, when the poet was looking forward to it, but he couldn't see it, couldn't tell the difference, and was a little anxious, there was suddenly a clear and sweet ling song in the lotus pond, and he suddenly realized that this group of invisible lotus girls was still in this lotus pond, and their songs were close, and they were coming.

What kind of scene is this? People were gone, but suddenly they heard the song and knew that there was someone. Where is the man? In fact, it is still hidden in the lotus leaves. The poet still hasn't really seen their figures, and when he says he sees them, he doesn't see them, he doesn't see them but he hears them, how interesting, how subtle, how youthful! The lotus blossoms, the lotus woman sings, and the poet, the poet, stands on the shore, watching, listening, and thinking. Did the Lotus Picker care about him? They probably didn't know the existence of poets, they just worked freely and joyfully, was this a bit of a "sentimental but ruthlessly annoyed" feeling? It seems that there is a little, and it seems that there is no, which leaves a leisurely and endless taste of love, which is in line with the natural beauty of the lotus song singing, singing female beauty, singing dynamic beauty, and also singing the main theme of youth beauty!

[Mengman: Member of the Chang'an Avenue Reading Club, Professor of the School of History and Culture of the Central University for Nationalities]