The imagery of the cuckoo in ancient poetry, which is commonly used by poets, is nothing more than the legend of the Shu Emperor, the zigui, the urging, the spring grudge and other allegories, but the poem Saint Du Fu has a unique path and reinterprets the meaning of the cuckoo.
Cuckoo
Nishikawa has cuckoos, and Higashikawa has no cuckoos.
Fuwan has no cuckoos, and Yun'an has cuckoos.
I used to visit Jincheng, and I was at the water's edge of Jinlu.
There is more than one piece of bamboo, and the trees are towering in the sky.
Cuckoos are in the twilight of spring, and they are mourning.
I often worship again, and it is the soul of the ancient emperor.
Give birth to a hundred birds' nests, and the birds do not dare to be angry.
Still to feed his son, the liturgy is to be worshipped as supreme.
The geese and the lambs, before the ceremony of the ancients.
Flying and kneeling, knowing the order is like knowing grace.
The ancient laws of the sages are passed down to future generations.
Jun looks at the birds and birds, and understands the cuckoo.
This is the twilight of spring, and it is the time of my illness.
Unable to worship when he was sick, he burst into tears.
"I often worship again, and it is the soul of the ancient emperor." Give birth to a hundred bird nests, a hundred birds do not dare to be angry", Du Fu combined the parasitism of the cuckoo nest with the legend of the Shu Emperor, laying the status of the cuckoo's respect.
"Still to feed his son, the liturgy is to be worshipped as supreme." The geese and the lambs, before the ceremony of the ancients. Flying and kneeling, knowing the order is like knowing grace. The ancient laws of the sages, paid and passed down to future generations, "Four sentences write that the geese fly in an orderly manner and have the gift of brotherhood; the sheep have the grace of kneeling and the grace of mother and child." Here is written the ancient law that cuckoos and other animals follow: the order of dignity and inferiority. If things are like this, why should people be inferior?
The next four sentences are "The king looks at the birds and birds, and understands the cuckoos." This is the twilight of spring, and it is the time of my illness. Sick cannot worship, tears are like a spring": The birds still know the worship, but I cannot bow down because of the disease. The ancestral courtesy of kings and subjects was also abandoned, and only tears could fall like rain. The last two sentences satirize in the form of self-criticism that the assassins at that time did not obey the king's orders and the tun soldiers were self-respecting, which was in stark contrast to Yan Wu, who was "horizontal and mean, but the actual capital was in the Central Plains".
The poet's sorrow is far less than this, and the poet's tears are for himself and for the monarch. The poem was written in the first year of the Tang Dynasty (766), two years after Yan Wu's death. When Du Fu saw Cuckoo, he couldn't help but think of a loyal and courageous courtier like Yan Wu, who was loyal to the king, but died young, while an official with a disobedient heart did not seek his post in his position, which was really the sorrow of the country and the sorrow of the people. The country is out of order, the edifice has fallen, but it can only be powerless like duckweed, and it is impossible to overcome itself.
This poem conveys the ancient law of the ceremonial order of the monarch through the cuckoo bird, and at the same time uses the tragic image of the cuckoo bird to allude to the loss of order and the destruction of the king's program, this writing method Du Fu is the first person in ancient and modern times.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, some poets followed suit, all titled "Cuckoo Line". It is Du Fu's life experience and inner pursuit that contribute to the iteration of the image of the cuckoo in the poem. He, who has been in trouble for half a lifetime, still does not forget his original intention, worries about the country and the people, and truly achieves the high height of the temple, worries about the people, and worries about the king when he is far away from the rivers and lakes. Du Fu's other poem "Cuckoo Line" is even more pronounced, pointing directly at Li Longji, the Emperor of Tang Ming.
Jun did not see the former Shu Tianzi, and turned into a cuckoo like an old wu.
The parasitic children do not peck themselves, and the flock of birds is still with the feeding chicks.
Although there are old rituals with the monarchs, the flesh and bones are full of eyes and loneliness.
The karma workers lurked in the deep trees, and in April and May, they called out.
His mouth bleeds from grief, and what he complains about is often just plain.
Erzhu was angry, and he was ashamed to hurt his form and foolishness.
Whoever expects the heavens to change, everything is repeated and nothing happens.
If everything is repeated, it is better to remember when the temple is full of subjects.
This poem also uses the phenomenon of cuckoos parasitizing and giving birth to children to write about the courtesy of the monarch, but this ceremony is an old ceremony, so there is "flesh and bones full of eyes and lonely." The karma workers lurked in the deep trees, and in April and May, they called out. His voice was bleeding from his mouth in mourning", alluding to the loneliness of Emperor Tang Ming. The last two sentences bluntly say that the vicissitudes of the sea and the vicissitudes of the world, lamenting the loss of Tang Ming's position and being replaced. The order represented by the cuckoo in this poem has been broken, and the cuckoo bird has taken on a fickle connotation. This is similar to the personnel changes after the Shu Emperor lost the throne, but few poets use this layer of meaning, and Du Fu is original.
Du Fu also has a poem "Cuckoo Xing", which is said to be composed by Sikong Shu in the Ten Talents of the Great Calendar, but by analyzing the imagery of Cuckoo, I am more inclined to Du Fu's work.
In ancient times, Du Yu was called Emperor Wang, and his soul was cuckoo He Wei.
Jumping branches and leafy trees, grabbing a glimpse of the female and the male.
The sweater was miserable and haggard, and the birds respected each other.
The shape of the falcon does not dare to perch in the House of Flowers, and the short bird only wishes for the nest to be deep in the bushes.
Wear skin and peck the hungry, and hunger must eat a worm.
Whoever says that he does not feed his own chicks is also foolish.
If the voice is spoken, the trumpet is slightly the same as that of the baby.
The dry mouth was bleeding and the blood was urgent, as if he wanted to appeal to the firmament.
The Shu people have all heard of it, and they have learned to learn from the legacy of the wind, but they know that the changes are inexhaustible.
Do you know that in the past, you lived in a deep palace, and your concubines were like flowers and flowers.
After the Shu Emperor transformed the birds, because of their black and haggard sweaters, their appearance was coarse and humble, and the birds were no longer respected, alluding to the disorder of etiquette. The cuckoo, who had worked hard to feed himself, was misunderstood and had blood in his mouth. The last two sentences also reveal the vagaries of the world. The ritual disorder and impermanence contained in this poem coincide with the previous poem, "Cuckoo Walk".
After reading Du Fu's three poems about cuckoos, I can't help but be sad and sighing. The sad thing is that he is also like a cuckoo, serving the country and the people, but he is not understood and not reused. Sighing is that no matter whether the road ahead is a blessing or a curse, no matter how bumpy the road ahead is, he always stands on the side of the country's great righteousness and the people's livelihood. If a country lives and dies by profit, it is better to avoid it because of misfortune and happiness. Even if he has been repeatedly reduced to dust and is like a grass, he still does not complain about the old lord, spares no effort, mourns for the disorderly country, for the lonely soul of the monarch, and for the Guangsha of Li Min.
There is a bird in Australia called the Thornbird, which is very similar to the cuckoo. It will go through countless hardships, eat and sleep in the wind, and look for thorn trees, just to sing the world's best sounds. When it finally got its wish and found the longest and sharpest thorn, it would pierce its throat and sing the best song of the world with blood. Like a bird of thorns, Du Fu also used his life and his poetry to cast an immortal monument.
What he has always adhered to is the benevolent political ideology of "to the jun yao shun, and then make the customs pure", even at the end of his life, he has not given up. From the juvenile period of "will be the top of the mountain, overlooking the mountains and small", to the twilight period of "hardship and hatred of frost sideburns, sloppy and newly stopped turbid wine cup", so far the political ideals have been shattered. Although he died nine times, he still had no regrets, even in the last moments of his life, he was still looking at his home country with tears flowing. Du Yu, Cuckoo, Du Fu, maybe there is providence in the underworld. Today, this prosperous world is as you wish, the mountains and rivers are unharmed, the vast buildings are all over the world, and the world is safe.
-Author-
Li Ting, female, graduated from Zhejiang University in Chinese Language and Literature, and now lives in Shaoxing, a water town in Jiangnan. Loved the mountains, lakes and seas, Tang poems and Song poems and all the beautiful things.