As we all know, the ancient carriages and horses were very slow, and the letters were very far, so the travelers who were outside often received a family letter after a long time, as Du Mu said in the poem "Travel", "The distant dream returns to the dawn, and the family letter is until the next year." Nevertheless, the family letter has always been the heaviest gift that travelers look forward to. It is full of family affection, concern and longing from hometown.
When it comes to the family letters in ancient poems, the most well-known one is the "Spring Hope" of Du Fu, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty. The phrase "family letter is worth ten thousand gold" highlights its preciousness. What's more, the family letter that Du Fu was looking forward to came from the war-torn years. Therefore, don't look at the length of "Spring Hope" is not long, but it is a touching sentence, there are Du Fu's worries about his relatives, and there are also Du Fu's worries about state affairs, which makes people feel very deeply after reading.
"Spring Hope"
The country is broken by mountains and rivers, and the city is deep in spring grass and trees.
When I feel the flowers splash tears, I hate the birds and be frightened.
The flames lasted for three months, and the family letter arrived at ten thousand gold.
The white head scratches are shorter and more overwhelming.
In the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), the Anshi Rebellion broke out, and du Fu, in order to defect to Emperor Suzong, placed his wife in qiang village in Yanzhou, and then went north to Lingwu, but was captured by the rebels on the way and escorted to Chang'an after the fall. So there are two sentences at the beginning of "Spring Look", "The country is broken by mountains and rivers, and the spring grass and trees in the city are deep", that is, everywhere you look are, the walls are broken, and the grass is overgrown. In the past, Chang'an was invincible to smoke and willows, and the prosperous scene of tourists no longer existed.
In the face of the desolation and ruin of Chang'an, Du Fu showed a strong pain of national ruin and family death. Therefore, Du Fu then wrote three or four sentences with the artistic technique of expressing mourning in Lejing, "When the flowers splash tears when they feel it, they hate other birds and are frightened", due to the fall of Chang'an, the original delicate and bright spring flowers, but it is easy to make people cry, and the original euphemistic and pleasant birdsong is so heart-wrenching.
"When you feel the flowers splashing tears, hating other birds to be frightened", Du Fu's inner pain can be imagined. What hurt Du Fu even more was the uncertainty of the war, he did not know when the war would stop, he only knew that he had been captured, and he had not heard from his wife and children for a long time. So there are those two popular sentences of "the flames last for three months, the family letter reaches ten thousand gold", in the war years, how precious is a letter of family peace!
The last two sentences, "The white head scratches shorter and is overwhelmed with desire", which means that Du Fu grabbed the hair with his hand, but found that the hair was even rarer, and even the hairpin could not be inserted. Obviously, Du Fu's aging is related to his sadness and homesickness, and the more miserable his personal image is, the deeper the pain and resentment in his heart. Although I can't experience it myself, I believe that everyone will feel a lot of emotions whenever I read this.
We all say that Du Fu's poems are somber and depressed, and "Spring Hope" is one of the most typical representatives. From the perspective of Du Fu ascending to the heights, the scene is written from far and near, and the writing of love is from weak to strong. The lyricism of the scenery and the combination of scenes fully show Du Fu's noble feelings of caring for his relatives and caring about state affairs.
Of course, Du Fu's day and night expectations for his family letters were also the common expectations of the tens of millions of ordinary people who were victims of war at that time, and also reflected the good wishes of the broad masses of the people at that time to oppose war and hope for peace and stability. In general, Du Fu's "Spring Hope" sentences are touching, and the feeling after reading is quite deep.
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