Mei Yaochen, as one of the most famous poets in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, was even known as the "founding ancestor" of Song poetry, and his poems were known for their "plain" strokes, which was undoubtedly a fresh atmosphere in the poetry circle of the early Song Dynasty. Mei Yaochen is the most concerned about his political poems and poems that care about the people, however, many people ignore his mourning poems, Mei Yaochen was the first poet in the Northern Song Dynasty to write a number of mourning poems, and his plain poetry that saw the truth had a significant impact on Su Shi, He Zhu and others in later generations.
Mei Yaochen's original wife was Xie Shi. Xie Shi was gentle and virtuous, and the two raised eyebrows and frothed each other for nineteen years, however, on a trip back to Beijing, Xie Shi suddenly fell ill on the ship, and he could not afford to be ill, and he died at the age of thirty-eight. The middle-aged widow is already miserable, not to mention that she is a lover who is in love with each other and shares hardships, which can be imagined as a blow to Mei Yaochen.
After that, although Mei Yaochen continued to string the Diao clan, but the thought of his wife was every day, he also wrote many nostalgic works for it, the following "Dream of the Spirit Tree", although it is not a popular masterpiece, but the feelings are sincere, the depiction is delicate and vivid, the plain sees the affection, and its creative technique is quite distinctive, which can be regarded as a representative work in Mei Yaochen's mourning poems.
This poem is not brilliant compared to the mourning poems of poets such as Yuan Shu and Wei Yingwu of the previous generation, and it is not even as painful as Mei Yaochen's similar works, however, this poem uses simple and simple language, with trivial things in life, to compose a deep feeling of longing.
The spirit tree paves the night dream
Song Mei Yaochen
Day dream sits with the doll, and the night dream stands on my left. Self-placed five-color silk, the color through the capsule.
It is intended to be patched, fearful of clothing or torn. Death is still worried about my body, so that the mind will fall.
Note: 缣 [jiān] refers to a bag made of fine silk.
The first two sentences start with a dream, "Day dream with the doll, the night dream stands on my left", the poet and his beloved wife are eternally separated, so the desire to meet his wife again can only be realized in the dream, just as the so-called "day has thoughts, night has dreams", and the poet's thoughts are even more profound, he not only dreams of his wife at night, but even when he takes a nap during the day, he also dreams of his wife sitting next to him, this kind of thought, can be described as painful. Sometimes, because of the death of our loved ones, we feel a nervous trance, and often feel that the dead person is next to us, and Mei Yaochen depicts this deep sense of longing.
And in the dream of the wife, there is no sea oath mountain alliance crying, only a simple and warm scene, "self-placed five-color silk, color through the bag", the wife holds the five-color silk, placed in a transparent bag, through the faint light, the poet seems to be able to see the colorful silk thread in the bag.
What is the wife doing? "Intended to stay patched, afraid of clothes or torn", the wife is using five-colored silk to help herself patch clothes, not only carefully, but also always worried about whether the poet wears warm clothes, a "fear" word, the wife's concern for the poet, expressed to the fullest. It can be seen from this that the poet's wife is so virtuous, to know that she is originally a bridesmaid, but the poet is always wandering, can not give her a rich and comfortable life, and Xie Shi is not only willing to follow the poet to suffer, but also cares for the poet incomparably, even if he meets in a dream after death, he is also concerned about the poet's daily life.
Mei Yaochen's two sentences only depict the daily trivial matter of mending clothes, but the feelings conveyed are sincere and moving, the poet writes from the perspective of his wife, everywhere is the wife's concern for himself, not writing about the poet's thoughts about his wife, but the more the wife cares about herself, the more she feels the loneliness and coldness of reality, and the more she can show the poet's deep nostalgia and attachment to his wife. The change of perspective is also one of the most distinctive features of this poem.
The last two sentences, once again changing perspectives, from his wife Xie Shi to the poet's own sigh, "Death is still worried about my body, so that the heart is depraved", even if the wife who is dead, is still concerned about the poet's clothes are not patched, this indescribable love, into the poet a deep sigh, I think, Mei Yaochen's dream, must be crying and waking up.
Mei Yaochen's poem is not a famous work, almost few people can notice, there is no famous sentence in the poem that has been recited through the ages, but this poem is still very distinctive: first, the poet chooses the common trivia of mending clothes as the main body of the whole poem, but in every sentence, the depiction is painful and longing; secondly, the poet has changed perspective many times, whether from the perspective of his deceased wife or from his own point of view, he has more prominent inner pain, so he has received a good effect and is very infectious; finally, The poet wrote with a dream, and the word "dream" was also written in the title, which shows that the poet has a longing heart, day and night.
Mei Yaochen's poem, although it was not widely circulated in later generations, was still quite influential at that time, Mei Yaochen's influence on Su Shi was even greater, su Shi's love for Mei poetry was even more obvious to all, and the creation method of this "Spirit Tree Shop Dream" was also borrowed from the eulogies written by Su Shi, He Zhu and others.
We know that Su Shi has a famous eulogy "Jiang Chengzi Yi Yi ZhengYue Twenty Night Dream", known as the first eulogy in the ages, which has a sentence that "the night comes to the ghostly dream and suddenly returns to the hometown, the small Xuan window, is dressing ... It is expected that the intestines will be broken every year, the bright moon night, the short Matsuoka", with the combing trivia, the pain of the thoughts, and the words of He Zhu's "Half Dead Tong" are even more bluntly said: "Empty bed lying in the south window to listen to the rain, who picks up the lamp night to mend clothes", the pain is deep and touching, almost can be said to be the continuation of Mei Yaochen's poem.