Poetry hunting every day
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Entering poetry with numbers has existed since ancient times. As early as the pre-Qin period, there are many verses that use numbers in the "Book of Poetry", such as "July": July flowing fire, September teaching clothes, one day to the hair, the second day to the chestnut. And "Cai Ge": a date is missing, such as Sanqiu Xi.
In the Tang poems and Song poems, there are also many famous passages with numbers, such as Du Fu's "Gong Gai Three Divided Kingdoms, Famous into Eight Arrays", "Two Yellow Orioles Singing Green Willow, a Row of Egrets on the Blue Sky"; Su Dongpo's "Three Points of Spring Color, Two Points of Flowing Water, one Point of Dust"; Xin Zhiyi's "Seven or Eight Stars Outside the Sky, Two or Three Points Before the Rainy Mountain", and so on. These poems seem to use simple numbers, but they are cleverly used, extremely graphic, and read naturally and smoothly, which is impressive.
Today I introduce you to a Tang poem that uses numbers skillfully, which uses two numbers in this poem, but repeats it three times, which is extremely clever and special. This poem is "Poetry Immortal" Li Bai's "Xuancheng Sees Azaleas":
"
See azaleas in Xuancheng
Don Lee Bai
The Kingdom of Shu once heard of the zizhi bird,
Azaleas are also seen in Xuancheng.
One call, one ileum, one intestine,
Three springs in March reminiscences of Sanba.
It is rumored that this poem was composed by Li Bai in his later years, when he was exiled to Yelang, and after returning from pardon, he was sent to the fence in Jiangnan, and the evening scene was extremely desolate, and the homesickness became more and more heavy, so he wrote this poem.
The first two sentences depict the contrast between the past, today, and different places, and in the past, I listened to the cries of azaleas in Shudi, and today I saw the blooming azaleas in Xuancheng. The cuckoo bird and the rhododendron are symbols of homesickness, which seem to be the contrast between the present and the past, but in fact, the interlacing of time and space, the intersection of visual and auditory, expressing the poet's deep homesickness. Its artistic technique is quite similar to that of "Qin Shi Mingyue Han Shi Guan".
The second two sentences are clever use of numbers: "One call one ileum and one break, three springs and three months remember three bars"! A "one" word, a "three" word, each repeated three times, can be described as ancient and modern rare! One sentence and one cuckoo cry expressing the pain of breaking the intestines, the other sentence sets off the homesickness with the season of time, and the two numbers are stacked back and forth, rendering this emotional effect more infectious!
Throughout the ages, there have been many poems that make good use of numbers, but there are very few who use numbers skillfully and brilliantly like Li Bai. What other poems do you know that use numbers wisely? You may wish to leave a message to enjoy together!