In his lifetime, Li Shangyin wrote a large number of moving love poems under the name of "untitled". But most of the themes in these poems are "love and not to be", full of resentment and sad emotions.
However, in his youth, Li Shangyin actually wrote a love poem without sadness and regret. There is no grudge in this poem, only the yearning for the beautiful love life of the husband and wife.
Although this poem is not outstanding compared with Li Shangyin's later masterpieces in terms of creative technique and connotation expression, it is a proof of the bitter love between Li Shangyin and his wife Wang Shi, and the name of this poem is called "Gifting Lotus Flowers".
Appreciation of "Lotus Flower Gift"
"Gifting Lotus Flowers" – Don Lee Shang Yin
The flowers and leaves of the world are not compatible, and the flowers are dusted into the golden pots of leaves.
Only green lotus red han, roll Shu open and close Ren naïve.
This flower and this leaf often reflect each other, and the green reduces the red and decays and kills people.
The poem mentions that the flowers and leaves in the world are treated differently.
Whenever the flower appreciators see a beautiful famous flower, they immediately transplant it into a golden pot, love it and take good care of it. And for the green leaves under the flowers, they always let it fall, rot, and finally turn into dirt.
However, there are also special cases in the world, such as green lotus leaves, which can always be appreciated along with red lotus flowers. "Safflower needs green leaves", which is best reflected in the lotus leaves and lotus flowers.
Whether it is the withering of green leaves or the withering of red flowers, it will make the people who appreciate the flowers feel sad. It should be noted here that the reason why green lotus leaves are valued is ultimately because of the red lotus. Li Shangyin is the green lotus leaf in the poem, and his wife is the red lotus.
In many historical works that study the life of Li Shangyin, it has been mentioned that marriage was the unfortunate beginning of Li Shangyin's life. Although Li Shangyin and his wife Wang Shi have always been in love, this marriage has directly destroyed his political career.
Li Shangyin claimed to be a descendant of the Tang Dynasty, but in fact, according to the research of historians, he was only a reader of "cold birth". He lost his father at the age of ten and became famous in his hometown at the age of sixteen with ancient Chinese.
When he was nineteen years old, after Li Shangyin moved with his family to the eastern capital Luoyang, he took the poems he had written and went to pay homage to Ling Huchu, the elder of the dynasty. The latter cherished his talents, not only paid for him in life, but also brought him home and personally taught him to write a poem.
Although Li Shangyin was intelligent and studious, and full of economy, he failed one after another in the imperial examination. There was even a time when he ran to the Yuyang Mountains to learn the Tao because of the failure of the imperial examination.
In the early days, Li Shangyin, like most Confucian disciples, had extremely strong political ambitions. At that time, there was a "change of manna" in the DPRK, and although he did not pass the entrance examination and his status was low, he still indignantly wrote the famous five-word rule "Two Songs with Feelings".
When Li Shangyin was finally admitted to the Jinshi, his benefactor and patron Ling Huchu died. According to some data, the economic situation in Li Shangyin's family at that time was very bad. Although he passed the entrance examination, the imperial court did not immediately arrange a job for him.
Ling Huchu's death put Li Shangyin's life in trouble. He also wrote a letter complaining to Ling Huchu's son, Ling Hu chu, for not helping him in time at that time.
In this case, in order to make a living, Li Shangyin could only serve as an aide to Wang Maoyuan, the envoy of Jiedu, and married the daughter of the Wang family. You know, Li Shangyin was 25 years old at that time. Ordinary Tang Dynasty people were married at the age of fifteen men and thirteen women.
In ancient times, when "no filial piety has three, no queen is greater", Li Shangyin's marriage date was postponed for a full decade. You can imagine how poor his family was at that time.
Therefore, after Li Shangyin married the daughter of Jiedushi, he cherished it very much and felt very honored at the same time. Although he was later accused of being a "villain" by Ling Fox because of this marriage, and was ostracized and suppressed by the people in the "Bull Party" all his life, he always loved the Wang family deeply.
Therefore, in the summer of the fifth year of Dazhong (851 AD), after the death of Wang Shi, Li Shangyin suffered a great mental blow, so he wrote a large number of sad love poems based on his wife.
When Li Shangyin first met Wang, he wrote this poem "Giving Lotus Flowers". At that time, their love was only a reluctant union forced to make a living for him.
Therefore, Li Shangyin purely just wants to use a kind of beautiful things in the world to compare the perfect combination of husband and wife, and of course, it also implies a compliment to his wife. For this reason, the appeal of this poem is still lacking.
By the time Wang died in the summer of the fifth year of junior high school (851 AD), Li Shangyin had already established a deep relationship with his wife. So he wrote a poem with lotus leaf as the title, and completely vented the pain of losing his lover.
In terms of lyrics, this poem maintains the same folk song style as "Giving Lotus Flowers", and there is no esoteric allusion in it, but it is based on a true emotional person, which is excerpted as follows:
"Twilight Autumn Solo Tour of Qujiang" - Tang Li Shangyin
When the lotus leaves are born, they hate in the spring, and when the lotus leaves wither, they hate in autumn.
I know that I am in love and look forward to the sound of the river.
Earlier, when we interpreted "Giving Lotus Flowers", we mentioned that Li Shangyin compared himself to "green lotus leaves" and his wife Wang Shi to "red lotus".
Li Shangyin said that the beauty of the two is complementary and complementary, and it is always inseparable. Whether the lotus leaf loses a point of green, or the lotus flower loses a point of incense, this beauty will be greatly reduced.
However, in "Twilight Autumn Solo Tour of Qujiang", Li Shangyin's mention of "lotus leaves" does not refer to himself, but to his unforgettable feelings for Wang.
The first sentence in the poem, "Lotus Leaf is born when spring hates life", means that when he first developed feelings for the Wang family, he laid hidden dangers for the misfortune of his life. Since marrying Wang, he has not only ruined his political future, but also carried a lifetime of infamy.
The second sentence is to explain the end of his relationship, when the lotus leaf withers, the red flower has long since withered. The wife is no longer there, and naturally it is "autumn hate".
The first two sentences explain the beginning and end of this love, and the last two sentences of the poem turn to express the author's own feelings. Although Li Shangyin knew that this marriage was the unfortunate beginning of the second half of his life, he still did not regret it.
So the meaning of "knowing that I am always in love" is that I know deeply that as long as I am alive, my feelings for her will never disappear. So I looked at the rolling Yangtze River in the east, listened carefully to the river for their feelings, and made a whimpering sound.
epilogue
From the difference between the two poems "Gift and Lotus" and "Late Autumn Solo Journey to Qujiang", we can clearly feel the subtle changes in the emotional psychology of the great poet Li Shangyin to his beloved wife Wang.
At the age of twenty-five, Li Shangyin accepted the kindness of Wang Yuanmao because his family was poor, and married Miss Wang Family. On the wedding night, he wrote a poem to his wife, "Giving Lotus Flowers", but the poem looked more like a decent "propositional composition".
The green lotus leaves in the poem are actually valued and appreciated because of the existence of the red lotus. This also reflects Li Shangyin's real-life encounters to a certain extent. You can't say it's bad and you can't see how good it is.
After twenty-two years of hardship and suffering, the relationship between Li Shangyin and his wife has become "stronger than gold". Once his wife died, when Li Shangyin wrote a mourning poem for her, because of the authenticity of the emotion, its artistic appeal was completely different.
Once you understand the love story between Li Shangyin and Wang Shi, and then read "Twilight Autumn Solo Tour qujiang", you will find that the author has written the most sincere and moving love story in the world with only four straightforward words.
This poem has no detailed description of the love story of Li Shangyin and Wang. However, the tragic appeal that comes with the poem is no less than that of Yuan Shu's "Three Songs of Sorrow and Sorrow".
The love story that begins with "Wing Lotus" and ends with "Wounded Lotus Leaf" is Li Shangyin's final and most loyal confession of love to The Wang family.