Creek Residence
[Tang] Liu Zongyuan
For a long time, the hairpin group was tired, fortunately, nanyi who.
Idle in the neighbors of the farmer's garden, even like a mountain forester.
Xiao Geng turned over the grass, and the night list resounded the creek stone.
There are no people coming and going, and the long songs are full of heaven.
Translations
He has been tired of official duties for a long time, but fortunately he was relegated to the ethnic minority areas in the south. Idle, next to the farmer's vegetable garden, sometimes like a hermit in the forest. Ploughing the fields in the morning, hoeing the weeds with dew, and punching the boat back in the evening, the boat touched the creek rock and made a sound. Alone, unable to touch other people, looking at the sky as turquoise, singing loudly.
exegesis
Hairpin Group: The costume of ancient officials, which refers to official positions. Bundles: Constraints, restraints. Nanyi: Ancient name for ethnic minorities in the south. Who: Demoted or transferred to a remote area. At that time, the author was demoted to Sima of Yongzhou.
Night List: Boat at night. List: Read here "Peng Yin", meaning to enter the ship. This sentence refers to the sound of the ship returning after dark and the boat touching the rocks of the stream.
Chu Tian: Yongzhou originally belonged to Chu Land.
BUNDLE: Bondage.
Nanyi: This refers to Yongzhou.
WHO: Degraded officials and exiled.
Farm: Pastoral.
Occasionally: Sometimes it seems.
Mountain Forester: A hermit in the mountains and forests.
List: Rowing.
Xiangxi Stone: The sound of water rocks.
Long Song: Play a song.
Appreciation
This poem is the work of Liu Zongyuan when he built a house on the bank of Yuxi Creek when he degraded the official Yongzhou. On the surface, the poem is written about the comfort and self-sufficiency of this life, but in fact it is a forced writing of joy, and the devalued depression and indignation are written in an obscure way.
The poet was belittled to Yongzhou, who should have been full of complaints, but at the beginning of the poem he called it a fortunate thing: "Long for the hairpin group Cambodia, fortunately this Nanyi who." "The poet believes that he has long been burdened by being an official in the dprk, but fortunately, the fact that he came to this desolate land from the south can allow him to live a leisurely life. These two positive remarks say the opposite, describing the unfortunate thing as a fortunate thing, and expressing dissatisfaction with the ruling faction in the DPRK and China.
"Idle in the neighbors of the farmer's garden, even like a mountain forester." Xiao Geng turned over the grass, and the night list resounded the creek stone", these four sentences emphasize the leisure of living here. In his spare time, he is next to the old farmer who grows vegetables, and sometimes he really looks like a person living in seclusion in the mountains and forests. Early in the morning with dew, I go to hoe grass and take a boat ride along the stream in the evening. "Idleness" shows the author's idle state, and "even-like" is a pretentious and open-minded language, self-comforting. Liu Zongyuan has few talents and great ambitions, but his career is not smooth, and he has been repeatedly degraded. This time, he was even more degraded to Yongzhou, far away from Chang'an. His enthusiasm does not have room to be exerted, his ambition cannot be extended, and his talent is not reused. Therefore, in this degraded place, I had to force the writing of pleasure, pretend to be leisurely, say that I was glad to be degraded, and pretended to like this comfortable and comfortable life.
Sometimes I can't meet a pedestrian all day long, so I sing loudly, and the voice echoes in the valley blue sky for a long time, how clear and empty. This leisurely and elegant life makes the poet seem to have no nostalgia for his misfortune and beleaguered. Here the poet seems to be free and unrestrained, but after all, he is also too lonely. These two sentences just reveal that the poet is forced to be leisurely, entertaining himself when no one asks, and it is just a helpless ridicule.
Throughout the poem, the poet seems to have forgotten the pain of being degraded, and the poem calls the misfortune of being degraded as luck, interpreting the lonely and calm life as a flowing and leisurely life. In fact, this is all the poet's indignant anti-speech, and behind this beautified wholy lived, hidden is the poet's deep depression and resentment. The indignation contained in the superficial blandness makes people even more thrilled, just as Shen Deqian of the Qing Dynasty said: "The Yuxi Zhu yong are in a state of continuous hardship, sending out a clear and indifferent voice, not complaining and complaining, complaining without complaining, saying things outside the line, sometimes encountering them." This is a very pertinent evaluation.
The whole poem is beautiful and concise, subtle and deep, intended to be beyond words, and intriguing.