Preface
A scene in the eyes of a 16-year-old boy has achieved a swan song for the ages. In the eyes of that young man, the martyrdom of a pair of geese turned out to be a source of inspiration, and his pen flowed out touching words, which became a classic praised by future generations.
How was this teenager able to grasp the profound meaning of nature at such a young age? How did his pen condense such emotions and philosophies?
Let's walk into the inner world of this young man and feel the inspiration and understanding brought by the martyrdom of the wild goose in his eyes. Perhaps, this story will make us have a deeper thinking and understanding of life, love, and life.
The growth of a teenage prodigy
On a cold winter day, a family of scholars hidden in a remote village in Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, ushered in the arrival of a baby boy. This boy is our protagonist - Yuan Haowen.
Yuan Haowen was born in a prominent family descended from the royal family of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and his grandfather was once an official and his family was well-off. His parents placed countless expectations on this only son, and they carefully cultivated him, hoping that he would be able to achieve a vigorous life.
When he was seven months old, Yuan Haowen was passed on to the third uncle Yuan Ge to raise, and this uncle who was rich in five cars loved him very much. Yuan Ge not only carefully taught him poetry and songs, but also personally taught him the essentials of the articles, so that this brilliant young talent grew rapidly, and was called "prodigy" by his neighbors.
Yuan Haowen, who was less than seven years old, was already able to recite poetry, which was breathtaking. At the age of eleven, he was favored by Lu Zehui, a bachelor of Hanlin Chamberlain, and accepted as a disciple.
People are not plants and trees, who can be ruthless? In this process of growing up, Yuan Haowen may also secretly look forward to his future career. He must have fantasized that one day he would be able to become a gold list, climb to the peak of power, and show his ambitions.
However, the twist of fate is always unpredictable and fleeting. Just when Yuan Haowen was in his prime and full of spirit, his life path was not all smooth sailing.
The dream of the imperial examination is shattered, and it touches the heartstrings
Sixteen-year-old Yuan Haowen is already a well-known literary genius in the local area. Full of hope and full of ambition, he embarked on the road to the state to take the exam.
However, the world was unpredictable, and the result was painful for the teenager. I don't know if it was because the subjects were set too difficult, or because of his bad fate, he finally failed to make a name for himself in the imperial examination.
Frustration, loss, hesitation, all kinds of negative emotions swept in at once, and Yuan Haowen was out of breath. He rode quietly on the shore of the lake, unable to let go.
At this moment, a long wail came from the reeds, attracting Yuan Haowen's attention. Following the sound, he found a hunter carrying two lifeless geese in his hands.
Listening to Orion tell the thrilling story of the pair of geese to the death, Yuan Haowen's heart resonated strongly. He seems to have personally experienced the parting and tragedy of this love, and felt the sourness and despair of life and death.
The wild goose, a bird born with amphibious flights, is so pure and touching that it would rather die of martyrdom than fly alone. And human beings, as the most intelligent creatures on the planet, are not eager to find a partner with whom they can spend the rest of their lives?
Yuan Haowen couldn't calm the excitement in his heart for a long time, and he desperately wanted to find a way to record and express the emotions surging at the moment. At this moment, an inspiration suddenly popped into his mind - why not erect a monument to the tragic pair of geese to commemorate their unspeakable love until death?
So, without hesitation, he bought the two geese from Orion, carefully buried them together on the bank of the Fenshui River, and built a monument called "Wild Goose Hill" here.
At the same time, along with sadness and nostalgia, a shocking and beautiful poem gradually took shape. This is the "Yanqiu Ci" that has been praised for a long time by later generations, in which the sentence "Ask what is the love in the world, and the direct teaching promises life and death" has become a swan song for the ages.
The vicissitudes of life
In this way, an ordinary teenager wrote a famous story due to an accident. However, that doesn't mean his life is all smooth sailing.
Yuan Haowen repeatedly hit a wall on the road to the imperial examination, and at that time it was the turmoil of the Jin Dynasty, his career path can be described as difficult and dangerous. Although he eventually entered the rank and rank, he didn't really enter the official career until he was 35 years old, which was really a shame before the snow.
When he finally got his wish, he entered the office and served as the editor of the Academy of History, a staff member, and a county magistrate. But the torrent of history could not be stopped, the capital of the Jin Dynasty fell, and Yuan Haowen was also reduced to a prisoner, suffering many years of imprisonment and exile.
But even in the face of such adversity, he did not give up his literary ambitions. During his career, he wrote countless poems and articles, which were highly respected by the literary world, and were known as "Northern Literary Heroes" and "A Generation of Wenzong".
Although his career is limited in the end, Yuan Haowen's life is not without gains. He married two beloved wives and had three sons and five daughters, and also established a happy life in the family.
When Yuan Haowen, who is in his 60s, lives in seclusion in the countryside, perhaps he occasionally recalls the hopeful and high-spirited teenager at the beginning. That young man was once immersed in the ideal of the imperial examination, but he also touched the most sincere and touching love in his life in an unexpected encounter.
Even if life is bumpy, in the end, it has never changed Yuan Haowen's persistence and pursuit of the true nature of things. It is this pure feeling that has allowed him to leave an immortal name in the literary world and become the most revered idol of later generations of literati.
The regret of life and death
People have a limited time in their lives, but they always carry too many unspeakable regrets. For Yuan Haowen, his failure to show his ambitions in his career must have made him regret it for the rest of his life. But what haunted him even more was the inner shock caused by the unexpected encounter.
The pair of geese who died in love in front of his eyes deeply touched the nerves of this young man. In his opinion, this kind of unswerving love is the purest and most worthy of pursuit.
However, for a teenager who has not personally experienced love, how easy is it to truly grasp the essence of this feeling? As a result, he raised the question that still makes countless people ponder: "What is the situation in the world, and the direct religion promises life and death?" "
This cry from the heart is undoubtedly a challenge and reflection on the world. In Yuan Haowen's view, the feelings in the world have long been reduced to use and calculation, and have long lost their purest nature. And what he yearns for is the kind of love that depends on life and death, and the supreme emotion that even life is willing to intertwine.
Perhaps, this is the fundamental reason why Yuan Haowen wrote this popular "Yanqiu Ci". He tries to arouse the world's thinking and pursuit of the true meaning of love through such a masterpiece that inspires people's hearts.
Thankfully, the lyrics did exert a huge impact. Not only was it widely praised in the era when Yuan Hao asked himself, but even today, the sentence "ask what is the love in the world" is still shocking and has become a classic commentary on love.
But at the same time, we also have to sigh that for Yuan Haowen himself, this yearning for sincere love can only stay in regret after all.
Although he eventually married a good match, I am afraid that he will never be able to experience that kind of life and death together, unswerving feelings. Throughout his life, he could not truly resonate with the emotions he longed for.
This kind of regret and melancholy may also be the root of so much desolation and sadness in "Yanqiu Ci". Those feelings of "joy and fun, parting bitterness, and even more idiotic children" all reflect the irrepressible sadness in the author's heart.
Life and death promise each other, for the rest of their lives
Looking back on Yuan Haowen's life, we can find that there is a huge gap between the love ideal he pursued and the life experience he actually experienced. The life of this generation of Wenzong can be described as magnificent and ups and downs.
The talent of a prodigy in his youth, under the blow of repeated defeats in scientific examinations, has become a kind of helpless confusion and exploration of life. Although he finally entered the official career, the road to official career was also extremely bumpy.
Just when he was just gaining a foothold, the Jin Dynasty overturned, and he was reduced to a prisoner, suffering a long period of imprisonment and exile. Even so, he did not give up his literary ideals, but instead wrote a large number of classics that were famous for later generations.
Perhaps, this is the most valuable thing about Yuan Haowen's character. No matter what setbacks he encountered, he never gave up his love and pursuit of life. Even if he failed to make achievements in his career in the end, he still left immortal achievements in the literary world.
But at the same time, we also have to sigh that this literary giant seems to be unable to escape the fate of mortals in the emotional world. Although he eventually married two wives and had children, it is difficult for us to imagine what it would be like for a person who is so obsessed with the love of "life and death".
Perhaps, just like the pair of geese who died for love, Yuan Haowen has been longing for this kind of pure emotion until death. It's just that the cruelty of reality made him unable to get his wish, and in the end he could only pin this feeling on the end of the pen and turn it into a swan song for the ages.
When he died at the age of sixty-eight, perhaps the regret and unwillingness in his heart were also hidden. But what he left behind is an eternal and unforgettable literary legacy.
Later generations reminisced and were full of emotion. This leader of the northern literary world, with his own strength, wrote the most touching chapter in the history of romance literature. With his lifelong pursuit, he interprets what is the real promise of life and death, and what is the purest emotion in the world.
epilogue
The passage of time may dilute everything. But no matter how many years have passed, for Yuan Haowen, his persistence and pursuit of the noblest emotions in life will never be erased.
Let's climb this prestigious "Wild Goose Hill" with great ambition and offer our respect and remembrance to the life of this literary giant and the pair of wild geese who died in love.