Xue Tao, one of the four great female poets of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a mysterious poem.
Xue Tao, a woman who blooms like a fire, she is like a lotus flower" out of the mud and not stained. Originally from Chang'an, she grew up in the poetry and book family, but when she was a teenager, she suddenly changed, came to Chengdu, Sichuan Province, due to her father's degradation, and was forced to join the music book at the age of 16 and became a camp prostitute. A life of ups and downs, full of helplessness, like falling leaves fluttering, cicadas chirping like silk.
Today, this poem interpreted by Monk Wang is from his poetry collection "Jinjiang Collection", which is short of two crosses, but the connotation is rich, like a mystery, which makes people endlessly evocative.
▲ Wang monk interprets poems: Xue Tao wrote a poem of a lifetime of lamentations
The dew is clear and the sound is far away, and the wind blows the old leaves.
The sounds seem to be connected, each perched on one branch.
Old leaves: dead leaves.
Xue Tao was a famous talented woman in the Tang Dynasty, although she fell into the music trick, she was good at poetry, known as the "Girls' School Book", and had friends with famous poets such as Yuan Shu and Bai Juyi. The "Xuanhe Book" commented that she was "humble and inferior, but there is a wind under the forest", which shows that she was born lowly, but has a noble sentiment, and the "Tang Yin Yan Signature" even commented on her poem "No Female Voice", which shows that she does not lose her eyebrows, and has a confident and free demeanor. From this poem, we can glimpse the characteristics of her poetic style.
Cicadas, sucking wind and drinking dew, and green trees in the high places have always been praised by poets. In the early Tang Dynasty, Yu Shinan praised the cicada for "drinking clear dew", of which "weeping" refers to the streamers hanging from the hats of ancient scholars, and the author compares the tentacles of cicadas, which can be seen that in Yu Shinan's eyes, cicadas have become a symbol of gaojie shizi. And Xue Tao's absolute sentence is also a gentlemanly demeanor that portrays cicadas.
▲ Wang Monk's Interpretation of the Poem: Why did Xue Tao portray cicadas?
Qingyin, referring to the cry of the cicada, with a "qing" word, you can see the meaning given by the author to "cicada". The Western Jin Dynasty Zuo Si has a poem that says, "Non-bi silk and bamboo, landscapes have clear sounds", in which "Qing" is the opposite of "turbidity", and Qingqing is often compared to the difference between the advantages and disadvantages of people, good and evil, and superiority. The sound of cicadas is clear, and naturally it is a metaphor for a gentleman to uphold the righteousness of heaven and earth, clear and desireless, pure and self-guarding. And after the washing of the dew, the sound of cicadas is more crisp and distant, is it not a metaphor for a gentleman who has a more distant reputation after being washed by the environment?
The author hears the crisp sound of cicadas, what do you see? The sound of the wind is getting tighter and shaking the leaves, and this environmental description not only points out the environment in which the cicadas live, but also hints at the fear that the autumn wind is depressed and the prosperity will pass away. The ancients wrote cicada poems, mostly focusing on autumn cicadas, a leaf and knowing autumn, cicadas standing tall and far, naturally the earliest to feel the invasion of the cold, autumn winds, the life of cicadas will also be finished, this sense of helplessness about fate, is also the meaning commonly used by the ancients. Therefore, "the wind blows the old leaves", there is also a sense of absurdity and beauty.
In this uncertain situation of fate, how can the cicada live on its own? Xue Tao wrote more moving sentences in the second couplet. "The sounds seem to be connected, each perched on one branch." Regarding the interpretation of this sentence, there can be the following ideas.
▲ Wang Monk's Interpretation of Poetry: Reflections Caused by Autumn Cicadas
First, the Book of Rites says that "gentlemen are cautious and independent", that is, gentlemen are cautious even when they are alone, and do not relax their requirements for themselves and their pursuit of the ideal road. The Analects say that "gentlemen are harmonious but different" means that gentlemen can get along with each other, and they can not only be harmonious and help each other, but also be able to remain independent, each has his own opinions, and does not have to agree with others.
From this point of view, "the voices seem to be connected, each in a branch", this poem is borrowing cicadas to praise the integrity and demeanor of the gentleman. Although the cicadas are in different trees everywhere, they are of the same spirit and have the same high morals, so they can support each other and respond to each other, but they each abide by the ethics of a gentleman, and do not form a party for personal gain, but each of them is at peace with each other and coexists with each other.
Second, if we interpret it from the phrase "the wind blows the old Ye Qi", the second link seems to have the meaning of pity and lamentation. Although the cicadas sound clear, suck the wind and drink dew, and maintain their own purity, the autumn wind will eventually come, and the life of the cicada will eventually end. In this case, although they are similar in voice and echo each other, they cannot "hug each other for warmth" in the end, but instead abide by their own ways, each with a destiny, unable to resist the torrent of the world, let alone escape the invasion of autumn cold.
▲ Wang Monk's Interpretation of Poetry: The Image of a Gentleman in the Eyes of Confucius
From this point of view, although Xue Tao praised the gentleman's noble sentiments, he also pitied and helpless for his sad fate.
If you look at the environment in which Xue Tao lives, it has more other meanings. Xue Tao basically spent his life in the southwest Shu land, when it was in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the national strength of the Tang Dynasty had declined, the feudal towns were divided, and the country was surging with undercurrents, it was the time when "the little people were long, the gentleman was gone", moreover, the southwest frontier was constantly in war, and the scholars and the people were living in worry and uneasiness. In this situation, what Xue Tao saw and thought, it was difficult not to issue a lament that it was difficult for the scribes to serve the country, and it was also difficult for the scribes to sigh.
Interestingly, looking at the nearly 100 works that Xue Tao has preserved, as well as the love entanglements she has circulated with Yuan Shu and others, it will be found that her works mostly express the worries of love, or sing harmony with the literati at that time. If interpreted from this perspective, the poem has two different interpretations.
▲ Wang Monk's Interpretation of Poetry: The Love That Xue Tao Longs for
First, the admiration and envy of love.
Although Xue Tao is a well-thought-out and beautiful person, she is a camp prostitute after all, circling between Shangguan and Wenyou, although her talent is recognized, but love is ultimately out of reach. The "Pastoral Gossip" called her "a special object among the prostitutes in the camp at that time", and the "Xuanhe Book Genealogy" even pointed out that she was a "Chengdu advocate woman", which shows that the Shangguan Wenyou she handed over at that time may not have no contempt for her.
It is not difficult to think of this, Xue Tao is also eager to find a Ruyi Langjun to seek "a stable life", although she has high ambitions and self-sustaining in her heart, it is difficult to get the acceptance of others to break through the world's views. She is like an autumn cicada, although she is famous and has a high heart, she cannot resist the invasion of autumn cold in the end. She screamed and longed for a confidant, and although there were other gentlemen who met with her voice, they were ultimately "each in a branch" and could not promise her peace.
Therefore, from this point of view, the poem is full of self-pity, but also vaguely reveals dissatisfaction and anger.
▲ Wang Monk's Interpretation of Poetry: The Love Tragedy of Yuan Shu and Xue Tao
In March 809, Xue Tao met Yuan Shu, who was attracted by Yuan Shu's appearance and poetry and fell in love. However, just three months later, Yuan Shu wrote a letter proposing to break up, Xue Tao can understand that her identity has a negative impact on Yuan Shu's career, although she is calm but inevitably disappointed, although she does not regret it, but in the end it is difficult to reconcile.
From this point of view, Xue Tao's poem "Smelling Cicadas" writes that "the sounds seem to be connected, each perched on a branch", which contains generous bitterness and hopeless resentment.
Second, it may just be a work of social writing.
Although Xue Tao was a camp prostitute, she was quite sought after by scholars, and she often participated in the banquets of the literati and accompanied shangguans to play, so the year and background of the poem's writing are difficult to determine. It is also common for literati to feast and drink poetry, perhaps Xue Tao only wrote poems impromptu, and his talent is unknown.
▲ Wang Monk's Interpretation of Poetry: Xue Tao's Desire and Disappointment
It is only with Xue Tao's talent and experience that when writing poetry, he will unexpectedly write his own thoughts, which is also a natural love affair of the poet.
Or, Xue Tao was alone in an empty room, heard the cicadas, thought of his own situation and life, and wrote his heart in poetry to express his feelings. Poets write poems, often saying this and meaning the other, subconsciously bringing in their own true feelings and thoughts, which is a necessary condition for a mature poet.
As far as the cultural connotation of "cicada" is concerned, it has both the totemic image of a noble gentleman and the symbolic meaning of mourning, and the poet writes cicadas that also focus on its cultural connotation to express embrace, which is a common way of writing traditional poetry, and it is also the mystery of the beauty implicitly implied by poetry.
▲ Wang monk interpretation poem: since ancient times, how thin and fortunate men are
Dear poets, which interpretation do you agree with? Please talk about your understanding.