In ancient poetry, it was common to use repetitive words, but most of them were used to strengthen the tone, or to produce reciprocating rhythmic beauty, usually in the same sentence or in two opposite sentences.
Take the word "sorrow" as an example, such as "raise a glass to dispel sorrow and more sorrow", "tomorrow is sad to tomorrow", etc.
If a verse contains a word "sorrow" in the first and last verses, it cannot play these two roles, and it will generally be considered flawed.
Du Fu's "To the Snow" is an exception, and the word "melancholy" in the beginning-to-end joint is not only not a flaw, but a poet's brilliant pen.
Why?
Because these two words reflect the wonderful conception of the poet, it is breathtaking.
Let's take a taste of this masterpiece.
War crying more new ghosts, sorrowful groaning alone old man. The clouds are low and twilight, and the rapid snow dances back to the wind. The scoop is discarded without green, and the furnace is like red in fire. Several states broke the news, and the book was empty.
Background: In June 756, An Lushan captured Chang'an, and Tang Xuanzong fled west; in July, Du Fu was captured by the rebels and sent to Chang'an; in the winter of the same year, Du Fu wrote this poem in chang'an, facing the snow in the sky.
If you look at this poem, the first and last links each have a "sad" word, the two words are too far apart to strengthen the tone, nor can they produce musical beauty, so why did Du Fu write it?
We must first understand the context of this poem.
Chang'an Ancient City
1. There is sorrow in the heart, but no one can complain.
The first league, the war cry more than a new ghost, the sorrow of the lone old man. War crying refers to weeping on the battlefield; new ghosts refer to the ghosts of newly dead soldiers. The meaning of these two sentences is: Weeping on the battlefield are the ghosts of many newly dead soldiers, and I am alone and mournfully chanting poems.
The first two sentences are very strange!
Poems that write love with scenery, generally write scenes first, and then write love, so that it is more subtle, and it is also convenient to lead to the change of feelings later; and this poem, the first link directly writes feelings, and the jaw link writes the scene again, what is the poet's consideration?
We'll answer that question later.
Let's first clarify the poet's feelings: Why is the poet sad?
The reason is that "there are many new ghosts crying in battle", the Defeat of the Tang Army, the poet has both grief for the dead soldiers and the sorrow of chang'an's hopeless recovery.
The poet has worries and is well understood, but why use the word "alone"?
After the defeat of the Tang army, was it only the poet who felt sad?
This is obviously not possible!
Therefore, this "alone" word can only be understood as "loneliness": the poet has sorrow in his heart and can only chant poetry alone.
Why loneliness?
Because the poet is trapped in Chang'an, surrounded by rebels, who can he sing the sorrow in his heart?
You see, these two sentences not only write the sorrow of the poet, but also write the loneliness and sorrow that no one can tell.
Since there is no one to complain about, how can the poet dispel his sorrows?
The poet writes according to this line of thought, and we continue to read the jaw link.
Chaotic clouds
2, look at the scenery, can not dispel the sorrow.
Jaws, chaotic clouds low twilight, rapid snow dancing back to the wind. The meaning of these two sentences is: chaotic clouds hanging low, shrouded in a thin twilight; rapid snow fluttering and swirling in a whirlwind.
The sorrow of the poet, no one can tell, how to solve it?
He thought that looking at the beautiful scenery outside might be able to relax.
This is the purpose of the poet to write about sorrow first, and then write about the scenery: because there is sorrow first, he can borrow the scenery to relax his mind, and if he writes the scenery first and then writes about the love, this idea will not work.
So can the poet dispel the sorrow in his heart by looking at the scenery?
No!
First look at "chaotic clouds low thin twilight", chaotic clouds, set off the poet's mood is chaotic; low, set off the poet's heavy heart; thin twilight, but also added a layer of darkness.
This is the scenery before the snow, so will the poet's mood be better after the snow?
Looking at the "rapid snow dance back to the wind", the rapid snow dance shows the poet's mood; the return wind sets off the poet's mood is tangled and bitter, and it is impossible to solve it.
These two sentences are written in a way that melts into the scenery, and the poet's feelings and scenery complement each other, from the chaotic clouds at dusk to the snow at night, the poet looks at it for a long time, and the sorrow in his heart does not change in the slightest.
In addition, the "rapid snow dance back to the wind" also implies that the night is very windy and snowy, and the weather is cold.
That is to say, the sorrow in the poet's heart is not only not dispelled, but also increases the coldness of the body.
So, what should the poet do?
stove
3, can not borrow wine to pour sorrow.
Neck joint, scoop discarded bottle no green, furnace fire like red. Green, for wine. The meaning of these two sentences is that there is no wine in the bottle, so the scoop of wine is discarded; the stove is still there, and there seems to be a fire in it, and the light is red in front of the eyes.
These two sentences are very cleverly written.
(1) Since looking at the scenery cannot dispel sorrow, the poet again thinks of borrowing wine to pour sorrow.
But where he was now, there was no wine at all, and the sorrow still couldn't be dispelled.
(2) Since the body is cold, the poet thinks of using a fire to keep warm.
There is indeed a furnace, but is there a fire?
It looks like there is, but it doesn't.
The reason is that this "like" word, this word is very interesting, if there is really fire in the furnace, it must be red, how can you use the word "like"?
Therefore, there is no fire in the furnace, but the poet feels as if there is a fire, why?
This is actually the "spiritual victory method", the poet can not think of other ways to resist the cold, can only rely on the imaginary fire to keep warm, and "wangmei quench thirst" meaning is similar, can be called "hope furnace to stop the cold".
We can see that the method of spiritual victory is actually the poet's helpless move, there is really no way, can only forcibly find a way to compromise himself, which is deeper than the feeling of directly writing "no fire in the furnace", because "no fire in the furnace" does not mean that there is no other way.
But a very important question arises: this poem has been writing about sorrow since the beginning, and now that the sorrow has not been resolved, why is it suddenly written to resist the cold?
This is where the poet's brilliance lies, but it must be understood in conjunction with the tail link.
Snow white
4. It is not okay to write letters to relatives and friends.
Tail link, several states of news cut off, sad sitting on the book empty. Shukong is an allusion to Yin Hao of the Jin Dynasty, which means to be sad and bored, and to draw words in the air with his hands. The meaning of these two sentences is that the communication with relatives and friends everywhere has been blocked; only to sit sadly, with his hands in the air.
Let's first recall that the poet has sorrow in his heart, and what methods did he think of to solve it?
First of all, I want to find someone to talk to, but no one can complain;
Secondly, I want to solve it by looking at the scenery, but I can't solve it;
Then he wanted to drink to dispel his sorrows, but he had no wine to drink;
He could only continue to think of ways, he thought of writing letters to relatives and friends, but now the message was blocked, and even if the letter was written, it would fall into the hands of the rebels, which still had no way to relieve the sorrow.
You see, the poet wrote from the lament of the first link, all the way to the end of the link, tried all kinds of ways, can not solve the sorrow, so the tail link will continue to appear the word "sad".
After trying all kinds of ways, sorrow has not changed, which is why poets use the word "sorrow" at the beginning and end of the union, which is one of the wonderful pens.
So, is there no way to resolve sorrow at all?
No, the poet once again thought of the "law of spiritual victory."
Since writing letters will fall into the hands of the rebels, I should have no problem writing in the air, right? Who says that if you write in the air, your relatives and friends won't receive it?
Obviously, this is also the poet's helpless move, because he cannot dispel his sorrow, and he can only forcibly find a way to compromise himself.
Why, then, did the poet think of the "law of spiritual victory"?
The reason is that he has tried this method, and since he can rely on imagination to resist the cold, why can't he rely on imagination to pass on letters and dispel sorrows?
This is the magic of "the furnace is like red", without this layer of preparation, it is difficult for the poet to think of the "spiritual victory method", which is the second of the wonderful pens.
You see, the vein of this poem is very clear: first write the sorrow directly, and then gradually find a solution, and then echo with "sorrow" at the end to prove that the sorrow has not been resolved at all; more cleverly, the poet introduced the "spiritual victory method" in the neck connection by means of cold, and the end is smoothly thought of using the same method to relieve the sorrow, which highlights the poet's pain and helplessness.
The idea is ingenious, rigorous, intriguing and breathtaking.
Even in the Tang Dynasty, there were probably not many people who could conceive of it in this way.
Chen Ziang's "Late Lexiang County" has similarities in conception to this poem, but lacks Du Fu's "spiritual victory method", so it is much inferior.
Which other poem have you read that is similar in conception to this one?
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