In the third year of the Qing Dynasty (1043), Emperor Renzong of Song followed the advice of the counselors, reinstated Fan Zhongyan, and re-elected him as the Governor of the Government, and also adjusted the appointment of auxiliary ministers, during which time he also promoted a number of young talents, including Ouyang Xiu and Han Qi. Fan Zhongyan took office with great vigor and began drastic reforms, known in history as the "New Deal for celebrating the calendar".
Fan Zhongyan is a rare talent, whether in the local office, or to participate in the government affairs, always firm in his own concept, hoping that with the reform and change of law, the country can be revitalized. However, the vigorous reform was opposed by conservatives, accusing Fan Zhongyan of "forming a party for personal gain", and in the strong public opinion, coupled with pressure from all sides, Song Renzong had to depose Fan Zhongyun, and since then the "New Deal for celebrating the calendar" has failed.
After the failure of the reform and change of law, Fan Zhongyan took the initiative to request for release and was appointed as Dengzhou Zhizhou, and the other reformers also suffered blows and were relegated to other places; at that time, the young Ouyang Xiu was relegated to Yingzhou, for a young man with ideals, During the period of being demoted to Yingzhou, Ouyang Xiu was very sad and wrote a lot of sad works, but as a great literary hero, Ouyang Xiu's poems not only expounded the inner bitterness, but also integrated deep emotions into the works, as well as personal sighs about reality. For this reason, many of the works have a deep philosophical layer.
Ouyang Xiu was a famous writer, thinker, politician, one of the eight great masters of the Tang and Song dynasties in the early Northern Song Dynasty, and a leader of the literary circle during the Northern Song Dynasty, with extremely high achievements in literature. During his time in Yingzhou, Ouyang Xiu while thinking about his past life, while calming down to wait for the opportunity, the works of this period are fresh and unworldly, in this "Dream Work", the whole passage is very interesting, although it is based on the theme of dreams, but what is shown around this theme is the perception of life, as well as the perception of reality, so that the whole poem is deeply thought.
Cool night playing flute thousands of mountains and moons, the road is dark and charming hundreds of flowers. Chess does not know the change of people, and the wine is helpless to think of the family.
"Dream Composition", as the name suggests, is to record the things in the dream, what should be highlighted is the content of the dream, although it is only a very ordinary dream, but Ouyang Xiu through a very delicate brushstroke, while integrating more emotions, as well as the perception of things, so that the whole poem is lofty, each sentence has a deep meaning; it is nothing more than to expound personal views, so reading such a work, can not only be understood literally, but also should be combined with the background of the times, in order to be able to truly understand the meaning.
The first sentence, "The night is as cool as a flute and a thousand mountains and moons", focuses on describing the scenery in front of you, but it also reveals a sense of helplessness and loneliness; at night, there is a hint of coolness, the moonlight illuminates the thousand mountains, and the distant sound of the flute is sad. Although this sentence does not highlight the philosophy, it is written very expressively, creating a lonely and cold mood; the second sentence is written very cleverly, "the road is dark and charming, a hundred kinds of flowers", the road is dark, thousands of flowers have withered, and the petals have all fallen to the ground, making people feel more groggy.
Ouyang correction is due to being relegated to the field, the heart is very sad, but also very sad, so in the first two sentences, through some extremely small things to express, it seems to be very ordinary, but word by word is a faint sadness; in the third and fourth sentences are also very sad, but it is written more profoundly, "Chess does not know the change of people, wine is helpless to think of home." "Just finished a game of chess, suddenly found that the world has changed another look, unconsciously many years have passed, want to borrow wine to pour sorrow, but the wine is all drunk, can not relieve the inner bitterness, and the thought of hometown."
Ouyang Xiu's poems, whether it is the grasp of emotions or the perception of reality, are very profound, and in this poem "Dream Composition", it is presented through a kind of dream. In the poet's view, the real life is very helpless, which is an allusion to being relegated to the field, and the next two sentences are to highlight the personal sadness, everything is constantly changing, sometimes after a game of chess, it may be completely changed. It is this rapid change that makes Ouyang Xiu feel a lot of emotions, and he can only express his personal views in poetry.