"After the Snow Book"
[Tang] Tortoise Meng
When there were frequent snow days, the cold color of Jiangnan was not biased. Feng Ting still remembers that when people are separated, Mai Long should only owe pheasant sleep. It is also planned to tie the grass to the water, and occasionally because of the medicine to the front of the village. The neighbor is comforted, and mostly explains that the year is a barnyard year.
Translations
The seasonal climate is frequently prone to light snow days, and the chilly tone of Gangnam is not deviated.
Before the maple trees went down to the waterside sandbar, I was still reminiscing about the past when I met someone who was separated; the wheat field was all right, except for the absence of a sleeping pheasant.
It was even more planned to build a simple house, preferably near the water's edge; by chance, I came to such a beautiful village because of the practice of medicine.
The old man next door seemed to see through my thoughts and constantly comforted me, saying that the year must be a harvest year.
exegesis
1. Time: Refers to the season, climate.
2. Frequency: many times and successive passes.
3. Maple Ting: A waterside sandbar with maple trees.
4. Mai Long (lǒng): also known as "Mai Lang". i.e. wheat fields.
5. Pheasant sleep: pheasant, pheasant. Sleep, sleep.
6. Knotted, a "knotted mao". It is said to be a simple house.
7. Water times: Waterside.
8. Mood: mind, emotion.
9. The year of rěn: the year of the harvest in the grain. Tortoise Meng once lived in seclusion in the ancient town of Luzhi in Suzhou, and the poem was probably written during the period of seclusion.
Appreciation
The poem was probably written during the author's return to Hermitage.
The reason why Tortoise Meng chose to retreat was related to his personality and mentality, and more importantly, the late Tang Dynasty could not provide an environment for him to stretch his ambitions, and turned to the Taoist pursuit of seclusion and detachment.
In the late Tang Dynasty, the atmosphere was very poor. In addition to disappointment, tortoises find another identity and role positioning, that is, to break away from the intellectual class and become a farmer and fisherman.
This poem is his secret declaration that he wants to be a farmer and fisherman. Before introducing this poem, let's first understand the life of Tortoise Meng, which will help to interpret his work.
Tortoise Meng (?-881), also spelled Lu Wang, was born into a bureaucratic family in Suzhou. Tang Dynasty agronomist and writer. Together with Pi Rixiu, he is called "Pi Lu", and his poems are mostly written in Jing Yong, which is the representative of the hidden poets of the Tang Dynasty.
His father Lu Binyu served as the imperial historian, his great-grandfather Lu Kangguan zhize prefecture assassin history, his great-grandfather Lu Pu served as a shaofu junior superintendent, knighted Pingchang County, his fifth ancestor Lu Jingqian official worshiped the imperial history, his sixth ancestor Lu Xiangxian served as the tang dynasty chancellor, feng yanguo duke, the seventh ancestor Lu Yuanfang served as a household attendant, Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (zai chancellor).
In the early years, Tortoise Meng was keen on the imperial examination. From an early age, he was proficient in Confucian classics such as "Poetry", "Books", "Rituals", and "Spring and Autumn", and studied "Spring and Autumn". After repeated attempts, Tortoise Meng traveled with Zhang Bo, the Assassin of Huzhou, and became Zhang's assistant.
Returning to his hometown of Songjiang Fuli (present-day Luzhi Town, Suzhou), he lived a secluded life, and his descendants called him "Mr. Fuli". In Fuli, he had hundreds of acres of land, 30 houses, 10 cattle, and more than 20 helpers.
Due to the low-lying terrain of Fuli and the frequent damage of floods, tortoises often suffer from hunger. In this case, the tortoise Meng personally carried a dustpan, held a shovel, led helpers, flood relief, and protected crops from water damage.
He also personally participated in field labor, cultivated the grass uninterruptedly, and operated a tea garden under the Guzhu Mountain in Changxing County, Huzhou.
On weekdays, when he had a little leisure, he would bring books, teapots, stationery, fishing tackle, etc. to and from the rivers and lakes, and at that time people also called him "Jianghu Scattered Man" and "Heavenly Follower".
He also compared himself to the ancient hermit Fu Weng, the fisherman father, and the Jiang Shang Zhangren.
In addition to his life of cultivating nanmu and fishing in the rivers and lakes, he wrote many poems, endowments, and miscellaneous works, and compiled the "Kasawa Series" during tang Qianfu's sixth year (879) illness, which contained many tianjia poems that reflected agricultural activities and peasant life, such as "song of cattle herding", "song of wheat cutting", "song of obtaining rice", "silkworm endowment", "fishing gear", "tea set", etc., and his contributions to agronomy were mainly reflected in his sketches and miscellaneous works. He is the author of "The Collected Writings of Mr. Furi" and so on.
From the above experience, it is not difficult to understand how poets complement Confucianism and Taoism in the human world. Specific to this poem, the meaning of Taoist return to truth is even stronger.
The weather of light snow in Jiangnan is no longer the warm early winter season of spring. The sky cooled down a little, and the snowflakes drifted down intermittently. In such a season, what people need most is warmth. The warmth of the human heart can withstand the cold more than anything.
In the first link, the author explained the light snow weather in Jiangnan, and the cold color arrived as promised, and there was no deviation from the direction at all.
"Feng Ting" to "Mai Long", "Shang Yi" to "Wei Ying", "Everyone Don't Sleep" to "Owe Pheasant Sleep". The first two are particularly neat, and the whole expresses all kinds of unsatisfactory in the poet's life - the scenery of Feng Ting is beautiful, but it is a pity that it is the place where the parting takes place; Mai Long is very fragrant, but it is a pity that it lacks a little rhythm of life. On the surface, the poet is complaining about the imperfections of nature, but in fact he is saying that the poet's inner unhappiness lingers.
Neck link, the poet reveals the answer. It turns out that this kind of unhappiness is the lack of a spiritual home that the soul can pin on. It is not so much the need for a waterside dwelling place to live in seclusion, but rather a kind of loneliness that the poet gives birth to because of the lack of confidants. Practicing medicine is not the original ambition of the poet, reading and entering the army, self-cultivation and ruling the country and the world. However, after experiencing the darkness of the officialdom, all this disappeared and turned to Taoism. It is the village that gives the poet tranquility, the villagers who give the poet comfort, and the land that places the poet's soul that has nowhere to convert. This sad knot was not untied until the village: the poet already understood that the road of life in the future was in front of the village, just under his feet.
Tail link, can be described as a little tidbit behind the curtain. The neighbor may not understand the poet's ideas, but he is happy to enlighten the poet and advise him not to worry about the snow, and the wheat will be harvested next year. Although the neighbor and the poet are not the same thing in mind, it is such a beautiful misunderstanding that is enough to withstand the cold and snowy weather.
Tortoise Meng's poetry is generally elegant and elegant, just like the lover's whispers in winter, which makes people's hearts warm and warm, and they will smile inadvertently, which can be described as "antelope hanging horns, no trace to seek".
In such a snowy weather, have you found a good medicine to resist the cold? If there is such a person around, cherish it, and wish everyone a happy snow day!