Translation of an ancient poem on the Yellow Sand Road in the Xijiang River at Night: The bright moon in the sky rose above the treetops, frightening the magpies perched on the branches. The cool evening breeze seemed to bring the distant chirping of cicadas. In the aroma of rice, people are talking about the good harvest year, and there are bursts of frogs croaking in their ears, as if they are talking about the good harvest year. Light clouds floated in the sky, twinkling stars appeared and disappeared, and a light rain fell in front of the mountain. I hurriedly crossed the small bridge across the stream to escape the rain. In the past, where had the thatched cottage shop next to the woods near the Tu Tu Temple gone? After turning a corner, the thatched cottage shop suddenly appeared in front of us.
Magpies are frightened by the branches, and cicadas sing in the breeze in the middle of the night. The fragrance of rice flowers tells of a good harvest, and the sound of frogs sounds.
Seven or eight stars are outside the sky, and two or three points of rain are in front of the mountain. In the old days, by the forest of Maodian Society, I suddenly saw a bridge over a stream when the road turned. Notes on "Moon on the West River·Walking on the Yellow Sand Road at Night"
1. Moon on the West River: the name of Tang Jiaofang's song, later used as the name of the lyrics.
2. Huangsha Road: refers to a rural road about 20 kilometers from Maodian in Huangsha Village, Huangshaling Township, Shangrao County, Jiangxi Province to Huangshaling in Dayu Village. In the Southern Song Dynasty, it was a direct line to the ancient city of Shangrao. The relatively prosperous official road leads to Shangrao in the east and Qianshan County in Jiangxi Province in the west.
3. "Mingyue" sentence: It means that the bright moonlight awakened the magpie sleeping on the branch.
4. Singing cicada: the sound of cicada.
5. Old times: the past. Maodian: a country inn covered with thatched grass. Shelin: The forest near the Tutu Temple. Society, Temple of the Land. In ancient times, there was a community tree in the village, which was used as a place for worshiping gods, so it was called community forest.
6. Suddenly: appear suddenly. See, the same as "appear", appear, appear. Appreciation of "Moon on the Xijiang River: Night Walk on the Yellow Sand Road"
The first two sentences of Xin Qiji's poem "The bright moon leaves the branches and the magpies are frightened, and the breeze sings the cicadas in the middle of the night". On the surface, it seems to be about the wind, moon, cicadas, Magpies are extremely ordinary scenery, but through the author's clever combination, the result is ordinary and extraordinary. The magpies were flying erratically, not hovering around the treetops, but flying around the slanting and abrupt branches. Because the moonlight is bright, the magpie is awakened; and when the magpie flies away, it will naturally cause the "parting branches" to sway.
At the same time, the chirping of cicadas also has a certain time. The chirping at night is different from the chirping under the scorching sun, and when the cool breeze blows slowly, it often feels particularly peaceful. In short, the two sentences "frightened magpie" and "singing cicada" contain stillness in the movement, and describe the scenery under the "cool breeze" and "bright moon" in the middle of the night in a leisurely and fascinating way.
Next, "The fragrance of rice flowers talks about a good year, and listens to the sound of frogs" shifts people's focus from the sky to the fields, showing that the poet is not only infiltrated by the soft taste of the yellow sand road at night, but also cares about it The fragrance of rice flowers that spread all over the village reminds us of the coming harvest. At this time and place, the joy that the poet and the people breathe together is all expressed in words.
The "fragrance" of the fragrant rice flowers not only describes the blooming of rice flowers, but also expresses the sweetness of the poet's heart. The main subject of the harvest is not the commonly used magpie sound, but the sound of frogs. This is the originality of the poet and it is amazing. In the poet's mind, it is as if he can hear a group of frogs clamoring in unison in the rice fields, arguing about a good harvest. First tell the content of "said", and then add the source of "sound". It is the poet's creation to use the sound of frogs to talk about a good harvest.
The above four sentences purely describe the scenery of the local summer night mountain road and the poet's feelings at that time, but the core is the summer night filled with harvest scenes. Therefore, it is not so much the summer scene as it is the happiness that the summer scene in front of us will bring to people.
However, the Xia Jing described by the poet does not end here. If the upper part of the poem is not a depiction of a vast summer scene, then the lower part is clearly characterized by the changing waves and winding roads under the shade of willows. Since there is a significant pause in the conception and rhythm at the end of the upper line, at the beginning of the lower line, the poet built a steep and steep peak and used confrontation techniques to strengthen the stable tone.
"Seven or eight stars are outside the sky, and two or three drops of rain are in front of the mountain." Here, "stars" are sparse stars, and "rain" is light showers. These are all to match the quiet night, tranquil atmosphere and simple wildness of Shangyu. It matches the local flavor of Chengqu.
Especially the "Tianwai" and the "Mountain Front" were originally far away and elusive, but as soon as the pen was turned and the small bridge was crossed, the shadow of the thatched shop by the forest in the countryside unexpectedly appeared. In front of people's eyes. Although the poet is very familiar with the path on the yellow sand road, he is always so absorbed in the sound of frogs talking about the joy of a good harvest that he forgets to cross the "outside of the sky" and the "mountain front", and even the nearby shrine. The thatched cottage next to the woods didn't even notice.
The first part "the road turns" and the second part "suddenly see" not only express the poet's joy at suddenly seeing the old house clearly approaching, but also express that he was so immersed in the fragrance of rice flowers that he even forgot about it. The contentment and enchantment of the long and short journeys complement each other, reflecting the author's profound artistic skills and making people endlessly interesting.
On the surface, the theme and content of this poem are just some seemingly ordinary scenery. The language has no embellishment, no allusions, and the hierarchical arrangement is completely natural and plain. However, precisely in the seemingly plain, there are the poet's painstaking conception and honest feelings. Here, readers can also appreciate another realm of Jiaxuan's poetry beyond the majestic and heroic.
The creative background of "Moon on the West River·Night Walk on the Yellow Sand Road"
This is a poem written by Xin Qiji when he was passing by the Huangsha Ridge Road in Shangrao, Jiangxi Province in his middle age. Xin Qiji became a frontier official in the Southern Song Dynasty, but his upright arguments and decisive and capable style, especially his political advocacy of resumption of the Anti-Japanese War, were resented by his colleagues and attacked by the highest ruling class. In the eighth year of Chunxi reign of Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty (1181), Xin Qiji was dismissed from office because he was marginalized by treacherous ministers. He returned to Shangrao to live in Daihu, where he lived for nearly fifteen years, living a retired life of idleness. During this period, although he also had a brief career as an official, he mostly lived in Shangrao, where he left many poems. This poem is one of them. Introduction to the author of "Xijiang Moon·Night Walk on the Yellow Sand Road"
Xin Qiji (1140-1207), a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty. The courtesy name is You'an and the nickname is Jiaxuan. He was born in Licheng (now Jinan, Shandong). He is known as the "Dragon in Ci", together with Su Shi, he is known as "Su Xin", and with Li Qingzhao, he is known as "Jinan Er'an". At the age of 21, he joined the anti-Jin rebel army, served as the secretary-general of Geng Jing's army, and soon returned to the Southern Song Dynasty.
He has successively served as the judge of Jiangyin, the general judge of Jiankang, the prisoner of Jiangxi Tidian, the transit envoy of Hunan and Hubei, and the pacification envoy of Hunan and Jiangxi. He was slandered and dismissed from his post at the age of forty-two, and retreated to Xinzhou, Jiangxi Province for twenty years. During this period, he once served as a prisoner in Fujian and as a pacification envoy in Fujian. At the age of sixty-four, he became the pacifier of eastern Zhejiang and the magistrate of Zhenjiang. He soon gave up and returned. Throughout his life, he advocated the Northern Expedition against the Jin Dynasty and proposed relevant strategies such as "Ten Treatises on Meiqin", etc., but none of them were adopted.
His words are passionate, impassioned and full of patriotic sentiments. There are "Jia Xuan's Long and Short Sentences" and a modern collection of "Xin Jiaxuan's Poems and Essays".
References: 1. Wu Diaogong et al. Appreciative Dictionary of Tang and Song Ci Poems (Southern Song Dynasty, Liao Dynasty, Jin Volume). Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House
2. Xin Qiji. Jiaxuan Ci Chronicle Notes. Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House
3. Cheng Fan. Appreciative Dictionary of Tang Poems and Song Ci. Changsha: Hunan Education Press