Light smoke thick moon, deep water shallow sand. This poem sings early spring through plum blossoms, because plum blossoms bloom the earliest in spring. It is still early to write plum blossom in the first sentence. "South branch", because it faces the sun, the plum blossoms on the south branch bloom first. "only put", just opened, also means that flowers bloom early. "Two or three flowers", only two or three flowers bloom, or flowers bloom early.
Write flowers and colors in the second sentence. "In the snow" still means that flowers bloom early, because spring has arrived, and it won't snow later. "Singing incense to make powder" means that the poet carefully recites and appreciates the fragrance of plum blossoms and the shapes and colors of stamens and petals in the snow. These four words obviously adopt intertextual rhetoric. "You" has no practical significance, but it plays a rhyming role.
The last two sentences describe the open environment of plum blossom. They obviously used the famous phrase "The smoke cage is cold and the moon is full of sand" in Bo Qinhuai written by Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, to create a hazy beauty, and at the same time to connect flowers, snow, smoke, moon, water and sand. Poets not only appreciate plum blossoms, but also appreciate the poetic environment around them. In other words, when a poet appreciates plum blossoms in a poetic environment, he will naturally have a different taste. These two sentences have also put a lot of effort into the antithesis. Not only the three or four sentences are perfectly aligned, but also the form of each sentence is just right, which enhances the sense of rhythm of the poem.
Song Taoyue's Supplement to the History of the Five Dynasties tells the story of a poet: "When Zheng Gu was in Yuanzhou, Miracle paid tribute to his poems. There is a poem called "Early Plum", which reads:' Zita Law Qiancun, how many branches opened last night.' Gu smiled and said,' It's not too early, but one is better. Miracle, on the other hand, unconsciously wore three clothes and kowtowed to the ground. Naturally, scholars regard the valley as Miracle's teacher. "From the perspective of emphasizing" early ",Zheng Gu is undoubtedly correct, but it does not necessarily conform to the actual situation. From the point of view of appreciating plum blossoms, "only two or three branches are planted in the south" not only emphasizes "early", but also has more ornamental value, which is more in line with the actual situation, so this poem also has its own vitality.
References:
Zhang Ming 1. Selected Song Poems: People's Literature Publishing House, 2004: 476-4772. Selected Song Poems: Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, 1997: 286-287.