"You should know that Ling Yunzhi, a young man, was once the first class in the world", from Thirty Portraits of Qing Dynasty and Wu Qingdi.
Thirty Portraits is a poem by Wu Qingdai, a poet in the Qing Dynasty. Poems written on portraits painted at the age of 3.
The original text is:
When you eat meat, you have never done your best. In 3 years, you have written a sword.
fortunately, the article didn't meet Huang Zu, so I'm still embarrassed by Ma Zhou.
naturally, you are difficult to use the world, so it's true that I don't like you.
You should know that Ling Yunzhi was once the best in the world.
Translation
Why do people in high positions always have a tiger's head? Why do you still have nothing to do after studying for 3 years, as bleak as the autumn of the sea and sky?
I'm glad I didn't meet a warrior like Huang Zu who killed the scholar, but now I'm as embarrassed as Ma Zhou.
I think my talents have not been put to good use. Is it true that I don't have the face of being a marquis?
You know, when I was a teenager, I made up my mind to go to the sky and promised to be a first-class person in the world.
note
1. 3: the Chinese substitute for the number 3.
2. quilt: it means to wrap the clothes and quilt with a bundle, which means to arrange the luggage.
3. Talent: talent.
Creation background
Wu Qingdi was a scholar in the 12th year of Guangxu (1886). When he wrote this poem, he was 3 years old, and he was not a scholar at that time. Therefore, there were some complaints in the poem. He later worked as an editor of the Hanlin Academy and studied politics in Sichuan, and his official position was not low. When he was appointed as an ambassador to Hunan, he visited Japan and set up a school in Hunan. Hunan Tongzhi is very grateful to this Hangzhou official.
After the Revolution of 1911, Wu Qingdi moved to Shanghai and made friends with Zengxiang Fan, Shen Cengzhi and others. Two years later, he and Shen Cengzhi were invited to compile Zhejiang Tongzhi before returning to his hometown in Hangzhou. In 1924, he died in Juxueguan Lane, Hangzhou at the age of 77.
Appreciation
Poets in the Qing Dynasty loved to use allusions in their poems, and so did this one.
The first sentence of the first couplet uses the code of "a tiger's head eats meat". The ancients thought that this appearance of a tiger's head was a sign of prosperity. Here, the poet said that although he had a tiger's head, he had no life of wealth. "Book Sword" refers to academic career. Autumn in the sea and sky is a bleak situation, and nothing has been achieved in 3 years.
The couplet used two more allusions. Huang Zu in the previous sentence was the satrap of Jiangxia during the Three Kingdoms period. At that time, people valued celebrities and generally did not kill famous scholars, but Huang Zu killed Mi Heng, a celebrity. So what the poet means is that he has never met such a rude warrior, and perhaps it also has the significance of comparing himself with celebrities.
The last sentence is obviously compared with Ma Zhou, who was very appreciated by Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, and had a beautiful talk of "inviting Ma Zhou four times". Of course, Li Shimin sent someone there. After Ma Zhou entered the DPRK, he rose steadily, and the official was the official secretary, and the prince was the right bastard, acting as the minister of rites. However, in his early years, he was very embarrassed and lived in a sponsor's house.
Necklace couplets express their feelings directly, lamenting that they are not talented, born at the wrong time, and are doomed to be unable to worship each other. Here, an allusion is also used. In the Han Dynasty, Li Guang fought hundreds of battles and could not be sealed. He hated: Do I not want to be evil? Can't I be born with this appearance? The implication is that he has made achievements in sealing Hou, but there is no result of sealing Hou. This is an external factor, not his own.
The couplet reminds me of the great ambition that my teenager once set, which has been explained above. The whole poem is a typical feeling of talent failure, and it is the resentment of the author after he fell off the list.
About the author
Wu Qingdi, Zi Zixiu, is from Qiantang. Guangxu Bingxu was a scholar, changed to Jishi Shu, awarded editing and editing, and served as an official in Hunan to promote learning. There is "Bu Song Lu Shi Lu".