"To Liu Jingwen"
There is no rain cover when the lotus is gone,
The chrysanthemums are still there but there are proud frost branches.
You must remember the good times of the year,
It is the time of orange and green.
1. "To Liu Jingwen" is a seven-character quatrain composed by Su Shi, a writer in the Northern Song Dynasty. This poem was written in the fifth year of Yuanyou (AD 1090). It is an encouragement poem to his friend Liu Jingwen. The first half of this poem says that "when the lotus is gone and the chrysanthemums are gone," we must still maintain the integrity of the proud snow and ice. The second half of the poem uses "orange, yellow, orange, and green" to encourage friends that difficulties are only temporary, to be optimistic and not to be depressed. It expresses the author's broad mind and his encouragement and support for friends in the same predicament, expressing his aspirations through material and lofty artistic conception.
2. Translation of the whole poem: The lotus has withered, and even the lotus leaves that hold up the rain have withered, and only the flower branches that have failed to bloom are still proud of the cold and frost. You must remember the best scenery of the year, that is in late autumn and early winter when oranges are golden and green.
3. This poem is about the scenery in early winter. In order to highlight "orange, orange and green, the best scenery of the year, the poet first used highly generalized pen and ink to depict a picture of the remaining autumn: the lotus ponds that once had green leaves touching the sky and red flowers reflecting the sun have now long since The redness of the green has faded, and the withered stems and leaves can no longer hold up green umbrellas to block the wind and rain; the independent chrysanthemums in the sparse hedges, although the pedicles have lingering fragrance, have no whole branches and leaves, only the tall and straight branches fight against the wind. Frost is still strong. Nature is in various forms. Flowers bloom and fall in different seasons throughout the year. Here, the poet only chose two types: lotus and chrysanthemum. The flowers that dominate autumn are written about their decline to set off the orange and orange mood of the cold year.
Reference materials
Huo Songlin. Song Poetry Appreciation Dictionary. Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, 1987