Poetry for mourning: Tang Dynasty Yuan Zhen's "Thinking of Lisi"

Once upon a time, there was no water in the sea, but it was not clouds except Wushan.

Take the flower bush to look back lazily, half destined to practice Taoism and half destined to be a king.

Translation:

For those who have experienced the incomparably deep and vast sea, it is difficult for the water elsewhere to attract them;

Except for the steaming clouds of Wushan, the clouds elsewhere are All eclipsed.

Walking among the flowers, I have no intention of watching the hundreds of flowers blooming.

Half of it is because I am devoted to Buddhism and Taoism, and half of it is because I can't forget you.

Author:

Yuan Zhen (779-831): courtesy name Wei Zhi, a native of Hanoi, Henan. His father died at the age of eight, and the young man was poor and humble. His mother, Zheng Xian, was a scholar and taught him books and biographies herself. He cited Ming scriptures and judged them as equals, and made up for the editor. In the early Yuan Dynasty, policymaking should come first. In addition to Zuo Shiyi, he has been supervising the censor. He was demoted to Jiangling Shicao to join the army and moved to Tongzhou Sima. Shi Zheng, the governor of Guo, was appointed as a member of the Ministry of Food and Drinking, and he became a doctor of the Temple Ministry and learned to make imperial edicts. He was called into the Imperial Academy as a scholar of Zhongshu, a bachelor of imperial edicts, and became a minister of the Ministry of Industry, Tongping Zhangshi. Not long after he left office, he became the governor of Tongzhou. He was appointed governor of Yuezhou, concurrently serving as censor, and observer of eastern Zhejiang. At the beginning of Taihe, he became the Minister Zuocheng, the Minister of Household Affairs of the Ministry of Education, the governor of Ezhou, and the military governor of Wuchang. He died at the age of fifty-three and gave the right servant of Shangshu a shot. Zhen advocated harmony with Bai Juyi since he was young. At that time, the poet was called "Yuan Bai" and his name was "Yuanhe Style". His poems are full of sadness, like a lonely phoenix singing in sorrow, which is very touching and touching.

Background:

Yuan Zhen had five poems about separation and reflection, and this is the fourth of them. They were all written in memory of his late wife Wei Cong. Wei Cong was the youngest daughter of Wei Xiaqing, the youngest guardian of the crown prince at that time. She married Yuan Zhen when she was twenty years old. Yuan Zhen had no fame at that time and suffered from poverty after marriage. However, she did not complain at all. Yuan Zhen and her were deeply in love. Benedict. Wei Cong died of illness seven years later. After Wei Cong's death, Yuan Zhen wrote many mourning works. This one expresses his loyalty and nostalgia for Wei Cong - people who have passed through the sea, and then see other water, It is not a magnificent and impressive water. After seeing the clouds in Wushan, I feel that the clouds elsewhere are not worth seeing. Even if I walk through thousands of beauties, I am too lazy to look back at them! The metaphor is extremely high, the lyricism is strong, the meaning of the words is heroic, and the writing is excellent. Romantic but not vulgar, magnificent but not gaudy, tragic but not depressing, it has become an eternal masterpiece among the mourning poems of the Tang Dynasty.

Yuan Zhen’s mourning poems have always been sung classics. In addition, he also wrote three poems "Removal of Sorrow" in memory of his late wife Webster, which can also be regarded as the swan song of Chinese mourning poems. . Poems such as "I sincerely know that everyone has this hatred, and poor and humble couples are sad for everything" has become a famous saying that has been passed down through the ages. The three poems of "Removal of Sorrows" are as follows:

Part 1

Mr. Xie, the youngest, showed pity for his daughter, so he married Qianlou Pei Shiguai. I have no clothes to search for a bag of watermelon, and he is selling wine and pulling out gold hairpins. The wild vegetables add to the meal, and the sweet and tall clover grows, while the fallen leaves add fuel to the ancient locust tree. Today's salary exceeds 100,000 yuan, and I will pay tribute to the emperor and resume the camp.

Second

In the past, we joked about the things behind us, but now they are all happening before our eyes. The clothes have been worn, but the needle and thread are still there. I still miss my old love and pity my maidservant, and I also gave him money in my dream. I sincerely know that everyone has this hatred, and poor and lowly couples suffer from everything.

Third

Sitting idle and grieving for the king will also grieve for oneself. How many years will it take? Deng You had no children and found out about his fate, but Pan Yue wasted no time in mourning his death. Wherever you look at the same acupuncture point, it will be more difficult to predict his fate. But I will keep my eyes open all night long to repay you for not raising my eyebrows in my life.

The sixth poem - "Jiangchengzi" by Su Shi of the Northern Song Dynasty: Ten years of life and death are uncertain.

Jiang Chengzi

——Su Shi of the Northern Song Dynasty

Ten years of life and death are so vast that I will never forget them without thinking about them. Thousands of miles of lonely tomb, no place to speak of desolation. Even if we meet each other, we should not know each other, our faces are covered with dust and our temples are like frost.

At night, I suddenly returned home from a deep dream. I was dressing up outside the small window. They looked at each other without words, only a thousand lines of tears. It is expected that the place where the heart is broken every year, on a bright moonlit night, there are short pine hills.

Translation:

The two lived and died, separated for ten years, and heard little from each other. Don’t miss it, but it’s unforgettable. My wife's lonely grave is thousands of miles away, and there is no place to talk to her about the desolate situation. Even if we meet, I don't expect to know each other, because I am running around, my face is covered with dust, and my temples are like frost.

At night, I suddenly returned to my hometown in a vague dream, and saw my wife dressing up in front of the small window.

The two looked at each other without words, only a thousand lines of tears. In the place where I expected my heart to be broken every year, the bright moon shines on the graveyard with small pine trees at night.

Author:

Su Shi (1037-1101): Writer, calligrapher and painter of the Northern Song Dynasty. His courtesy name was Zizhan, his nickname was Dongpo Jushi, and he was a native of Meishan, Meizhou (now part of Sichuan). He, his father Su Xun and his younger brother Su Zhe are both famous for their literature, and are known as the "Three Sus" in the world. Jiayou Jinshi. Shi was a generalist and a pioneer in poetry, poetry, literature, calligraphy and painting. His prose and Ouyang Xiu were also called Ou Su; his poetry and Huang Tingjian were called Su Huang; his poetry and Xin Qiji were called Su Xin; he is one of the four great calligraphers "Su, Huang, Mi and Cai"; his paintings created the Huzhou School of Painting.

Background:

This poem was written by Su Shi in memory of his late wife Wang Fu. On the twentieth day of the first month of the eighth year of Xining (1075), Su Shi had just arrived in Mizhou to serve as magistrate. . Wang Fu, the daughter of Wang Fang, a rural scholar in Qingshen County, Sichuan, was sixteen years old and married to Su Shi, who was nineteen years old. Wang Fu was smart, calm, knowledgeable and courteous. When he first married Su Shi, he never said that he was educated. After marriage, whenever Su Shi was studying, she would accompany him all day long. If Su Shi occasionally forgot, she would remind him. Su Shi asked her about other books, and she roughly knew them. Wang Fu cared deeply for Su Shi, and the two were deeply in love with each other. Su Shi was at odds with the powerful officials in the court. He had been in office for many years and was depressed and frustrated. He dreamed of his deceased wife at night and felt miserable and sad, so he wrote this eulogy. This poem blends dreams and reality into one, and its rich emotions and straightforward writing style set off each other. It is both a mourning and a time of grief. It blends grief and self-sigh. It is sincere and heartbreaking. It makes people cry when reading it.