1. Original poem
Children fishing
Tang Dynasty: Hu Lingneng
A child with a shaggy head learns fishing and sits sideways on a strawberry grass Yingshen.
Passers-by asked me to wave, fearing that I would be frightened and ignored.
2. Translation and annotations
Translation
A child with disheveled hair and green face is learning to fish by the river, sitting sideways on the moss covered by green grass. Reflecting his figure.
When I heard a passerby asking for directions, I waved my hand from a distance, but did not dare to respond to the passerby for fear of disturbing the fish.
Notes
Puffy head: describes a child who is cute.
Children: young, ignorant children.
Fishing: fishing.
Lun: Silk thread used for fishing.
Raspberry: a kind of wild grass.
Moss: bryophyte.
Ying: covering.
Ask a question: Ask someone.
Fish fright: The fish is frightened.
Ying: respond, agree, accept.
3. Appreciation
"Children Fishing" is a poem based on children's life. The poem describes a "child with unkempt head" learning to fish, "sitting sideways under the reflection of berries and moss." "", passers-by waved to the child, wanting to ask some questions, but the child was "afraid of frightening the fish and not saying a word" (for fear of startling the fish, he did not say a word). It was really vivid, lifelike, both physical and spiritual, and full of interest. Its artistic achievements are no less than Du Mu's famous poem "Qingming".
This poem is divided into two levels: fishing and asking for directions. The first and second sentences focus on fishing (form), and the third and fourth sentences focus on asking for directions (expressive).
The first and second sentences are childish and childlike. "Puffy head" describes his appearance, highlighting the child's childishness, naughtiness, innocence and cuteness. "Lun" means fishing wire, and "Dianglu" means "fishing" in the title, which means fishing. The poet does not embellish the appearance of the fishing child, and directly writes the true appearance of the wild child with disheveled hair, making people feel natural, cute, real and credible. "Learning" is the poetic eye of this poem. This kid is new to fishing, so be very careful. When fishing, he "sitting sideways", with the grass reflecting his body, and the action scene as if in front of his eyes. "Sitting sideways" means sitting down casually. Sitting sideways, rather than sitting firmly, is consistent with the state of mind of children who are just learning this. This can also be imagined as a child concentrating on fishing without any formality. "Raspberry moss" generally refers to lower plants that grow close to the ground in moist places. From "berry moss" we can not only know that the place where the child chooses to fish is in a place where sunlight is rare and inaccessible, but also that the fish are not frightened. It is an ideal fishing place where people are not exposed to the sun, which pave the way for what will be said later on: "the fish are afraid of being frightened and do not respond to people". "The grass reflects the body" is not just a portrait of a child. In terms of structure, it has a direct relationship with the "passers-by asking questions" in the next sentence - passers-by ask questions to the children because they can see the children.
In the last two sentences, the subject of "waving from afar" is still children. When passers-by asked, the child was afraid of answering Jingyu, so he waved from afar without answering. This is a depiction of a child in terms of movement and psychology, who is scheming, strategic, alert and smart. The reason why the child uses actions instead of answering is because he is afraid of scaring the fish away. The child's action is "waving from a distance", which shows that the child is not indifferent to the questions of passers-by. How the child whispers to "passers-by" after "waving" is something in the reader's imagination, and the poet no longer needs to explain it. Therefore, after explaining the reason for "waving from a distance", the poem comes to an abrupt end. end.
In Tang poetry, there are relatively few subjects about children, which makes them valuable. This poem about children's fishing is very interesting. There are no brilliant colors or deliberate carvings in the poem. It is just like a beautiful hibiscus. It reveals some innocence, infinite childlike interest and some concentration in the plain and simple narrative. This poem can be regarded as a masterpiece describing children with a blend of scenes and both form and spirit.