Just as the cuckoo sings in the willow,
After hearing the news that you were demoted to the dragon,
I let the moon with a sad heart,
Follow you to the border area west of Yelang.
[Author]
Li Bai (70 1 ~ 762), a poet in the Tang Dynasty, was born in Mian Governor Long (now Jiangyou, Sichuan). His father Li Ke's life story is unknown. When Li Bai was young, his family was well-off and generous.
[background]
"I heard that Wang Changling moved to Longbiao kiln to the left" is a good poem to express his anger and comfort at his friend Wang Changling's demotion. In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Wang Changling was also one of the stars, especially good at writing frontier fortress themes. In the early years of Tianbao, Li Bai had close contact with him when he offered sacrifices to Hanlin in Chang 'an. Wang Changling had a rough life, and his personality was similar to Li Bai's arrogance. It is speculated in Wang Changling that Li Bai 1978 left Beijing for three years from Tianbao, and was in Yangzhou at this time. Hearing the sad news, he wrote a poem to express his feelings and sent it to friends far away.
[Notes]
Long Biao: Today's Qianyang, Hunan, was very secluded in the Tang Dynasty. Wang Changling, as mentioned in the poem, was often called by the name of the state or county where a person was an official.
Move to the left: in ancient times, respecting the right was not as good as the left, that is, demoting officials.
Sub-regulation: cuckoo.
Five streams: The five streams mentioned by the Tang people refer to Chenxi, Youxi, Wuxi, Wuxi and Yuanxi, which belonged to the Middle Guizhou Road at that time and were located in western Hunan and eastern Guizhou.
Yelang: In the Han Dynasty, southwest ethnic minorities established political power in western Guizhou, northern Yunnan and parts of southern Sichuan, which was called Yelang. Yelang County was established in Tongzi, Guizhou and Yuanling, Hunan in the Tang Dynasty. This refers to Yelang in Hunan (in xinhuang dong autonomous county, adjacent to Qianyang). Li Bai was in the southeast at that time, so he said, "Go west with the wind."
[translation]
The flowers are gone, and the birds are singing.
I heard that you were demoted to the Dragon Label, passing through Chenxi, Xixi, Wuxi, Wuxi and Yuanxi.
Let me entrust my sad heart for you to the bright moon in the sky.
Accompany the gentleman, you go all the way to Yelangxi!
This is one of Li Bai's masterpieces. According to textual research, Wang Changling was relegated to the outside of the dragon table in the seventh year of Tianbao (748). In the spring of the following year, flowers blossomed and the rules rang. Li Bai wrote this sincere poem in Yangzhou and gave it to Wang Changling, who was exiled far away.
Why was Wang Changling demoted? At that time, it was said to be "careless" in the comments on the collection of heroes crossing the river, and the new and old Tang books were also said to be "careless" It can be seen that Wang Changling didn't make any big mistakes, but at best it was just a trivial matter. He was demoted to "remoteness" more than 3,000 miles away from the capital Chang 'an, which made people feel sympathy and sigh. The poet often writes a poem in memory of Wang Changling. Li Bai even expressed his deep sympathy and comfort to Wang Changling, regardless of the "rampant slander" (quoted from Yin Longyu's Chronicle of Tang Poetry).
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One or two sentences, focusing on scenery and narrative. The first sentence is ingenious with a pen, and the scenery hides festivals. Huayang is flying all over the sky, erratic; Zi Gui (cuckoo) cried "It's better to go home" and her voice was piercing. The description of the scenery highlights and sets off the specific festivals and environments in late spring, and also symbolizes the feeling of loneliness and the pain of parting. It's really perfect!
The second narrative, "Crossing the Five Rivers", points out that Wang Changling trudged to the wasteland and reached the Dragon Label. Wuhe area was inhabited by ethnic minorities at that time, with high mountains and deep water, very difficult transportation and very bad natural conditions. Although this sentence is a simple narrative, Wang Changling's hardships in the trek and Li Bai's deep concern for Wang Changling's safety have penetrated the paper.
Three or four sentences become lyrical. The third sentence personifies the moon and endows it with human characteristics. Li Bai's inner sadness is beyond reproach and no one understands it. It seems that only the moon is the real bosom friend. "I'm worried about the moon", so the poet had to entrust the full sadness to the bright moon that shines all over the world and take it to the horizon thousands of miles away.
Strange words are repeated one after another, personifying another natural thing-wind. Hope to follow the ever-changing Changfeng until Yelangxi. This sentence "To Yelangxi" echoes the second sentence "Crossing Wuxi" from a distance, with different meanings but the same reality, both referring to Wang Changling's relegation to the world. At this point, we can see that the poet Li Bai gave Wang Changling not only a short poem, but a sketch.
The poem is rich in imagination and unique in conception, which is the result of Li Bai's good at absorbing the rich nutrition of Yuefu folk songs. Wu Sheng's Midnight Qiu Ge in the Six Dynasties has a good sentence: "Look up at the bright moon and send your feelings for thousands of miles"; Nagato Complain is a Yuefu poem by Qi Gan, a poet in the early Tang Dynasty, which is included in the Song of Peace. In the poem, it is also a quip to write the moon personified, that is, "send your heart to the bright moon, and flow your shadow into your arms." Obviously, Li Bai inherited and innovated the poems of his predecessors. The poet contains heroic words, which makes the meaning and artistic conception look brand-new
[1] Five streams: Xiong Xi, Puxi, Youxi, Yuanxi and Chenxi. Their watersheds are in the west of Hunan and the east of Guizhou.
[2] Yelang: the county name of the Tang Dynasty. Founded in the fifth year of Zhenguan (63 1), it is now located in xinhuang dong autonomous county, Hunan Province. The dragon sign should be in Yelang East, and the poem is called Yelang West, for fear of rhyme.