"Farewell to a Friend"
Li Bai
Green mountains cross Beiguo,
White water surrounds the east city.
This place is a different place,
I have traveled thousands of miles.
The meaning of wandering clouds,
The feeling of an old friend at sunset.
Waving his hand, he went away,
The horses roared.
This poem was written by Li Bai when he was bidding farewell to his friends in Xuancheng, Anhui Province at the end of Xuanzong Tianbao period (about 754).
Xuancheng is the place where Xie Tiao, the great poet of the Southern Qi Dynasty, lived and served as the prefect. It has beautiful scenery, and Li Bai has always been particularly fond of it.
"Green mountains stretch across Beiguo, and white water surrounds Dongcheng." The first two sentences of the poem are not only an objective description of Xuancheng's geographical environment, but also contain the poet's deep feelings for the place where he lives. . When mentioning it at a specific moment when sending friends off, it should also include nostalgia for the unforgettable time they spent together in this famous city with beautiful mountains and green waters. Judging from the whole poem, the poet is riding horseback with his friends, leaving the city and arriving in the suburbs. Green mountains and white water are all the scenery before him. But the poet cast this scenery into a neat couplet (Qingshan - Baishui, Beiguo - Dongcheng), which created a profound meaning. The mountains are attached to the city, and the water is in love with the city; after all, the water will flow away, but the green mountains will still remain. Isn't this a symbol of a feeling of attachment and farewell?
Therefore, the farewell in the second couplet is naturally introduced: "We say goodbye here, and we march thousands of miles alone." Saying goodbye here is a direct narration of what is happening in front of us, and the embedding of the word "一", It strengthens the feeling of sighing and sighing, making the poems suddenly full of energy. "Gu Peng" comes from the ancient poem "Gu Peng turns to frost roots". It and the word "Zhuan Peng" are both symbols of wandering wanderers in poetry, but the word "Gu" emphasizes the meaning of separation and isolation. In addition, friends This journey has a long way to go ("Ten Thousand Miles March"), so the feeling of saying goodbye is heavy, and the complex emotions of departure are all contained in the sighing voice and the implicit imagery.
"The meaning of "Wandering in the Clouds". , the setting sun is an old friend’s love. "As if the sighs in the first two sentences were not enough, the poet introduced a set of farewell images. "Floating clouds", "sunset" and "solitary tent" are all commonly used poetic vocabulary in farewell poems.
There is an ancient poem from the Han Dynasty: "The floating clouds cover the day, and the wanderer does not care about rebellion." Su Li's poem has the following line: "Looking up at the floating clouds, they are about to pass each other." "When the storm is lost, each one is in a corner of the sky." Li Bai assigned "floating clouds" and "setting sun" to "wandering thoughts" and "old friends' feelings", which is actually an intertextual rhetorical method. The floating clouds rise from Xiu, and the sun sets, perhaps It's the scene when we broke up, but the poet has moved his feelings into it, making the scene a symbol of reluctance and helplessness.
There is no need to say clearly what "youziyi" means, "old friend's feelings". What is the feeling? The sadness of separation has already settled in the reader's heart.
After seeing you for a long time, we must say goodbye. "I wave my hand and say goodbye." "The previous sentence is a retelling of the old saying about separation. But "this place is a parting" is in the future tense, and "waving my hands away" is in the progressive tense, giving the lyric a sense of progression. The poet only writes about the farewell and farewell parties, but focuses on describing the two horses that have been together for a long time before parting. The horses are so affectionate, let alone the people. To form a sentence, adding the word "Ban" (Ma Xiang is also called "Ban", from "Zuo Zhuan") renovates the poetic meaning, which can be said to be a unique combination of ancient sayings.
Since the Six Dynasties, the structure of five-character rhyme poems has formed a certain convention, that is, it generally follows the formula of breaking the theme, describing the scene, and finally expressing the emotion. However, Li Bai's "Send a Friend" is different. It basically describes the scene--the lyric--and then the scene. (Image metaphor) - Lyrically, from "I'm here to say goodbye" to "Waving away from here", it forms a spiral structure, which is quite soul-stirring. The poet tries to avoid expressing his feelings directly and repeatedly uses landscapes, rivers, clouds and sun. Natural imagery is used as a metaphor to express farewell feelings, and it ends with a long neigh of a horse, with a long lasting aftertaste.