"The green mountains are together with the clouds and rain, how can the bright moon ever be two villages" comes from the third and fourth sentences of the ancient poem "Sending Firewood to the Emperor" by the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Changling. The full text is as follows:
The Yuanshui River connects to Wugang, and I see you off without feeling the pain of separation.
The green mountains are together with the clouds and rain, but the bright moon has never been the two towns.
Notes
⑴ Shiyu: Official title.
⑵ Tongbo (flow): waterways are connected everywhere.
⑶ Wugang: The name of the county, located in the western part of Hunan Province.
⑷Two Townships: The two places where the author and Chai Shiyu lived.
Translation
The waves of the Yuan River connect to Wugang, sending you the sadness of separation without feeling any sadness. You and I are connected all the way through the green mountains, bathed in wind and rain, and with the same bright moon, so why are we in two places?
Appreciation
Wang Changling is a poet who attaches great importance to friendship. As far as his quatrains are concerned, he writes a lot about farewells and farewells, and they are all written with emotional content. , each with its own characteristics. Judging from the content of the poem, the poem "Sending Firewood to Serve the Emperor" was probably written when the poet was demoting Longbiao (now Qianyang County, Hunan Province) to the Wei Dynasty. This Chai Shiyu may have traveled from Longbiao to Wugang (now Wugang County, Hunan Province), and the poem was written by Wang Changling to see him off.
The sentence starts with "Liu Shui Tong Bo connects Wugang" (one work is "Yuanjiang Tong Bo connects Wugang"), pointing out where the friend is going. The tone is smooth and brisk, "Liu Shui" and "Tong Bo" "Continuously flowing down the rivers, it seems that the rivers are connected and there are no obstacles. The addition of the word "connection" gives people a sense that the two places are close to each other. This is to set the stage for the next sentence. So the second sentence says, "I don't realize the pain of leaving you when I see you off." Although Longbiao and Wugang are "connected" to each other, they are "two townships" separated by mountains and rivers. So the poet used two more sentences to express his meaning, "The green mountains are together with the clouds and rain, how could the bright moon ever be two towns?" The writing style is deft, with one sentence of affirmation, one sentence of rhetoric, and repeated greetings, which is sincere and touching. If the first line of the poem is meant to express the similarity between the two places, then the two lines are even more similar in that the clouds and rain are the same, and the bright moon is visible. This wonderfully imaginative line is not only rich in lyrical charm, but also has its distinctive meaning. personality.
It uses rich imagination to create various images to transform "distant" into "near" and make "two townships" into "one township". The semantic meaning is novel and unexpected, but it is also reasonable, because it contains the deep friendship between people in two places but with the same heart. And isn’t this kind of friendship the seed of lovesickness after parting? What's more, the green mountains, clouds, rain, and the bright moon night can even more arouse people's longing for their friends. Therefore, these three or four sentences, on the one hand, are a relief to the friends, and on the other hand, they have penetrated into the deep and unswerving friendship and the longing after farewell. It’s between the lines.
At this point, readers can feel that the poet may not be "suffering from separation", but in order to comfort his friends, he can only suppress it in his heart and prevent it from triggering or infecting the other party. It is more likely that the other party has shown feelings of "parting and hurting", which makes poets who are good at intention and good at romance have to use those words of leaving but not far away, parting without separation, which are optimistic, cheerful and affectionate to alleviate the other party's feelings. The sadness of separation. This is a more thoughtful and touching friendship. Just like this, "Sending you off without feeling the sorrow of separation" will neither be mistaken by Chai Shiyu nor readers as an unenthusiastic poet. On the contrary, what people feel here is incomparable kindness and rare affection. This is the dialectics of life and the dialectics of art.
Isn't this lyrical technique of "Tao is ruthless but sentimental" more vivid and thought-provoking than the straightforward statement?