Du Fu's "Looking at the Moon"
Tonight in Yanzhou, I can only watch the moon alone in my boudoir.
I feel sorry for my children from afar, but I still remember Chang'an.
The fragrant mist and clouds make the servant girl wet, and the clear jade arms are cold.
Whenever I lean on the virtual guise, my tears will dry up under my eyes.
Poem Appreciation
In June of the fifteenth year of Tianbao (756), the Anshi rebels invaded Tongguan. Du Fu fled to Yanzhou (today's Fuxian County, Shaanxi Province) with his wife and children. Living in Qiang Village. In July, Suzong was located in Lingwu (now Ningxia). Du Fu left home in August and went north to Yanzhou (now Yan'an), intending to rush to Lingwu to help suppress the rebellion. But at that time, the rebel forces had expanded to the north of Yanzhou. Shortly after his departure, he was captured by the rebels and sent to Chang'an after the fall. Wang Yue missed his family and wrote this famous poem that has been passed down through the ages. Titled "Moonlight Night", the author saw the moon in Chang'an. If you write the ink from your own side, you should start by writing "Tonight the moon in Chang'an, I can only look at it alone among the guests." But what he is more worried about is not the situation where he has lost his freedom and his life or death is uncertain, but how worried his wife is about his situation. So Qingyan was moved, traveling thousands of miles away, and wrote directly, "Tonight in Yanzhou, I can only watch the moon in my boudoir." This has been through a layer. I was alone outside, so of course I was watching the moon alone. The wife still has children by her side, so why does she “watch alone”? "I pity my little children from afar, but I still remember Chang'an without understanding" was the answer. When the wife looks at the moon, she is not admiring the natural scenery, but "reminiscing about Chang'an". However, the children are not familiar with the world and do not know how to "remember Chang'an"! The "incomprehensible memory" of the children is used to contrast the "memory" of the wife, highlighting the word "independence" and taking it to another level. In the first and second couplets, the word "pity" or "memory" should not be easily passed over. And this should be chanted in connection with "tonight" and "watch alone". The bright moon is in the sky, and you can see every month. Specifically referring to the "single look" of "tonight", there is naturally a "same look" in the past and a "same look" in the future in mind. The future "looking at the same" will be left to the conclusion. The "same reading" in the past is implicit in one or two couplets. "Tonight, the moon in Yanzhou is watched alone in my boudoir. I pity my little children from afar, but I still remember Chang'an." - Doesn't this clearly reveal that he and his wife had "seen" the moon in Yanzhou together and "remembered Chang'an" ’s past? We know that before the Anshi Rebellion, the author stayed with the director Anda for ten years, part of which he spent with his wife. My wife and I endured hunger and cold together, and we also watched the bright moon in Chang'an together. This naturally left a deep memory. When Chang'an fell and the family fled to Qiang Village, it was so painful to "watch" the moon of Yanzhou with my wife and "remember Chang'an" together! Now that he is trapped in the rebellion, his wife "looks alone" at the moon of Yanzhou and "remembers Chang'an". The "recollections" are not only full of bitterness, but also intertwined with worry and panic. The word "remember" has a profound and thought-provoking meaning. In the past, my wife and I looked at the moon over Yanzhou together and "remembered Chang'an". Although we had mixed feelings, I still shared my worries for my wife. Now, my wife "looks alone" at the moon over Yanzhou and "remembers Chang'an" and "feels distant pity" for her little one. Her children are naive and childish, which can only increase her burden. How can they share her worries? The word "pity" is also full of affection and touching. The third couplet further expresses "recalling Chang'an" through the image description of the wife looking at the moon alone. The mist is wet and the clouds are wet, and the moon is cold on the jade arms. The longer I look at the moon, the deeper my memory becomes. I even worry about whether her husband is still alive. How can I not burst into tears? And this is completely the scene imagined by the author. When I think of my wife who is worried and sleepless at night, I can't help but shed tears. Looking at the moon in both places, there are tears in each place, which cannot help but arouse the hope of ending this painful life; so it ends with a poem expressing hope: "When will I rely on the virtual guise to dry up the tears in the double light?" "Double light" and When the tear stains begin to dry, it means "looking alone", but when the tear stains are not dry, the meaning is implicit. This poem expresses separation by looking at the moon, but what it expresses is not the ordinary separation of a couple. The author wrote in the poem "Shu Huai" written half a year later: "Last year, Tongguan was broken, and my wife was isolated for a long time." "All lives? How can we meet each other even if we are together!" By comparing the two poems, it is not difficult to see that the tears in "Looking Alone" are filled with the sadness of the world being in chaos, and the clear light of "Double Photos" shines with the ideal of peace in the world. Between the lines, the pulse of the times is clearly discernible. It is titled "Moonlight Night", and every word is illuminated by the moonlight, with "single look" and "double light" as the eyes of the poem. "Looking alone" is reality, but from the opposite perspective, it only writes that the wife "looked alone" at the moon in Yanzhou and "remembered Chang'an", and his own "looking alone" at the moon in Chang'an and recalled Yanzhou is already included. "Double photos" include both memories and hopes: the "single look" of sentimental "tonight", the recall of the same look in the past, and the hope of leaning against the "virtual cover" (thin curtain) and looking at the moon's comfort in the unknown "where" time” future. The purpose of the poem is gentle and clear, and the composition is tight.
As Huang Sheng said: "With the Five Rhythms, there is no such thing as a holy poem!"