In the poetry world of the late Tang Dynasty, Li Shangyin was a great master, as famous as Du Mu at that time. However, in terms of influence on later generations, he surpassed Du Mu. An important contribution of Li Shangyin in the history of poetry is to creatively enrich the lyrical art of poetry. His poetry creations often use clear words and beautiful sentences to construct beautiful images, expressing profound feelings, hidden meanings, and full of the beauty of melodious music. The work that best expresses the characteristics of this style is his seven-character rhyme, among which "Untitled" (mostly in seven-character modern style) can be regarded as a typical example. The poem is named "Untitled", which is Li Shangyin's creation. This type of poetry was not written at one time or place, and most of it describes love. The content is either inconvenient to express clearly, or it is difficult to express it with an appropriate title, so it is named "Untitled". Some of them may have their own sustenance, or they may have the ability to rely on love. Although many scholars have studied this, until there is no conclusive evidence to prove that they have sustenance or dependence on something, they should mainly be based on the image of poetry. Treating them as general love poems based on the artistic conception of their composition does not hinder the recognition of their artistic value. The following song "Untitled" is appreciated by everyone as a masterpiece that expresses love:
It is hard to say goodbye when we meet, the east wind is powerless and the flowers are withered.
Spring silkworms will not run out of silk until they are dead, and wax torches will not dry until they turn to ashes.
When you look into the mirror at dawn, you are worried about the clouds on your temples. When you sing at night, you should feel the cold moonlight.
There is not much way to get to Pengshan, and the blue bird is diligent in visiting.
This poem expresses the psychology of love in a female tone. In the midst of sadness and pain, it contains burning desire and perseverance. The emotional realm is deep, distant, and extremely rich.
The first two sentences describe the misfortunes of love and the mood of the lyrical protagonist: due to some kind of force, it is difficult for a pair of lovers to meet each other, and the pain of separation makes her unbearable. The word "farewell" in the first sentence does not mean that we are saying goodbye at the moment, but refers to the completed forced separation. Between the two words "difficulty", the first one means difficulty in meeting, and the second one means pain and embarrassment. There have been lines in previous poems such as "It's so easy to see each other again" (Cao Pi's "Yan Ge Xing") and "It's so hard to see each other again" ("Ding Duhu Ge" by Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty), etc., all of which emphasize the difficulty of reunion. And lament the pain of separation. Li Shangyin takes this a step further and shows that because "it is difficult to meet each other", it is "difficult to say goodbye" - it is difficult to let go and the pain is unbearable. The poet uses the word "difficult" twice in one sentence. The appearance of the second word "difficult" gives people a slight sense of abruptness due to its repetition, resulting in the continuous connection of the poem and the twists and turns of the poem. The pain of parting is particularly deep and lingering due to the low-pitched and euphemistic way of expression; such a lingering mood is not easy to understand in straightforward narratives such as "It's easy to say goodbye, but it's rare to know". The lyrical protagonist is already so sad, but she is also facing the scenery of late spring, which of course makes her even more sad. In late spring, the east wind is weak, the flowers are in full bloom, and the beautiful spring is about to pass away. Human beings are helpless, and the misfortune of their situation and the pain of their souls are the same as the flowers in front of them that wither with the passage of spring. , because beautiful things are destroyed, doesn’t it make people feel endless regret and regret! The sentence "The east wind is powerless and the flowers are withered" not only describes the natural environment, but also reflects the mood of the lyricist. Things and self blend together, and the soul and nature have achieved a subtle fit. This kind of description that uses scenery to reflect people's situations and emotions is common in Li Shangyin's works. For example, the first two sentences of "A Night Rain Sends to the North": "You asked about your return date but it has not yet been announced, and the night rain in Bashan swells the autumn pond." The second sentence not only symbolizes the poet's stay in Bashu, but also reflects the boredom of the guest who is away from others. Like "Remnant", realism and symbolism are integrated into one, giving emotions a palpable external form, which is commonly referred to as the lyrical way of embodying emotions in scenery.
Three or four sentences, and then write about the feelings because "it is difficult to meet" and "it is also difficult to say goodbye", which is more tortuous and subtle. The word "silk" in "The silkworm will not stop spinning its silk until it dies" is homophonic with the word "si". The whole sentence means that one's longing for the other person is like a spring silkworm spinning silk that will stop spinning until death. "The tears will dry up when the candle turns to ashes" is a metaphor for the endless pain of not being able to be together, just like the wax tears will not dry up until the candle burns to ashes. Longing for you will not stop, showing the depth of attachment, but you will be missing her for the rest of your life, but it also shows that there is no time to meet, and the future is hopeless. Therefore, your pain will be with you for the rest of your life. However, although the future was hopeless, she would love it until death and would be attached to it for the rest of her life; despite the pain, she could only endure it. Therefore, in these two sentences, there is not only the sadness and pain of disappointment, but also the lingering, burning persistence and pursuit. The pursuit is hopeless, but we still have to pursue it even in the hopelessness. Therefore, this pursuit also has a pessimistic color. These emotions seem to be circulating endlessly, and it is difficult to find their clues; they also seem to form a multi-faceted three-dimensional body, and the whole picture cannot be seen from just one angle. The poet used only two metaphors to successfully express such a complex psychological state, which shows that his associations are very rich. The sentence "Spring Silkworm" is first of all an association between the lingering love of human beings and the endless spinning of spring silkworms. It also extends from silkworms spinning silk to "death" to the unswerving life and death of human feelings, so it is written. "The silk thread will not be exhausted until death" gives this image a variety of metaphorical meanings. "Making Silk", a Western Yuefu song from the Southern Dynasties: "Spring silkworms should not grow old (shouldn't, here means "disregard"), they always carry silk day and night. It's a pity that the tiny body is gone, the lingering will come naturally." The idea is similar to "Untitled" " The sentences "Spring Silkworms" are similar.
However, the spring silkworm here, "Why would it be a pity to lose its tiny body", is an idea that comes from the expectation that "the lingering will have its own time" and the future is quite promising. This is not the case with the sentence "Spring Silkworms" in "Untitled". As far as it expresses the spirit of pursuit, the pursuit it expresses is hopeless, but it does not care whether there is hope or not. The emotional realm is different, and the association is more tortuous. Using the burning candle as a metaphor for painful suffering was not uncommon in Yuefu in the Southern Dynasties before Li Shangyin. For example, "Thinking of you is like a bright candle, burning in the sky in the middle of the night" (Wang Rong's "Since the King Comes Out"), "Thinking of you is like a candle at night, burning thousands of tears" (Chen Shuda, same title), etc. "The wax torch turns to ashes before the tears dry up" also uses candles as a metaphor, but it does not simply use the wax tears to compare pain, but further uses "the wax torch turns into ashes before the tears dry up" to reflect that painful feelings last a lifetime, and the association is deeper than the predecessors. It is much more micro-complex, and the image’s background is therefore much richer.
The above four sentences focus on revealing the inner emotional activities, making the indescribable complex feelings concrete, and they are wonderfully written. Five or six sentences turn into writing about extroverted mental activities. Write about yourself in the first sentence, and imagine the other person in the second sentence. "The clouds on the temples change" means that due to painful torture, one can't sleep at night, so that the hair on the temples falls off and the face is haggard. This is what Wu Jun, a poet of the Six Dynasties, said, "The green temples change in sorrow, and the beauty disappears in tears" ("He Xiao" The meaning of "Six Poems of Ximazi showing ancient meanings"). However, the sentence "Xiao Jing" in "Untitled" talks about being sad about the "change of clouds on the temples" when looking in the mirror in the morning, and it is "but sad" - only sad for this. This vividly describes the twists and turns of spiritual activities, rather than simply describing the fact that youth is consumed by pain. At night I was languished with pain, and in the morning I was languished with pain. The pain at night is because the pursuit of love cannot be realized; the haggard and sorrow the next day is because of love and the hope of staying young. In short, the haggardness for love is painful and depressed. This kind of lingering and lingering feelings that circulate day and night still expresses the painful and persistent heart song. The "Yin at Night" sentence refers to oneself and others, imagining that the other person is in the same pain as oneself. He imagined that the other party would also be unable to sleep at night, and would often recite poems to express his feelings. However, he was deeply sad and had no way to relieve himself, so he increasingly felt that the environment was desolate, the moonlight was cold, and his mood became darker. The colors under the moon are cold, and "you should feel the moonlight is cold" refers to the physical cold feeling to reflect the psychological desolation. The word "should" is a tone of speculation and expectation, indicating that all this is one's imagination of the other party. The vividness of her imagination reflects the depth of her longing for her lover and the depth of her understanding.
The more specific the imagination and the deeper the longing, the more the desire to meet will be ignited. Since there was no hope of meeting him, he had no choice but to ask the envoy to greet him diligently and visit him on his behalf. This is what the last two sentences are about. Immortal couple are often used as metaphors for lovers in poetry. Bluebird is the messenger of a female immortal, Queen Mother of the West. Pengshan is a fairy mountain in myths and legends. Therefore, Pengshan is used here as a symbol of the other person’s residence, and Bluebird is used as the lyric protagonist. The messenger appears. This ending of placing hope on the messenger does not change the painful situation of "difficulty in meeting each other". It is just hope in hopelessness, and the future is still bleak. The poem has ended, but the pain and pursuit of the lyrical protagonist will continue.
This poem is filled with pain, disappointment, lingering, and persistent feelings from beginning to end. Each couplet in the poem is a reflection of this emotional state, but the specific artistic conception of each couplet is different. Different from each other. They repeatedly express the complex emotions that run through the whole poem from different aspects. At the same time, they are closely connected with each other and vertically reflect the psychological process with this complex emotion as the content. This kind of lyricism, continuous and subtle, successfully reproduces the deep feelings in the heart.
Sentences 1, 3, 4, and 5 in the poem can all be found in similar descriptions from Li Shangyin’s previous poetry creations. Under the influence and inspiration of predecessors' creations, poets have inherited and learned from them. However, he did not simply imitate his predecessors, but took a big step forward with high creativity, transforming the original relatively simple expression methods into more twists and vividness to reflect richer and deeper meanings. Thoughts and feelings have actually shed their old traces and become new creations. It can be seen from here that the poet's rich literary accomplishment and his exploration of artistic conception and expression methods are important conditions for the achievement of this poem.