Appreciation of Huang Tingjian's "Send to Huang Jifu"
Original poem
I live in the North Sea and the South Sea, and I can't thank you for sending the wild geese to convey the letter.
Peaches and plums in the spring breeze, a glass of wine, and ten years of rain in the rivers and lakes.
There are only four walls to run a household, but there are only three walls to cure diseases.
Imagine that my head has turned white when I read, and the ape across the stream is crying because of the miasma of vines in the stream.
Translation
I live on the northern coast, and you live on the southern coast. You want to ask the swan geese to deliver the message, but it cannot fly to Hengyang. Back then, I watched the peach and plum blossoms and drank fine wine under the spring breeze. I was in a state of decline. It has been ten years since we parted ways. I often looked at the lonely lamp, listened to the autumn rain, and missed you. You only have four empty walls to support your livelihood. It's so difficult. The ancients became good doctors after breaking their arms three times, but I hope you don't do this. I wish you were poor and self-sufficient and studied hard, but now your hair has turned white. Across the mountain stream full of miasma, apes are wailing and clinging to the ivy in the deep forest.
Author
Huang Tingjian (1045-1105) was a poet, lyricist and calligrapher of the Northern Song Dynasty. His courtesy name was Lu Zhi, his nickname was Fu Weng, and he was also called Valley Taoist. Originally from Jinhua (now part of Zhejiang), his ancestors moved to Fenning (now Xiushui, Jiangxi), so he became a native of Fenning. Zhiping Jinshi, awarded Ye County Lieutenant. He successively served as professor and secretary of the Imperial College, and was the reviewer of "Records of Shenzong", compiled and edited "Records of Shenzong", moved to Zuolang, and became Jixian's school director. "Records of Shenzong" was completed, and he was promoted to a living person. Zhezong was in charge of his own affairs and was demoted many times. Finally, he was removed from his post and took charge of Yizhou (today's Yishan, Guangxi). He died in a demoted post and was given the posthumous title of Mr. Wenjie. There is a biography in "History of Song Dynasty". He is especially good at poetry and is known as "Su Huang" together with Su Shi. Together with Zhang Lei, Qin Guan, and Chao Buzhi, they are known as the "Four Scholars of Su Clan". Most of his poems write about personal daily life, and his art pays attention to rhetoric and sentence making, and pursues novelty. Gong calligraphy, together with Su Shi, Mi Fu and Cai Xiang, is known as the "Four Calligraphers of the Song Dynasty". He is the author of 30 volumes of "Collected Works of Mr. Yu Zhang" and three volumes of "Gu Qinqu Collected Works". [
Background
This poem was written in 1085 AD (the eighth year of Yuanfeng, Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty). At this time, Huang Tingjian was in charge of Deping Town, Dezhou (now part of Shandong). Huang Jifu, named Jie, was born in Nanchang (now Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province). He was friends with Huang Tingjian when he was young. At this time, he knew Sihui County (now Sihui County, Guangdong Province); his deeds can be seen in Huang Tingjian's "Epitaph of Huang Jifu" ("Henan Province"). Mr. Zhang Huang's Collected Works" Volume 23).
Notes
⑴Huang Jifu: Mingjie, a native of Nanchang, was a good friend of Huang Tingjian when he was a boy, and was the county magistrate of Sihui, Guangzhou (now Sihui County, Guangdong).
⑵ "I live" sentence: "Zuo Zhuan: The Fourth Year of Duke Xi": "The king is in the North Sea, and I am in the South China Sea, but the wind, horse and cow are incompatible with each other." The author in the "Postscript" Said: "We have been in Sihui, Guangzhou, and Deping Town, Dezhou, both of which are on the seaside."
⑶ "Send the wild geese": Legend has it that when the geese fly south, they cannot return to Yanfeng from Hengyang, let alone Lingnan.
⑷Four walls: "Historical Records: Biography of Sima Xiangru": "The householder stands on four walls."
⑸Qi: Pray. Humerus: The upper arm, the part of the arm from the elbow to the shoulder. In ancient times, there was a saying that if you break the humerus in three ways, you will be a good doctor.
⑸ Miasma River: It is said that there is a lot of miasma in the remote areas south of Lingnan.
Appreciation
The first couplet of this poem "I live in the North Sea and the South Sea, and I send wild geese to convey letters to express my gratitude" expresses my longing for my distant friends. At that time, the poet was in charge of Deping Town in Dezhou (now part of Shandong), and his friend Huang Jie (zifu) was appointed as the county magistrate of Sihui (now part of Guangdong). They all live in the coastal area. The previous sentence paraphrases what Chuzi said to Qi Huangong in "Zuo Zhuan": "The king lives in the North Sea, and the widow lives in the South China Sea", indicating that the sea and the sky are vast and far apart. The latter sentence means that communication is quite difficult. The ancients said that wild geese pass messages on their feet, but they also said that the wild geese flying south stopped at Hengyang, while Sihui was in the south of Hengyang. Therefore, I was rejected even if I wanted to ask Hongyan to send a letter.
The couplet "A glass of wine in the spring breeze with peaches and plums, a lamp in the rivers and lakes in the rainy night for ten years" recalls the joy of gathering and traveling in the past, and further expresses the depth of missing each other for ten years. I think back then, when the spring breeze blew across our faces, we raised our glasses and drank under the blooming peach and plum blossoms; for ten years, we wandered around the world, and every time it rained in the night and the lights were gone, we couldn't help but miss our distant friends even more. The huge contrast between the scenes described in these two sentences forms a strong contrast, which further highlights the feeling of longing.
The neck couplet "Manage a household but only have four walls to stand on, and treat illnesses without a three-fold arm" praising the friend for being an honest official and competent in politics.
The last couplet "I imagine my head has turned gray after reading, and the ape across the stream is crying and the vines in the stream" praise my friend for his serious study and his tirelessness in learning. The poet imagines that his friend is now white-haired and rustling, and the sound of his reading is accompanied by the sad cry of the ape coming from the wild vines beside the miasma-filled stream. There is quite a feeling here that the learned and talented friends are living in a wilderness and cannot be reused.
The main artistic features of this poem:
Huang Tingjian was the founder of the Jiangxi Poetry School in the Song Dynasty. His poems have a fresh, new, thin and hard artistic style, and are good at using allusions. He transformed, transformed, and absorbed the words in ancient classics into his own works, thereby making the poems richer in meaning and more implicit in emotion. Therefore, his poems show profound knowledge and have a strong book style. This poem embodies this artistic characteristic.
Information
"I live in the North Sea and the South Sea", the momentum is sudden. The words "North" and "South" of the places where each other live already show the meaning of missing friends and not seeing them; adding the word "sea" to each of them makes it even more obvious that they are far apart and the sea and sky are vast. The author added this poem: "I have been in Sihui, Guangzhou several times, and I have been in Deping Town, Dezhou, both of which are on the seaside." It comes out as expected, but there is something unexpected about it. The two friends, one in the North Sea and the other in the South China Sea, missed each other and never saw each other, so they naturally thought of sending letters; the allusion of "sending letters to wild geese" came easily. Li Bai spent a long time in the night, and Du Fu wrote in Qinzhou's poem "Embrace Li Bai at the end of the day": "A cool breeze rises at the end of the day, what do you think of a gentleman? When will the swans arrive, and there will be plenty of autumn water in the rivers and lakes!" Emphasizing that the music is difficult to reach, he said, " "When will the swan geese arrive?" However, Huang Tingjian used a different way of saying: "Send a letter to Yan'er - thank you for not being able to do so." This means: I asked Yan'er to send a letter, but Yan'er declined. "Send a message to a wild goose" is an allusion that is too familiar, but it is followed by "thank you for not being able to" and it immediately changes the familiar into the new. Huang Tingjian pays attention to the method of "turning iron into gold". Wang Ruoxu criticized: "Lu Zhi's poems have the metaphors of 'taking the reincarnation and changing the bones' and 'turning iron into gold', which are regarded as famous words in the world. Looking at this, it is very cunning to plagiarize. "(Hunan Poetry Talk, Volume 2) Of course there are situations similar to "plagiarism", but they cannot be generalized. The poem mentioned above can be regarded as a successful example.
"Sending a letter to a wild goose" is used as an allusion, but it just means delivering a letter. But according to legend, the wild geese flew south and stopped at Hengyang. Wang Bo's "Farewell Preface to Tengwang Pavilion of Denghong Mansion in Autumn" says: "The formation of wild geese frightens the cold, and the sound breaks the Pupu of Hengyang." Qin Guan's "The Return of Ruan Lang" says: "There are still geese in Hengyang passing messages, but there are no geese in Chenyang." Huang Tingjian The poem also has the same meaning; but the personification of Yan'er makes the writing more interesting.
The second couplet was very famous at the time. "Wang Zhifang's Poetry Talk" says: "Zhang Wenqian said to Yu: Huang Jiuyun: 'A glass of wine in the spring breeze with peaches and plums, and ten years of light in the rainy night in the rivers and lakes.' What a strange saying." The words used in these two poems are common, and can even be said to be "Chen Yan" cannot be said to be "wonderful". Zhang Lei called it a "strange language", of course, he was talking about it as a whole; unfortunately, he did not explain why it was "strange" or where the "strange" was. In fact, it is Huang Tingjian's choice of words and poems that creates such a fresh and timeless artistic conception, giving people a strong artistic impression.
Ren Yuan seems to have made a mistake when he said that "both sentences recall the joy of traveling in the past." According to the "Epitaph of Huang Jifu", in 1076 AD (the ninth year of Xining), Huang Jifu "studied his background and transferred to Chengxiang Wei"; it was exactly ten years before he wrote this poem. Judging from the poetic meaning, Huang Jifu and the author got together in the capital when they were "studying classmates", and then parted ways for ten years. The first sentence of these two poems recalls the joy of getting together in the capital, and the second sentence expresses the deep longing for each other after farewell. The poet breaks away from the usual situation and does not use general expressions such as "the two of us met back then", but uses the words "a glass of wine". "A glass of wine" is too common, but its commonness can give people rich hints. Shen Yue's "Farewell to Fan Ancheng" said: "Don't say a bottle of wine, it will be difficult to hold it tomorrow." Wang Wei's "Send Yuan Er Envoy to Anxi" said: "I advise you to drink another glass of wine. There will be no old friends when you leave Yangguan in the west."
The meaning of the sentence is also pronounced in the environment. "Peach and plum spring breeze" and "Jianghu night rain" are all realms. Those who are ignorant do not know, and it is absurd to state the situation directly. ([Song Dynasty] Popular Wen "Poem Theory")
In the valley, "Peach and plum spring breeze brings a glass of wine, and rivers and lakes rain at night for ten years." It is said that a glass of wine will last another ten years. The same crankshaft, this is the highest point. ([Song Dynasty] Chen Mo's "Nostalgic Records" Volume 1)
It is also awe-inspiring and flowing out in one go. Five or six meals. The concluding sentence is written in the same way as before. The valley is proud and arrogant, emerging in one breath. However, if you learn it professionally, you may become slippery, so you must be careful. ([Qing Dynasty] Fang Dongshu's "Zhao Mei Zhan Yan" Volume 20)
The second sentence is wonderful, turning rottenness into magic. Three and four are the most appropriate words for this old man; five and six are the old ways of being a crazy slave. (Volume 2 of Chen Yan's "The Essence of Song Poetry")