The original text and translation of the ancient poem White Plum are introduced as follows:
White Plum
Yuan Dynasty: Wang Mian
Wearing this body in the ice and snow forest, it is different Peach and plum mixed with fragrance dust.
Suddenly, the fragrance spreads all night long, spreading like spring throughout the universe.
Translation
White plum blossoms grow in the woods with ice and snow. They are not mixed with peach and plum blossoms and fall into the dust of the world.
Suddenly, the fresh fragrance of this night spread out, spreading like a new year in the world.
Notes
①: put in, put in. This body: refers to white plum.
②Honghe: mixed. Fragrant dust: fragrant dust.
③Fragrance hair: refers to the plum blossoms opening and the fragrance spreading.
④ Qiankun: Heaven and Earth
Literary explanation:
"This body is in the ice and snow forest". In terms of color, "ice and snow" shape "this body" "The "white"; in terms of character, the "ice and snow" shape of "this body" is the perseverance and cold resistance. The poet uses personification to compare the plum tree to himself.
Having already expressed the purity of white plum blossoms, we then used peaches and plums as a contrast. Young peaches and plums are the most beautiful among flowers, and their fragrance is fragrant. Unfortunately, the struggle for spring is too bitter and they cannot be spotless. "Mixing fragrant dust" means "mixing fragrant dust with different peaches and plums" means mixing fragrance with dirt, that is, "harmony with light and dust", "harmony with light and dust cannot be used for bright things." In contrast, plum blossoms It can be completely different from the popular customs, so the word "qingxiang" can only belong to plums, but not to peaches and plums.
"Suddenly, the fragrance spreads all night long, spreading like spring throughout the universe." Maybe it's just the poet who drew a plum blossom under the lamp. However, the poem creates such an idea: suddenly in one night, the white plum blossoms all over the world bloomed, the fragrance overflowed, and the jade world became clear. This poem gives people a sense of contradictory unity of high moral character and great ambition, unconventional yet worldly, which is exactly the portrayal of Wang Mian's personality.
The first two sentences describe the character of plum blossoms that are pure and pure, proud of frost and snow, and do not compete with other flowers. The last two sentences use plum trees to describe people, describe their own interests, ideals and ambitions, and eulogize the heroic behavior and spirit of sacrifice for the benefit of the general public. This article expresses the poet's own aspirations and character through the chanting and description of plum blossoms.
About the author:
Wang Mian, a poet, writer, calligrapher and painter in the Yuan Dynasty, was born in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province. Born into a farm family. His father died when he was young, and he worked at Qin's house to herd cattle. He used his time to paint lotus flowers every day, and at night he went to the temple to read under the bright lamp. He lives in seclusion in Jiuli Mountain and makes a living by selling paintings. The painting of plum blossoms uses rouge as the skeleton of the plum blossoms, or the flowers are dense and the branches are numerous, which is unique in style. He is also good at painting bamboo and stone. It can also be used for engraving, and it uses flower milkstone as the printing material. It is said that he was the first to create it. He is the author of "Zhuzhai Collection", "Poems on Plum Blossom Pictures", etc.