Original text of the work
Eight Formations
(Tang Dynasty) Du Fu
His achievements cover three parts of the country, so it is called the Eight Formations.
Du Fu's poem "Eight Formations" (written by Huang Zhongjin)
The stone in the river will not turn, and the regret will be lost and Wu will be swallowed up.
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Notes
1. Cover: exceed.
2. Eight formation diagram: a figure composed of eight formations, used for military training or combat.
3. Three-point Kingdom: refers to the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu during the Three Kingdoms period.
4. The stone does not turn: It means that when the water rises, the stones in the eight formations remain still.
5. Devouring Wu by mistake means swallowing Wu by mistake.
Translation
During the Three Kingdoms period, Kong Ming’s achievements were the most outstanding, and the Bagua array he created has become famous throughout the ages. Despite the impact of the river current, the stone remained the same. The thousand-year regret was due to Liu Bei's mistake in trying to annex Wu.
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This is a poem in praise of Zhuge Liang that the author composed when he first arrived in Kuizhou. It was written in the first year of the Dali calendar (766).
The "Eight Formations" refers to the military training and combat formations composed of eight formations of heaven, earth, wind, cloud, dragon, tiger, bird and snake. It is a creation of Zhuge Liang. , reflecting his outstanding military talents.
"The merits of the Three Kingdoms are known as the Eight Formations", these two sentences praise Zhuge Liang's great achievements.
The first sentence is written from a general aspect, saying that Zhuge Liang made the most outstanding achievements in the process of establishing the situation where Wei, Shu, and Wu divided the world into three parts. There are certainly many factors that led to the coexistence of the Three Kingdoms, and Zhuge Liang's assistance in helping Liu Bei create the foundation of Shu from scratch should be said to be one of the important reasons. Du Fu's highly summarized praise objectively reflects the historical reality of the Three Kingdoms era.
The second sentence is written from a specific aspect, saying that Zhuge Liang's creation of the Eight Formations made him more famous. The ancients have repeatedly praised this point. For example, the inscription in the Wuhou Temple in Chengdu reads: "The ambition to unify the economy has not yet been fulfilled, and the formations are laid out with sincere and clever plans." ." This poem by Du Fu praises Zhuge Liang's military achievements more concentratedly and concisely. The first two lines of the poem are written in antithetical lines. "Three-pointed Kingdoms" versus "Eight Formations", with overall achievements and contributions to the military, appear to be exquisite, neat and naturally appropriate.
In terms of structure, the first sentence starts from the beginning and gets straight to the point; the second sentence highlights the title of the poem, further praising the achievements, and at the same time paving the way for the following to pay tribute to the relics. "The stone in the river will not turn, and the regret will be swallowed up by Wu." These two sentences express feelings about the ruins of the "Eight Formations". The ruins of the "Eight Formations" are located on the flat sand in front of Yong'an Palace in the southwest of Kuizhou.
According to "Jingzhou Picture Vice" and Liu Yuxi's "Jia Hua Lu", the eight array pictures here are made of piles of fine stones, five feet high, sixty in circumference, arranged vertically and horizontally, and arranged into sixty-four piles. , always maintains its original appearance, even if it is flooded by floods in summer, and when the water falls in winter, everything loses its original state, but the stone piles of the Eight Formations remain the same and have remained unchanged for six hundred years. The previous sentence describes the magical characteristics of the ruins very concisely. "A stone does not turn" is adapted from the Book of Songs. Beifeng. The poem "Bo Zhou" has the following verse: "My heart is a stone, and I cannot turn it around."
In the author's opinion, this magical color is intrinsically related to Zhuge Liang's spiritual aspirations: he is loyal and unwavering to the Shu Han regime and the great cause of unification, as unshakable as a rock. At the same time, the existence of these piles of eight formations of stones that have been scattered and reunited and remain unchanged for many years seems to be a symbol of Zhuge Liang's regret and regret for his own death, so the last sentence written by Du Fu is "Regret the loss" "Swallow Wu", it is said that Liu Bei made a mistake in swallowing Wu and destroyed Zhuge Liang's fundamental strategy of uniting Wu to fight Cao Cao, so that the great cause of unification died midway, which became an eternal regret. Of course, this poem is not so much about Zhuge Liang's "regret" as Du Fu's regret for Zhuge Liang, and this regret is permeated with Du Fu's depressive feelings of "hurting himself and failing to achieve anything" (Huang Shengyu).
This nostalgic quatrain has the characteristics of integrating discussion into poetry. But this kind of discussion is not empty and abstract, but the language is vivid and vivid, and the lyrical color is rich. The poet integrates nostalgia and narration into one, without distinction, giving people a feeling of lingering hatred and endless thoughts.