Last year’s spring rain brought hundreds of flowers into bloom, and it was endless joy to meet you.
Singing loudly and chanting, arranging flowers and drinking, I will not go to your house to sleep when I am drunk.
This year I came to pay homage in mourning, but I couldn’t bear to send the soul-climbing chariot.
The spring light shines on my eyes just like yesterday, the flowers have broken and the buds are sprouting.
But your color is no longer visible, and your spirit is drifting with the morning glow.
When I returned, I was so sad that I couldn’t eat, and the ink on the wall was like a crow.
The separation between life and death made me burst into tears.
Explanation of key words in "Crying Manqing":
①Manqing: Shi Yannian, the author's friend, a poet and calligrapher in the Northern Song Dynasty. ② roosting crow: The ancients often used the word roosting crow to describe neatly arranged handwriting.
Appreciation and appreciation of "Crying Manqing":
Shi Yannian, also known as Manqing, was a poet friend of Su Shunqin, and they had a deep friendship. In February of the first year of Qingli (1041), Manqing died in the capital. Shunqin wrote this elegy, which expresses the poet (Su Shunqin)'s deep and sincere friendship for his deceased friend. Shi Yannian was versatile, free and humorous. His poetry and calligraphy enjoyed a high reputation at the time, but unfortunately he only lived forty-seven years old. Shi Yannian's early death was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue to his friends; but its suddenness only heightened people's grief.
This song "Crying Manqing" captures the "sudden" aspect when writing it. The poet (Su Shunqin) used a contrasting technique: the scene of having a party with Manqing in the spring a year ago was contrasted with the scene of his funeral in the spring a year later, so that people could realize how unexpected his death was. This highlights the author's grief-stricken mood. The first four sentences are about meeting Shi Yannian last spring, with continuous drizzle and flowers in bloom, and the "joy was endless". The poet (Su Shunqin) wrote about two dramatic events: flower arrangement and drunkenness. When arranging flowers, she "sings loudly and chants"; after being drunk, she "sleeps in the king's house". It not only writes joy, but also expresses the closeness between the two. Immediately afterwards, the above text was continued with the words "this year we mourn to pay tribute", which caused a sudden change in the atmosphere and enhanced the sense of suddenness of the incident. "Weeping" indicates sorrow; "endure" actually means being unbearable and forbearing. "Desire", will. "Chariot soul car" is a hearse. The following sentences describe the sadness of this spring. The sentence "Chunhui" corresponds to the previous words "Spring Rain" and "Hundred Flowers": flowers are in full bloom, spring is still the same, but old friends can no longer be seen. The sentence "flowers have broken buds" echoes "flower arrangement"; the flowers inserted last spring have broken buds and sprouted, but the owner of the flower arrangement has left the flowers.
"Color is no longer visible" ("color" is the face). But in the heart of the poet (Su Shunqin), he is not dead. "The spirit drifts with the morning glow", and his soul has become the beautiful morning glow. It shows the poet (Su Shunqin)'s deep affection for his deceased friend. The last Sidian poet (Su Shunqin) came back from the funeral and saw the belongings of his deceased friend. The inner waves evoked again are the lyrical climax of the whole poem. After the poet (Su Shunqin) returned from a funeral, he was unable to eat due to grief. The ink written by his deceased friend hanging on the wall intensified his grief. Shi Yannian was good at calligraphy, and people in the Song Dynasty commented that his calligraphy was "austere and powerful, extremely precious and lovely, with true face and bones." (Volume 17 of "The Poet (Su Shunqin) Jade Chips") Here the poet (Su Shunqin) used " "Crow" is used to describe his posthumous works, which highlights the charm and strength of Shi Yannian's calligraphy, and also subtly implies that the benefactor can't help but feel sad when he sees the things. All this made the poet (Su Shunqin) lament endlessly: The gap between life and death is so insurmountable; the ink is about to be left, but the sound and appearance are difficult to reproduce. Then tears of extreme grief burst into my eyes again. This poem is sincere and unrestrained, with exquisite conception. "Crying for Man Qing" is indeed a very touching elegy.