The sound of someone’s jade flute spreads into the spring breeze and fills Luo City.
Hearing the broken willows in this nocturne, no one can forget the love of his hometown.
Notes
(1) Luocheng: Luoyang (now Luoyang, Henan).
(2) Jade flute: exquisite flute.
(3) Dark flying sound: The sound comes from nowhere.
(4) Spring Breeze: Another version is called "East Wind".
(5) Folding Willows: It is the flute tune "Folding Willows", the name of Yuefu's "Drum and Horn Horizontal Blowing Music", and the content is mostly about the emotions of separation. Hu Zai's "Tiaoxi Yuyincong Huahou Collection" Volume 4: ""Yuefu Miscellaneous Records" says: 'The flute player is also Qiang music. The classical ones include "Folding Willows" and "Falling Plum Blossoms". Therefore, the banished immortal "Spring Night in Luocheng" "Wearing the Flute"... Du Shaoling's poem "Blowing the Flute": "The willows in my hometown are falling now, why do I have to worry about the music?" Wang Zhihuan said: "Why should the Qiang flute blame the willows, the spring breeze does not pass through Yumen Pass". "Quye." The song expresses the sadness of farewell.
(6) Hometown: refers to hometown, hometown.
Translation
Whose home does the melodious sound of the flute come from?
As the spring breeze blows, it spreads throughout the city of Luoyang.
Just tonight, listening to the sad "Breaking Willows",
Who wouldn't feel homesick?
Background
This poem was written by Li Bai when he visited Luoyang in 735 (the 23rd year of Kaiyuan). It describes the feeling of homesickness caused by hearing the sound of the flute in the dead of night.
Wang Yaoqu's "Combined Interpretations of Tang Poems": "I suddenly heard the flute, and I didn't know who was playing it. Because it was night, the sound was flying in the dark. The sound of the flute was blown away by the sound of the wind, and the sound of the flute was blown away by the sound of the flute. And far away, I heard the sound of the wind everywhere in the spring night, and heard the sound of the flute. The song "Breaking Willows" is in the tune of "Breaking Willows", which reminds me of my hometown. It is self-motivated, but it is said that "no one can afford it". How can everyone have other emotions? It is just for "spreading into the spring breeze", and the whole city can hear it."
Appreciation
< p>This poem is about homesickness and is titled "Hearing the Flute in Luocheng on a Spring Night", which clearly indicates that the poem was inspired by the sound of the flute. The word "Luocheng" in the title indicates that he is a guest, and the word "Spring Night" points out the season and specific time. The sentence begins with the sound of the flute. It was already late at night, and the poet could hardly fall asleep. Suddenly, there were a few intermittent flute sounds. The sound of the flute immediately touched the poet's feelings of traveling. The poet does not talk about hearing the flute, but talks about the sound of the flute "flying secretly", changing the object into the subject. The word "dark" is the key to the sentence. Most annotators ignore this word. The late Mr. Shen Zufen said: "...'Who's home' and 'Dark Flying Sound' describe the mental state when 'hearing' it. You hear the flying sound first and trace its origin, but you don't know who blew it and where it came from. Come, so it is said to fly out secretly" ("A Brief Interpretation of the Seven Unique Poems of the Tang Dynasty") is an understanding. Because we don’t know where the sound of the flute comes from, let alone who the flute player is, the word “dark” is very appropriate. The word "dark" here has multiple connotations. It mainly means that the sound of the flute is sent secretly, as if it is specially flown to listen to the guests who are away from home, so as to arouse their sorrow of separation. The whole sentence expresses an unbearable mood, using subjective words to write objective words. In addition, "dark" also has a discontinuous and vague meaning, which is consistent with the situation of the poem. "Whose house" means that we don't know whose house it is, and "whose" corresponds to "hidden". The second sentence deliberately exaggerates the sound of the flute, saying that it "disperses into the spring breeze" and "fills Luo City", as if it is everywhere and can be heard everywhere. This is naturally an extreme exaggeration of the subjective feelings of thoughtful people. The word "San" is used wonderfully. "Scattered" means evenly and spread out. The sound of the flute "disperses into the spring breeze" and spreads everywhere with the spring breeze, neither east nor west, neither south nor north. This is the default position of the word "Man" in "Man Luo City"; the word "Man" is derived from the word "San", and the two are closely connected.After hearing the sound of the flute, the poet was touched by his homesickness, so he played the song "Breaking Willow" in the third sentence. The ancients broke willows when they were saying goodbye, and they also broke willows when they were looking forward to the return of their loved ones. It is said that "Liu" sounds like the sound of "Liu", so the willows are broken to say farewell. Baqiao in Chang'an is a famous place for farewells, or it may refer to the place where all the willows are broken for those who see off. "Breaking Willows" is a song that expresses sorrow for farewell, and its sound is sad and somber. In the late Taikang years of the Jin Dynasty, the song "Breaking Willows" was popular in Jingluo, with the words "the hardships of the war". It is said in "Song of Broken Willows" of the Northern Dynasties: "When I mount my horse, I don't catch the whip, but bend the willow branches; I sit up and play the flute, worrying about killing the travelers." The lyrics are probably based on the meaning of the song. Therefore, when the poet heard the song "Breaking Willows", he aroused homesickness among the guests. Generally speaking, people who have lived in a foreign country for a long time don't have much to do during the day, but when the sun sets, they easily miss their hometown. In spring and autumn, people are often sentimental. "Breaking Willows" is the highlight of the whole poem and is also the meaning of "Wearing the Flute". Three or four sentences describe the poet's own feelings, but reflect them from others. The emphasis on "this night" is to address all the people who live in Luoyang City, and to prepare for the conclusion of the sentence "Who can't afford the love of hometown". This is the derivation of subjective emotions. It does not say "I", but it shows the deep feeling of "I" and the deep nostalgia.
This short seven-character quatrain can quite show Li Bai's style characteristics, that is, his subjective tendency in artistic expression. Love for hometown is a noble emotion, which is connected with patriotism. The poet's hometown is the place where he was born and grew up. As a part of the motherland, that image is particularly unforgettable for the poet. Li Bai's poem is about listening to the flute, but its significance is not limited to describing music, it also expresses longing for his hometown. This is what makes it touching.
The whole poem is tied to the word "hear" to express one's own feelings of listening to the flute.
The first line of the poem is a speculative question. The unseen flute player only played to himself, but unexpectedly moved many listeners. This is the meaning of the word "dark" in the sentence. The second sentence says that the sound of the flute was blown away by the spring breeze and spread throughout Luoyang City. This is the poet's imagination and an artistic exaggeration. The third sentence explains that the sound of the flute coming from the spring breeze is "Breaking Willows", which expresses the emotion of separation, so the next sentence says, who can not be aroused to miss their hometown! It stops abruptly when the water is ready, so the lingering aftertaste lingers in the readers' hearts for a long time, making them endlessly memorable.
Li Bai's hometown is in Sichuan. He left home to travel eastward when he was in his twenties, and later lived in Hubei and Shandong for a long time. It is natural that listening to the flute song "Breaking Willows" on a spring night would trigger a deep homesickness. . Therefore, it is sincere and exciting, and has aroused strong excitement in the hearts of travelers for thousands of years.
This is a seven-character quatrain, written approximately in the 22nd year of Kaiyuan (734). At that time, Li Bai was living in Luocheng, which is today's Luoyang, Henan. In the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang was a very prosperous city, known as the Eastern Capital. On a night intoxicated by the spring breeze, Luoyang City, which had been bustling and noisy for a day, had calmed down. Li Bai was probably in the inn, and composed this poem because he accidentally heard the sound of the flute and was inspired by his hometown feelings.
“Whose jade flute makes a secret sound?” Whose jade flute sounds quietly in the quiet night? The poet may be reading, sitting idle, or doing other things, when a flute sound unexpectedly sounds. In the dead of night, the sound of the flute is clear and beautiful. He was attracted and followed the sound, but couldn't tell where the sound of the flute came from. "Jade flute" refers to a flute made of jade. It may be a good name for flute, or a substitute name for Qiang flute. It is uncertain and doubtful.
"The spring breeze spreads all over Luoyang City", the spring breeze blows slowly, the sound of the flute is scattered in the wind, and the wind blows the sound of the flute again, filling the city of Luoyang, making people think that "this music should only exist in the sky". Although this sentence contains artistic exaggeration, it brings out the moving sound of the flute and the tranquility of the night. Only in this way can the poet's hearing and imagination fill Luo City. It seems that other sounds no longer exist, and it seems that the whole city is listening attentively.
"In this nocturne, I hear the willows breaking." Tonight, in the misty flute music, I heard the song "Folding Willows", which is about homesickness and nostalgia for relatives. The flute music is fluttering and moving, but what kind of music is it playing? "Zheliu", that is, "Zheyangliu", is the name of a horizontal blowing song in the Han Dynasty, and its content mostly writes about the feelings of parting. For example, the "Old Book of Tang Dynasty·Le Zhi" contains a song "Zhe Willow Branches" circulated in the Northern Dynasties: "When you get on your horse, you don't catch the whip, but instead bend the willow branches. When you get off your horse, you play the horizontal flute and worry about killing the travelers." "Zhe Willow Branches" imitated by literati in the past dynasties The lyrics of "Willow Branches" also express the sadness of separation. Here, breaking willows can be understood not only as hearing a willow-breaking song, but also as hearing the idea of ??breaking willows in the music. "Liu" is homophonic to "Liu". When the ancients bid farewell to relatives and friends, they broke willows and gave them to each other, implying nostalgia and commemoration. Breaking willows is not only a custom, but also represents a scene and an emotion. The ancients also had the habit of breaking willows and sending them to distant places, which meant that they hoped that relatives who had traveled far away would return early.
"Who can't afford the feeling of hometown?" Who wouldn't feel homesick when hearing the sound of the flute? Judging from the first sentence, this wanderer's feeling of missing his hometown may have been hidden and indescribable at first, but suddenly became clear and intense due to the occasional flute sound. Where does the sound of the flute come from? Who is playing it? Is it a wanderer like myself? A musician? A geisha? These are left to the poet and the reader to guess. And there is no need to distinguish these one by one, because homesickness is common to wanderers. It is endless, permeating the night sky, entangled in the wanderer's heart, and cannot be erased or resolved. The word "who" is very general, but in fact it highlights the poet's homesickness. (The previous part of the brief analysis is from "Tongjiang Hut" and has been deleted)
Love for hometown has always been a noble emotion, which is connected with the patriotic emotion we often talk about today. His hometown, where he grew up, is a part of the motherland, and his image is particularly unforgettable. Although Li Bai's poem is about listening to the flute, its significance is not limited to describing music, but more importantly, it also expresses longing for his hometown. This is the touching part of this poem.