Li Bai - "Ancient Style" (Part 24)
The carts are flying dust, and the pavilions are dark at noon. ??
There is a lot of gold in the middle, and there is a house in Lianyun. ??
If you meet a fighting cock on the road, what a brilliant crown he has. ??
My breath is dry and the rainbow is dry, and all pedestrians are frightened. ??
There is no one who can clean his ears. Who knows about Yao and Zhi!
Appreciation: In the later period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, politics turned from enlightened to corrupt. He favored and appointed eunuchs, allowing these people to use their power to extort money. "So the Jiashe, the famous garden, and the upper field were named by the people in the middle, half of the capital." ("New Book of Tang Dynasty. The Eunuch's Biography Part 1")
Tang Xuanzong was also fond of cockfighting. According to "Dongcheng Old Father Biography" written by Chen Hong of the Tang Dynasty, Jia Chang, who was known as the "Chicken Boy" at the time, received the emperor's favor and "gold and silk". "Gift, day comes to his home." There is a folk saying: "The Jia family is thirteen years old, and its wealth and prosperity are not as good as those of the past." These eunuchs and chicken boys are arrogant and arrogant. At that time, Li Bai was in Chang'an and was deeply aware of the corruption of the upper-class rulers. This song "Ancient Style" is a profound satire based on the reality at that time. The first eight lines of the poem describe the luxurious life and domineering arrogance of eunuchs and chicken boys. The poet did not give a comprehensive description of the lives of these lucky people, but only intercepted two scenes on the capital avenue and cleverly sketched them in front of the readers. The first scene is about eunuchs. At the beginning of the poem, just like a movie shot, a dusty scene is shown: "The cart is flying dust, the pavilion is dark at noon, and the streets are dark." "Ting Wu" means noon, and "Qian Mo" originally refers to the field path, but here it generally refers to the capital avenue. The sky is brightest at noon, but there are no roads visible, and the dust is huge. And such a large amount of dust was raised by "big cars", which also illustrates the number of big cars and the rapid driving speed. This is a description of the scene, paving the way for the characters that will appear later. So, who is driving so recklessly? The poet pointed out: "There is a lot of gold in the middle, and there is a house in Lianyun." "Zhonggui" is the provincial name for "Zhongguiren", referring to powerful eunuchs. "A house" refers to a first-class house. "Lianyun" resembles its size. The house is high and wide, directly connected to Xiaohan. The poet not only wrote that the passengers were eunuchs, but also why they were so arrogant, because they were powerful and rich, and they were driving back to their luxurious mansions. Here the poet neither directly describes the eunuchs in the car nor the pedestrians on the road. He just writes about the flying dust and the cloudy houses to exaggerate the atmosphere and show the characters, which is wonderful in that the clouds support the moon. Another scene is about the chicken boy, and the pen and ink are changed again. When writing about "Zhonggui", every part of it is highlighted with virtual pen; but for "Chicken Boy", real pen is used to describe positively from two aspects: First, it describes clothing. "When I meet a cockfighting man on the road, how glorious his crown is!" The cockfighting man is different from the eunuch. He walks slowly with his horse bridle, as if he deliberately wants to show his power and the luxury of his clothes. Under the sunshine of "Tingwu", their car covers and clothes are so dazzling! The second is to write about demeanor. "Emotions cannot be painted." It is difficult to describe a person's expression, especially in short lyric poems. But Li Bai wrote it with ease. He first used an exaggerated technique, letting go of the pen and ink, "breathing dry hauni", hauni is hauni, and his breath blew the clouds in the sky, vividly showing the arrogance of the cockfighting man. Arrogant and arrogant demeanor; then, the poet took back his pen and wrote realistically: "Pedestrians are all frightened." There is no pedestrian who is not frightened. He further uses the psychology of pedestrians to vividly set off the momentum of the chicken boy. What a vivid portrayal, with strong penmanship. The last two sentences describe the poet's emotion. "Xi Er Weng" refers to Xu You. According to Huangfu Mi's "Gao Shi Zhuan", Yao once wanted to give the world to Xu You, but Xu You did not accept it and thought that these words had stained his ears, so he went to the water to wash his ears. Without people like Xu You who do not seek glory and gain in the world, who can distinguish between a sage (Yao) and a thief (Zhi)? The poet despised the eunuchs, chicken boys and other sycophants as bandits who harmed the people. At the same time, he also secretly criticized the supreme ruler at that time for not distinguishing between "Yao and Zhi".
This poem deeply satirizes the arrogance of the sycophant after gaining power through the description of Zhonggui and the cockfighting man, and expresses indignation against the dark politics of the time.