The plum blossom described by Mei Yaochen, a poet in the early Song Dynasty, is an exquisite little jasper: "I live in Hanxiqu, and the plum blossom is warm in spring. I learn to make up like a little girl, and I laugh and make my lips red." ("Red Plum")
There are also poets who describe plum blossom as a fairy with ice muscle and snow skin and jade bone frost heart: "The beautiful fairy is full of affection, and the crimson fairy calyx is wrapped in Yao Ying." (Chao Duanyou's Plum Blossom) "The jade stands cold and lonely, and the fairy posture is chic and clean." (Zhu Xi's "The Plum Tree in the Front of the Second Rhyme") "Riding the Dragon and the Ancient Immortal will never eat fire, and I am used to living in the empty mountains and biting the ice and snow." (Lu You's "Lake Mountain Xun Mei") In Zhou Bida's eyes, plum blossoms have both the graceful beauty of fairies and the charming astringency of the women next door: "At first, I suspected that I really wanted to dance, and my clothes brushed away my natural posture. Another example is the owner peeping at the wall girl, and it is especially appropriate to apply Zhu Yingfen. " ("Plum in the Hongjing Lu Jianyang Pavilion of the Second Rhyme History Institute") Some poets compare plum blossoms to lovers: "Autumn waters are separated from beauty, and Jiangdong has several clouds at sunset. The lonely light bamboo house is frosty in the clear night, and I will see you when I dream of plum blossoms. " It can be seen how noble and noble plum blossom is in the poet's mind.
In fact, the three symbolic images of plum blossom are often not separated, but integrated. In many Yongmei's poems, these three symbolic meanings coexist. For example, Lu You's "The plum blossoms in the half-moon lake village at the beginning of the year have five poems with the rhyme of the wet plum village": "He who lives in an empty lane is suspected to be a fairy in the lake." People who have lived in a deserted land for a long time are both hermits and mysterious immortals. Lu You skillfully interweaves these two images to enrich the content of this poem. In Zhang Xiaoxiang's "Seeing Plum in the Taoist Temple", plum blossom is portrayed as a lonely and self-loving woman, which actually combines the images of a virtuous man and a beautiful woman. The reason why the three images of plum blossom can blend together is that they all have the core of * * *-the symbol of chastity.
Among the poets in Yongmei, Lin Hejing in the Song Dynasty is the most famous. His wife, He Zi, wrote a lot of Yongmei poems, the most outstanding of which should be Xiao Mei in the Mountain Garden: "All the fragrant flowers shake off their own beauty and occupy the small garden. "Dappled shadows hang aslant over the clear shallow water, in the evening of moonlight their fragrances peacefully expand." When the cold bird wants to fly, it first peek at the plum blossom; Butterflies, if you know the beauty of plum blossom, will be enchanting. Fortunately, there are micro-songs that can be compared, and there is no need for sandalwood * * * gold bottles. " The poet depicts the image of plum blossom in many aspects, highlighting the noble and detached character of plum blossom.
In addition, it is another important image of plum blossom in ancient poetry to express the yearning for distant friends. The first plum blossom poem, "A Gift to Fan Ye" written by Lu Kai in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, is to convey friendship with plum blossoms: "Fold the plum blossoms and send them to the people in Longtou. Jiangnan has nothing, talk about giving a spring. " Many poets in the Tang Dynasty have used this image to create Yongmei's poems.
It has become a common allusion to give away plum blossoms. In the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi and others inherited this image: "When the post is sent, you can send one by yourself" ("Plum Blossom"). "The attentive hand is folded and given away, and you don't want to be alone before the flower is spent." ("Three Plum Blossoms Sent to Zhang Mingshu Meitai by Thanks from Shi Cheng") Plum Blossoms have become a token of friendship. The image of "sending friends by folding plum blossoms" has gradually deepened and developed. By the middle of the Song Dynasty, plum blossom was not only a token in poetry, but also a kind of emotion. When poets saw plum blossom, they couldn't help thinking of friends who were far away from home. "The frost branches in the north of the mountain think the most, and the cold is left to the monarch." (Su Shi's "Second Rhyme Yang Gongji Offers Plum Blossoms") "Wandering far away for the pity of the northern guests, stealing information from Dongjun. The aroma is lighter than the newly brewed, and the mind is as heavy as an old friend. Mo Wen has nothing in the boat, and he is in a hurry to find a glass. " (Zhang Shunmin's "Seeing Plums Blooming on the Shore of a Boat")
There are also poets who express their love for friends and lovers in Yongmei's poems, such as Zhu Song's "Drinking Plum Blossoms as a Gift to Guests": "And before you get drunk, it is better to be homesick." And Zhu Xi's "Seeing Plum in Qingjiang Road": "He dreams for thousands of years, who will send acacia." All reveal the feelings of long lovesickness.
Some poets who moved the guest expressed their homesickness with Yongmei: "I still pity the guest road under the Longshan Mountain, and I will break my heart before breaking a branch." (Lu You's "Guest House to Mei") "Looking far away, there is no North-South envoy, and the guest worries about the fee." (You Mao's "Plum Blossom") The poet felt that the world was difficult, and he expressed his feeling of homesickness but he could not return.
To sum up, we can easily find that Yongmei, a poet, is not only trying to describe the physical state of Mei, but more importantly, he is using Mei to express his feelings and express his feelings. Yongmei's poems are different from ordinary poems about objects, because the beauty of singing in the poems has become the objective counterpart of the poet's mind, accumulated from generation to generation, and condensed into the independent and high-standard spiritual realm of China traditional literati.