farewell to vice-prefect du setting out for his official post in shu is a poem by Wang Bo, a poet in the Tang Dynasty.
The whole poem is as follows:
by this wall that surrounds the three Qin districts, through a mist that makes five rivers one.
we bid each other a sad farewell, we two officials going opposite ways.
and yet, while China holds our friendship, and heaven remains our neighbourhood.
why should you linger at the fork of the road, children * * * with towels.
The literal meaning of the poem:
The land of Sanqin guards Chang 'an, looking at Shu through the confused smoke.
I have many feelings with you, because we are both officials who leave home.
as long as there are close friends in the four seas, even if they are far away, they are just like close neighbors.
So we don't need to follow the example of those young men and women when parting at the fork in the road.
Appreciation of the whole poem:
The first couplet is strictly antithetical. The poem was written from the farewell place, "by this wall that surrounds the three Qin districts, through a mist that makes five rivers one". Standing on the outskirts of Beijing, the poet saw that the majestic Chang 'an was guarded by the vast land of Sanqin. Looking into the distance, it was convenient to be the "five Tianjin" of Sichuan in the misty land, and pointed out the place where Du Shaofu was going to work. Because my friend is going to Sichuan from Chang 'an, the two places are naturally connected with the poet's feelings. The beginning of the poem does not say goodbye, but only depicts the situation and style of these two places. The feeling of farewell is comfortable in it. The poet is in Chang 'an, even the land of Sanqin is hard to see at a glance, and Wujin, which is thousands of miles away, is impossible to see. Beyond ordinary people's vision, we can see the world with imaginary eyes and use exaggeration to start a magnificent realm at the beginning, which is different from ordinary farewell poems that only focus on Yan Yu, Yang Zhi, tears and wine lamps. The first couplet belongs to the "place name pair" in the "work pair", which is extremely magnificent and exquisite.
couplets are connected by prose sentences, and the syntax has changed, and the expression method has changed from scenery description to lyricism, from reality to emptiness, and the literary situation has been ups and downs. "we bid each other a sad farewell, we two officials going opposite ways" means that the meaning of parting from each other also has the affection of traveling officials. Leaving home, there has been a heavy parting, saying goodbye to each other in the guest house, and there is another heavy parting, among which there is infinite sadness. Here, the poet arranged two ties: the unity of feelings (we bid each other a sad farewell) and the unity of situation (we two officials going opposite ways), which brought his heart closer to Du Shaofu and shortened the distance of thousands of miles. The antithesis of these two sentences does not seek neatness and evacuation. Although there were no strict rules in the law poem at that time, it had its unique beauty, which made the poem ups and downs, making people feel that it was impossible to stop.
In the two sentences of the Neck Couplet, the strange peaks stand out, which highly summarizes the scene of "profound friendship, mountains and rivers are hard to resist". The realm has changed from narrow to grand, and the mood has changed from sadness to heroism. "and yet, while China holds our friendship, and heaven remains our neighbourhood." Being far away from friends is inseparable. As long as you are in the four seas, even the ends of the earth are just like neighbors. It is eternal and ubiquitous to show friendship without being limited by time and space, and the emotions expressed are optimistic and open-minded. Therefore, these two sentences have become immortal words to express deep friendship between friends who are far away from Qian Shan.
The theme of "seeing off" was pointed out at the end of the couplet to comfort Du Shaofu. The first six sentences of the poem have broad artistic conception, cheerful mood and deep feelings, so it is natural to write a poem like "why should you linger at the fork of the road, children * * * stained with towels" at the end, which completely sweeps away the habit of "tears" and "sadness" in the farewell poem, and turns away from the usual tune of parting from sorrow and not hating. The word "in the wrong way" points out the word "send" on the topic surface. This is the poet's exhortation to his friends when he left, and it is also his own feelings.