Appreciation of "The Sapphire Case" by He Zhu
Lingbo could not reach Hengtang Road, but he watched Fangchen go. Who will spend the golden years? Yueqiao Garden, with its slender windows and red doors, is the only place where spring is known.
The flying clouds are rising slowly into the twilight sky, and the colorful pen inscriptions have new heart-breaking sentences. How much leisure and sorrow do you have? Yichuan tobacco, the city is full of wind and rain, and plums are yellow and rainy.
Notes
Lingbo: describes a woman’s light gait when walking.
Hengtang: At ten o'clock in the south of Suzhou.
Fangchen: refers to the whereabouts of beauty.
Jinsehuanian: a metaphor for the beautiful period of youth.
Suo window: a window carved or painted with a chain-shaped pattern.
Ran Ran: The way it flows.
Plum yellow rain: The plums are yellow and ripe in April and May, and there is often continuous rain at the base. It is commonly known as "yellow plum rain" or "plum rain."
Translation
Your jade Bu refused to come to Hengtang, so I could only watch you leave. But now I don’t know who is accompanying you to spend these wonderful years? In the courtyard where the Yanyue Bridge is built, the small vermilion door reflects the beautiful windows. Only the spring breeze can know where you are. Flying clouds were blowing in the sky, and the small island covered with Du Heng was looming in the dusk. The beauty is gone and never comes back, so I write heartbroken poems with colored pens. If you want to ask how deep and long my sadness is, it is like the misty rain and the green grass, like the catkins blowing in the wind, and the rain when the plums are yellow, it is boundless.
Appreciation
This poem expresses the "sorrow" caused by the failure to realize the ideal. The first part is about love and yearning, and the first two sentences of the second part are about the twilight scenery, suggesting that the lyrical protagonist is waiting for the "Lingbo" fairy until dusk, but there is still no trace, or there is too much "sorrow". Writing "beauty" is out of reach, which means that the ideal cannot be realized and the image is vivid. The "Biyun" sentence in the next film refers to the rapid passage of time. At the end, three metaphors are used to express the numerous, chaotic, and lingering "sorrows" in a very vivid way. The author also earned the nickname "He Meizi" for this. In the poem, he transformed the abstract leisurely feelings into perceptible and knowable "a river of tobacco, a city full of wind and catkins, and plums with yellow rain", which not only vividly and truly expresses the poet's frustrated, confused and miserable inner world, but also vividly , accurately showed the misty and rainy scene in late spring in the south of the Yangtze River, and was deeply appreciated by people at the time. At the end, "A river of tobacco, flying catkins all over the city, and yellow plums in the rain" uses the scenery in the south of the Yangtze River as a metaphor for the depth and breadth of sorrow, and the vast area as a metaphor for the abundance of sorrow. "Huang Shiyu" uses a continuous metaphor to describe the long duration and difficulty of cutting off the sadness. It is both uplifting and meaningful, and it is known as the swan song. Therefore, He Zhu was nicknamed "He Meizi", which was deeply appreciated by people at the time. Huang Tingjian even praised it highly: "It can be interpreted as a heart-breaking sentence in the south of the Yangtze River, but now it can only be He Fang Hui" ("Sending Congratulations to Fang Hui").
About the author
He Zhu (1052-1125), also known as Fanghui, also known as Qinghu Yilao. A native of Weizhou *** City (now Huixian County, Henan Province). The grandson of Empress Xiaohui, Taizu of the Song Dynasty. Granted the title of "Dianzhi" in the right class. In the middle of Yuan Dynasty, it was called Sizhou and Taipingzhou. He lived under Wu in his later years. He was erudite and strong in memorizing, and he was good at playing music. Most of the poems depict the separation and thoughts of a girl, and also express the lamentation of not being able to realize her talents and the works of drunkenness and indulgence. Diverse styles, affectionate and eloquent. There are "Qinghu Yilaoji" and "Dongshan Ci".
I’m so depressed. I just got this sentence in the exam yesterday... I wish I had seen your question earlier