This poem is the second of five wine quatrains written by Bai Juyi on New Year's Day when Tang Wuzong Li Yan succeeded to the throne in the seventh year of Tang Kaicheng (AD 84 1, the first year of Huichang).
Bai Juyi studied Buddhism in his early years and called himself "a Buddhist in Xiangshan". Although he was born in a poor family, his philosophy of life is "contentment is always happy", so his poems often show a leisurely and carefree mood, and this poem is no exception.
This poem is Bai Juyi's feeling after he tasted the ups and downs of life in his later years. He realized that in his short life, he should enjoy life well, instead of trying his best to give up everything and spend time on fame and fortune.
Snail horn, classic "Zhuangzi Zapian Zeyang": "Anyone who has a country in the left corner of a snail touches his surname; Those who have a country in the right corner of the snail are called human. At that time, we were fighting for land, burying tens of thousands of bodies, and going north for five days. " It means: there is a country in the left corner of the snail, whose name is Mo, and there is a country in the right corner of the snail, whose name is Man. They are competing for land with each other, and countless bodies have fallen. It took the defeated side 15 days to retreat. Later, he used the "snail horn" as a metaphor for a tiny place.
Extended data:
Bai Juyi (Park 772-846), a native of Xinzheng, Henan Province, was born in Taigu, a lay man in Xiangshan, and was the most secluded gentleman. He was a great realistic poet in the Tang Dynasty and one of the three great poets in the Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen * * * advocated the new Yuefu movement, and together with Liu Yuxi, they called the world "Bai Yuan" and "Bai Liu".
Bai Juyi's poems have a wide range of themes, various forms and simple and popular language, and are known as "the poet's magic" and "the king of poets". Official to Hanlin bachelor, Zuo Zanshan doctor. In 846 AD, Bai Juyi died in Luoyang and was buried in Xiangshan. Up to now, there are Bai's "Changqing Collection", and the representative works include Song of Eternal Sorrow, Charcoal Man, Pipa Travel and so on.
Bai Juyi was a great poet with great influence in the middle Tang Dynasty. His poetic thoughts and creations, which emphasize popularity and realism, occupy an important position in the history of China's poetry.
Leisure poems and allegorical poems are two kinds of poems that Bai Juyi pays special attention to. Both of them are realistic, vulgar and thrifty, but they are quite different in content and mood. Irony poems aim at "supporting the two", which are closely related to social politics and write more about lofty sentiments and excitement; Leisure poems are meant to be "exclusive", "content with harmony, and give play to one's temperament" (Nine Books of Yuyuan), thus showing an indifferent, peaceful and leisurely state of mind.
Bai Juyi's leisurely poems have a great influence on later generations. His simple language style and indifferent and leisurely mood have been praised repeatedly. However, in contrast, the "leisure" thought of retiring from politics and being content with peace, and the attitude of returning to Buddhism and imitating Tao Yuanming in these poems have far-reaching influence because they are more in line with the psychology of later literati.
For example, Bai Juyi said, "If you fight for two snail horns, you'll get a dime a dozen" (No.7 of Let's Drink Seven Songs), "If you fight for the snail horns, I'll send the body in the firelight of the stone" (No.2 of Drink Five Songs) and "I'll know what happened to the snail horns later" (No.8 of Wu Zeng's Can Change My Diet).
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Duijiu (Poems by Bai Juyi)