Creative background
This poem was written in the first year of Wu Zetian's Long Live Tongtian (696). Chen Ziang was a scholar with political insight and talent. He was outspoken and dared to admonish, and often made critical comments on many bad policies of the Empress Wu Dynasty, but Wu Zetian did not accept them. He was once imprisoned for being "against the party". His political ambitions could not be realized, but were hit instead, which made him feel very depressed. In the first year of Long Live Tongtian, Khitan Li Jinzhong, Sun Wanrong and others captured Yingzhou. Wu Zetian appointed Wu Youyi to lead the army on the expedition, and Chen Ziang served as a staff officer in Wu Youyi's shogunate and accompanied the army on the expedition. Wu Youyi is a rash person with little strategy. The army was defeated the following year and the situation was urgent. Chen Ziang requested to send ten thousand people as vanguard to attack the enemy, but Wu refused. Later, Chen Ziang asked Wu Jin again, but he refused to listen and demoted him to sergeant. The poet suffered setbacks one after another and saw that his ambition to serve the country had come to nothing. Therefore, he climbed up to the Jibei Tower, sang generously and sadly, and wrote poems such as "Taige of Climbing Youzhou" and "Seven Poems from Jiqiu Looking at the Ancients and Presenting to Master Lu for Collection".
Appreciation
The short poem "Deng Youzhou Taiwan Song" profoundly expresses the poet's emotions of being unappreciated, lonely and bored. The language is vigorous and unrestrained, full of appeal, and it has become a famous piece that has been passed down through the ages.
"The ancients will never be seen before, and those who come after will never be seen." The ancients here refer to those wise monarchs in ancient times who were able to treat virtuous subordinates. "Jiqiu Viewing the Ancients and Giving it to Master Lu for Collection" and "Dengyouzhou Taige" were written at the same time, and their contents can be verified by reference. The seven poems "Ji Qiu Scan Ancient Times and Presented to Lu Jushi for Collection" express infinite admiration for historical deeds such as King Zhao of Yan's courteous treatment of Le Yi and Guo Wei during the Warring States Period, and Prince Dan of Yan's courteous treatment of Tian Guang. However, the sage kings of the previous generation like King Yan Zhao were no longer visible, and the sage masters who followed him had no time to see him. He was really born at the wrong time. When he stood on the stage and looked out, he saw only the vast universe, and it lasted forever, and he couldn't help but feel lonely. , sadness came from it, and I shed tears. Therefore, "the mountains and rivers remain the same, but the characters are different" to express his lament about "not being born at the right time". There is inevitably sentimentality about the times here, but there is also the poet's hatred of the filth in the poetry world. The poet cannot see the sages of the past, and the ancients did not have time to see the poet; the poet cannot see the heroes of the future, and the heroes of the future cannot see the poet. What the poet can see and see the poet is only the current era. This poem uses a generous and sad tone to express the poet's frustrated situation and lonely and depressed feelings. This kind of sadness was often shared by many people in the old society who had no talent, and thus gained widespread popularity.
This poem does not describe Youzhou Terrace in one word, but only the emotion of being on stage, but it has become a famous poem through the ages. The style of the poem is clear and vigorous. It is a pioneer work of Tang Dynasty poetry with the "character of Han and Wei Dynasties". It has pioneered the way to eliminate the flamboyant and delicate formalist poetry style of Qi and Liang Dynasties. In art, its artistic conception is vigorous and its vision is broad, making the poet's self-image more vivid and touching. The language of the whole poem is unrestrained and full of appeal. Although there are only four short sentences, it shows in front of people a majestic, vast and empty artistic picture. The first three sentences of the poem are outlined in rough strokes, and are set off by the vast and vast universe and the vicissitudes of ancient and modern personnel as a profound and magnificent background. The fourth sentence is full of emotion and a volley of strokes, making the lyrical hero - the poet's generous and tragic self-image stand at the center of the picture, and the picture suddenly becomes full of charm and brilliance. In terms of structural context, the first two sentences are about admiring the past and present, describing the length of time; the third sentence is about climbing the tower and looking out, describing the vastness and infiniteness of space; and the fourth sentence is about the poet's lonely and miserable mood. In this way, the front and back reflect each other, which is particularly moving.
In terms of diction, this poem is deeply influenced by "Chu Ci", especially the "Yuanyou" chapter. There is a saying in "Yuanyou": "But the infinity of heaven and earth makes me sad for the long and diligent life. I can't reach those who have gone by, and I don't hear those who come." The lines of this poem have been transformed from this, but the artistic conception is even more vast and powerful.
At the same time, in terms of sentence structure, the Chu-style syntax of mixed long and short sentences is adopted. The first two sentences each have five words and three pauses. The sentence pattern is:
Before - not seen - the ancients, behind - not seen - the coming ones;
The last two sentences There are six characters in each sentence and four pauses. The sentence pattern is:
Thinking about heaven and earth for a long time, feeling alone and sad and bursting into tears.
The syllables in the first two sentences are relatively rapid, conveying the poet's depression and injustice when he was born at the wrong time; the last two sentences each add a dummy word ("zhi" and "er"), adding an extra pause. The syllables are more relaxed and smooth, showing his helplessness and sighing. The length of the syntax before and after the whole article is uneven, and the syllables change in pitch and pitch, and they cooperate with each other to enhance the artistic appeal.