Huanxisha
Song Dynasty: Yan Shu
A new song and a glass of wine, the weather is the same as last year. When will the sunset return?
Helplessly, the flowers fall away, and the swallows return, as if they had known each other before. The fragrant path in the small garden wanders alone.
●About the author
Yan Shu yàn shū (991-1055), also known as Tongshu, was a famous lyricist, poet, and essayist. He was a native of Linchuan City, Fuzhou Prefecture in the Northern Song Dynasty (now Jinxian, Jiangxi Province). A native of Shahe, Wengang Town, County, located at the foot of Xiangnan Peak, his father was the first prime minister of Fuzhou Prefecture at that time. Yan Shu and his seventh son Yan Jidao (1037-1110) were known as "Dayan" and "Xiaoyan" in the poetry circles of the Northern Song Dynasty at that time.
●Explanation of key words
⑴Huanxisha: the name of Jiaofang song during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, later used as the tune. Sand, one is used as "yarn".
⑵ A new song and a glass of wine: This sentence uses the poetic meaning of Bai Juyi's "Chang'an Road": "The flowers and branches are missing and blooming in the brothel, and a beautiful song and a glass of wine". One song, one song. Because the words are sung with music, it is called "qu". New words, newly filled words, mean new songs. A glass of wine, a glass of wine.
⑶The weather in the old pavilions last year: It means that the weather and pavilions are the same as last year. This sentence is adapted from the poem "Sorrowful Autumn with a Friend" by Zheng Gu of the Five Dynasties: "The singing of flowing water will never come back, and the weather last year was the same as the pond." Yan's poem "Tingtai" was written as "Chitai". Last year's weather was the same weather as last year on this day. Old pavilions, pavilions that have been visited or are familiar to. Old, old time.
⑷Sunset: sunset. West: Setting towards the western horizon. When will you return: When will you return?
⑸No choice: no alternative.
⑹ Deja vu: It seems like we have known each other before. Describes the reappearance of something seen. Later it was used as an idiom, which comes from Yan Shu's sentence. Return of Swallows: Swallows fly back from the south. The return of the swallows is a constant scene in spring, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
⑺Xiaoyuan Fragrant Path: a path with fragrant flowers and plants, or a path with fallen flowers spreading their fragrance. Because the path is full of fallen flowers and the fragrance overflows, the path is filled with fragrant clouds. Fragrant path, a path in the garden with a delicate fragrance. Du: adverb, used before the predicate, meaning "alone". Wandering: walking back and forth.
●Translation
Listening to a new song and drinking a glass of wine, the weather is still the same as last year. When will the setting sun come back?
There was nothing I could do about the fallen flowers, but the returning swallow seemed familiar to me, wandering alone on the flower path in the small garden.
●Reading Appreciation
This is the most popular chapter among Yan Shu’s poems. Although this word contains the meaning of regretting the spring, it is actually an expression of emotion. The upper part of the poem combines the present and the past, overlays time and space, and focuses on thinking about the past; the lower part cleverly borrows the foreground, focusing on the present. The language of the whole word is round and fluent, popular and clear, clear and natural, with profound meaning, enlightening and thought-provoking. The deep thoughts about the universe and life in the words give people philosophical enlightenment and beautiful artistic enjoyment.
Start with the sentence "A new song with a glass of wine, the weather last year is the same pavilion." Write about the current situation of drinking and listening to songs. From the intricate sentence patterns and the brisk and fluent tone, we can feel that when the poet faced the current situation, he initially had a relaxed and joyful feeling, with a carefree and leisurely attitude. It seemed that the protagonist was very obsessed with feasting. The joy of chanting. Indeed, as the "Taiping Prime Minister" who enjoys great honor and advocates elegance, singing and drinking is one of the ways of entertainment that the author is accustomed to and is willing to ask about. But while listening and drinking, this current situation unexpectedly triggered the recollection of a similar state experienced "last year": it was the same late spring weather as "this year", and we faced the same buildings and pavilions as before. The same clear song and fine wine. However, under the appearance that everything remains the same, it is clear that something has changed irreversibly. This is the passing years and a series of personnel events related to it. This sentence contains a sense of nostalgia where the scenery remains the same but the people are completely different. This sense of nostalgia is mixed with a deep sadness for the present. In this way, even if the author is full of emotions, how can he not feel a little sad? So the poet can't help but sigh from the bottom of his heart: "When will the sunset return to the west?" The sunset is in the foreground. But what the poet triggered by this was his lingering on beautiful scenery and love affairs, his regret at the passage of time, and his faint hope for the recurrence of beautiful things. This is an instant feeling, but what is felt is actually not limited to the immediate situation, but extends to the entire life, which not only contains perceptual activities, but also contains some kind of philosophical contemplation. There is no way to stop the setting sun. We can only hope that it will rise again in the east. However, the passage of time and changes in personnel can never be repeated. Carefully studying the words "when will you return" seems to reflect a kind of careless mentality of looking forward to returning, but knowing that it is difficult to return.
The next part of the film still uses a brushwork that blends emotions with the scenery to convey the foreshadowing. "It is helpless that the flowers have fallen away, and it seems that the swallows have returned." It is a natural odd-even sentence. This sentence is skillfully crafted, fluent and implicit, with harmonious rhymes, profound meaning, and lingering sadness. It uses empty characters to form neat counterpoints and expresses the expressiveness of singing and sighing. The poet's ingenuity and deep feeling are as if they were made in heaven, which is also the reason why this poem is famous. But what is more interesting is the intention contained in this couplet.
The withering of flowers, the passing of spring, and the passage of time are all irresistible natural laws. Although it is useless to linger on regrets, so I say "there is nothing I can do". This sentence is connected with "the sunset"; however, in this late spring atmosphere, I feel that It is not just the helpless decline and disappearance, but also the gratifying reappearance. Isn't the swallow returning gracefully like an old acquaintance who nested here last year? This sentence should be "when will I return". Although flowers falling and swallows returning are also in the foreground, once they are associated with "helpless" and "déjà vu", their connotations become very broad, their artistic conception is very profound, and they have the symbolic meaning of beautiful things. The intertwining of regret and relief contains a certain philosophy of life: all good things that are bound to disappear cannot be prevented from disappearing, but when they disappear, there are still good things reappearing, and life will not become nothingness because of their disappearance. It's just that this kind of reappearance is not the same as the intact reappearance of beautiful things. It is just "deja vu". What permeates the sentence is a kind of mixture of nostalgia and melancholy, which seems both overwhelming and profound. Only because of this, the author of this couplet used it not only for this word, but also for the poem "Collation by the Prime Minister of Shizhang Temple". "Wandering alone in the fragrant path of the small garden" means that he walked back and forth among the flowers alone, unable to calm down. The feeling of regretting spring here is better than the feeling of cherishing spring. It contains a touch of sadness and the mood is low.
The fundamental reason why this word is so popular and widely recited is that there is thought in love.
The words seem to unintentionally describe commonplace phenomena, but they have philosophical implications, inspiring people to think about the universe and life issues from a higher level. The poem involves the profound and broad idea that time is eternal but life is limited, but it is very implicit.