Interesting ancient poems with homophonic sounds: "Midnight Song", "Bamboo Branch Poems", "New Willow Branches", "Steady Thoughts", and "Old Man".
1. "Midnight Song" - Southern and Northern Dynasties·Anonymous (Folk Song)
When I first wanted to meet him, my two hearts were as one. If you manage the silk into a broken machine, why can't you realize that you are a match?
(1) Vernacular translation:
When we first wanted to get to know him, our moods were very similar. However, the entangled feelings were like threads wrapped around a broken machine, unable to be untangled, and ultimately failed to become a couple.
(2) Brief appreciation:
"Midnight Song" is a folk song from the Southern Dynasties during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. It mostly talks about love, with simple and touching diction. This poem uses the action of weaving to express a woman's pursuit of love with a pun.
When a woman meets her lover, she hopes that they will be of the same mind and be matched. Therefore, the pieces of cloth become matching pieces, and the pieces of silk thread become the "thoughts" of longing, a homophonic pun, which is truly touching.
2. "Bamboo Branch Poems" - Liu Yuxi of the Tang Dynasty
The willows are green and the Qingjiang River is level, and I hear the singing of people stepping on the Langjiang River. The sun rises in the east and rains in the west. There is no sunshine but there is sunshine.
(1) Vernacular translation:
The green willows hang down and the river is as calm as a mirror. I heard his voice singing on the river. The sun rises in the east, but it rains in the west. Although it is said that there are no sunny days, in fact there are sunny days.
(2) Brief appreciation:
The author of this poem is Liu Yuxi, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. There are a lot of homophonic techniques used in the folk songs of the common people, and Liu Yuxi is a poet who is relatively able to draw nutrients from folk songs. On the one hand, he adopted the vivid, natural, lively and true nature of folk songs, and on the other hand, he wrote them in elegant words, thus creating "Zhuzhi Ci".
3. "New Willow Branches" - Wen Tingyun of the Tang Dynasty
A foot of deep red is worse than Quchen, and old things are not as good as new. The Albizia Julibrissin peach core is finally hated, and there is no one else in Xu Yuanlai.
Lamps are lit at the bottom of the well, and candles are deep in the well, and the wise man is always playing chess. The exquisite dice is decorated with red beans, and I miss you deeply.
(1) Vernacular translation:
The one-foot-long red silk is more colorful than the ancient Quchenchen. However, old things that grow naturally are not as good as new things. The stone fruit of the Albizia tree made me ultimately regretful because I had made an appointment with him and he never kept it.
Under the lights lit at the bottom of the well, we walked together, but please do not play Go with him at this time. The exquisite dice symbolize our red beans. This profound longing has been deeply imprinted in our bone marrow. Do we really realize this?
(2) Brief appreciation:
"The exquisite dice are loaded with red beans, which penetrate into the bones and miss the loved ones." These two lines of poems are very famous. They use the dice to write the feelings into the bones, and express love in the bones. The heartfelt and lingering writing is vivid and vivid. It's just that many people don't know that the author is Wen Tingyun, a poet of the late Tang Dynasty, and they don't know the other sentences of this poem.
"Lighting a lamp at the bottom of a well, burning a candle in the depths of the well, a wise man playing chess instead of playing chess" is a homophone. Deep candle, with a harmonious sound of deep advice, is written about a woman's "deep advice" to her lover. This homophonic meme is particularly interesting when used when a woman is speaking to her lover. It not only reflects the woman's ingenuity, but also reflects the intimacy between the two.
4. "Qiansi" - Ming Dynasty Anonymous (folk song)
The surface of the well is blooming and the bottom is red, and the water in the bamboo silk basket is empty. There is no silk in the shuttle, and there is nothing in the needle.
(1) Vernacular translation:
Flowers bloomed above the mouth of the well, but there was nothing at the bottom of the well. A basket made of silk was hung at the mouth of the well but it was impossible to draw water. There is no silk thread on the loom, swinging back and forth in the air, but the needle has no thread, so no matter how hard you sew, it is in vain.
(2) Brief appreciation:
This is a folk song from the Ming Dynasty. The tone of voice is more popular and straightforward, and the use of homophony not only has life-like characteristics, but also adds a sense of subtlety. The name of the poem "Qian Si" can be understood as Bai Acacia. "Wuxi" puns on "无思", and "Xiangseun" puns on "encounter", which is quite clever.
To be specific, all four sentences are about white lovesickness: the well is blooming on the surface, red and white on the bottom, and the water in the bamboo silk basket is empty, and the water is in vain. There is no silk in the shuttle and it comes and goes in vain. There are needles and no stitches in vain, white seams. These things are common things in people's lives. They are very common but have charm when used in poems, which is very admirable.
5. "Old Man" - Ming Dynasty Anonymous (Folk Song)
My lover has been gone for two or three years. I wrote yesterday and made an appointment to come to my door today. Split the old walnuts with the knife, and you will see the old people in an instant.
(1) Vernacular translation:
It has been two or three springs since my lover left. Yesterday he wrote me a letter saying that he would come to see me today. He chopped open the old walnuts with a knife, and instantly we met again, as close as ever.
(2) Brief appreciation:
This poem is also a folk song of the Ming Dynasty. The meaning of this poem is very straightforward, that is, the old lovers are about to meet again. If it is a metrical poem, the first two lines should be said, but the last two lines should not be said. But folk songs have to be popular and fit the state of mind.
The woman was so excited that she had to shout: "I'm going to see my old lover soon, I'm so happy!" But she couldn't understand the shout, so she used old walnuts to show off, which is homophonic to "老时仁". The pun on "old timers" is also interesting. This is the talent of the common people, and this is the culture of the common people. In fact, it is not inferior to professional poets.