This poem comes from Bai Juyi's Song of Eternal Sorrow, which is a portrayal of spring and an expression of autumn.
Generally, it means: the spring wind blows, and it's the day when peaches and plums bloom; The autumn rain falls, and it's the season when the buttonwood leaves (the Ming emperor still misses Yang Guifei). The West Palace (where she once lived) is also covered with lush vegetation in autumn, and the steps are covered with dead leaves and withered petals, and no one cleans them.
This sentence describes the scenery, and it also implies the passage of time.
The literal meaning of "peach-trees and plum-trees blossomed, in the winds of spring" means that the spring breeze is blowing, and the day of peach blossom and plum blossom is coming;
"lakka-foliage fell to the ground, after autumn rains" literally means an autumn rain, and it's time for the plane trees to shed their leaves.
The West Palace actually refers to the palace where Yang Guifei lives. Because no one lives, there are no maids, and the emperor doesn't go there often, so many lush plants grow in the South Garden of the West Palace in autumn.
"and the steps were mounded with red leaves that no one swept away" red refers to flowers, that is to say, the fallen leaves are all over the steps, and the withered petals are not cleaned.
It's all about returning to the palace. Because Yang Guifei died, the courtyard where she lived was deserted.
the whole poem is as follows:
everlasting regret
Tang Bai Juyi
china's Emperor, craving beauty that might shake an empire, was on the throne for many years, searching, never finding.
till a little child of the Yang clan, hardly even grown, bred in an inner chamber, with no one knowing her.
but with graces granted by heaven and not to be concealed, at last one day was chosen for the imperial household.
if she but turned her head and smiled, there were cast a hundred spells, and the powder and paint of the Six Palaces faded into nothing.
it was early spring. They bathed her in the FlowerPure Pool, which warmed and smoothed the creamy-tinted crystal of her skin.
and, because of her languor, a maid was lifting her, when first the Emperor noticed her and chose her for his bride.
the cloud of her hair, petal of her cheek, gold ripples of her crown when she moved, were sheltered on spring evenings by warm hibiscus curtains.
but nights of spring were short and the sun arose too soon, and the Emperor, from that time forth, forsook his early hearings.
and lavished all his time on her with feasts and revelry, his mistress of the spring, his despot of the night.
there were other ladies in his court, three thousand of rare beauty, but his favours to three thousand were concentered in one body.
The Golden House is dressed up to serve the night, and when tables were cleared in the Tower of Jade, she would loiter, slow with wine.
all brothers and sisters are emigrants, and, because she so illumined and glorified her clan.
she brought to every father, every mother through the empire, happiness when a girl was born rather than a boy.
...High rose Li Palace, entering blue clouds, and far and wide the breezes carried magical notes.
slow singing, slow dancing, slow dancing, the Emperor's eyes could never gaze on her enough.
till war-drums, booming from Yuyang, shocked the whole earth, and broke the tunes of The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat.
the Forbidden City, the nine-tiered palace, loomed in the dust, from thousands of horses and chariots headed southwest.
the imperial flag opened the way, now moving and now pausing, but thirty miles from the capital, beyond the western gate.
the men of the army stopped, not one of them would stir, till under their horses' hoofs they might trample those moth-eyebrows.
flowery hairpins fell to the ground, no one picked them up, and a green and white jade hair-tassel and a yellowgold hair-bird.
the Emperor could not save her, he could only cover his face, and later when he turned to look, the place of blood and tears.
was hidden in a yellow dust blown by a cold wind, at the cleft of the Dagger-Tower Trail they crisscrossed through a cloud-line.
under Emei Mountain. The last few came, flags and banners lost their colour in the fading sunlight.
but as waters of Shu are always green and its mountains always blue, so changeless was His Majesty's love and deeper than the days.
he stared at the desolate moon from his temporary palace, he heard bell-notes in the evening rain, cutting at his breast.
and when heaven and earth resumed their round and the dragon car faced home, the Emperor clung to the spot and would not turn away.
from the soil along the Mawei slope, under which was buried, that memory, that anguish. Where was her jade-white face?.
ruler and lords, when eyes would meet, wept upon their coats, as they rode, with loose rein, slowly eastward, back to the capital.
the pools, the gardens, the palace, all were just as before, the Lake Taiye hibiscus, the Weiyang Palace willows.
but a petal was like her face and a willow-leaf her eyebrow, and what could he do but cry whenever he looked at them?.
peach-trees and plum-trees blossomed, in the winds of spring, lakka-foliage fell to the ground, after autumn rains.
the Western and Southern Palaces were littered with late grasses, and the steps were mounded with red leaves that no one swept away.
Li Yuan disciple Bai Fuxin, and the eunuchs thin-eyebrowed in her Court of PepperTrees;.
over the throne flew fire-flies, while he brooded in the twilight., he would lengthen the lamp-wick to its end and still could never sleep..
bell and drum would slowly toll the dragging nighthours, and the River of Stars grow sharp in the sky, just before dawn.
and the porcelain mandarin-ducks on the roof grow thick with morning frost, who's with * * *?
with the distance between life and death year after year, and yet no beloved spirit ever visited his dreams.
at Lingqiong lived a Taoist priest who was a guest of heaven, able to summon spirits by his concentrated mind.
and people were so moved by the Emperor's constant brooding, that they besought the Taoist priest to see if he could find her.
he opened his way in space and clove the ether like lightning, up to heaven, under the earth, looking everywhere.
above, he searched the Green Void, below, the Yellow Spring, but he failed, in either place, to find the one he looked for.
and then he heard accounts of an enchanted isle at sea, the mountains are in the middle of nothingness.
with pavilions and fine towers in the five-coloured air, and of exquisite immortals moving to and fro.
and of one among them-whom they called The Ever True, with a face of snow and flowers resembling hers he sought.
so he went to the West Hall's gate of gold and knocked at the jasper door, and asked a girl, called Morsel-of-Jade, to tell The Doubly- Perfect.
and the lady, at news of an envoy from the Emperor of China, was startled out of dreams in her nine-flowered, canopy.
she pushed aside her pillow, dressed, shook away sleep, and opened the pearly shade and then the silver screen.
her cloudy hair-dress hung on one side because of her great haste, and her flower-cap was loose when she came along the terrace.
while a light wind filled her cloak and fluttered with her motion, as though she danced The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat.
and the tear-drops drifting down her sad white face, were like a rain in spring on the blossom of the pear.
but love glowed deep within her eyes when she bade him thank her liege, whose form and voice had been strange to her ever since their parting.
since happiness had ended at the Court of the Bright Sun, and moons and dawns had become long in Fairy-Mountain Palace.
but when she turned her face and looked down toward the earth, and tried to see the capital, there were only fog and dust.
show affection for the old, and, through his envoy, sent him back a shell box and gold hairpin.
but kept one branch of the hairpin and one side of the box, breaking the gold of the hairpin, breaking the shell of the box.
"Our souls belong together," she said, "like this gold and this shell", somewhere, sometime, on earth or in heaven, we shall surely.
and she sent him, by his messenger, a sentence reminding him, of vows which had been known only to their two hearts.
on the seventh day of the Seventh-month, in the Palace of Long Life, we told each other secretly in the quiet midnight world.
that we wished to fly in heaven, two birds with the wings of one, and to grow together on the earth, two branches of one tree..
earth endures, heaven endures; some time both shall end, while this unending sorrow goes on and on for ever.
Appreciation:
This poem is a masterpiece of Bai Juyi, written in the first year of Yuanhe (86). The whole poem vividly describes the love tragedy between Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty and Yang Guifei. Poets use historical figures and legends to create a moving story, and through the artistic image, they reproduce the truth of real life and infect readers for thousands of years.
the theme of the poem is "long hatred". The first part, starting from "china's Emperor, craving beauty that might shake an empire", describes how Xuanzong lusted after sex before the Anshi Rebellion, and finally got Yang. And because of Yang's favor, chickens and dogs ascended to heaven. And repeatedly played up Xuanzong's indulgence, indulging in debauchery and ignoring state affairs, which led to the Anshi Rebellion of "till war-drums, booming from Yuyang, shocked the whole earth". This is the basis of tragedy and the internal cause of "long hatred".
"the men of the army stopped, not one of them would stir" is the second part, which specifically describes that after the Anshi Rebellion, Xuanzong fled to Western Shu in a panic, which caused the noble lady of the Sixth Army stationed in Malaysia to "die before turning to Emei", which was a tragedy. This is the key plot of the story. After Yang's return to the Yin, Xuanzong was lonely and sad, and he was lovesick. The poem depicts Xuanzong's "long hatred" in a sour and moving tone, which makes people feel sad and tears.
"at Lingqiong lived a Taoist priest who was a guest of heaven" is the third part, in which it is written that Xuanzong found Yang's trace in the illusory Penglai Fairy Mountain with the help of Taoist priests. Yang's "pear flower with rain" is reproduced in the fairy scenery, and the theme of "long hatred" is further enhanced by expressing affection and holding objects to send words, reaffirming the previous oath and expressing his willingness to be a "lovebird" and "lianzhi". In the end, the theme was deepened by "Heaven and Earth are long and sometimes exhausted, while this unending sorrow goes on and on for ever" and the weight of "long hatred" was increased.
the whole poem is full of sentimental feelings, and the book is full of hatred. The words are sad and touching, and the tone is melodious and melodious. It is a masterpiece through the ages and is often read and updated.
It makes Yi Ding and Fang Chao think that this poem is Bai Juyi's work to express his feelings by chanting historical figures. The article said that when the poet was young, he fell in love with Xiang Ling, a girl from an ordinary family. However, due to the concept of family and fashion, he failed to get married formally. When breaking up, the poet wrote "Don't cry, dive away; No words, dark acacia; No one knows outside the two hearts ... Each other is willing to have no later period ". The article points out that the Song of Eternal Sorrow was written a few months before the author's marriage, and the poet suffered for losing the possibility of meeting Xiang Ling. For this reason, Ding and Fang believe that Song of Eternal Sorrow is not a record and evaluation of history. "that we wished to fly in heaven, two birds with the wings of one, and to grow together on the earth, two branches of one tree.. Earth endures, heaven endures; some time both shall end, while this unending sorrow goes on and on for ever ",it is the poet who expresses his pain and affection through the tragedy of the former imperial concubine.".
From the perspectives of "poetry expresses aspiration" and "poetry conveys emotion", what Ding and Fang said is not unreasonable. However, as far as the historical truth and social significance reflected by the work and its influence for thousands of years are concerned, it cannot be said that it is a historical record and an evaluation of historical events. As for Bai's own experience of love tragedy, it is undoubtedly helpful for him to observe and analyze Li Yang's love tragedy, which makes his poems delicate in texture, sincere and sincere, and endowed with infinite artistic charm.