It means: since ancient times, everyone has to die, but it is necessary to die meaningfully. If you can serve your country faithfully, you can still shine after your death and go down in history.
Said by: Wen Tianxiang, Crossing the Zero Ocean.
original text
Guo yang
Once the effort comes, there will be fewer stars around.
The mountains and rivers are broken and the wind is floating, and life experiences are ups and downs.
The beach of fear says fear, and there is a sigh in the ocean.
Who hasn't died since ancient times? Take the heart of Dan and follow history.
To annotate ...
Encounter: An encounter with the imperial court.
I ching: an official who passed the imperial examination because he was proficient in a certain classic. Wen Tianxiang was the first scholar in the fourth year of Baoyou in Song Lizong (1256).
Liáo: Sparse means barren and sparse. Here, song and yuan war is drawing to a close. Fighting, two weapons, here refers to war. Sparse and desolate. The Southern Song Dynasty died in 1279, and at this time it was unable to resist.
Four stars: four years. It was exactly four years from the first month of Deyou's first year (1275) to his capture.
Flocculation in the wind: Describe the national conditions as catkins with figurative rhetoric.
Rain hits duckweed: It is a metaphor that a person's life experience is bumpy, just like duckweed in the rain, drifting without roots and ups and downs.
Fear Beach: In today's Ganjiang River in Wan 'an, Jiangxi Province, the current is fast and extremely dangerous, and it is one of the eighteen beaches of Ganjiang River. In the second year of Zong Jingyan, Song Rui (1277), Wen Tianxiang was defeated in Jiangxi and retreated to Fujian through the beach.
Lingdingyang: that is, "Lingdingyang", now in the Pearl River estuary south of Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province. Wen Tianxiang was captured by the Yuan Army at the end of the Song Dynasty and imprisoned on a foreign warship in December of the first year of Zhao Minxiang Xing (1278). In the first month of the following year, Yuan Marshal Zhang Hongfan attacked the cliff mountain, forcing Wen Tianxiang to surrender and stick to the commander-in-chief of the cliff mountain, Zhang Shijie. So, Wen Tianxiang wrote this song.
Chiding: Lonely and helpless.
Keep your original heart and shine on history: keep your loyalty and shine on history forever.
Dan Xin: Red heart means loyalty.
History: In ancient times, when writing on bamboo slips, bamboo pieces were cooked with fire to prevent insects from eating them. Because the moisture of bamboo slices evaporates like sweat, it is called history, and it is also done in this way. This refers specifically to history books.
translate
Because he was familiar with the classics and passed the imperial examination, he was selected as an official by the court.
In the frequent struggle against Yuan, four years have passed.
The state of the Great Song Dynasty is at stake.
My life is bumpy, like duckweed drifting without roots in the rain, rising and falling.
Fear of the fiasco at the beach still scares me.
Lingdingyang was trapped in Yuan Lu, and I was lonely and miserable.
Since ancient times, people have to die, but they have to die meaningfully. If they can serve their country faithfully, they can still shine brightly after their death and go down in history.
Main idea
This poem is full of sadness, lamenting both the national luck and itself, exaggerating the hatred and suffering of the country to the extreme. However, the last sentence turned from sadness to strength, from depression to excitement. Generated and wrote a poem "Who has never died in life since ancient times, leaving a red heart to shine in history", which was impassioned. hit the floor, with his majestic momentum and high-pitched tone, expressed the poet's national integrity and outlook on life and death.
Creation background
This poem was found in Wen Tianxiang's Complete Works of Mr. Wenshan, and the time was 1279 (the second year of Song Xiangxing). In A.D. 1278 (the first year of Song Xiangxing), Wen Tianxiang was defeated and captured in Wupoling, Haifeng, Guangdong, and was taken aboard. I wrote this poem when I was passing through Lingdingyang the following year. Later, he was escorted to the cliff mountain, and Zhang Hongfan forced him to write a letter to make Zhang Shijie, Lu Xiufu and others who stood on the cliff mountain surrender. Wen Tianxiang refused to accept this poem and showed his ambition.
wen tianxiang
Wen Tianxiang (1236.6.6-1283.1.9), also known as Song Rui, was a Taoist priest. Han nationality, a native of Luling (now Ji 'an County, Jiangxi Province), was a minister, writer and national hero in the late Southern Song Dynasty. Baoyu four years (1256), scholar, prime minister, secret history. He was sent to the Yuan army barracks to negotiate and was detained. After getting out of danger, he went to Tangwan, Taixian County via Gaoyou, and returned to the south from Nantong, insisting on resisting Yuan. In the first year of Xiangguang (1278), he was defeated and captured by Zhang Hongfan. He struggled in prison for more than three years, and then died peacefully in Chai Shi. He is the author of Yang, Wenshan Poetry Collection, Southern Notes, Guide Notes, Songs of Meaning, etc.