This poem comes from the Yuefu folk song "Xizhou Song" created anonymously in the Southern Dynasties. The original poem goes like this:
Miss Mei wants to go to Kau Xizhou and break plum blossoms on the north bank of the Yangtze River. Thin clothes are as red as apricots and hair as black as crows.
Where is Xixi Jiao? The two oars on board can be placed at the ferry pier of the Kau Xizhou Bridge. It's getting late, Shrike flies away, and the night wind blows into Sapium sebiferum.
Under the tree is her home, and her emerald hair is exposed in the door. She opened the door and didn't see her sweetheart. She went out to pick red-violet flowers.
Autumn, autumn Nantang, she is holding a lotus seed, and the lotus grows taller. With his head down, he fiddled with the lotus seeds in the water, which were as green as the lake.
Hide lotus seeds in your sleeve. Lotus seeds are red and transparent. Miss my husband, but not yet. She looks up at the swan in the sky.
The sky was full of geese, and she went up to the tower to see her husband. Although the tower is high, she can't see her husband. She leans against the railing all day.
The railing bent and bent into the distance, and her hands were as bright as jade. The curtain is so high, rippling like sea water, empty and generally dark green.
If the sea is as long as a dream, then you are sad and I am sad. If Nanfeng knows how I feel, please blow my dream to Puxi Island.
The meaning of this poem is:
I miss plum blossoms, and I really want to go to Xizhou to break them and send them to the north bank of the Yangtze River. Her thin clothes are as red as apricots, and her hair is as black as a crow.
Where the hell is Xizhou? You can reach the ferry of Xizhou Bridge by shaking the two oars of the boat. It's getting late, Shrike flies away, and the evening wind blows the Chinese tallow tree.
Her home is under the tree, and her green hair is exposed in the door. She opened the door, didn't see her sweetheart, and went out to pick red-violet flowers. 、
In autumn, she picks lotus seeds in Nantang, which grow taller than people's heads. Bow your head and fiddle with the lotus seeds in the water, distressed your feelings.
Running water is generally lingering, pure and long. Hide lotus seeds in your sleeve, and they will be red to the end. Miss her husband, but he has not come yet. She looked up at the swan goose in the sky.
The sky in Xizhou is full of geese. She went to the high balcony and looked at Mr. Lang. Although the balcony is high, she can't see Mr. Lang. She leans against the railing all day.
The railing twists and turns into the distance, and her hanging hands are as bright as jade. The sky outside the shutter door is so high, like an empty dark green river.
Dreams are like a long river, and I am sad when you are sad. If Xia Feng knows how I feel, please blow my dream to Xizhou in the west (to see her).
In order to help better understand this poem, I have compiled some difficult notes:
① Western Zhou Dynasty Music: the name of Yuefu Music.
2 "Remembering Plum Blossoms": A woman saw the plum blossom fall again. She recalled that she had met her lover under the plum blossom before, so she wanted to fold a plum blossom in Xizhou and give it to her lover in Jiangbei. Down, down, down. Xizhou, near the women's residence. Jiangbei refers to the place where men are.
3 Little crow color: like the color of a little crow. Describe a woman's hair as black and shiny.
(4) Double oars crossing the bridge: rowing across the bridge and paddling with double oars.
⑤ Shrike: Bird name, which started in midsummer, likes to live alone. Here, on the one hand, it is used to express the seasons, on the other hand, it is a metaphor for the lonely situation of women.
⑥ 59: Now write "five calculations".
⑦ Jade: Jewelry made or inlaid with jade.
⑧ Lotus seed: a homophonic pun with "Reiko Kobayakawa".
9 Green as water: homophonic with "clear as water", meaning the purity of love.
Attending the lotus heart: it is homophonic with "compassion", that is, the heart of love.
Wang Feihong: There are hopeful letters here. Because there is a legend in ancient times that Hongyan passed books.
Brothel: A building painted blue. Poetry before Tang Dynasty generally refers to women's residence.
All day: all day.
Hanging hands: the woman hangs down her hand holding the railing.
When you look at the shutter door, you can only see the high sky and the rippling sea water. Sea water, here refers to the mighty river. One refers to the blue sky in autumn night.
The dream of the sea is very long: the dream is as long as the mighty river.
Knowing the meaning of poetry gives us a deeper understanding of the background and appreciation!
There are different opinions about the age and author of this poem:
Some versions say Jiang Yan or Liang Wudi, but they are not credible. Judging from the style and technical words, it should be a folk song in the late Southern Dynasty. After being processed and polished by literati, it may have originated in the Liang Dynasty.
The poem "Xizhou Qu" mainly describes a young girl and depicts her warm and subtle feelings of missing her lover:
This poem describes a girl's bitter yearning for her beloved from early spring to late autumn, from reality to dream. It is full of rich flavor of life and vivid emotional color, showing the distinctive characteristics of Jiangnan water town and skillful performance skills.
The first sentence "Mei" evokes a woman's fond memories of playing with her lover in Xizhou, and her thoughts about her lover. Since then, even though time and space have passed, my thoughts have never stopped. Next, several scenes are described: Xizhou Amusement, women's apricot clothes and black sideburns set each other off; Open the door to welcome lang, full of hope and disappointment, and the mood is ups and downs; Go out to pick lotus flowers and express your love and yearning for your lover; Looking up at Lang, leaning against the fence, waiting for him, feeling the south wind, dreaming and expecting to meet his lover. Among them, the change of time and space, the mood is also changeable, sometimes anxious, sometimes warm, sometimes sweet, sometimes melancholy, the whole article is full of words and emotions.
The main artistic features of this poem:
First, he is good at expressing characters' thoughts and feelings dynamically. For example, the sentence of "dew under the door" vividly expresses the mood of the characters through actions, while the six sentences of "picking lotus in autumn in Nantang" are the essence of the whole article. It focuses on describing the protagonist's amorous feelings with pen and ink, and expresses his feelings through three actions: "picking lotus", "making lotus" and "falling lotus". The psychological description of the actions is meticulous.
The second is the application and truth of reduplication. In the scene of "opening the door to welcome Lang", the overlapping of the word "door" strengthens the anxiety of women who are eager for their sweetheart to come and look out through the door from time to time. In the scene of "Going Out to Pick Lotus", the seven words "lotus" are used together to deliberately render the lingering feelings of women. And the real use makes the sentence flexible, vivid and catchy.
The third is the use of puns. Pun argot is an obvious feature of Yuefu folk songs in the Southern Dynasties, which is rare in the Book of Songs and Yuefu folk songs in the Han and Wei Dynasties. It is said that "Lian" and "Xi" are homophonic puns, "Xi" means "love", and the argot expresses a woman's love for her lover. At the same time, "lotus seeds are green as water" means the purity of feelings, and "lotus hearts are all red" means the intensity of feelings. The use of these puns makes poetry appear implicit and affectionate.
"Xizhou Song" is a famous folk song in the Southern Dynasties, which has been passed down through the ages. The syllables of the lyrics are harmonious and fluent, and the language is moving, which shows mature artistic skills and marks the highest achievement of folk songs in the Southern Dynasties in artistic development.