Ambition
Tang Dynasty: Wang Ji
Donggao looked at the dusk, and what to rely on when he moved.
The trees are all in autumn colors, and the mountains are only covered with sunset.
Herdsmen drive calves back, hunting horses return with poultry.
We look at each other but have no acquaintance, and we sing and pick up the flowers for a long time.
This poem is about the autumn scenery of the mountains and fields. The whole poem reveals the loneliness and depression in the description of the bleak and quiet scenery, and expresses the feelings of melancholy and loneliness.
In the first couplet, there is emotion in the scene and there are people in the scene. Let's take a look at this picture first: In the evening, the sun sets in the west, and the sky is full of haze. The poet climbs up to Donggao alone and looks far into the distance, wandering around, silently reciting the verses in Cao Cao's "Dan Ge Xing" - "Walking around the tree three times, there is no branch to lean on." "Twilight" tells the time and exaggerates the atmosphere, "Donggao" points out the location, and "Where to rely on when I move" expresses the state of mind, which is complicated and depressing. These two sentences may seem like plain narratives, but they clearly explain the author's thoughts and set the tone of the entire poem.
The chin couplet describes the quiet scene of the autumn mountains and forests, further exaggerating the author's loneliness and depression from the front. The poet sketched a picture of the autumn evening scene for us based on what he saw. The endless woods are dyed with the haggard and yellow color of late autumn, and the rolling mountains are dyed with a bleak twilight under the reflection of the setting sun. The seemingly quiet and open scene actually gives people a sense of desolation and twilight.
The neck couplet describes people's activities in the evening, which reflects the poet's depressed and lonely mood. The poet describes to us a dynamic scene of rural people returning from grazing. The shepherd boys herding cattle sang folk songs and happily drove the cattle back home. The hunters rode their horses, shouted loudly, and returned with satisfied prey. What a peaceful scene, what an intoxicating picture. But the excitement is theirs, and the poet has nothing but loneliness and loneliness.
In the last couplet, I finally could no longer suppress my inner emotions and expressed my feelings directly. The poet recovered from the beautiful and lively scene and returned to the original state of mind, adding a feeling of loss, loneliness, depression and melancholy. There is no acquaintance or friend around the poet, and no one can share this loneliness. He has no choice but to bring in Boyi and Shuqi who have gone far away. The poet sang the song "Plucking Wei" to express his ambition to live in seclusion in the mountains and forests.