The full text of the Han Yuefu folk song "Shangxie" is as follows:
Author: Anonymous
Shangxie,
I want to know you,
Long life without end.
The mountains have no mausoleums, and the rivers are exhausted.
Thunder thunders in winter,
It rains and snows in summer.
Heaven and earth are in harmony,
I dare to be with you.
Word and sentence annotations:
① Shangxie (yé): God. Above: Pointing to the sky. Xie: modal particle, expressing exclamation.
② Know each other: become close friends.
③ Ming: In ancient times, it was related to the word "order", meaning to make. Decline: decay, cut off.
④ Ling (líng): mountain peak, mountain top.
⑤ Zhenzhen: Describes the sound of thunder.
⑥ Rain (yù) Snow: snowfall. Rain, noun can be used as a verb.
⑦ Heaven and earth merge: Heaven and earth merge into one.
⑧ Naida: Only dare. The word "dare" is a euphemism.
Translation:
Oh God!
I long to know and cherish each other with you,
This heart will never fade away.
Unless the towering mountains disappear,
Unless the mighty rivers dry up.
Unless the thunder rolls in the cold winter,
Unless the snow falls in the scorching heat,
Unless the heaven and earth intersect, gather and connect,
I dare I will never abandon my love for you!
Introduction to the work:
"Shangxie" is a Yuefu folk song produced in the Han Dynasty. This is a love song, the heroine's pledge of faithful love. This poem uses five impossible things from the sentence "There is no mountain to a mausoleum" to express his undying love. It is full of rock-firm faith and flame-like passion. The whole poem accurately expresses the unique absolute psychology of people in love, is novel and pungent, affectionate and whimsical, bold and touching, and is known as "the best short chapter".
Creative background:
"Shangxie" is one of the "Eighteen Songs of Cymbals" and belongs to Yuefu's "Advocacy Songs". "Shangxie" is a folk love song, a love poem with strong emotions and unrestrained momentum. The woman in the poem expresses her undying feelings for her lover. She swears by the sky and the earth as proof that she will always be in love with her lover.
The "Poetry Appreciation Dictionary of Han, Wei and Six Dynasties" believes that it should be combined with "Some Thoughts" into one article. "Thinking" means considering breaking up, while "Shangxie" means making a firmer vow after making up one's mind. "Yuefu Poetry Appreciation Dictionary" believes that the two are independent of each other.
Influence on later generations:
"Shangxie" has a great influence on later generations. The "Bodhisattva Man" in the Dunhuang lyrics is obviously inspired by it in terms of ideological content and artistic expression: "I have made a thousand wishes before my pillow, and I have to wait until the green mountains rot. The weights float on the water, until the Yellow River completely dries up." . The sun rises, and the Beidou returns to the south. I cannot rest until the third watch. "Not only are the pursuit of faithful and dedicated love and happiness the same, but they also use multiple impossibilities to illustrate the same thing. An impossible artistic conception is exactly the same.
Literary Appreciation:
"Shangxie" is like saying "God", and "knowing each other" means loving each other. This sentence said: "Oh my God! I want to fall in love with you, so that our relationship will never break or weaken." In order to prove her determination, she cited five impossible mutations in nature, "The mountain has no "Ling, the river is exhausted, the winter is thundering, the summer is raining and snowing, and the heaven and the earth are united." It means: If we want to betray our vows, we will have to wait until the mountains are flat, the river is dry, there are thunderstorms in the winter, and there are heavy snows in the summer, and the sky and the earth are united. And as one! The heroine gives full play to her imagination, and one thing becomes more bizarre than the other, and one thing becomes more incredible than the other. By the time "heaven and earth come together", her imagination has lost control, and she thinks endlessly that all the environments that humans rely on for survival no longer exist. This kind of irrational, exaggerated and grotesque fantasy is a special form of love expressed by this infatuated woman. These completely impossible natural phenomena are regarded by the lyric heroine as the conditions for "breaking up with the king", which is tantamount to saying that "breaking up with the king" is absolutely impossible. The result? Only you and "Jun" will love each other forever.
The whole poem is expressive without any embellishment. The three sentences "Shangxie" are written with abrupt and extraordinary momentum. They swear to the sky and speak the truth directly. They not only see the fierceness of love, but also reveal the long-suppressed anger. The five words "long life without end" are sonorous and powerful, full of loyalty and steadfastness. The word "desire" vividly expresses the rebellious female character who cannot be restrained by ethics and pursues a happy life. Although these three sentences do not describe the image, the image of a true-hearted, loyal and strong woman has clearly stood before the readers.
This unparalleled way of expressing love in ancient and modern times can be said to be a masterpiece. The heroine in the poem confesses her heart in the form of an oath, and uses impossible natural phenomena to prove her loyalty to love, which indeed has a strong subjective color. The poem is short but sentimental, touching the heart.
From an artistic point of view, the lyricism of "The Evil" is extremely romantic, and the love desire in it is like the unstoppable eruption of magma, with majestic momentum and compelling passion.
Reading "Shangxie", it seems that through the bright poems, you can hear the sound of the woman's rapid breathing. "Shangxie" is a love chapter forged with blood and even life. Its language and sentences are short and long, and are composed according to the mood. The syllables are short and urgent, and the words have ups and downs.