"Out of the Fortress"
The bright moon of the Qin Dynasty and the Pass of the Han Dynasty, and the people who marched thousands of miles have not yet returned.
Introduction to the author
Wang Changling, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. The name is Shao Bo. A native of Jingzhao Chang'an (now Xi'an, Shaanxi). In the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan (727), he was promoted to Jinshi and served as Secretary and Provincial Secretary. He once made friends with Meng Haoran, and "the two of them wrote and inkstoned together for several years" (Meng Haoran's "Farewell to Wang Changling in Lingnan"). In the 22nd year of Kaiyuan, Wang Changling was awarded the title of erudite Hongci and was awarded the county captain of Sishui (now northeast of Gong County, Henan Province). In the twenty-seventh year of Kaiyuan, he was demoted to Lingnan for his affairs. When he was passing through Xiangyang, Meng Haoran wrote a poem to send him ("Farewell to Wang Changling in Lingnan"). Passing through Yueyang, Hunan, he sent Li Bai a poem "Baling Sends Li Twelve". The following year, he returned to Chang'an from Lingnan to the north, and was appointed county magistrate of Jiangning (now Nanjing, Jiangsu) in the winter of the same year. Jiangning is known as the king in the world. After staying in Jiangning for several years, he was slandered and demoted to the county captain of Longbiao (now Qianyang, Hunan). Li Bai's poem "I heard that Wang Changling moved to the left and Long Biaoyuan sent this" expresses his deep sympathy and remembrance. When the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Wang Changling was demoted to Jiangning and was killed by Lu Qiu Xiao, the governor of Haozhou. There are many theories about Wang Changling's birthplace. Besides Taiyuan, there are also two theories about Jiangning and Jingzhao. Wang Changling was a famous poet in the poetry circle of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. He was very famous at that time and was called "Wang Jiangning, the Master of Poets". Because the name of the poem was written early, he had many friendships with famous poets at that time and had deep friendships. In addition to the friendships with Li Bai and Meng Haoran mentioned above, he also had friendships with Gao Shi, Qi Wuqian, Li Qi, Cen Can, Wang Zhihuan, and Wang Wei. , Chu Guangxi, Chang Jian, etc. all have friendships. Because he was demoted several times, he lived in the remote Lingnan and western Hunan. He also traveled to the more economically developed Central Plains and southeastern regions. He also traveled to the northwest frontier, and may even have been to Suiye (in today's Kyrgyzstan). Because he has rich life experience and extensive contacts, it is of great benefit to his poetry creation. Wang Changling was good at seven-character quatrains and was called the Seven-Character Master by later generations. For example, the poem "Crossing the Fortress": "The Qin Dynasty was a bright moon and the Han Dynasty was a pass, and the people who marched thousands of miles have not yet returned. But the flying generals of the Dragon City are here, and they do not teach Hu Ma to cross the Yin Mountains." Lamenting the incompetence of the guard general, the artistic conception is broad, the emotions are deep, and there are stories that span the past and the present. The spirit of the poem is indeed a treasure in ancient poetry, and is known as the masterpiece of the seven unique works of the Tang Dynasty. Another example is "Joining the Army", etc., which are also popular masterpieces.
"Out of the Fortress" is a famous frontier fortress poem by Wang Changling, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. This poem reflects the common wish of the soldiers: to defend the motherland and prevent the enemy from invading the country under the leadership of a brave and resourceful general. The poet compared the present and the past and said, Mingyue, you once illuminated the border in the Qin and Han Dynasties, which was the border of victory; today the bright moon is still the same, but the border wars have continued, making it impossible for the soldiers to go home thousands of miles away. If there is a famous general like Li Guang who leads the troops to guard the pass, the enemy will never be allowed to cross Yinshan Mountain to invade!
Translation:
The bright moon is still the bright moon since ancient times, and the border is still the border since ancient times.
It’s just that those soldiers who have been far away from home and stationed at the border for a long time have not returned yet.
If generals like Li Guang were still there.
The enemy will not dare to invade us again.
Central idea: It expresses the author’s hope that the imperial court will appoint good generals to quell the war as soon as possible so that the people can live a stable life; it also expresses the author’s sympathy for the border soldiers who have not returned from the long battle.
Appreciation/Appreciation
This is a song lamenting the constant wars on the frontier and the lack of good generals in the country. The first line of the poem is the most intriguing. It's about the Han Pass here, the sigh of the Mingyue Qin Dynasty, which has undergone great historical changes and the battles have not stopped. The second sentence describes how many men died on the battlefield and how many tragedies were left before the conscripts were returned. Three or four sentences express the common will of the people for thousands of years, hoping that the "Dragon City Flying General" will appear to calm the chaos and stabilize the border defense. The whole poem uses ordinary language to sing a powerful and open-minded theme. The momentum is smooth and it is completed in one go.
The poem starts with describing the scenery. "The bright moon of Qin and the pass of Han", the bright moon in the sky, shines on the pass on the thousands of miles of border, showing the outline of the border and the depression of the scenery. Modifying "Qin and Han Dynasties" in front of "Moon" and "Guan" makes the artistic conception more lofty, leading us to the distant ancient times, and is more thought-provoking: since the Qin and Han Dynasties, border wars have been continuous and continue to this day. It is really protracted. Too long! This describes the history of the frontier fortress in terms of time.
Faced with such a scene, the people nearby were moved by the scene, and naturally thought of the countless people who dedicated themselves to the frontier since the Qin and Han Dynasties and never returned until death. "The people who marched thousands of miles have not yet returned", which also points out the remoteness of the border fortress from a spatial perspective. The "people" here refer to both the soldiers who have died in the battle and the soldiers who are still guarding and unable to return. "The people have not returned", firstly, it shows that the border defense is not strong, and secondly, it expresses sympathy for the soldiers. These are two aspects of the same problem, the former is the cause and the latter is the effect. This is a big problem that has not been solved from the Qin to the Han and even the Tang Dynasty. How to solve this problem? The third and fourth sentences are the poet's answer.
"But the flying generals in Longcheng are here, and Huma is not taught to cross the Yinshan Mountains" directly expresses the border guards' desire to consolidate border defense and their ambition to defend the country: as long as there are famous generals like Li Guang, the enemy's cavalry You will not survive the Yinshan Mountains. These two sentences are so well written that the meaning goes beyond the words. This means that because the imperial court improperly employed people, the generals were not able to recruit them, which resulted in a situation where the war was burning and the people who were recruited were not returned.
Although this poem only has four short lines, it expresses complex content through the description of the border scenery and the psychology of conscripts.
It not only expresses strong sympathy for the soldiers who have been garrisoned for a long time and the desire to end this situation of indifference in border defense; it also reveals dissatisfaction with the imperial court's inability to select talents. At the same time, it focuses on the overall situation and recognizes the justice of war, so personal interests are subordinated. In order to meet the needs of national security, he issued a vow to "not teach Huma to cross the Yinshan Mountains", which was filled with patriotic passion.