Along the lotus pond, there is a winding little cinder road. This is a secluded road; Few people walk during the day, and it is lonely at night. Around the lotus pond, there are many trees and lush. On one side of the road, there are some willows and some trees with unknown names. On a moonless night, the road is gloomy and a little scary. It's fine tonight, although the moonlight is still very weak.
I was the only one on the road, walking around with my hands behind my back. This world seems to be mine; I also like to go beyond my usual self and go to another world. I love excitement and peace; Like to live in groups, like to be alone. Just like tonight, under this boundless moon, a person thinks about everything and thinks nothing, and feels like a free person. What must be done and said during the day can be ignored now. This is the beauty of being alone; I just appreciate the boundless moonlight with lotus fragrance.
On the winding lotus pond, I look forward to the leaves of Tian Tian. The leaves are high out of the water, like an elegant dancer's skirt. Layers of leaves are dotted with some white flowers, some of which bloom gracefully and some are in bud shyly; Like a pearl, like a star in the blue sky, like a beauty who just took a bath. The breeze blew, sending wisps of fragrance, like a faint song on a tall building in the distance. At this time, the leaves and flowers also trembled slightly, like lightning, passing through the lotus pond in an instant. The leaves are close side by side, so there are clear wave marks. Below the leaves is flowing water, which is covered. Some colors are invisible, but the leaves are more exposed to the wind.
Moonlight, like running water, falls quietly on this leaf and flower. A thin layer of blue mist floats in the lotus pond. Leaves and flowers seem to have been washed in milk; Like a dream in a sarong. Although it is a full moon, there are faint clouds in the sky, so it can't shine; But I think this is just a benefit-deep sleep is indispensable, and nap is unique. Moonlight shines through the trees, and the bushes at the height cast uneven and mottled shadows, which are as steep as ghosts; The sparse shadows of curved willows seem to be painted on lotus leaves. The moonlight in the pond is uneven, but the light and shadow have a harmonious melody, such as a famous song played in the Vatican.
Around the lotus pond, there are trees far and near, and willows are the most. These trees surround a lotus pond; Only on one side of the path, there are some gaps, which seem to be reserved for moonlight. An example of the color of trees is cloudy, which at first glance looks like a cloud of smoke; But the abundance of willows can be recognized in the smoke. There are distant mountains on the treetops, just a little careless. One or two lamps leaked through the cracks in the trees, which were the sleepy eyes. At this time, the most lively are cicadas in the tree and frogs in the water; But the excitement is theirs. I have nothing.
I suddenly remembered the matter of picking lotus. Lotus picking is an ancient custom in the south of the Yangtze River. It seems to have a long history, but it flourished in the Six Dynasties. You can get a rough idea from this poem. Lotus pickers are teenage girls, swinging boats and singing bright songs. Needless to say, there are many lotus pickers. It was a lively season and a romantic season. Emperor Liang Yuan put it well in "Lotus Picking Fu":
So the enchantress rowed and promised: the snipe turned its head back and crossed the feather cup; I can move, algae can hang, boats can move and sail. Erqi slim waist bundle element, Yan Gubu; Shi Xia
After beginning of spring, leaves are tender and flowers are early. I'm afraid of touching the petticoats and laughing, and I'm afraid of leaning over the boat and getting together.
It can be seen that there were wandering scenes at that time. This is really interesting, but unfortunately we are not happy now.
Then I remembered the words in Song of Xizhou:
Lotus is picked in autumn in Nantang, and the lotus is over the head; With his head down, he fiddled with the lotus seeds in the water, which were as green as the lake.
If there are lotus pickers tonight, the lotus here will be considered "over the top"; You can't just see some shadows of running water. This makes me really miss Jiangnan. -think like this, suddenly look up and feel that it is already your own door; Gently pushed the door in, there was no sound, and my wife had slept for a long time.
1July, 927, Tsinghua University campus.
Analysis of Moonlight on the Lotus Pond
Zhu Ziqing's Moonlight on the Lotus Pond is a well-known work. I heard that some young people still like to read it. I think this is largely because its prose is lyrical, beautiful and poetic. This kind of love is understandable, just like we suddenly want to see the landscape paintings of Song people after a busy day.
This essay was written in July 1927, and the author taught in Tsinghua University. The lotus pond he described is on the campus of Tsinghua. It used to be an ordinary lotus pond, which became very beautiful and poetic after the author's rendering and coloring. Generally speaking, the lotus pond is easy to describe, but the moonlight is difficult to describe; When a painter paints, he is not afraid of painting mountains and the moon, but he is afraid of painting moonlight, because the shadow of the moon scene changes all the time and is not easy to show on the screen. Tang Yifen, a theorist of Chinese painting in Qing Dynasty, once said: "When painting a scene under the moon, the great one is also gloomy, and it must be clear in the gloom." Indeed, it is very necessary to let the light see in the dark with unique expression. So someone put forward a method of drawing the moon: "The shadow of the moon scene is dyed black, and the sun remains bright." Painting is still so difficult. For us, it is naturally more difficult to express things in words. However, Zhu Ziqing is a writer with rich experience in prose writing, but he can write such a big deal as Dead Lotus Pond on a Moonlit Night. We can't see any magnificent structure and elegant words in this Moonlight on the Lotus Pond, which is less than 1600 words. The author wrote it euphemistically and carefully based on a temporary feeling, but it is very charming.
A narration at the beginning of the article tells the reader about my temporary mood; In the second paragraph, only a few simple strokes are used to outline the outline around the lotus pond, giving a clear impression; Go straight to the third paragraph and write about the beauty of solitude in the lotus pond. The moonlight in the lotus pond, which the author really described with great efforts, began in the fourth paragraph. He wrote the shapes, colors and smells of moonlight, lotus leaves, lotus flowers and lotus flowers very skillfully. It was not until the fifth paragraph that moonlight was written: moonlight is like running water. Leaves and flowers are dreaming in the soft moonlight. Sometimes the moonlight is covered by faint clouds, and sometimes the moonlight drops mottled shadows through the shadows of trees. Hazy moonlight not only quietly sprinkled on the lotus pond, but also quietly sprinkled on the surrounding Woods and distant mountains. In the silence of such a moonlit night, we are gloomy and really terrible. At this time, the author probably felt too quiet, and then wrote that cicadas croak and frogs croak. When you hear the cries of "cicada, cicada" and "pavilion, pavilion, pavilion", the air that has almost condensed around you will suddenly come to life, making people feel alive. This realm is beautiful, and the style of writing is also distinct. However, if we are not at leisure, it is difficult to understand the realm of this poem. We usually work nervously for a day, and after a night's meal, although we can't help going for a walk where there are trees and flowers, our minds are always restless, and the things during the day are still hovering in our minds, leaving and coming again. Even if we walk through the lotus pond in the moonlight and see pink or white lotus flowers, we may only think of lotus seeds and tender lotus roots, but we rarely have the author's meticulous interest. This varies from person to person, and there is nothing strange about it.
After writing about the silence of the lotus pond on a moonlit night, the author suddenly turned to writing about cicadas and frogs. This kind of writing is about what the predecessors called "waves". After falling down together, he found that "I" was caused by a night trip to the lotus pond. That "I" is from Jiangnan, so I naturally thought of the lotus picking scene in my hometown in Jiangnan. The author here borrows the words of the ancients to express his feelings. The quoted "Xizhou Qu" is a folk song, a "Xizhou Tune", the original 160 words. For the full text, please refer to Guo Maoqian's Yuefu Poems (Volume 72). The Fu of Picking Lotus is not the full text. Please refer to Volume 82 of Literature and Art Collection. Author Liang Yuandi, whose real name is Xiao Yi, was a famous imperial writer in Qi and Liang Dynasties. Fu is a parallel style, paying attention to duality and syllables, such as "female, Xu", "cup, open" and "early, awkward", which is called foot rhyme. The stork head, boat, boat and boat in this article are actually the same thing. In order to avoid monotony or because of syllable relationship, ancient people often like to use words with different meanings. A "feather cup" is a kind of wine glass. The reader will understand after reading it carefully. In the last line of Moonlight on the Lotus Pond, the author wrote: "Push in the door gently", which is consistent with the beginning of "dash out the door" and has an explanation for the readers. Otherwise, that "I" will have to sleep under the lotus pond tree.
The author has always been particular about language and writing. As far as the wording and sentences of this essay are concerned, it is unambiguous at all. In sentences, function words can be saved, sentences are fluent, and Europeanized languages are used less. Therefore, sentences appear cleaner and more refined. It seems that the author also likes to use adjectives with overlapping adjectives, such as faint, Tian Tian, graceful, affectionate, far and near, high and low, and vague. Some words, such as "Tian Tian" and "Tingting", were originally words of ancient songs. The author tried to make the past serve the present by turning over old and new clothes. Whether the translation is good or not can be studied One advantage of using overlapping words is that it will make the writing elegant and comfortable, and will not make people feel anxious and constrained when reading. Naturally, if used properly, too much will make sentences look loose and weak. This is a question of Chinese literacy, by the way, to attract the attention of beginners. Some people insist that this is skill, yes, but don't be too superstitious about skill. I think the result of repeated revisions can produce skills.
Although Moonlight on the Lotus Pond is beautifully written, we always feel dissatisfied after reading it. The article seems to lack one thing-the power to struggle and fight. When the author wrote this essay, we were experiencing an earth-shaking bloody revolution, while the author was swimming at night in the moonlight of the lotus pond. Why? One possibility is that the author is limited by class and ignores the bloody reality; Another possibility is that the author saw this reality and was dissatisfied, but he didn't have the courage to face it squarely. When he is dissatisfied, he can only escape to the lotus pond and express his resistance with a negative attitude. For example, from the perspective of the title, it may also contain profound meanings. The author writes nothing but praises the lotus and the bright moon. Is it true that, as the ancients said, the lotus and the bright moon both symbolize holiness, just as chrysanthemums symbolize pride and bamboo symbolizes lofty festivals, so it is used to express the meaning of uncompromising with the reality at that time? This is of course speculation, not necessarily reliable, but this metaphor method is indeed a common thing in classical literature. In addition, when talking about the prose at that time, Lu Xun once said: "This is to demonstrate the old literature, and it is not impossible for the vernacular to express the self-righteousness of the old literature." These words are also helpful for us to understand Moonlight on the Lotus Pond today. Most of what I'm talking about here is about the artistic form and expression of this essay. It seems that how to explain this lyric prose more correctly remains to be studied.