The birthday is less than a hundred years
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Series: Nineteen Ancient Poems
The birthday is less than a hundred years
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If you are less than a hundred years old, you often worry about being a thousand years old.
The days are short and the nights are long, so why not travel by candlelight!
It’s time to enjoy yourself, how can you wait for it?
A fool cherishes his money, but he will scoff at it for future generations.
Immortal Prince Qiao is hard to wait for.
Translation
A person is usually less than a hundred years old in this world, but his heart is always filled with sorrows that will last thousands of years. Why bother? Since we always complain that the day is so short and the night is so long, why not hold a candle and have fun day and night? Life should be about enjoying yourself in time! Why wait until next year? People who are busy with nothingness all day long, and people who just want to accumulate wealth for their children and grandchildren, are particularly stupid. Unworthy children and grandchildren will only laugh at their ancestors and will not enjoy happiness! I’m afraid it’s hard to wait any longer for someone like Wang Ziqiao to become an immortal!
Advise people to be able to understand the world, enjoy themselves in time, and not worry about those useless things day and night. It also satirizes the ignorance of those who are rich and greedy, and understands life without understanding. .
Ideological significance
Judging from the whole poem, this poem uses relaxed and broad-minded language to give both kinds of pursuers in the world. Ridicule, first of all, is about those who are stingy and "sparing money" in collecting money. They are less than a hundred years old, but they are stupid enough to worry about a thousand years old. The absurd connection between "hundred years" and "thousand years" reveals the ridiculousness of those "spending money" people who live a stingy life. The mood is really wonderful. "The days are short and the nights are long, why not travel by candlelight"! "Wandering", in my opinion, the "Wandering" in the article and the "Le" mentioned later in "Walking in time for pleasure" are different from what ordinary people understand. Traveling and Lele are not the kind of wine and meat ponds. , the indulgence of singing and dancing, is a positive and healthy way of enjoying life for literati and elegant people to express their love for the landscape, talk about poetry while drinking, and forget the frustration and sorrow. This kind of happiness is also based on the love of life, and expresses the pain of life without a way out with broad-minded and wild thoughts. This can be understood by looking at the Jian'an period when literati had a slight chance of success. This sigh of carpe diem was soon replaced by a generous voice of sympathy for the people's sufferings and timely achievements. In fact, it is a mockery of those who admire immortality. But this expectation of meeting gods was finally discovered to be just an empty dream in the depressed late Han Dynasty.
Appreciation
Doubts about the value of life seem to be often due to the depression of life. When looking at life in depression, many traditional concepts will collapse in the eyes of doubt. This collection of poems pours a bucket of cold water on the two types of pursuers in the world with its relaxed and open-minded words.
First of all, it is a mockery of those who are stingy and "spend-conscious" who amass money. It almost occupies the main length of the whole poem. This kind of people are just like the poem "The Mountain Has a Pivot" in "The Book of Songs: Tang Feng" ridicules: "The son has clothes, but he can't drag him around; he has chariots and horses, but he can't drive them. It's like they are dead. "Others are happy" - just work hard to accumulate wealth, but don't know how to enjoy it in time. What they worry about is nothing more than the livelihood of future generations. In the poet's opinion, this is simply stupid and ridiculous: "If you are less than a hundred years old, you will always worry about a thousand years old." Even if a person can live for a hundred years, he can only worry about his descendants for a hundred years. This is common sense that even children understand; let alone It may not be possible to live for a hundred years, but it is really foolish to worry about a thousand years. The opening chapter uses the absurd connection between "hundred years" and "thousands of years" to reveal the ridiculous attitude of those who live a stingy and "spending" life. It is really wonderful. The next two sentences are even more surprising: "The days are short and the nights are long, so why not swim by candlelight!" "Wandering" means having fun. It is sensational enough to spend all the days of life immersed in unrestrained pleasures, but the poet is still "suffering" from the "short" days, so he whimsically persuades people to use all their sleeping time at night for pleasure. , it’s a shame he figured it out. At night, the lights are dark and the lights are on, and I am afraid that I will lose my pleasure. The poet has already prepared a good plan: just hold a candle and swim! ——To express the thoughts of unrestrained pleasure in such a *** and unashamed way, this is probably a shocking sound not only in the poetry world of the Han Dynasty, but also in the entire history of ancient poetry. As for those misers who diligently pursued the gold and silver hidden in the kilns, they were even more stunned when they heard this. These are the opening four sentences ("Zhao Mei Zhan Yan" by Fang Dongshu) that later generations of poetry commentators lamented as "strange emotions and whimsical thoughts, magnificent writing style". They are opposites to each other, and they clearly oppose the life attitude of lifelong worry and unrestrained fun.
The poet seems to have long expected that advocating such debauchery will inevitably be criticized by the world. It's not that they don't want to enjoy it, it's just that they often hold on to the philosophy of "after all the hardship, happiness comes" and postpone the limited enjoyment in life to the distant future. The poet categorically rejects this philosophy: if you want to have fun, you have to be "in time" and cannot always wait for the next year. The poem doesn't say why we can't wait for the next year.
Its overtone made another poem in "Nineteen Ancient Poems" light up: "Life is suddenly like a gift, and life is not solid." - No one knows that "Laizi" will not have its ups and downs, and suddenly become " The "Chen Dead Man" who sleeps under the Yellow Spring and will never die for a thousand years ("Nineteen Ancient Poems: Driving to the East Gate"). It's too late to think about pleasure by then. This is the many painful experiences of life contained behind the poet's broad-minded words of "timely" enjoyment in the world. From this point of view, it seems particularly stupid for those who "spend less" to spend their days without pleasure and only think about saving some money for their children and grandchildren. Because of their "spending" during their lifetime, they only raised a group of idle children and grandchildren. When these unscrupulous descendants are squandering money, it is impossible to be grateful for the kindness of their ancestors. Maybe they secretly laugh at their ancestors and they will not enjoy happiness. "Fools cherish their money, but they will scoff at it for future generations." Just as Fang Tinggui said: "Pour a glass of cold water on the back of a miser" ("Selected Works"). The harshness of his sarcastic words has the power to "wake up drunken dreams" in fools.
Up to this point in the whole poem, the writing is always aimed at those who "spend less". It was only at the end that the book suddenly "rewinded" and pointed to another pursuit in the world: admiration for immortals. Regarding the envy of gods, everyone from Qin Shihuang to Emperor Wu of Han did many stupid things. Even the common people in the Han Dynasty talked about the legend of Prince Qiao who was picked up by a mysterious Taoist priest to Mount Song and finally became an immortal by riding a crane. In the Han Dynasty Yuefu, the fervent call of "Prince Qiao, ride on the white deer and soar in the clouds. Come down, Prince Qiao" has been left. But this expectation of meeting gods was finally discovered in the depressed late Han Dynasty to be just an empty dream (see "Nineteen Ancient Poems: Driving to the East Gate": "Taking food to seek gods is mostly mistaken for medicine. It is better to drink Good wine, being dressed up and down"). Therefore, for those who are still dreaming of such dreams of "becoming immortals", the poet does not need to spend more words. He just uses the spare power of mocking those who "spend money" to stop them with one convenient blow: "Prince of Immortals" "Qiao, it's hard to wait!" This conclusion seems to have escaped from the main theme of the whole poem, and suddenly diverted to the "immortal", but the original intention of the poet is actually to "awaken" those who "spare money", that is, Zhu Jun "Nineteen Ancient Poems" points out: "You cannot learn from immortals, the more you know, the more foolish you will waste." With just one blow, even if the admirers of immortals feel chills in their necks, it also echoes the meaning of the previous article "It is timely for pleasure": the ending is still broad-minded and ingenious.
Such a whimsical work that expresses "carpe diem" in bohemian language seems to be able to "awaken" many people's life dreams; some researchers Therefore, this type of poetry is regarded as a symbol of the "awakening of human nature" in the Han Dynasty. But if you think about it carefully, people who "spend money" who "always worry about a thousand years" are certainly stupid; but to say that the value of life lies in timely satisfaction of one's own indulgence and enjoyment may not necessarily be a sober attitude towards life. In fact, this attitude was mostly a feeble protest against the turbulent society and the depressing life of people in the late Han Dynasty. From the perspective of the lower class people who have no way out, it is just another dream they have after waking up from many dreams (such as "accomplishment", "fame and wealth", etc.) - it is impossible for them to really live a "subdued" life. The hedonic life of "Wan and Su" and "Why not travel by candlelight". Therefore, rather than saying that this type of poetry expresses "the awakening of human nature," it is better to say that it expresses the pain of having no way out in life with broad-minded and wild thoughts. This can be understood by looking at the Jian'an period when literati had a slight chance of success. This sigh of carpe diem was soon replaced by a generous voice of sympathy for the people's sufferings and timely achievements.
[2]
About the origin of "If you are less than a hundred years old, you often worry about a thousand years old"
The earliest version should be from "Han Yuefu" ·Travel to the West Gate", the original poem is as follows:
Out of the West Gate
Step by Step
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No fun today
When will it happen
My husband will have fun
Rejoice in time
How can you sit and feel depressed
Wait for the return Hereby
Drinking wine
Grilling fat cattle
Please call What the heart likes
Can be used to relieve sorrow
Life is full of dissatisfaction
Always worry about a thousand years old
The days are short and the nights are long
Why not travel by candle
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I am not a fairy prince
It is difficult to predict my life expectancy
I am not a fairy prince< /p>
Accounting life is difficult to predict
Life is not a golden stone
A safe and prosperous life
Greedy for money and cherishing money
But for the sake of future generations