"The bright moon of the Qin Dynasty and the pass of the Han Dynasty" Wang Changling's "Out of the Fortress".
Original text
Going out of the fortress
Wang Changling [Tang Dynasty]
The bright moon of the Qin Dynasty and the Pass of the Han Dynasty, the people who marched thousands of miles have not yet returned.
But the flying generals of Dragon City are here, and Huma is not taught to cross the Yin Mountains.
Translation
It is still the bright moon and border pass in the Qin and Han Dynasties. The soldiers guarding the border and fighting fiercely against the enemy for thousands of miles have not yet returned.
As long as Dragon City’s flying general Li Guang is still here, he will definitely not let the enemy’s iron hoofs step through Yinshan.
Notes
But: as long as.
Dragon City Flying General: "Hanshu Biography of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing" records that in the sixth year of Yuanguang (129 BC), Wei Qing was a chariot and cavalry general. He went out of Shanggu to Congcheng and beheaded hundreds of captives. Regarding Cage City, Yan Shigu noted that "cage" is the same as "dragon". Dragon City Flying General refers to Wei Qing's surprise attack on Dragon City. Among them, some people think that the flying general in Longcheng Feijiang refers to the Han Dynasty flying general Li Guang, and Longcheng is Lulongcheng in the Tang Dynasty (Lulongcheng was the place where Li Guang trained troops in the Han Dynasty. It was in the area near Xifengkou, Hebei Province today. It was the capital of the Han Dynasty. Li Guang spent most of his life fighting against the Huns and preventing them from raiding the border. This refers to generals who are brave and skillful in fighting.
Teach: order, make.
Huma: refers to the foreign cavalry that invades the mainland.
Degree: over.
Yinshan: Located in central Inner Mongolia and northern Hebei today.
Creative background
"Out of the Fortress" was written by Wang Changling when he went to the Western Regions in his early years. Wang Changling lived in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, so his frontier fortress poems often reflected an impassioned and upward spirit and a strong confidence in defeating the enemy. However, frequent frontier fortress wars have also overwhelmed the people and yearned for peace. "Out of the Fortress" reflects the people's desire for peace.
Appreciation 1
This is a famous frontier fortress poem, which expresses the poet's wish to appoint a good general, quell the war at the frontier fortress as soon as possible, and enable the people to live a stable life.
The poet starts from describing the scenery, and the first sentence outlines a desolate scene with the cold moon shining on the border. "The bright moon of the Qin Dynasty and the Pass of the Han Dynasty" cannot be understood as the bright moon of the Qin Dynasty and the pass of the Han Dynasty. Here, the four characters Qin, Han, Guan, and Yue are used interchangeably, which is called "intertextual meaning" in rhetoric, which means the bright moon in Qin and Han Dynasties and the pass in Qin and Han Dynasties. The poet hinted that the war here has not stopped since the Qin and Han Dynasties, highlighting the long time. In the second sentence, "Thousands of miles long march, people have not yet returned." "Wanli" refers to the thousands of miles apart between the frontier and the inland. Although it is a false reference, it highlights the vastness of the space. "People have not yet returned" reminds people of the disasters caused by war and expresses the poet's grief and indignation.
How can we relieve the people's suffering? The poet places his hope in a capable general. "But if the flying generals of Longcheng are here, they will not teach the Hu horses to cross the Yinshan Mountains." If Wei Qing and the flying general Li Guang who attacked Longcheng were still alive, the Hu cavalry would never be allowed to cross the Yinshan Mountains. "Dragon City" refers to the famous general Wei Qing who made a surprise attack on Dragon City, the Holy Land of the Huns, while "Flying General" refers to the famous flying general Li Guang. "Dragon City Flying General" is not just one person, he actually refers to Li Wei, and also refers to many famous generals of the Han Dynasty who fought against the Hungarians. "Don't teach" means not allowed. The word "teach" is pronounced flatly; "Hu Ma" here refers to the cavalry invading from foreign nations. "Du Yin Mountain" means crossing Yin Mountain. Yinshan Mountain is a large mountain range running east-west in the north. It was a natural barrier for the northern border defense in the Han Dynasty. The last two sentences are written implicitly and cleverly, allowing people to draw necessary conclusions from the comparison of past events.
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.
The poet did not describe the scenery of the frontier in detail. He just selected a typical scene from the conquest life to reveal the inner world of the soldiers. Scenery description is just a means to depict the characters' thoughts and feelings. Han, Guan, Qin and Yue are all integrated into the scenery and soaked with the characters' emotions. The complex content is cast into four lines of poetry, which is deep, implicit and thought-provoking.
Appreciation 2
This is a frontier fortress poem lamenting the constant wars on the frontier and the lack of good generals in the country. In ordinary language, he sings a powerful and open-minded theme, with smooth momentum and smooth execution. The poet made a high-level artistic summary of the frontier war life at that time with vigorous brushwork. He closely combined the description of scenery, narrative, lyricism and discussion, and cast rich and complex thoughts and feelings in the poem, making the artistic conception of the poem powerful and far-reaching, both exciting and exciting. It's heartwarming and thought-provoking. Reviews of "Out of the Barrier" have always been very high. Li Panlong, a poet of the Ming Dynasty, even praised it as the masterpiece of the seven quatrains of the Tang Dynasty. Yang Shen also ranked it first in his compilation of quatrains of the Tang Dynasty.
The first line of the poem is the most intriguing. It is about Hanguan 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 before the conscripts were returned, and how many tragedies were left behind. 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. Everyone who sings it is amazed. Li Panlong, a man of the Ming Dynasty, once praised it as the masterpiece among the seven masterpieces of the Tang Dynasty, which is not an exaggeration.
It is regarded as a way to gain fame. Some intellectuals, most of whom had lived in frontier fortresses, wrote poems mainly describing frontier fortress life, which formed the so-called "frontier fortress poetry school". Wang Changling is an important member of this school.
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 Dragon City are here, and Huma is not taught to cross the Yin 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 Wei Qing and Li Guang, the enemy's The cavalry 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.
The poet did not describe the scenery of the frontier in detail. He just selected a typical scene from the conquest life to reveal the inner world of the soldiers. Scenery description is just a means to depict the characters' thoughts and feelings. Han, Guan, Qin and Yue are all integrated into the scenery and soaked with the characters' emotions. The complex content is cast into four lines of poetry, which is deep, implicit and thought-provoking. This poem has a powerful artistic conception, high-spirited style, and concise and bright language.
Wang Changling?
Wang Changling (698-756), courtesy name Shaobo, was born in Jinyang, Hedong (now Taiyuan, Shanxi). A famous frontier poet in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, he was known as the "Seven Masters" by later generations. He was poor and humble in his early years and was trapped in farming. In the third year of his life, he became a Jinshi. He first served as secretary of the Provincial School, and became a scholar and scholar. He was awarded the rank of Sishui Lieutenant. He was demoted to Lingnan due to some affairs. He had close friendships with Li Bai, Gao Shi, Wang Wei, Wang Zhihuan, Cen Shen, etc. At the end of Kaiyuan, he returned to Chang'an and was granted the title of Jiang Ningcheng. He was slandered and relegated to Long Biaowei. An Shi rebellion broke out and he was killed by Lu Qiu Xiao, the governor. His poems are famous for his seven unique poems, especially the frontier fortress poems he wrote when he went to the northwest frontier fortress before he ascended the imperial throne. He is known as "Wang Jiangning, the poet's master" (there is also the saying of "Wang Jiangning, the poet's emperor").