Yue Ke is a seven-character quatrain written by Zhao Shixiu, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty. This poem is about the poet's being alone on a stormy summer night. The first two sentences explain the environment and season at that time. "Huangmei", "Rain", "Pond" and "Frogs Everywhere" describe the scene of summer nights in the rainy season in the south of the Yangtze River: the sound of rain is incessant and frogs are heard, which seems to be a lively environment, but in fact the poet wants to reflect its "silence". The last two periods show people and things. The master waited patiently and somewhat anxiously, having nothing to do, "knocking" the chess pieces, and quietly looking at the glittering snuff.
Poems express the poet's inner loneliness by writing scenes and expressing feelings. Scenery blend, fresh and meaningful, intriguing.
inviting guests (1)
It rains at home in Huangmei season (2) and frogs are everywhere in the grass pond (3).
If you have an appointment and don't come past midnight (4), knock the chess pieces and drop them in snuff (5).
Notes to words
(1) Inviting guests to meet.
the calligraphy works about the guest
the calligraphy works about the guest
(2) Huangmei season: In May, plums in the south of the Yangtze River are ripe, mostly when it is rainy, which is called "Meiyu season", so it is called "Huangmei season". It means early summer when plums in the south of the Yangtze River are yellow and ripe. Rain in every household: Every household catches up with the rain. It's raining everywhere.
(3) Frogs everywhere: frogs are everywhere.
(4) appointment: that is, inviting friends.
(5) Falling into snuff: In the old days, when the lamp was used for lighting, the lamp core burned out, and it fell like a shining little flower. Fall, cause to fall. Snuff, the wick burns out and forms a flower.
Vernacular translation
Plum Huang Shi, every family is covered in the rain,
Frogs are heard from the edge of a pond full of grass.
It's past midnight, and the invited guests haven't come yet.
I tapped the chess piece bored and knocked off the knot in the wick when I lit the oil lamp.
appreciation of works
it is inevitable that you will be anxious when you are dating someone for a long time. This is probably an experience that everyone will have. It is difficult to write with interest if you use this as a poem. However, this little poem by Zhao Shixiu is like this kind of emotion, but it is deeply written with a rich aftertaste.
"It rains at home in Huangmei season, and frogs are everywhere in the grass pond". The first two sentences of the poem describe the scenery and paint a picture of summer rain in the south of the Yangtze River. In the rainy season, the rain is continuous, the pond is rising, the frogs are constantly screaming, and the rural scenery is so fresh, quiet, harmonious and wonderful. However, "all scenery words are sentimental words", and the poet is not writing scenery for the sake of writing scenery here, but he has entrusted his complex thoughts and feelings of being alone in the scenery. "Rain in every family" not only depicts the ubiquity and sudden intensity of plum rains in summer, but also shows the freshness and quietness of rural scenery, and implies the objective reasons why guests can't keep appointments as scheduled, revealing the poet's helplessness in the rainy weather of continuous plum rains. "Frogs everywhere" not only describes the bursts of frogs in the pond, but also uses the method of setting off silence with sound, which sets off the quiet and harmonious atmosphere in the countryside at night during the rainy season, and also reflects the poet's lonely and restless mood. From the visual and auditory aspects, these two poems vividly and truly show the unique psychological feelings when the poet waits for guests alone but the guests never appear in the dead of night. Throughout the countryside, the continuous showers, one after another, endless frog drums, were originally very harmonious and wonderful, but what is annoying is that this continuous rain stopped friends from keeping promises, like the frog sound of drums, which disturbed the poet's mood. At this moment, how much the poet hopes that his friends will come as scheduled, rain or shine, and play chess with him.
"I can't make an appointment until midnight", which makes the title of the poem clear, and also makes the description of the scenery and sounds in the above two sentences fall into place. I had an appointment with the guest, but no one came after midnight. Undoubtedly, the continuous night rain prevented my friends from keeping the appointment. Sleepless at night shows that the poet has been waiting for a long time and is full of hope. At this point, it seems that the situation of unexpected guests has been written out, but a small pad at the end of the sentence makes poetry colorful.
The phrase "knocking at a chessboard and falling into snuff" only describes a small dynamic of the poet, but in this dynamic, the poet's anxious and expectant mood is described in detail. Because you are alone, you can't play chess, so you can say "knocking chess pieces at random". The chess pieces are not knocked, but they are used to knock, which reflects the anguish in loneliness; The word "leisure" shows boredom, and behind this word, it implies the poet's disappointment and anxiety.
When people are lonely and anxious, they often subconsciously make a monotonous and mechanical action, such as deliberately making a little noise to break the silence and dilute their worries. The poet's "knocking chess pieces at random" here is exactly such an action. "Falling in snuff" is certainly caused by playing chess, but it also euphemistically shows the situation that the wick burns for a long time and the guest waits for a long time, and the image of the poet's frustration is vividly on the paper. The detail of playing chess contains multiple meanings, which are close to each other and far away from each other, and contain lingering charm. It can be seen that it is important to capture typical details in artistic creation.
Another obvious feature of this poem is the use of contrast. The first two sentences about outdoor "rain in every house" and "frogs everywhere" are as loud as two propaganda. The last two sentences are written about Yi Deng indoors, sitting and playing chess, silent and boring, which is in sharp contrast with the previous ones. Through this contrast, the poet's feelings of loneliness and disappointment are more deeply expressed. Therefore, although Zhao Shixiu and other "Four Spirits" poets appeared with indifferent and fresh faces, they actually had a lot of painstaking efforts.