"The dew is white tonight" not only describes the scene, but also highlights the season. It was the night of the White Dew Festival, and the dew was full of dew, which made people feel chilly. "The moon is the brightness of my hometown" is also a description of scenery, but it is slightly different from the previous sentence. What the author writes is not entirely objective reality, but incorporates his own subjective feelings.
Source: "Moonlight Night Remembering My Brother" written by Du Fu, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty.
Original text: The garrison drum breaks the pedestrian line, and there is a sound of wild geese on the edge of autumn. The dew is white tonight, and the moon is bright in my hometown. All my brothers are scattered, and I have no family to ask about life and death. The letter sent was not delivered, but the troops were not suspended.
Translation: From the garrison, the sound of drums forbidding traffic sounded, and from the autumn border came the wail of lonely geese. Today is the White Dew Festival. I miss my family even more, and I still feel that the moon in my hometown is brighter.
Although there are brothers, they are all separated and go to separate places, and there is no news about them. Even if I send a letter to inquire about it, I don’t know where to send it, because the world is still in war and cannot be peaceful.
The last two letters were written by hand. If you don’t care, it seems to have nothing to do with remembering your brother, but it is not. Not only did he look at the moon and feel nostalgic for his hometown, but also hearing the garrison drums, hearing the sound of wild geese, and seeing the cold dew all made the author feel sad for things and aroused the feeling of longing. Therefore, I remember my brother every word, and every sentence is affectionate.
The neck couplet shifts from looking at the moon to expressing emotion, and the transition is very natural. The moonlight often arouses people's imagination and more easily evokes homesickness. The poet is experiencing separation and chaos, and on this cold moonlit night, he has a special feeling in his heart.
His lingering thoughts were mixed with anxiety about life, separation and death, and his tone was extremely sad. "All the brothers are scattered, and they have no family to ask about life and death." The first sentence says that the brothers are separated, and they are separated by the sky; the second sentence says that the family no longer exists, and life and death are uncertain. The writing is heartbreaking and touching. These two lines of poetry also summarize the common experience of the people who suffered from sorrow and chaos during the Anshi Rebellion.
The tail couplet tightly supports the neck couplet to further express the inner worries. Relatives are scattered everywhere, and the letters they usually send often fail to arrive. What's more, there are frequent wars, and life and death are uncertain, which is even more difficult to predict. Implicit and implicit, a knot of infinite affection.
The whole poem is well-organized, with the beginning and the end echoing each other, the succession is mature, and the structure is rigorous. "The army has not ceased" means "people's journey is cut off", looking at the moon means "remembering my brother-in-law", "having no home" means "sending letters failed to arrive", people "scattered" means "death and life" are unknown, one sentence is changed and one sentence is complete. The feeling of homesickness and longing for relatives is sad and depressing. Extended information
The first couplet and jaw couplet of this poem describe the scene and set off the atmosphere of war. On this basis, the neck couplet and the tail couplet describe that the brothers were separated due to the war, had no fixed place to live, and had no news, so the feeling of longing arose spontaneously, especially in the white dew season after the beginning of autumn, when the drums and drums on the Xulou were heard. Against the background of the wail of the lost geese, this feeling of longing becomes more and more deep and intense.
The whole poem supports things and expresses feelings, with well-organized layers, echoes from beginning to end, smooth transitions, rigorous structure, exquisite language, melancholy and sad style, sincere and touching.
About the author: Du Fu (712-770), with a beautiful character, called himself Shaolingye Lao. He was not ranked as a Jinshi, but he once served as a member of the Ministry of Education and Engineering. In his later life, he was called the Ministry of Industry and Engineering. He was the greatest realist poet in the Tang Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty, he was revered as the "Sage of Poetry" and was called "Li Du" together with Li Bai. His poems boldly exposed the social contradictions at that time, expressed deep sympathy for the poor people, and were profound in content.
Many excellent works show the historical process of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline, and are called "history of poetry". In art, he is good at using various poetry forms, especially rhythmic poetry. His styles are diverse, but mainly melancholy. His language is refined and he has a high degree of expressive ability. There are more than 1,400 poems in existence, including "Collection of Du Gongbu".
Reference material: Baidu Encyclopedia - Moon Night Recalling My Brother