"Miscellaneous Poems"
Wang Wei
You come from your hometown, so you should know about it.
Tomorrow, in front of the beautiful window, will the winter plum blossoms bloom?
Notes:
1. Tomorrow: refers to the day of departure.
2. Qi Window: A window with exquisite carvings.
3. Flowering: blooming.
Rhyme translation:
You have just come out of our hometown.
You must understand the people and affairs in your hometown;
Please tell me about my home when you came. In front of the window,
Has the wintersweet flower bloomed?
Appreciation:
? This is a poem that expresses nostalgia. There are three original poems, and this is the second one. The poem uses the technique of descriptive words to concisely and vividly depict the protagonist's homesickness. For those who have left their hometown, there are many things to miss in their hometown. However, the poem does not write about nostalgia for the mountains and rivers, the local customs and customs, but about nostalgia for the winter plum blossoms before the window. It really shows the spirit in the details, combines cleverness with simplicity, has a rich charm and is lifelike.
Wang Wei's "Miscellaneous Poems" has always been considered a melancholy poem, thought to be caused by homesickness. Indeed, if you read this poem with a sad mood, you will feel a strong sense of nostalgia.
But the greatness of this poem may also be that it actually has another emotion, or in other words, the poem contains a tangle of several emotions. "You come from your hometown, you should know the things there." It can be a brain-teaser game question and answer. The answerer will probably be very confident and say: Of course, if you have any questions, just ask them! But of course the poet knows which questions to ask and the other party will answer them fluently. The poet then did the opposite, not asking about people and things, but about things. I wonder how the other party can answer this question? If this is a very easy question, then it is equivalent to asking yourself and answering, knowingly asking. Flowers bloom or not bloom not because of human events, but because of climate and seasons. It is a natural law. When the time comes, it will be opened as scheduled. Is there any need to ask? But the poet just asked, so how do the respondents answer? There are only two answers: open, or not open. But it would be so boring to answer blankly.
Presumably, the other party in real life will not answer stupidly and directly. Instead, he would just stay there, stupid for a long time. If so, it will fall into the poet's trick and cause a laugh.
Because, for a wanderer far away from home, whether the winter plums blooming in front of the window is not his real concern. How many poetry readers have made stupid mistakes here, saying that the poet's appreciation and concern for plum blossoms can be seen here. This person really doesn’t understand art or poetry, and reads poetry superficially! In fact, the real purpose of the poet, where is the matter of plum blossoms? Do people in life always mean what they mean when they speak? In fact, interesting times in life are all Caused by inconsistency.
People who are far away from home always know their hometown only when they leave home. The longer you leave your hometown, the greater the changes in people and things in your hometown. Some changes in people and things will make you happy, but there are also some changes that will make you feel lost or painful. This is common sense to everyone who has left home. Because of this, the poet did not dare to directly ask questions about people and things in the world, but first asked a non-dangerous topic. Whatever the answer to this question, the poet will bear it. And because this question is so unexpected, the answerer may be confused for a moment, or even really not notice the plum blossoms. In this case, the poet will still get the mischievous pleasure he imagined.
In fact, most of this pleasure has been anticipated by the poet, and it is the psychological enjoyment that the poet deserves in his plan. However, the effect of this kind of questioning is temporary, because the wanderer who is far away from his hometown must face the changes in personnel and world affairs from his hometown. It’s just that what poetry wants us to truly appreciate is that we need to understand the complexity of the poet’s heart from the design of this issue. Why did the poet first ask such a question when faced with people from his hometown? The poet was afraid of hearing some unfavorable changes in the world from his hometown, so he adopted such a question in order to postpone it for a moment so that he could mentally prepare. More fully? Readers can naturally make various guesses based on their own life experiences and experience. And this is the most impressive thing about Tang poetry, that is, the blank space left by great Tang poetry is always the kind that can provide readers with the richest imagination space.
In this way, poetry allows us to almost hear the intense beating of the poet's heart. I can appreciate the complexity and contradiction in the poet's heart. Therefore, while the poem has a cheerful explicit structure, there is also a more conflicting, complex, and profound deep structure hidden underneath. However, the depth of this deep structure is left in the endless blank, relying on high-level readers to construct it themselves.
The blank spaces and the construction of deep structures in poetry are not arbitrary. Although the poem ends here, the content of the subsequent conversation between the poet and the other party can only be filled in by the reader's own experience. But no matter how it is filled, this cheerful surface structure plays a defining role in the imagination of filling the deep structure.
Because since the poet would be so sincere and frightened, and face the people in his hometown in a roundabout way, then he must be not very optimistic about the changes in people and world affairs in his hometown, which also shows that this person must have had an uneven life. His life experience, his family and hometown were not all smooth sailing. Otherwise, why didn't he rush to ask the questions he wanted to ask and care about the most at the first moment? Only a simple-minded young boy or young girl with a clean heart would be able to speak directly. If a person who is far away from home really only cares about the cold plum blossoms in front of the window and has no interest in anything else, then this person is too heartless and righteous. It is precisely because the poet is deeply concerned about the people and affairs of his hometown that he is extremely afraid of something unexpected or unbearable happening in it. But he is an extremely pure person, so he tries to transcend this tension when he is nervous. What we appreciate from this is the sentiment of a mature person who is light-hearted and has a rich experience but still has a pure heart.
This is an extraordinary image of a wanderer. Although he has gone through many vicissitudes of life, he still has a spiritual demeanor that transcends the world and maintains a free mentality. Then, the purpose of why the poet wrote this poem is immediately apparent: he is singing about a style of life that although experienced vicissitudes of life, is never sophisticated and always maintains a free mentality.
About the author
Wang Wei (AD 701?~761), named Mojie, was a native of Qizhou, Taiyuan (now Qixian County, Shanxi). In the ninth year of Kaiyuan of Xuanzong (AD 721), he became a Jinshi. During the Anshi Rebellion, he was forced to serve as a puppet. After the rebellion was over, he was convicted and demoted. Later, he was promoted to Shangshu Youcheng, and he was known as "Wang Youcheng" in the world. His works include "Wang Youcheng Collection".
Translation and Appreciation of Wang Wei’s "Miscellaneous Poems"