There are many works dedicated to the Yellow Crane Tower, but it is universally acknowledged that Cui Hao's The Yellow Crane Tower is a swan song. Even the great poet Li Bai stopped writing because "Cui Hao wrote a poem on it". This poem is written with an open artistic conception, great verve, picturesque scenery and sincere feelings. And simple and vivid, just like spoken English, can't help but be amazing. This poem is not only Cui Hao's masterpiece, but also established the title of Cui Hao's poetry circle. . Three Hundred Poems of Tang Poetry is an anthology of Tang poetry in later generations, so Cui Hao's poems are listed as the first of the seven laws. This shows the importance of this poem. "Cang Hua" (Yan Yu) said: "The Yellow Crane Tower should be the first of seven-character poems in the Tang Dynasty." For more appreciation of Tang poetry, please pay attention to the 300 columns of Tang poetry.
original text
The fairy of the past has flown away by the yellow crane, leaving only an empty Yellow Crane Tower.
The yellow crane never revisited earth, there have been no long white clouds for thousands of years.
Every tree in Hanyang has become clear due to sunlight, and Nautilus Island is covered with sweet grass.
But I looked at my hometown, and the twilight was getting thicker, and the mist of sadness was filled on the river waves.
To annotate ...
Yellow Crane Tower: Located on the yellow chicken in Sheshan, Wuchang, Hubei Province, facing the Yangtze River. According to legend, during the Three Kingdoms period, Fei Yi boarded a crane to ascend a fairy in this building, and it was also said that Xian Zi 'an had passed by here by yellow crane and stayed here, hence the name Yellow Crane Tower.
Previous life: the legendary fairy Zi An.
Youyou: It means a long time ago.
translate
The legendary immortal has long been flown by the yellow crane, leaving only the empty Yellow Crane Tower.
The flying yellow crane never came back, only the long white clouds stayed for thousands of years.
Looking across the river from the Yellow Crane Tower on a sunny day, you can see the trees in Hanyang clearly. On Nautilus Island, the grass grows extremely luxuriantly.
From dusk to dusk, I don't know where my hometown is. Facing the misty river, it is worrying!
Brief introduction of the author
A poem "Yellow Crane Tower" written by Cui Hao, a Bianzhou native in the Tang Dynasty (about 704-754 AD) touched Li Bai. Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was a scholar in Kaiyuan 1 1 (AD 723). He has a quick mind and is good at writing poems. He was a poet in the Tang Dynasty. Wen Yuan Biography of Old Tang Dynasty mentioned him with Wang Changling, Gao Shi and Meng Haoran, but his official career was ups and downs. There are not many accounts about him in history, and there are few legends and stories about him in his hometown of Bianzhou. Tang Hao's old biography is so brief that even his literary achievements are not mentioned. What are these for? It is worth thinking about. The works are passionate and magnificent. His works include Cui Haoji.
In the 11th year of Kaiyuan in Cui Hao, there are fewer sources and better scholars. Tianbao is a member of the foreign ministers of Shangshu Sixun. Teenagers are poems, colorful and frivolous; The festival at night suddenly became normal and windy. At first glance, the fortress wall looks like a grand journey, and strange creations often drive rivers and abalones together. After swimming in Wuchang, I boarded the Yellow Crane Tower and wrote poems with emotion. Li Bai came and said, "There is a scene in front of me, and Cui Hao wrote a poem on it." Do nothing, gather hands for philosophers. And those who behave poorly, study well, drink like a dog, and choose beautiful women when they get married will be disgusted if they are not satisfied. Li Yong heard his name and invited him. Li Zhi presented a poem, the first chapter of which said, "Marry Wang Chang at the age of fifteen." Forever scold: "Children are rude! Do not connect. When the illness cleared up, my friend said, "It's not a child's illness, but a bitter poem and a thin ear!" "Therefore, this is a solid excuse. Tianbao died in the thirteenth year. There is a volume of poetry, and this trip. (Yuan Xinwen's Biography of Talented Talents in Tang Dynasty, Volume 1) His poems are famous all over the world, but his deeds are rarely circulated, and there are only 40 existing poems.
explain
This poem is a masterpiece praising the Yellow Crane Tower. Even the great poet Li Bai once lamented that "there is no scenery in front of him, and Cui Hao writes poems on it" because Cui Hao's poems are so wonderful. He wrote the historical legends and life feelings of the Yellow Crane Tower so ethereal and true, which not only integrated the scene, but also naturally switched time and space. The artistic conception was far-reaching and not obscure, as if he were handy and read it like a stream. For more appreciation of Tang poetry, please pay attention to the 300 columns of Tang poetry.
The first couplet: "In ancient times, yellow cranes carried saints to heaven, but now there is no yellow crane tower." The poet began to write from the ancient legend of the Yellow Crane Tower. The former fairy Zi An has already left in the Yellow Crane, leaving only this empty Yellow Crane Tower. Tracing back to this ancient legend not only makes readers want to know the origin of the Yellow Crane Tower, but also undoubtedly casts a magical and illusory mystery on it.
Zhuan Xu: "The yellow crane will never return to earth, and the white clouds will never fly without him" comes from the rhyme and meaning of the first couplet. The crane left and never came back. Has the Yellow Crane Tower changed in this long year? No, "and the white clouds will always fly where there is no him" means that the white clouds in the sky have been floating in the air for thousands of years and have not changed because the yellow crane has left. In the poet's pen, "Baiyun" seems to have emotion and soul. It has been coming and going for thousands of years, accompanied by the Yellow Crane Tower.
Necklace couplets: "Every tree in Hanyang is clear, and there is a nest of herbs in Nautilus Island" has changed from writing about the legendary immortals, Yellow Crane and Yellow Crane Tower to what the poet saw when he boarded the Yellow Crane Tower in front of him, from writing illusory legends to writing about what he saw in front of him. Clear Wan Li, the trees clearly visible in Hanyang City separated by water and the lush grass on Nautilus Island paint a picture of ethereal distance.
Tail couplet: "But I look at home, the twilight is getting dark, and the river waves are covered with sad fog." It is dusk, where is my hometown? The misty river makes people feel homesick! This is the poet's feeling, lamenting life and homesickness. At this point, the poet's true intention is revealed. The purpose of nostalgia for the past is to hurt the present, express disappointment with life and express homesickness.
The whole article starts, carries on, turns and merges naturally and smoothly, and there is no trace of axe chisel. The first four sentences of the poem are legends about immortals riding cranes, which are imaginative, legendary and illusory; The last four sentences are realistic, writing out what you see and feel in front of you and expressing your personal feelings. Cleverly integrate the myth with the immediate things, witness the scenery, mourn the past, learn from the painful experience, express your feelings, be full of emotion, be elegant and fresh, and run through in one breath.
The content of this poem is to mourn the past. After boarding the Yellow Crane Tower, the poet was infected by the scenery in front of him, so he improvised poetry in one go. This poem is natural, fresh and magnificent, and has been respected by all previous dynasties. It is said that when Li Bai went upstairs to see this poem, he couldn't help sighing: "Cui Hao wrote the poem on it." So this poem is excellent.
The Yellow Crane Tower is named after its geographical location on the Yellow Crane Mountain in Wuchang. Now there is a legend that an ancient fairy rode a yellow crane here, and there is a record that flying a crane here is a peaceful record. The poet started from the origin of architecture, wrote from legends, and entered the play from homesickness, causing homesickness. The scene is grand and the feelings are long.
The first four sentences are written around the name of the building, saying that there is this building here, and people and cranes are far away. The Yellow Crane never revisited the old place, leaving only long white clouds, full of various feelings about the changes of this building. These four sentences are written in prose in one go, and they don't follow the rules. They are used three times in a row, and they don't feel dull at all.
The last four sentences are inspired by the scene and written in the story of watching the north upstairs. His writing order is from far to near. First, he wrote about the Hanyang tree in the northernmost part of the river, then he wrote about the lush grass at the head of Nautilus Island, and finally he wrote about the smoke waves on the river near the downstairs. However, the fog at dusk blocked his way home and made him feel sad. Different from the first half of the sentence, the last four sentences strictly follow the meter, and if they are broken, they will be integrated with the charm. Especially the ending is not only powerful, but also gives people a vague feeling.
The former site of Yellow Crane Tower is at the bridgehead of Wuchang Yangtze River Bridge in Wuhan, Hubei Province.
According to legend, it was founded in the Three Kingdoms in the second year of Huang Wu (223). Wuchang was called Ezhou in ancient times. According to "Yuanhe County Records", "Ezhou City faces the great river in the west and the Yellow Crane Tower in the southwest corner." There is also a legend, 1297 Tang poetry appreciation ceremony during the Three Kingdoms period.
A man named Fei is immortal. He once took a yellow crane to rest in this building, hence the name Yellow Crane Tower. This has cast a magical color on the Millennium Gu Lou and made it more famous in the world. For more appreciation of Tang poetry, please pay attention to the 300 columns of Tang poetry.
"Where the yellow crane used to carry saints to heaven, now only the Yellow Crane Tower is left." It is natural that the poet wandered here and came to the scene on impulse and recited such a poem first. This opening speech is clear and fluent, without rhetoric on the surface, but with unrestrained feelings. With the help of the legend of the building name, people can be brought into a mythical realm at once, which makes people have infinite reverie. From this point of view, the opening sentence of this poem is abrupt and steep, fascinating and strange to the people. Facing the traces of history, people can't help thinking. "Ride" and "leisure", "people in the past" and "here" set each other off as an interest, which condensed the great feelings of ancient and modern changes and things are different, and profoundly expressed the lofty feelings of the poet at the beginning of his ascent to the building.
"Yellow cranes will never come, and white clouds will never fly." Zhuan Xu returned to reality from myths and legends. When the poet climbed the Drum Tower, he saw the vast blue sky and white clouds. Such an ethereal realm will inevitably make poets with bumpy careers feel infinite melancholy about the world. Here, the poet broke through the restriction of metrical rules and did not require the neatness of antithesis. Part of speech and meter seem to be right and wrong, and the front is wrong with the back. But when reading, the syllables are clear and bright, which seems to flow naturally and without attention.
The antithesis of the neckline is very delicate and steady. "Every tree in Hanyang becomes clear in the water, and Nautilus Island is a nest of sweet grass." Painted a beautiful river view. When the poet's line of sight retreated from the distant sky to the ground scenery, Hanyang, which faces the Yellow Crane Tower across the river, first came into view.
There are green trees and the Han River meets, which is particularly clear in the bright sunshine. On the river, I can only see a hill and sandbar rising in the middle of the river, that is Nautilus Island. Mi Fei, a scholar at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, once wrote "Parrot Fu" on the mainland. Mi Heng was killed by Jiangxia satrap Huang Zu on the mainland, and later generations renamed the mainland Nautilus Island as a memorial. Su Heng has literary spirit, but she has no talent. In the end, she is unfortunate. There is only one meadow now. When the poet sees the scenery, he can't help thinking of his own life experience. Although he sketched a colorful and beautiful picture for the scene before him:
Red sunshine, white waves and dense green trees, but although the scenery is good, it is still a foreign land after all!
Then, the feeling of melancholy naturally turned into endless homesickness. "But I looked at my hometown, and the twilight was getting darker and the river waves were filled with sad mist." By the end of the couplets, the river was already dusk, as if shrouded in smoke. The word "smoke" can represent a hazy, diffuse and erratic scene. Many poets like it. Cui Hao used a "smoke wave" here, which naturally showed a hazy scene image and contained a mellow charm in the extremely profound visual image. It has something to do with Sunset
Together, they form a gloomy background and set off the poet's homesickness:
At dusk, busy people are going home, and I myself, frustrated in my career, still face the vast river, and I am alone in the boundless twilight, adding a sense of wandering in a different place. The end of a word "worry" points out the main idea of the whole article.
Homesickness is one of the main contents of ancient lyric, which is more common in the poems of wandering ashore. Although this kind of poetry does not express the feelings of worrying about the country and the people, it can reflect the plight of some intellectuals in feudal society from the poet's wandering and turbulent life feelings. The poem "Yellow Crane Tower" is a masterpiece of this kind with gorgeous scenery, open realm and no decadent emotional tone.
This poem expresses the mourning for the past and the homesickness of the wanderer through what the poet recorded when he visited the Yellow Crane Tower when his career was frustrated. The first four sentences of this poem mainly describe the poet's grief when he boarded the Yellow Crane Tower. This feeling that the ancient style still exists is naturally closely related to the beautiful legend about the naming origin of the Yellow Crane Tower. It is beautiful and illusory to drive a crane to become an immortal, but the poet romantically thinks that there is nothing, affirming that they "go by yellow crane." Now there's only one empty building left in Loki, which is just a name! Therefore, the poet mourns the past and hurts the present, and points out the empty building through the crane, thus making the picture show a sense of emptiness. The phrase "Yellow crane will never come again, and white clouds will never fly without him" deeply contains the invisible regret of the ancients and shows the poet's feelings about the impermanence of the world. This kind of personnel change is typical and common in the eyes of the ancients, and it is easy to touch the voice of the politically frustrated. The last four sentences of the poem are about the scenery you saw when you went upstairs and the homesickness born of mourning. The poet climbed the building and looked far away. The place attached to Qingchuan Pavilion in Hanyang Prefecture was lush and vivid. On Nautilus Island in the middle of the river, business is booming. Seeing the graceful green trees and lush grass, the poet suddenly remembered the famous sentence "Wang Sun swims without returning, spring grass grows and flowers grow" in Chu Ci, which triggered his homesickness, so the poet's eyes fell on the "Yanbo River" at dusk. Thus, the phrase "there is a layer of sad fog on the river waves" reveals a deep homesickness. For those who travel in a foreign land, it is not difficult to understand this vague and endless spiritual feeling.
This is an extraordinary work in legal poetry. The first four sentences of the poem are like a rainbow, and the words "yellow crane" and "empty" are used together. The third sentence is almost all Legato, and the fourth sentence is finished in three levels. Completely free from the constraints of format and hierarchy, it flows naturally, which means to follow the pen and jump to the page. Shen Deqian once praised it as "meaning comes first, God speaks beyond the language, and writes it vertically, so it is good at eternal wonder". As a metrical poem, since the first four sentences are abnormal, the last four sentences should try to correct the arrangement order. Otherwise, the seven methods will be written as seven ancient. Because the last four sentences of the poem are also very natural when they return to the meter, on the whole, they still give people a magnificent and seamless feeling. In a sense, this poem is really an innovation and breakthrough, so people not only don't blame it for "deviation", but feel novel.