Wang Wei’s ancient poem "Hua" all wrote: mountains, water, flowers, and birds.
The specific original text is as follows:
Looking at the mountains from a distance, they are colorful, but hearing the water up close is silent.
Spring has gone, the flowers are still there, and the birds are not surprised when people come.
Translation
You can clearly see the green color of the mountains in the distance, but you can't hear the sound of running water nearby.
Spring has passed but the flowers are still blooming.
When people approach the birds on the branches, they remain motionless.
Appreciation
The mountains in the distance are often blurry, but the colors of the mountains in the painting are very clear. If you listen to the running water nearby, you should hear the sound of water, but in the painting The flowing water is silent. Flowers that bloom in spring will wither as spring passes. The flowers in the painting are in full bloom no matter what season they are in. If a person approaches a bird sitting on a branch, it will be frightened and fly away. But the bird in the painting will not fly away even if you get close. When reading the whole poem, it seems that the lines violate the laws of nature. In fact, it is secretly setting up riddles and describing the characteristics of the painting.
Introduction to the author
Wang Wei (701-761), courtesy name Mojie, was a famous poet in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. He was an official and became Minister Youcheng. He was also known as "Wang Youcheng" in the world. His native place was Qi (today's Qi). Qixian County, Shanxi Province), moved to Puzhou (now Yongji, Shanxi Province), believed in Buddhism, and was known as the Poetic Buddha. In his later years, he lived in Wangchuan Villa, Lantian, Han nationality. His achievements in poetry and painting were both very high. Su Shi praised him, "When you taste Mojie's poems, there are paintings in the poems; when you look at Mojie's paintings, there are poems in the paintings." Especially his achievements in landscape poetry are the most outstanding. Together with Meng Haoran, he is known as "Wang Meng". "In his later years, he had no intention of pursuing an official career and dedicated himself to worshiping Buddhism, so later generations called him the "Poetry Buddha". He is the author of "The Collection of Wang Youcheng" and has 400 poems. He is good at painting figures, bamboos, and landscapes.