Appreciation of Du Fu's "The Prime Minister of Shu"
The Prime Minister of Shu
Where can I find the ancestral hall of the Prime Minister?
There are many cypresses outside Jinguan City.
The green grass reflects the spring color on the steps,
The oriole sounds good in the sky through the leaves.
Three visits to trouble the world,
Two dynasties opened the hearts of old ministers.
He died before leaving the army.
The hero was in tears.
Depressed and frustrated, the whole is integrated
——Appreciation of Du Fu's "The Prime Minister of Shu"
"The Prime Minister of Shu" is a masterpiece among the seven rhymes of Du Fu, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty in my country.
In 221 AD, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu, named his country Shu, and appointed Zhuge Liang as prime minister. The poem titled "Prime Minister of Shu" was about Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang was a famous statesman and military strategist during the Three Kingdoms period. He once formulated a series of policies and strategies for Liu Bei to unify the world, assisted Liu Bei in revitalizing the Han Dynasty, established the Shu Han regime, and formed a three-legged situation with Cao Wei and Sun Wu. After Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang assisted his son Liu Chan, who went on many expeditions to the Central Plains. Due to physical and mental exhaustion and overwork, he eventually died in the army. People's admiration and respect.
Although Du Fu cherished the political ideal of "Serving Jun Yao and Shun", his official career was bumpy and his ambition could not be realized. When he wrote the poem "Prime Minister of Shu", the Anshi Rebellion had not yet subsided. Witnessing the dire situation of the country and the devastation of the people, and having no way to find a job or serve the country, I have infinite admiration and respect for Zhuge Liang, who created the foundation and saved the current situation.
In December of the second year of Qianyuan (AD 759) of Emperor Suzong of the Tang Dynasty, Du Fu ended his four-year wandering life in Qinzhou and Tonggu (now Chengxian County, Gansu Province). When I arrived in Chengdu, with the support of my friends, I settled on the bank of Huanhua Creek. In the spring of the next year (the first year of Emperor Suzong's reign in the Tang Dynasty, AD 760), he visited the Zhuge Wuhou Temple and wrote this touching and eternal song.
Where can I find the Prime Minister’s ancestral hall? There is a lot of people outside Jinguan City.
The "Prime Minister's Ancestral Hall", now called Wuhou Temple, is located in the southern suburbs of Chengdu. Chengdu was the capital of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period. Zhuge Liang presided over state affairs here for more than 20 years and established great achievements. An ancestral hall was built for Li Xiong in the Jin Dynasty when he became king in Chengdu. Later, when Huan Wen pacified Shu, Chengdu suffered great damage. Only Wuhou Temple remained intact. "Jinguan City" is another name for Chengdu in ancient times. Chengdu produces Shu brocade, and in ancient times there were dedicated officials to manage it. They lived in Shaocheng in Chengdu (Chengdu used to have Dacheng and Shaocheng), so Chengdu was also called Jincheng, Jincheng or Jinli. Another theory is that Chengdu is located near Jinjiang River, where the mountains and rivers are bright and beautiful, hence the name. "Sensen" refers to the tall and dense cypress trees. According to records in books such as "The Scholars" and "Taiping Huanyu Ji", there is a big cypress tree in front of Wuhou Temple, which is said to have been planted by Zhuge Liang himself.
There are two sentences in this couplet. The first sentence "Where can I find the Prime Minister's ancestral hall?" is a self-question. Instead of calling him "Prime Minister of Shu", he uses the word "Prime Minister", which makes people feel very cordial. Especially the word "Xun" in it shows that this trip is a purposeful visit, rather than just casually strolling through it; and because Du Fu first arrived in Chengdu, he was unfamiliar with the geography and unfamiliar environment, so he wrote such a "Xun" Character. This word "Xun" has rich meanings. It also effectively expresses Du Fu's strong admiration and memory for Zhuge Liang, and it is transitive due to people. It also shows that the Prime Minister's Ancestral Hall is a place that the poet has longed for and wants to pay homage to. The last sentence "Bai Sensen outside Jinguan City" is a self-answer. This is the scene that the poet envisioned. It describes the exterior view of the Prime Minister's Ancestral Hall, indicating the location of the ancestral hall, and echoing the previous sentence. The three words "Bai Sensen" also exaggerate a peaceful and solemn atmosphere. These two sentences directly inherit the title of the poem "Prime Minister of Shu", and they are very powerful, using both narrative and descriptive writing.
The green grass reflects the spring color on the steps, and the oriole sounds good in the sky through the leaves.
"Ying steps" reflects the steps. Ancient temples had courtyards and halls. To enter the hall, people have to climb up the stairs. "Good sound", a pleasant sound, here refers to the singing of birds.
This two-sentence couplet is like a close-up shot, written from far to near, from the outside of the ancestral hall to the inside of the ancestral hall. It describes the interior of the Prime Minister's ancestral hall. "The green grass on the steps reflects the beauty of spring", which is the successor to the first sentence of the Prime Minister's Ancestral Hall. The green grass reflects the steps, which shows that the grass is deep, indicating that the ancestral hall lacks management and repair, and few tourists come here. "The oriole has a good sound in the sky across the leaves", which is the continuation of the second sentence. The oriole's flying across the leaves shows how luxuriant the trees are; the oriole's singing in the air shows that the mess created by Wu Hou's painstaking efforts has been forgotten by future generations. These two lines of poems set off the desolation and desolation of the ancestral hall, and contain the poet's feeling of thinking about things and people, and recalling the sages. It also contains the meaning that Bicao and Oriole do not understand the changes in personnel and the change of dynasties. In particular, the clever use of the words "empty" and "自" in the poem makes the meaning of this couplet even richer. Regarding these two sentences, some commentators on Du's poems think that they are descriptions of scenery, while others think they are "truly lyrical rather than realistic descriptions of scenery." Of course, both of these opinions have certain truths; but, to be more precise, they should be Think of these two sentences as "the language of scenery contains emotions, and the language of love embodies scenery." This is just like what Fan Xiwen of the Song Dynasty said in his book "Talking to the Bed at Night": "The scenes blend together but are indistinguishable." Such examples are common in Du Shi's poems.
For example, the poem "Wuhou Temple" written by Du Fu when he was in Kuizhou begins with the following two sentences: "The paintings of the ruined temple are falling, and the grass and trees on the empty mountains are growing." It describes the desolation of the scenery outside the temple and expresses the poet's feeling for the desolation behind Zhuge Wuhou. The sadness is a vivid example. Wang Fuzhi of the Qing Dynasty said in "Jiangzhai Poetry Talk" that "the scene is called two, but they are inseparable. The poet is divine in the poem, and the wonderful combination is infinite. The clever one has the scene in the scene, and the scene in the scene." Du Fu's lyrical poems about scenes can be said to be Really reached this situation.
Three visits to trouble the world, two dynasties to open the hearts of old ministers.
"Three Visits" refers to the three visits that Liu Bei made when Zhuge Liang was living in seclusion in Nanyang. Zhuge Liang's "Chu Shi Biao" said: "The late emperor did not think that his ministers were despicable, and he was in vain. He paid close attention to his ministers in the thatched cottage three times." "Frequent trouble" means being troubled many times. Another theory can be found in Wang Shihan's "Poetry Compilation" of the Qing Dynasty. Wang Shihan believed that "frequency trouble" was a Tang Dynasty slang, and its meaning was similar to "solemn". "The plan of the world" refers to the strategy of unifying the world. Specifically, this refers to Zhuge Liang's strategy of using Jingzhou and Yizhou as bases to organize internal affairs, connect with Sun Quan in the east, and Cao Cao in the north, and then unify the world. "Two Dynasties" refers to the two generations of Shu, the first lord Liu Bei and the later lord Liu Chan. "Kaiji", "Kai" refers to helping Liu Bei create a foundation; "Ji" refers to assisting Liu Chan in relieving difficulties. "Ji" means completion, and it can also be interpreted as maintaining success and completing a career. "The heart of an old minister" refers to Zhuge Liang's spirit of being loyal to Shu and sparing no effort until death.
This two-sentence couplet is extremely thick and has rich meanings. It not only vividly expresses Zhuge Wuhou’s talents and strategies, his desire to serve the country, and his life achievements, but also vividly shows his loyalty and perseverance. spiritual character. At the same time, he also solemnly stated the reason why the poet admired Zhuge Wuhou. Because this couplet is the focus and core of the whole poem, the poet has been making secret moves since the beginning of the poem, constantly gathering momentum, circling all the way, and only now focuses on highlighting it and using heavy pen and ink. This is also in line with the writing rule of "one thick and one light" in the middle two couplets of rhymed poetry. This couplet is also an example of Du Fu's use of discussion in poetry. Originally, lyricism is a distinctive feature of poetry, and generally does not include discussion. However, Du Fu broke the rules in this regard and often used discussions in his poems. This not only made the content of his poems unique, but also reflected one of Du Fu's poetry techniques. Shen Deqian in the Qing Dynasty once said: "People say that poetry is about temperament, not discussion. It seems like it, but it is not exactly the same. ...But discussion must be carried out with emotional charm." Because of the emotional charm of Du's poems, the discussion not only does not dilute the poem The atmosphere and complete image make the lyrical atmosphere of the poem more intense and the image fuller. Qiu Zhaoao said that these two lines of poems were written with "seriousness and solemnity"; Pu Qilong thought that the syntax of this couplet was "like being made of gold, and its closeness is like cutting it; it is also like making gold and muddy." They are both very insightful.
He died before leaving the army, which made the hero burst into tears.
The sentence "Sent out" refers to Zhuge Liang's six trips to Qishan in order to conquer Wei. In the twelfth year of Jianxing (AD 234), the emperor of the Shu Han Dynasty, he led the army and later left the Xiegu Valley and occupied Wuzhangyuan (southwest of today's ?d County, Shaanxi Province). He and Sima Yi held a stalemate across the Wei River for more than a hundred days. In August, he died of illness in the army. "Heroes" here generally refer to people with lofty ideals who commemorate Zhuge Liang, including the poet himself.
The two sentences at the end of this couplet follow five or six sentences, showing the poet's lofty admiration for Zhuge Liang's dedication and his regret for his unfinished career. These two lines of poetry are both narrative and lyrical, expressing the power of people. Coupled with the powerful foreshadowing of the previous six lines, the reader feels that the ending is both energetic and lingering. Wang Yuyang of the Qing Dynasty once said: "It is always necessary to make a strong ending to a poem." Shen Deqian also believed that "hanging out of the distant gods" is a good way to end a poem. All these wonderful points are fully reflected in the conclusion of this poem.
In our country’s classical poetry, there are many works that pay tribute to historical sites. Some people go to a scenic spot and compose a poem as usual. Is there any emotion in it? A little bit, but not profound. We say that Du Fu is a rival in lyricism. In his poems about ancient relics, although they are about ancient things, they also express his inner emotions. "The Prime Minister of Shu" is a very typical example. The first half of this poem describes the scenery, and the second half is lyrical. The two parts before and after are linked by the word "自" and the word "empty". The poet saw that the temple of such a memorable great man had become so dilapidated and desolate, which aroused various emotions. These poems seem to express nostalgia for ancient times, but they are actually the author's expression of his inner feelings.
The artistic form of the poem "The Prime Minister of Shu" is also perfect.
Ancient poetry, like ancient prose, pays great attention to the structure of succession, transition and combination. The so-called "initiation, inheritance, transfer, and collection are the same method." The first and second sentences of the poem "Prime Minister of Shu" closely follow the title of the poem, describing a special trip to visit the Prime Minister's ancestral hall, which is "qi"; the third and fourth sentences, directly following the above, describe the spring scenery in the ancestral hall, which are "Inherit"; the fifth and sixth lines, push aside a layer and write an evaluation of Zhuge Wuhou, this is "turn"; the seventh and eighth lines, wrap up the whole poem and write a tribute to Zhuge Wuhou, this is "turn" combine". In just eight sentences, there are narratives, scene descriptions, discussions, lyricism, vivid pen and ink, deep feelings, and a complete whole, which fully embodies the "melancholy and frustrated" style of Du's poetry.
Another writing feature of this poem is that it successfully describes the specific situation of the Prime Minister's Ancestral Hall, and accurately captures the dense ancient cypresses, the spring grass on the Yinggai and the oriole in the leaves that best express the poem. The scenery with typical environmental characteristics is used to create a quiet and solemn atmosphere, so as to express the poet's specific mood of paying homage to the ancients in this atmosphere. In addition, the poem also has extraordinary summary power, which is prominently reflected in the fifth and sixth sentences' expressions of Zhuge Liang's character and life achievements.
"Li Du's articles are astonishing, and his poems are best known as Du Linghao." Du Fu's verses have indeed achieved achievements that are difficult for others to achieve, especially his poems after Kuizhou, which are more mature. His rhythmic verses are well-crafted, the words are precise, and the sounds are harmonious. As he himself confessed, "In the late stages, the rhythm of poetry gradually becomes more detailed" and "If the words are not surprising, they will never stop." These advantages of Du Fu's rhymed poems can be understood when we read the poem "The Prime Minister of Shu" carefully.