There are endless geese in Dongting all night long, flying north before dawn. ——Li Yi of the Tang Dynasty, "Hearing the Flute on a Spring Night" There are endless geese in Dongting all night long, flying north without waiting for dawn. The flute in the cold mountains calls for the return of spring, and the immigrants look at each other with tears in their clothes.
There are endless geese in Dongting all night long, and they all fly north before dawn. Music Thinking of Homecoming Translation and Notes
Translation
In the cold mountains, the flute is played to call for the return of spring to the earth, and the people who have been banished look at each other and can't help but shed tears.
Countless wild geese stopped by Dongting Lake at night and flew north eagerly before dawn. Creative Background Appreciation
The main purpose of this poem is not to write about the homesickness of the soldiers, but to express the resentment of the immigrants.
The first two sentences of this poem are about listening to the flute. At this time, spring has just arrived, the mountains are not green, and the nights are still cold, but someone in the army plays the flute, as if the Qiang flute is calling for the return of spring in the earth, and the scenery is just like outside the Great Wall. The sound of the flute and the scene aroused the homesickness of the soldiers, and even devastated the immigrants. They could not help but shed tears of sadness and longed to fly back to their hometown in the northern Central Plains immediately. Then, the poet remembered the legend of the wild geese returning to the north. Every autumn, wild geese fly from the north to Huiyan Peak in Hengshan Mountain, Hunan Province to rest for the winter. Next spring they will fly back to the north. The last two sentences use this legend. The poet fully understands the wild geese's eagerness to fly north as soon as spring arrives, and is extremely envious of the freedom of the wild geese to fly north as long as they wait until spring, so he said, "Fly north without waiting for dawn." Compared with wild geese, migrants still cannot return north even if they wait until spring. There is regret and resentment here: the spring of relocation, the imperial court's mercy, has not yet come with the spring of nature.
The poet uses the vague mood of the northern frontier to describe the resentment of the immigrants who were exiled from the south, which is unique and interesting. He also uses the wild geese flying north in spring to compare the immigrants who want to return but are unable to return. The metaphor is appropriate and the technique is euphemistic. , quite innovative. The whole poem is ingeniously conceived, with complex emotions, jumping images, and dense stitching. The title is "I heard the flute on a spring night", but the first two sentences seem to be about the fact that spring has not returned yet, so someone "plays the flute to call spring back", and the moving guest is extremely sad; the last two sentences are changed to use the legend of Hui Yanfeng, imagining The sound of the flute calls spring, and overnight, the geese fly north. All this is induced by the sound of the flute, and spring and night are where the excitement lies, symbolizing political neglect and deep hope. Between the first and last two sentences, from the sight in front of you to imagined legends, from reality to hope, from the sound of the flute in the cold mountains to the immigrants, to the flock of wild geese flying at night in Dongting, in this series of overlapping specific images, it is moving. Show the poet's complex thoughts and feelings. It begins with people calling for spring to return, and ends with the geese flying north. People leave the geese to return. Spring has arrived on the earth but does not warm the world. There is endless resentment and unspeakable melancholy. Li Yi (approximately 750-approximately 830), a poet of the Tang Dynasty, whose courtesy name was Junyu, was originally from Guzang, Liangzhou (now Liangzhou District, Wuwei City, Gansu), and later moved to Zhengzhou, Henan. In the fourth year of Dali (769), he was a Jinshi. He was first appointed as a captain of Zheng County, but he was not promoted for a long time. Due to frustration in his official career, he abandoned his official position and wandered around Yanzhao. He is famous for his frontier poems and is good at quatrains, especially Qijue.
Li Yi
The sand and the hunting wind formed a formation, and the white wild geese sounded like frost. The water in Lu is pure and clear, and the moon is clear and the egrets are flying. The spring pond is full of white water, and the traveling geese are flying every time. The scenery is strange when autumn comes under Saixia, and the geese in Hengyang leave without paying attention. The white wild geese are flying around like snow in autumn, and the clear dew creates a cool night. Willows and crows crow in the courtyard at dusk, remember that person, and pear blossoms break with the moon. The wind is strong, the sky is high, the apes are screaming in mourning, and the white birds are flying back from the clear sand in Zhugistan. It's dark on the sand and in the pond. The clouds break and the moon comes, the flowers make shadows. I feel so homesick and heartbroken, and the birds are singing in the red hibiscus flowers. When I cry, I startle my concubine in my dream, and I cannot get to western Liaoning. The oriole's dream is shattered, and the bluebird calls for spring to return. The wind is clearing in the ruins of Changxia Village, and the eaves-toothed sparrows have sprung up. The egrets often roost early, and the autumn flowers fall even later. There is no one lying on the cow's back at sunset, and the jackdaws return in twos and twos. But the arrow geese sank to the edge, and Liang Yan had no owner.