Going out of the suburbs on April 10th is what the author Fan Chengda saw and felt when he went out to the suburbs when he was appointed as the envoy of Sichuan Province in Chengdu. The poet has achieved multi-level transformations between subject and object in his emotional sustenance.
Original text:
Going out to the suburbs on April 10th
Author: Fan Chengda
Binding South The wind is busy at dawn, the clouds are gathering, the rain is falling, and the river is cool.
The rising river is silently green, and the ripe wheat is sultry and yellow.
When the officials are far away, they are free to trust their horses. In the beautiful countryside, they suddenly feel homesick.
Neighbors thousands of miles away should miss each other. Even if we don’t return home during the Spring Festival Gala, we will plant rice together.
Translation for going out to the suburbs on April 10th:
The south wind kept busy all morning as promised, and the clouds and rain settled away, leaving a slight chill. When the rain rises and the spring water fills the river, the river is green and silent. The wind blows the ripe wheat and makes a rustling noise towards people. I am walking leisurely and alone, far away from my close followers. The pastoral scenery is beautiful and people suddenly feel homesick.
The old farmer next door is thousands of miles away. Think about it, spring is already late, why not come back and plant rice seedlings together!
Explanation of the words "Going out of the suburbs on April 10th":
1. Constraint: Here, it is like an agreement with the south wind, asking it to collect clouds and rain, making the sky clear.
2. Yichuan: It means the whole land, fields and fields.
3. Bully: usually "Gungun".
4. Sao Sao: the sound of leaves blowing in the wind.
5. Xinma: There is no destination, just let the horse go as it pleases.
Background of leaving the suburbs on April 10: In the third year of Chunxi (1176), Fan Chengda wrote this poem when he was serving as the envoy of Sichuan in Chengdu. The poem describes what he saw and felt when he left the suburbs.
Appreciation of leaving the suburbs on April 10th:
The first two sentences point out that "leaving the suburbs" coincides with the beginning of the late rain, the south wind blows, and the climate is pleasant. The second couplet depicts a scene, implicitly following the word "wind and rain" in the first couplet. The spring water surges due to the rain, and the river is green and silent; the south wind blows ripe wheat ears, making the ground golden and rustling. These two sentences not only closely refer to the unique scenery of late spring and early summer, which is bright and moving, but also express the joy and cheerfulness of the poet Xiaoli Zhengwu when he was walking in the suburbs.
The five or six lines of lyrical language may seem ordinary, but they are most expressive: As an ambassador, you can only enjoy the pastoral scenery leisurely and contentedly when you are far away from your entourage; but the beautiful pastoral scenery The scenery triggered his strong homesickness. The twists and turns in the words convey that he was tired of the turmoil in the officialdom and yearned to return to the simple countryside.
In the last couplet, the author himself is "suddenly homesick", but says "I should miss my neighbor thousands of miles away", which makes the eagerness to try come through even more. This is a commonly used narrative technique in ancient poetry, which is to go from subject to object and back to the subject, and express the subject's feelings from the perspective of the lyrical object. There are many such poems, such as many of Liu Yong's poems. Express your thoughts by imagining how the person you miss misses you.
About the author:
Fan Chengda (1126-1193), a poet of the Southern Song Dynasty, is as famous as Lu You, Yang Wanli and You Miao, and is one of the four great poets of the Southern Song Dynasty. His courtesy name was Zhineng, and his name was Shihu Jushi. He was a native of Wu County (the seat of his administration is now Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province). A Jinshi in Shaoxing, he served as some local officials and served as a political advisor (deputy prime minister) for two months. In the sixth year of Qiandao (1170), he went as an envoy to the Jin Dynasty to negotiate state affairs. He resisted unyieldingly and was almost killed. In the ninth year of Chunxi (1182), he retired to his hometown of Shihu. He had an ambition to serve the country but could not realize it, and he sympathized with the people's suffering but was helpless. This thought formed the theme of his poetry creation. Especially in the second half of his life, he created very distinctive pastoral poems, full of passion for life, which are excellent chapters in Song poetry. He is good at writing quatrains, and his poetic style is beautiful and exquisite.