This is this poem:
"The Near Examination on Zhang Shuibu" by Zhu Qingyu of the Tang Dynasty
The red candles were lit in the bridal chamber last night, waiting to pay homage to my uncle in front of the dawn hall.
After putting on makeup, I asked my husband in a low voice, "How dark is my eyebrows?"
Appreciation: Zhu Qingyu was appreciated by Zhang Ji, and Zhang Ji was willing to recommend his juniors. Therefore, Zhu Qingyu wrote this poem to him before taking the exam to ask for his opinions. The whole poem is based on the three words "when there is no time" as its soul. If the bride is dressed to impress, it is best to ask the groom first if she can please her parents-in-law. The meaning of such a carefully asked question is self-explanatory and amazing.
Zhang Ji replied in the poem "Rewarding Zhu Qingyu": "The Yue girl appears in new makeup and her heart is full of beauty. She knows that she is bright and beautiful, and she is more thoughtful. When Qi Wan was not young, people were noble, and a rhombus song was worth thousands of gold." Zhu is compared to the girl collecting water chestnuts from Jinghu Lake in Yuezhou. She is not only beautiful and charming, but also has a wonderful singing voice. This is unmatched by other Yue girls wearing precious silk. The literati respected each other, the rewards and responses were wonderful, and the stories were well-known throughout the ages, and they were famous in the poetry world.
Comparing the love relationship between husband and wife or the love relationship between a man and a woman to other social relationships such as monarch and ministers, as well as friends, teachers and students, is a traditional expression that began to appear in Chinese classical poetry from "Chu Ci" and developed thereafter. Technique. This poem is also written in this way.
This poem is also titled "Recent Examination on Zhang Shuibu". This other title can help readers understand the meaning of the poem. In the Tang Dynasty, scholars who were applying for the Jinshi imperial examination had the custom of writing papers to celebrities in the hope of their praise and introduction to the Minister of Rites who presided over the examination. The recipient of Zhu Qingyu's poem was Zhang Ji, a doctor in the Ministry of Water Resources. At that time, Zhang Ji was as famous as Han Yu for being good at literature and willing to promote the underachievers. Zhu Qingyu wrote papers for him on weekdays, and had already gained his appreciation. When the exam was about to take place, he was still afraid that his work might not meet the requirements of the examiner, so he compared himself to the bride, the groom to the groom, and the examiner to his parents-in-law, and wrote this A poem to ask for Zhang Ji's opinion.
It was an ancient custom that the bride got married the night before and met her parents-in-law early the next morning. The focus of this poem's description is her mental state before going to see him. The first sentence is written as marriage. The bridal chamber refers to the new house. Stop, place. Stopping the red candle means leaving the red candle burning all night long. The second sentence says goodbye. Since the visit was an important event, she got up early, dressed up in the light of red candles, and waited for dawn so that she could go to the hall to salute. At this time, she couldn't help but mutter in her heart, was her dress very fashionable? In other words, can I please my parents-in-law? Therefore, the second half will continue to write about her words and deeds based on this mood. After carefully putting on my makeup and drawing my eyebrows, I still felt unsure, so I had to ask my husband for his opinion. Since she was a bride, of course she was a little shy, and it was hard to say this out loud for others to hear, so this low-pitched question became extremely reasonable. This kind of writing is really meticulous and detailed.
Just as "boudoir thoughts", this poem is already very complete, beautiful and moving. However, the author's original intention is to express his feelings as an exam candidate when faced with a situation related to his political future. The uneasiness and anticipation unique to an exam. For the intellectuals at that time, taking the imperial examination was as important as a girl getting married. If you pass the exam, you will have a very bright future; otherwise, you may be stuck for the rest of your life. This is just like a woman who marries into another family. If she is loved by her husband and parents-in-law, her status will be stable and her situation will be smooth. Otherwise, her life will be very difficult. The poet's comparison comes from real social life and is very typical under the historical conditions at that time. Even today, we can't help but marvel at his skill of killing two birds with one stone.
The poem presented by Zhu Qingyu received a clear answer from Zhang Ji. In "Rewarding Zhu Qingyu", he wrote:
"The Yue girl appears in new makeup, knowing that she is bright and beautiful, and even more contemplative.
Qi Wan was not as noble as he was when he was young, and he sang a song. "The enemy of song is ten thousand gold."
Since Zhu's gift poem is written in analogy style, so is Zhang's reply poem. In this poem, he compares Zhu Qingyu to a girl named Lingcai. She is beautiful and has a good singing voice. Therefore, she must be praised by people, implying that he does not need to worry about this exam.
The first sentence describes the girl’s identity and appearance. She is a girl collecting water chestnuts from Yuezhou. At this time, she had just dressed up and appeared in the middle of Jinghu Lake, picking water chestnuts and singing. The second sentence describes her mood. Of course she knew she was beautiful and radiant. But because the hobby was too much, I started to ponder again. (Shen Yin originally means contemplation and chanting, and it is extended to mean secretly thinking and thinking.) Zhu Qingyu was from Yuezhou (now Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province). Yuezhou was home to many beauties, and Jinghu Lake was a famous attraction there. Therefore, Zhang Ji compared her to a Yue girl who appeared in the center of the mirror. These two sentences are in response to the last two sentences in Zhu's poem, "new makeup" is opposite to "thrush", and "more thoughtful" is opposite to "in time without". In the second half, he further affirmed her outstanding talents and said: Although there are many other girls wearing clothes made of precious silk produced in Qidi (today's Shandong Province), they are not worthy of people's attention. On the contrary, this Miss Cai Ling's beaded throat is really worth ten thousand gold. This further dispels Zhu Qingyu's concerns about "being in the current situation", so he specifically uses "people of the time" to compare with him. Zhu's gift poem was well written, and Zhang's answer was wonderful. It was a perfect match, and it has been a legend in the poetry world for thousands of years.