Three Quatrains on Passing the Huaqing Palace·One of the original text:
Looking back at Chang'an, there are piles of embroidery, and thousands of gates are opened one after another on the top of the mountain. Riding on the red dust concubine smiled, no one knew it was lychee. Three Quatrains on Passing the Huaqing Palace · One Translation and Commentary
Translation When looking back in Chang'an, Mount Li looks like a pile of brocades. On the top of the mountain, thousands of gates of the Huaqing Palace are opened one after another. The concubine smiled happily as a horse rode up and the smoke billowed. No one knew that fresh lychees had been sent from the south.
Note 1 Huaqing Palace: "Yuanhe County Chronicles": "Huaqing Palace is on Lishan Mountain, and the Hot Spring Palace was built at the beginning of the eleventh year of Kaiyuan. In the sixth year of Tianbao, it was changed to Huaqing Palace. The Changsheng Palace was also built, named Jilingtai "To worship the gods." 2 There are piles of embroidery: there is Dongxiuling on the right side of Lishan Mountain and Xixiuling on the left. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty planted trees and flowers on the ridge, which was lush and lush. 3,000 doors: Describes the majestic palace on the top of the mountain with many doors. Order: in order. 4 Hongchen: This refers to flying dust. Concubine: refers to Concubine Yang. Music history "Yang Taizhen's Biography": It said: "How can I use old music lyrics when appreciating famous flowers and treating my concubine?" "New Book of Tang Dynasty: Biography of Concubine Li Gui": "The concubine is addicted to lychees and will definitely want to give birth to her, so she will ride on her to convey her. "After traveling thousands of miles, the taste has not changed and it has reached the capital." "Supplement to the History of the Tang Dynasty": "Yang Guifei was born in Shu. She likes lychees and is born in the South China Sea. She is especially good at Shu, so she gallops forward every year. However, it is hot. If you are familiar with it, it will fail after a long time, and future generations will not know it. "Note: This poem may be a freehand work, intended to satirize Xuanzong's doting on his concubine, and it is not possible to rely on historical facts. In the Tang Dynasty, lychees from Lingnan could not be transported to Chang'an, so Su Shi said, "The lychees were brought from Fuzhou at this time, not from Lingnan" (note in "Tongjian Tang Ji"). When the lychees are ripe, Xuanzong and his concubine will not be in Lishan. Xuanzong stationed at Huaqing Palace in winter and October every year, and returned to Chang'an in the spring of the following year. "Cheng's Archaeological Edition" also recognized its fallacy, and the recent scholar Chen Yinke also reviewed it. 5 Zhishi: One means "know". Three quatrains about passing through the Huaqing Palace·Appreciation of the first one
This poem uses the typical incident of sending lychees to criticize the extravagant and licentious life of Xuanzong and Yang Guifei. It has a subtle artistic effect, is exquisite and popular. .
The first sentence describes the scenery of Lishan Mountain, where Huaqing Palace is located. The poet writes from the perspective of "looking back" at Chang'an, just like a cinematographer, first showing the audience a vast and far-reaching panoramic view of Lishan Mountain: lush forests, luxuriant flowers and plants, and palaces and pavilions towering among them, like a beautiful scene. "Embroidery piles" refers to the Dongxiuling and Xixiuling on both sides of Lishan Mountain, and it also describes the overwhelming beauty of Lishan Mountain, with a pun intended.
Then, the scene moved forward, showing the majestic palace on the top of the mountain. The palace doors that were usually closed suddenly opened slowly one after another. Next, there are two close-ups: outside the palace, an envoy is riding a stagecoach at a galloping speed, with clouds of red dust rising behind him; inside the palace, the concubine is smiling. Several shots seem to be unrelated to each other, but they all contain suspense carefully arranged by the poet: Why are the "thousand doors" opened? Why did "Yi Qi" come? Why is the "concubine" laughing? The poet deliberately did not rush to tell the story, and only when the tense and mysterious atmosphere made the readers want to know, did he implicitly and euphemistically reveal the answer: "No one knew it was lychee." The word "lychee" reveals the whole story. "New Book of Tang Dynasty: Biography of Concubine Yang": "The concubine was addicted to lychees and wanted to have sex with her. She rode on a horse and traveled thousands of miles. The taste remained unchanged until she reached the capital." Knowing this, the suspense ahead suddenly disappears. After a while, those several shots naturally connected together.
Wu Qiao's "Poetry Around the Fireplace" said: "Poems are valuable for their implicit and endless meaning, especially those who discuss stories without opinions are the best." The artistic charm of Du Mu's poem lies in its implicit and endless meaning. Profound, the poem does not clearly describe Xuanzong's lewdness and the imperial concubine's pampering and arrogance, and vividly uses "riding on the red dust" and "concubine's smile" to form a sharp contrast, which achieves a much stronger artistic effect than expressing one's own opinions directly. . The three words "concubine smile" have a profound meaning. In the Spring and Autumn Period, King You of Zhou smiled for Concubine Bo and lit a beacon, which led to the destruction of the country and his death. When reading this, readers can easily relate to this well-known story. The words "no one knows" are also thought-provoking. In fact, "Lychee Comes" is not unknown. At least the "concubine" knows it, "Yi Qi" knows it, and there is an emperor who is not mentioned in the poem who knows it. Written like this, it is intended to indicate that the matter is of great urgency and that outsiders have no way of knowing about it. This not only exposes the absurdity of the emperor doing anything to please his favorite concubine, but also echoes the unusual atmosphere created previously. The whole poem does not use difficult words, allusions, or elaboration. It is simple and natural, has profound meaning, and is implicit and powerful. It is a masterpiece among the quatrains of the Tang Dynasty. Three Quatrains on Passing the Huaqing Palace · One Creative Background
These three poems were composed by Du Mu after he passed by the Huaqing Palace in Lishan Mountain. Huaqing Palace was a palace built by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty in the 11th year of Kaiyuan (723). Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Concubine Yang used to have fun there. Many poets in later generations wrote epic poems with the theme of Huaqing Palace, among which Du Mu's "Three Quatrains on Passing Huaqing Palace" is one of the masterpieces.
Poetry works: Three quatrains about passing through the Huaqing Palace, one Poetry author: Du Mu, Tang Dynasty Poetry classification: High school ancient poems, place names, historical chants