Du Fu's "Spring Hope"
The country is broken by mountains and rivers, and the city is full of spring vegetation.
I am moved to tears by the flowers, and the birds are frightened by the hate.
The war rages on for three months, and a letter from home is worth ten thousand gold.
White-headed scratches are shorter. The lust is overwhelming.
Melancholy and sadness are a major theme in Du Fu’s poetry creation after the An-Shi Rebellion. This poem expresses the infinite sadness and indignation in the heart with a sad tone. The hatred of the country and the hatred of the family are integrated to express it, and every word is written with blood and tears. It's heart-wrenching to read. Among Du Fu's many poems of the same period and with the same theme, this one is one of the realist swan songs with the strongest emotion, the deepest meaning, and the highest quality. Good poems are the crystallization of the poet's noble emotions. Reading this famous article, our most vivid feeling is that the poet's broad mind of compassion is so closely connected with the fate of the motherland, the changes in the current situation, and the suffering of the people. He never sighs like insects in the grass because of his own sorrow, but in line with the main theme of the sorrow and indignation of the times. In just forty chapters, a melancholy song of mourning is played. The predecessors called Du's poems "the history of poetry" because he was "good at telling current events" and had many narrative works that "presented current events like history". If we understand the meaning of "history of poetry" more broadly and focus on whether it expresses the contradictions and emotions of the times, then lyrical works such as "Spring View" are also the most outstanding "history of poetry".
The poem was written in March of the second year of Emperor Suzong's reign (757) when Du Fu fell into the bandit camp in Chang'an City. Its core can be summarized by the two words "feeling the time" and "hating farewell" in the couplet. Poems value implicitness and implication. However, at this time, Du Fu's wish to defect to Su Zong to fight the national calamity was not fulfilled. Instead, he was trapped among thieves. He was extremely sad and angry, and his thoughts burst out through the image of spring. However, because the emotional connotation is very rich and the sentences are highly condensed, and the song is not just about singing and crying but being emotionally integrated into the scene in front of you, even though it says "the country is broken" at the beginning, there are words that directly refer to current events later in the text. , but the whole article still has a poetic beauty that is meaningful and memorable.
The lyrical level of the whole poem can be divided into two parts, the front and back. The first four sentences describe the scenery of spring and the sadness of seeing things. The two sentences in the first couplet seem to be straightforward, but in fact they contain strong hints that the mountains and rivers remain the same but the state affairs have changed, and the vegetation is dense but the people are sparsely populated. The two chin couplets are aphorisms for sad times that have been sung in ancient and modern times. Both sentences omit a verb, "flowers splash with tears" and "birds are frightened", and the meaning should be "looking at flowers splashing with tears" and "hearing birds being frightened" would be complete. In spring, flowers bloom and birds sing, which should make people happy, as in a time of peace and happiness. However, now that the country is broken and families are scattered, spring flowers only add to people's sadness, and spring birds affect the hearts of those who have left. This highly summarized and vividly describes the reverberation and interweaving of the poet's feelings of concern for the country and homesickness. "Sense of Time" carries on from "National Destruction", "Hateful Farewell" leads to "Family Letters", and there is a wonderful connection between the structure and meaning of the poem. Regarding the rich connotations of these four sentences, the first volume of "Tiaoxi Yuyincong Hua" quotes "Yosou Poetry Talk" as saying: "The ancients made poetry, and the meaning is more important than the meaning behind the words, making people think about it. Therefore, the person who speaks is not guilty. Hearing it. It's enough to be a warning. Among modern poets, Du Zimei is the best poet. For example, "The country is broken by mountains and rivers, and the city is full of deep vegetation. I feel the flowers splashing in tears when I see them, and I hate the birds that are leaving." It is clear that there is nothing left. "The grass and trees are deep," and it is clear that there is no one there. Flowers and birds are things that can be entertained at ordinary times. If you cry when you see them, and you are afraid when you hear them, you can know the time." The analysis is quite reasonable and can be used as a reference. The last four sentences of the poem describe the feeling of spring, focusing on two points: homesickness due to chaos and anxiety due to injury. The two lines of the neck couplet focus on homesickness, but they never forget current events, once again closely linking state affairs with family affairs in the chant. "Fighting Fire" should be combined with "national destruction" and "feeling of time", and the heart of sorrow and concern for the country is consistent. "Continuous March" means that the war continues and there is no day for peace, and the whole spring passes in sadness. "A letter from home is worth ten thousand pieces of gold" is a famous saying that is particularly well-known to every household. It uses an exaggerated metaphor to accuse the people of the tragedy of family separation and loss of information about relatives caused by the war. Because it accurately and vividly conveys human nature in a war-torn environment, it has been praised by readers for thousands of years. The last couplet depicts a white and short state of sorrow, vividly highlighting the poet's strong sense of worry. The reason why Lao Du is Lao Du is that he is in a crisis of national destiny and always shows the sense of worry of a philosopher.