"Flowers are flying everywhere in the spring city", the words are precise and alert, and the scene is magnificent. Thick ink renders the beautiful spring scenery of Chang 'an Cold Food Festival. It is not only novel and aesthetic, but also harmonious and pleasant to call Chang 'an in spring "Spring City". Taking this as a starting point, the poet first took a panoramic shot, paving the way for the in-depth description below. Everywhere, "flying flowers" not only depict colorful spring, but also accurately show the scene of cold food in late spring. In late spring, catkins dance in the east wind, leaving countless red flowers. Say "everywhere" instead of "everywhere", and double negation constitutes affirmation, forming an emphasis tone, and the expression effect is stronger. "Flowers are Flying in Spring City" is about the whole Chang 'an, and the next sentence is about the scenery of the Imperial Capital. In fact, it combines festivals with palaces, landscapes with royal elegance. As the whole Chang 'an is full of spring and bustling, the scene of the palace can be imagined. "Cold food", be direct, and fill in the seasonal background of the first sentence. Like the first sentence, there is no direct description of the spring outing, but a scene in which the east wind blows and the willows shake. There is a custom of folding willows into doors at the Cold Food Festival, so I wrote about willows in particular. At the same time, according to "A Record of the Year after the Tang Dynasty", "On the Qingming Day, take the fire of elm willow to be a close minister." That is to say, when the Cold Food Festival comes, it is called "new fire" to drill wood from elms and willows and give it to trusted ministers. In particular, it was mentioned that "Imperial Willow" was related to the royal holiday customs at that time, and it also took care of the following meaning of "giving the fire of elm willow to the near minister". With fresh and sparse brushwork, the poet depicts the elegant picture of the imperial city blowing willow, which sets off the rich flavor of the royal family without trace.
If one or two sentences are a general description of the cold food scenery in Chang 'an, then three or four sentences are special scenes in this general scene. At one time, one or two sentences were written during the day, three or four sentences were written at night, and Sunset was the turning point. Fire is forbidden in cold food festivals all over the world, with the exception of "burning candles in Teqi Street" (Yuan Zhen's Lianchang Palace Ci). In addition to the palace, your attendants can also get this favor. It is a special courtesy to get kindling from the royal family on the Cold Food Festival, so the recipients are proud of it. This is the case with the sentence "Sunset", and it is also an image. Writing the word "Chuan" for the fire not only indicates the dynamics of the internal servant's order to spread the candle fire, but also indicates that the feudal hierarchy is strict according to the second ceremony. Coherent with the above sentence, "Light smoke scattered into the home of five emperors" evolved from "Han Palace" to a close-up of the home of five emperors, vividly depicting a picture of China officials passing candles on horseback. Light Smoke Scattered in and Passing Candles are closely related, taking care of "flying" and "slanting" literally, and depicting the charming scene of "Wuhoujia" candle smoke lingering around and curling away. Although there is no description of horses or people, it is enough to imagine the vivid picture of the chamberlain lighting a fire on behalf of the emperor and sending it to the "home of five princes" one by one. As for how the "House of Five Emperors" appreciated the kindness of the powerful emperor, and how the candle was as bright as day and magnificent, it was not written. At the same time, it will naturally give people an association and experience more meanings. First of all, the scenery varies from place to place, and every family forbids fire. The candles in the Han Palace are unique and contain the meaning of privilege. Moreover, the first to enjoy this privilege is the "Five Hous" family. In fact, the use of Han and Tang dynasties in poetry is a common practice of poets in the Tang Dynasty, and it also implies allegorical feelings.
Scholars of past dynasties have different views on the theme of this poem. The first view is that this poem is an allegory, or satirizes Yang Guifei's favor, or satirizes the autocratic power of eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty. It is also widely believed that the allegory is the power minister at that time. The second point of view is that this poem is only an exciting work to describe the prosperous spring scenery, and it is only a realistic description of the royal style by line drawing, full of intoxication of the spring scenery of the imperial capital and a ode to the prosperous life. The third view is that the description of a rich family's favor here is to set off the loneliness of a poor family, that is, to express the resentment of a few literati.
There are three main artistic achievements of this poem: first, it is dense in thought and rigorous in structure. There are only four sentences in the whole poem, but there are many turning points. From the content point of view, from writing scenery to chanting customs; From the perspective of space, from the imperial city to the imperial garden, from the palace to the powerful family; In terms of time, from day to dusk; Emotionally, from peace to solemnity. These multiple twists and turns make the whole poem ups and downs in a short space. Second, the words are delicate and accurate. For example, the words "flying", "slanting", "passing" and "scattering" can not only replace themselves, but also take care of each other. The third one is intriguing. This poem only pays attention to the description of cold food scenes, without any comments. The poet's original intention is not necessarily ridicule, but the image he captures is very typical and can be understood by readers better than his works. Because the author did not deliberately pursue depth, but was immersed in touching his own image and emotion, he wrote a poem to make it more subtle and full of emotion, which is better than many works of deliberate satire.