Missing
Author: Du Fu
Missing Li Shengjiu 1, pretending to be crazy 2 is really sad.
Everyone in the world wants to kill you, but I only pity you.
Thousands of agile poems 5, a glass of wine 6.
Kuangshan Reading Center 7, Return with a healthy head 8.
Translation
I haven’t seen Li Bai for a long time, how much I long to see you. It's so sad that you pretend to be crazy and uninhibited, but you don't tolerate the world. I am the only one who understands and pities your talent. You have a quick mind, but you can only drink to drown your sorrows, and your life is wandering. How unfortunate it is to live a life of wandering poetry and wine. How I wish you could return to your hometown, so that maybe the two of us can meet again.
The following references:
1. Li Sheng: refers to Li Bai. Du Fu and Li Tianbao have not been able to see each other for sixteen years since they broke up in Yanzhou, Shandong in 745.
2. Pretend to be crazy: Pretend to be crazy. Li Bai often pretended to drink heavily to express his dissatisfaction with the dirty world.
3. Refers to the fact that Li Bai was convicted of entering the shogunate of Yong Wang Li Lin, and was imprisoned in Xunyang, and was soon exiled to Yelang. Some people thought he was guilty of treason and deserved to be killed.
4. Liancai: Love talent.
5. Li Bai is said to have a quick mind and a very fast creation speed.
6. Refers to Li Bai’s wandering life and could only drink to relieve his sorrow.
7. Kuangshan: refers to Dakuang Mountain in Sichuan’s Zhangming County (today’s Jiangyou County), where Li Bai studied in his early years.
8. Toubai: Li Bai was sixty-one years old at this time. Du Fu was in Chengdu at this time, and Li Bai returned to Kuangshan so that he could meet his old friends after a long absence, so he returned.
This is the last surviving poem by Du Fu in memory of Li Bai, with a self-note in the title: "There is no recent news about Li Bai." The poem was composed in the second year of Shangyuan (761), when Du Fu was in Chengdu. The poem expresses sympathy, worry and longing for Li Bai, and looks forward to Li Bai ending his wandering life and returning to Sichuan. But the next year, Li Bai died in Dangtu County, Anhui. In the poem, it is written that Li Bai pretended to be arrogant, quick in thinking, and addicted to alcohol, which all reflect Li Bai's characteristics. In the fourth year of Tianbao, when Du Fu and Li Bai traveled to Qilu, he wrote "Gift to Li Bai". The poem contains the words "drinking and singing wildly" and "flying and domineering"; "The Immortal's writing falls in the storm, and his poems become weeping ghosts and gods." You can read this for reference. "I only pity talented people", which shows Du Fu's preference for and mutual understanding of Li Bai. "Reading Du Xinjie" says: "The four words 'missing' and 'sorrowful' are the bones of eight sentences. Only five or six of them were written by Li, and Yu Ju wrote the sorrow of not seeing from his heart, and his pen was flying in the sky." It's hard to find a close friend, and I'll sigh through the ages. Therefore, Han Wen Gongyu's "Bie Zhi Fu" says: "It's rare to know music, so I'll accept it one hundred and one times." When Yu Bai was introduced, he accepted his music as a close friend. He was saddened by his situation, pitied his talent, and expressed it in poetry. This is One. The Four Crosses are not decorated with any extravagances, and do not require any explanation. They are just plain and simple, and when they flow out from the heart, they become good poems. That is to say, wherever love goes, so does poetry. "Thousands of quick poems, a glass of wine floating around" is a vivid portrayal of Taibai, and his talents and experiences are also reflected in this couplet. If Taibai could read this poem from Zhijiao, it would be enough to comfort him throughout his life.
The opening sentence is sudden and steep, as if the emotions accumulated in the heart suddenly burst out. The word "miss" is placed at the beginning of the sentence, expressing a strong desire to see Li Bai, and the word "jiu" is placed at the end of the sentence to emphasize the long time of missing Li Bai. Du Fu and Li Bai had not seen each other for fifteen years since they broke up in Yanzhou in the fourth year of Tianbao (745).
Immediately following the second sentence, the poet showed his pity and sympathy for Li Bai because he was not recognized for his talent and was therefore arrogant and self-indulgent. In ancient times, some people who were dissatisfied with reality often pretended to be crazy and escaped from the world, like Jie Yu in the Spring and Autumn Period. Li Bai called himself "I am a madman of Chu" ("A Ballad from Mount Lu sent to Lu Shi Yuxuzhou"), and he often recited poems, indulged in wine, laughed at the princes, and expressed his grief and indignation of failing to save the world with his wild and uninhibited attitude. It is really a great tragedy that a person with great ambitions has to "pretend to be crazy". Although "pretending to be crazy" can deceive the world, Du Fu deeply understood and sympathized with Li Bai's difficulties. The word "zhenke" modifies "sorrow" and vividly conveys the poet's infinite sadness and sympathy.
This feeling is further demonstrated in the couplets. These two sentences use the word "opposition", which produces a strongly contrasting artistic effect. "World people" refers to people in the ruling group. In the case of Yong Wanglin, Li Bai was implicated, and these people clamored that Li Bai, a "rebellious minister and traitor", should be sentenced to death. Here, "all want to kill" and "only pity the talented" highlight the opposition between Du Fu's attitude and that of "the world". "Pity" comes from "sorrow", and "pity" not only refers to literary talent, but also includes sympathy for Li Bai's political injustice. Du Fu also wrote a poem "Twenty Rhymes to Li Twelve and White", comparing Su Wu and Huang Gong to Li Bai, insisting that he was not a traitor, and using the classics of Jia Yi and Confucius to write about the tragedy that his political ambitions could not be realized. And this kind of tragedy also exists in Du Fu. He was expelled from the court for rescuing Fang Guan. Isn't it also an injustice to "the world"? "Pitying talents" also means pitying oneself. The same experience brought the hearts of the two close friends closer together, which was the fundamental reason for Du Fu's deep pity.
The two lines of the neck couplet are an excellent summary of Li Bai's life, and outline the image of a romantic poet who was full of poetry and wine. Du Fu imagined that Li Bai would be accompanied by wine during his wanderings. The wine might be able to pour out his body and soothe his sorrow.
This couplet is still intended to describe Li Bai's misfortune, and expresses the lingering feelings of missing his best friend in a deeper level.
The affectionate memory finally turned into a fervent call: "Kuangshan Reading Place, come back with a white head." The poetic meaning comes from "Wandering", Du Fu is worried about Li Bai's fate, and hopes that he will return to his roots and grow old. The calls from my hometown express my deep affection for my old friends. "Kuang Mountain" refers to Dakuang Mountain in Mianzhou Mianzhou (in today's northern Sichuan). Li Bai studied here when he was young. At that time, Du Fu lived in Chengdu, so it was reasonable to hope that Li Bai would return to Shu. As for the chapter, the beginning laments "missing", and the end is longing to see each other. The beginning and end echo each other, and the whole poem is integrated.
The greatest artistic feature of this poem is that it expresses one's feelings directly without any pretense. Rhymed poetry often expresses emotions through scenery, or combines scenes. Hu Yinglin said: "Poetry only involves two ends of the scene. For example, the five-character rhyme style starts from the beginning and ends at the end, with four sentences in the middle, two words for the scene, and two words for the emotion. This is the general rule." ("Poem") "Tou") Du Fu often breaks this traditional writing style, "not a word in the whole text is attached to the scenery, but majestic and calm, with natural sentences" (ibid.). This poem is written in a way of expressing one's heart. It does not embellish the scenery, but is deeply emotional. It also has great artistic appeal. When using this writing method, it is necessary to absorb elements of spoken language and prose into the poem. First, it peels off the flowers and makes the language simple and natural. For example, the language of this poem may seem ordinary, but it expresses the deep love for friends; secondly, it uses prose to make it neat and neat. The rhythmic style becomes flexible and colorful, which is convenient for conveying emotions and ideas. For example, this poem uses empty words to change the poetic meaning, making the parallelism incoherent, etc. This kind of rhythmic poetry changes the traditional old tune of concubines being green and white, and everything is stable, and enhances the expressive power of rhythmic poetry.
Attachment: The friendship between Li and Du is a good story in the history of poetry. There are ten surviving poems by Du Fu dedicated to or commemorating Li Bai: two poems before and after "Gift to Li Bai", one "Looking for Fan Shi and Living in Seclusion with Li Twelve Bai", one "Embracing Li Bai in Winter", "Memories of Spring" One song is "Li Bai", two songs are "Dream of Li Bai", one song is "Huai Li Bai at the end of the day", one song is "Send Li Bai to Twenty Rhymes", and one song is "Missing". There are also five other poems that directly mention Li Bai: "Sending Confucius Chao's father to return to Jiangdong after his illness and presenting to Li Bai", "Song of the Eight Immortals in Drinking", "Su Duan Xue's Fu Banquet Brief and Xue Hua's Drunken Song", One song is "Traveling in the Past" and one song is "Remembering". The four poems Li Bai sent to Du Fu are credible and doubtful: "Send to Du Fu at the East Stone Gate of Lu County", "A Banquet at the Yao Ancestral Pavilion of Lu County in Autumn to Farewell to Du Bu Que and Fan Shiyu" (Doubtful), "Send to Du Fu at the Sand Dune City" , "A Play Presented to Du Fu".