1. Why did Su Shi use "Flying Peng" to describe his life?
Peng means basil, also known as "Flying Peng", plant name, Asteraceae. There are dozens of branches on the stem of the fluffy grass. There are immature branches on the branches and densely arranged thin leaves. Because the outside is round, like a grass ball, after the flowers bloom, they scatter like catkins, or after they wither, they are often broken by the wind near the roots and rolled up in the air, so they can also be called "piaopeng", "turning canopy", and "turning canopy". "Gu Peng" and "Zheng Peng".
There are many images used in Chinese classical poetry to express the feeling of "wandering" and "wandering", such as duckweed (a life experience of ups and downs, rain and rain), floating clouds (floating clouds and wandering children), Guyan (lonely smoke but not drinking) Pecking, the sound of flying sounds is like the flock), sand gulls (what does the fluttering look like, the sky and the earth are one sand gull), Gu Hong (who sees a lonely person coming and going alone, a misty and lonely shadow), etc., and the "peng" is cut off after it withers, Flying with the wind and wandering without any support, in ancient poetry and prose, it often symbolizes the wanderer in the end of the world. A wanderer who leaves his hometown and lives in another place is like a grass that has been cut off by its roots; a wanderer has no fixed destination, and living in an uncertain place is like a wandering grass with no one to rely on. Therefore, generally speaking, when a poet is alone or farewells a friend, he laments his or her friend's life. When I'm wandering, I miss my hometown and my friends, I use fluffy grass to express my heartfelt feelings.
(1) "Pengcao" in ancient poems is mostly the poet lamenting his life experience.
Jian'an poets liked to use this image to express their feelings. In Cao Zhi's poems, the most commonly used object is probably the zhuanpeng. "Miscellaneous Poems": "Turn away from the root, fluttering with the long wind." If the "peng" blown away by the wind is separated from the "original root", it will be unable to go up to the sky or land on the ground. It will be unable to move east, west, south, and north, and it will be a very miserable fate.
Later authors used it repeatedly, and gradually formed the common meaning: wandering, wandering is forced by the harsh environment, and the loneliness and sadness of wandering. "Selected Works·Bao Zhao's "Ode to Wucheng"": "The air of frost is sharp and the wind is majestic. The solitary canopy vibrates by itself and flies in the sand." Lu Xiang notes: "The solitary canopy is a grass, which has no roots and follows the wind. The solitary fluttering here is a metaphor for wandering around. When Wang Wei went to the frontier fortress as a supervisory censor, he wrote "Envoy to the Fortress": "Zheng Peng left the Han fortress, and returned to the wild geese to enter the Hutian."
Su Shi of the Northern Song Dynasty lamented, "It takes a long time to realize this." , I was born like a flying pod. "Human life is always in a state of drifting, whether it is the drifting of the body or the drifting of the mind, it is a state of rootlessness. He realized that his life was just like a solitary bird whirling around with nowhere to settle. Never stop fantasizing for a moment, never give up desire for a moment.
(2) In farewell poems, "pengcao" can refer to wandering friends who are traveling far away, or themselves and their friends.
The neck couplet of Li Bai's "Farewell to a Friend" reads, "We are separated from each other here, and the solitary tent is marching thousands of miles." The poet uses the solitary tent to describe the wandering life of his friend, expressing the poet's deep concern for his friend. In the first couplet of "Sending Li Shiyu to Anxi" by Gao Shi, "Xingzi points to Feipeng, the golden whip points to Tie Cong", "Feipeng" can refer to himself, or to his friend who is traveling far away - "Xingzi".
(3) The image of "flying peng" is used in conjunction with other images to increase emotional expression.
The neck couplet of Bai Juyi's "Looking at the Moon" has "The hanging shadow is divided into thousands of miles of wild geese, and Cigen San is composed of Jiuqiupeng". The words "Qiupeng" and "Guyan" are used together to compare the five brothers who were separated due to the war. They are scattered everywhere, like lone wild geese flying thousands of miles away, hanging together; and like the roots of the fluffy grass in autumn, wandering in other places, enhancing the loneliness and sadness.