Tang Dynasty: Li Bai
The wind blows the willow flowers and fills the store with fragrance, and Wu Ji presses wine for guests to taste. (Encouraging Guests, Part 1: Calling Guests)
The disciples of Jinling came to see each other off, and everyone drank wine if they wanted to or not.
I would like to ask you, Dongliu Shui, who do you want to compare with?
Translation
The spring breeze blew the scent of catkins all over the hotel room. The maid brought out the fine wine and urged me to taste it carefully.
Young friends from Jinling came to see him off one after another. Whether they want to leave or stay, they all enjoy their joys and sorrows.
Please ask the east-flowing river, which one is shorter and which is longer than separation and farewell?
Notes
Jinling: present-day Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province. Liquor: Hotel. Leave a farewell message: Leave a farewell poem to the person who is leaving.
The wind blows: One work is "White Gate".
Wu Ji: A young woman from Wu, here refers to the maid in the hotel.
Pressing wine: pressing the grains to get wine. In ancient times, when new wine was brewed, the grains were crushed and used before drinking.
Call: one means "to persuade" and the other means "to envoy".
Disciples: refers to Li Bai’s friends.
Desire: The person who is about to leave refers to the poet himself. No: Those who won’t leave, that is, those who see him off, refer to the children of Jinling.
Shāng: Drink all the wine in the cup. Wine glass.
Let’s ask: A poem called “Asking for Acquisition”
Appreciation
This poem is a farewell poem left by the author to a friend when he was about to leave Jinling and travel east to Yangzhou. Although it is short in length, it is deeply emotional. This poem begins with the midsummer scenery leading to the fragrant hotel, paving the way for a happy farewell scene. Then it writes about Wu Ji entertaining guests with wine, showing the generous hospitality of the people of Wu. Finally, in the interplay of drinks, the touching scene of host and guest exchanging words is vividly written. Go up, don't mean to be good at flowing water, and the sigh will come naturally. The whole poem is full of enthusiasm, reflecting Li Bai's deep friendship with his friends in Jinling and his bold character; it is smooth, lively, natural, fresh and elegant, and has a long emotional charm, especially the last two sentences, which use personification, metaphor, contrast, rhetorical questions and other techniques to conceive. Novel and unique, with strong appeal.
"The wind blows the willow flowers and fills the hotel with fragrance, and Wu Ji presses wine to encourage guests to taste." The gentle breeze blows the willow catkins, and the hotel is filled with fragrance; Wu Ji holds out the newly pressed wine and encourages guests to taste it. "Jinling" indicates that the place belongs to the south of the Yangtze River, and "Liuhua" indicates that it is late spring. This is March in the south of the Yangtze River when the willow smoke is misty and the spring breeze is intoxicating. As soon as the poet walked into the store, the refreshing aroma hit his face. This word "fragrance" connects the inside and outside of the store. Jinling belonged to the land of Wu in ancient times, so the local women were called "Wu Ji", which here refers to the restaurant girls. She was smiling and greeting the guests enthusiastically while pressing the wine (that is, pressing the dregs to get the juice). Being in it is really like a spring breeze, intoxicating and fascinating.
These two sentences convey a strong Jiangnan flavor. Although the outside of the store is not explicitly mentioned, outside the store, "there are peanut trees and orioles flying around", and the fragrant world of willows and smoky willows can be vaguely seen. At this time, whether it is the poet or the reader, the senses of sight, smell, and hearing are all mobilized.
"Willow flowers", that is, catkins, originally have no fragrance, but some poets have smelled it, such as the legend "Don't sing about spring, it makes people leave the heart. When the wanderer does not return for a long time, the fragrant snow will drift from the willows." "The use of the word "香" indicates that any vegetation has its subtle fragrance, and the word "香" represents the breath of spring. This not only vividly depicts a poetic artistic conception, but also lays the foundation for the fragrance of wine below. Foreshadowing. In fact, the understanding of "the fragrance of the store" does not need to be limited to "the fragrance of willow flowers". It should be the fragrance of flowers blown by the spring breeze, the fragrance of earth and vegetation, the fragrance of fine wine, and probably the "scent of the heart". The so-called clear mind smells wonderful fragrance. The "store" here, at first glance, I don't know what it is, but from the next sentence I understand that it refers to a hotel. In fact, only the willow flowers in the hotel will be fragrant. Otherwise, even the most elegant antique bookstore may not be able to live up to the words "the wind blows the willow flowers all over the store" in terms of the coordination of the scene. Therefore, the word "fragrance" may seem awkward at first, but upon closer inspection, it feels so appropriate.
"The children of Jinling come here to see each other off, and they all have a drink if they want to do something or not." A group of young people from Jinling came here to see the poet off. It's a farewell wine. You pour it and I toast it. Those who are about to leave and those who are not leaving, everyone cheers and drinks. Some people also think that this means that the person who is seeing you off is diligent in asking for a drink and cannot bear to say goodbye suddenly; the person who is saying goodbye wants to leave but does not want to leave, and is infinitely nostalgic, so he "cannot do what he wants". Li Bai's trip was to Yangzhou. He later said in the "History of Pei Chang of Shang'an Prefecture": "In the past, I traveled east to Weiyang, which lasted less than a year, and scattered more than 300,000 yuan in gold. I helped all the down-and-out young masters. This is why Bai Zhi despises wealth and likes to give. "Li Bai had a bold personality and loved to socialize. He was young and wealthy at that time, and he was also generous with his wealth. He had many friends. This should also be the case in Jinling. A group of friends drank and said goodbye. The young man was strong-minded and full of interest, without any intention of saying goodbye. This is also in line with the characteristics of young people. "Qingzhang" means to drink up the wine in the cup. "觞", wine vessel.
"Please ask Dongliushui, who do you want to be with?" This is the ending of the incident.
After seeing you off for thousands of miles, there will eventually be a farewell. This parting banquet will eventually break up. At this time, sending hands to each other, the sadness in my heart cannot be controlled. The poet uses water to talk about emotions, combine emotions with things, and express the feeling of farewell - My friend and I Which is longer than the love of parting or the water flowing in the east? Its boldness reflects the poet's consistent romantic and bold style, and it can't help but remind people of the poet's sentence "The water in the Peach Blossom Pond is a thousand feet deep, not as deep as Wang Lun's sending me love". ”
Emotions are abstract, no matter how deep and intense they are, they cannot be seen or touched; while the river is figurative, giving people an endless impression. But the poet is not a simple metaphor, but a metaphor. It is a question of comparison, confused, seemingly closed but not yet closed. The words are complete but the meaning is endless, giving people room for imagination. Using this expression technique, Li Bai may have been inspired by his predecessors, such as Xie Tiao's writing. "The great river flows day and night, and the guest's heart is still full of sadness", but Li Bai wrote it more vividly and naturally, which is similar to "The water in Peach Blossom Pond is thousands of feet deep, not as deep as Wang Lun's sending me love"
This poem is ingeniously conceived. The first sentence, "The wind blows and the willows fill the shop with fragrance," is a state where there is no one there. The second sentence, "Wu Ji presses the wine to persuade the guests to taste it." When Long Hongfen meets the drinkers, people appear on the scene. When "Jinling" When a group of young people like "children" came to the hotel, the hotel became even more lively. When they were leaving, they might not have wanted to drink, but Wu Ji persuaded her, how affectionate she was, and with the arrival of the "children of Jinling", she felt that the love was even longer. , no one wants to leave this place. However, the words "come and see each other off" just throw a bucket of cold water on the lively scene above, and point out that the bustling and bustling place is the prelude to the loneliness. It's time to leave Jinling. However, we can't just take a big step to leave such a hot farewell. So it turns to "everyone has a cup of tea if he wants to do it but can't". The poets who want to do it are intoxicated, but they can't do it. The two of them also drank wine, and their love was so long that they came to the conclusion of "Please ask me about the flowing water in the east, who do you want to be short of or long with?", and ended this lyrical short song leisurely and endlessly with implicit writing methods. .
Many people write about farewell, mostly with the so-called "parting sorrow". However, there is not even a trace of sorrow in Li Bai's poem, only the poet is in his prime. He left behind not one or two close friends, but a group of young friends. This feeling of farewell in his writing is full and hearty, melodious, sighing but not sad, full of youthful, heroic, romantic and unrestrained feelings.