"The Peacock Flying Southeast" is the longest narrative poem among the Yuefu poems of the Han Dynasty. Even in the history of Chinese poetry, it is also a rare long narrative poem. "The Peacock Flying Southeast" typically embodies the artistic achievements of Yuefu poetry in the Han Dynasty and is a model work of Yuefu art in the Han Dynasty.
"The Peacock Flying Southeast" is titled "Ancient Poems Unknown for Jiao Zhongqing's Wife" in "New Odes of Yutai".
The poem "Peacock Flying Southeast" has 53 lines and 1,765 words. The poem describes a common family tragedy in feudal society.
During the Jian'an period at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the male protagonist Jiao Zhongqing was a minor official in the Lujiang Prefecture, and he and his wife Liu Lanzhi were a loving couple. Liu Lanzhi is beautiful, virtuous, and diligent in housework, but her demanding mother Jiao does not like her daughter-in-law, and the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is quite tense.
Jiao Zhongqing was caught between his mother and his beloved wife, and was in an awkward situation. His wife complained to him, but his mother forced him to divorce her and remarry. In the end, Jiao Zhongqing could not disobey his mother's orders and persuaded his wife to return to her parents' home temporarily. After Liu Lanzhi returned to her natal family, her brother forced her to remarry, but she had no choice but to fight to the death and "go to Qingchi".
When Jiao Zhongqing heard the news, he suddenly woke up and "hanged himself on the southeastern branch". The couple used their own deaths to protest against the tyranny of feudal parents. In the end, Jiao Zhongqing and Liu Lanzhi, who both committed suicide, were buried together, using their souls to silently accuse the evils stemming from feudal patriarchy.
In this long narrative poem, various artistic methods are fully utilized. The completeness of the narrative, the twists and turns of the plot, the outstanding character, and the personalization of the language are all unprecedented. Through Liu Lanzhi's self-narration and the arranger's narration, the whole process of Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing from marriage to breakup and burial together after death is narrated.
The plot of this poem is very tortuous. Liu Lanzhi voluntarily sent him back, and Jiao Zhongqing asked his mother for mercy. Liu Lanzhi is on her way, and Jiao Zhongqing vows not to fail. Although Liu Lanzhi kept her vows, the county magistrate and the prefect successively proposed marriage and her brother forced her to marry him. In the end, the two vowed to live and die together, which ended in tragedy.
The characters in "The Peacock Flies Southeast" have typical personalities, among which Liu Lanzhi's character is particularly distinctive. First, she has a strong character. For example, when she felt that she had worked hard and was unfortunately deported, she appealed to her husband Jiao Zhongqing and was deported voluntarily:
Seventeen is a gentleman's wife, and her heart is often miserable... The cock crows into the machine, and the night There is no rest at night. Five horses were cut off in three days, so I thought it was too late. It would be difficult for your wife to do this unless you were late in weaving. The concubine cannot be driven, and she is left with nothing to do. Then you can ask Grandma Bai and send you back in time.
Liu Lanzhi was so calm and determined in the face of being deported, showing an extremely strong character. When her husband Jiao Zhongqing once again "dismounted from his horse and entered the carriage", "lowered his head and whispered", and vowed "not to let me down", Liu Lanzhi said the following words again:
I feel that you are only slightly pregnant, since you have seen the record, I hope you will come soon. The king is like a rock, and the concubine is like pampas grass. The pampas grass is like silk, and the rock cannot be moved.
It can be seen from this that Liu Lanzhi attaches great importance to the deep relationship with her husband, so after she saw her husband's true love, she made such a vow.
When Jiao Zhongqing learned that his wife Liu Lanzhi was forced to remarry, he heard about the change and the two met for the last time. Jiao Zhongqing said painfully, "He Qing has been promoted... I am going to hell alone", while Liu Lanzhi's answer was calm and firm: "We are both forced, and so are you and your concubines. We will meet in hell, don't violate today. Say it!”
Liu Lanzhi has such a strong character and is very kind to others. Her feelings are both rich and implicit. When she said goodbye to her sister-in-law, she was overwhelmed with mixed feelings:
But she shed tears when she said goodbye to her sister-in-law:
When the bride first came, her sister-in-law began to hold the bed. .
I was expelled today, my sister-in-law is as old as me.
Be diligent in caring for your father-in-law, so that you can support yourself and your generals.
On the seventh day of the lunar month and the ninth day of the lunar month, don’t forget to play together.
After saying that, I went out and boarded the car, crying for more than a hundred lines. How affectionate and sincere this emotion is!
Jiao Zhongqing is another important image in the poem. The author shows his gradual transformation from weakness to strength. He began to have fantasies about his mother. When the fantasies were destroyed by the cruel reality, he resolutely expressed his determination to die for love to his mother. He used "hanging himself on a southeastern branch" to express his loyalty to love and his resistance to feudal patriarchy.
The character descriptions throughout the poem are vivid. This has a lot to do with the personalization of the language of poetry. Not only the language of Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing has individual characteristics, but also the words and actions of the two "grandmothers" have individual characteristics. Jiao's mother's domineering and violent character, and Brother Liu's cold, selfish, greedy and power-hungry character are all vividly portrayed in the poem.
The use of pictorial and romantic techniques in "The Peacock Flies Southeast" plays a very important role in shaping the image. The author's feelings and ideological tendencies are clearly expressed through this artistic method.
At the beginning of the poem, "The peacock flies southeast, wandering five miles away" is the "Xing" technique, which is used to arouse Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing's love for each other and set the atmosphere of the whole poem.
In the last section, in the cemetery where Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing were buried together, the branches of pines, cypresses and sycamore trees intersect with each other, and mandarin ducks sing in harmony day and night, all night long. This not only symbolizes the immortality of Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing, but also symbolizes their eternal grief, anger and accusation.
This is the romantic development of the images of Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing, which shines with extremely brilliant ideal brilliance and makes the whole poem a qualitative leap.
"Peacock Flying Southeast" has the characteristics of folk rap. As a folk tale of rap, it has both realistic basis and fantasy elements. The language is often exaggerated, such as "Fifteen times you play the harp and sixteen times you recite poems and books." As a woman from a small family, she has such an upbringing. It must be fictitious and exaggerated.