Jia Sheng
Original text
The Prosecution Office seeks talents and visits ministers, but Jia Sheng's talents are even more unmatched.
It’s a pity that I sit down at the front table in the middle of the night and don’t ask about the common people or the ghosts and gods.
Notes:
1. Xuanshi: the main room in front of the Weiyang Palace of the Han Dynasty;
2. Zhuchen: refers to Jia Yi who was demoted.
3. Talent: talent.
Translation
Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty consulted the wise officials who had been demoted in the Xuanshi.
Jia Yi's talent and style were unparalleled.
Talking late into the night, Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty moved his knees to get closer to him.
It was a pity that he did not inquire about the people's livelihood, but instead inquired about ghosts and gods.
Appreciation
This is a short poem that eulogizes the story of Jia Sheng. Its focus is not on personal gains and losses, but on pointing out that feudal rulers cannot truly value talents and make them Play a role in politics. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty was known as the Mingjun in history, and Jia Yi was a wise man of his generation. Emperor Wen recalled Jia Yi, who was exiled to Changsha, to the capital and met him in the Xuanshi. The emperor and his ministers met until midnight. Although Emperor Wen was very thirsty for talents, it was a pity that what he earnestly inquired about was not the strategy of reassuring the people. He only listened humbly to the affairs of ghosts and gods. Although he listened with rapt attention and even moved his knees to the front table, what was the use?
The use of history to express feelings is a major feature of this poem. After reading this poem, while lamenting Jia Yi's tragedy and comedy, we can also feel the poet's deep emotion about not being able to appreciate his talent. From his youth, Li Shangyin had the lofty ambition of "wanting to return to heaven and earth" and was deeply concerned about the fate of the country. However, due to the decline of the late Tang Dynasty, his ambition could not be fulfilled, so he had to stay in the shogunate for a long time and serve people through writing and ink. Therefore, Jia Yi in the poem has the shadow of the author himself. He laments that Jia Sheng did not meet his master. In fact, he laments that he was born at the wrong time, and the meaning of self-harm is implicit. The poem contains emotion and satire, and the satirical effect is quite good.
Jia Yi's demotion to Changsha has long become a familiar theme for poets to express their feelings of being unmet. The author took a unique approach and specifically selected the plot of Jia Yi's recall from Changsha and the night meeting in his room as a poem material. "Historical Records·Biography of Qu Jia" contains:
Jia Shengzheng. Emperor Xiaowen was sitting in the Xuanshi room (the main room in the front hall of Weiyang Palace) after a sacrifice had just been held to receive God's blessings. Because he felt something about ghosts and gods, he asked about the origin of ghosts and gods. Jia Sheng is like this because he has the Tao. At midnight, Emperor Wen sat in front of him (moving his knees closer to him on the seat). After that, he said: "I haven't seen Jia Sheng for a long time, and I think I have done something wrong, and I am not as good as now."
In the minds of ordinary feudal literati, this is probably a grand event for the meeting of the emperor and his ministers that deserves to be exaggerated. However, the poet had a unique eye and caught the unnoticed issue of "asking ghosts and gods", and came up with a thorough and thought-provoking poem.
"The Proclamation Office seeks talents and visits ministers, but Jia Sheng's talents are even more unparalleled." The front page is written purely from the front, without any derogatory meaning. The first sentence is specially marked with "seeking" and "visiting" (consultation), which seems to warmly praise Emperor Wen's sincere and humble attitude towards talents. It is said that seeking talents is like a thirst and being open-minded. "Seeking talents" leads to "visiting and expelling ministers", which shows that his net of talents has reached the level of "no talents are left in the wild". The second sentence implicitly contains Emperor Wen's words of admiration for Jia Yi. "Talent" includes both talent and style, and combined with the admiration of "more incompetent", it makes people think of Jia Sheng's young talent, eloquent discussion, and radiant spiritual outlook, as well as the image of the poem and the aria's The mood will show up naturally. These two sentences, from "seeking" to "visiting" to praising, progressed step by step, showing Emperor Wen's high regard for Jia Sheng. If you don't read the following, you will almost mistakenly think that this is a hymn to the Holy Lord seeking wisdom. In fact, this is where the author is being cunning.
The third sentence is the hinge of the whole poem, with its inheritance and transfer intertwined. Cheng, the so-called "midnight banquet", vividly depicts Emperor Wen's humbly inquiring and attentive listening to the point of "unknowingly sitting at the table in front of his knees", turning historical traces into a life-filled atmosphere. , vivid and tangible images. This kind of artistic method that is good at selecting typical details and "expressing emotion from small objects" is Li Shangyin's unique skill in singing epic poems. Through the rendering of this vivid detail, the ladder of "valuing the virtuous" from "seeking" to "visiting" and praising has been raised to the highest place;
And "turning" is here. The climax of the drama begins at the same time. However, it does not expose its muscles and bones, twist and turn hard, but gently twist it with the pen of chant - adding the word pitiful before "midnight front table". Pity, that is, pity. Instead of using words such as "pathetic" and "lamentable" with strong emotional color, we only say "poor". On the one hand, it is to reserve space for the last sentence - the warning of the article; on the other hand, it is also because of the seemingly understatement of " "Pity" is more implicit and thought-provoking than the tense "pathetic" and "lamentable". It seemed to leave room for Emperor Wen, but in fact it contained Leng Jun's ridicule, which seemed light but was actually heavy. "Void" means empty and futile. Although it is only a slight touch, it makes readers fundamentally doubt the Emperor Wen's "midnight banquet" posture of respecting the virtuous. Why does such high regard for wise men turn out to be "empty"? The poet leads without saying anything, leaving the reader with suspense, and the poem shows the ups and downs of emotion, rather than being all over the place. This artistic treatment of inheritance and transfer is refined, natural, harmonious and seamless.
The last sentence is full of inspiration, closely carrying the words "poor" and "empty", and shoots an arrow that hits the target - regardless of the common people or ghosts and gods.
Solemnly seeking talents, humbly asking questions, admiring and admiring people, and even sitting in front of the table in the middle of the night are not to inquire about the way to govern the country and bring peace to the people, but to "ask the ghosts and gods" the fundamental question! What kind of seeking for virtue is this, and what does it mean to a sage! The poet still only points out but does not explain everything - through the contrast of "asking" and "not asking", readers can draw their own conclusions. The rhetoric is extremely sharp, the sarcasm is extremely pungent, the sentiment is extremely deep, but it is also extremely subdued. Since the first few sentences revolve around "valuing the virtuous" and gradually escalate, and the third sentence is full of twists and turns, the disparagement formed by the strong contrast in the last sentence becomes particularly powerful. This is what is commonly said: "If you lift high, you will fall hard." The whole poem contains the dialectics of art in the artistic treatment of pros and cons, suppression, emphasis, concealment, inheritance, etc., and its artistic style of new warning and sentimentality has been successfully achieved through this series. The artistic processing is gradually revealed.
The point is made but not exhaustive, and the discussion is not concluded. This is not because the content is poor and weak, but because it is rich in implications and a few words are not enough to fully express the meaning. The poem is both satirical and impassioned, containing both exaggeration and satire, but its purpose is not simple. From the perspective of satire, it seems to be a satire on Emperor Wen, but in fact the main intention of the poet is not this. Many emperors in the late Tang Dynasty mostly worshiped Buddhism and Taoism, took medicine to seek immortality, ignored people's livelihood, and did not appoint talented people. The poet's target was obviously those feudal rulers who "didn't ask about the common people or ghosts and gods" in reality at that time. While satirizing the times, the poem also contains the poet's deep emotion about his unappreciated talent. The poet long cherished the ambition of "wanting to return to heaven and earth", but he suffered from the decline of the world and fell into a subordinate position. In his poems, he often expresses regrets such as "Jia Sheng was weak and shed tears when he was young" and "Jia Sheng is also a ghost". Jia Yi in this poem has the shadow of the poet himself. To sum up, the satire of Han Dynasty is actually a criticism of the Tang emperor, and the pity for Jia Sheng is actually self-pity.