Meet Li Guinian at the lower reaches of the river
Tang Dynasty: Du Fu
In the Qi family, I often see your performances; Before urging the wine hall, I praised your art many times.
Never thought, in this Jiangnan scenic area; It is the season of falling flowers, and I can meet you, an old acquaintance.
translate
I often watch your performances in the Qi Palace. In front of Cui, I have also appreciated your art many times.
Unexpectedly, there is a big Jiangnan in this landscape; When the flowers fall, I can meet you again and get to know each other.
To annotate ...
1, Li Guinian: A famous musician in the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods of the Tang Dynasty, who was good at singing. Because it was favored by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, it was very popular. After the "An Shi Rebellion", Li Guinian settled in Jiangnan and made a living by busking.
2. King Qi: Li Fan, the younger brother of Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, is famous for his love of learning, talent and elegance.
3, ordinary: often.
4. Cui Jiu: Cui Di, who ranks ninth among the brothers, is Cui Kun's younger brother. When Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty was in power, he used to be the supervisor of the temple, which was very popular with him. Cui was a famous surname at that time, which showed that he was valued.
5. Jiangnan: refers to the area around Hunan Province today.
6. Flowering period: late spring, usually referring to the third month of the lunar calendar. Falling flowers have many meanings, such as old age, social decay and chaos.
7. Jun: Li Guinian.
Make an appreciative comment
Poetry is sentimental and indifferent. Li Guinian was a famous singer in the early years of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, who often sang in the aristocratic giants. Du Fu's talent was outstanding when he was a teenager, and he often went in and out of the gates of Li Longfan, the king of Qi, and Cui Di, the supervisor of Chinese calligraphy, and he was able to appreciate the art of singing. The first two sentences of the poem are about recalling the past exchanges with him and expressing the author's concern for the prosperous times in the early years of Kaiyuan. The last two sentences are feelings about the decline of state affairs and the erratic artists. Only four sentences sum up the vicissitudes and life changes of the whole Kaiyuan period (note: the Kaiyuan period is 7 13-74 1 year). The language is extremely plain, but the connotation is infinitely rich.
Li Guinian was a famous singer in Kaiyuan period. Du Fu's first encounter with Li Guinian coincided with his youth and the so-called "Kaiyuan Prosperity". At that time, princes and nobles generally loved literature and art, and Du Fu, because of his early talent, was extended by Li Longfan, the king of Qi, and Cui Di, the secretary of the Central Committee, so that he could enjoy Li Guinian's singing in their mansion. An outstanding artist is not only a product of a specific era, but also a symbol of a specific era. In Du Fu's mind, Li Guinian is closely connected with the prosperous Kaiyuan era and his own romantic youth life. Decades later, they met again in Jiangnan. At this time, after eight years of turmoil, the Tang Dynasty has fallen from the peak of prosperity and fallen into many contradictions. Du Fu drifted to Tanzhou, "loose cloth and tangled bones, running around bitter and tepid", and his later situation was extremely bleak; Li Guinian also lives south of the Yangtze River. "Every time there is a beautiful scene, he sings a few songs and hears them in his seat, so he has to hide his face and cry and stop drinking" (Miscellanies of Ming Taizu). This encounter will naturally lead to the infinite vicissitudes that Du Fu has been smoldering in his chest.
"It's a common thing in Qi Wang's family, and Cui has heard it several times before." Although the author is recalling his past contacts with Li Guinian, what he reveals is his deep nostalgia for the "Kaiyuan Shengshi". These two sentences seem very light, but the feelings they contain are deep and dignified. "Wang Qi Zhai Li" and "Cui Tang Jiu Qian" seem to blurt out, but in the eyes of the parties, the place where these two literary celebrities often gather gracefully is the place where the colorful spiritual culture of Kaiyuan Shengshi is concentrated, and their names are enough to evoke the author's good memories of "Shengshi". At that time, it was "unusual" for the author to come into contact with such an art star as Li Guinian, but "several times" was not difficult. In retrospect, it was an impossible dream. The feeling of separation between heaven and earth contained here, readers must combine the following two sentences to taste. In the overlapping singing and chanting, the two poems reveal the author's infinite attachment to the prosperity of Kaiyuan, as if to prolong the aftertaste.
Dream-like memories can't change the present reality after all. "It's the beautiful scenery in the south of the Yangtze River, and it's the season of falling flowers." Jiangnan, with beautiful scenery, was originally a pleasant place that the authors yearned for in the era of Chengping. During this period, the author really faced the "lost season" with withered eyes and the wandering artists with white hair. The season of falling flowers is like an impromptu book and a special care, between intentional and unintentional. These four words are a metaphor for the decline of the world, social unrest, the author's decline and illness, but the author did not deliberately metaphor, which is particularly confusing. In addition, the two function words "exactly" and "you" in the two sentences are full of ups and downs, and there are infinite feelings between the lines. The beautiful scenery in the south of the Yangtze River is in a strong contrast with the chaotic life experience of being divorced from the times and sinking. An old singer and an old author meet in the drift, and the scenery is dotted with two haggard old people, which has become a typical picture of the vicissitudes of the times. It mercilessly confirmed that the "Kaiyuan Shengshi" has become a historical relic, and an earth-shaking change has reduced Du Fu and Li Guinian, who experienced the prosperity, to an unfortunate level. Feelings are deep, but the author wrote that "the fallen flowers meet the monarch season again", but he accepted it sadly, silently pregnant with a deep sigh and painful sorrow. So "the beginning is the end", I don't even want to say a word, which is very meaningful. Shen Deqian commented on this poem in the Qing Dynasty: "The meaning is not applied, and the case is not broken." The author's meaning of "not applicable" is not difficult to understand for Li Guinian, a party with similar experience; For readers who are good at understanding people and discussing the world in later generations, it is not difficult to grasp. Just as Li Guinian sang "endless dreams of rise and fall, endless sadness, endless sadness of mountains and rivers" in "The Palace of Eternal Life, Tanci". Although it is sung repeatedly, it means no more than Du Fu's poems, but it is very similar to what the playwright deduced from Du Fu's poems.
Four poems, from Village of Emperor Qi's "Smell" song to Cui's face, and then to the emphasis on "Hui", "Wen" and "Hui" in the south of the Yangtze River, connect the vicissitudes of the times and great changes in life in the past 40 years. Although no poem directly relates to the life experience of the times, through the author's memories, it shows the shadow of the great turmoil that brought havoc to the material wealth and cultural prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, as well as the great disasters and trauma it caused to people. It can be said that "the chaos of the world, the rise and fall of the New Year, and the desolation of each other are all among them" (Sun Zhu's comment). Just as there is no set on the stage of an old play, the audience can imagine a very broad spatial background and event process through the singing performance of the actors; Also like a novel, it often reflects an era through a person's fate. The successful creation of this poem shows that such a short verse can have great capacity for a great writer with a high level of artistic generalization and rich life experience, and when expressing such rich content, it can reach an effortless and seamless artistic realm.
Creation background
This poem was written in the fifth year of Tang Daizong Dali (770), and Du Fu was in Tanzhou (now Changsha, Hunan). When Du Fu was a teenager, he was brilliant. He frequented the gates of Li Longfan, King of Qi, and Cui Di, Supervisor of Chinese Book, and was able to appreciate the singing art of court singer Li Guinian. After the Anshi Rebellion, Du Fu drifted to the south of the Yangtze River. In March of the fourth year of Dali (769), Du Fu left Yueyang for Tanzhou, where he stayed until the following spring, and reunited with Li Guinian, who lived in Jiangju Pond. He recalled the frequent meeting and listening to songs of the King of Qi and Cui Jiu in the mansion, and was deeply moved, so he wrote this poem. "Friends of Cloud Creek" reads: "Ming Di is fortunate in Minshan, and all the officials are humiliated, and their bodies are lying across the Central Plains, and the gentry are driving with the car. Lingguan: Zhang Yehu Lifu, Lei Haiqing Pipa, Li Guinian singing, Gong Sundaniang sword dancing ... Only Li Guinian ran to the river beach, and Du Fu wrote poems for it: Wang Qi's house was common ... When the flowers fell, he met the monarch again.
Brief introduction of the author
Du Fu (7 12-770), with beautiful words, tried to call himself Shaoling Night Old. Take Jinshi as an example. He used to be a foreign minister in the school department, so he was called Du Gongbu internationally. He is the greatest realistic poet in the Tang Dynasty, and is known as the "poet saint" after the Song Dynasty, and is also called "Du Li" with Li Bai.
His poems boldly exposed the social contradictions at that time and expressed deep sympathy for the poor people. Many excellent works show the historical process of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline, which is called "the history of poetry". In art, he is good at using various forms of poetry, especially rhythmic poetry; Various styles, mainly depression; Refined language with high expressive force. There are more than 1400 poems, including Du Gongbu Collection.