The explanation of Li Shangyin's poem "Bashan Night Rain" is: You ask me when I will go home, but I can't decide the date of my return! The only thing I can tell you at this time is that the endless Bashan night rain is filling the autumn pond. It would be great if one day we could sit together under the west window of our home, cut candles, and tell each other how much we miss each other in the rainy night in Bashan tonight!
Original poem: You asked about the return date but it has not yet been announced. The night rain in Bashan swells the autumn pond. How can I cut off the candles from the west window and talk about the rainy night in Bashan?
"Night Rain Sends to the North" is a lyrical seven-character quatrain written by Li Shang, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, who lived in the foreign land of Bashu and wrote to his wife (or friend) far away in Chang'an. It is the poet's reply letter to the other party. The first two sentences of the poem use questions and answers and describe the immediate environment, elucidating the feelings of loneliness and deep longing for his wife. The last two sentences imagine the joy of meeting again and talking in the future, contrasting with the loneliness tonight. This poem was written impromptu, describing the poet's emotional twists and turns in an instant. The language is simple and there is no trace of modification in word choice or sentence construction. Unlike most of Li Shangyin's poems, which are characterized by gorgeous rhetoric, sophisticated use of allusions, and a style that is good at symbolism and suggestion, this poem is simple and natural, and also has the artistic characteristics of "deep sustenance and graceful wording."
Introduction to the poet: Li Shangyin (about 813-about 858), also known as Yishan, also known as Yuxi (Xi) Sheng, also known as Fan Nansheng, his ancestral home is Hanoi, Huaizhou (now Qinyang, Jiaozuo, Henan), and he was born in Zhengzhou Xingyang (now Xingyang City, Zhengzhou, Henan Province), a famous poet in the late Tang Dynasty, was collectively known as "Xiao Li Du" with Du Mu, and "Wen Li" with Wen Tingyun. Li Shangyin was one of the few poets in the late Tang Dynasty and even the entire Tang Dynasty who deliberately pursued poetic beauty. He is good at poetry writing, and his parallel prose has high literary value. His poems have novel ideas and beautiful styles. In particular, some love poems and untitled poems are sentimental, beautiful and moving, and are widely read. However, some poems (represented by Jin Se) are too obscure and confusing to be understood. There is a saying that "poets always love Xikun and hate that no one writes Zheng Jian." In the second year of Emperor Wenzong's reign (837), Li Shangyin became a Jinshi and served as Secretary, Provincial Secretary, and Hongnong Lieutenant. Because he was involved in the political whirlpool of the "Niu-Li Party Controversy", he was marginalized and struggled throughout his life. In the late Dazhong year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (about 858), Li Shangyin died of illness in Zhengzhou and was buried in his hometown of Xingyang. Some people also say that he was buried at the foot of Qinghua Beishan in the east plain of Yongdian, Huaizhou (now Wangzhuang Town, Qinyang Mountain), his ancestral home.