"Liangzhou Ci"
(Tang Dynasty) Wang Zhihuan
Far above the Yellow River among the white clouds, there is an isolated city in the Wanren Mountain.
Why should the Qiang flute blame the willows?
The spring breeze does not pass through Yumen Pass.
Liangzhou Ci: also known as "Crossing the Fortress". Lyrics for a popular song at the time, "Liangzhou". Guo Maoqian's "Modern Songs and Lyrics" in Volume 79 of "Anthology of Yuefu Poems" contains "Liangzhou Song" and quotes from "Le Yuan": ""Liangzhou" is a palace tune played by Guo Zhiyun, the governor of Central and Western Liang Prefecture in the Kaiyuan Dynasty." Liangzhou , belonging to Longyou Road in the Tang Dynasty, and its governance was in Guzang County (now Liangzhou District, Wuwei City, Gansu Province).
Wang Zhihuan’s poem describes the nostalgia of soldiers guarding the border. The writing is desolate and generous, sad without losing its grandeur. Although it tries its best to exaggerate the resentment of the garrison soldiers who cannot return home, it does not have the slightest sense of depression and depression, fully demonstrating the open-minded and broad-mindedness of the poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
The first sentence "The Yellow River is far above the white clouds" captures the characteristics of distant views and paints a moving picture: On the vast plateau, the Yellow River rushes away. Looking far to the west, it seems that it flows into Just like the white clouds. The second sentence, "An isolated city in Wanren Mountain", writes about the isolated city on the fortress. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, an isolated city on the frontier stands tall. These two sentences describe the majestic momentum of the motherland's mountains and rivers, outline the geographical situation of this important national defense town, highlight the desolate situation of the border guards, and provide a typical environment for the latter two sentences to depict the psychology of the defenders. Appreciation:
In this environment, I suddenly heard the sound of the Qiang flute, and the tune it played happened to be "Folding Willows", which could not but arouse the sorrow of separation among the soldiers. The ancients had the custom of breaking off willow trees and giving them to each other before parting. "Liu" and "Liu" are homophonic, so gifting willow means taking a commemoration. The Northern Dynasties Yuefu's "Drum and Horn Horizontal Blowing Song" includes "Breaking Willow Branches". The lyrics say: "When you get on your horse, you don't catch the whip, but instead bend the willow branches. When you get off your horse, you play the horizontal flute, worried about killing the travelers." The song mentions the breaking of willow branches when travelers are leaving. This style of breaking willows to give farewell was extremely popular in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, willows and farewell have a close connection. Now, when the soldiers on the border hear the sad melody "Breaking Willows" played on the Qiang flute, they will inevitably feel sad about parting. Therefore, the poet explained in a cheerful tone: Why does the Qiang flute always play the sad tune "Breaking Willows"? You know, outside the Yumen Pass is a place where the spring breeze cannot blow, so there are no willows to break! To say "why complain" does not mean that there is no need to complain, nor does it mean to advise the garrison soldiers not to complain, but that it is useless to complain. The use of the three words "why complain" makes the poem more subtle and profound.
The third and fourth lines, Yang Shen of the Ming Dynasty believed that they contained ironic meaning. In his book "Sheng'an Poetry Talk", he said: "This poem is not as kind as the frontier fortress. It is said that the king's gate is thousands of miles away." "The author writes that there is no spring breeze there, using nature as a metaphor for the fact that the supreme ruler who lives in the prosperous imperial capital is not considerate of the people's sentiments and ignores the soldiers who go out to Yumen Pass to guard the border. Ancient Chinese poetry has always had a tradition of "responsibility", not to mention "poems are incomprehensible". We think it is not impossible for readers to understand it this way, but we cannot be sure that the author really meant this.
The specific explanation of these two sentences: Since the spring breeze cannot blow outside the Yumen Pass, the willows outside the pass will naturally not spit out leaves. What is the use of "blaming" it?
Reference materials
Gushiwen website: http://so.gushiwen.org/