Liu Yuxi’s Jinling nostalgic poem is very artistic. The poem implicitly embodies the warning of national subjugation in a musical phenomenon. It can be said to be profound and evocative to read.
Jinling Nostalgic
Liu Yuxi
The tide is full of Yecheng Zhu,
The sun is setting at the imperial pavilion.
The new grass in Caizhou is green,
The old smoke of the shogunate is green.
The ups and downs are determined by personnel,
The topography of mountains, rivers and empty spaces.
The song "Flowers in the Back Garden",
The resentment is unbearable to listen to.
Appreciation of Liu Yuxi’s Poems
In the winter of the second year of Baoli (826), Liu Yuxi returned to Luoyang from Hezhou and passed through Jinling. Judging from the description of the scene in the poem, this poem was probably written in the early spring of the next year.
"The tide is full of Yecheng and Zhu, and the sun is setting at the imperial pavilion." The first couplet writes about the morning scene and the dusk scene. The poet came to the riverside in search of the ruins of Yecheng, the place where Dongwu was smelted. It happened that the morning tide was rising, the water and sky were wide, and the river was full of wind and waves. Where is Yecheng, a historic site famous for its smelting of Wu knives and Wu hooks? The poet wandered around in search, but looked around at a loss. There was only the sound of the waves lapping the shore and the desolate scene along the river. It seems to tell people: Yecheng, like the Wu Kingdom's ambitious hegemony, has long since disappeared in the long river of time. At dusk, the Zhenglu Pavilion stood lonely in the setting sun, accompanied by nothing more than a long black shadow cast on the ground. The lively scene where the noble families of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Wang Xie and his family once bid farewell to each other have long since disappeared. Although the pavilion and the sunset remain the same, the human affairs have completely changed.
In the first two sentences of the poem, the contrast between ups and downs is cleverly expressed in the language of the scenery, so that the poem will closely follow the title as soon as it is written, and naturally reveal the feeling of mourning the past and regretting the present.
"The new grass in Caizhou is green, and the old smoke of the shogunate is green." Although the two sentences in the couplet still describe scenery, the scenery written here is not only a tribute to historical relics, but also witnesses the majestic and beautiful mountains and rivers. It vividly expresses the poet's understanding of the changes in prosperity and decline. Lo and behold, although the time is in the cold spring, Caizhou, located in the middle of the river, has already grown a piece of new green grass; the Shogunate Mountain, known as the gateway to Jinling, is looking majestically towards the river, with green smoke rising from the top of the mountain, and the scene is still the same as before. . Facing the surging river, the poet recalled that Su Jun, a warlord of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, once attacked Jinling in an attempt to establish hegemony by relying on dangers. Soon Tao Kan and Wen Qiao raised troops to fight against the rebellion, and their 40,000-strong fleet was stationed in Caizhou. For a while, the boats and boats looked at each other, their flags covered the sky, and they fought fiercely for many days. Finally, they defeated Su Jun and put the Jin Dynasty in danger. He also remembered that Shogunate Mountain was named because Prime Minister Wang Dao once established a shogunate garrison here. But once upon a time, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was still replaced by the Liu Song Dynasty, and Liu Yiji, the king of Hengyang, served as the governor of South Yanzhou. This mountain has since become the ancestral home of the new nobles of the Liu Song Dynasty.
Have the mountains, rivers and scenery changed in the changing history? No, what the poet sees is still: the spring grass is green every year, and the old smoke is green every year. This connection integrates ancient and present events with the immediate future. The six characters "new grass green" and "old smoke green" are prominently highlighted, blending the scenes and paving the way for the following emotions.
"The rise and fall depends on personnel, and the mountains and rivers are empty and terrain." The neck couplet continues the previous two couplets and turns into discussion. The poet revealed the secrets of the rise and fall of the Six Dynasties in extremely concise language and warned the world. Where has the prosperity of the Six Dynasties gone? Where are the powerful people at that time now? The dangerous mountain and river situation did not provide guarantee for their long-term peace and stability; the rise and fall of the country should have depended on personnel matters! In this couplet, the poet thought about thousands of miles away, wrote great poems by himself, and put forward the outstanding insight that the existence of the country "depends on virtue but not on danger". Later, two of the four poems from Wang Anshi's "Jinling Nostalgia": "Heavenly soldiers marched south to this bridge river, and the enemy country pointed Gu Jiang at that time. The mountains and rivers are majestic and empty, and the king's divine power is unparalleled." This is how it was transformed. This shows the high level of discussion and outstanding knowledge.
The last couplet is "The song "Flowers in the Back Garden" is full of resentment and unbearable to listen to." The emperors of the Six Dynasties relied on natural dangers and indulged in pleasure and their countries perished. Have the lessons of history been learned by future generations? The poet used the still popular "Flowers in the Backyard of Yushu" to imply that the rulers of the Tang Dynasty today relied on the dangers of hundreds of mountains and rivers in Guanzhong and indulged in sensual pleasures, following in the footsteps of the Six Dynasties, and the consequences were unimaginable.
"Flowers in the Backyard of Yushu" is recognized as the sound of national subjugation. The poem implicitly embodies the warning of national subjugation in a musical phenomenon, which is profound.
The poet Du Mu of the late Tang Dynasty wrote "Boarding in Qinhuai": "The merchant girl did not know the hatred of the country's subjugation, but she still sang "Flowers in the Back Garden" across the river", which was born out of this.
"Zhen Yizhai Poetry" says: "When chanting an epic poem, you don't have to refer to the facts. It can be seen from the famous works of the ancients." This is the case with Liu Yuxi's poem. The first couplet sways from the front of the title, and the last couplet comes from the title. Then he meandered away. The first two couplets only point out the scenic spots and historic sites in Jinling related to the Six Dynasties to hint at the reasons for the rise and fall of the ages, rather than to commemorate one dynasty, one emperor, one event, or one thing. The last two couplets use discussion and emotion to draw on the past and satirize the present, revealing the theme of the whole poem.
This technique is quite clever and can be used for reference in epic poems and nostalgic poems.
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