Crossing the watershed
Wen Tingyun
The ruthless stream seems to have emotions, and you can walk with it after three days in the mountain.
Lingtou is the place where we part ways, the sound of farewell is heard all night long.
Transforming emotionless things into emotions is often an artistic method that makes ordinary things poetic and beautiful. This short poem illustrates this point very well.
The watershed described in the poem is probably the Jizhong Mountain in the southeast of Lueyang County, Shaanxi today. This is a place that must be passed between Qin, Shu or Qin and Liang. It was a famous traffic artery in the Tang Dynasty, so it is generally called the watershed instead of the location. The title is "Crossing the Watershed", but it actually writes about a relationship with the stream during the journey to cross the watershed, and the poetic feelings caused by it.
The first sentence starts from the stream. Streams are natural objects without emotions, but the stream in front of me seems to have emotions. Here, "merciless" is used to introduce "affectionate" and highlight "affectionate". The word "affection" is an eye-catcher, and the following three sentences are specifically described around it. The word "like" is used just right, and it reveals that this is just a subjective feeling that sometimes emerges from the poet. If you change it to the word "que", you feel that it is too emphasized and grounded; if you change it to the word "yi", it will inevitably cover up the priority and make "ruthless" and "affectionate" equally important. Only this word "like" has a lively and light meaning, and is consistent with the plain and affectionate style of the whole poem. While this sentence points out the word "affectionate", it also sets up suspense and guides readers to pay attention to the answer below.
The second sentence narrates, and the dark spot feels the reason why the stream "seems to be sentimental". Jizhong Mountain is the watershed between the Han River and the Jialing River. Because of the depth of the mountain, it takes "three days in the mountain" to reach the top of the mountain. The mountain road is winding and winding, running beside the stream, so travelers feel that the stream is always walking beside them. In fact, when you enter the mountain, you go up, but the water flow always goes down. The direction of the stream is not the same as the direction of pedestrians. However, although the stream keeps flowing in the opposite direction, its gurgling sound is accompanied all the way. Because the deep mountains are deserted and no one is around, the stream that accompanies travelers along the way becomes particularly friendly, as if it is intentionally staying around, comforting the travelers' loneliness with its clear face, flowing figure and crisp sound. From the word "de" in "get to go together", we can appreciate the poet's joy in meeting a good companion during his lonely journey; and the "affection" felt by the stream can also be seen in the word "de".
"The top of the mountain is the place where we part, and we bid farewell to the gurgling sound all night." During the "three days in the mountain" and the journey of companionship, the feeling of "the stream has feelings" inevitably increases day by day, so when we climb to the top of the mountain, When we were about to part ways with the stream, we couldn't help but feel a sense of farewell. But he does not write from his own perspective, but from the perspective of the stream, using its "parting" to further describe its "sentiment". Lingtou is a stop on the journey, and the poet stayed at Lingtou that night. In the silent night in the mountains, the only thing I could hear was the gurgling sound of the water on the mountain top, which continued all night long, as if I was saying goodbye to my friend who had been traveling with me for three days. The five words "gurgling all night long" allude to what was heard day and night during the "three days together". The sound of the stream is still the same, but when it is time to say goodbye, it is extremely natural to feel that the "gurgling sound of the stream all night long" is like its affectionate farewell sound. Here, the poet cleverly makes use of the natural characteristics of the watershed. The "ridge head" leads to the "parting" of the traveler and the stream, and the "parting" leads to the "farewell". Because of the farewell, he appreciates the sound of the stream. The rich twists and turns of association and the natural simplicity of expression achieve harmonious unity. At this point in writing, the "affection" of the stream has reached its extreme, and the poet's deep affection for the stream is self-evident.
The flowing water under the watershed has been flowing like this for thousands of years. Thousands of travelers have seen this stream, but no one seems to have discovered beauty or poetry in this ordinary scene. Because Wen Tingyun had deep experience in military life and valued the friendship between friends, he was able to discover a companion like Xi Shui and endow it with a touching human beauty. Here, rather than saying that the poetic beauty of objective things triggers the poet's emotions, it is better to say that the poet transfers his beautiful emotions to objective things. To turn ruthlessness into emotion, the premise is that the poet himself has emotion.