"The Charcoal Seller" by Bai Juyi
The Charcoal Seller cut firewood and burned charcoal in the southern mountains.
His face was dusty and smoky, his temples were gray and his fingers were black.
Where do you get money from selling charcoal? The clothes on your body and the food in your mouth.
Poor, I am wearing only plain clothes, and I am worried that the weather will be cold.
There is a foot of snow outside the city at night, and at dawn the charcoal cart rolls over the ice tracks.
The cows were trapped and the people were hungry. The sun was getting high and they rested in the mud outside the south gate of the city.
Who are the two Pian Pian cavalry coming? The messenger in yellow is in white.
Holding the document in his hand and pronouncing the edict orally, he returned to the carriage and shouted at the oxen to lead them north.
A cart of charcoal weighs more than a thousand kilograms, and the palace envoy will regret it.
Half a piece of red gauze and one foot of silk ribbon are tied directly to the cow's head and filled with charcoal.
Explanation
This poem is the 32nd of the fifty poems in Bai Juyi's "New Yuefu", written in the fourth year of Yuanhe (809). The self-note under the title: "The palace city is also suffering" explains the main theme of the poem: first, it refers to the people suffering from the palace market's swindling and plundering; second, it refers to the eunuchs' evil deeds, which ruined the name of the palace market and ruined the reputation of the royal family. Not only was he aggrieved for the people's livelihood, but he was also worried about the emperor. "Palace" refers to the royal palace, and "Shi" means to buy. Since the end of Zhenyuan (785-805), the reign of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, daily necessities in the palace were no longer handled by the government. Instead, the eunuchs "purchased" them directly from the private sector, which was called the "palace market", also known as "White Hope" (Yanshi). People look around in the city and take things in vain). Eunuchs often led their minions in the East Market, West Market and busy neighborhoods of Chang'an to forcefully purchase goods at low prices, without even paying a penny, and extorted "door money" and "fee money" from Jinfeng, which caused great harm to the people. Han Yu's "Shunzong Shilu" puts it clearly: "It's called the palace city, but it's actually taken."
Explanation of the sentence
The charcoal seller was cutting down firewood to burn charcoal in Nanshan
An old man selling charcoal chopped firewood and burned charcoal all year round in the Zhongnan Mountains. The opening chapter directly introduces the characters, introduces the charcoal seller's life of cutting firewood and burning charcoal all year round in the Zhongnan Mountains, and summarizes the complex processes and long labor process in one stroke. "Nanshan" refers to Zhongnan Mountain, one of the main peaks of the Qinling Mountains, located fifty miles south of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province.
His face is dusty and smoky, his temples are gray and his ten fingers are as black as black coal
His face is dusty and smoky; his temples are gray and his ten fingers are as black as black coals Just as black. The poet uses concise strokes to outline the appearance of the characters, focusing on three parts (face, temples, hands) and three colors (face is burnt yellow, temples are gray, and fingers are black), vividly depicting the living conditions of the charcoal seller. : One is the hardship of labor, and the other is old age. In the latter sentence, "cangcang" and "black" are in sharp contrast.
Where do you get money from selling charcoal? What is the use of the clothes on the body and the food in the mouth?
If you get a little money from selling charcoal, what do you do with it? Just for the clothes on my body and the food in my mouth. The charcoal seller is old and frail, but he still has to do heavy manual labor in the mountains. Why? These two sentences answered. These questions and answers make the article less rigid and the writing has ups and downs. His poor and miserable situation already illustrates the misfortune of life, but there is more to it than that. Therefore, this sets the stage for what follows.
It’s a pity that the clothes on his body are shabby and thin, but he is worried that the price of charcoal is too low, and he only hopes that the weather will be colder
. "Clothed and dressed" should have hoped for warm weather, but instead "wish for cold weather", just because he pinned all his hopes to solve the problem of food and clothing on "getting money from selling charcoal". These two sentences describe the protagonist's difficult situation and complex and contradictory inner activities. The word "poor" embodies the poet's deep sympathy and sense of injustice, which he can express without saying anything.
There was a foot of snow outside the city at night, and Xiao drove his charcoal cart through the ice ruts
Last night, it snowed more than a foot deep outside the city of Chang'an. Early in the morning, he packed the charcoal, hitched the ox cart, rolled through the ice and snow, and rushed to the capital market. The author did not explain the situation of the old man on the road, but you can imagine how difficult it must be to travel in the ice and snow. Although people are cold and exhausted, they are still full of hope, because after all, God has fulfilled his wishes, and those charcoal should be sold at a good price. Although the text here is simple, it is more contagious than describing it one by one.
The cow is trapped and the man is hungry. The sun is already high. Only then did he arrive at the south gate of the market and rest his feet in the mud. "The cow is trapped and the man is hungry" intertextuality: The cow is trapped, so why aren't people trapped? When people are hungry, cows are also hungry. The author does not describe the whole process of driving a car in the snow, but uses only seven words to describe the long road, the weight of the car, the thickness of the snow, and the suffering of the people. At this point, the author has temporarily stopped writing. Whether the charcoal can be sold is a matter of concern to the old man, and it is also the result that the readers are eager to know. "Market" refers to the trading bazaars of Chang'an, namely the East and West Markets.
Who are the two Pian Pian cavalry coming? Messengers in yellow and white shirts
Two people are riding horses, whipping their whips, coming gracefully. Who are they? They are purchasers sent by the palace. The one wearing yellow silk clothes is the leader, and those wearing white silk shirts are the followers. At this point in the text, the author turns his pen and switches the picture from far to near, and outlines another group of characters through questions and answers. "Pianpian" has a brisk look and a dark humorous tone. "Yellow clothes" and "white clothes" are both the eunuch's clothes. In the Tang Dynasty, eunuchs of lower rank wore yellow robes, while eunuchs of lower rank wore white robes.
The so-called "messenger" here refers to the procurement sent by the palace.
Holding documents in their hands, they pronounce the edict, return to the carriage and shout at the oxen to lead them to the north
They walked up to the charcoal seller, holding documents and vouchers, pretending to be doing things according to orders, . With that said, he turned the car around, shouted at the cow, and headed north towards the palace. "To hold", "to call", "to scold" and "to lead" are several concise and powerful verbs, which brilliantly depict the arrogance of the palace envoy like a wolf and a tiger. "Documents" are parallel official documents exchanged between administrative agencies. It stands to reason that the young eunuch would not have such an official document in his hand, let alone an "edict", which is the emperor's document. There is a sense of irony here, vividly showing the situation of the palace envoys pretending to be powerful and taking advantage of others.
A cart of charcoal weighs more than a thousand kilograms, and the palace envoy will not regret it.
That cart of charcoal weighs more than a thousand kilograms, and the palace envoy just watched helplessly. Pull away. Although the old man beat his chest and felt reluctant to give up, he had nothing to do. To burn more than 1,000 kilograms of charcoal for this cart, I don’t know how much firewood I had to cut, how many mountains I had to climb, and how many days and nights I had to endure the smoke and fire. The old man relied on selling it to make a living, but he was stopped and robbed by the palace envoy. The unspeakable grief, anger and bitterness of those who have been oppressed and bullied are all reflected in the three words "unfortunately" written by Dian Qing.
Half a piece of red gauze and one foot of white silk, tie it to the cow's head and fill it with charcoal
As a result, they only gave half a piece of red gauze and one foot of white silk, and put it on the horns of the cow. Said to be used to pay for charcoal money. "Charge" means compensation. "Charcoal straight", charcoal price. In ancient times, a horse was four or five feet long. The gauze and damask tied with the cow's head are no more than three feet together. This kind of value contrast is the greatest mockery and the most cruel harm to the charcoal seller who is full of hope and depends on his life. What Gong Shiqiang took away was not only more than a thousand kilograms of charcoal, but also his hope and right to live.
Different from other poems in "New Yuefu", the conclusion of "The Charcoal Seller" does not "show his ambition in his final chapter" and does not express a direct discussion, but suddenly breaks out in the midst of contradictions and conflicts. Stop. How will the charcoal seller live in the future, and how many people in the society will have similar experiences to him? This ending is full of words and endless meaning, leaving readers with a lot of questions for people to think about.
Comment
This is an allegorical poem. The author uses individual expressions to expose the misfortunes brought to the working people by the shortcomings of the palace market. At the same time, he also expresses his deep sympathy for the lower class working people, hoping to get the emperor's attention.
This is also a narrative poem. The author used only twenty sentences and one hundred and thirty-five words to completely describe an old man selling charcoal who burned charcoal, failed to transport the charcoal and sold the charcoal, and was robbed by the palace envoys. The whole process has clear levels and distinct context. In terms of content, it can be divided into three paragraphs. The first paragraph, from the beginning to the "worried" sentence, explains the hardships and wishes of the charcoal seller's life. The second paragraph, from the "Ye Lai" sentence to the "Shi Nan" sentence, describes his going into the city to sell charcoal. In the third paragraph, from the "Pianpian" sentence to the end, it is written that the charcoal was plundered. The whole poem has narration, description, details, and contrasts. The writing style is concise and the language is concise. In terms of summary, tailoring and rendering, the poet's ingenuity is everywhere displayed. Especially at the end, there is not a single word, and it is full of romance, just as it is said in Volume 20 of "Tang and Song Poetry": "The story is written directly, and the meaning is self-evident, not to mention a sentence.
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