The Tang Dynasty was a period when the imagery of classical poetry in my country was particularly prominent. Among the many images in Tang poetry, the one that makes people endlessly chant is the diverse image of "rain". Whether it is the light rain in Han Yu's works, "The light rain in the streets is as moist as crisp, the color of grass looks far away but is not there"; or the good rain in Du Fu's works, "good rain knows the season, and spring will happen"; or the new rain in Wang Wei's works , "After the new rain in the empty mountains, the weather comes late in autumn"; all have meaningful aesthetic meaning, which makes people have endless aftertaste after reading.
In short, when reading Tang poetry, you can hear the sound of rain everywhere. Take the late Tang poet Li Shangyin as an example. In his poems, the image of "rain" is used as many as 73 times, while the word "clear" corresponding to "rain" is only 10 times. In this article, let us take a look at the meaningful aesthetic meaning of the image of "rain" and the unique feelings, experiences and emotions contained in it through Li Shangyin's poem "Light Rain". First of all, "Light Rain" is a five-character quatrain composed by Li Shangyin. It was written when he was an inspector in the Chu shogunate of Linghu, the governor of the Tianping Army.
As a poem about objects, the most important thing is to convey the spirit of the object, describe it in detail, and convey the inner emotion of the image. "Mild Rain" is such a work, and it writes from a virtual point of view throughout, avoiding the image of rain from the front. Instead, it uses the surrounding related things and the poet's subjective feelings to highlight the light rain from the side. image. To put it simply, there is not a single word "rain" in the whole text, but rain is written in every sentence. This shows Li Shangyin's superb technical level.
"Light Rain"
At the beginning, it moved with the forest mist, and the night became slightly cooler.
The lamp is cold from the window, and the courtyard is empty and the water smells close.
The first sentence "The mist moved with the forest at the beginning" means that at the beginning, the light rain floated with the mist in the woods, and it was difficult to tell whether it was fog or rain. Combined with the following, we can see that the light rain described by Li Shangyin happened in the evening. The light rain is not easy to detect, and it is difficult to express it clearly. Therefore, Li Shangyin deliberately chose "forest mist" as a foil, so that people can visually see the image of light rain, just like the mist in the woods in the evening.
The second sentence "It's a little cooler at night" means that after a while, the light rain fell with the night, giving it a bit of coolness. Obviously, the first sentence is a visual description, and the second sentence is a tactile description. In other words, the light rain is not easy to detect, but when night falls, you can feel its slightest coolness. If it were during the day, the feeling of light rain might end there. But if the light rain at night continues for a long time, the temperature will gradually drop, and there will be "window intrusion and light coldness".
"The windows are so cold that the lights are so cold", that is, when the night gets deeper, the coolness of the light rain passes through the windows, making the lights in the house seem to have a coolness. In other words, the poet can feel the coolness of the drizzle outside even if he is far away from the window in the house. The last sentence, "The courtyard is empty and close to the water, I can hear it" deliberately describes the sound of light rain from the perspective of hearing. Even if you listen carefully, you can still feel the slight patter coming from the empty yard. Since it is light rain, its sound must be difficult to detect, so Li Shangyin used "virtual" and "near" to meet the conditions of "smell".
Looking at Li Shangyin's poem, it is obvious that the descriptions are written from a virtual place, with the help of related things around "forest mist" and "night cool", as well as "invading lamps and cold" and "near water". "Smell" is the subjective feeling of people, which highlights the image of light rain. Li Shangyin's poem about rain is so vivid and detailed, which undoubtedly reflects his superb technical level. It can be regarded as a classic of poems about rain in Tang poetry.
Of course, there are many more "rains" in Tang poetry. Which kind of rain do you most admire in the poet's writings?