Quatrains
Dynasty: Tang Dynasty | Author: Du Fu
Two orioles sing in the green willows, and a row of egrets ascends to the blue sky.
The window contains Qianqiu snow of Xiling, and the door is docked with a ship thousands of miles away from Dongwu.
Translation and annotations
Translation
Two orioles sang gracefully among the green willow trees, and a neat group of egrets soared into the blue sky.
I sit in front of the window and can see the snow that never melts all year round on the west ridge, and the ships that have traveled thousands of miles away from Soochow are moored in front of the door.
Notes
(1) Xiling: Xiling Snow Mountain.
(2) Qianqiu Snow: refers to the snow on Xiling Snow Mountain that has not melted for thousands of years.
(3) Mooring: mooring.
(4) Soochow: The territory of the Wu Kingdom in ancient times, around Jiangsu Province.
(5) Wanli Ship: A ship traveling thousands of miles away. [3]
(6) "Quatrain" is the name of the poem and does not directly indicate the content of the poem. This form is convenient for writing about a scene or object and expressing the author's feelings at a moment. What the poet saw occasionally triggered his inner passion, and he wrote down his own feelings without thinking about the topic for a while, so he used the metrical "quatrains" of the poem as the title. Du Fu wrote a group of poems in this form, consisting of four poems, with "quatrains" as the general title. "Quatrain·Two Orioles Singing the Green Willow" is one of them. The poem uses natural beauty to convey a fresh and relaxed mood. In the first two sentences, "yellow" is used to contrast "emerald", and "white" is used to contrast "green". The bright colors bring out the vitality of early spring. The first sentence is about orioles sitting on willows and singing, and the second sentence is about egrets flying into the sky. The space is much wider, from bottom to top, from near to far. The first two sentences of "The window contains the Qianqiu snow of Xiling" have pointed out that it was early spring and the autumn snow in winter was about to melt, which gave readers a moist feeling. The last sentence further expresses Du Fu's complicated mood at that time - saying that the ship came from "Soochow". This sentence means that the war has been calmed down, transportation has been restored, and the poet feels emotional after seeing things and misses his hometown.
Reference materials:
1. Wang Ziwen, Li Zhongwei. "Selected Excellent Ancient Poems": Ningbo Publishing House, 2008.12: Page 46 2. Li Dan, Meng Xun. Primary school students must memorize ancient poems: Jilin People's Publishing House, 2013: Page 48
Creative background
In 762 AD, during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, Yin Yanwu from Chengdu entered the dynasty. At that time, due to " During the Anshi Rebellion, Du Fu fled to Zizhou for a time. The next year, the rebellion was put down and Yan Wu returned to Chengdu. Du Fu also returned to Chengdu thatched cottage. At that time, he was in a good mood. Faced with the vitality of this school, he couldn't help but write this short poem on the spot.
Reference materials:
1. Bookish childhood. "75 Ancient Poems Must Be Memorized by Primary School Students": Jiangsu Children's Publishing House, 2013: 49-50
Appreciation 2
This "Quequatrain" was written by a poet who lived in Huanhuaxi, Chengdu It was written when the Thatched Cottage was around, describing the bright and beautiful spring scenery around the Thatched Cottage.
The poem begins with a vibrant natural beauty, creating a fresh and relaxing atmosphere. In the first two sentences, the poet describes this beautiful scenery in detail from different angles. Emerald is fresh green, the color in early spring when everything revives and sprouts vitality. "Two" and "one" are opposite; one horizontally and one vertically, a very bright natural scenery unfolds. In this poem, the word "Ming" is the most expressive. It uses anthropomorphic techniques to describe the oriole more lively. The birds come in pairs, forming a vibrant picture with a festive atmosphere. The orioles sit on the willows and sing, which is the vitality that moves in silence. The next sentence uses more obvious momentum to describe the vitality of nature. The egrets fly in this fresh sky. This is not only a free and easy way. Comfortable, and a kind of upward striving. Furthermore, the first sentence describes the orioles sitting on the willows and singing, and the second sentence writes the egrets flying into the sky. The space is much wider. From bottom to top, from near to far, the poet can see and feel everything. The whole environment is filled with vitality, which shows the vitality of early spring from another angle.
The third sentence, "The window contains the Qianqiu snow of Xiling", the poet looks out the window. Because the air in early spring is fresh and the sky is sunny, he can see the Xiling Snow Mountain. The previous two sentences have pointed out that it was early spring, and the autumn snow in winter was about to melt, which gave readers a moist feeling. There is a word "han" between "window" and "snow" in this sentence, expressing When the snow first melts, the moisture moistens the window lattice that has been frozen in winter, which better expresses the poet's feelings about the vitality of early spring with moisture. As for "Xiling", the poet saw the first melting ice and snow in front of the window and thought of the Xiling near the grass hall. He thought of the long-lasting snow on the Xiling Mountain and replaced the remaining snow on the window with the eternal snow on the Xiling. The artistic conception expressed is broader. In addition, the poet has had the ambition to serve the country since he was a boy. After decades of obstacles, he finally had the opportunity to re-implement it, and the years of war were quelled. This is the same as the poet seeing the melting snow in front of the window and thinking of Xiling, and The thousand-year snow on the ridge replaces the lingering snow on the windows, which gives the poet a perfect connection with the feeling of the stubborn snow melting away.
The last sentence further describes Du Fu's complicated mood at that time. When it is said that the ship comes from "Soochow", this sentence means that the war has been calmed down, transportation has been restored, and the poet feels emotional after seeing things and misses his hometown.
The use of the word "Bo" has a profound meaning. Du Fu has been wandering for many years without a destination. Although he still has a little hope in his heart, that hope has been greatly reduced. The word "park" just describes the poet's complicated mood between hope and disappointment. "Wanli" implies the difficulty of achieving the goal, which is juxtaposed with "Qianqiu" in the third sentence. One is from the perspective of time, and the other is from the perspective of space, both describing the difficulty of achieving the goal. Sun Quan of the Three Kingdoms has been hailed as the Lord of the Ming Dynasty by many scholars since ancient times. The author uses Soochow to refer to Sun Quan, hinting at Du Fu's hope for the current emperor. The combination of "Bo", "Wanli" and "Dongwu Ship" into one sentence is precisely to write the word "difficult".
The whole poem seems to be one sentence per scene, four independent pictures, but the poet's inner emotions make the content consistent. The fresh and light scenery expresses the poet's inner complex emotions, forming a unified artistic conception. At the beginning, the spring scenery of the thatched cottage was shown, and the poet's mood was peaceful. However, as his eyes wandered and the scenery changed, the appearance of the river boat touched his nostalgia. On the surface, it shows a lively scene, but within the cheerful and bright scene, it expresses the poet's sense of loss about the passage of time, loneliness and boredom, and also describes the poet's complex mood when there is a glimmer of hope again. Beyond that hope, there is more of the poet's sentimentality towards disappointment.
The first couplet of the poem is a set of antithetical sentences. There are many willows around the thatched cottage, and a pair of orioles are singing happily on the new green willow branches. It is a pleasant scene, full of sound and color, forming a fresh and beautiful artistic conception. "Cui" means fresh green, and "Green Willow" means the phenology of early spring, when willow branches have just sprouted buds. "Two orioles singing in the green willows", the birds are in pairs, showing a vitality and a festive meaning. The second sentence writes about the egret flying freely in the blue sky. This long-legged bird flies gracefully and naturally. The sky is clear and blue, and the egrets are extremely vivid in color against the "blue sky". The four distinct colors of "yellow", "emerald", "white" and "green" are used in succession in the two sentences to weave a gorgeous picture; the first sentence also has a description of the sound, conveying extremely joyful emotions.
The second couplet of the poem is also composed of antithetical sentences. The previous sentence is written through the window overlooking the snowy mountains of the Western Mountains. The snow on the ridge does not melt all year round, so there is accumulation of "thousands of years of snow". The snow-capped mountains cannot be seen when the weather is bad. They are only clearly visible on sunny days when the air is clear. Using the word "Han", this scene seems to be a picture embedded in the window frame, very close to the present. It is self-evident that the poet feels comfortable after seeing such a rare beauty. In the next sentence, if you glance outside the door, you can see the boats moored on the river bank. River boats are common, but the words "thousand-mile boats" have a profound meaning. Because they come from "Soochow". When people think that these ships will soon sail along the Minjiang River, through the Three Gorges, and directly to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, they will feel very unusual. Because of years of war, water and land transportation were blocked by the war, and ships could not travel thousands of miles smoothly. But after the war was calmed down and traffic was restored, ships from Soochow were seen, and the poet could "return to his hometown with his youth as his companion". How could it not make people happy? "Wanli Ship" is opposite to "Qianqiu Snow", one word is about the vastness of space, and the other is about the long time. The poet is in the thatched cottage, thinking for thousands of years, seeing thousands of miles, and how broad his mind is!
This quatrain contains one scene and one sentence, but they are integrated into one. What connects them is the poet's inner mood. On the surface, it shows a lively scene, but within the cheerful and bright scene, it expresses the poet's sense of loss about the passage of time, loneliness and boredom, and also describes the poet's complex mood when there is a glimmer of hope again. Beyond that hope, there is more of the poet's sentimentality towards disappointment, and the uncertainty and hesitation about whether the hope can come true. The purpose of this poem is to express the poet's complex emotions with fresh and light scenery.
Reference materials:
1. Bookish childhood. "Primary School Students Must Memorize 75 Ancient Poems": Jiangsu Children's Publishing House, 2013: 49-50 2. Zhan Dan. Three Hundred Tang Poems: "East China Normal University Press", 2003: Page 71
Appreciation
"Two orioles sing in the green willows, and a line of egrets ascends to the blue sky" Two orioles It's singing, there's a sound. "A row of egrets ascending to the blue sky", this is a behavior and an action. One horizontally and one vertically, "two" and "one" are opposite; one horizontally and one vertically, a very bright natural scenery unfolds. In this poem, the word "Ming" is the most expressive, using anthropomorphic techniques to describe the oriole more vividly. Then Du Fu talked about "the window contains thousands of years of snow on the Xiling Mountains". My window contains the snow accumulated in Minshan Mountain for thousands of years. The Minshan Mountain to the west is a Minshan Mountain with thousands of years of snow. "The Dongwu Wanli Ship is parked at the door." There is a ship thousands of miles long parked at my door. This creates a welcome and a send-off, welcoming the snow-covered mountains into your field of vision and sending the boat downstream. The fact that the "Ten Thousand Mile Ship" can pass also means that the "Anshi Rebellion" has come to an end and is close to being quelled. At this time, the ship can also pass, and business people can come and go on this river. So a poem like this is very beautiful in itself, and in addition, its four sentences are all antithetical. Quatrains have been around since the Six Dynasties. After the Tang Dynasty, quatrains have become a very mature art. Many of our famous poems use quatrains.
Quatrains are four sentences. The four sentences often either do not contrast with each other, or the first two sentences of the four sentences describe the scene but the last two lyric sentences do not match each other, or the first two sentences do not conflict with each other and the last two sentences conflict with each other. So now his poem has four sentences. It can be said that it is a very neat and carefully written poem. There was a time when Du Fu wrote a poem that made people "will not stop until their words are astonishing", so he refined this poem over and over again.