Appreciation
The first couplet "I heard about Dongting water in the past, and now I go up to Yueyang Tower". One thing is very clear. The poet has longed for Dongting Lake for a long time. This is a feeling that is naturally revealed in the narrative and scenery writing. But this is after all a longing for the past. After climbing the Yueyang Tower, my feelings should be happiness. Because the longing for many years has come true, I must be happy. But if you taste it carefully, you can't find the word "happy" in the sentence, and you can't find the feeling of getting your wish. Contact below even more so. In fact, there is a long distance between "past" and "now" in these two sentences. The author widens this distance and does not fill it with simple words of "happiness" and "sadness", but It is left to the readers’ imagination and aftertaste. The ancients said that "the beauty of rhythmic poetry lies in the wordless place", and this is the wordless place. Between "past" and "now", the sky is changing, the earth is changing, the country is changing, and people are also changing. The Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty's transition from prosperity to decline, the people's profound disasters, and Du Fu's personal tragic experience, all of these were condensed together in Du Fu's heart, and followed the poet to the Yueyang Tower. He couldn't be happy. It should be said that "Today I go up to the Yueyang Tower" is because I have been dreaming of climbing it for many years, and now I have finally climbed it. This is a long sigh, and inside the long sigh is a group of emotions about the country, the people, the time and the world. This long sigh, like the introduction of the aria, opens the following movements. Here we should also note the word "water". The title is "Climbing Yueyang Tower", but the first sentence says Dongting Lake first, and the second sentence says "Yueyang Tower", and it is "Dongting Water" not Dongting Lake. The word "water" obviously needs to be highlighted. This captures the main characteristics of the Dongting scenery and shows that the following text is mainly about "water".
The chin couplet reads "Wu and Chu are in the southeast, and the universe floats day and night." These two sentences are closely related to the word "water" in the first couplet. Although the word "water" does not appear, it specifically refers to Dongting water. The poet stood on the Yueyang Tower and looked toward the southeast. He saw Dongting Lake, a vast expanse of water that could not be seen to the end, while the land of Wu was pushed far to the east, and the land of Chu was pushed far to the west and south. . This scene is like the water of Dongting Lake extending to the southeast, suddenly splitting the Wu and Chu lands into two parts. The word "卼" is used very well and has a sense of dynamics. It was as if the lake was extending and the earth was being cut open. The last sentence "Qiankun" refers to heaven and earth, including all things in heaven and earth. "The universe floats day and night" means that the poet stood on the Yueyang Tower and looked around. There was endless Dongting water everywhere, as if the entire world was floating on the water of the lake. It seemed as if everything in the world was floating on the water of Dongting Lake day and night. . The word "floating" also has a sense of movement. It reminds people of a hemisphere in which the entire sky is supported by the lake, and the movement of all things is the result of the turbulence of the lake. These two sentences are about Dongting water, which has a grand realm. One is to describe the width of the water surface, and the other is to describe the power of the water. The ability to split the earth and float the universe is the ultimate expression of its power. The hugeness of the divided and floating things shows the breadth of the lake. This is not a simple exaggeration, there is a problem of vision, feeling and imagination. Since the earth is round, human vision is limited. Facing the vast lake, you may not be able to see the shore. Even if you can see it, it is just a line from a distance. This causes the lake to be infinitely large and very far away. Feeling cramped. The poet accurately and truly captured this visual and sensory illusion, and described the lake as boundless in all directions, as if the earth was full of water towns and rivers. This is the reality of visual perception. But with the help of imagination, the poet integrated the originally invisible land of Wu and Chu and the entire universe into this visual and sensory picture. This creates an imaginary vast scene in which the Chu land of Wu Di is split open and the entire universe is floated. This is the image formed with the help of imagination. This is the result of incorporating the imagined wider scene into the visual picture. This means that "Wu Chu is in the southeast, and the universe floats day and night" is a product of visual illusion and imagination. This is a very successful macro image. Its main characteristics are its broad realm and grandeur. Such large-scale macro images and boldness are rare in ancient Chinese poetry. For example, Meng Haoran also wrote a poem about Dongting Lake, "Steaming clouds and dreamy lakes, waves shaking Yueyang City", but the realm of his poems is not as high as that of Du Shi. These two sentences are descriptions of scenery, but they cannot be regarded as pure descriptions of scenery. The poet's mind is permeated in the description of scenery. "Wu and Chu lie southeast, and the universe floats day and night" reveals the division and decline of the Tang Dynasty and the instability of the country.
The two lines in the neck couplet, "There are no relatives or friends, and there is no boat for old age and illness" describe the poet's own situation. "No word" means there is no news or news at all. "No words for relatives or friends" describes the poet's loneliness, but the main reason is that he is cut off from communication and does not understand the situation at court and local level, that is, the situation in the entire country. For a poet who never forgets the king, the country, and the people, this is a sense of loneliness that has been forgotten by society. He is undoubtedly very painful mentally. "Lonely boat" refers to the fact that the poet's family was crowded in a small boat and lived adrift. They were cut off from news, were old and sick, and drifted in a lonely boat. One can imagine the misery in their spirit and life. To understand these two sentences, we should look at them in conjunction with the first two sentences. The first two sentences are about looking from a distance. Looking along the lake to all directions, the water and the sky meet, thinking of Wu Chu and the whole universe. Looking closely at these two sentences, he saw the lone boat. The lone boat was the most touching thing that caught his eye in the close-up view. It reminded him of his own life experience, experiences and situation. It can be said that both of these couplets are derived from viewing, but the first two sentences are mainly about what you see while viewing, and the last two sentences are mainly about the associations caused by what you are seeing. These two couplets are also connected in connotation.
On the surface they seem to have no connection, but in fact they are connected. Since the last two sentences describe his lonely and miserable situation, it should be inferred that the first two sentences are by no means just describing the scenery. In fact, the first two sentences use the distant scenery to symbolically and figuratively hint at the unrest of the country. This contains the sequelae of the Anshi Rebellion: the decline of the Tang Dynasty, the suffering of the people, the invasion of foreigners, the fragmentation of the country and social instability, the lack of pillar officials, etc., all of which are major events that Du Fu never forgets during his wandering. It is precisely because the poet is concerned about state affairs and civil affairs that he is worried. So when he saw the vast Dongting Lake, he would also think that the earth was cracking open and the universe was floating day and night. Judging from Du Fu's consistent ideological state of valuing the country and caring for the people, when he climbed up the Yueyang Tower and looked far into the distance, he would definitely think of this. It can be said that if you didn't expect these, you wouldn't be Du Fu. It is precisely because the poet's heart is churning with worrying national and civil affairs that he naturally arouses the sadness that he can no longer display his ambitions. So this sad situation of being alone in a boat, being old, weak and sick, and having no news, naturally came to mind. In these two couplets, the first couplet has a great realm, while the second couplet has a very small realm. The size complements each other, and it also contains the poet's infinite emotion. As far as the scene is concerned, the first couplet shows the vast Dongting Lake, while the second couplet depicts a solitary boat on the water. The lake is turbulent and the boat is floating. Although they are different in size, they are unified in one painting. If the water of Dongting Lake is compared to the entire country, then the lone boat is the poet Du Fu himself. This is a symbol. This sharply contrasting harmony not only contains the poet's pain and injustice for his life-long experience, but also reflects the poet's close connection with his own destiny and the destiny of the country. The poet stood on the Yueyang Tower, looking at the lake and the lonely boat, thinking of the country and himself, and all kinds of emotions lingered in his heart. "If it is not wide, a narrow place will not be painful; if it is narrow, a wide place will be empty." Comparing "Qiankun" and "Guzhou", the big one is more vast, and the narrow one is more lonely.
The last couplet is "Army and horse pass through the north of the mountain." "Army and horse" refers to war horses and soldiers and horses, which refers to war. "Guanshan" refers generally, not specifically to that pass or that mountain. "Guanshan North" refers to the place where the war was fought. From the poet's point of view, looking from Dongting Lake to Chang'an, there are many passes and mountains, and the war is burning in the north. "The army passed the mountain north" specifically refers to the Tibetan invasion at that time, which threatened Chang'an. The war continued and the country was not peaceful. "Pingxuan Tisiliu" means that Du Fu leaned against the window of Yueyang Tower and looked north. Although he could not see Chang'an and the flames of war across the mountains, but in his mind he could see the Tibetan invasion and the danger of Chang'an. He couldn't help but burst into tears because of the suffering of the people. These two sentences represent two scenes: one is the war near Chang'an in the northwest, and the other is the old poet leaning from the window in Yueyang Tower and looking out. The two constitute a painting, the former is what the poet thinks of, and the latter is the poet's own actual scene. Chang'an and Yueyang Tower are thousands of miles apart, but there is no such distance in the poet's heart. I am really in Dongting, but my heart is in Chang'an. Although the boat is small, it holds the whole world. In his aging and sickly body, there is still beating a sincere heart that cares about the country and the people. At the same time, the sentence "The army passes the mountain north" clearly states that the poet was thinking about the country's unrest when he climbed the Yueyang Tower. This further illustrates that the second couplet is by no means just a description of the scene. The third couplet is by no means just about his own loneliness and helplessness. The sentence "Pingxuan Tears and Si Liu" embodies the poet's helpless and extremely depressed feelings after comparing the current situation of the country and his own lonely situation. It vividly and profoundly shows Du Fu's mental pain in his later years. Mental pain is mainly about helplessness.
Climbing the Yueyang Tower
Author: Du Fu
In the past I heard about the water in Dongting, now I am going up to the Yueyang Tower.
In the southeast corner of Wu and Chu, the universe floats day and night.
There are no relatives and friends, and there is no one to talk about old age and illness.
The soldiers and horses pass through the north of the mountain, and Pingxuan Tisi flows.
Translation
I have heard about the fame of Dongting Lake for a long time, and today I finally climbed up to the Yueyang Tower to watch it.
Wu Chu was mostly divided into the southeast and the southeast, and the mighty water waves surged day and night.
There is no news from any of my relatives and friends. I am old and sick, and I am like a leaf in a boat.
The war in Guanshan in the north has never stopped. I held the window and looked out into the distance and couldn’t help but shed tears as we communicated.
About the author
Du Fu (712-770), with a beautiful character, called himself Shaolingye Lao. He was not ranked as a Jinshi, but he once served as a member of the Ministry of Education and Engineering. In his later life, he was called the Ministry of Industry and Engineering. He was the greatest realist poet in the Tang Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty, he was revered as the "Sage of Poetry" and was called "Li Du" together with Li Bai. His poems boldly exposed the social contradictions of the time, expressed deep sympathy for the poor people, and were profound in content. Many excellent works show the historical process of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline, and are called "history of poetry". In art, he is good at using various poetry forms, especially rhythmic poetry. His styles are diverse, but mainly melancholy. His language is refined and he has a high degree of expressive ability. There are more than 1,400 poems in existence, including "Collection of Du Gongbu".