Candles are common lighting objects in our lives, and ancient poets often use them to write poems. This thing appeared in classical poems very early, such as "Nineteen Ancient Poems Less than 100": "The days are short and the nights are long, why not candle?" It's about the ancients lighting candles and laughing. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, many poems and songs about candles appeared, such as Ode to Candle by Yu Xin and Ode to Candle by Xiao Yan. At that time, most of them were described as lighting objects, but they did not really become common images in literary works. There are a lot of descriptions of candles in Tang poetry, and candles have become lyrical images of literati. Among them, Li Shangyin is a poet who uses candles in his poems. Influenced by this, poets after the Tang Dynasty often use this image in their poems.
First, Li Shangyin's "Candle" Image Poems
Li Shangyin (A.D. 8 13-858), a famous poet in the late Tang Dynasty, wrote Li Yishan Poems [1]. His poems are unique in conception and exquisite in style, especially some love poems and untitled poems are even more touching. At the same time, Li Shangyin's poems are rich in images, including sunset, bluebird, moon, butterfly, dream, mirror, lamp and candle. The image of candle appears in his next four poems: "Candle torch" in "Spring silkworms are weaving until they die, and candles will cry the wick away every night"; The "candle" in "the windmill rains and the horse doesn't support it, and the candle crows red and complains"; The "wax" in "Green burning monarch candle in its kingfisher-feather lamp, musk deer embroidered hibiscus"; The "wax lamp" in "Across the Spring Wine", while it warms me, I will show you how to bet. There, we roll the dice in groups under the crimson lamp. The untitled time of the whole poem was a long time before I met her, but it has been longer since we broke up as follows:
It was a long time ago that I met her, but since we separated, the time has become longer, the east wind is blowing, and a hundred flowers are blooming. Silkworms in spring will weave until they die, and candles will drain the wick every night. In the morning, she saw her hair cloud changing in the mirror, but she bravely faced the cold of the moonlight with her evening song. There are not many roads to Pengshan. Oh, Bluebird, listen! -Give me what she said! .
The poem Untitled Time was a long time before I met her, but it was longer after we separated. It was mainly about lovers who were separated from each other. It's hard to meet each other because of the distance, and it's hard to expect to meet each other, especially when it's time to leave. After parting, the poet and his loved ones are deeply attached to each other, and the poet pursues love regardless of difficulties and obstacles. This poem is novel and ingenious in conception, uses metaphor and personification, and has a lingering style, which embodies the lingering, sincere and touching characteristics of Li Shangyin's love poems.
Second, the interpretation of the candle image
Regarding the meaning of candle image, Ye Jiaying thinks that in the tradition of China classical literature, the symbolic meaning of candle has three meanings: it symbolizes a bright and brilliant mind; Symbolizes crying and tears; It symbolizes the suffering of the center. The above is the symbolic meaning of convention. On the interpretation of the image of "candle" in Li Shangyin's poems, some people think it is "feminization tendency, tenderness tendency and pathos tendency" [2], while others interpret it as "dedication". The candle image in Untitled Time was a long time before I met her, but even after we broke up, the author thought it was a symbol of lovesickness and a manifestation of persistent love. It is a symbol of life.
(1) The symbol of love and lovesickness, the embodiment of persistent love.
In China's ancient poems, the images symbolizing love include swan goose, bluebird, red bean, lotus, lovebird, Puwei, rock, mandarin duck, red leaf, swallow, spotted bamboo and so on. Candles symbolize the meaning of love, which did not exist from the beginning, but were gradually given by literati in past dynasties who constantly integrated their feelings into it and described specific events. With the continuous internalization of this meaning in literati poetry, it finally became a symbol of love and acacia. Li Shangyin is a poet who writes poems with candles. The "Candle Tears" in his works is a typical representative of eternal love, especially the candle image in Untitled (long before I met her, but longer after we parted), which is a typical symbol of love and acacia, and also a manifestation of love persistence.
Li Shangyin suffered a lot in his life and experienced many emotional setbacks. "At the age of 27, he married Wang Maoyuan's daughter, and the couple had deep feelings. But he spent half his life as an adjutant, and Wang took care of his children at home alone and lived a poor life without regrets. In the fifth year of Dazhong, the poet came home with a curtain call and his wife Wang died. Poets who are immersed in the pain of losing their wives cannot extricate themselves. " [3] The long-term separation of lovesickness between husband and wife and the nostalgia for his dead wife have become the emotions repeatedly implied in his poems. Because of his personal experience, his love thoughts and untitled poems can be written very touching; Because these images condense the poet's complex emotions and sustenance, his untitled poems are particularly obscure to read.