The complete poem of "Withered vines and old trees, dim crows, small bridges and flowing water, people's houses": The sky is pure and sand·Autumn Thoughts - Withered vines and old trees, dim crows, small bridges and flowing water, people's houses, The west wind and the thin horses on the ancient road. The sun sets in the west, and the heartbroken people are at the end of the world.
Vernacular translation: The old trees are entangled with dead vines, and the crows return to their nests at dusk. The stream gurgled under the bridge, and the smoke from the houses beside the stream filled the air. Riding a thin horse in the rustling autumn wind, walking slowly on the desolate ancient road. As the sun sets, the extremely sad wanderer wanders to the ends of the earth.
At the beginning of this song, the author describes nine pictures in succession: withered vines, old trees, dusky crows, small bridges, flowing water, people's homes, ancient roads, west wind, and thin horses. There is love in the scenery, and scenery in the love. The scenes are wonderfully combined, and on the vast and desolate background, the sad mood of the traveler wandering to the end of the world is outlined.
Getting rid of the conjunctions and directly using the combination of noun images to describe the scenery has already appeared in poetry, such as "The sound of chickens in Maodian and the moon, and the frost on Banqiao" (Wen Tingyun's "Morning Journey to Shangshan") ), "Peaches and plums in the spring breeze, a glass of wine, night rain in the rivers and lakes for ten years" (Huang Tingjian's "Sending Huang Jifu"), "The building boat crosses Guazhou in the snow at night, the iron horse disperses in the autumn wind" (Lu You's "Book of Indignation").
They are all concatenations of nouns, omitting all connections, explanations and modifications, and directly combining several images like a montage. The aspect of "image" seems to be isolated, but the aspect of "meaning" is not. There is a potential connection, which seems to be disconnected and connected, leaving the reader with room for imagination and the possibility of re-creation.
This temporarily interrupts the linear narrative process of language to a considerable extent. It makes the language of the poem more concise, more full and powerful, and greatly enhances the function of poetic imagery and spatial presentation.
Creative background:
Ma Zhiyuan was keen on fame when he was young, but due to The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty implemented a high-pressure national policy, so he never succeeded. He lived a wandering life almost all his life, and he was depressed and embarrassed because of it. So he wrote this while wandering alone. Other scholars believe that this Sanqu is not a work by Ma Zhiyuan, but by an unknown person.