Original text of "Preface to a Spring Night Banquet in the Peach and Plum Garden with My Congdizi":
Heaven and earth are the reverse journey of all things; time is the passer-by of hundreds of generations. And the floating life is like a dream, how much joy is there? The ancients held a candle and walked at night, which was a good thing. Kuang Yangchun called me to see the smoke and scenery, and the large piece of fake me to write articles. Meet in the peach blossom garden and enjoy the joy of family relationships. All the handsome people in the season are Huilian; we sing songs and feel happy alone. The quiet appreciation has not ended, and the high talk has become clear. Sitting on the flowers at the Qiong Banquet, flying in the wine cup and intoxicated by the moon. Without good chants, how can one express his elegance? If the poem fails, the penalty will be the amount of gold, grain, and wine.
Translation of "Preface to a Spring Night Banquet in the Peach and Plum Garden":
Heaven and earth are the guest houses of all things, and time and generations are passers-by in time from ancient to present. Just like the difference between dreaming and waking, the wind and clouds change, and it cannot be questioned. How much joy can be obtained! It makes sense for the ancients to play with candles at night. Moreover, spring calls me with gorgeous scenery. Nature has given me all kinds of beautiful images. We gather in the garden with fragrant peach blossoms and talk about the happy past between brothers. My younger brothers are handsome and outstanding, and all of them are as talented as Xie Huilian, but I am ashamed to be inferior to Xie Lingyun when I write poems and chants. The pure and elegant enjoyment of play turns to pure and elegant, and the eloquent talk turns to pure and elegant language. Putting on a banquet, sitting and admiring the famous flowers, quickly passing the wine glasses and getting drunk in the moonlight. Without good poetry, how can one express elegant feelings? If someone fails to compose a poem, he will be fined with three measures of wine according to the precedent of Shi Chong who composed poems at a banquet in Jingu Garden.
Chunk: Nature.
Huilian: Xie Huilian, a writer of Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty, and his brother Xie Lingyun are called "big and small Xie".
Kang Le: Xie Lingyun and Xie Xuan Sun, writers of the Southern Song Dynasty, were granted the title of Duke Kang Le.
Number of Jingu wines: Jin Shichong entertained guests in the Jingu Stream of Luoyang, and those who failed to compose poems were punished with three cups of wine.
This prose sketch is full of poetic charm, like a beautiful poem. It has been recited in every household for a long time and is popular among the people. The great painter Qiu Ying of the Ming Dynasty also transformed it into a visual image and painted it into pictures, which have been passed down to this day.
Judging from the title, this is a narrative article. Narrative writing generally contains six elements: Who, When, Where, What, How, and Why. The question answers four elements: Who? The author and Zhu Congdi. when? Spring night. Where? Peach and plum garden. What to do? feast. This already gives away the subject to a great extent. If you know the basic content of the article just by looking at the title, how can it be fascinating? However, as soon as I read the full text, I was immediately attracted by the strong artistic charm and intoxicated with the enjoyment of beauty. The reason is that the author combines the remaining two elements to give a further and unique answer to the four elements already seen in the title, thus showing an artistic world where scenes blend together, and the scenery is beautiful and emotional.
The full text begins with a discussion: "Heaven and earth are the reverse journey of all things; time is the passer-by of hundreds of generations. Life is like a dream, how much joy is there? The ancients held candles and traveled at night, which was a good thing." The editor of "Guwen Guanzhi" said that this is "the word 'night'", which means "when". This is certainly correct; but more than that, more importantly, it also answers another element: "why". You can have a "feast" during the day, so why do you have a "night" feast? Just because "life is like a dream, there are so many joys", so we must enjoy ourselves in time, even at night. The idea of ????carpe diem seems negative to us, but it is common among certain intellectuals and dignitaries in feudal society. "Nineteen Ancient Poems" says: "If you are less than a hundred years old, you often worry about being a thousand years old. The days are short and the nights are long, so why not travel by candlelight?" Cao Pi's "Books with Wu Zhi" says: "Young men should work hard, but as the years pass, what can they do? Climbing? The ancients wanted to go out at night with candles, which is a good thing." The cleverness of the author's writing is that he does not explain why he wants to have a "night" feast, but only explains the reason why "the ancients went out at night with candles." The reason for my "night" banquet has been fully explained, so there is no need to waste words.
"The spring calls me with smoke and scenery, and the big blocks fake me with articles." This is a famous saying that has been recited by thousands of mouths. The editor of "Guwen Guanzhi" said that it "dots the word 'spring'", which is combined with the first paragraph "dots the word 'night'", which corresponds to the title and answers "when". This is certainly not wrong; but it is more than that. It uses a conjunction "kuang" that expresses a progressive relationship to take over the first paragraph and further answers the "why". "Life is like a dream, full of joy", so it should be a "night" feast; not to mention this is the "night" of spring, "Yangchun" calls me with her "smoke scene", and "big chunks (heaven and earth)" put her The "article" is dedicated to me, how can I live up to it! Therefore, it is more appropriate to have a "night" feast. The reason why it has become a famous sentence is because it is really good. First, it embodies the characteristics of spring scenery in just a few words. The spring sunshine is warm and red, so lovely! The word "yang" in front of "spring" visualizes spring, making people feel warm and red in front of their eyes. In spring, the earth's atmosphere rises, and flowers, willows, mountains, water, and all other natural scenery are all covered with silk ribbons and silk ribbons, making them extremely charming. Of course it was not silk, but the light smoke that filled the air. The word "smoke" in front of "view" shows this unique picture.
Since then, "Yangchun Yanjing", just like the "Fireworks in March" created by the author in the poem "Yellow Crane Tower Farewell to Meng Haoran at Guangling", has become people's favorite language. Once used, it immediately evokes the infinite beauty of spring. Lenovo. As for calling all the phenomena in the world "articles", it can also give people a brilliance of literary talent and a pleasing feeling. Second, these two sentences also personify the aesthetic object. The "Yangchun" is sentimental, and she calls me with her beautiful "smoke scene"; the "chunk" is also sentimental, and she dedicates her gorgeous "articles" to me. In this case, how can "I" as the aesthetic subject be ruthless! Naturally, the host and guest embrace each other and merge seamlessly.
"The Fragrant Garden of Meeting Peach and Plum Blossoms" The following is the main body of the full text, which includes six elements and focuses on "how". This is important. Just imagine, if the night banquet with Zhu Congdi is for farewell, there will be a scene like "we are too drunk to say goodbye happily, and the vast river is soaked in the moon when we say goodbye" (Bai Juyi's "Pipa Xing"), or "Where will I wake up from the drunk tonight?" The scene of "the dawn wind and the waning moon on the bank of willows" (Liu Yong's "Yulin Ling") is quite disappointing. Fortunately this is not the case today. "Meeting the peaches and plums in the garden" is not for farewell, but for the "pleasure of family relations." This sentence not only corresponds to the word "huan" in the first paragraph "Geometry for Huan", but also gives it specific and specific content. This is not any other kind of "joy", but the "happiness" of "the joy of family relationships". It seems that the author and his disciples have been separated for a long time. As a "floating life" in a feudal society, it is rare to enjoy family happiness! Now, not only do we meet, but we meet in the fragrant peach and plum garden. Yangchun not only calls me with smoke and scenery, but also calls me with articles. Here and now, "the joy of family relationships" is really a hundred times more joyful. ! Of course, different people have different ways of "ordering" family happiness. So, what kind of people are the author and his disciples? Xie Huilian, the younger brother of Xie Lingyun, a famous poet in the Southern Dynasties, was good at poetry, calligraphy and painting. The author said that "all the handsome brothers in the Ji Dynasty are Huilian". He compared himself to several of his disciples with Xie Huilian, and it goes without saying that he compared himself with Xie Lingyun. "We sing songs and feel happy alone" is nothing more than self-effacing. The characters are so handsome and their conversation is naturally extraordinary. The next part, "The quiet appreciation is not over yet, and the high-spirited talk turns clear", although it seems to be two parallel lines, it is actually the former guest and the latter host. The objects of "appreciation" are the "Yangchun Scenery", "Block of Articles" and "Peach and Plum Garden" written earlier; the content of "talk" is mainly "family happiness", but it can also include "appreciation" object. The object of "appreciation" is so beautiful, so "appreciation" is "secret appreciation"; the content of "talk" is so joyful, so "talk" is "high talk". Here, the beautiful scenery enhances pleasure, and the quiet appreciation encourages high-pitched conversation, thus pushing the joyful excitement to the climax.
The two sentences "Have a beautiful banquet and sit on flowers, fly in the wine cup and be drunk by the moon" focus on "Spring Night Feast in the Peach and Plum Orchard", which is the peak of the wave of joy. "Moon" is the moon of "Spring Night", and "flower" is the flower of "peach and plum". The brothers met, the flowers and the moon shined by each other, they enjoyed the secluded scenery and talked, it was endless fun, so they held a banquet and drank. The sentence "Feiyu Shang" is really well written! "Book of Han·Biography of Waiqi" ??quotes Ban Jiedan's poem as follows: "With a cup of feathers, you will be relieved of worries." Yan Shi's ancient annotation adopts Meng Kang's explanation: "A cup of feathers is a title. It is in the shape of a crown, with a head and a tail. Wings. "Jue" is the name of the wine vessel; in ancient times, the word "Jue" was connected with the word "que". The so-called "Zuoshengjue shape" means that the shape of the wine vessel is like a living bird, with a head, a tail and wings. Because of its wings, it is also called "Jue" or "Yuzhang". Ban Jiedan drank alone to drown his sorrows. Although the "cup" has a "feather", it can only "drink" but not "fly". Li Bai thought of the word "feather" and vividly used the word "fly" to vividly express the scene of the brothers drinking and carousing.
Although drinking heavily can express revelry, drinking alone is not "elegant" enough. They are all poets. Drinking is not enough to fully enjoy themselves, so they have to compose poems. So the whole article ends with the sentence "If you don't have good works, how can you express your elegance"? The editor of "Guwen Guanzhi" said: "The last words, the joy of writing a cup and a chant, are completely different from the worldly wanderers." This is quite pertinent.
The night banquet is introduced at the beginning with the lines "Life is like a dream". From today's perspective, the ideological realm is certainly not high, but in Li Bai it had social reasons. Moreover, the first paragraph is just to introduce the following; and the word "huan" in it sets the tone for the whole article. Below the word "Kang", the description is picturesque, full of spring vitality; the narrative is like seeing, full of healthy joy. The artistic conception is sublime and the style is clear. Reading the full text will not breed the negative emotions of "life is like a dream", but it can improve the spiritual realm, love nature and love life while enjoying artistic enjoyment.
The ending line "If the poem fails, the punishment will be as much as the amount of gold and valley wine", which uses an allusion from Shi Chong's "Preface to the Poetry of the Golden Valley" (Volume 33 of "Quan Jin Wen"). Li Bai's preface is also similar to "Jingu Poetry Preface" in terms of genre and subject matter. However, "Preface to Jingu's Poems" says, "I feel the eternity of life, and I am afraid of the endless decline." The mood is very sad. Other works of the same type, such as Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Lanting Collection", although it is said at the beginning that "Looking up at the vastness of the universe and looking down at the prosperity of categories, wandering your eyes and wandering your mind is enough to provide great visual and auditory entertainment, it is also a joy to believe", but at the end it is " "Wen laments, but it cannot be expressed in one's heart", sighing as "a sad husband". Sun Chuo's "Preface to Orchid Pavilion Poems on March 3rd" (Volume 61 of "Quan Jin Wen") also said that "joy fades with time, and sadness is also related to it", which is exactly the same as Wang's preface. The same goes for Tao Yuanming's "Preface to Poems on a Tour of Xiechuan": "Sad for the passing of the sun and moon, mourning for the passing of my years", the tone is low.
Until the early Tang Dynasty, banquet poems and articles still could not escape from this old cliché. In Wang Bo's "Preface to Prince Teng's Pavilion", doesn't he also have the emotion of "Wow! The resort is not permanent, the feast is hard to come back; Orchid Pavilion is gone, Zize Qiu Ruins"? Li Bai also wrote about banquets, but he completely got rid of the cliché of "happy and sad at the same time" and gave people an infection of optimism. Compared with similar works of the ancients, this article is indeed unique and "it is a piece of writing with a beautiful heart and beautiful words".