Poppy
Author: Li Yu Era: Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms
When are the spring flowers and autumn moon? How much do you know about the past?
The east wind blew again in the small building last night, and the motherland cannot bear to look back in the bright moon.
The carved railings and jade inlays should still be there, but the beauty has been changed.
How much sorrow can you have? Just like a river of spring water flowing eastward.
Appreciation:
"Poppy Beauty" is Li Yu's masterpiece and also the final word of Empress Li. After writing this song "Poppy Beauty", Song Taizong hated him " The words "the motherland cannot bear to look back on the bright moon" poisoned him to death. It writes about the pain of being in a situation where "the motherland cannot bear to look back" and feeling unbearable thoughts. The whole poem is without any embellishment or allusions. It expresses emotions directly using line drawing techniques. It embodies scenes and emotions. It infects readers through the creation of artistic conception, which embodies the artistic characteristics of Li Yu's poems in a concentrated way. "A river of spring water flows eastward" is a metaphor for endless sorrow, which is apt and touching.
On Chinese Valentine's Day in the third year of Taiping and Xingguo's reign (978), the emperor's forty-second birthday was celebrated. Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty hated him for saying that "the motherland cannot bear to look back at the bright moon" and ordered people to take charge of the banquet. He poisoned. He was posthumously named King of Wu and buried in Mangshan, Luoyang. This poem expresses the endless sorrow of a subjugated king through the contrast between the past and the present.
"When are the spring flowers and autumn moon, how much do you know about the past!" The flowers bloom in spring, the moon is full in Mid-Autumn Festival, and the years are constantly changing. How beautiful life is. But when will my miserable years as a prisoner end? Looking back on the past, as a king, how did you do many things in the past? How did you get to where you are today? According to historical records, when Li Yu was the king, he indulged in sensuality every day, ignored the government affairs, and killed remonstrating ministers in vain... Through this poem, it is not difficult to see that this late master of the Southern Tang Dynasty, who was reduced from a powerful king to a prisoner, At this moment, there is not only sadness and indignation in my heart, but also some regret.
"The east wind blew again in the small building last night, and the motherland cannot bear to look back in the moonlight." The small building that lives quietly is blown by the spring breeze again, and the spring flowers will bloom again. Recalling the dynasty of the Southern Tang Dynasty and the Li family's country - my homeland had long been destroyed. The poet lives in a prison cell, listening to the spring breeze, looking at the bright moon, feeling emotional about the scenery, full of melancholy, and unable to sleep at night. The word "again" indicates that this situation has occurred many times. This mental pain is really unbearable, revealing how much sadness and helplessness he feels in his heart! It's late at night and everyone is quiet. I lean on the building and look into the distance. I see only the moonlight like water. Everything he saw in front of him aroused his deep nostalgia for his homeland in the Southern Tang Dynasty. "The motherland cannot bear to look back at the bright moon"! What the poet uttered here was not just a deep sigh, but a heart-wrenching cry.
“The carved railings and jade inlays should still be there, but the beauty has changed.” Although “the motherland cannot bear to look back,” we cannot help but “look back.” These two sentences specifically write about "looking back" and "the motherland" - the gorgeous palace in the old capital Jinling is probably still there, but the beauty of the palace ladies who mourned the country has changed. This implies Empress Li's emotion about the land changing its surname and the mountains and rivers changing color! The word "just" is extremely heavy, conveying the infinite regret that things are right and people are different. The word "beauties" here certainly refers to the pink beauties in the palace in the past, but it is also a symbol of all the beautiful things and beautiful lives in the past.
In the above six sentences, the poet strives to integrate the contrast between beauty and sadness, past and present, scenery and human affairs, especially through the strong contrast between the eternity of nature and the vicissitudes of human affairs, to express the feelings contained in his heart. Sorrow and regret pour out in twists and turns, condensing into the final eternal song - "How much sorrow can you have? Just like a river of spring water flowing eastward." The sadness is like a torrential river rushing out of a canyon and towards the sea, Once you send it, you can't take it back. The poet is full of anger and makes a thorough inquiry into life: "How much sorrow can you have? It's like a river of spring water flowing eastward!" Life, life, doesn't mean endless sorrow? "A river of spring water flows eastward" is a famous saying that uses water as a metaphor for sorrow, showing that sorrow is like the spring water of the ocean, pouring out unrestrainedly; it is also like the spring water that persists day and night, flowing continuously and endlessly. These nine words really express the depth and intensity of the rising and flowing emotions. The nine-character sentence has five characters in oblique tones, four characters in flat tones, alternating between oblique and oblique, and finally ends with two characters in flat tones. It reads like the waves of a spring river rising and falling in an endless stream. It is really full of sounds and emotions. These last two sentences are also based on questions and answers, doubling the emphasis on the word "sorrow", so that the whole word echoes back and forth in tone and flows freely.
As a king, Li Yu undoubtedly failed; as a poet, he achieved great success. This song "Poppy Poppy" is a masterpiece that has been passed down through the ages. He broke through the tradition of poetry in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, and developed poetry from a tool for entertainment and entertainment before flowers and moonlight to a lyrical style of singing about life.
The whole poem uses clear, concise, beautiful and fresh language, and uses various rhetorical techniques such as metaphor, symbol, contrast, and questioning to highly summarize and vividly express the poet's true feelings. No wonder the predecessors praised Li Yu's lyrics as "a song of blood and tears", "one word for each bead". The predecessors' poem about Empress Li said: "To be a talented person is really unparalleled, but to be a king is pitiful." Indeed, as a subjugated king with "a good voice and no regard for political affairs", there is nothing good to say, but as a poet of the generation, He left many writings of blood and tears that shocked the world and wept ghosts and gods to future generations, which have been passed down through the ages. This song "Poppy Poppy" is one of the most well-known ones. The lyrics are carefully structured, swirling and undulating throughout the text, and revolve around a central idea, forming a harmonious and coordinated artistic whole.
Before Li Yu, no poet could achieve such high achievements in structural art. Therefore, Wang Guowei said: "There are sentences but no chapters in the poetry of the Tang and Five Dynasties. There are chapters but no sentences in the poetry of famous writers in the Southern Song Dynasty. There are chapters but there are sentences, but the works written by Empress Li after he came down and Shuishu, Zizhan, Shao There are only a few people like You, Meicheng and Jiaxuan." ("Deleted Manuscripts of Human Words") It can be seen that Li Yu's artistic achievements have a significance that transcends the times. Of course, the more important thing is that he can express his emotions deeply because he feels deeply. It is the emotion itself that plays a decisive role. It is also Wang Guowei who said it well: "The words of the Empress are really written in blood." This song "Poppy Poppy" is full of emotions of sorrow, hatred and passion. Its emotions are deep and strong, just like the surging river, with great disregard for everything. Everything is rushing out. A king who was above the sword and his country's subjugation dared to express the hatred of his country's subjugation so boldly. His courage is rare in history. Li Yu's pure and sincere emotion in his poems is probably what Wang Guowei said was "innocent words" coming from an "innocent heart". This feature is most prominent in this song "Poppy Beauty", so much so that Li Yu paid for this with his life. French writer Musset said: "The most beautiful poetry is the most desperate poetry, and some immortal chapters are pure tears.
"("May Night") Isn't Li Yu's "Poppy Poppy" such an immortal work!