Du Fu's "Shihao Officials"
The full text is as follows;
In Shihao Village at dusk, there were officials who caught people at night.
The old man walked over the wall, and the old woman went out to see.
Why are the officials so angry? What's the trouble when a woman cries! ?
Listen to the woman's speech: "Three men are garrisoning Yecheng.
One man attached a letter, and two men died in the battle.
The survivors will survive, and the dead will live forever. It’s over!
There is no one in the room, except for the grandson.
My grandson is still here.
Although the old woman’s strength is weak. , Please come back from the official at night.
In case of emergency in Heyang, you have to prepare the morning meal."
The sound of the voice has been silent for a long time, as if I heard the cry.
The future is dawning, and I say goodbye to the old man alone.
Translation
At dusk, I stayed in Shihao Village. At night, a policeman came to force him to recruit soldiers. The old man escaped over the wall, and the old woman went out to deal with it.
The guard shouted so fiercely, and the old woman cried so sadly. I heard the old woman step forward and say: "My three sons went to participate in the Battle of Yecheng. One of the sons came back with a message saying that the other two sons had just died in the battle. The living people just live one day at a time, and the dead people He will never be resurrected!
Old woman, there is no one else in my family, only a little grandson who is nursing. Because his mother has not left yet, he is here. Even though the old woman is old and weak, please allow me to follow you back to the camp overnight to apply for the army. Breakfast."
As the night progressed, the voices gradually disappeared, and faint intermittent crying could be heard. After daybreak, I continued on my way and could only say goodbye to the old man who was returning home.
Appreciation
"Shihao Official" is an outstanding realist narrative poem. It tells the story of an official who went to Shihao Village at night to catch people for recruitment, and even the old and feeble old people The story of a woman who was also captured to serve exposed the cruelty of officials and the darkness of the military service system, and expressed deep sympathy for the suffering of the people during the Anshi Rebellion. In terms of art, refinement is a major feature of this poem. Lyrics and discussion are integrated into the narrative, and love and hate are clearly defined. The scenes and details are described naturally and realistically. Good at cutting and prominent center.
The first four sentences can be regarded as the first paragraph. The first sentence, "Touching Shihao Village at dusk," goes straight to the point and tells the story directly. The words "twilight", "tou", and "village" all need to be pondered, and readers cannot let them go easily. In feudal society, due to social disorder and desolate journeys, travelers "seek accommodation before it's too late", especially in an era of frequent wars. Du Fu, on the other hand, hurriedly went to stay in a small village for the night at dusk. This unusual scene was very suggestive. Either he didn't dare to take the main road at all; or the nearby towns were completely deserted and there was nowhere to rest.
In short, these five words not only indicate the time and place of lodging, but also describe the chaos, chaos, and everything out of the norm, providing a typical environment for the performance of the tragedy. Pu Qilong pointed out that this poem "has the power of a fierce tiger to seize people" ("Du Xinjie"). This is not only based on "there are officials catching people at night", but also based on the environment of the first sentence. The sentence "Some officials catch people at night" is the outline of the whole story, and the following plots all originate from here. Instead of talking about "conscription", "pointing troops" and "recruiting troops", talking about "capturing people" already contains the meaning of exposure and criticism in the truthful description.
Adding the word "night" has a richer meaning. First, it shows that the government "catch people" often happens, and the people hide or resist during the day and cannot "catch" them; second, it shows that the county officials' methods of "catching people" are ruthless, and suddenly come at night when the people have fallen asleep. attack. At the same time, the poet came from Toushihao Village in "Twilight". Several hours had passed from "Twilight" to "Night", and of course he had already fallen asleep at this time; therefore, he did not participate in the development of the following events, but stayed away from it. You can hear it through the door. The two sentences "The old man walked over the wall and the old woman went out to watch" show that the people have been suffering from arrests for a long time and are restless day and night. Even late at night, they are still restless. As soon as they hear a noise outside the door, they know that the county The officials came to "capture" people again, and the old man immediately "crossed the wall" and escaped, leaving the old woman to open the door and deal with the situation.
The sixteen sentences from "Why are the officials so angry" to "You still have to prepare the morning meal" can be regarded as the second paragraph. "Why are the officials so angry? What's the trouble when the women cry!" These two sentences express the sharp contradiction between "officials" and "women" in an extremely summary and vivid way. One "call", one "cry", one "angry" and one "bitter" form a strong contrast; the two adverbials "one he" intensify the emotional color and effectively render the county officials like wolves and tigers. The barbaric momentum of shouting and screaming created an atmosphere of sadness and indignation for the old woman's following complaints.
The two aspects of the contradiction have the relationship between master and slave, cause and effect. "Why does it hurt when a woman cries?" was forced out by "how angry an official cries." Next, the poet no longer writes "officials shouting", but writes "women crying" with all his strength, and the "officials shouting" appears on its own. "Listening to my wife's speech" connects the previous and the following. The "listening" is the poet "listening", and the "speech" is the old woman's "bitter cry" in response to the county official's "angry cry". The thirteen-line poem that contains the content of the "Address" changes rhymes many times and shows many transitions, implying many "angry shouts" and questioning by the county officials.
These thirteen lines of poetry were not spoken by the "old woman" in one breath, and the county officials were by no means there to listen attentively.
In fact, "Why are the officials so angry and the women so miserable?" It not only happened at the beginning of the incident, but also continued to the end of the incident. From "three men garrisoning Yecheng" to "the deceased has long since passed away", this is the first turning point. As readers can imagine, this is the first time a county official has been forced to complain. Before this, the poet had already used the sentence "some officials catch people at night" to describe the fierce tiger power of county officials to seize people. When the "old woman went out to look", she rushed in. She searched everywhere but could not find a man, so she rushed in in vain. So she roared angrily: "Where have all the men in your family gone? Hand them over quickly!" The old woman cried and said: "All three sons have gone to guard Yecheng as soldiers. One son has just been brought here. A letter said that the other two sons had been sacrificed! ..." When I cried, the county official might not believe it, so he took out the letter and showed it to the county official.
In short, "the survivors live in vain, but the dead are gone!" The situation is quite sympathetic, and she hopes to win the sympathy of the county officials and show their favor. Unexpectedly, the county official was furious again: "Is there no one else in your family? Hand it over quickly!" She could only complain about this point: "There is no one in the house, only the grandson." These two sentences were not said in one breath. , because "no one" obviously contradicts the answer below. The reasonable explanation is that the old woman said first: "There is no one at home anymore!" At this moment, the little grandson, who was held in the arms of his daughter-in-law and hid somewhere, was frightened by the roar and cried. When he got up, covering his mouth was of no use.
So the county official caught the clue and threatened: "How dare you lie! Isn't there a child crying?" The old woman had no choice but to say: "I only have a grandson! He is still breastfeeding. "She's so small!" "Whose milk should I take? Why don't you hand her over?" What the old woman was worried about finally happened! She had no choice but to explain: "My grandson has a mother. Her husband died in the battle in Yecheng. Because she had to breastfeed the child, she did not remarry. It's a pity that her clothes are in tatters and she can't see anyone! It's better to behave." Let's go!" ("If the grandson's mother is not here, her skirt will be unfinished when she comes in and out", some versions are "If the grandson's mother is not out, her skirt will be unfinished when meeting the officials", so the county officials asked her to come out.) But the county officials Still refused to give up. The old woman was afraid that her widowed daughter-in-law would be caught and her grandson would starve to death, so she had no choice but to step forward and say: "Although my strength is weak, please come back at night as an official. In case of emergency in Heyang, I still have to prepare morning meals." The old woman's "Speech", It ended here, indicating that the county officials reluctantly agreed and no longer "roared".
Although the last paragraph only has four sentences, it echoes the beginning, involves all the characters, and describes the ending of the event and the author's feelings. "Yejiu's speech stopped, as if hearing tears and swallowing." It means that the old woman has been taken away, and she cried softly when she walked away. As she walked farther and farther, she could no longer hear the cry. The word "Yejiu" reflects the long process of the old woman crying again and again and being threatened by the county officials in every possible way. The word "Ruwen", on the one hand, shows that the daughter-in-law was crying because her husband died in the war and her mother-in-law was "captured". On the other hand, it also shows that the poet listened carefully with concern and could not fall asleep all night. "When the day dawns and I have a bright future, I say goodbye to the old man alone" are two sentences that cover the whole story, and contain infinite affection in the narrative.
The old man and the old woman both greeted the poet when they stayed overnight the night before. But one night later, the old woman was taken away. The daughter-in-law burst into tears and could only say goodbye to the old man who had escaped and returned. The old man's mood and the poet's thoughts leave room for the reader's imagination.
Qiu Zhaoao said in "Detailed Notes on the Collection of Du Shaoling": "In ancient times, when there were brothers, one man was sent to join the army. Nowadays, all the strong men are driven out, and the old and weak are also included. The poem goes: Three men garrisoned, two men died, and Sun Fangru The daughter-in-law has no skirt, the old man is over the wall, and the wife is gone at night. The father, son, brothers, grandparents, aunt and daughter-in-law are so miserable that the people of Tang Zuo are in danger. "For the foundation of the country", if the people are treated like this, the throne of the ruler will be in danger. In the face of all this, the poet Du Fu did not beautify the reality, but truthfully exposed the political darkness and issued a cry of "some officials are catching people at night", which deserves high praise.
In terms of artistic expression, the most outstanding point of this poem is its refinement. Lu Shiyong praised: "How long his deeds are! How simple his words are!" This is what he said. The whole article is narrated sentence by sentence, with no lyrical language or argumentative language; but in fact, the author skillfully expressed his emotions and made arguments through narrative. His love and hatred are very strong, and his tendency is very clear. Integrating praise and blame into the narrative not only saves a lot of pen and ink, but also does not give readers any conceptual feeling. The poem also uses the expression technique of hiding questions and answers. "Why are the officials so angry? What's the trouble with the women's cries!" After summarizing the contradiction between the two parties, they focused on writing "women" instead of "officials". However, the fierceness and violence of "officials" were reflected in the old woman's "speech" The twist and ending of the incident are hinted at. The poet is also very good at tailoring, and there is endless meaning hidden in the narrative.
At the beginning, there is only one sentence about lodging, and it immediately switches to the theme of "an official catching someone at night". Another example is to only write "The old man walked over the wall" without writing when he will return; only to write "as if I heard weeping and swallowing" without writing who is weeping; only to write "the old woman please come back from the official at night" without writing Whether she has been taken away; but the sentence "Farewell to the old man alone" that echoes the beginning and ends the whole story, which is both narrative and lyrical, tells the readers: the old man has returned home and the old woman has been taken away; then, the woman who swallowed her tears and refused to The one who dared to cry loudly was the young widow who was breastfeeding her child.
It is precisely because the poet's writing is concise and concise, and he uses a short length to reflect the contradictions and conflicts in life with an astonishing breadth and depth, which is very commendable.