The cold plum blossoms in front of the window may contain the cordial and interesting stories of home life back then. Therefore, this winter plum is no longer an ordinary natural object, but has become a symbol of hometown. It has been poeticized and typified. Therefore, this winter plum has naturally become the concentrated sustenance of "my" homesickness.
From "Miscellaneous Poems" by Wang Wei, a poet of the Tang Dynasty
You come from your hometown, so you should know about it.
Will the winter plum blossoms bloom in front of the beautiful window tomorrow?
Translation:
You have just come from our hometown, so you must be familiar with the people and affairs in your hometown. I would like to ask if the wintersweet flower in front of my window was in bloom when you came?
Appreciation
This poem expresses the author's taste and tendency. It is natural for the poet to miss his hometown, but his love for plum blossoms is beyond words. This poem comes at your fingertips and comes naturally.
The lyrical protagonist ("I", not necessarily the author) in the poem is a person who has been in a foreign land for a long time. Suddenly he meets an old friend from his hometown. The first thing that arouses is naturally a strong homesickness. Eager to know the scenery and people in my hometown. The first two sentences vividly express the feelings of "I" in an unmodified form that is close to the natural state of life. The repeated use of the word "hometown" shows the nostalgia for hometown: "should know" and so on, the traces are close, but it shows the eagerness to understand the local affairs, revealing a child-like innocence and kindness. It is a very frugal way of describing words purely in white lines, but concisely expresses "my" feelings, psychology, demeanor, tone, etc. in a specific situation vividly. This is actually a very frugal way of writing.
As for "hometown things", you can open a long list of questions. Wang Ji in the early Tang Dynasty wrote an article "I am thinking about meeting people in my hometown in Beijing and asking questions". He asked about old children, brothers and nephews from the clan, new trees in the old garden, the width of the thatched house, and the density of the willow rows, all the way to the fruit trees and flowers in the courtyard. The meaning is still not finished, "I just want to ask"; but the "I" in this poem put aside these and asked the other party alone: ??Will the winter plum blossoms bloom in front of the beautiful window tomorrow? It seems that my hometown is worth remembering, just in front of the window. This is quite unnatural. But it's not a pretense. A person's nostalgia for his hometown is always connected with those people, things and things that are closely related to his past life. The so-called "homesickness" is completely a kind of "image thinking". What appears in the minds of homesick people are all specific images or pictures. The relatives and friends in my hometown, the mountains and rivers, the local customs and customs are all worth remembering. But sometimes it is seemingly ordinary and trivial love affairs that arouse affectionate thoughts. The winter plum blossoms in front of the window are an example. It may contain the intimate and interesting stories of home life at that time. Therefore, this winter plum is no longer an ordinary natural object, but has become a symbol of hometown. It has been poeticized and typified. Therefore, this winter plum has naturally become the concentrated sustenance of "my" homesickness. Understood in this sense, it is completely in line with the logic of life to ask "the winter plum blossoms have bloomed yet".
There are often such simple and plain works with rich poetic flavor in ancient poetry. It is so simple that it seems to use no skills, but in fact it contains the most advanced skills. Like the question about the cold plum blossoms in this poem, it can be seen as a typification technique through special expression, but this technique is embodied in a form that is as plain and simple as describing homely things. This is what is called combining cleverness with simplicity. Wang Ji's poem "Asking about the Countryside in Jingsi's Hometown" may be more simple than this poem, but the artistic power of its series of questions is far less than Wang Wei's question. Isn’t the message in it something to ponder deeply?
"You come from your hometown, you should know the things about your hometown." This sentence seems to be asking about the situation in your hometown, but the poet only uses "hometown things" in general to ask the question, but what should be asked? The poet was so full of questions that he didn't know where to start. So we can imagine the poet's hesitation and the other party's surprise. "Will the winter plum blossoms bloom in front of the beautiful window tomorrow?" This question confused the other party. He didn't ask about people and things, but asked about things. At this time, have the plum blossoms bloomed? Readers must also find this surprising. But it is precisely this question that is so interesting and memorable. In fact, the real purpose of the poet is not the plum blossom. The poet doesn't know where to start with what he wants to say and the questions he wants to ask. His longing for his hometown is actually in this casual question. This is the blank space left by the poet for readers to imagine.
This is an unusual image of a wanderer. Although he has gone through many vicissitudes of life, he still maintains a free-spirited spirit that transcends the world. In this way, the poet's purpose of writing this poem is obvious: he is praising a style of life that, although it has gone through many vicissitudes of life, is never sophisticated and always maintains a free mentality.