Cicada droops like a tassel on a hat, its tentacles suck the clear dew, and its voice spreads from the branches of the straight Shulang tree.
Cicada is far away from cicada because cicada is on a tall tree, not relying on autumn wind.
Yu Shinan (558-638) was born in Yuyao, Yuezhou (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang). He used to be secretary lang in Sui Dynasty, assistant minister in Tang Dynasty, bachelor of library science, and later secretary supervisor, and was the duke of Yongxing County. He is honest and straightforward, good at writing calligraphy, and has Yu Yongxing's library.
This poem expresses a person's lofty position with cicada, and his voice naturally spreads far and wide, which shows that this person has high personality, rich knowledge, great natural reputation and wide influence.
"Hanging down to drink clear dew" means that the ancient people tied the drooping part of the hat belt under their chin. The cicada head has tentacles, which look like a drooping crown tassel, so it is called "drooping". The ancients believed that cicadas were noble and pure, lived a lofty life and drank nectar. The poet used the shape of a "drooping" cicada to cover up its noble status, and used "drinking clear dew" to talk about its eating habits, implying its noble character. "Flowing makes tung sparse", and writing tung with "sparse" means that tung trees are towering and leafy. "Flowing clouds and flowing water", the sound is far away. This means that cicadas are skilled and successful.
"It's not the autumn wind that makes you aloof", it's because of "high"-high status and high personality, which responds to the meaning of the last two sentences. The word "zi" points out that this is due to its own conditions, so it is not by the autumn wind or by external forces. Indeed, people's reputation is widely circulated and praised, which is "a good historical statement that is not illusory, not relying on the trend of heaven, but an autobiographical reputation" (Cao Pi's Dian Lun Wen). People's status is not based on having an official father, a subordinate's flattery, a powerful position and a bragging horn.