Li Shangyin
Far away from the hundred-foot-high tower in the high city, beyond the green poplar branches lies Tingzhou.
When Jia Sheng was young, he was exhausted and weeping, and Wang Can came to travel further in spring.
I will always remember the rivers and lakes and return to my white hair, and I want to return to the world and enter the boat.
I don’t know what it feels like to be a rotten rat, but I guess the chicks are still alive.
This is a political lyric poem written in the third year of Emperor Wenzong's reign (838), when the poet was twenty-six years old. Anding City was Jingzhou (today's Jingchuan, Gansu), which was the seat of Wang Maoyuan, the Jiedushi envoy of Jingyuan. Three years ago, Li Shangyin's official career was blocked and he joined Wang Maoyuan from afar. He was also recruited as his son-in-law by Wang Maoyuan. During the Niu-Li party struggle at that time, Wang Maoyuan belonged to the Li party. It is said that because of this reason, Li Shangyin was ostracized by the powerful Niu Party when he was taking the erudite Hongci examination. This poem was written when he returned to Jingzhou after failing the exam. The poem mainly expresses the poet's own ambition to make contributions, the depression of not being recognized for his talent, and the indignation of being slandered for no reason. It is a true portrayal of the misfortunes and painful emotions of young scholars in the late Tang Dynasty in the fights between cliques.
The first couplet is about what you see when you climb up the stairs. The chin couplet refers to the ancients. Jia Yi presented the "Public Security Policy" to Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, which elaborated on the current situation, and included the words "crying bitterly" and "taking a long breath"; Wang Can traveled a long way to avoid the chaos in Jingzhou, took refuge with Liu Biao, and wrote "Ode to the Climbing Tower"; both of them suffered from the failure to realize their talents. . The poet used Du Fu's sentence "I mourn Wang Can when he leaves the country, and weep for Jia Sheng when he is sad" to make it more specific and emotional. The word "empty" in the last sentence expresses regret that Jia Yi's suggestions were not sold and his talents were buried, and it is also a lament that he has no way to serve the country. The next sentence uses the story of Wang Can's journey to Jingzhou when he was seventeen years old, not being reused for fifteen years, his ideal of "improving the kingship of Hebei" finally failed, and his untimely death, to express his worries about his future. The neck couplet turns from worrying about the current situation and lamenting that it has not happened to expressing aspirations and interests. It uses an allusion in the Spring and Autumn Period that Fan Li assisted King Gou Jian of Yue to destroy Wu and then "floated in the rivers and lakes on a flat boat". "Yongyi" means "persistently yearning for". The positive attitude of joining the world expressed in this couplet was deeply appreciated by Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty, who thought that "Although Lao Du could not fault it". However, the poet's desire for fame rather than position was repeatedly distorted in the environment of clique strife, so the poet sang the last couplet angrily. The last couplet uses the allusion written in "Zhuangzi Qiu Shui" that the owl has a rotten rat in its beak and is afraid of the chicks snatching it but the chicks dismiss it. It is both a self-confession and a cold sarcasm. It shows that he is taking the exam to be erudite and eloquent, not just for a mere salary and position; to marry the Wang family from afar, not to climb a higher branch in order to achieve success. He expressed great anger towards those wealthy and powerful people who judge the nobles with their own petty intentions and spread unwarranted rumors and slanders.
The biggest feature of the whole poem is the use of allusions and events to express emotions and aspirations. The four allusions can all fit your identity, situation, thoughts and feelings; they are also interconnected and well-conceived. For example, Jia Yi and Wang Candian used in the couplet are: first, they are similar in age to themselves, and they were both in their vigorous and promising youth; second, their experiences and experiences are similar to theirs, and they both suffer from the pain of "weakening" and "traveling further"; third, The structure of the couplet with the neck and tail is compact. The neck couplet uses Fan Li's Dian, which positively clarifies the purpose of "dropping tears" and "traveling far away". The tail couplet with "Owl, Eagle, Ji Phoenix" denies other people's motives for "dropping tears" and "traveling far away". distort. In addition, there are many changes in the use of allusions in this poem. Jia Yi and Wang Candian use it explicitly, which is good for being accurate and profound; Fan Li's allusion is used implicitly, but it is intentional or unintentional; the allusion from "Zhuangzi" is used flexibly, which is good for dexterity. And circulate. It is precisely because of its ability to express emotions implicitly and profoundly through the use of allusions that "An Ding Tower" has become one of Li Shangyin's masterpieces of Qilu.
In his later years, Wang Jinggong also liked to call Yishan Shi, thinking that the only person in the Tang Dynasty who knew how to learn from Lao Du and gained his vassal was Yishan. Every time he recites it... "I will always remember the rivers and lakes and return to my white hair, and I want to return to the world and enter the boat"... etc., although Lao Du can't fault it.
(Cai Qi's "Cai Kuanfu's Poems")
(Two sentences of "Yong Yi") If you doubt that I don't remember the world, then I will not only remember it, but also remember it forever! " "Eternal memory" is a word that stays in my arms day after day. From the day when the promise was made to return, it will be until after the gray hair. If you look closely at the heaven and earth today, you will definitely make a great rotation. Since this matter is of great importance, it must not be a casual matter at this time. Therefore, I know that I will not grow old or get into a boat, so I am still wet and stagnant, as if I have hope. (Jin Shengtan's "Selected and Criticized Tang Poems")
(Zhao couplet said) Jia Sheng once wrote a book that cried bitterly, but my tears were still empty; Wang Can once wrote a poem about climbing a building, and I was a guest among the guests. Sadness is in the word "empty" and the word "more".
([Qing Dynasty] Yao Peiqian's "Notes on Li Yishan's Collected Poems")