We know that most of Liu Zongyuan's poems were written after he was demoted, and most of them express his sorrow of leaving his hometown and the depression of his exiled life. This poem was written when the poet was demoted to Yongzhou. Let’s take a look together.
Get up in the middle of the night and look at the moonlight in the West Garden.
Liu Zongyuan
Feeling that the dew is falling,
Open an account in the West Garden.
On the cold moon in the East Ridge,
The bamboo roots are sparse and cool.
The sound of the stone spring is far away,
The mountain birds make a noise every now and then.
Relying on the couplet until dawn,
What can I say about loneliness.
Appreciation of Liu Zongyuan's poems
The poem begins with the theme of the title: late autumn, cold night and loneliness. Because the poet was restless, he was still alone and miserable in the "midnight", tossing and turning. Outdoors, there was a slight sound of "many dew" dripping. As you can imagine, it was a quiet night. So he opened the door and came to the west garden.
Outdoors, open and quiet. A bright moon climbed up from behind Dongshan, spreading its cold brilliance over the sparse bamboo forest. The word "Lingling" is used here very cleverly. The poet uses its meaning of "cool" to describe the moonlight, which contrasts with the word "cold" in "Hanyue", deliberately rendering a desolate artistic conception.
At this time, everything around was silent. The sound of spring water flowing from the cracks in the rocks at the foot of the mountain becomes clearer the farther away it is. The wild birds in the mountain occasionally make a burst of noise, which further reflects the remoteness, tranquility and emptiness of the environment.
The poet uses the "rich dew" falling to the ground, the "oversound" of the stone spring and the singing of birds in the empty mountain and deep stream to express the quiet atmosphere around his residence. This method of describing stillness with noise and contrasting movement with stillness , vividly outlines the deep and silent moonlit night scene.
This scenery embodies the poet's complex thoughts and feelings: the injustice after being treated coldly, the loneliness of leaving home and relatives, and the aloofness and nobility of feudal intellectuals...
Facing the cold and silent scenery in front of him, the poet leaned against the door and meditated until dawn. Despite this, the poet still could not get rid of the lonely and depressed mood, so he finally said, "What can I say about loneliness?" In just a few words, all the pain and troubles are left unsaid.
The poet is good at choosing characteristic scenery to describe the tranquility of the earth and the emptiness of the mountains and forests, thus painting a picture of a moonlit night with a quiet artistic conception, including the lush dew, cold moon, sparse bamboos, the sound of stone springs, and the mountain stream. The birdsong is covered in it, showing the characteristics of painting in the poem, sound in the stillness, and contrasting movement and stillness.
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