1. Original text
"Spring Day" by Zhu Xi of the Song Dynasty
The sun is shining brightly on the shore of Surabaya, and the boundless scenery is new for a while.
Easy to recognize the east wind, colorful colors are always spring.
2. Appreciation
On the surface, this poem looks like a landscape poem, describing the beautiful scenery of spring; in fact, it is a philosophical poem, expressing the poet's pursuit in troubled times. The good wishes of the saints. The whole poem embodies theory and interest in the image, and the conception and writing are wonderful.
The first sentence is "Shengri Xunfang Surabaya Shore": "Shengri" points out the time of tomorrow; "Sishui Bin" points out the location; "Xunfang" points out the theme. The narrative is divided into three levels in one sentence, especially the acupuncture point "Sishui Bin", which is the author's intentional arrangement. The word "Xun" not only expresses the author's excitement, but also adds a lot of interest to the poem.
The second sentence, "The boundless scenery is new for a while," describes the initial impression gained from watching the spring scenery. "Boundless Scenery" inherits the first sentence "Looking for fragrance in the sun" and tells the result of searching for fragrance. Use "boundless" to describe all the scenery within sight. "A moment of newness" not only describes the return of spring to the earth and the natural scenery taking on a new look, but also describes the author's refreshing and joyful feeling when he goes on an outing. There is no detailed description here, no cutting and pasting of every plant, tree or stone, but writing from a very vast space.
The last two sentences use figurative language to specifically describe the new situation and express the gains from seeking fragrance. "It's easy to know the Dongfeng side", the word "knowledge" in the sentence inherits the word "find" in the first sentence. "Easy to recognize" means that the face and characteristics of spring are easily identifiable. It means that I am looking for beauty in the sun. I didn’t expect to have endless scenery. Now that I have such a fresh feeling, I can’t help but jump for joy. "Dongfeng Nian" visualizes and personifies the spring atmosphere and spring scenery, and puts the word "knowledge" into practice.
The last sentence "Everything is always spring" means that these colorful scenes are all dyed by spring light. People understand spring and feel the beauty of spring from these thousands of purples and reds. This specifically explains why we can "know the east wind side easily". The word "colorful purples and reds" in this sentence is closely related to the "east wind" and far away to the "boundless scenery". It is a rhetorical figure with strong imagery. The poem ends with "It's always spring" and everything falls on "spring day".
From a literal point of view, this poem seems to be about the impressions of spring outing, but upon closer inspection, the location of the search for fragrance is the shore of Surabaya, which had long been occupied by the Jin people when the Song Dynasty was crossing south. Zhu Xi had never gone north, so of course it was impossible for him to travel to the shores of Surabaya to sing and sing in spring. In fact, the word "Sishui" in the poem refers to Confucius, because in the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius once taught students by singing string songs between Zhu and Si. Therefore, the so-called "seeking fragrance" refers to seeking the way of saints. The space shown in "Boundless Scenery" is extremely vast, which reveals the poet's original intention of pursuing the holy way. "East wind" is a metaphor for enlightenment, and "a riot of purple and red" is a metaphor for the richness and variety of Confucianism. The poet compares the way of the saint to the spring breeze that stimulates vitality and ignites all things. This is actually a philosophical poem that embodies truth and interest in images. Philosophical poetry does not reveal traces of reasoning, which is Zhu Xi's brilliance.