Yuan Mei's "Inscription on the Peach Tree"
On a windy and rainy day in February, I feel the passage of time under the green peach blossoms.
There are still three thousand trees in Canhong, which are not as bright as the first blooming one.
Yuan Mei (1716-1797) was a native of Qiantang (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang) in the Qing Dynasty. He became a Jinshi in the fourth year of Qianlong's reign (1739). In the seventh year of Qianlong's reign, he was transferred to serve as an official. He served as county magistrate of Jiangning, Shangyuan and other places. When his father died at the age of thirty-three, he resigned and adopted his mother. He bought the Sui family's abandoned garden in Jiangning (Nanjing), renamed it "Suiyuan", built a house and settled there, and was known as Mr. Suiyuan. He lived a leisurely life here for nearly 50 years. Engaged in poetry writing, his works include "Xiaocang Shanfang Collection"; "Suiyuan Poetry Talk" in 16 volumes and "Supplement" in 10 volumes; "Zi Buyu" in 24 volumes and "Xu Zi Buyu" in 10 volumes; Suiyuan Food List 1 volume; more than 30 kinds including prose, rulers and tablets, Suiyuan Food List, etc.
Yuan Mei advocates the "Spirit Theory". He advocated writing poems to express one's own personality, advocating expressing one's own feelings directly and describing one's "temperament and circumstances". Combining "spirituality" and "knowledge", taking temperament, talent and academic qualifications as the basis of creation, and pursuing "truth, newness and life" as the creative pursuit, only in this way can innate conditions and acquired efforts be combined to create excellent works. It is believed that " The writing style of poetry and essays is like a beautiful woman’s hair, skin, and clever smile, which is innate; the writing and writing of poems and essays is like a beautiful woman’s clothes and jewelry, which is acquired.” His poems mostly describe the trivial things around him, and are full of wind, flowers, snow and moon. The poems are fresh and timeless, flowing freely. The landscape poems are elegant and exquisite.
Counting from February on the lunar calendar, it should be March on the Gregorian calendar. Because peach blossoms bloom first and then leave leaves, they bloom relatively early in spring.
I won’t say much else. If you put a good poem in plain terms, it will no longer be a good poem, and at the same time it will lose its charm.