"Happy Meeting with Wang Chushi on an Autumn Night" is a five-character quatrain composed by Wang Ji, a poet in the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties. The first two lines of the poem, "The flowers have stopped growing in Beichang, and the millet has been harvested in Donggao," mainly describe the poet's encounter with Wang Chushi on his way home late after a day of farming; the last two lines, "When the autumn moon is full, the fireflies are flying at night" describe the poem. The natural scenery when meeting friends. The whole poem embodies the scenery with emotion, and expresses emotion with scenery. The following is the translation and appreciation of the original text of "A Happy Encounter with the Prince on an Autumn Night" compiled by me. Welcome to read it.
Happily Encountering Wang Chushi on an Autumn Night
Tang Dynasty: Wang Ji
The flowers are gone in Beichang, and the millet is being cut back in Donggao.
When the autumn moon is full, the fireflies fly at night.
"Translation"
After hoeing beans in the vegetable garden to the north of the house, I returned from harvesting yellow rice in the fields to the east.
On an autumn night with a full moon tonight, I happened to meet my old friend Wang Chushi, and there were even fireflies flying around to add to the fun.
"Notes"
① Chushi: an honorific title for a person who is virtuous and talented but does not want to be an official and live in seclusion in the world.
② North Field: The field garden to the north of the house.
③Yun Huo (hu): hoe beans. Yun, literally means "cultivation", which refers to cultivation. Huo refers to bean leaves.
④ Donggao (gāo): the field to the east of the house. Gao, a highland by the water.
⑤刈(yì): cut.
⑥ Millet (shǔ): millet. A monocotyledonous grass plant that grows in the north and is drought tolerant. The seeds are light yellow and are often used to make yellow cakes and wine.
⑦Firefly: Firefly.
Appreciation
The author Wang Ji moved from the Sui Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty. His poetic style was simple and natural. He washed away the old habits of the Qi and Liang Dynasties and became unique in poetry in the early Tang Dynasty. This simple and plain poem that describes the pastoral life contains rich and meaningful poetic sentiment. Quite representative of his artistic style.
The first two sentences describe returning from farming activities. Beichang and Donggao are just generally referred to as "Beichang, Pujiadong Tianye" and do not actually refer to place names. "Donggao" secretly uses Tao Yuanming's "Returning Lai Ci" poem "Deng Donggao to soothe the whistle" to point out the status of returning to seclusion and farming. Yun (literally "yun") refers to hoeing beans, which, like "cutting millet", is an autumn farming activity. These two sentences are plain narrative without any description or rendering, so plain that there is almost no poetry at all. But this casual and plain tone and soothing and calm rhythm reveal the poet's habit of pastoral life and his leisurely and leisurely taste. Wang Ji retired to seclusion and lived in comfortable conditions. Participating in field work such as "cultivation" and "millet harvesting" is just a relaxed and happy embellishment of his pastoral life. The harmonious and balanced state of mind created by this kind of life is the background and condition of the "happy encounter on an autumn night" described in the next two sentences. "When the autumn moon is full, the fireflies are flying at night." Feeling slightly tired and happy after working in the field during the day, and happy to return to the pastoral life, two old friends who live in the country met unexpectedly on a quiet and beautiful autumn night. Met. On this full moon night, the entire village and fields were shrouded in the light of the bright moon, making them look particularly quiet, peaceful and harmonious. There are little autumn fireflies flying around, weaving into ever-changing patterns. Their appearance adds a sense of flow and cheerful business to this quiet and peaceful autumn night in the mountain village, preventing it from looking monotonous and lonely. At the same time, this local flow change in turn highlights the tranquility and tranquility of the entire Qiuye Mountain Village. There is no description of the scene where the two met nor the word "happy" written in one stroke. However, through this painting of an autumn night in a mountain village composed of the melting moon and dots of fireflies, the emotions of "encounter" and "more value" are used. The richly colored words imbue the poet with the feeling of being intoxicated with the beautiful scenery in front of him, and the mood is in perfect harmony with the environment, comfortable and tranquil. Facing such a beautiful night scene, the two friends have knowing smiles and proud forgetfulness. The scenes are clearly presented to the readers.
Using emotion to control scenery and using scenery to support emotion are the outstanding artistic features of this poem.
The poem selects four scenes from different directions: "Beichang", "Donggao", "Autumn Moon" and "Yingying" to illuminate the poet's excitement when meeting friends, but each scene is full of meaning. With the poet's joyful feelings. The first two sentences describe the scene of meeting friends amidst the joy of labor, and there is a meaning of happiness upon happiness. The last two sentences describe the good fortune of God and the reunion of friends. They use festive scenes to highlight the joy of meeting friends, filling the realm of poetry with a cheerful atmosphere.
Because the poet is good at mobilizing scenes to reflect his mood, the poet does not have the word "happy", but his joy jumps out from between the lines.
The language of this poem is simple, fresh and natural. It breaks away from the poetic style of the Six Dynasties and is unique in the poetry world of the early Tang Dynasty.
Wang Ji was deeply influenced by the thoughts of Lao and Zhuang. Although many of his poems reveal dissatisfaction with the constraints of feudal ethics, they often express independent, passive and reclusive thoughts. His famous work "Ambition" also has this negative tendency. Although this poem is about pastoral seclusion, it expresses the unique beauty of rural autumn nights and the deep understanding of this beauty. The color is bright and full of life. His poems are sincere and natural, without any false embellishments, but sometimes they are too frank and simple and lack any substance. This poem not only maintains the simplicity and natural advantages, but also integrates the emotions into the scene, and inadvertently dyes the artistic conception full of implications.
From the perspective of the development of pastoral poetry, Tao's poetry focuses on freehand brushwork, while Wang Wei's pastoral poetry focuses on creating a beautiful artistic conception where scenes blend together. Wang Ji's poem may be regarded as the forerunner of Wang Wei's pastoral poetry. The influence of Tao's poetry can still be seen in the poem, but overall it belongs to the future era of poetry development.
Creation background
In the early years of Zhenguan, Wang Ji abandoned his official position and returned to his hometown. He wanted to have an official career, but it was difficult for him to become prominent and prosperous, so he retired to the countryside and entertained himself with gin, wine and poetry. This poem was written while the author was in seclusion.