Poetry of Western Zhou Dynasty is obscure and difficult to understand, and many researchers have different interpretations of it. The time, place, characters and narrative perspective of this poem are obscure, so it is difficult to achieve a unified and smooth interpretation. In the interpretation of Xizhou Qu, there are three controversial issues: first, who is the protagonist depicted in the poem and from whose perspective; Second, where is the place name in the poem and where is the protagonist's residence; Third, whether there are seasonal changes in the content of poetry.
This paper analyzes the two images of "plum" and "lotus" in the poem, and probes into the interpretation of these three problems. There are two words "Mei" in the first sentence of Western Zhou Qu. There are different views on the understanding of these two words. There are three main ways to understand the first Mei.
The first statement is represented by Mr. You Guoen, who suggested in On the West that "Mei" is probably the first name or surname of the woman in the poem. The second statement is represented by Mr. Kaga, who thinks that the word "Mei" should be synonymous with the word "Huan". "Huan" was widely used in Yuefu folk songs in the Southern Dynasties, generally referring to "Huan Lang", which was the title of female lover at that time, as were the sentence patterns of "recalling Mei to Xizhou" and "Huan Wen to Yangzhou".
The third view holds that "Mei" means plum blossom, and "Xia" means falling, that is, plum blossom falls. As for Ermei, most researchers understand it as true plum, or plum blossom, or plum branch, which can be folded and sent to Jiangbei. The author thinks that these three statements are flawed or inappropriate. The following will demonstrate the three statements and put forward my own views.
If the first "Mei" refers to a woman's first name or surname, then the initiator of this action is a man. When a man thinks of the woman he loves, he comes to Xizhou. Naturally, it is also a man who "folds" and "sends" Mei to Jiangbei, and a woman's household registration is in Jiangbei. However, this understanding conflicts with the later article "Lotus Picking in Autumn in Nantang", and the image analysis of "Lotus" can prove that "
In the Western Zhou Qu, the word "lotus" appeared seven times, which is the homonym of "pity". "Autumn Lotus Picking in Nantang" means that women go to Nantang to pick lotus, which shows that the women's residence is very close to Nantang.