"Miscellaneous Poems"
Author: Wang Wei
You come from your hometown, so you should know about it.
In front of the beautiful window tomorrow, the winter plum blossoms have not yet bloomed.
Notes:
1. Coming day: refers to the day of departure.
2. Qi Window: A window with exquisite carvings.
3. Flowering: blooming.
Rhyme translation:
You have just come out of our hometown.
You must understand the people and affairs in your hometown;
May I ask about my home when you came? In front of the window,
Has the wintersweet flower bloomed?
Commentary:
This is a poem that expresses nostalgia. There are three original poems, and this is the second one. The poem uses the technique of descriptive words to concisely and vividly depict the protagonist's homesickness. For those who have left their hometown, there are many things to miss in their hometown.
However, the poem does not write about nostalgia for the mountains and rivers, the local customs and customs, but about nostalgia for the "winter plum blossoms in front of the window?"
Three Miscellaneous Poems
One of them
My family lives in Mengjin River⑴,
My door is opposite Mengjinkou.
There are often boats from the south of the Yangtze River.
Do you want to send books to your home?
Second
You (2) came from your hometown (3), so you should know about your hometown.
In front of the beautiful window ⑸ tomorrow,
The winter plum blossoms ⑹ have not yet bloomed ⑺?
Third
I have seen the winter plum blossoms, and
heard the singing of birds again.
My heart is full of spring grass,
I am afraid of growing up on the jade steps.
Annotation translation editor
Work annotation
⑴Mengjin River: refers to the area on the south bank of the Yellow River in the north of Luoyang, Henan, where "King Wu defeated Zhou and met with eight hundred princes" The land of "League" was an important transportation thoroughfare in ancient times.
⑵Jun: The honorific name for the other party is you.
⑶Hometown: Hometown, here refers to the author’s hometown.
⑷来日: When you come.
⑸Qi Window: A window with carved patterns.
⑹ Winter plum: plum blossoms blooming in winter.
⑺Flowering: Has it bloomed? With (zhuó) flowers, bloom. Wei, used at the end of a sentence, is equivalent to "no" and expresses a question.
⑻ Yu Jie: "Ten Thousand Tang Dynasty Quatrains" is written as "Jie Qian".
Translation of the work
One: The family lives by the Mengjin River, and the door of the house is opposite the Mengjin Ferry. There are boats from Jiangnan along the river every day. Are there any letters from my husband sent back from Jiangnan?
Second: You have just come from our hometown, so you must understand the people and the world in your hometown. I would like to ask if the wintersweet flower in front of the carved window of my house was blooming when you came?
Third: I saw the plum blossoms blooming and heard the chirping of birds. With a heart full of sorrow, I watched the spring grass grow. The more and more lush spring grass was about to reach the front steps, and I couldn't help but feel panic.
Appreciation of Works
Literary Appreciation
First: This poem develops emotional activities through triggering and association. The heroine lived near the ferry, and boats going up and down the river passed by her door every day; so she thought that there might be boats from the south of the Yangtze River among them. The husband has not returned for a long time somewhere in the south of the Yangtze River. Since there is a Jiangnan ship, there may be letters sent back by the husband from Jiangnan. She might look at the door several times a day. Whenever I see a ship docked at the ferry, I inevitably go up to ask, but I always end up disappointed. The poem says that ships in the south of the Yangtze River "always exist", which means that letters "always don't exist". However, the protagonist still pins her hope on the next ship. She thinks: The letter may have been sent and is on its way. Therefore, the conclusion of the poem "Is the letter sent home?" is the hope of this young woman that is constantly disillusioned and constantly revived.
Second: This poem expresses the author’s taste and tendency. It is natural for the poet to miss his hometown, but his love for plum blossoms is beyond words.
The lyrical protagonist ("I", not necessarily the author) in the poem is a person who has been in a foreign land for a long time. Suddenly he meets an old friend from his hometown. The first thing that arouses is naturally a strong homesickness. Eager to know the scenery and people in my hometown. The first two sentences vividly express the feelings of "I" in an unmodified form that is close to the natural state of life. The repeated use of the word "hometown" shows the nostalgia for hometown: "should know" and so on, the trace is close, but it shows the eagerness to understand the local affairs, revealing a child-like innocence and kindness. It is a very frugal way of describing words purely in white lines, but concisely expresses "my" feelings, psychology, demeanor, tone, etc. in a specific situation vividly. This is actually a very frugal way of writing.
As for "hometown things", you can open a long list of questions. Wang Ji in the early Tang Dynasty wrote an article "Asking about meeting people in my hometown in Beijing". He asked about old children, brothers and nephews in the clan, new trees in the old garden, the width of the thatched house, and the density of the willow rows, all the way to the fruit trees and flowers in the courtyard. The meaning is still not finished, "I just want to ask"; but the "I" in this poem put aside these and asked the other party alone: ??Will the winter plum blossoms bloom in front of the beautiful window tomorrow? It seems that my hometown is worth remembering, just the winter plum in front of the window. This is quite unnatural. But it's not a pretense.
A person's nostalgia for his hometown is always connected with those people, things and things that are closely related to his past life.
The so-called "homesickness" is completely a kind of "image thinking". What appears in the minds of homesick people are all specific images or pictures. The relatives and friends in my hometown, the mountains and rivers, the local customs and customs are all worth remembering. But sometimes it is often seemingly ordinary and trivial love affairs that arouse affectionate thoughts. The winter plums in front of the window are an example. It may contain the intimate and interesting stories of home life at that time. Therefore, this winter plum is no longer an ordinary natural object, but has become a symbol of hometown. It has been poeticized and typified. Therefore, this winter plum has naturally become the concentrated sustenance of "my" homesickness. Understood in this sense, it is completely consistent with the logic of life to ask "the winter plum blossoms have bloomed yet".
There are often such simple and plain works with rich poetic flavor in ancient poetry. It is so simple that it seems to use no skills, but in fact it contains the most advanced skills. Like the question about the cold plum blossoms in this poem, it can be seen as a typification technique that expresses the general in a special way, but this technique is embodied in a form that is as plain and simple as describing homely things. This is what is called combining cleverness with simplicity. Wang Ji's poem "Meeting Hometowns in Jing and Asking the Countrymen" may be more simple than this poem, but the artistic power of its series of questions is far less than Wang Wei's question.
"You come from your hometown, you should know the things about your hometown." This sentence seems to be asking about the situation in your hometown, but the poet only uses "hometown things" to ask the question in general, and the questions in the poet's heart are suddenly filled with questions. I don’t know where to ask. This sentence describes the poet's hesitation and the other party's surprise. "Will the winter plum blossoms bloom in front of the beautiful window tomorrow?" This question confused the other party. He didn't ask about people and things, but asked about things. However, it was this kind of question that was full of fun and endless aftertaste. In fact, the real purpose of the poet is not the plum blossom. The poet doesn't know where to start with what he wants to say and the questions he wants to ask. His longing for his hometown is actually in this casual question.
Third: This poem uses the progression of time and the changes in phenology to deepen the protagonist's emotions. The sentence "Already seen the winter plum blossoms" is an echo of the previous poem asking about the blooming of winter plum blossoms. This sentence expresses the deep resentment of the heroine's disappointment. Because of the unfavorable situation, she was unable to keep her promise as scheduled. At this time, in the eyes of the heroine, the gleam of hope had turned into the color of disillusionment. Not only that. Even this spring, which symbolizes youth and love, and the prosperous spring, has also undergone qualitative changes. The plum blossoms are in bloom and early spring has passed. The birds are chirping, and mid-spring has flown by. Now is the late spring when the warblers are flying and the grass is growing. As the sequence progresses, the heroine's mood also changes from boredom to melancholy all day long, and she even sheds tears when looking at flowers and becomes sad when looking at the moon. In the past, she felt that every day that passed was one day closer to the realization of her beautiful wish. Now it's completely a reverse psychology: the faster time passes, the more complete the disillusionment becomes, like a surging river under the sun, helpless. At this time, the singing of birds and the spring grass have become the opposite of the protagonist's emotions. The poet said that the heroine "looked at the spring grass" with a heart full of sorrow. She could not help but feel panic when she saw the increasingly lush spring grass that was about to reach the front steps.
Comments by famous writers
"Wang Meng's Poetry Commentary" by Liu Chenweng of the Song Dynasty said: "The three poems are all light and emotional." "Selected Quatrains" comments on this poem (Part 2 of "Miscellaneous Poems"): "Using small things to suspense, conveying every concern and homesickness."
Chen Jiansheng: "Wang Wei's "Miscellaneous Poems" The three poems skillfully use the blank space art of Chinese painting to create strong artistic tension in the poems and leave more aesthetic space for imagination.
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