Ode to an Orange is a lyric poem describing things. The first half focuses on description. The second half is lyric, mainly lyric. These two parts have their own emphasis, but they are interrelated and integrated. The poet created a beautiful image of dried tangerine peel by personification, and described and praised it from all sides. The image of citrus is an example for poets to motivate themselves to stick to moral integrity.
The title praised the beauty of citrus. "Fu" is a kind of poetic style, and its meaning is taken from the "Fu" of "style, elegance and praise" in the Book of Songs. Most of the predecessors did it in Qu Yuan's youth, while others thought it was done during his exile in Jiangnan. In Qing Dynasty, Yao Nai suspected that this poem was written in the early Huai Dynasty, which seems to be more in line with the poem's caution and carelessness.
South China is rich in citrus, and Chu is the hometown of citrus. Han Shu says "Jiangling has thousands of oranges", which shows that Jiangling of Chu was famous for producing oranges as early as the Han Dynasty. But the habit of citrus is also very strange: only when it grows in the south can it produce sweet fruit, and if it moves to the north, it can only get bitter oranges. However, in the view of Qu Yuan, who loves his homeland deeply, this nature of "being born in the south" can be linked with his unswerving patriotic feelings. Therefore, during his exile in Beijing, he took the oranges in the south as an example to fight for festivals and wrote this famous poem praising oranges with deep affection.
Ode to Orange can be divided into two parts. The first section focuses on the elegant and touching external beauty of citrus. The first three sentences, such as "Empress, beautiful trees and attractive oranges", are remarkable: a firm green orange suddenly rises between the vast world, and it is deeply rooted in the land of the "South China", and no force can make it migrate. The indomitable spirit, the resolute expression of "following orders", Chenpi is respectable, handsome and amiable at the same time. The poet then outlined its vibrant "green leaves" and painted its "Su Rong" blooming like snowflakes. Although there are "thorns" between its branches and leaves, it is only to prevent foreign enemies from invading; What it contributes to the world is "pure color with white inside" and countless shining "round fruits"! Qu Yuan's "Nanju" is so "easy to repair" and so worthy of great responsibility! Although this passage focuses on description, between the lines, people can strongly feel the poet's pride and praise for the "fine tree" of the motherland.
The beauty of dried tangerine peel lies not only in the external form, but also in the internal spirit. In the second part of this poem, it turns from describing the external beauty of citrus to enthusiastically praising its internal spirit. In Lisao, Qu Yuan once expressed his concern about "orchid" and "pepper" with "strong but not real" (good-looking, but without beautiful internal quality). When I grow up, I am even more "horizontal but not flowing" and "comfortable and inseparable from prostitution", showing a strong and upright character; Even in the face of the "flowers" at the end of the year, it is still lush and will never yield to the cold. The poem "I am willing to be grateful for my old age and be friends with you for a long time" is an ingenious pen to communicate "things and me": it suddenly accepted the poet himself in Ode to Oranges and is willing to be friends with the face of Chenpi. In the face of severe years, the image of Chenpi, which made Frost and Snow stand proudly, was disappointed. With the ending of "Like Xi", the realm of the whole poem has been sublimated-in the distant reflections of ancient and modern people, the spirit of dried tangerine peel praised in the last article has all flowed and converged, becoming a symbol of the great man's spirit in adversity and unchanged ethics, reflected on the historical awning!
Judging from the poems we have seen now, Ode to an Orange is the first object-chanting poem in the history of China's poetry. Qu Yuan skillfully grasped the ecology and habits of dried tangerine peel, connected it with human spirit and character by analogy and association, and gave warm praise. Expressing ambition by things and writing people by things not only communicated things with me, but also integrated ancient and modern times, thus creating a poem praised by Lin Yunming of A Qing Dynasty. Reflecting each other, there is a wonderful realm of "the light of Chu Ci". Since then, the oranges in the South China contain rich cultural connotations and lofty ideals of "independence and love for the motherland", which are sung and imitated by people forever. This unique contribution undoubtedly belongs only to Qu Yuan, so Liu Chenweng in the Song Dynasty also called Qu Yuan the "ancestor of chanting things" through the ages.