Nine Songs·Mrs. Xiang
The emperor's son descended to Beizhu, his eyes were dim and worried.
The autumn wind is blowing, and the waves in the Dongting are under the wooden leaves.
Climb the white weeds and look forward to the sunset.
Why are the birds gathering among the apples, and why are the weeds gathering on the trees?
There are zhi in the garden and orchids in the river. I miss the young master but dare not speak.
Looking into the distance from the desolate landscape, you can see the gurgling water.
Why does the elk eat in the garden? Why is the Jiao descended from the water?
In the morning, horses are riding in Jianggao, and in the evening, horses are riding in Xinan.
I heard that the beautiful woman is calling me, and I will fly away together.
The house is built in the water, and the lotus canopy is used to repair it;
The purple altar is on the wall, and the hall is made of fragrant peppers;
The laurel pillar is orchid , the Xinyi lintel is the pharmacy;
The plucked lilies are used as curtains, and the rhizome is spread out;
The white jade is the town, and the sparse orchids are the fragrance;
The lotus house is full of flamboyance, and Du Heng is the dizzying place.
The real courtyard is filled with baicai, and the veranda gate is fragrant and fragrant.
The Nine Yis come together to welcome you, and the spirits come like clouds.
The leftover mantle is in the middle of the river, and the leftover mantle is in Lipu.
If you look at Du Ruo on the Tingzhou Island, you will be far away with your leftover mattress;
The time cannot come suddenly, so let's chat happily and happily!
Notes
(1) Selected from "The Songs of Chu", it is one of the "Nine Songs". "Nine Songs" is the collective name of Qu Yuan's eleven works. "Nine" refers to a general term, not a real number. "Nine Songs" is originally the name of an ancient piece of music. Wang Yi's "Chapter and Sentences of Chu Ci" believes: "In the past, in the towns of Nanying and Yuanxiang in the Chu Dynasty, the common people believed in ghosts and loved temples. In their temples, songs and music must be made to encourage and entertain the gods. Qu Yuan was exiled and lurked among them, and he was worried. Bitterness, melancholy, and gloomy thoughts appear in the poems of the common people offering sacrifices, singing and dancing, and their words are vulgar. Because of the music of "Nine Songs", the upper part expresses the respect of God, and the lower part shows the injustice done by oneself, and entrusts it with wind and admonishment. ." Some people think that Qu Yuan made it based on folk sacrifice songs. This chapter is a companion chapter to "Xiang Jun", another chapter in "Nine Songs". There are many disputes about who Mrs. Xiang and Jun Xiang are. There is no doubt that the two are the gods of the Xiang River. This article describes the longing and sadness that King Xiang felt when he waited for Mrs. Xiang but did not come.
(2) Emperor's son: refers to Mrs. Xiang. Concubine Shun was the daughter of Emperor Yao, so she was called the emperor's son.
(3)燇燇(miǎo): A wanderer who cannot be seen. Chouyu: Makes me sad.
(4) Niao Niao (niǎo): the appearance of being blown by the breeze
(5) Wave: making waves. whereabouts.
(6) 薠: The name of aquatic grass, growing in lakes and swamps. To look: to look across one's eyes.
(7) Jia: Beautiful lady, refers to Mrs. Xiang. Period: Period. Zhang: Furnishings.
(8) Collection: collection. Birds are supposed to be gathered on trees, but they are said to be among water plants.
(9)羾(zēng): Fishing net. Originally it was supposed to be in the water, but instead it was said to be on a tree. It is a metaphor for not being able to get what you want and losing its proper place.
(10) Yuan: Yuanshui, in today’s Hunan Province. Li: Same as "Li" (lǐ), that is, Lishui, which flows into Dongting Lake in today's Hunan Province. Tasaki: Angelica dahurica, a kind of herb.
(11) Young Master: refers to Mrs. Xiang. In ancient times, nobles were called "gongzi", and the children of nobles could be called "gongzi" regardless of their surname.
(12)Huanghu: Indistinct appearance.
(13) Gurgling: The appearance of water flowing.
(14) Elk: The name of the animal, like a deer.
(15) Water origin: waterside. This name means that the dragon should be in the abyss but at the water's edge. A metaphor for an abnormal situation.
(16) Gao: High ground by the water.
(17)樨(shì): waterside.
(18) Tengjia: driving a horse-drawn carriage at full speed. Pass away together: go together.
(19) Repair: weave straw to build a house. Cover: refers to the roof.
(20) Sun wall: Decorate the wall with sun grass. Sun (sūn): a kind of herb. Purple: Purple shell. Altar: Atrium.
(21) Pepper: a kind of fragrant wood.
(22) Building: House, roof spine. 毑: House rafters.
(23) Xinyi: The name of the tree, the flowers rise in early spring. Lintel: the beam above the door. Medicine: Angelica dahurica.
(24) 罔: Connect the "net" to solve knots. Xili; a kind of herb that grows on trees. Curtain: Curtain.
(25) Break; separate. Hui: a kind of herb. 拋(mián)拋: used as "curtain", the top of the tent.
(26) Town: suppress things sitting at the table.
(27) Shu: divide and divide. Shilan: a herb.
(28) Liao: winding. Duheng: a kind of vanilla.
(29) He: together. Baicao: refers to many fragrant grasses. Real: substantial.
(30) Xin: A fragrance that can be smelled from afar. 庑 (wǔ): Corridor
(31) Jiuyi (yí): The name of the mountain. It is said that Shun's burial place is in the south of Xiangshui River. This refers to the Jiuyi Mountain God. Bin: Shengduo looks like.
(32) Spirit: God. Ruyun: describes many things.
(33) 袂 (mèi): Sleeves.
(34) 褋 (dié): coat.
(35) Ting: Flat land in the water or near the water. Duro: a kind of herb.
(36) Distant person: refers to Mrs. Xiang.
(37) Sudden success: Countable success, repeated success.
(38) Xiaoyao: Play. Yongyu: leisurely look.
Translation
Mrs. Xiang landed on Beizhou,
The distant view made me melancholy.
The trees are swaying gently, the autumn breeze is cool,
The Dongting is rippled, and the leaves are falling.
Stepping on the white weeds and looking around,
Let’s make an appointment with the beautiful lady tonight.
Why do birds gather in water plants?
Why are the fishing nets hung on the treetops?
The lilac grass in Yuanshui is green and the orchids in Lishui are fragrant.
I miss Mrs. Xiang but I dare not say it openly.
Looking into the distance in a daze,
I saw only the river flowing slowly.
Why do elk forage in the yard?
Why is the dragon wandering near the water?
In the early morning, I rode my horse along the riverside.
In the evening, I crossed to the west side of the river.
I heard that Mrs. Xiang is calling me,
I will drive with her.
I will build my house in the middle of the water,
I will also cover the roof with lotus leaves.
Sungrass decorates the walls, and purple clams pave the courtyard.
The walls are covered with peppers to decorate the hall.
Osmanthus is used as the pillars, magnolia is used as the rafters,
Xinyi is used as the lintel, and Angelica dahurica is used as the bedroom.
Weaving sedge and weaving it into a curtain,
The curtain made of splitting hucao has also been put up.
The town mats are made of white jade,
The fragrant orchids are displayed everywhere.
Cover the lotus house with rhizome grass,
Wrap it with duheng in all directions.
Gather all kinds of flowers and plants to fill the courtyard,
Build a fragrant porch.
The gods of Jiuyi Mountain came to welcome Mrs. Xiang.
They were crowded like clouds.
I threw the sleeves into the river,
I threw the single coat by the Lishui River.
I am picking Du Ruo on the small island,
I will use it to give gifts to girls far away.
Beautiful times are rare,
I will wander around leisurely for the time being.
Appreciation
"Mrs. Xiang" is one of the eleven poems in the "Nine Songs of Chu Song". It is a poem dedicated to the goddess of the Xiang River, and is a companion piece to "The King of Xiang" . The whole article is written in the tone of Mr. Xiang missing Mrs. Xiang, depicting the melancholy mood of looking into the distance, praying but not coming, hoping but not seeing.
It is generally believed that Mrs. Xiang is the female god of Xiangshui River, and she and Xiangjun, the male god of Xiangshui River, are the consort gods. The Xiangshui River is the largest river unique to Chu State. The pair of gods, Lord Xiang and Lady Xiang, reflect the ideology of primitive people worshiping natural gods and the concept of "love between gods and humans". Chu folk literature and art has a strong religious atmosphere, and the altar is actually a "drama altar" or a "literary altar". Take "The King of Xiang" and "Mrs. Xiang" as an example: when people sacrifice to King Xiang, they play the role of female singers or worshipers to welcome King Xiang; Mrs. Xiang, everyone expresses their deep love and affection. They use gods as objects to entrust the simple and sincere love in the world; at the same time, they also reflect the harmony between the people of Chu and nature. Because the Xiang River that irrigates Southern Chu has a flesh-and-blood relationship with the people of Chu, she is like a loving mother, nurturing the people of Chu from generation to generation. People place deep love on the Xiangshui River and regard the Xiangshui River as a river of love and happiness, thus personifying the description of the Xiangshui River. The images of gods also play out stories of joys and sorrows like those of humans, and the gods in people's minds are specifically cast in the shadow of historical and legendary figures. Lord Xiang and Lady Xiang are based on the legend of Shun and his two concubines (Ehuang and Nvying). In this way, the image of God is not only richer and more vivid, but also more emotionally close to people in real life, making people feel approachable and humane.
Although the title of the poem is "Mrs. Xiang", the protagonist in the poem is King Xiang. The main theme of this poem is to describe the life and death of lovers, who have no fate to meet. The work always takes the waiting person's failure as a clue, expressing deep resentment to the other person in despair, but it is consistent that the love between them remains unswerving.
As a companion piece to "Jun Xiang", "Mrs. Xiang" is sung by the actor who plays the role of the male god. It expresses the melancholy and confusion of Mr. Xiang who came to Beizhu, the place of appointment, but did not see Mrs. Xiang.
If we connect these two sacred songs, then the love story written in this song "Mrs. Xiang" happened when Mrs. Xiang waited for a long time for the king of Xiang to fail to arrive, so she left Xiangpu north and transferred to Dongting. time. Therefore, when Mr. Xiang arrived at Beizhu, the meeting place that night, it was naturally difficult to see his sweetheart. This is where the work was written, closely matching the plot of "The King of Hunan".
The first sentence "The emperor's son descended to Beizhu" is more difficult to understand. "Emperor's son" has always been interpreted as the daughter of the Emperor of Heaven, and was later attached to mean the two daughters of Yao, but there is no doubt that it refers to the goddess of Xiangshui. This sentence is generally said to mean that the emperor's son has arrived in Beizhu, which is derived from "Xiang Jun Xiang Beizhu" in "Xiangjun"; but this is inconsistent with the whole article that Xiangjun expected her to come but did not see her. The content is inconsistent.
So some people interpreted this sentence as an invitation from King Xiang (see Zhan Antai's "Qu Yuan"), so that the meaning of the text becomes smoother.
The first paragraph of the poem writes that Mr. Xiang wandered on the shore of Dongting Lake with pious expectations for a long time, longing for the arrival of Mrs. Xiang. This is a picture with a very thought-provoking environment and atmosphere: the cool autumn wind is blowing constantly, the water in Dongting Lake is rippled, and the leaves are falling on the shore. Mr. Xiang, who looked over the autumn water and saw no beauty, hesitated and scratched his head. Sometimes he came to see her off, and sometimes he made arrangements. However, things went against his expectations, and Mrs. Xiang still didn't come until dusk. This situation has been compared to the abnormal phenomenon of "how do birds gather in the apples, and how do the weeds hang on the trees", which further highlights the disappointment and confusion that fills the characters' hearts, and the meaning of futility and futility. . Among them, "The autumn wind is blowing, and the waves in the Dongting are under the wooden leaves" is a famous sentence that describes the scenery. It is very effective in exaggerating the atmosphere and mood, so it was deeply appreciated by future generations of poets.
Based on this, the second paragraph further deepens Xiangjun’s desire. Using the herbs by the waterside to evoke the silent longing for the beloved, and using the slow flow of water to hint at the passage of time in the distance, this is a typical artistic technique of pre-Qin poetry. Its advantages are that the characters are related to each other and the scene is unified, and it has Very contagious. The following two anomalies are the elk eating in the atrium and the dragon stagnating by the water. Like the previous description of the bird and the net, it is also a metaphorical metaphor, once again emphasizing that love without seeing is contrary to the wish. Then the same as Mrs. Xiang. In the anxiety of waiting for a long time, he also rode horseback to search from morning to night. The result was slightly different from Mrs. Xiang: in his eager search, he suddenly had the idea of ??hearing the beauty's call and riding with her. The illusion of driving away. So the work has the following most imaginative and romantic touch.
The third paragraph is purely about the scene in Mr. Xiang’s fantasy of meeting Mrs. Xiang as he wished. This is a dazzling and magical world: the courtyards built in the middle of the water are decorated with exotic flowers, exotic plants and fragrant trees. Its colors and fragrance are unparalleled. The work lists more than ten kinds of plants in one breath, such as lotus, sunflower, pepper, cinnamon, orchid, magnolia, medicine, sage, cymbidium, stone orchid, peony, and Duheng, to express the beauty of the meeting place. Its purpose is to use the radiant external environment to set off and reflect the joy and happiness that fills the characters' hearts. Therefore, when the gods of Jiuyi Mountain came to pick up Xiangjun's lover, he suddenly realized that he woke up from this dream-like beauty and fell into the pain of lovesickness again.
The last paragraph and the ending of "Xiangjun" not only have the same number of sentences, but also the exact same sentence structure. In despair, Mr. Xiang was as emotional as Mrs. Xiang, and abandoned each other's gifts to the river and the bank, but his apparent determination could not suppress his inner love. He finally regained his composure, and planned to go through the difficult psychological journey of falling in love and missing each other with patient waiting and expectation. He picked the fragrant Du Ruo on Tingzhou and prepared to give it to Mrs. Xiang who came from afar.
From the perspective of emotional structure, this poem responds to the "expectation horizon" in a "calling way". Since "Madame Xiang" is a song to welcome the gods, it must be a way of summoning to pray for the coming of the gods. The whole poem starts with summoning Mrs. Xiang to come, and the mentality of expectation runs through it. The first half of the poem mainly describes Mr. Xiang's expectant mood when he misses Mrs. Xiang but cannot see her and misses her. In the process, he experienced emotional fluctuations such as sadness, regret, regret, and trance. These are the emotional turmoil caused by unfulfilled expectations. The second half of the poem describes how Mr. Xiang was overjoyed when he learned that Mrs. Xiang was coming as promised. He was busy preparing for the wedding in the anticipation of meeting her but not yet. At the end of the poem, the Hunan lady appears, and the purpose of the summons is achieved, making the previous series of expectant descriptions echo this. In fact, the description in the second half is just Xiangjun's fantasy state. The emergence of this illusory state is also due to eager expectations. The entire poem describes the process of expectation, with beginnings, contradictions, developments, climaxes, lows, and lulls. The lines of consciousness are clearly visible.
This poem also has a double-layered structure of light and dark. The protagonist's emotional expression is both light and dark, a combination of light and dark. Lyrical objects can be both literal and symbolic. When describing the real situation, the protagonist's emotions are superficial, with clear meaning, clear instructions, clear language, clear emotional color, high and low, strong and weak, all in a transparent state. For example, the second half of the poem describes the scenes of building a room, building a church, decorating the bridal chamber, decorating the facade, and welcoming guests. It is superficial, that is, written clearly. From "Building a room in the water" to "Building a sparse stone with fragrance", it goes from the outside to the inside, from big to small; from "Building a house with lotus flowers in it" to "Building a veranda with fragrance and fragrance", it goes from the inside to the outside again . The lines are clear, the facts are clear, the emotional catharsis is explicit, it is a way of showing the heart, hearty, unrestrained, less implicit, and the flow of emotions is synchronized with the external form.
From the perspective of deep structure, this poem also has an expression method that combines emotion with scenery. The scenery is not what it is originally, such as "Where is the bird", "Where is the dragon", "Where is the moose", "Where is the dragon", etc.; or the scenery is sentimental, such as the description of autumn wind, autumn water, and autumn leaves. . The flow of emotion is more subtle, subtle, and deep, like the undercurrent of the seabed, which is difficult to detect. Therefore it needs to be understood through surface imagery.
This double-layer structure, with light and dark corresponding to each other, complements each other, forming a realm of scene blending. The advantage of this structure is that it can increase the capacity of emotion and make the expression of emotion three-dimensional.
In addition, the objects described and the language used in the whole poem are all Chu-style, with distinctive local characteristics of Chu. Such as Yuanshui, Xiangshui, Lishui, Dongting Lake, Angelica dahurica, Dahurica, Dahurica, Du Heng, Xin Yi, Gui, Hui, lotus, elk, birds, white jade and other natural landscapes, animals, plants and minerals, and more The folk customs, myths and legends, unique romantic color, religious atmosphere, etc. of Chu region all have the distinctive characteristics of Chu region. The house architecture and furnishings conceived in the poem are very distinctive and are based on the natural environment, social customs and cultural and psychological structure of the Chu region. Otherwise, this conception would not be possible. The language also has the characteristics of Chuhua. A large number of dialects and idioms are used in Chu Ci, and "Madam Xiang" is no exception, such as "洴" (verb), "袂", "褋" (noun), etc. The most prominent thing is the extensive use of the word "xi" - there is a word "xi" in every line of the poem. This modal particle is equivalent to the word "ah" spoken today. Its function is to adjust the syllables, increase the transitions and jumps in semantics and tone, and enhance the expressiveness of the language. "Mrs. Xiang" is mainly written in dialect, with five or seven dialects included. The sentence structure is flexible. This kind of "Sao style" poetry is a new free verse that appeared after the "Book of Songs". It is a remarkable innovation in the history of the development of ancient Chinese poetry.
To sum up, "Xiang Jun" and "Xiang Madam" are two tragedies caused by the time error of a date, but together they are a scene of two people in love and loyalty. Yu's comedy. They are said to be tragedies because the two parties who went to the appointment missed the time to meet each other, and were unable to extricate themselves from missing each other, and their hearts and emotions suffered for a long time. They are said to be comedies because of the love between the man and the woman. Sincere and profound, despite slight setbacks, they have not given up their pursuit and expectations, so it is only a matter of time before a happy ending appears. When they finally meet each other after waiting patiently and calmly for each other, the misunderstanding and troubles caused by first coming, first arriving will inevitably disappear in an instant, and what will greet them will be the joy and happiness that Xiangjun felt in his hallucination.
One of these two works is about a woman's love, and the other is about a man's lovesickness. They take different angles, but the lyrical meaning is equally lingering and pathos; in addition, the work absorbs the straightforward lyrical method of folk love songs and traditional The use of Bixing techniques further strengthens their artistic appeal. Therefore, although this kind of passionate, bold, sincere and persistent love is wrapped in the shell of religious rituals, it itself has a strong core of life, but it continues to release infinite energy, allowing readers and authors of all ages to learn from it. Continuously gain great motivation to pursue ideals and love without fear of hardships. This can be best confirmed by the countless pieces of history that have been deeply influenced by subsequent generations.