"Fifteenth Military Expedition" comes from "Collection of Yuefu Poems, Hengchuan Songs and Lianggujiao Hengchuan Songs".
Original text of the work:
Fifteenth Military Expedition
Dynasty: Han Dynasty
Author: Anonymous
Original text:
I joined the army at the age of fifteen and returned home at the age of eighty. When meeting a fellow villager, he asked, "Who is there at home?"
"Looking from a distance, it's your home, with lots of pine and cypress graves." (Looking from a distance: Looking from afar)
The rabbit enters from the dog's sinus , Pheasants flew from the beams. In the courtyard, the valley is born, and in the well, the sunflower is born.
Chong the grain to make rice, and pick the sunflower to make soup. The rice is cooked for a while, but who knows?
When I went out and looked eastward, my clothes were stained with tears.
Vernacular translation
The young man who had just turned fifteen years old went out to fight and did not return until he was eighty years old.
I met a neighbor in the countryside on the road and asked: "Who else is in my family?"
"The place where your home is now is a grave in the pine and cypress forest."< /p>
When I walked to the door of the house, I saw hares coming in and out of the dog hole, and pheasants flying around on the roof.
Wild millet grew in the yard, and wild sunflowers surrounded the well platform.
Use the wild grains from which the shells have been pounded for cooking, and pick the sunflower leaves to make soup.
The soup and rice were ready in a while, but I didn’t know who to give them to.
As I walked out of the door and looked toward the east, tears fell freely on my clothes.
Creative background
"Fifteenth Military Expedition" is a Han Dynasty Yuefu folk song that exposes the unreasonable military service system in feudal society. It reflects the working people's feelings under the dark military service system at that time. Injustice and pain, the work is true, profound, outrageous, and can make people cry.
The complicated military service at that time made that era full of sadness and helplessness of little people. There is no horse leather to wrap the corpse, but it also fades away. ?
Appreciation of Works
"Fifteenth Military Expedition" is a narrative poem that depicts the scene of a veteran who "left home when he was young and returned to his old age" on his way back home and after he arrived home. It exposed the unreasonable military service system in feudal society and reflected the injustice and suffering of the working people under the dark military service system at that time. The work is true, profound, emotional, and makes people cry. ?
The beginning of the work is extraordinary: "You join the army at the age of fifteen, and you will not return until you are eighty." These two sentences bluntly say that the veteran joined the army at the age of "fifteen" and returned at the age of "eighty", which seems ordinary. It's not surprising, it seems like it came accidentally, but it is actually intriguing and shows his skill. He "joined the army at the age of fifteen" and where he went is not explained in the poem. What his military life was like and what the battle conditions were like are also not explained in the poem. This leaves a lot of room for the reader's imagination. But one thing is clear, that is, his "military expedition" was motivated by war, and he stayed away for decades. The contrast between "eighty" and "fifteen" highlights the long period of his "military expedition"; the echo of "beginning to return" and "military expedition" indicate that he never came back midway. Eighty years old is a fictitious word, describing the long time in the army and the heavy military service.
Introduction to Yuefu Poems
The Yuefu Poetry Collection is a famous poetry collection that summarizes ancient Chinese Yuefu poems after "The Book of Songs·Wind". It was compiled by Guo Maoqian in the Song Dynasty. With 100 volumes in existence, it is the most complete collection of Yuefu hymns in existence. It mainly compiles Yuefu songs from the Han, Wei, Tang and Five Dynasties, as well as ballads from the Pre-Qin Dynasty to the end of the Tang Dynasty, totaling more than 5,000 songs. It has a wide range of collections, each category has a general order, and each song has a solution. Yuefu was originally the official office in charge of music in ancient times. The poems collected and sung by Yuefu are called Yuefu poems.