"Little Pond"
Yang Wanli
The spring silently cherishes the trickle, and the shade of the tree shines on the water, loving the clearness and softness.
The little lotus has just revealed its sharp corners, and a dragonfly has already stood on it.
Vernacular translation
The spring is silent because it is reluctant to let go of the thin water, and the shade of the trees reflected on the water is because it loves the soft scenery on a sunny day.
As soon as the pointed corners of the small lotus leaf emerged from the water, a small dragonfly stood on it.
"Little Pond" is a seven-character quatrain composed by the Song Dynasty poet Yang Wanli. In this poem, the author uses rich and novel imagination and personification techniques to delicately describe the characteristics and changes of the natural scenery around the pond. The first sentence says that the small pond is connected with living water. The second sentence writes that there is a green shade above the small pond. The third sentence writes that the lotus comes out of the water and stays with the pond. The concluding sentence is that the dragonfly is affectionate and flies to be with Xiao He. It expresses the poet's love for natural scenery.
Extended information:
Appreciation of the work
This poem is small and delicate, like a colorful ink painting of flowers, plants, insects and birds. In the painting, the pools, springs, streams, lotuses and dragonflies are all small, but exquisite and full of vitality.
In the first sentence, stick to the title and write about the source of the small pond, a trickling spring. The spring water flows out from the entrance of the cave without making any sound, of course it is very small. The spring water flowing out formed a thin stream, which was even smaller. This is very common, but the author added the word "cherish" out of thin air, saying that it seems that the spring cherishes this trickle and is stingy and unwilling to let it flow any more. So this poem immediately started to fly, becoming sentimental, interesting, and full of humanity.
The second sentence writes about the shade of trees covering the water in the clear and soft scenery. This is also a very common thing, but the poet adds the word "love", as if covering the small pool with her coolness to prevent the water from evaporating and drying up, thus turning ruthlessness into affection. Moreover, the poem uses shadows to focus on the soft branches dancing on the water, which is very ethereal.
The third or fourth sentence narrows the focus and writes about a small lotus in the pond and the dragonfly on the lotus. Xiao He had just exposed her budding tender tip out of the water, revealing its vitality, but there was already a small dragonfly standing on this tip, as if it wanted to get there first and enjoy the spring scenery. Xiaohe and Dragonfly, one is a "talent" and the other is "already there", look at everything around them with a novel perspective and capture the fleeting scenery.
The poet gets excited when he touches things, uses agile and dexterous techniques to describe specific scenes full of interest, and writes the very ordinary and small things in nature as being dependent on each other, harmonious, lively and natural, and flowing smoothly. , humorous, popular and lively. And this poem is written like a painting, with rich layers of pictures: the sun, trees, lotuses, and ponds are brightly colored, as well as bright sunshine, dark green shade, green lotuses, fresh dragonflies, and clear colors. of spring water. The picture is full of movement: flying dragonflies, shadowy pool water, full of poetic and picturesque flavor.
About the author
Yang Wanli (1127~1206), also known as Tingxiu and Chengzhai. A native of Jishui (now part of Jiangxi). Politically, he advocated resistance to gold and was upright and outspoken. During Ning Zong's reign, he resigned from office and retired because of his adultery. He eventually died of grief and anger and was given the posthumous title Wen Jie. Along with Lu You, Fan Chengda and You Miao, they are known as the "Four Great Masters of the Southern Song Dynasty".
His poems were learned from the "Jiangxi Poetry School" in his early years, and later he devoted himself to the poets of the late Tang Dynasty. After he was 50 years old, he suddenly had an enlightenment and abandoned all other schools of poetry. From imitating his predecessors to imitating nature, he formed a unique style. The unique "Cheng Zhai style". Most of the poems sing about natural scenery, are good at capturing fleeting details, take advantage of the mood, have novel ideas, popular and clear language, humor and fresh writing style.
Baidu Encyclopedia-"Little Pond"