Song of Everlasting Regret
Bai Juyi (Tang Dynasty)
The emperor of the Han Dynasty was obsessed with beauty and wanted to overwhelm the country. He could not get it from Yu Yu for many years. There is a daughter in the Yang family who has just grown up. She is raised in a boudoir and no one knows her.
It’s hard to give up on natural beauty, and once you choose it, you will be on the side of the king. Looking back and smiling, the sixth palace has no color.
In the cold spring, you can bathe in Huaqing Pool, and the hot spring water will wash away the fat. The waiter helped her weakly, and it was the beginning of her new grace.
The flowers on the temples are swaying with golden steps, and the hibiscus tent warms the spring night. The spring night is short and the sun is high, and from now on the king will not go to court early.
Cheng Huan has no leisure time to serve banquets, and he spends all his time traveling from spring to night. There are three thousand beauties in the harem, and three thousand people love her.
The golden house is made up to serve as a charming servant at night, and the jade house is drunk and spring after the banquet. Sisters and brothers are all from the earth, poor and glorious.
This makes the hearts of parents all over the world not to be reborn as boys but to be reborn as girls. The blue clouds are rising from the heights of Li Palace, and the wind of fairy music can be heard everywhere.
Slow singing and dancing, condensing silk and bamboo, are not enough for the king. Yuyang's flying dragon stirs the earth, shocking the colorful clothes and feathers.
Smoke and dust arose from the Jiuchong City Tower, and thousands of horses rode southwestward. The green flowers swayed and stopped, more than a hundred miles west of the capital.
The Sixth Army had no choice but to turn around and die in front of the horse. There is no one to collect the flowers and leaves on the ground, and the green buds and jade are scratching their heads.
The king hid his face and could not be saved, looking back at the blood and tears flowing. The yellow leaves are scattered in the wind, and the clouds linger in the sword pavilion.
There are few people walking at the foot of Mount Emei, and the flags are dull and the sun is thin. The water of the Shu River is green, the mountains of Shu are green, and the Holy Lord loves each other day and night.
When you go to the palace, you can see the sad look of the moon, and hear the sound of broken bells in the night rain. The sky spins and the earth turns back to Long Yu. He hesitates and cannot go.
In the soil at the foot of Mawei slope, there is no place where Yu Yan died. The monarch and his ministers looked after each other with all their clothes on, and looked eastward at the capital gate to return on horseback.
After returning, the ponds and gardens are all the same, with Taiye hibiscus and willows still growing. Hibiscus is like a face and willows are like eyebrows, how can I not shed tears about this.
The peach and plum blossoms bloom in the spring breeze, and the sycamore leaves fall in the autumn rain. There are many autumn grasses in the south of the West Palace, and the fallen leaves are full of red leaves that are not swept away.
The disciples of Liyuan have new white hair, and the prisoner Qing'e of Jiaofang is old. The fireflies in the evening palace are quietly thinking, and the solitary lamp has been used up before they can fall asleep.
The long night begins with bells and drums, and the stars are about to dawn. The mandarin duck tiles are frosty and heavy, and the jade quilt is cold. Who cares?
After so many years of separation between life and death, my soul never came to sleep. Linqiong Taoist priests from Hongdu can reach the soul with their sincerity.
In order to appreciate the king's thoughts, he taught the alchemists to search diligently. Empty and control the energy, it rushes like electricity, ascending to heaven and earth to seek everywhere.
The poor green above and the yellow spring below, both places are nowhere to be seen. Suddenly I heard that there was a fairy mountain on the sea. The mountain was in the ethereal place.
The exquisite pavilion has five clouds rising, and there are many fairies in it. One of them has a character called Tai Zhen, and his skin and appearance are all mixed.
Knock on the jade in the west chamber of the Golden Palace, and if you turn to the little jade, you will be rewarded with double success. Hearing that the Emperor of Han Dynasty envoys, the dream soul in Jiuhua tent is frightened.
He picked up his clothes, pushed his pillow, and wandered around, while the silver screen of beads and foil spread out. The hair on the temples is half fresh and sleeping, and the flower crown is not neat when I come out of the hall.
The wind blows and the fairy mantle is fluttering, just like the dancing of colorful clothes and feathers. The jade face is lonely and full of tears, and a branch of pear blossom brings rain in spring.
Looking at the king with affection, his voice and appearance are vague. Love is overwhelming in Zhaoyang Palace, and the sun and moon are long in Penglai Palace.
Looking back and looking down at the world, I could not see Chang'an but the dust and mist. But I will express my affection for old things, and send my hairpin to the future.
Leave one strand of the hairpin to form a fan, break the gold hairpin into two halves. But the teaching heart is as strong as gold, and we will meet in heaven and on earth.
I sent my farewell message again with great sincerity, in which I vowed to know each other. On July 7th, in the Hall of Eternal Life, no one was whispering in the middle of the night.
In the sky, I wish to be a winged bird, and on the earth, I wish to be a twig. As time goes by, this hatred will last forever.
Appreciation
"Song of Everlasting Regret" is a well-known poem among Bai Juyi's poems. It was written in the first year of Yuanhe (806) when the poet was serving as a county magistrate in Yumu County (now Zhouzhi, Shaanxi Province). Lieutenant. This poem was composed when he and his friends Chen Hong and Wang Zhifu visited Xianyou Temple and were inspired by the stories of Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei. In this long narrative poem, the author uses concise language, beautiful images, and a combination of narrative and lyrical techniques to describe the emotional devastation of Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei during the Anshi Rebellion: Their emotions were ruined by the rebellion they caused. , are endlessly eating the bitter pill of this spirit. Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Concubine Yang were both historical figures. The poet did not stick to history, but relied on a little shadow of history, based on the legends of the people at that time and the songs of the neighbors, to create a twists and turns and moving story. Describe and sing it with the artistic form of looping, lingering and pathos. Because the stories and characters in the poem are all artistic and are complex and true representations of real people, they can create ripples in the hearts of readers of all ages.
"Song of Everlasting Regret" is the song "Eternal Regret". "Eternal Regret" is the theme of the poem, the focus of the story, and a seed buried in the poem that affects people's hearts. As for what to "hate" and why to "eternally hate", the poet does not directly narrate and describe it, but shows it to the readers layer by layer through the poetic stories in his writing, allowing people to figure it out and reflect on it. To feel.
The first line of the poem: "The Emperor of Han valued beauty and thought of his country." It seems very ordinary, as if the story should have started there, and the author did not need to put any thought into it. In fact, these seven words contain a lot of content. It is the outline of the whole poem, which not only reveals the essential elements of the story, but also evokes and guides the whole poem. Immediately afterwards, the poet used extremely frugal language to describe how Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty focused on and pursued beauty before the Anshi Rebellion, and finally got Yang Guifei, who "looked back and smiled with all her beauty, and the pink and white in the sixth palace have no color". It describes Yang Guifei's beauty and charm. After entering the palace, she was favored because of her beauty. Not only did she "newly inherit the favor", but her "sisters and brothers were all from the earth". It repeatedly exaggerates how Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty indulged in sexual pleasure, had fun, and indulged in singing, dancing, drinking, and sex in the palace after he got the imperial concubine. All of these led to the Anshi Rebellion: "The Yuyang Chao incited the earth to come, shocking the colorful clothes and feathers." This part describes the internal cause of "everlasting regret" and is the basis of the cup story. Through this realistic period of palace life, the poet ironically tells us the hero and heroine of the story: an emperor who values ??sex over country, and a charming and doting concubine. It also vividly hints to us that Tang Xuanzong's lustful behavior was the root cause of this cup.
Below, the poet describes in detail the scene of the emperor's soldiers fleeing into the southwest in a hurry after the Anshi Rebellion. In particular, the relationship between Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei was destroyed during this turmoil. "The six armies had no choice but to do nothing. They died in front of the horses with their eyebrows turned. The flowers and flowers left the land without anyone to take it, and the green and green gilts and jade scratched their heads. The king hid his face and could not save him. Looking back, the blood and tears flowed harmoniously." This is what they wrote in Mawei Poe's farewell scene. "The six armies did not send out" and demanded the death of Concubine Yang because he was angry that Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was infatuated with women and was causing harm to the country and the people. The death of Concubine Yang is a key plot in the whole story. After that, their relationship became a tragedy. From then on, from "the yellow leaves are scattered and the wind is blowing" to "the soul never comes to dream", The poet captured the heart-wrenching "hate" in the character's spiritual world, and used a sour and touching tone to describe and describe Tang Xuanzong's loneliness and sadness in Shu after the death of Yang Guifei. He also recalled the past on the road and met him after returning to the palace. Thinking about things and people, touching scenes and emotions, all kinds of feelings about things and people all year round. The lingering longing for lovesickness makes people feel heartbroken. Precisely because the poet exaggerated the emotions of the characters to such an extent, the arrival of the Taoist priests and the appearance of the fairyland later gave people a sense of reality, and they no longer thought it was just a castle in the air.
From "Linqiong Taoist Hongdu Guest" to the end of the poem, it is written that the Taoist helped Tang Xuanzong find Yang Guifei. The poet adopts a romantic approach, suddenly going up to the sky and suddenly down to the earth, "the blue sky above is poor and the yellow spring is below, and neither place can be seen". Later, Yang Guifei was found on the ethereal fairy mountain on the sea, and she reappeared in the fairyland in the image of "a lonely jade face full of tears, a branch of pear blossoms with spring rain", and she enthusiastically welcomed the Han family's envoys. The poem reiterates the previous oath, reflects Tang Xuanzong's longing for her, and further deepens and exaggerates the theme of "everlasting regret". At the end of the poem, the line ends with "As time goes by and ends, this hatred lasts forever", it points out the theme and responds to the beginning, and it is "clear and clear", giving readers room for association and aftertaste.
The first thing that gives us the enjoyment of artistic beauty in "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" is the touching and touching story in the poem, as well as the exquisite and unique artistic conception of the poem. The center of the whole article is the song "Eternal Regret", but the poet starts from the "heavy color" and tries his best to elaborate and exaggerate it. "The sun rises high", "does not go to bed early", "nights are full of nights", "not seen enough", etc., seem to be extremely happy, like a comedy scene. However, the extreme happiness reflects the endless hatred behind it. . Tang Xuanzong's debauchery harmed the country, which led to political troubles, which in turn led to emotional troubles between him and Yang Guifei. The maker of the cup finally becomes the protagonist of the cup. This is a special and twisty part of the story, and it is also the reason why the hero and heroine in the poem have "eternal hatred". In the past, many people said that "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" has an allegorical meaning, and the allegorical meaning of this poem lies there. So, how does the poet express "eternal hatred"? The poet's depiction of the death of Concubine Yang Guifei in Maweipo was extremely delicate, and he vividly expressed Tang Xuanzong's inner conflicts and painful feelings that he couldn't bear to part with but couldn't save. Because of this "bloody and tearful" farewell, there is that endless hatred. Subsequently, the poet used many pens and inks to repeatedly exaggerate Tang Xuanzong's longing for Yang Guifei from all aspects. However, the storyline of the poem did not stop at one emotional point, but instead unfolded the character's inner world layer by layer, sensing his scenery. Constantly changing, moving the moments and stories forward, using the characters' thoughts and feelings to develop and promote the development of the plot. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty went to Shu after his farewell. He was very sad and miserable in his heart. On the way back to Shu, he revisited the old places, which brought back sad memories.
After returning to the palace, he felt sad after seeing things during the day. The night was tossing and turning. I thought about it day and night but couldn't get it, so I put my hope in dreams, but "it has been years since birth and death, and my soul has never come to dream." At this point in the poem, the "hate" of "everlasting regret" has been written very touchingly, and it seems that the story can end here. However, the poet changed his writing style and opened up a different realm. With the help of the colorful wings of imagination, he conceived a charming and moving fairyland, pushing the plot of the cup story to a climax, making the story more twists and turns, with ups and downs and waves. This turn of events is both unexpected and reasonable. Due to the constant conflicts and collisions between subjective desires and objective reality, the poem vividly expresses the characters' ever-changing psychology, making the story more vivid and moving.
"Song of Everlasting Sorrow" is a narrative poem with a strong lyrical component. The poet uses the lyrical techniques that traditional Chinese poetry is good at in narrating stories and shaping characters, harmoniously combining narrative, scene description and lyricism. , which constitutes the lyrical looping characteristics of poetry. The poet sometimes injects the characters' thoughts and feelings into the scenery, and uses the refraction of the scenery to highlight the characters' mood; sometimes he captures the characteristic scenery and things around the characters, and expresses the inner feelings through the characters' feelings about them, rendering them layer by layer, It appropriately expresses the unreachable feelings hidden deep in the character's heart. On the way Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty fled to the southwest, there were yellow dust, plank roads, and high mountains everywhere. The sun was dim, the flags were dull, and the autumn scenery was desolate. This is a sad autumn scenery to highlight the sadness of the characters. In the land of Shu, facing the green mountains and green waters, we still cannot forget our love day and night. The mountains, mountains and rivers in Shu are originally very beautiful, but in the eyes of the lonely and sad Tang Xuanzong, the "green" of the mountains and the "blue" of the water are also annoying. When people are sad, they should have a peaceful state of mind to enjoy the beauty of nature, but he does not, which increases the pain in his heart. This is to write about sadness through beautiful scenery, making the emotion deeper. The moonlight in the palace and the ringing of bells in the rainy night are already very sultry. The poet captures these ordinary but characteristic things and brings people into a sad and heart-breaking state. In addition, the sight and smell, the color One sound, intertwined with each other, and the language and tone also show the character's inner sorrow and desolation, which is another level. On the way back to Dudu, "the world was spinning", which was originally a happy thing, but when the old things happened again and the beautiful face was gone, I couldn't help but shed tears of sadness. The narrative adds another layer of painful memories. After returning to Chang'an, "When I came back, the ponds and gardens were all the same. The hibiscus in Taiye was like the willows. The hibiscus was like the face and the willows were like the eyebrows. How could I not shed tears at this?" During the day, due to the triggering of the environment and scenery, I associate the scenery with the people. The scenery remains the same, but the people are gone. I can't help but burst into tears. I seem to see the appearance of Concubine Yang from the hibiscus flowers in Taiye Pond and the weeping willows in Weiyang Palace. It reveals the extremely complex and subtle inner activities of the characters. "The fireflies in the palace are quietly thinking about each other in the evening, and the solitary lamps are all lit up before they can fall asleep. The bells and drums are beginning to ring in the long night, and the stars are about to dawn." Written from dusk to dawn, it focuses on the scene of being haunted by emotions at night and being unable to fall asleep for a long time. This kind of bitter longing is like this "when the peach and plum blossoms bloom in the spring breeze", and it is also like this in "the autumn rain when the sycamore leaves fall". When I saw that the "Liyuan Disciples" and "Ajian Qing'e" from those years had turned gray and faded, which aroused my longing for the joys of the past, I felt sad. From the loose yellow leaves to the green mountains of Shu, from the rainy night in the palace to the triumphant return, from day to night, from spring to autumn, I touch things and feel sad everywhere, and think about people when I see things, repeatedly exaggerating the suffering of the protagonist in the poem from all aspects Pursuit and search. If you can't find it in real life, go to the dream to find it. If you can't find it in the dream, go to the fairyland to find it. Such ups and downs and layers of rendering make the characters' emotions spiral and reach a climax. It is through such layers of rendering that the poet repeatedly expresses emotions and goes back and forth to make the characters' thoughts and feelings deeper and richer, making the poems "delicate in texture" and more artistically appealing.
People have always debated the theme of Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", including the so-called emotional theory, political theme theory, dual theme theory, etc. The author of this article speaks emotionally. First of all, from the four levels of analysis of the work, it is certain that Bai Juyi did not describe Li Yang's story with a preachy face like Chen Hong wrote in "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow". Instead, he used "love" as the main theme to let the protagonist's love move the readers. Make it have a resonance and achieve great aesthetic success. This article also combines the author's life experience and social history to analyze his uniqueness in dealing with the relationship between historical themes, political themes and humanistic themes and psychological themes from the people, and further explains the aesthetic benefits of the image of Emperor Ming Emperor Yang Guifei of the Tang Dynasty.
As soon as "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" was published, its theme has become a focus of debate among readers. Opinions are also quite divided. There are roughly three types: one is the emotional theme. It is an emotional poem praising Li Yang. And affirm their sincerity and persistence in feelings; the second is the political theme theory. It is believed that the focus of the poem lies in allegory, in exposing the "long-lasting hatred" that "the Han emperor focused on sex and overthrowing the country" will inevitably bring about, and condemns the Tang and Ming emperors' debauchery that led to the Anshi Rebellion in order to serve as a warning to future monarchs; the third is the dual theme theory. It is believed that it is the unity of exposure and praise, and the interweaving of satire and sympathy. It not only sheds tears of sympathy, but also condemns the legacy of political failure. Exactly what it is needs to be analyzed from the work itself.
The poem can be divided into four levels: The first level ranges from "The emperor of the Han Dynasty valued color and thought of overwhelming the country" to "The king never saw enough". It describes how Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty valued color and pursued beauty before the Anshi Rebellion. In the end, she got Yang Guifei, who "looked back and smiled with all her charm". After the imperial concubine entered the palace, she was so arrogant that she not only "newly inherited the favor", but also "sisters and brothers are from the same land", repeatedly exaggerating that Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty completely indulged in singing, dancing and drinking after getting the imperial concubine. The first sentence of the opening sentence not only reminds the story of the story, but also evokes and guides the whole poem; the second level starts from "the fishermen stirred up the earth" to "looking back at the blood and tears flowing together", describing the Anshi Rebellion, Xuanzong's escape, and forced The death of the imperial concubine describes the internal cause of "eternal regret" and is the basis of the cup story. The poet deliberately downplays the Anshi Rebellion caused by Xuanzong's debauchery and misdirection of the country, and deliberately describes the separation of the two people. The readers are infected by the atmosphere of disgrace rather than the rational criticism of history.
Chen Hong's "Punishment of beautiful things and suffocation of the stairs" in "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" is a stern expression, so it cannot be regarded as the motivation for writing this poem; the third level ranges from "yellow leaves are scattered in the wind and the wind is blowing" to "the soul has never come." "Dream" describes Tang Xuanzong's loneliness and sorrow in Shu after the death of Yang Guifei, but he still recalled the past on the road. Seeing the moon while staying in the palace, and hearing the bells in the rain at night, it is a "sad color" and a "heartbroken sound". When he returned to the court after Chang'an was recovered, he was more important than Mawei, and "he could not see the place where Yu Yan died." After returning to the palace, the pond remains the same, with things changed and people changed, and the lingering longing for lovesickness makes people feel heart-stirring; the fourth floor, from "Linqiong Taoist Hongdu guest" to "This hatred lasts forever", writes about the alchemist of Xuanzong sect. Searching for the Soul of Concubine Yang focuses on expressing Tang Xuanzong's loneliness and sad memories of his past love life. The poet uses romantic techniques to ascend to heaven and earth, and finally allows the imperial concubine to reappear in the fairyland on the ethereal fairy mountain with the image of "a lonely jade face with tears streaming down her face, and a pear blossom with spring rain". The catharsis of "emotion" has gone beyond the emotional entanglement between emperors and concubines, and has more of the poet's subjective ideal component. It has long gone beyond the scope of historical facts and fully expresses the contradiction between subjective desires and objective reality. The two sentences at the end, "As time goes by, this hatred will last forever," are the sighs and cries of emotion. They are the regrets that emotions have been manipulated by fate, and emotions have been destroyed by political ethics. The depth of this hatred has transcended time and space and entered the infinity. realm. In this way, the poet uses "eternal regret" to express the everlasting feelings, which also highlights the theme of the whole poem.
It should be said that at the beginning of writing, Bai Juyi at least subjectively agreed with Chen Hong's theory of "punishing beauties and suffocating the ranks". Later, in "Mrs. Li" and "Mrs. Li" in "New Yuefu", "Gu Jia Hu" also repeatedly emphasizes the themes of "beautiful things bewitch people" and "fox charms harm people", and clearly promotes the harm of sex, but also admits that "people are not wood and stone, all have feelings", sex cannot be eliminated, so the way to solve the problem The only option is "it's better not to meet the beautiful woman in the city". But in the actual writing of "Song of Everlasting Sorrow", he obeyed the human instinct for beauty and emotional desires expressed in folk emotional stories. In this way, the whole story has a more profound and complex meaning: it describes both true beauty and true evil, and directly connects the two; there is a passage in the "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" in "The Collection of Beautiful Love": Uncle Xiangmu Said: "What's beautiful must be what's evil." Li Yannian's song said: "The country is overthrown and the city is overturned." This is what it means. This passage probably represents the final thinking of scholars in the mid-Tang Dynasty on this issue. One of the basic principles that Bai Juyi followed when writing "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" is: Don't obliterate "very beautiful" because of "very evil". Although its theme seems to have deviated from the condemnation of "very evil" in the end, the "very evil" material itself has not been obliterated after all, and in turn enriches the meaning of "very beautiful".
On the one hand, "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" is a major historical and political theme, and on the other hand, it is a humanistic and psychological theme with a long tradition among the people. In his creation, Bai Juyi obeyed the cultural psychology of the nation and the poet's individual thoughts, that is, the traditional model and the author's subjective initiative coexisted at the same time. This is of course inseparable from the poet's life experience and outlook on life. Bai Juyi's life spanned the middle and late Tang Dynasty. His thought was bounded by the demotion of Jiangzhou Sima. He experienced two stages from entering the world with intention to being passive. He practiced the Confucian life model he believed in: "If you are prosperous, you can benefit the world; if you are poor, you can be alone." . The basic connotation of Bai Juyi's so-called "unique kindness" is to be optimistic and aware of fate, to be content and to keep peace. From this, it is connected with Buddhism and Lao Lao, and to accept fate and obey nature as the attitude towards the world. In his entire ideological system, "single kindness" and "combination of benefits" go hand in hand. "Giving to others is Yi Lu's career, and saving them is Zhuang Lao's morality" ("A Gentleman Does Not Have a Qi Fu"). They are two aspects of a complete outlook on life. side. Before being demoted, he worked hard for Yunlong and Fengpeng, and vigorously promoted the New Yuefu Outdoors with Yuan Zhen. It is precisely because of his great ambition in his youth and his political spirit to save the Tang Dynasty from decline and save the people from the fire and water that he had enough courage to deal with such a major historical subject and summed it up with "not confused" Empress Tang Ming's half-life political gains and losses resulted in the song "Song of Everlasting Sorrow". In this way, the splitting of Tang Minghuang in his mind must be reflected in the image creation. It is precisely because the passionate Tang Ming Emperor and the Tang Ming Emperor who valued sex over country are a unity of opposites, therefore, Bai Juyi wrote this story as a tribute to a good emperor. The good emperor was confused, which ultimately caused sorrow to himself and the people. The shaping of Tang Minghuang's character that we see in the works has rejected idealization, and is the result of another kind of idealization. What is rejected is the idealization of the feudal ruling class that placed a full halo on the heads of emperors to elevate them to demigods. And this rejection itself includes another ideal of urban residents. Starting from the soil of the decline of the emperor's authority in real life, they imagine the leader of the feudal ruling class as an ordinary person like themselves, a person with love. , a humane and infatuated emperor who has troubles, mistakes, and shortcomings. He is almost the same as the protagonist in ordinary love stories! They idealized the emperor from another perspective. The ideal emperor should be a flesh and blood person like the common people, not a god! Bai Juyi, based on people-oriented thinking, understood the urban residents' idealization of Tang Minghuang in a conditional and sublime manner, thus completing the shaping of the image of Tang Minghuang.
After the poet was demoted to Jiangzhou, the status of "only good" and "Jianji" changed. His spiritual life and official career gradually changed. In the end, "only good" eliminated "Jianji". In the process of spiritual self-rescue, , Bai Juyi gradually shifted from paying attention to social politics to paying attention to individual lives, and his love for free personality gradually surpassed his persistence in moral personality.
As an eternal narrative poem, "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" has a high artistic achievement. Throughout the ages, many people have affirmed the special artistic charm of this poem. How does "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" artistically infect and seduce readers? It is perhaps its greatest artistic feature, its melodiousness and pathos, and it is also its power that has attracted readers for thousands of years, making them infected and seduced.