Xiao Chou: Spring Ode
Xiao Chou
The fallen flowers are countless, and the flying birds are flying in rows. The wind blows from the Forbidden Garden, and the road is filled with spring flowers. The rocks in front of the rock are as tall as towers, and the sand in the water forms islands. The orioles are just beginning to stop singing in February, but the spring breeze has begun to flow again in March. The streams are diverted around the small ferry, and the cutting water still flows into it. Look at the water clouds from the top of the mountain, and the mountains and trees from the bottom of the water. The fragrance of dancing is still there, and the sound of singing still lingers. The wheat fields shivered in surprise, and two flying herons appeared in the pond.
"Book of Northern Qi·Biography of Wenyuan" has a very brief description of Xiao Cui's life, and it is impossible to know exactly when this short poem was written. However, it can be inferred from its content that when it was written before and after the Wenlin Pavilion of Taizhao in the Northern Qi Dynasty, the poem describes the scenery of spring outings. It depicts the spring scenery of the Forbidden Garden from multiple perspectives and directions, and has a strong poetic and painterly flavor.
"The fallen flowers are countless, and the flying birds are flying in rows. The forbidden garden is full of wind, and the spring flowers are blowing all over the road." The "falling flowers" in the four sentences indicate that spring is approaching, and the two words "forbidden garden" point out the spring outing. location. The spring breeze blows the fallen flowers into a colorful and brilliant color, which is a joyful spring color. Here, you can’t see the feeling of regret and melancholy for the fallen red flowers that are about to turn into spring mud. On the contrary, the scene of the wind blowing spring flowers covering the road and the birds flying happily around the flower trees gives people a rich sense of spring beauty. .
Next, the author turns his pen to describe the pleasant scenery in the Forbidden Garden: the rocks in front of the rock rotate like buildings, and the sand in the water gathers to form islands. It was the time of falling flowers as mentioned in the opening chapter, the chirping of orioles in mid-spring was about to cease, and the gentle breeze of late spring was already flowing in all directions. Two tributaries surround the small ferry, and the stream from the gorge pours into it. Looking down from the peak, you can see the white clouds in the sky reflected in the water surface, and the green trees on the mountaintop immersed in the water bottom. The rocks, sandbanks, ferries, streams, water clouds, and mountains and trees described by the author are accompanied by singing orioles and bathed in the spring breeze, as delicate and lovely as ink paintings.
"The lingering fragrance of dancing is still there, and the sound of singing is still lingering." The author suddenly changed his angle to describe the peaceful scene of singing and dancing in the forbidden garden of the palace. This is both realistic and freehand in creating a landscape. In conjunction with the large section of the natural landscape, it is intended to show the spring scenery of the world under the rich spring light of nature. The last two sentences, "The wheat fields are startled and the herons are flying in the pond" can be said to be the best sentences in the whole article that best express the author's artistic style. Among Xiao Cui's extant works, the most famous are the two lines in the poem "Autumn Thoughts": "The lotus dew is falling, the willows are sparse in the moonlight." Yan Zhitui once praised it: "I love it so much that it seems to be scattered in my eyes." "("Yan Family Instructions: Articles") Reading it today, the two sentences "Mai Long" are fully qualified to compare with it. Firstly, it has precise parallelism, smooth flow and is easy to read; secondly, it is exquisite and graceful, with lovely images and full of emotion. The confrontation between Jinghui and the flying egret reminds people of the famous saying "In March in the south of the Yangtze River, the orioles fly and the grass grows", leaving unlimited space for imagination, and the whole poem suddenly comes to life in this vibrant spring scenery. Stop.
This poem is also quite unique in terms of artistic expression. First, it is a parallel-style fu rather than a poem or ordinary prose. Judging from the development history of travel prose, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were only parallel-style travel prose, but there were no prose works called travel notes today. The characteristic of this style of fu is that presentation is its life. Although this fu is short, it does not violate the purpose of presentation. Therefore, it is different from the travel notes of later generations in that it does not have the common format of gradually describing the places visited, and there is no obvious narrative context. It constantly changes angles and writes repeatedly, striving to fully reproduce the spring scenery in the garden. This is determined by the stylistic characteristics of the poem. Secondly, the whole Fu describes the scenery carefully and with great ingenuity. It is more delicate but not rich at all. This shows the unique writing style of the literati from south to north at that time. Xing Shao, the leader of the literary world of the Northern Qi Dynasty, once said: "Xiao Renzu's writings can be said to have appeared from time to time." ("Preface to the Collection of Xiao Renzu") According to this poem, Xing Shao's evaluation is pertinent. Thirdly, the form of this poem is very unique. It is composed entirely of sentences of five or seven characters, and the rhyme flows, making it almost indistinguishable from poetry. This reflects the general appearance of parallel-style Fu and the trend of converging poetry and Fu at that time. Later, literati in the early Tang Dynasty learned a lot about this style, which can be said to have a great influence.