"Thoughts on a Quiet Night" comes from the complete collection of Three Hundred Tang Poems, and its author is Li Bai, a litterateur of the Tang Dynasty. The full text of the ancient poem is as follows:
The bright moonlight in front of the bed is suspected to be frost on the ground.
Look up at the bright moon and lower your head to think about your hometown.
Foreword
"Thoughts on a Quiet Night" is a five-character quatrain poem written by Li Bai, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. This poem describes the poet's feelings when he looked up at the moon in the house on an autumn night. The poem uses metaphors, foils and other techniques to express the homesickness of being a guest. The language is fresh and simple and the charm is implicit. It has always been widely recited.
Notes
⑴Silent Night Thoughts: Thoughts arising from a quiet night.
⑵ Bed: The word "bed" in this poem is the focus of controversy and dissent. Here are five explanations. ① Refers to the well platform. ② Refers to the well fence. Judging from archaeological discoveries, the earliest wells in China were wooden wells. Ancient well railings were several meters high and formed a square frame to surround the well head to prevent people from falling into the well. The square shape resembled both four walls and an ancient bed. Therefore, ancient well railings were also called silver beds, indicating that wells and beds were related, and the relationship occurred due to the similarity in shape and function between the two. ③The pass word for "window". In a sense, "bed" may be connected with "window", and it is possible to see the moon in front of the window. However, referring to the Song Dynasty version, "Looking up at the moon on the mountain", it can be confirmed that the author said it is the moon outside. In terms of time, the Song Dynasty version is more reliable than the Ming Dynasty version in terms of loyalty to the author's original intention. ④ Take the original meaning, that is, an utensil for sitting and lying. "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Siqian" has "a bed for sleeping", and "Yi·Peeling Bed·Wang Du's Notes" also has the saying "one who is safe below", talking about What you get is bedding. ⑤ Ma Weidu and others believe that the bed should be interpreted as a Hu bed. Hu bed is also called "hand bed", "hand chair" and "rope bed". In ancient times, a foldable and light seat was used. The function of the horse was similar to that of a small bench, but the surface on which people sat was not a wooden board, but a foldable cloth or similar object, and the legs on both sides could be closed. Modern people are often mistaken for "Hu Bed" or "bed" in ancient documents or poems. As late as the Tang Dynasty, the "bed" was still the "Hu bed" (i.e. Mazar, a kind of sitting tool).
⑶ Doubt: It seems.
⑷Raise your head: raise your head.
Translation
The bright moonlight shines on the window paper, as if there is a layer of frost on the ground. I couldn't help but raise my head and look at the bright moon in the sky outside the window that day. I couldn't help but lower my head and think about my hometown far away.
Appreciation
Li Bai's "Quiet Night Thoughts" was created in a Yangzhou hotel on September 15, the 14th year of Kaiyuan (726) by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, when Li Bai was 26 years old. At the same time and in the same place, there was also a song called "Traveler's Feelings on an Autumn Evening". On a night with few stars, the poet looked up at the bright moon in the sky. Feeling homesick, he wrote this famous poem "Thoughts on a Quiet Night" that has been passed down through the ages and is well-known at home and abroad.
"Quiet Night Thoughts" has no strange and novel imagination, no sophisticated and beautiful words, but uses a narrative tone to describe the homesickness of distant visitors. However, it is meaningful and intriguing, and has been passed down for thousands of years. Come, attract readers so widely. The whole poem moves from "doubt" to "raise head", and from "raise head" to "lower head", vividly revealing the poet's inner activities, vividly outlines a vivid picture of homesickness on a moonlit night, and expresses the author's feelings in the silent moonlit night. The feeling of missing my hometown. The scene of being unable to sleep late at night among guests and having short dreams for the first time. The courtyard was lonely at this time, and the bright moonlight through the window shone in front of the bed, bringing the cold autumn night chill. The poet took a hazy first glance, and in his confused mood, it really seemed that the ground was covered with a layer of white thick frost; but when he looked more carefully, the surrounding environment told him that this was not frost marks but moonlight. The moonlight inevitably attracted him to look up and see a round of beautiful women hanging in front of the window. The space in the autumn night was so bright and clear. The autumn moon is exceptionally bright, but it is also cold. For travelers who are far away alone, it is most likely to trigger the nostalgia for travel, making people feel that the guest situation is bleak and time is fleeting. Staring at the moon is also the easiest way for people to have reverie, thinking of everything in their hometown and their relatives at home. Thinking, thinking, his head gradually lowered, completely immersed in contemplation.
The first two sentences describe the poet's momentary illusion in the specific environment of visiting a foreign country. Anyone visiting a foreign country will have this feeling: being busy during the day can dilute the sorrow of separation, but in the dead of night, homesickness will inevitably arise in the heart. This is especially true on moonlit nights, especially autumn nights when the moon is like frost. The word "suspect" in "Suspect is frost on the ground" vividly expresses the poet's confusion when he first wakes up from sleep, mistaking the cold moonlight shining in front of his bed for thick frost covering the ground. The word "frost" is used better. It not only describes the brightness of the moonlight, but also expresses the coldness of the season. It also highlights the loneliness and desolation of the poet wandering in a foreign country.
The last two sentences deepen the homesickness through the depiction of movements and expressions. The word "wang" echoes the word "suspicious" in the previous sentence, indicating that the poet has turned from daze to sobriety. He stared at the moon eagerly, and couldn't help but think that his hometown was also under the shining of this bright moon at this moment, which naturally led to The ending of "bow down and think about hometown". The action of "lowering the head" depicts the poet completely in deep thought. The word "thinking" leaves readers with rich imagination: the fathers and brothers, relatives and friends in the hometown, the mountains, rivers, plants and trees in the hometown, the lost years and past events, are all missed. The content contained in the word "thinking" is really rich.
A short four-line poem, written in a fresh and simple way, as clear as words. The composition is meticulous and profound, and can be sung without any trace. The content is simple, yet rich; the content is easy to understand, yet inexhaustible. What the poet did not say is much more than what he has said, which embodies the wonderful state of "nature" and "no intention of work but no lack of work".