Midnight Wu Ge Xia Ge
Dynasty: Tang Dynasty
Author: Li Bai
Original text:
on Mirror Lake outspread for miles and miles, the lotus lilies in full blossom teem.
in fifth moon Xi Shi gathers them with smiles, watchers o'erwhelm the bank of Yuoye Stream.
her boat turns back without waiting moonrise, to royal house amid amorous sighs.
Translation and Notes:
Author: Anonymous
Translation
The Jinghu Lake is more than 3 miles long, and it is full of expensive flowers to be released everywhere.
Xi Shi once picked lotus flowers here in May, which attracted people to watch and crowded the Ruoye River.
less than a month after Xi Shi came home, she was elected to the palace.
Note
① Midnight Wu Ge: Wu Sheng's songs of Yuefu in the Six Dynasties. The Book of the Tang Dynasty: "Midnight Wu Ge" is also a popular song. There is a woman named midnight in Jin, making this sound, and it is too sad. " "Yuefu Solution": "The word" eat, drink and be merry at four o'clock "is called" Song of Four o'clock at midnight ". Li Bai's Midnight Wu Ge is also divided into four seasons, and this is the third Qiu Ge. And from the original five words and four sentences to five words and six sentences.
② Jinghu: a Jianhu, in the southeast of Shaoxing County, Zhejiang Province.
③ Han (hàn) cymbal (dàn): another name for lotus. The ancients called the unopened lotus flower "Han Han", that is, the bud.
④ ruoye: ruoye creek is located in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province. The old Huansha stone monument beside the stream is said to be where Xi Shi Huansha is, so it is also called "Huansha Stream".
⑤ her boat turns back without waiting moonrise: refers to the speed of Xi Shi's departure. Just when he returned to the boat, the moon was invited away before it came out. This is a rhetorical device of exaggeration.
Appreciation:
This poem begins with a scene: "on Mirror Lake outspread for miles and miles, the lotus lilies in full blossom teem." In the 3-mile-wide Jinghu Lake, when the lotus flowers with buds burst out, Xi Shi appeared to be a lotus picker, but her gorgeous and beautiful name caused a sensation. "watchers o'erwhelm the bank of Yuoye Stream" made the wide Ruoye River narrow, and the word "narrow" was vivid. The lively scene of crowded people and people filling the bank with boats seemed to be presented to readers, which made Wang Wei. Here comes to an abrupt end again, and there is no more ink on Xi Shi, leaving a lot of imagination space for readers to make up with reasonable imagination: Gou Jian has already decided to use a honey trap to deal with Wu, and the beauty of Xi Shi has dumped all beings and caused a sensation in the local area, so there is no need to visit the princes and ministers of Yue, and only after having this unique beauty candidate can he "her boat turns back without waiting moonrise, to royal house amid amorous sighs". Compared with Wang Wei's "washing clothes at dawn by a southern lake, and that evening a great lady in a palace of the north:", the language is different but the meaning is the same. Wang Wei's poem has a lot of twists and turns, omitting the process of Gou Jian's implementation of the honey trap; Li Bai's poems were "cut off", and the result of being chosen as the concubine of Wu Palace was cut off, which also showed the meaning of "since beauty is honoured all over the Empire". This kind of cutting has more implication and hint: since it is "returning to the Yue Wang family", Gou Jian can also keep this beauty, but he restrained himself under the goal of "repaying Wu" and "revenge"; However, Xi Shi's entry into Wu became one of the reasons for Wu's death. This is equivalent to reminding readers: "Is it because Fu Cha, the king of Wu, was lewd, or is it because Xi Shi became the key to the downfall of Wu?"? If Xi Shi was the key to the destruction of Wu, what was the reason for the subsequent destruction of Yue? " Li Bai did not write about the subsequent development, not that he could not write, but that he deliberately did not write. In doing so, it also leaves room for imagination for readers.
Xi Shi's lotus picking is not only legendary, but also reasonable in Ruoye River. As for boating in the 3 mirror lake, it is the author's imagination. However, this imagination has the suspicion of changing the facts, because if it is to show Xi Shi's "self-examination of its beauty" by the clarity of Jinghu Lake, or to show the large number of people who prostrate himself to Xi Shi by the water journey of 3 miles, then the next sentence "watchers o'erwhelm the bank of Yuoye Stream" is redundant, which may be a slip of the pen by Li Bai. Appreciation of the original text and translation of Midnight Wu Ge 2
Midnight Wu Ge
Haruka
the lovely Lo Fo of the western land, plucks mulberry leaves by the waterside.
across the green boughs stretches out her white hand, in golden sunshine her rosy robe is dyed.
my silkworms are hungry, I cannot stay, tarry not with your five-horse cab, I pray.
summer songs
on Mirror Lake outspread for miles and miles, the lotus lilies in full blossom teem.
in fifth moon Xi Shi gathers them with smiles, watchers o'erwhelm the bank of Yuoye Stream.
her boat turns back without waiting moonrise, to royal house amid amorous sighs.
Qiu Ge
a slip of the moon hangs over the capital, ten thousand washing-mallets are pounding.
and the autumn wind is blowing my heart, for ever and ever toward the Jade Pass.
oh, when will the Tartar troops be conquered, and my husband come back from the long campaign!.
winter songs
the courier will depart next day, she's told, she sews a warrior's gown all night.
her fingers feel the needle cold, how can she hold the scissors tight?.
the work is done, she sends it far away, when will it reach the town where warriors stay??
Introduction to Ancient Poems
Four Poems by Wu Ge at Midnight is a group of poems written by Li Bai, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, and also entitled Four Songs at Four o'clock at Midnight. These four poems write four things in four seasons. The first song about spring scenery is the story of Qin Luofu picking mulberry in Han Yuefu. The second one is about summer scenery, which tells the story of Xi Shi Ruoye picking lotus in the Spring and Autumn Period. The third song, autumn scenery, is about defending women to weave and pound clothes for recruiting people; The fourth song, Winter Scenery, refers to the matter that a garrison woman sews cotton-padded clothes for a husband. The work is ingenious in conception, distinct in hierarchy and rigorous in structure.
Translation/Translation
Haruka
There was a Luo Fu girl in Qindi who used to pick mulberry by the green water. Plain hands pick and pick on the green stripes, and their red makeup is particularly bright in the sun. She turned down the satrap's pestering, saying, Silkworm is hungry, so I should hurry back, satrap, and don't delay your time here.
Summer Song
The Jinghu Lake is more than 3 miles long, and it is full of extravagant flowers. Xi Shi used to pick lotus flowers here in May, which attracted people to watch and crowded the Ruoye River. Less than a month after Xi Shi came home, he was elected to the palace.
Qiu Ge
There is a bright moon in Chang 'an City, and the sound of smashing clothes came from every household. And the autumn wind is blowing my heart, thinking of women's yearning for the outside of Yumenguan. When can I wipe out my worries, and my husband will never go on an expedition again.
Winter Song
Tomorrow morning, the courier will leave, and the ladies will make cotton-padded clothes for their expedition husbands overnight. My hands are so cold that I can't even draw needles, let alone use those cold scissors to cut clothes. I will send the cut clothes to a distant place. When can I get to Lintao?
Note
Midnight Wu Ge: Midnight Song belongs to Wu Sheng's lyrics of Yuefu, also known as Midnight Four Seasons Song, which is divided into Haruka, Summer Song, Qiu Ge and Winter Song. "The Book of the Tang Dynasty" said: "The midnight song is also a Jin song. There is a woman named midnight in Jin, making this sound, and it is too sad. " Because it originated in Wu, it is also called Midnight Wu Ge.
Haruka: Like the following "Summer Songs", some poems do not have these titles, and neither do the original poems. Some poems are subtitled "Spring" without the word "Song".
"Qin land" sentence: Qin land refers to the present Guanzhong area of Shaanxi province. Luo Fu female, Yuefu poem "Mo Shang Sang" has "the southeast corner of sunrise, which belongs to my Qinshilou. Qin has a good daughter who calls herself Luo Fu. Luo Fu is good at sericulture and picking mulberry in the south corner of the city.
element: white.
the phrase "red makeup" means that a woman is very gorgeous after full makeup.
"Silkworm Hunger" sentence: Liang Wudi's "Song of Four o'clock at Midnight": "Your husband is tired of living in a horse, and my concubine is hungry when she goes to silkworm." This uses its meaning. Concubine, a self-proclaimed modesty of ancient women.
"Five Horses" sentence: It means that noble people should not stay here. Five horses, "Han Guan Yi" records: "Four horses carry a car, which is also a regular ritual, but if you are too defensive, you will add one horse." Therefore, it is called five horses. This refers to dignitaries.
Jinghu: a Jianhu, in the southeast of Shaoxing County, Zhejiang Province.
lotus: another name for lotus. The ancients called the unopened lotus flower "Han Han", that is, the bud.
ruoye: ruoye creek is located in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province. The old Huansha stone monument beside the stream is said to be where Xi Shi Huansha is, so it is also called "Huansha Stream".
her boat turns back without waiting moonrise: It refers to the speed of Xi Shi's departure. Just when he returned to the boat, the moon was invited away before it came out. This is a rhetorical device of exaggeration.
King Yue: refers to Gou Jian, King Yue.
a moon: a bright moonlight.
ten thousand households: ten thousand households. Mashing clothes: put the cloth on the stone anvil and beat it with a wooden stick to make it soft for the tailor; Beat the washed dirty clothes on the slate, remove muddy water, and then clean them.
I can't stop blowing.
Yuguan: Yumenguan, so it is located in the northwest of Dunhuang County, Gansu Province, which means the place where good people guard the border.
Pinghulu: pacify the enemies invading the border.
lover: the name used by women to address their husbands in ancient times. "Poem tang style, Prepare for the Future": "What's the evening? See this lover." Stop: the end.
post: the messenger who sent letters and objects by the government in ancient times. A: Post Office.
wadding: spread cotton in clothes. A soldier's clothes.
The phrase "vegetarian hands" refers to the cold winter night, so that the hands of the husband and wife are frozen stiff that they can't even hold the needle scissors. Plain hands and white hands describe a woman's fair skin.
tailor: refers to the clothes that the tailor has made.
Lintao: In the southwest of Lintan County, Gansu Province, this generally refers to border areas.
Appreciation/Appreciation
Li Bai's Midnight Wu Ge is composed of four songs, which are divided into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. In the Six Dynasties Yuefu, there was the Song of Midnight at Four o'clock, which was written by the author. This style is composed of four sentences, and the content is mostly about women's sadness about missing their lovers. Six sentences are the creation of the poet, which is particularly innovative. These four poems write four things in four seasons. The first one is about spring scenery and Qin Luofu picking mulberry. The second one is about the summer scenery and Xi Shi Ruoye picking lotus. The third song is about autumn scenery, who defends women to weave and pound clothes for recruiting people; The fourth song is about the winter scenery, which is about guarding women to sew cotton-padded clothes for husbands. And connected together is a set of painted four-screen beauty pictures of spring, summer, autumn and winter.
The first poem chants the story of Qin Luofu, which is not only beautiful, but also has a beautiful heart, praising her noble quality of not being tempted by wealth and refusing to be seduced by dignitaries, and her industrious quality is well expounded in the sentence "my silkworms are hungry, I cannot stay, tarry not with your five-horse cab, I pray". This is "Haruka", so picking mulberry is used for fun.
The second poem begins with a scene: "on Mirror Lake outspread for miles and miles, the lotus lilies in full blossom teem." In the 3-mile-wide Jinghu Lake, when the lotus flowers with buds burst out, Xi Shi appeared to be a lotus picker, but her gorgeous and beautiful name caused a sensation. "watchers o'erwhelm the bank of Yuoye Stream" made the wide Ruoye River narrow and vivid with the word "narrow". The lively scene of crowded people and people filling the bank with boats seemed to be presented to readers. Here comes to an abrupt end again, and Xi Shi is no longer touched, leaving a lot of room: Gou Jian has already decided to use a honey trap to deal with Wu, and Xi Shi's beauty has dumped all living beings and caused a sensation in the local area, so there is no need to bother to visit the ministers of Yue, and only after he has this unique beauty candidate can he become "her boat turns back without waiting moonrise, to royal house amid amorous sighs". Compared with Wang Wei's "washing clothes at dawn by a southern lake, and that evening a great lady in a palace of the north:", the language is different but the meaning is the same. Wang Wei's poem has a lot of twists and turns, omitting the process of Gou Jian's implementation of the honey trap; Li Bai's poems were "cut off", and the result of being chosen as the concubine of Wu Palace was cut off, which also showed the meaning of "since beauty is honoured all over the Empire". This kind of cutting has more implication and hint: since it is "returning to the Yue Wang family", Gou Jian can also keep this beauty, but he restrained himself under the goal of "repaying Wu" and "revenge"; However, Xi Shi's entry into Wu became one of the reasons for Wu's death.
Xi Shi's lotus picking is not only legendary, but also reasonable in Ruoye River. As for boating in the 3 mirror lake, it is the author's imagination. However, this imagination has the suspicion of changing the facts, because if it is to show Xi Shi's "self-examination of its beauty" by the clarity of Jinghu Lake, or to show the large number of people who prostrate himself to Xi Shi by the water journey of 3 miles, then the next sentence "watchers o'erwhelm the bank of Yuoye Stream" is redundant, which may be a slip of the pen by Li Bai.
The third poem is about the wife of a husband who yearns for an expedition to the frontier on autumn night, hoping to end the war as soon as possible and save her husband from leaving home for an expedition. Although love is not written directly, every word is permeated with sincere affection; Although there is no talk about the current situation, it is not divorced from the current situation. The mood and intention are not divorced from the charm of frontier fortress poems.
generally speaking, the poet's technique is to talk about the scene before the emotion, and the scene always blends. "a slip of the moon hangs over the capital" is a description of the scenery, but also closely related to the topic, which describes the seasonal characteristics of "the autumn moon shines brightly". Seeing the moon and cherishing people is the traditional expression method of classical poetry. In addition, Qiu Lai is the season to catch up with the recruitment of clothes, so writing about the moon is also of great significance. In addition, the moon is as bright as day, which just happens to strike the clothes, and the moonlight that "the jade door curtain can't be rolled up, but it blows back on the anvil of striking the clothes" (Zhang Ruoxu's "Moonlit Night on a Spring River") is also easy to evoke the homesickness of the woman. Clothing cloth must be placed on an anvil first, and tamped with a pestle, which is called "smashing clothes". On this clear moonlit night, Chang 'an City was immersed in the sound of anvil pestle, and this special "autumn sound" was an unbearable provocation for thinking of women. "One piece" and "ten thousand households" seem to be right and wrong, and the wording is natural and full of praise. Autumn wind, is also provocative and melancholy. "Autumn wind enters the window, and the curtains flutter" is the third provocation to the homesick woman. The moon is bright and the wind is clear, the wind sends the anvil, and the sound is the deep feeling of missing the jade customs. Use the word "always", and you will learn more from your feelings. Here, the autumn moon and autumn wind are woven into a muddy realm, and no one is seen in the scene, but the characters seem to be really there, and the "jade customs" are also very strong. This feeling is so strong that it can't be stopped, so there are the last two sentences that directly express the feelings of thinking about women: "oh, when will the Tartar troops be conquered, and my husband come back from the long campaign!?" Some people in later generations prefer "implication" and think it is better to delete the last two sentences as quatrains, but this is not necessarily the case. "I don't know the beauty of the ballad, but I speak my mind" ("midnight song"), which is generous and natural, is the true color of folk songs. It is unnecessary to deliberately use that kind of hesitant language. From the content point of view, the last two sentences greatly deepen the ideological content of the poem and have more social significance, showing the good wishes of the ancient working people for a peaceful life. The whole poem is like a movie, with pictures and "voice-over" The moonlight shines on thousands of households in Chang 'an, the wind blows the anvil, and it melts into the bleak moonlight scene outside Yumenguan. The episode: "oh, when will the Tartar troops be conquered, and my husband come back from the long campaign! ..." This is a very meaningful poetic scene. This kind of "episode" like a female chorus is by no means superfluous. It is an organic part of the picture, and it is also in the painting. It is soul-stirring and exciting. Therefore, this poem is written from the front to the thoughts and feelings, but there are endless feelings.
The fourth song tells a story without scenery, and expresses the feelings of missing a husband through the affair of a woman "she sews a warrior's gown all night". Time is the eve of the departure of the courier who delivers the clothes, which greatly enhances the plot and drama of this poem. The word "hurry" was never written clearly, but from the news of "the courier will depart next day, she's told", readers can see this word everywhere in the poem, such as seeing the woman working eagerly and nervously. Regarding the specific process of how to "weave", how to "cut" and how to "sew", the poet has some choices, only writing the feeling of drawing needles and cutting them, highlighting the word "cold". I feel very cold when I pull the needle with my hand, but I still have to hold the cold scissors. "Cold" not only conforms to "Winter Songs", but also helps to strengthen the vividness of the plot. The cold weather, so that the fingers are not dexterous, and time waits for no one, it happened that the post will be.