The bright moon goes up to the high building
Cao Zhi
Series: A collection of classic ancient poems about love
The bright moon goes up to the high building
The bright moon shines on the tall building, and the light is lingering.
There is a sad and longing woman above, who laments more than she can.
I would like to ask who is sighing, but he has his wife.
The husband has been away for more than ten years, and the humble concubine often lives alone.
Missing you makes me thirsty, thinking of you makes me hungry.
You are made of mountain cypress, and I am made of muddy cement.
The north wind blows softly and fiercely into my ears.
I miss my old friend and can’t stop crying.
Different paths lead to ups and downs, how can we meet in harmony?
I am willing to be the northeast wind and blow me into your arms.
If you are always in love with your husband, how can you rely on your humble concubine?
There is no end to the path of kindness, and there is no end to the flow.
I want to play this song, which is sad and long.
Have fun today, and don’t forget each other after we say goodbye.
Appreciation
Cao Zhi’s poems are generally divided into two periods based on Jian’an. In the early days, Cao Zhi was in his youth and prime of life. He attracted attention with his brimming talent, and because of this, he was loved by his father. Cao Cao was "especially fond of" this son who "answered questions every time he came in." Therefore, during this period, Cao Zhi lived the life of a wealthy and carefree young man, and his poems were full of young people's ambition and arrogance. "White Horse" can be a representative example. With his outstanding talents and talents, Cao Zhi was very likely to inherit his father's hegemony. Unfortunately, he "acted willfully, did not encourage himself, and drank uncontrollably", which finally made Cao Cao gradually lose confidence in him. On the contrary, Cao Zhi's half-brother Cao Pi was self-respecting. Although his talents were slightly inferior to his younger brother, Cao Cao considered that "Emperor Wen used his skills to control him and pretended to be pretentious, and the palace people talked about it, so he decided As heir" ("Three Kingdoms").
Cao Cao's death was the end of a generation and a turning point in Cao Zhi's life. After Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, he was very wary of his younger brother, who was once a potential heir to the throne. Not only did he enfeoff Cao Zhi outside the capital, keeping him far away from the center of political power, he even set up "envoys to supervise the country" to prevent his brother from plotting evil and threatening his own status. People are familiar with the "seven-step poem": "Cooking beans burns the bean basket, and the beans weep in the cauldron. They are from the same root, so why rush to fry each other?" It is a lament written by Cao Zhi under the coercion of Cao Pi. The poetry of fratricide. The true origin of this poem cannot be studied, and there are different versions circulated. The possibility that it was written by Cao Zhi is also very low. However, from this poem, we can still see that the fight and suspicion between the Cao Pi brothers is indeed true.
Cao Zhi was full of ambitions and had nowhere to put them, but his brothers were always on guard against him, which made Cao Zhi feel discouraged. As a result of being suppressed and under surveillance, most of his later poems tended to be sentimental and sad, and comparing himself to abandoned wives was one of the characteristics of his poems. In addition to this poem "Seven Sorrows", other poems such as "Duckweed Chapter" and "Miscellaneous Poems" all use the image of resentful women. The use of the image of the resentful woman can be traced back to the Book of Songs. There are two images of women in "The Book of Songs". One is the graceful and virtuous beauties such as "Guan Ju"; the other is the abandoned women in reality, such as "Wei Feng." Hooligan＞. In Chu Ci, women are often a symbol of beauty, used to refer to beautiful character or as a metaphor for the monarch. In the subsequent "Nineteen Ancient Poems", the image of resentful women is more commonly used, such as "Xing Xing Xing Xing Xing Xing", "Green Grass by the River", etc. However, the images of women who miss their wives and resent their wives are mostly realistic. During the Jian'an period, the image of women in poetry was a combination of real abandoned women and satirical metaphors. The abandoned woman in Cao Zhi's "Seven Sorrows" is used as a metaphor.
Cao Zhi has always had political ambitions and expected to achieve great achievements. He said in his "Ancestral Letter to Yang De": "Although I have little virtue and am a vassal, I should still work hard with my common people." The country has benefited the people, built eternal achievements, and made contributions in gold and stone. How can we just use calligraphy as a meritorious service and words as a gentleman?" This ideal of serving the king and the country was not only Cao Zhi's personal ambition, but also reflected the ethos of the entire era at that time. During the Jian'an era, the current situation was turbulent. Cao Cao's heroic deeds and majestic momentum had a huge influence on the Jian'an literati at that time, and led to a trend of pursuing meritorious service. Cao Zhi was so deeply influenced by his father and the trend of the entire era that he longed to "compile a list of strong men" and "sacrifice himself to fight for the national calamity" ("White Horse Chapter").
However, if ministers who hope to achieve fame and fame cannot be appreciated and appointed by the monarch, they will have no chance to display their talents and ambitions, and they will have no way to realize their own value. This kind of relationship between monarch and minister is like a woman in that era who relied entirely on men. Once abandoned by her husband, she no longer had a resentful woman to rely on, and she lost the value of survival and the focus of life. At this time, Cao Zhi knew that he had no hope of success, so he pinned his sorrow on the sorrow of his resentful wife who had the same emotions as him.
Liu Lu commented on "Seven Sorrow Poems" and said, "Zijian and Emperor Wen are of the same mother and flesh, but now they are in different situations, and they are not close to each other, so they use the metaphor of a lonely concubine to express their deep sorrow." This sentence really summarizes the content and thoughts of the poem "Seven Sorrows".
The Seven Sorrows, Li Ye's "Annotations on Ancient and Modern Times" states that people have seven emotions. Nowadays, sadness and sadness are too strong. Joy, anger, joy, sorrow, evil, and desire are all gone. There is only one kind of sadness, so it is called the Seven Sorrows. This explanation of the purpose of Qi Ai's title can be said to be very accurate and appropriate. Six of the seven emotions have been lost, leaving only one sadness. This sadness pervades the whole. There should have been seven different emotions but now they are one sadness, which highlights the depth of sadness. "Selected Works" classifies this poem into the category of sadness, and this poem is indeed shrouded in deep sadness and pain.
The first two sentences of "Seven Sorrows" use the technique of raising things up. In the tradition of Chinese poetry, the bright moon often plays a role in triggering longing for lovesickness, such as Li Bai's "Looking up at the bright moon, bowing down to miss my hometown." Moonlight nights often stir up the poet's endless thoughts and evoke the people or things in his heart that he misses and cares about. So when the bright moon shines on the high-rise building, and the clear moonlight sways gently like lingering water, the missing woman standing on the high-rise building looking into the distance laments endless sorrow under the bath of moonlight. Cao Zhi then used the form of self-questioning and answering, eliciting the resentful woman to narrate her tragic life experience. This also inspired Cao Zhi to express his emotions about his rough situation. From the bright moon stirring up thoughts to quoting inner anguish, Cao Zhi writes smoothly and naturally without leaving any trace. No wonder it became "Jian'an's best song".