Author: Wang Zhihuan (Tang)
The sun sets slowly near the western hills, and the Yellow River flows into the East China Sea.
By going up one flight of stairs, look further.
Vernacular translation
The sunset slowly sinks beside the western hills, and the Yellow River rushes to the East China Sea.
If you want to see the scenery of Wan Li, you must climb a higher tower. [ 1]
Creation background
This poem is one of the last six quatrains of Wang Zhihuan, a poet in the Tang Dynasty.
The author served as editor-in-chief in Hengshui County, Jizhou (now Hengshui County, Hebei Province) in his early years, and was dismissed soon after being framed. Wang Zhihuan, who was less than 30 years old, lived a life of visiting relatives and friends. When writing this poem, Wang Zhihuan was only thirty-five years old.
Writing method
Association between activity and inertia
It's only a short process to end the day at the mountainside. The setting sun holds the mountain, and the clouds cover the fog barrier. At this time, the already weakened glory of the sun is even more dazzling.
Adding gloom can be called a quiet scene, which is the beauty of peace; The Yellow River flows to the sea, not so-called "freezing", but rushing and roaring, rolling south and flowing east into the sea, full of infinite vitality and magnificent momentum, which exists in the eternal movement. The combination of dynamic and static forms a magnificent picture, which is colorful, magnificent and unpredictable.
The combination of virtuality and reality
The first sentence begins with an illusion, in which the sky sinks during the day and disappears into the mountains. The second sentence extends from the rushing Yellow River downstairs to the distant ocean. In this way, the sunset in the west and the flowing water in the east combine the visible sunset with the sea in the mind (the poet can't see the Yellow River entering the sea on the stork tower), and the foreground and the middle scene are skillfully integrated, from far to near, from far to far, making the picture endless and far-reaching, which also arranges endless reverie for the poems on both sides of the strait.
The scene becomes rational.
Konghai, a Japanese monk stationed in the Tang Dynasty, emphasized that "the scenery should be reasonable" in The Secret Room in the Mirror, which means that poetry should not stick to rigid, boring and abstract reasoning, and does not mean that philosophy cannot be revealed and spread in poetry. This poem perfectly combines truth with scenery and events, so that readers don't think this is reasoning, but think it makes sense. This is a mode to express the philosophy of life through thinking in images according to the characteristics of poetry.
Pure philosophers appear as preachers and can be worshipped. A philosopher-like poet speaking as a friend is enough to make people feel excited and pursue.