Super simple ancient poems, such as "Ode to the Goose" by King Luo Bin of the Tang Dynasty.
Original text
Ode to the Goose
King Luo Bin [Tang Dynasty]
Goose, goose, goose, sing to the sky.
White hair floats on the green water, and anthurium stirs the clear waves.
Translation
"Goose, goose, goose!" Facing the blue sky, a group of geese stretched out their curved necks and sang.
The white body floats on the turquoise water, and the red soles stir the clear water waves.
Notes
Curved item: bend the neck.
Song: Changming.
Dial: swipe.
Creative background
When Luo Binwang was a child, he lived in a small village in the north of Yiwu County. There is a pond outside the village called Luojiatang. One day, a guest came to the house. The guest asked him several questions. King Luo Bin answered questions fluently, which surprised the guests. When the guest followed King Luo Bin to Luojiatang, he saw a group of white geese floating in the pond. He pointed at the geese and asked him to compose a poem with the geese. King Luo Bin thought for a while and then composed this poem.
Appreciation
This poem is very vivid and lively, looking at the geese swimming and playing through the eyes of a seven-year-old child.
The three words "goose" in the first sentence are the poet's affectionate call to the goose, which can also be understood as imitating the call of the goose. The second sentence "Quxiang sings to the sky". Qu, bend. The item is the neck. Curved neck, bent neck. Sing, sing. These two sentences make people imagine that a 7-year-old child is composing a poem about geese. He points to the geese and says: Goose, goose, goose, bending its long neck and singing towards the sky. At once, he grasped the characteristic of the goose's long neck and wrote about its complacent expression when it screamed for joy.
The second sentence describes the way the geese chirp, giving people the feeling of hearing the sound. The goose's voice is high and loud, and the word "qu" vividly portrays the image of the goose stretching its neck, bending its head and quacking toward the sky. This sentence first writes what you see, and then what you hear, which is very layered.
The above describes the situation of geese traveling on land, and the following two sentences describe the situation of geese swimming leisurely in the water. The little poet uses a set of couplets to describe the situation of the geese playing in the water, focusing on color. The goose's feathers are white, but the river water is green. The contrast between "white" and "green" is bright and dazzling. This is the right sentence; similarly, the goose's paws are red, but the water waves are green, "red" and "red" It is very beautiful against the background of "green", which is also the right sentence. In the two sentences, "white" and "red" are opposite, and "green" and "green" are opposite. This is an up-down pair. In this way, going back and forth is a confrontation, which is endlessly wonderful.
In this set of couplets, the use of verbs is also just right. The word "floating" means that the goose is leisurely and motionless in the water. The word "dial" means that the goose paddled hard in the water, causing waves. In this way, movement and stillness complement each other, creating a kind of beauty of change.
About the author
King Luo Bin (about 619-687), also known as Guangguang, Han nationality, was born in Yiwu, Wuzhou (now Yiwu, Zhejiang). He was a poet in the early Tang Dynasty. Together with Wang Bo, Yang Jiong and Lu Zhaolin, he was known as the "Four Heroes of the Early Tang Dynasty". It is also called "Fu Luo" together with Fu Jiamo. Gaozong Yonghuizhong was a member of the Taoist king Li Yuanqing's palace. He had a history of martial arts and Chang'an. In the third year of Yifeng, he was appointed as a censor. He was imprisoned for some reasons. He was pardoned the next year. In the second year of Tiaolu, he was removed from Linhai Cheng. He failed to achieve his goals and resigned. . There are sets. In the first year of Wu Zetian's Guangzhai reign, King Luo Bin wrote "A Prosecution to the World on behalf of Li Jingye" for Xu Jingye, who rebelled against Wu Zetian in Yangzhou. Jingye was defeated and fled without knowing where he was. He was either killed or became a monk.