Liu Zongyuan Jiang Xue
a hundred mountains and no bird, a thousand paths without a footprint ①.
a little boat, a bamboo cloak, an old man fishing in the cold river-snow.
Note
① No one is there: no one is there.
Appreciation
Liu Zongyuan (A.D. 773-A.D. 819) was a writer, philosopher, essayist and thinker in the Tang Dynasty. Born into an official family in Chang 'an, the capital, and a native of Yuncheng, Shanxi, he was known as Mr. Liu Hedong and Mr. Hedong. Because of the official end of Liuzhou secretariat, also known as Liu Liuzhou, Liu Yuxi. Liu Zongyuan has few talents and has long been ambitious. In the ninth year of Zhenyuan (AD 793), he was a scholar, and in the fourteenth year, he was enrolled in the course of erudition and poetry, and was awarded the orthography of Jixian Hall. He was once a lieutenant in Lantian, then became an official in the DPRK, actively participated in the political reform of Wang Shuwen Group, and moved to the Li Department as a foreign minister. In September of Yongzhenyuan (AD 85), the innovation failed, and Shaozhou was demoted to the secretariat. In November, it was demoted to Yongzhou Sima (now Lingling District, Yongzhou City, Hunan Province). Together with Han Yu, he advocated the ancient prose movement in Tang Dynasty and called it "Han Liu". Also known as "Liu Liu" with Liu Yuxi. With Wang Wei, Meng Haoran and Wei Yingwu, they are also called "Wang Meng Wei Liu". With Han Yu in the Tang Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu, Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Zhe, Wang Anshi and Ceng Gong in the Song Dynasty, they are also called "Eight Great Masters in Tang and Song Dynasties" (Liu Zongyuan is the second of the eight great masters in Tang and Song Dynasties). His achievements are more than poetry. His essays are argumentative, sharp, satirical and spicy, and more entrusted. Most of his poems express depression, grief and indignation, homesickness and friendship, with profound feelings and a unique way.
This poem was written during the poet's exile in Yongzhou (now Lingling, Hunan). Liu Zongyuan was demoted to Yongzhou, and his spirit was greatly depressed. Therefore, he sent his feelings to the mountains and rivers and sang in seclusion. Borrow the fisherman between the mountains and rivers to pin his lofty and aloof pride and express his depression and distress in political frustration. In the poem, the poet outlines a quiet and lonely environment with birds flying and people disappearing.
For such an environment, the poet used Qian Shan and Wan Jing to render it, and filled it with a vast and boundless space, bringing that silence and sadness to the extreme. Under such a big background, only a fisherman in the river wears a hat and hemp fiber and fishes quietly on the boat. The word "cold river snow" is like the finishing touch, which not only adds plain color to the whole picture, but also organically combines the isolated mountains, trails and people in front. In front of the poet, he didn't explain the reasons for the disappearance of birds and people, but he hit the nail on the head here. I saw white snow flying all over the sky, and the mountains, trees, roads and rivers were all wrapped in silver and clean. At this time, fishing in the cold river is not afraid of the cold, the snow and the wind, and it seems that it has been carried away. However, it is such a lonely old man who stands out in such a background. Isn't this lofty and aloof fisherman image the sustenance and portrayal of Liu Zongyuan's own thoughts and feelings? How the poet wishes to enter the fisherman's spiritual realm of no sorrow, quiet and refined, stubborn and persistent, optimistic and upward. Rather than describing a picture of fishing in a cold river, the poet shows a detached heart. A few crosses contain too much content, with lofty artistic conception and endless aftertaste.