1 Lights and candles shine, and red makeup can be seen everywhere.
When the long night came, a little light and candlelight warmed the poet's heart. It can be said that light is the most basic artistic character of lamps and candles, and it is also the first artistic character that poets pay attention to.
"Night in the secluded room, the lights are on" (Han Yu's Jianghan Answers to Meng Jiao) and "A boat lights shine on the waves, trees on both sides of the bank are frosted" (Lu Lun's Farewell to Leping Miaoming Building), whether the lights are on in the secluded room all night, or the boat lights reflect the snow waves and look at the clear autumn trees, they can penetrate the night and bring infinite joy to the poets.
Lights and candles are warm, and where they reflect, they set off a happy and magnificent atmosphere. "Nine streets are full of light and shadow, and thousands of doors are full of moon colors" (Guo Lizhen's Shang Yuan), "One hundred thousand people are candlelight, and red makeup is seen at the door" (Zhang Xiaoyuan's Watching the Lights). A piece of light reflects the world, forming a spectacular scenery and arousing the passion of life.
"Bitan outside the door washes horses in spring, and red candles in front of the building greet people at night" (Han Yi gave Li Yi), "Through the spring wine, take advantage of it to warm me up and remind you how to gamble. There, groups of people, we roll dice under the crimson lamp" (Li Shangyin has no title), lighting red candles at night and drinking happily is more enjoyable than feasting during the day.
Darkness makes people fear and is often associated with death; The brilliance of the light is a continuation of the day and a denial of the darkness. "Nineteen Ancient Poems" said, "Born less than a hundred years ago, I always worry about being a chitose. Although the days are short and the nights are long, why not swim by candlelight? Although it is based on the reality of social unrest and shallow life in the late Han Dynasty, Swimming by Candlelight generally reflects the deep resistance of human nature to death and the desire for life.
Marin Candlelight Night Tour in Southern Song Dynasty (Partial) National Palace Museum in Taipei
When there are 20 thousand lights, the dream is beautiful.
The thick night reflects the beautiful artistic conception composed of a little candle red, which is safe and warm.
"When * * * cuts the candle at the west window, he talks about the rain in the evening" ("Notes for friends in the north on a rainy night"), staying up all night, talking about it, and cutting off the stamens from the candles from time to time. This is Li Shangyin's imagination of reunion when he is wandering in a foreign land and his return date is uncertain;
"When is the red candle relative to Tao Ran?" ("Reward Huainan Niu Xianggong to send twenty-four rhymes"), this is Bai Juyi's yearning for friends and the brewing of red candles;
"Holding a candle at night is more like a dream" (Qiang Village). Du Fu struggled to escape from the occupied Chang 'an and met his wife who thought she was dead. It's like a dream in the light. What a bittersweet moment!
Yan Zeng, a poet in the Northern Song Dynasty, used two poems by Du Fu to express his feelings of reunion with his beloved singer after a long separation: "After parting, I remember meeting you and being with you several times in my dreams. There is a silver plaque left tonight, and I am still afraid that meeting is a dream. " How many times have I met in my dream, so that I really met, and my doubts are still in my dream.
These lamps and candles are the witness of the poet's reunion in imagination and reality. Their brilliance is warm and blurred, adding a dreamlike feeling.
In the shadow of Three Lamps District, beautiful women danced.
China's aesthetics favors red in color and pursues the softness and obscurity of light. In Liu Yuxi's poem, it is said that "the red candle benefits, but it cries before the flower falls" ("Throwing balls"), which represents the aesthetic ideal of China people.
Poets often associate the scene of the light shadow shaking red with lovely beauty. "The shadow of the red candle is close to the fairyland, and the green candle moves to see many people" (Mid-Autumn Night by Li Ying). The beauty of the red candle sets each other off and becomes an interest, which embodies the blurred and graceful classical aesthetics and makes the red candle in the bridal chamber become the aesthetic comprehension of Chinese love.
Su Dongpo directly compared flowers to beautiful women: "I'm afraid that flowers will fall asleep in the middle of the night, so I put on red makeup with high candles" (Haitang). Begonia flowers covered with warm candles are as charming and lazy as a beauty with heavy makeup, full of rich elegant feelings.
Related to this, holding a candle to enjoy flowers is also the most elegant and charming thing. Bai Juyi has "Precious Peony Flowers":
There are only two red peonies left in front of the melancholy stage.
I think all the flowers should be blown away when the wind blows tomorrow morning. At night, I pity these weak but red flowers and take a torch to see the peony.
Under the flickering fire, the dying peony becomes more attractive, beautiful and sad. There is no doubt that Li Shangyin's famous sentence, "When guests wake up late at night after drinking, they will enjoy the residual flowers with red candles" ("Drunk under the Flowers"), the dying flowers show strange brilliance at the last moment of their lives under the red candles. The red candle illuminates the branches and flowers, and the poet's chewing and understanding of the meaning of life shines inward.
The residual lamp has no flame, and the disease remains the same.
Light is light, hope and wisdom. A world without light or dim light implies and symbolizes a state of disappointment and pain. Yuan Zhen, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem "Hearing Lotte Awarded Jiangzhou Sima" after hearing the news that his best friend Bai Juyi was demoted.
The residual lamp has no flame shadow. I heard that you have fallen into Jiujiang this evening.
Sitting up in a dying illness, the dark wind blew the rain into the cold window.
The dark wind and rain, with cold air, pounced on the window lattice, and the residual lamp was flameless, casting a shadow indoors. The "residual lamp" here typically represents the disillusionment and despair of the poet.
In fact, the residual light in the poem is not necessarily the real situation, and sometimes it is just an imaginary image. The poet's emotions are projected on foreign objects, which may even change the inherent nature of foreign objects. Because of this, in China's classical poems, the original warm and peaceful lamps and candles often appear as the image of "cold lamps":
Facing the trees and leaves of other countries, I am lonely in the cold night.
(Ma Dai's "Autumn Chrysanthemum on Bashang")
I am worried that my illness will remain the same and I can't get rid of the cold light.
(Zhu's "Yi Yulan Spring Complaint")
These lights reveal the poet's cold, lonely and sad psychology. They are not just lights outside the poet, but have internalized the poet's feelings, become a part of the poet's personality and destiny, and embody a tragic implication.
"Peach and plum spring breeze with a glass of wine, it rains at night for ten years in Yi Deng" (Huang Tingjian's "Send Yellow Several Times"), and the light in the rain at night reflects the poet's wandering figure and also witnesses the poet's mental journey of seeking wandering;
"And like raindrops brightening yellow leaves, the light shines on my bald head" (When my cousin comes for the night), yellow leaves indicate the coming of bleak autumn colors, and also symbolize the decline and sad life; The light illuminates the yellow leaves in the rain and the poet's aging fate.
In particular, the tragic implication of lamps and candles is "candle tears", which can be seen everywhere in classical poetry:
The candle on the table lit the heart, and it also saw the parting; You see, it shed tears for us and flowed to the morning.
(Du Mu's Farewell)
Silkworms in spring will weave until they die, and candles will drain the wick every night.
(Li Shangyin's Untitled)
There was a red candle burning in the hall, and the flame was long and short, and there was a bitter tear of acacia.
(Yan Shu's "Shake Qiu Ting")
Red candle has no good plans, feels sorry for itself, but cries for others on a cold night.
(Yan "The Recent Flower")
"Wax tears" generally refers to parting tears, and fat tears overflow when candles burn, which is realistic; The poet endowed the candle with human feelings and personified the original ignorant candle. Behind the candle in tears, there must be a poet who is sobbing. His tears are full of stains and spots, reflecting the weeping hearts of countless China poets.