This poem was written by Du Fu when he was in Kuizhou in the autumn of the second year of Dali (767). At that time, the poet was ill in Kuizhou, which was located on the bank of the Yangtze River. The whole poem, through the scenery of the Autumn River seen from a high altitude, expresses the poet's complex emotions of wandering around for many years, being old, sick and lonely. It is impassioned and touching. Yang Lun praised this poem as "the best seven-character verse in Du's collection" ("Du Shi Jingquan"). Hu Yinglin's "Shi Sou" even praised this poem as the best seven-character verse in ancient and modern times.
The first four sentences describe the experience gained from climbing high. First couplet. The poet focused on the specific environment of Kuizhou and used the word "fengji" to drive the whole couplet. From the beginning, he wrote a good sentence that has been passed down through the ages. Kuizhou is famous for its large number of apes, and the Xiakou is famous for its strong winds. It's a crisp autumn day, but it's windy here. The poet climbed to a high place, and the sound of "the high ape roaring" kept coming from the gorge, which had the meaning of "the sound is heard in the empty valley, and the sorrow lasts for a long time" ("Shui Jing Zhu·Three Gorges"). The poet moved his gaze from the heights to the river and Zhouzhu. On the background of clear water and white sand, there are dotted with flocks of birds flying in the wind and constantly circling. It is really a beautiful picture. Among them are the sky, the wind, the sand, the river, and the roar of the ape. Birds fly, created by heaven and earth, and naturally come into pairs. Not only are the upper and lower sentences corresponding, but there are also self-contrasts within the sentences, such as "sky" vs. "wind" in the previous sentence; "gao" vs. "ji"; "sha" vs. "Zhu", "white" vs. "qing" in the next sentence. It reads rhythmically. After the poet's artistic refinement, the fourteen words are precise and accurate, and none of them are false. The words are used to express "all thanks to the axe", reaching a wonderful and indescribable state. What is more noteworthy is that in the first sentence of the couplet, the oblique tone is often used for the last word, but this poem uses the flat tone to rhyme. Shen Deqian was praised for his "reuse of rhyme in the two-sentence couplets, which changes the style" ("Tang Shi Bie Cai").
The chin couplets express the typical characteristics of Kuizhou’s autumn. The poet looked up at the boundless swaying wooden leaves and looked down at the endlessly flowing and rolling river. While describing the scene, he deeply expressed his feelings. "Boundless" and "Endless" make "Xiao Xiao" and "Rolling" more vivid, which not only reminds people of the sound of falling wood and the turbulent shape of the Yangtze River, but also conveys the feeling that time is fleeting and ambitions are hard to achieve. . Through the melancholic couplets, it shows the power of writing, and it has the majestic momentum of "Jian Ling Zhan Ban" and "Bai Chuan Dong Zhu". The predecessors praised it as the "unique in ancient and modern times". It makes sense.
The first two couplets try their best to describe the autumn scenery, and the word "Autumn" is not mentioned until the neck couplet, which shows that the poet is looking at it from a high place. The prospect is closely related to the mood in the heart. "Often a guest" points out the poet's wandering life. "A hundred years" is a metaphor for a limited life. The word "sad autumn" is written in a sad way. Autumn is not necessarily sad, but when the poet saw the desolate and magnificent autumn scenery, he couldn't help but think of his situation of being in a foreign land, old and sick, so he felt infinite sadness. Emotions are summarized in a couplet of "magnificent, high-pitched, loud and powerful", which makes people deeply feel his heavy beating emotional pulse. The words "boundless" and "endless" in the same couplet also echo each other: the poet's travel sorrow and loneliness are like fallen leaves and river water, endlessly pushing and driving away, and the emotions and scenery blend together. At this point, the poem has given the general meaning of being a guest and homesickness, adding the content of being lonely for a long time, adding to the sadness of the autumn illness, and adding the sigh of being away from home for thousands of miles, and the poem is even more profound.
The last couplet is a couplet, and contains five or six sentences. The poet is prepared to experience the hardships of poverty, national crisis and family worries, which will make his hair gray. Coupled with the fact that he has stopped drinking due to illness, it is even harder to deal with his sorrow. It is easy to understand the conflicting mood of the poet, who climbed high and looked far away with great joy, but now feels hatred and sorrow for no reason. The first six sentences are "flying and shaking", but here he "receives it with softness and coldness, and has the meaning of infinite sadness." "It overflows beyond words" ("Shi Sou").
The first half of the poem describes the scenery, and the second half is lyrical. Each has its own intricacies in writing. The first couplet focuses on depicting the specific scenery in front of you, just like a painter's fine brushwork, form , sound, color, and attitude: all are expressed one by one. The second couplet focuses on rendering the entire autumn atmosphere, just like the painter's freehand brushwork. It should only convey the meaning and let the reader supplement it with imagination. The three couplets express emotions vertically (time) and horizontally (space). He wrote from two aspects, from wandering in a foreign land to being sick and disabled, and from the four-part couplet to the fact that his hair was graying and he stopped drinking to protect his illness, he concluded that the hardships of the times were the root cause of his misery. On paper.
At a glance, the beginning and end of this poem seem to be "not correct", and the heart and belly seem to be "not intended to be correct". Law, in one sentence, every word is law." Not only "the whole text can be legalized", but also "the use of words in sentences", "people in ancient and modern times will not dare to teach, and they will never be able to teach". It can win the "unprecedented reputation" The reputation of "Composition" (see Hu Yinglin's "Shi Sou") is natural.
The entire poem is composed of quatrains, so it is called "The Crown of Seven Rhythms".