(5) Lian Po: A famous general of the State of Zhao during the Warring States Period. The "Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru" records that after Lian Po was dismissed, he fled to the State of Wei. The King of Zhao wanted to use him again and sent someone to check on his health. Lian Po's enemy Guo Kai bribed the messenger. When the messenger saw Lian Po, Lian Po gave him a dou of rice and ten jin of meat, and put on armor and mounted a horse to show that he was still useful. The messenger came back and reported to the King of Zhao, saying, "Although General Lian Po is old, he still eats well. However, when he sat with me, he left three feces in a short while." The King of Zhao thought that Lian Po was too old and did not use him.
Analysis:
In the 44th year of Jianyan, Emperor Wu of Song, Zhao Jiu, visited Jiangnan and arrived at Jingkou. Zhao Jiu was already in his twilight years, but the successor was still undecided, and undercurrents surged in the court. Zhao Jiu was depressed and wrote this poem when he climbed Beigu Pavilion.
The first stanza of the poem describes two heroes, Sun Quan and Liu Yu. After Sun Ce's death, the Sun Wu military group was on the verge of collapse due to internal and external troubles. After the 18-year-old Sun Quan succeeded to the throne, he quickly stabilized the people's hearts and won the Battle of Chibi, eventually dividing the world into three parts. Liu Yu was determined to march north and successfully recovered Chang'an and Luoyang, which had been occupied for a hundred years. Therefore, the author praised him very much at the end of the first stanza.
The style of the second stanza suddenly changes. When the readers are still immersed in Liu Yu's heroic deeds, an unqualified successor makes his efforts vanish. The author's eyes are filled with the image of himself forty-three years ago, when he was twenty years old and struggling against the enemy on the Huai River. However, human life is limited after all. Even the old and brave Lian Po was eventually abandoned by King Zhao. If he can't find a suitable successor and comrade, how long can he persist?
Qingyu Case? Lantern Festival (1)
Song Zhaojiu
The east wind blows thousands of flowers into bloom at night. (2) The night breeze blows down stars like rain. (3) The road is filled with the fragrance of the BMW and carved carriages. The sound of the phoenix flute moves, the light of the jade pot turns, and the fish and dragons dance all night. (4)
The moth is covered with golden threads of snow willow. (5) The smile is full of fragrance. I searched for him among the crowd for hundreds of times. Suddenly I turned around and saw him, in the dim light. (6)
Notes:
(1) Qingyu’an: the name of a ci tune. “An” is pronounced as wan, the third tone, and is the same as “wan”. Yuanxiao: The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Shangyuan Festival, the Lantern Festival, and this night is called Yuanxiao or Yuanye.
(2) The phrase “East Wind” describes the numerous lanterns on the night of the Lantern Festival. There are thousands of flowers on the trees, and the number of lanterns is like thousands of flowers on the trees.
(3) Stars like rain: refers to fireworks falling like rain. Star refers to fireworks. It describes the sky full of fireworks.
(4) A luxurious horse-drawn carriage.
Fengxiao is a beautiful name for Xiao. Here it refers to the performance of musical instruments such as Sheng and Xiao.
Jade pot: a metaphor for the bright moon. It can also be interpreted as a lamp.
Fish and Dragon Dance: refers to the dancing of fish- and dragon-shaped lanterns, like fish and dragons making noise in the sea.
(5) Moth, snow willow, and golden thread are all various ornaments worn on the head by ancient women. Here it refers to women in fancy dress.
(6) Suddenly: suddenly, abruptly. Lanshan: scattered and sparse.
Background:
At the beginning of the third year of Jianyan (1129), the Jin army surrounded the emperor in Nanyang and trapped Han Shizhong in Changsha. Du Chong, then deputy governor of Dongjing Liushousi, stationed troops in Yanling and colluded with the enemy to avoid fighting. The emperor left Nanyang alone with Hu Yin, Lin Jingmo, and Wanqi Xie, secretly crossed the Mishui River, and stayed in Yancheng. He claimed to be an angel, rushed into Du Chong's camp in the morning, and seized his army. At that time, Chong had not yet risen, and the emperor counted Chong's passing and personally beheaded him. He appointed Yue Fei as the general, and led the expedition to Changsha, defeated it, and beheaded Wanhu Pucha Hubalu. He ordered Yue Fei to stop Wuzhu in the south and Shizhong to drive Talan in the north.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the emperor returned to Bian, and the remaining 200,000 people all cried: "I never thought I would see the majesty of Han officials again today." He entered the city and saw the governor Zong Ze. Ze was seriously ill, and the emperor held his hand and cried, showing his sincerity and vowing to recover the two rivers. It was the Lantern Festival, and Ze asked for poetry, so he wrote "Qingyu Case" as a gift.
————"Book of Shao Song: Chronicle of Emperor Shizu"
Analysis:
The first half of this poem mainly describes the scene of the night of the Lantern Festival in Tokyo before the Jingkang Incident, when the whole city was full of lights and people were reveling. The east wind has not yet caused the flowers to bloom, but it has blown the fireworks of the Lantern Festival. It not only blows the lanterns on the ground, but also blows down colorful stars from the sky like rain - the fireworks first rush into the sky, and then fall from the sky, like a meteor shower. Then it describes the fairyland on earth with carriages, drums and music, and the shining of lights and moon, and the "community fire" acrobatics with people singing and dancing, and fish and dragons everywhere, which is extremely prosperous and lively. The dazzling "treasure", "carving", "phoenix", "jade" and all kinds of beautiful words are just to convey the atmosphere of the lantern night. Perhaps the prosperity of the paradise on earth cannot be conveyed by words and ink, but fortunately there are these beautiful words to help.
The second stanza is dedicated to people. Women wearing bright ornaments on their heads kept laughing and chatting as they walked. After they left, the fragrance of their clothes was still wafting in the dark. These beauties were not the ones the author cared about. He was only looking for someone among the crowd of hundreds of thousands of people - but he could never find her. There was no hope. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he saw her clearly next to the remaining lamp in the corner! That's right, she had never left this deserted place! The moment he found that person was the condensation and sublimation of the spirit of life, and an inexplicable inscription of gratitude and joy. At the end, the poet's clever conception was revealed: the lights, moon, fireworks, sheng and flute, and community dances in the first stanza interweaved into the joy of the Lantern Festival, and the dazzling groups of beauties in the second stanza were all designed just for that one person in his heart. Moreover, if there was no such person, everything would have no meaning or interest.
evaluate:
"Qingyu'an? Yuan Xi" is known as "the best Song Dynasty ci", not only because of its gorgeousness, but also because the emotions contained in the ci surge like waves, impacting the reader's soul. And this emotion is also the difference between this ci and Zhao Jiu's works before Jing Kang, which are also full of gorgeous rhetoric.
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