Appreciation of Tang Poetry-Du Mu's "Po Qinhuai"

"Mooring in Qinhuai"

Author: Du Mu

The smoke cage is cold and the moon is caged in the sand. I parked in Qinhuai at night near a restaurant.

The business girl does not know the hatred of the country's subjugation, but she still sings the flowers in the backyard across the river.

Notes

1. Qinhuai: The name of the river, originating from Lishui County, Jiangsu Province, and running through Nanjing City.

2. Business woman: a singer who sells her songs.

3. Flowers in the Back Garden: The name of the song is "Flowers in the Back Garden of Yushu" written by the late emperor of the Southern Dynasties, which is the sound of the country's subjugation by later generations.

Rhyme Translation

The smoke filled the autumn water, and the moonlight covered the white sand;

The boat was moored in Qinhuai at night, close to the restaurant on the shore.

Singing girls are making fun for others, but how can they know the hatred of subjugating their country?

They are still singing "Back Garden Flowers" on the other side of the bank.

Poetry Appreciation

The Qinhuai River area in Jiankang (now Nanjing, Jiangsu), the former capital of the Six Dynasties, is a famous tourist attraction. Du Mu, a poet of the late Tang Dynasty, stayed in Qinhuai at night and couldn't help but feel emotional when he heard a hotel singer singing a popular song by Chen Houzhu. I was filled with emotion, so I wrote this poem to express my worries and indignation about the world style and current situation.

[Smoke cage, cold water, moon cage and sand, I parked in Qinhuai River near the restaurant at night. ]

Smoke shrouded the cold water, and the moonlight illuminated the beach beside the water. At night, the boat anchored on the Qinhuai River, very close to the hotel on the shore.

The first sentence of the poem paints a picture of mist and loneliness for us. Smokey mist and hazy moonlight shrouded the river and the beach beside the water. The word "han" not only reminds people of late autumn or winter, but also brings a chill to the heart. What kind of scenery is the poet describing? In the next sentence, the four words "mocking at Qinhuai at night" are answered. These four characters not only reveal the time and place for the scenery in the previous sentence, but also echo the title of the poem. The three words "near the restaurant" open the way for the following. If the poet had not moored the boat near the restaurant, how could he have heard the singing coming from the restaurant?

[The business girl did not know the hatred of losing her country, but she still sang the flowers in the backyard across the river. ]

The singing girl didn’t know the resentment of the Southern Dynasty’s subjugation, but she was still singing “Flowers in the Back Garden of Yushu” across the river.

When Empress Chen of the Southern Dynasty was in power, she built palaces and lived luxuriously. She also made songs about the beauty of palace ladies such as "Yushu Backyard Flowers" and had fun. Soon the Sui soldiers went south and captured Jiankang. The emperor was captured and the Chen Dynasty was destroyed. When the poet heard the sound of national subjugation coming from a nearby restaurant in the boat, he naturally thought of the drunken life of the rulers of the Southern Dynasties and the death of Empress Chen. In this year when the country's fortunes are declining, those bureaucrats and gentry do not care about national affairs. Instead, they gather in restaurants to enjoy the sound of the country's subjugation. How can the poet not have the hidden worry that history may repeat itself? The poet's accusation of business women is actually a kind of song. Pen, the people in the audience who should really be ashamed are those who requested songs. These two poems are a kind of visual discussion, expressing the poet's awareness of the worries of the world and people's hearts, so they are widely recited by people.

The conception of this poem is detailed and exquisite. The first sentence exaggerates the atmosphere and reveals sadness in the mist; the second sentence highlights the environment and plays a pivotal role in the structure; the last two sentences conclude with an image and a melodious discussion, criticizing the current ills and expressing dissatisfaction in the heart.