As soon as Xiao-He showed his sharp horns, a dragonfly had already stood on his head. What does this poem mean?

"Xiao He just showed his sharp horn, and a dragonfly stood on his head a long time ago" means that Xiao Hehua just showed his sharp horn out of the water, and a small dragonfly stood on his head a long time ago.

These two sentences are from Xiao Chi written by Yang Wanli, a poet in the Song Dynasty. This poem is a fresh poem describing the beauty of the pond in early summer. Everything is so beautiful, so soft and so affectionate. Just like a colorful ink painting of flowers, birds, insects and fish. The pond, spring, stream, lotus and dragonfly in the picture are all small, but they are exquisite and full of vitality.

The original poem is as follows:

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Yang Wanli [Song Dynasty]

The silence of spring is because I don't want a long stream of water, and the shadow reflected on the water is like sunny days and breezes.

The delicate lotus flower bud shows a sharp corner from the water, and a naughty little dragonfly stands on its head.

What does the whole poem mean? Translated into vernacular as follows:

Spring is silent because it can't stand the thin water, and the shade reflected in the water likes the soft scenery in this sunny day.

As soon as the lotus leaf emerged from the water, a little dragonfly was already standing on it.

There are several words in the poem, and I think it is necessary to explain them separately in order to better understand the meaning of the poem:

The outlet of the spring.

Cherish: stingy.

Shiny water: reflected in the water.

Soft sunshine: a soft landscape on a sunny day.

Sharp corner: the tip of the lotus leaf that is not stretched at the beginning of the water.

Top: top, top. In order to rhyme, "head" is not read softly.

Now that we know the meaning of the whole poem, let's enjoy it together:

This poem describes a spring, a trickle, a pool of trees, a few small lotus leaves and a small dragonfly, which constitutes a vivid landscape of a small pool and shows the intimate and harmonious relationship between all things in nature.

At the beginning, the words "spring is silent and precious for a trickle, and the shade shines on the water and loves softness" bring readers into a small, delicate, soft and pleasant realm, and a trickle slowly flows out of the spring silently; In the sunset, Chi Pan's green trees throw the shade into the water, and the light and shadow are mottled and clearly visible.

A word "pity" turns ruthlessness into sentience, as if spring is letting it flow silently and slowly because of the pity of love; A word "love" gives life to the green tree. It seems to like the soft sunshine and shows its charm with water as a mirror.

In three or four sentences, the poet, like a clever photographer, took an interesting shot with a quick mirror: "Xiao He just showed his sharp corner, and a dragonfly stood on it a long time ago." The time sequence has not yet reached midsummer, and the lotus leaf has just exposed a sharp corner from the water, and a small dragonfly is standing on it. A "talent show" and an "early stand" are taken care of, vividly depicting the scene of dragonflies and lotus leaves leaning against each other.

Yang Wanli advocates learning from nature when writing poems. He has a keen interest in natural scenery. He often uses fresh and lively style and plain language to describe the ordinary scenery he sees every day. He is especially good at capturing the characteristics and fleeting changes of scenery and forming interesting pictures, so his poems are full of rich life breath. The silence of spring eyes is to cherish the long flowing water, and the shade of trees reflects the water because it likes the gentleness of sunny days. Just as the little tender lotus leaves its tightly wrapped tip, the lovely dragonfly comes to stand on it early. Zhu Xuanxian's Chinese painting "Xiaohe Cailou Jiao Jian" based on Yang Wanli's poem "Xiaochi" vividly reflects this kind of poetry.

Finally, I think it is necessary to introduce the author of this article:

Yang Wanli (112710/October 29th-1June 2006 15), whose real name was Ting Xiu, was called. Jishui, Jizhou (now Tang Qiu Village, huangqiao town, Jishui County, Jiangxi Province). Famous poets and ministers in the Southern Song Dynasty, together with Lu You, You Mao and Fan Chengda, are called "Four Poets of Zhongxing". Scholars call Song Guangzong "Mr. Chengzhai" because he wrote the word "Chengzhai". Yang Wanli wrote more than 20,000 poems in his life, and 4,200 works were handed down from generation to generation. He is regarded as a generation of poets. He used simple language, fresh and natural, full of humor, and created a "sincere style". Most of Yang Wanli's poems describe natural scenery and are good at it. He also has many chapters reflecting people's sufferings and expressing patriotic feelings. He is the author of Zhai Chengji and so on.