Poetry with foreign elements

After all the hardships, only the stars around are scattered.

The mountains and rivers are broken, the wind flutters and the catkins float, and the life experience is ups and downs.

Afraid to say panic on the beach, sigh alone in the ocean.

Since ancient times, no one has ever died, leaving a loyal heart to illuminate history.

2. Notes

⑴ Lingdingyang: Lingdingyang is "Lingdingyang". Now outside the Pearl River Estuary in Guangdong Province. At the end of 1278, Wen Tianxiang led his army to fight a fierce battle with the Yuan army in Wupoling, Guangdong. He was defeated and captured. He was imprisoned on a ship and crossed the Lingding Ocean.

⑵Encounter: Encounter. Qi Yi Jing was appointed as an official by the imperial court because he was proficient in a certain scripture and passed the imperial examination. Wen Tianxiang passed the examination at the age of twenty.

⑶Gangge: refers to the war against Yuan Dynasty. liao (liáo): desolate and desolate. One is "Luoluo". Four weeks of stars: the fourth anniversary. Wen Tianxiang started fighting against the Yuan Dynasty in 1275 and was captured in 1278, which lasted for four years.

⑷ Catkins: Catkins.

⑸荍: duckweed.

⑹ Panic shoal: In today's Wan'an County, Jiangxi Province, it is a dangerous shoal in the Gan River. In 1277, Wen Tianxiang was defeated by the Yuan army in Jiangxi. The army he led suffered heavy casualties, and his wife and children were also captured by the Yuan army. He withdrew to Fujian via Panfengtan.

(7) Lingding: Lonely and helpless.

(8) Loyal heart: red heart, a metaphor for loyalty.

(9) History: Tonghanzhu, annals of history.

3. Translation

Looking back on my early years of hard work in transitioning from the imperial examination to becoming an official, it has been four years since the war broke out.

The country is in danger like catkins in a strong wind, and an individual is like duckweed in a shower.

The disastrous defeat in Panpantan makes me still panic. Ling Dingyang was trapped in Yuanlu, but I felt lonely and alone.

Who has been able to live forever since ancient times? I want to leave a piece of patriotic loyalty reflected in the annals of history.

4. Brief analysis

"Crossing Lingding Ocean" is a poem written by Wen Tianxiang, a minister of the Song Dynasty, when he passed Lingding Ocean in 1279. The first two sentences of this poem reflect the poet's review of his life; the middle four sentences closely follow "The fight is rare" and clearly express the author's understanding of the current situation; the last two sentences are the author's unhesitating choice about his own destiny. The whole poem expresses the impassioned patriotic enthusiasm, the high moral integrity and the outlook on life of sacrificing one's life for righteousness. It is a noble expression of the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation.