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Bai Juyi's writing background, author's life, original text, translation and in-depth analysis 20091Tuesday, October 24th 01:24 Writing background.

Bai Juyi wrote "New Yuefu" in the early years of Yuanhe, which was the most harmful time in the court market. He has a good understanding of the court market and deep sympathy for the people, so he can write this touching "charcoal man". However, the significance of selling charcoal Weng goes far beyond revealing the palace market. In the typical image of selling charcoal Weng, the poet summarized the bitterness and bitterness of the working people in the Tang Dynasty, and reflected the darkness and injustice of the society at that time in the small matter of selling charcoal. Reading this poem, we can see more than just a charcoal seller. Through him, it seems that many people who farm, fish and weave appear before us. Although it is not a "black finger", it also bears the imprint of hard life; Although they won't be hurt by selling charcoal, they also shed tears of bitterness and hatred under the weight of land rent or taxes. The poem "Selling Charcoal Weng" not only had positive significance at that time, but also had certain educational function for today's readers.

Biography of the author

Bai Juyi (772-846) was born in Weinan, Shaanxi. In his early years, he was enthusiastic about helping the world, emphasizing the political function of poetry and doing his best to make it popular. He wrote 60 poems, New Yuefu, Qin Zhongyin, which truly made people sick by singing only, and every sentence must be tuned, just like Du Fu's "Three Officials" and "Three Farewells". The long narrative poems "Song of Eternal Sorrow" and "Whispering" represent his highest artistic achievements. Middle-aged people encounter setbacks in officialdom. "Since then, the career has been long-term, and the world has never been opened." But he still wrote many good poems and did many good things for the people. Hangzhou West Lake and Bai Causeway commemorate him. In his later years, he sent his feelings to the mountains and rivers, and also wrote some small characters. There is a poem for Liu Yuxi: "Don't listen to the old songs, but listen to the new word Yang Liuzhi. It can be seen that he has read some new words. One of the poems, Flowers Are Not Flowers, has a hazy beauty, which was greatly appreciated by later poets such as Ouyang Xiu, Zhang Xian and Yang Shen.

original text

Chop wood and burn charcoal halfway up the mountain. Dust and fireworks,

Temples are gray and fingers are black. What is the money for selling charcoal for?

Buy clothes, buy food in your mouth. Poor guy's clothes are clean,

Worried about charcoal, I hope it is cold. A foot of snow will fall outside the city at night.

Drive a charcoal car to roll ice. Cows are trapped and people are hungry.

Rest in the mud outside the south gate. Who is that proud man riding on two horses?

It was the eunuchs in the palace and eunuchs who did it. Hand-picked documents,

Go back to the car and scold the cow and lead it north. A load of charcoal, more than 1000 Jin,

It's a pity that officials drove the general away. Half a horse's red yarn, a foot's silk,

Tie a cow's head with charcoal.

Depth analysis

Selling Charcoal Weng is one of the fifty poems of New East Fu written by Bai Juyi, a poet in Tang Dynasty. Describes the hardships of an old man burning charcoal to make a living, and exposes the evil of the "court market" in the Tang Dynasty. At the beginning of this poem, we were taken to Zhong Nanshan near Chang 'an, the then capital, and we saw an old man burning charcoal living a very poor life.

Sell charcoal Weng, Nanshan chop wood and burn charcoal. The old man who burns charcoal doesn't even have an inch of land. All he lives on is an axe, an ox cart and ten fingers blackened by fireworks. He has no wife and children, and he is alone. He cuts his salary and burns charcoal on Nanshan Mountain, making his face "dusty, smoky, with gray temples and black fingers". The hardships of labor can be imagined. Old people who burn charcoal don't have high demands on life. "What can the money from selling charcoal do?" ? He just wants to have enough food and clothing to maintain the minimum living. Arguably, it is not difficult for a person to support himself, but even such a wish is difficult for him to realize. Charcoal is what people use to keep warm. The old man worked hard to cut wood and burn charcoal, which brought warmth to others, but his clothes were pitifully thin. Thin clothes always hope for warm weather, right? No, on the contrary, the elderly who are forced by life are "worried about charcoal and want to be cold" and would rather endure double cold, so as to sell more charcoal. This ambivalence profoundly shows the tragic situation of charcoal sellers.

"It snows a foot outside the city at night, and I roll ice in a charcoal car." The cold weather is really coming. Early in the morning, he got on the bus and walked on the icy road, but went to Chang 'an to sell charcoal. On the way from Zhong Nanshan to Chang 'an, what was he thinking? The poet didn't tell us; But you can imagine that he must be full of hope, because this car charcoal is directly related to his later life. After reading this, we feel closer to the elderly, and can't wait to know whether this car charcoal can be sold or not, and whether it can be sold at a reasonable price. But the poet didn't tell us the result at once. He let the charcoal seller have a rest, catch his breath, calm the reader down a little, and then wrote, "Who are those two riders?" "The messenger in yellow is wearing a white shirt." One of the people who came was a eunuch in yellow and the other was a pawn of a eunuch in white. They pretended to be ordered by the emperor to buy goods, and they chased the charcoal cart north regardless of whether the charcoal seller agreed or not. The north of the city is where the emperor lives, and the driver is the eunuch in the palace. What can an old man selling charcoal do? "A car full of charcoal, more than a thousand Jin, it's a pity that the palace envoy drives the general." Thousands of kilograms of charcoal, I don't know how many kilograms of firewood to burn, and I don't know how many days to cut! In order to burn firewood into charcoal, how much the lonely old man suffered in the dust and beside the fireworks! But what did you get? "Half a horse's red yarn and a piece of silk are filled with charcoal on the cow's head." Even the yarn and silk add up to only three feet. Can this be worthy of the hard work of the elderly for many days? These court envoys are not shopping, they are simply robbers. They took away not only a car full of charcoal, but the hope of the old man's life and his right to exist. What kind of anger should this arouse the readers! After reading this poem, we can't help asking: can a charcoal seller with gray hair survive the cold winter with this reward?

Bai Juyi has a preface under the title of each poem in New Yuefu, explaining the theme of the poem. The preface of "Selling Charcoal Weng" is "Kugong City", which reflects the pain brought by the palace city to the people. "Palace market" is the most rogue way for the Tang court to directly plunder the property of the people. The daily necessities originally needed by the imperial court were all purchased by the government from the people. At the end of Zhenyuan in Dezong, eunuchs were used to buy directly from court envoys. The palace often sends hundreds of people to Chang 'an's East-West City and popular neighborhoods. When you meet something you like, say it's a palace market, take it and leave, and no one dares to ask. Sometimes I tear your two or three feet of old silk thread into pieces as a reward; Sometimes I don't give you any reward, but let you post "portal money" and "foot price" Therefore, every time the palace envoy comes out, even the small shops selling wine and biscuits are closed and dare not do business. Bai Juyi wrote "New Yuefu" in the early years of Yuanhe, which was the most harmful time in the court market. He has a good understanding of the court market and deep sympathy for the people, so he can write this touching "charcoal man".

However, the significance of selling charcoal Weng goes far beyond revealing the palace market. In the typical image of selling charcoal Weng, the poet summarized the bitterness and bitterness of the working people in the Tang Dynasty, and reflected the darkness and injustice of the society at that time in the small matter of selling charcoal. Reading this poem, we can see more than just a charcoal seller. Through him, it seems that many people who farm, fish and weave appear before us. Although it is not a "black finger", it also bears the imprint of hard life; Although they won't be hurt by selling charcoal, they also shed tears of bitterness and hatred under the weight of land rent or taxes. The poem "Selling Charcoal Weng" not only had positive significance at that time, but also had certain educational function for today's readers.

The artistry of selling charcoal Weng is also very high. You see, in the first eight sentences, the poet first gave a general introduction to the charcoal seller, so kind and natural, just like introducing his family. "His face is covered with dust and fireworks, his temples are gray and his fingers are black." Simple but affectionate fourteen words vividly outline his appearance: "Poor man's clothes are simple, but he is worried about charcoal. I wish it were cold." It is also the same simple and affectionate fourteen words, which deeply describes his inner activities. This introduction is like a series of movie pictures. From the perspective of Nanshan, the camera zoomed in steadily, and then there were several close-ups: temples, fingers, dusty face and rags, which were shocking.

After this introduction, the poet picked up an experience of selling charcoal Weng and described it in detail. Bai Juyi deliberately put him on a snowy day. Although the snow made his body particularly cold, it ignited hope in his heart. Although it increased the difficulty of catching the bus, it also gave him strength and made him reach his destination in one breath. What a dramatic description! The charcoal seller rushed to the market hopefully, but he was in no hurry to sell the charcoal at once. He stopped, perhaps wiped the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve, and squatted on the side of the road to catch his breath. But who can say that his heart will be as calm as his appearance? "Cows are hungry and people rest in the mud outside the south gate", like a short silence before tragedy, these two poems hold people's heartstrings tightly.

Next, the poet turned the pen, which made the story turn sharply, and suddenly two court envoys appeared. Bai Juyi once again wrote from far to near that they rode horses from far away, looking imposing, dressed proudly and resting in the mud, which formed a strong contrast. Before the charcoal sellers figured out what had happened, they had driven their cars to the north. At this point, the poet seems unable to bear to write any more. He briefly explained the result of the matter. Different from other poems in the new Yuefu, the poet did not come forward to discuss. But it is this short ending that is more subtle, powerful and thought-provoking.

Selling Charcoal Weng is the thirty-second poem in Bai Juyi's "New Yuefu" series, which reads: "Miyagi also." The word "palace" in "palace market" refers to the palace, and "market" means buying. The items needed for the palace were originally purchased by officials. During the mid-Tang Dynasty, eunuch tyranny was rampant, and even this purchasing right was seized. There are often hundreds of people who are distributed in the east and west cities of Chang 'an and busy neighborhoods, buying goods at low prices, or even not paying a penny, and extorting "portal money" and "foot price" from "Jinfeng". The name "Palace Market" is actually an open plunder (see Records of Shunzong by Han Yu, Books of the Old Tang Dynasty, Biography of Zhang Jian and Tong Jian, Volume 235), and its victims are of course more than one charcoal seller. Through the experience of selling charcoal Weng, the poet revealed the essence of "palace market" and gave the ruler a powerful whip for robbing the people.

In the first four sentences, it is difficult to write about selling charcoal. "Reducing salary and burning charcoal" summarizes the complicated working procedures and the long labor process. "The face is full of dust and fireworks, the temples are gray and the fingers are black", which vividly depicts the portrait of a charcoal seller, and the hardships of labor have also been vividly demonstrated. "In Nanshan" highlights the workplace. This "Nanshan" is the Zhongnan Mountain described by Wang Wei as "there is no door to stay at night and call the woodcutter in Jiang Lai", where jackals haunt and are desolate. In such an environment, the cornices in Dai Yue are covered with frost and snow, one by one, the salary is reduced, and one kiln is burning charcoal. It is easy to burn "more than a thousand kilograms", and every kilogram is filled with painstaking efforts and condensed with hope.

Writing to a charcoal seller is the result of his efforts, which distinguishes him from charcoal sellers. However, if this charcoal seller still has land, planting and harvesting by himself will not be hungry and cold, and only use his spare time to burn charcoal and sell it to subsidize his family, then his burden of charcoal will be plundered and there will be other ways to live. But this is not the case. The genius of the poet lies in that he did not personally introduce the family economic situation of the charcoal seller to the readers, but set it as a question and answer: "What is the business of selling charcoal to sell money?" Wear clothes and eat in your mouth. "This question and answer not only turned the board into a living thing, but also made the literary situation ups and downs and swaying, and expanded the depth and breadth of reflecting the sufferings of the people, so that we can clearly see that this laborer was exploited to the point of poverty and lack of food and clothing;" The clothes on his body and the food in his mouth all hope that the thousands of kilograms of charcoal he worked so hard to burn can fetch a good price. This laid a solid foundation for later writing the crime of imperial envoys plundering charcoal.

"The poor man's clothes are just ordinary. He is worried about charcoal and hopes it is cold." This is a well-known sentence. "The clothes on my body are only single", so I naturally hope to be warm. Charcoal sellers put all their hopes of solving food and clothing on "selling charcoal to make money", so they "worry about charcoal and wish for cold" and hope it will be colder when they are shivering with cold. The poet understands the difficult situation and complicated inner activities of the charcoal seller so deeply, shows it so vividly in just a dozen words, and pours infinite sympathy with the word "pity". How can he not make people cry!

These two poems are a bridge from the first half to the second half in terms of composition. "Worrying about charcoal and looking forward to the cold" is actually looking forward to the cold wind and heavy snow. "It snows a foot outside the city at night", and this heavy snow has finally come! No more "worry-free and cheap"! In order to keep warm, the dignitaries and wealthy businessmen at the foot of the son of heaven will haggle over the trivial price of charcoal? When the charcoal seller "runs on the ice in a charcoal cart", what occupies his whole heart is not complaining about how difficult the icy road is, but thinking about how much money a cart of charcoal can sell and how much clothes and food he can get. If a novelist writes, he can use a lot of pen and ink to write about the psychological activities of selling charcoal Weng along the way, but the poet didn't write a word, because he opened up a vast imaginary world for readers in front.

It is easy for a charcoal seller to burn a car full of charcoal. I hope it will snow, and I hope he can get money to buy food and clothes along the way. However, what is the result? On the contrary, he met a "court envoy" who paid lip service to the document. In front of the emissaries of the palace, the documents and decrees of the emperor, and following the voice of "cursing cows", everything planned and hoped by charcoal sellers in the long process from "reducing wages", "burning charcoal", "wishing the weather is cold", "driving charcoal carts", "rolling ice trails" to "lying mud" came to nothing.

From "Nanshan Middle School" to Chang 'an City, the road is so far and difficult to walk. When the charcoal seller "rested in the mud outside the south gate", it was already "the cows were trapped and the people were hungry"; Now it's "going back to the car and scolding the cows for taking them north" and sending charcoal to the palace. Of course, cows are more sleepy and people are more hungry. So, what did the charcoal seller think when he returned to Zhong Nanshan hungry and drank the trapped cattle? How will he live in the future? None of this was written by a poet, but the reader can't help thinking about it. When thinking about all this, we can't help but sympathize with the experience of charcoal sellers and hate the sins of rulers. The original intention of the poet to create Miyagi has achieved the expected results.

This poem has profound ideological content and artistic characteristics. The poet said, "What a poor hope!" Expressed the only hope of an old man who was almost dying! This is the center of the poem. All other descriptions focus on this poetic eye. In the way of expression, contrast and contrast are flexible. The fate of the old man, highlighting his old age with "grey temples" and the hardships of "reducing salary and burning charcoal" with "dust fireworks", set off the desolation and viciousness of Nanshan and aroused people's sympathy. All this reflects the burning of old people's hopes: selling charcoal to get money, buying clothes and food. The old man wears simple clothes, and then uses the "one foot of snow" at night and the "ice trace" on the road as a foil, which makes people feel that the old man is pitiful. All this just reflects the fierceness of the fire of hope for the elderly: it is freezing in the cold, charcoal is expensive, and you can change more clothes and food. Next, "the cow is hungry" and "two riding" reflect the disparity between workers and rulers; "A cart full of charcoal, a thousand Jin" and "Half a horse's red yarn, a foot's silk" contrast the cruelty of plunder in the "palace market". As far as the whole poem is concerned, the burning of the fire of hope in front is precisely to set off the sadness and pain of hope behind.

Unlike some articles in "New Yuefu", this poem has no "ambition", but comes to an abrupt end in the climax of contradictions and conflicts, so it is more subtle, powerful, thought-provoking and gripping. It is no accident that this poem has been told by thousands of people for thousands of years.