The original text of Bai Juyi's "Buy Charcoal Weng"

Bai Juyi doesn't buy charcoal Weng, but sells charcoal Weng.

original text

An old man selling charcoal

Author Bai Juyi, Tang Dynasty,

An old man selling charcoal cuts wood and burns charcoal in the mountains in the south all year round.

His face was covered with dust, which was the color of smoke burning, his temples were gray, and his ten fingers were burnt black.

What is the money for selling charcoal for? Buy clothes, buy food in your mouth.

Pity that he is wearing thin clothes, but he is worried that charcoal can't be sold, hoping it will be colder.

At night, it snowed a foot thick outside the city. Early in the morning, the old man drove a charcoal wheel to the market.

Cows are tired and people are hungry, but the sun has risen very high. They are resting in the mud outside the south gate of the market.

Who is that proud man riding on two horses? It was the eunuchs in the palace and eunuchs who did it.

The eunuch, with documents in his hand and the emperor's orders in his mouth, shouted at the petrified palace.

A load of charcoal, more than 1000 kilograms, eunuch attendants to drive away, the old man is helpless, but there is no way.

Half a horse's red yarn is a silk, which is filled with charcoal to the cow's head.

translate

An old man who sells charcoal cuts wood and burns charcoal in Nanshan all the year round. His face was covered with dust and smoke, his temples were gray, and his ten fingers were blackened by charcoal. What is the money from selling charcoal for? Buy clothes to wear and food to eat in your mouth. It's a pity that he only wears thin clothes, but he is worried that charcoal can't be sold, hoping it will be colder. It snowed a foot thick outside the city at night. In the morning, the old man ran over the frozen wheel tracks in a charcoal car and hurried to the market. Cattle are tired and people are hungry, but the sun has risen very high and rested in the mud outside the south gate of the market. Who is the man riding two horses? They are eunuchs in the palace, eunuchs. The eunuch held the official document in his hand, but said it was the emperor's order and shouted to pull the cow to the palace. A load of charcoal, 1000 kilograms, was insisted by eunuch officers. The old man is reluctant to give up, but he is helpless. Those people hung half a horse's red yarn and a silk on the cow's head as the price of charcoal.

To annotate ...

⑴ Charcoal Man: This article is the thirty-second in the new Yuefu group, with the caption: "Kumiya also." The palace market refers to the things needed in the court of the Tang Dynasty. Taking them away from the market and giving them some money casually is actually an open plunder. Tang Dezong used eunuchs to manage it.

(2) Logging: Logging. Salary: firewood. Nanshan: the mountain in the south of the city.

(3) Fireworks color: smoky face. The hardship of selling charcoal Weng is highlighted here.

(4) Gray: Gray, describing gray hair.

5) acquisition: acquisition. He Suoying: What? Camp, management, here refers to demand.

[6] Pity: Make people feel pity.

(7) wish: hope.

Xiao: Dawn. Rolling (ni m 4 n): same as "rolling" and pressing. Track: The track of wheels rolling on the ground.

(9) Sleepiness: sleepy and tired.

⑽ City: Chang 'an has a trade zone called City. There are walls and doors around the city.

⑾ ⒐: a relaxed and free situation. It is described here as getting carried away. Rider: A person who rides a horse.

⑿ White and yellow emissary: The yellow emissary refers to the eunuch in the palace. White shirt, refers to the eunuch's minions.

[13] Take it. Say: say. Order or imperial edict of the emperor.

[14] Turn back: turn around. Scold: reprimand. Pull to the north: refers to pull to the palace.

⒂ More than 1,000 Jin: It's not a real reference, but a lot of descriptions.

Driver: Hurry up. Jiang: auxiliary words. I can't stand it: I can't stand it. Yes, I can. Cherish and give up

⒄ Half a piece of red yarn and a piece of silk: Silk and other silk products can be used instead of money in commercial transactions in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, Qian Guisi was cheap, half a yarn and a silk were far less than the value of a car full of charcoal. This is the official use of cheap prices to seize the wealth of the people.

⒅ System (φ): Binding. This means hanging. Straight: by "value", it refers to the price.

Overall appreciation

The first four sentences of this poem are difficult to write about selling charcoal. "Reducing salary and burning charcoal" summarizes the complicated working procedures and the long labor process. "His face is covered with dust and fireworks, his temples are gray and his fingers are black." He vividly described the portrait of the charcoal seller, wrote the hardships of labor, and also got the image performance. "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, swaying and swaying, expanding the depth and breadth of reflecting the sufferings of the people, and making readers clearly see that this laborer has been exploited to poverty and destitution;" 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.

It is a well-known saying that "the poor are naked, but they are worried about charcoal." "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 deeply understood the difficult situation and complicated inner activities of the charcoal seller, and showed it so vividly in just a dozen words, and poured infinite sympathy with the word "pity", which made 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 not 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.

The charcoal seller finally burned a car full of charcoal, hoping for a snow and money for food and clothing along the way, but he met a "palace envoy" who paid lip service but failed to deliver. In front of the messengers of the palace, the documents and decrees of the emperor, and behind the sound of "cursing cows", everything that the charcoal seller planned and hoped for in the long process from reducing wages, burning charcoal, wishing for cold weather, driving a charcoal cart, rolling over the ice and resting in the 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, when the charcoal seller goes back to Zhong Nanshan hungry, what will he think and how will he live in the future? All this is not written by the poet, but what readers can't help thinking. 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. What can the poet do with the money from selling charcoal? These words show the only hope that the old man who is almost on the verge of life can have. This is the center of the whole 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 Fifty Poems of New Yuefu, this poem came 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.

Creation background

Selling Charcoal Weng is the thirty-second of Bai Juyi's Fifty Poems of New Yuefu. Under the heading, the author's note: "Kumiya also." Bai Juyi wrote "New Yuefu" in the early years of Yuanhe, which was the most harmful time in the court market. 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 "Miyagi" is actually an open plunder. Han Yu's Records of Shunzong said: "The past is important in the palace, and the things outside the city are in the hands of the officials. Be honest with others and be honest with others. At the end of Zhenyuan, it was not estimated that officials were used as ambassadors to restrain buying words. By the end of the year, I stopped writing documents, and set aside hundreds of people in two cities to see what others were selling in the square, but that was called the palace market, that is, I stopped paying, and the authenticity was no longer clear. I didn't dare to ask, the people who negotiated the price were willing to spend hundreds of dollars and buy thousands of dollars, but they still asked for the price of the portal. Take things to the market and return empty-handed. It was called Miyagi, but it was taken away. A farmer tried to sell firewood in the city with a donkey, but an official said that Miyagi took it. He only counted a few feet with silk, so he invited the door and still asked the donkey to send it in. The farmer sobbed and paid with the silk he got, but refused to accept it. Say: You must send firewood to the donkey. The farmer said, I have parents and a wife. I will stay here for dinner. Today, I will chop wood for you, but I won't go straight. I just died. Then call the official. The history of the street was captured and heard, and the official was summoned. However, Miyagi has not changed. " Bai Juyi's understanding of the court market and his deep sympathy for the people enabled him to write this touching "Carbon Man". Selling Charcoal Weng is the thirty-second of Bai Juyi's Fifty Poems of New Yuefu. Under the heading, the author's note: "Kumiya also." Bai Juyi wrote "New Yuefu" in the early years of Yuanhe, which was the most harmful time in the court market. 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 "Miyagi" is actually an open plunder. Han Yu's Records of Shunzong said: "The past is important in the palace, and the things outside the city are in the hands of the officials. Be honest with others and be honest with others. At the end of Zhenyuan, it was not estimated that officials were used as ambassadors to restrain buying words. By the end of the year, I stopped writing documents, and set aside hundreds of people in two cities to see what others were selling in the square, but that was called the palace market, that is, I stopped paying, and the authenticity was no longer clear. I didn't dare to ask, the people who negotiated the price were willing to spend hundreds of dollars and buy thousands of dollars, but they still asked for the price of the portal. Take things to the market and return empty-handed. It was called Miyagi, but it was taken away. A farmer tried to sell firewood in the city with a donkey, but an official said that Miyagi took it. He only counted a few feet with silk, so he invited the door and still asked the donkey to send it in. The farmer sobbed and paid with the silk he got, but refused to accept it. Say: You must send firewood to the donkey. The farmer said, I have parents and a wife. I will stay here for dinner. Today, I will chop wood for you, but I won't go straight. I just died. Then call the official. The history of the street was captured and heard, and the official was summoned. However, Miyagi has not changed. " Bai Juyi's understanding of the court market and his deep sympathy for the people enabled him to write this touching "Carbon Man".

Brief introduction of the author

Bai Juyi (772-846) was a poet in the Tang Dynasty. The word Lotte,No. Xiangshan lay. Xinzheng, Henan, was born in Taiyuan (now Shanxi) and later moved to Xiatuo (now northeast Weinan, Shaanxi). Zhenyuan Jinshi, awarded the secretary provincial school book lang. During the Yuanhe period, he served as Zuo Shiyi and Zuo Zanshan. Later, due to the above requirements, the murderer who stabbed Prime Minister Wu was severely arrested, offended powerful people and was demoted to Jiangzhou Sima. In the early years of Changqing, he was appointed as the secretariat of Hangzhou, and Bao Li was appointed as the secretariat of Suzhou in the early years, and later served as the minister of punishments. In literature, he advocated that "articles should be written in time, and songs and poems should be written for things", and he was an advocate of the New Yuefu Movement. His poetic language is well-known, and he is praised as "the poet's magic" and "the poet's king". And Yuan Zhen were called "Bai Yuan" and Liu Yuxi was called "Bai Liu". There is a collection of Bai Changqing handed down from generation to generation.