((a Song of White Snow in Farewell to Field-Clerk Wu Going Home)) Interpretation

a Song of White Snow in Farewell to Field-Clerk Wu Going Home

Author: Cen Can

Original

the north wind rolls the white grasses and breaks them, and the Eighth-month snow across the Tartar sky.

is like a spring gale, come up in the night, blowing open the petals of ten thousand pear trees.

it enters the pearl blinds, it wets the silk curtains, a fur coat feels cold, a cotton mat flimsy.

bows become rigid, can hardly be drawn, it's hard to protect your iron clothes.

the sand-sea deepens with fathomless ice, the gloom is bleak and Wan Li is condensed.

but we drink to our guest bound home from camp, and play him barbarian lutes, guitars, harps.

till at dusk, when the drifts are crushing our tents, and our frozen red flags cannot flutter in the wind.

we watch him through Wheel-Tower Gate going eastward, into the snow-mounds of Heaven-Peak Road.

and then he disappears at the turn of the pass, leaving behind him only hoof-prints.

Notes

1. Selected from Cen Jiazhou Collection, Cen Can was born in Jiangling and Tang Dynasty.

2. Cen Can was handed over to the North Court in the summer and autumn of Tianbao 13th year (754) and returned to the East at the turn of spring and summer in Germany 2nd year (757), during which there were three snow seasons. The date of this poem is unknown.

3. Judge Wu, not detailed. Judge, official name. Ambassadors sent by the imperial court, such as our festival envoys in the Tang Dynasty, can appoint aides to assist in judging official business, which is called

4. Chinese army: In ancient times, the Chinese army was divided into three armies: the central army, the left army and the right army, and the Chinese army was occupied by the commander in chief.

5. "Wind stops" sentence: The red flag is frozen due to snow, and the wind can't move.

6. Wheel platform: See the previous note.

7. An excellent rhyme

① Pear blossoms: The flowers are white in spring, which means that snowflakes accumulate on branches like pear blossoms.

② bead curtain: a hanging curtain made of beads. Luo Mu: Silk Tent. Snowflakes fly into the bead curtain and wet the curtain.

③ brocade quilt (q Ρ n) is thin: I still feel thin under the gorgeous brocade quilt. Describe the cold weather.

④ horn bow: a bow decorated with animal horns. Control: pull open. It was too cold for the general to draw his bow.

⑤ wear it.

⑥ vast sea: big desert. There is thick ice everywhere in the desert.

⑦ Hu Qin and others were musical instruments of the brothers in the western regions at that time. This sentence says that music is played while drinking.

⑧ Yuanmen: the gate of the military camp is temporarily built with a car shaft, so it is called.

pet-name ruby: the flag is blown in one direction by the wind, giving people the feeling of freezing.

⑩ Luntai: Luntai in Tang Dynasty is located in Miquan County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which is not the same place as Luntai in Han Dynasty.

Writing background

This is a farewell poem written by Cen Can in Luntai in the 13th year of Tianbao (754), which is magnificent and romantic in color and magnificent in momentum. It can be called the masterpiece of frontier poems in the grand Tang Dynasty. As the title of the poem indicates, the main content of this poem is to sing about snow, and at the same time, it also expresses the author's deep feelings of farewell to friends. At the beginning of the poem, the special scenery and magnificent scenery of the strange cold and early snow in the border area are described by romanticism through typical things and with a brush full of light ink. The north wind rolled the ground, even the tenacious white grass was destroyed by it. That wind, it's just a sharp shovel, which makes the earth sway. But, "is like a spring gale, come up in the night, blowing open the petals of ten thousand pear trees." Overnight, it turned into a strange world of snow and ice wrapped in silver. This beautiful tree, a world of ice and snow in various forms, has a spring breeze, like an intoxicating fragrance and brilliant spring scenery in Jiangnan. How novel and magnificent this realm should be! Under this spectacular spectacle, the poet further described the unbearable cold brought by this early snow from four different angles. That flying snowflake, even the curtain in the account is wet; The fox fur robe is not warm, and the brocade quilt is too thin; The general's hand is too cold to open the bow; The iron clothes for protection are too cold to put on. But in this unbearable cold, there is a strong and healthy atmosphere. Pearl curtains and curtains, fox fur and brocade, how rich; The general's horn bow, all wearing iron clothes, is so majestic. It cleverly brings out the soldiers who defended the frontier and defeated the cold. This is one aspect. On the other hand, it is still extremely cold after all, so as to show how hard the soldiers defending the frontier are. In the mainland, August is a beautiful time when cinnamon blossoms and the bright moon shines, while in the border, it is already "the sand-sea deepens with fathomless ice, and the gloomy clouds are bleak and Wan Li is condensed." However, this vast sea of ice and Wan Li's condensed clouds, although sad, are not bleak and desolate, but vigorous and gloomy, which is the characteristic of the strange artistic style of Cen Can's frontier poems. It was at this time when the sky was white and the cold was attacking people that the Chinese army gave a farewell dinner to return home. At that time, the huqin, pipa and Qiangdi played in unison, accompanied by the scenery beyond the Great Wall, which naturally had a unique charm. This poem, with its beautiful and changeable snow scene, vertical and horizontal vigorous brushwork, freely opening and closing structure and cadence rhythm, accurately, vividly and vividly creates a beautiful artistic conception with beauty in the middle and strangeness in the middle. It is not only written with appropriate melody and relaxation, but also with the same rigidity and softness, and it is a rare frontier masterpiece. The whole poem is constantly changing the picture of snow, turning the scene into emotion, generous and tragic, and full of vigor.

Reference

The north wind swept across the earth, and the white grass was broken, and the sky in the north of Saibei flew with heavy snow in August.

suddenly, it seems that the spring breeze blows overnight, and thousands of white pear blossoms are in full bloom.

Snowflakes drifted into the bead curtain, which made it wet. When I put on the fox fur, I didn't feel warm, and the quilt made of brocade felt thin.

Even the general and Du Hu can't draw their bows. They all think that the iron clothes are too cold to put on.

There are hundreds of thick ice criss-crossing the desert, and the gloomy clouds are gathering in the sky of Wan Li.

In the camp where the army commander lived, a banquet was given to the returning guests, and and play him barbarian lutes, guitars, harps played warm and cheerful music.

In the evening, outside Yuanmen, there are heavy snows falling, and the red flag is frozen hard by snow and ice, and the strong north wind can't make it flutter.

I'll see you off outside the east gate of Luntai. When I leave, the roads in Tianshan Mountain are covered with heavy snow.

The mountains are winding and the roads are winding, so I can't see your figure, leaving only the footprints of horses in the snow.

Cen Can's frontier poems are magnificent, full of romantic passion and romantic techniques. He is good at writing about the magnificent northwest frontier scenery, such as volcanoes, deserts, Xue Hai, grasslands, strong winds, etc. However, these strange and magnificent natural phenomena often constitute an arduous environment and form a test of military life. And the poet is very good at putting the border officers and soldiers in such a test, highlighting their lofty sentiments and heroic spirit. The harsh border environment, the hardships of life and war in the border areas have effectively set off the heroic spirit of the soldiers stationed in the border areas. Poets are good at using romantic expressions such as exaggeration and metaphor, such as "and valleys, fill with the broken boulders like peck measures, that downward, headlong, follow the wind"; "is like a spring gale, come up in the night, blowing open the petals of ten thousand pear trees" and so on.

Cen's participation in Gao Shi is good at writing frontier poems, and they all have heroic and magnificent styles, and they are good at seven-character songs. Therefore, it has been called "Gao Cen" since then. But there are many differences between them. As far as their frontier poems are concerned, they tend to be solemn and stirring, while Cen tends to be magnificent. Gao Shi's poems are full of narration and discussion, and express his thoughts directly, while Cen's poems are good at description and full of feelings in the scenery; High poetry is rich and solid, and Cen poetry is magnificent and handsome; Rich in realistic care, Cen is good at romantic imagination. Generally speaking, in terms of thought, it is deeper than Cen; As far as art is concerned, Cen Mei is superior to Gao. Cen Shi's artistic personality is extremely obvious. He is another excellent romantic poet besides Li Bai in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

[ Brief Comment ]

This is a farewell poem written by Cen Can in Luntai in the 13th year of Tianbao (754), which is magnificent and romantic in color and magnificent in momentum, and can be called the masterpiece of frontier poems in the grand Tang Dynasty. As the title of the poem indicates, the main content of this poem is to sing about snow, and at the same time, it also expresses the author's deep feelings of farewell to friends. At the beginning of the poem, the special scenery and magnificent scenery of the strange cold and early snow in the border area are described by romanticism through typical things and with a brush full of light ink. The north wind rolled the ground, even the tenacious white grass was destroyed by it. That wind, it's just a sharp shovel, which makes the earth sway. But, "is like a spring gale, come up in the night, blowing open the petals of ten thousand pear trees." Overnight, it turned into a strange world of snow and ice wrapped in silver. This beautiful tree, a world of ice and snow in various forms, has a spring breeze, like an intoxicating fragrance and brilliant spring scenery in Jiangnan. How novel and magnificent this realm should be! Under this spectacular spectacle, the poet further described the unbearable cold brought by this early snow from four different angles. That flying snowflake, even the curtain in the account is wet; The fox fur robe is not warm, and the brocade quilt is too thin; The general's hand is too cold to open the bow; The iron clothes for protection are too cold to put on. But in this unbearable cold, there is a strong and healthy atmosphere. Pearl curtains and curtains, fox fur and brocade, how rich; The general's horn bow, all wearing iron clothes, is so majestic. It cleverly brings out the soldiers who defended the frontier and defeated the cold. This is one aspect. On the other hand, it is still extremely cold after all, so as to show how hard the soldiers defending the frontier are. In the mainland, August is a beautiful time when cinnamon blossoms and the bright moon shines, while in the border, it is already "the sand-sea deepens with fathomless ice, and the gloomy clouds are bleak and Wan Li is condensed." However, this vast sea of ice and Wan Li's condensed clouds, although sad, are not bleak and desolate, but vigorous and gloomy, which is the characteristic of the strange artistic style of Cen Can's frontier poems. It was at this time when the sky was white and the cold was attacking people that the Chinese army gave a farewell dinner to return home. At that time, the huqin, pipa and Qiangdi played in unison, accompanied by the scenery beyond the Great Wall, which naturally had a unique charm. This poem, with its beautiful and changeable snow scene, vertical and horizontal vigorous brushwork, freely opening and closing structure and cadence rhythm, accurately, vividly and vividly creates a beautiful artistic conception with beauty in the middle and strangeness in the middle. It is not only written with appropriate melody and relaxation, but also with the same rigidity and softness, and it is a rare frontier masterpiece. The whole poem is constantly changing the picture of snow, turning the scene into emotion, generous and tragic, and full of vigor.

Appreciation of Poetry

This poem is a work of singing about snow and giving people away. In the 13th year of Tianbao (754), Cen Can once again went to the frontier fortress and served as the judge of Feng Changqing, our time in Anxibei Court. Wu or his predecessor. Write this poem to send him back to Beijing. "Cen Can brothers are curious" (Du Fu's "A Journey to the Pit"), so don't ignore a word "strange" everywhere when reading this poem.

this poem is strange at the beginning. It is the spirit of flying snow to spread the news before the snow, and the so-called "the pen has not reached the air and swallowed it". Heavy snow will come with the wind, and the word "the north wind rolls the ground" is wonderful in seeing snow from the wind. "White grass", according to Hanshu. Yan Shigu's annotation on Biography of the Western Regions is a kind of grass name in the northwest, and Wang Xianqian's supplementary annotation indicates that it is tenacious. However, the frost grass is brittle, so it can be broken (if it is spring grass, it can't be "broken" when it is pitched with the wind). "White grass folding" shows that the wind is fierce again. Autumn is high in August, and it's snowing all over the sky in the north. "and the Eighth-month snow across the Tartar sky", a word "namely", vividly writes a strange tone of surprise of people from the south.

it's bitter and cold outside the Great Wall. When the north wind blows, it snows heavily. The poet's "spring breeze" makes pear flowers bloom, which is very novel and appropriate compared with the "north wind" that makes snowflakes fly. The word "suddenly like" is beautifully written, which not only shows that "Hu Tian" is changeable, but also shows the poet's surprise and curiosity again. The magnificent artistic conception of "blowing open the petals of ten thousand pear trees" is quite romantic. Southerners have seen pear blossoms in full bloom. The snow-white flowers are not only one by one, but also a mass of flowers, which are very similar to the scene of snow pressing the winter forest. The spring breeze blows pear blossoms, and even there are thousands of trees. The overlapping rhetoric shows the prosperity and magnificence of the scene. "Chun Xue is full of air, and the touch is like flowers" (Oriental Qiu's Chun Xue), also uses flowers to describe snow, with the same ingenuity, but this poem must be divided into three points regardless of pride and curiosity. The poet compares the spring scenery with the winter scenery, especially the spring scenery in the south with the winter scenery in the north, which makes people forget the strange cold and feel happy and warm inside, thinking and creating the environment are amazing. There is an idiom-"Rejuvenating the Spring with a Wonderful Hand" to comment on this timeless famous saying about snow.

After a beautiful start in writing about the snow scene in the wild, the poem and pen were written from the account to the account. The pieces of flying "flowers" floated in, entered the house through the curtain, and slowly melted on the curtain ... The word "it enters the pearl blinds, it wets the silk curtains" is a link between the preceding and the following, and the transformation is natural and calm, and the objects are nuanced. The influence of "white snow" invades the room. If it is in the south, wearing "fox fur" is bound to explode, but here "fox fur is not warm" and even the soft "brocade" is only thin. The edge general who can "break five carved arcs" can't open the angle bow; Usually it's "keep your iron armour on all night long", but at this time it's "it's hard to protect the iron clothes". Two sentences and DuHu (the governor of DuHu mansion near the town) general said, mutual understanding. These four sentences, some people think that they show the bitter and cold life of the soldiers in the border areas. Who says that they are not? But as far as the theme of "Bai Xuege" is concerned, it is mainly through the feelings of people and people, and through all kinds of events that are regarded as abnormal by southerners, to write about the strange cold weather and the power of snow. This is really a paean of Snow White. Writing cold through people's feelings is concrete and realistic, and does not become an abstract concept. The poet relishes the strange cold, which makes people feel that it is fresh and interesting. This is another expression of the poet's "curious" personality.

The scene is moved out of the tent again, and it extends to the vast desert and the vast sky: the vast sand sea, snow and ice everywhere; Snow pressure winter clouds, thick and dense, although the snow is suspended, but it seems that the weather will not improve in the short term. "the sand-sea deepens with fathomless ice, the gloomy clouds are bleak and Wan Li is condensed", and the two sentences use exaggerated pen and ink to draw a magnificent and magnificent snow scene in Sasai, and arrange a typical farewell environment for "the judge of Wu returned to Beijing". It will be hard to travel long distances in such cold and bad weather. The word "sorrow" vaguely implies parting.

So I wrote about the situation that Zhongjunzhang (the commander's camp) bought wine and drank something else. If the above is mainly about singing about snow, the following is about writing farewell with snow as the background. "and play him barbarian lutes, guitars, harps" sentence, juxtaposing three musical instruments without writing the music itself, seems rather clumsy, but it can still indirectly convey a scene of worrying about complicated strings, and the meaning of "always closing the mountains and feeling different". These instrumental music in the border areas can touch the homesickness of the sender and have a different taste besides farewell. Writing a banquet impressed the readers, but there were not many ink drops, which also showed that the author divided the primary and secondary details in the pen according to the meaning of the topic.

it was dusk when the guests were sent out of the military gate, and there was heavy snow. At this time, I saw a strange sight: although the wind was blowing hard, the red flag on Yuanmen did not move-it had been frozen by snow and ice. This vivid and abnormal detail once again vividly writes that the weather is extremely cold. And the white snow is a little bright red on the background, and the warm color on the picture with cool tone makes the whole realm whiter and colder; The motionless image of snowflakes flying in the air makes the whole picture more vivid. This is another wonderful stroke in the poem.

see the passengers off to the intersection, which is the east gate of Luntai. Although reluctant to part, it is time to break up after all. How can we get to the road when the snow closes the mountain? The road turns to the peak, pedestrians disappear in the snow, and the poet is still watching affectionately. These last few sentences are extremely moving, and they become the excellent ending of this poem, which is well known as the opening. What does he think when he looks at the horseshoe tracks left over the snow? Are you nostalgic for the traveler, worried about when the long road to the mountain will be over, or disappointed that your return date is uncertain? There are endless feelings at the end, and the artistic conception is similar to the ancient poem "Step out of the east gate of the city and look at Jiangnan Road" in the distance. In the snowstorm the day before yesterday, an old friend went there from now on. The famous sentence is almost the same, but it is more effective when used at the junction of poetry.

full of strange feelings and wonderful thoughts is the main feature of this poem (which can well reflect the poet's creative personality). The author captures the frontier fortress with keen observation and sensibility.