Dynasty: Song Dynasty
Author: Su Shi
Original text:
The flower fades and the red and green apricots are small. When swallows fly, green water surrounds others. There are few willows blowing on the branches. There is plenty of grass in the horizon!
Inside the wall, swing outside the wall. Pedestrians outside the wall, the beauty inside the wall smiles. Laughter gradually faded away. Affectionate but heartless.
translation
Spring is coming to an end, flowers are withering, and apricot trees have grown green fruits. Swallows fly across the sky, and clear rivers surround the villages. The catkins on the willow branches have been blown less and less, but don't worry, lush grass can be seen everywhere.
Inside the wall, there was a girl playing on the swing. The girl gave out a beautiful laugh, which could be heard by pedestrians outside the wall. Slowly, the laughter inside the wall disappeared, and the pedestrians were lost, as if they were hurt by a heartless girl.
appreciation
"When the flowers fade, the red and green apricots are small.". The first sentence describes the scene of late spring, which means that in late spring, apricot flowers wither and wither, and only small green apricots hang on the branches. The author's vision starts from an apricot tree: the flowers have withered, the remaining red is fading little by little, and young green apricots begin to grow on the branches. "Remaining red", he paid special attention to the newborn "green apricot", whose tone showed pity and love, and consciously diluted the previous strong sadness. "When swallows fly, green water surrounds people." Swallows fly back and forth in the air, and green water surrounds a family. These two sentences also depict a beautiful and vivid picture of spring, but they are still lacking in flowers and trees. "Rao" was once thought to be "Xiao". Reading through the whole word, there is no outstanding scenery to show that this is the morning scenery, so it seems unfounded. The swallow flies around the house, the green water flows around the house, and the pedestrians walk around the house with the word "around", which is very real. "There are few willows and cotton on the branches. Where is there grass in the horizon?". The main idea of the two sentences is: the willow catkins on the trees are getting less and less under the wind, and spring is coming to an end. Is it possible that the world is too big to find a pleasant scene? The willow catkins are flying, and the spring scenery is going to end, which is certainly sad; And the grass is green, which is a state of mind. Su Shi's broad-minded can be seen here. "The end of the world" is a phrase in Qu Yuan's Lisao, which says that "where there is no grass alone, there is no place for you to cherish the old universe". It is the words of the diviner's spiritual atmosphere that advised Qu Yuan. Its thought is consistent with Su Shi's saying in his "Dingfengbo" that "this place of peace is my hometown". Finally, he was relegated to Lingnan, a place thousands of miles away. At this time, he was already in his old age, looking far away from his hometown and near the horizon. This situation is very similar to the willow catkins flying with the wind.
The last part described a group of late spring scenery, although there were some bright colors, he felt more decline and desolation due to the lack of flowers and plants, just like the author's mood at this time. The author was demoted, frustrated in his official career and far away from his family, so he felt lonely and melancholy. He wanted to find some beautiful scenery to relieve his depression. However, it was hard to find good scenery and his mood was even worse. The last part expresses the author's love for spring and his pursuit of beautiful things.
"Swing inside the wall and walk outside the wall. Pedestrians outside the wall are smiling at the beauty inside the wall." There is a road outside the wall. Pedestrians pass through the road. They only heard the sound of swinging in the wall. From inside, bursts of sweet laughter came out from time to time. It was a woman playing on the swing. This scene is filled with the joyful melody of youth, which makes people stop and listen to this intoxicating laughter. The author pays great attention to the relationship between Tibet and dew in artistic treatment. Here, he only wrote about the swing and the laughter of the beautiful women exposed on the wall, and all the others were hidden, so that "pedestrians" could imagine and have infinite meaning in imagination. Small words are the most taboo words to repeat, but these three sentences have a total of 16 words, "inside the wall" and "outside the wall" are repeated separately, accounting for half. The reading is well arranged and thought-provoking. Inside the wall is home, outside the wall is the road; There is a happy life inside the wall, young and energetic life; Outside the wall were passers-by on their way. The author left a blank about the mood and manner of pedestrians. However, in this silence, people feel a kind of coldness and loneliness. "Laughing gradually fades away, but amorous people are mercilessly annoyed." Maybe the pedestrians have stood for a long time, and the beauty in the wall has returned to the room; Maybe the beauty still has fun, but the traveler has gradually gone away. In short, the laughter of the beauty gradually disappeared, and it seemed quiet around. But the hearts of pedestrians could not calm down. The women's laughter in the wall yard gradually disappeared, while the passers-by outside the wall felt uneasy when they heard the laughter. He heard a woman's sweet laughter, but he could not see her face all the time; Her mood fluctuated, and the woman did not know that a man outside the wall was worried about her. Men are amorous, women are ruthless. The "amorous" and "heartless" here are often interpreted as love. There are feelings of life experience, homesickness, yearning for young life, feeling of serving the country, and so on; But the beauty is young, simple, carefree, and has neither a sense of sadness in spring nor worry about life's fate. It can be said that she is "heartless". The author expressed such a profound emotion that what kind of thoughts would the "heartless" people provoke him? Perhaps it is to remind him of his yearning for a better life, perhaps it is to make an analogy and association with the relationship between the monarch and his subjects, perhaps it is to double the feeling that his life is no longer in full bloom, perhaps it is a reflection and understanding of the philosophy of life. The author does not explain it clearly, but it leaves a rich blank for people to recall and imagine.
The second part is about people. It describes the care and indifference of people outside the wall to the beauty inside the wall, which makes people more melancholy. Here, "beauty" represents the "fragrant grass" that the author pursues, and "pedestrian" is the embodiment of the poet. Through the depiction of such a group of images, the poet expressed his mood of depression that could not be dispelled.
Looking at the whole word, the poet wrote about the scenery and people of spring, which can also be regarded as a special landscape. The poet wanted to make great efforts, but he failed to do so after all. The whole word truly reflects a period of psychological process of the poet, with a hazy artistic conception, which is memorable.
