The poem "The plantains have not spread their lilac knots, but they are each worried towards the spring breeze." This poem means: the bananas have not spread their lilac knots, and they are each sad towards the spring breeze.

These two lines of poetry come from "One of Two Poems for Gifts" by the late Tang poet Li Shangyin. The original text of this poem is

? "One of Two Poems for Gifts"

Li Shangyin of the Tang Dynasty

Upstairs, desire rests at dusk, and the jade staircase stretches across the moon like a hook.

The plantains do not show their lilac knots, but they are facing the same spring breeze and have their own sorrows.

Translation

I climbed up a tall building at dusk and wanted to lean on the railing to overlook the distance, but in the end I gave up sadly. The jade ladder crosses across, and a crescent moon in the sky casts a faint light. The banana heart has not yet unfolded, and the lilac buds are clustered like knots; the same spring breeze blows, but the two of them are in the same place, both of them are worried about not being able to meet each other. Sad.

Notes

① Rest: stop and terminate.

②Jue: cut off

③The banana heart is not unfolded: the banana heart of the banana is not unfolded.

④Lilac knot: This refers to the buds of lilac, clustered like knots. It is used here to symbolize the unresolved melancholy.

⑤The same spring breeze: Basho and lilac face the cool spring breeze at dusk (the poem uses banana as a metaphor for the lover and lilac as a metaphor for the woman herself). These two sentences mean that the heart of the banana has not yet unfolded, and the buds of the lilac are clustered like knots; the same spring breeze blows, but the two people are in the same heart in different places, and they are both worried about not being able to meet each other. This is not only a true depiction of the scene in front of the woman who misses her, but it also uses objects to describe people, using bananas as a metaphor for her lover and lilacs as a metaphor for the woman herself. The artistic conception is beautiful and contains endless implications, and has always been praised by people. Appreciation

This is a poem about a woman who misses her lover. The woman in the poem lives in a high-rise building. At dusk, she misses her lover because she is bored. The more she missed him, the more she longed to see him, wishing that he would appear in front of the building immediately. She couldn't control her anxiety and walked to the front of the building, wanting to look into the distance to see if he was coming. But then he suddenly thought that he would definitely not be able to come. How did he know that he was missing him? Even if he knew, how could he come so quickly? She had no choice but to stop and go back inside the building. Her desire was still there, and she wanted to see him but couldn't. This complicated mood tortured her and made her restless, wandering around the building. This sentence fully expresses the woman's complex and contradictory psychology and her lonely, boring and disappointed mood. "Upstairs at dusk" indicates that the time is dusk and the place is on a high building. In ancient Chinese poetry, such an environment is highly suggestive and is often used to infect separation and lovesickness. For example, Li Bai's "Entering a tall building with silence, there are people upstairs who are worried" unfolds in such an artistic conception. The protagonist climbed up a tall building at dusk and wanted to lean on the railing to overlook the distance, but ultimately gave up sadly. "Desire Quit" is a work of "Wish Desire Quit". "Xiu" means to stop or give up. Why is the desire still there? The answer is hidden in the next sentence. "Jade Ladder" is a good name for stairs and steps. "Hengjue" means horizontal degree. Jiang Yan, a poet of the Southern Dynasties, wrote in "Ode on Advocating Women's Self-Grief" that a beautiful woman in the Han Palace fell out of favor and lived alone. There is a sentence: "The moss is accumulated in the silver pavilion, and the net is raw and the jade ladder is empty." "The jade ladder is empty" means that the jade ladder is empty and no one comes to climb it. The phrase "the jade ladder is horizontal" in this poem means that the jade ladder is horizontal and there is no way to get up. It means that lovers are blocked and cannot come here to meet each other. It turns out that the protagonist is eager to see his sweetheart and can't help but go upstairs to take a look; suddenly he thinks that he can't come, so he stops. Alas, it’s okay not to hope, so as not to add a new period of sorrow. During this hesitant advance and retreat, a crescent moon in the sky shed a faint light, projecting her infinite longing and disappointment onto the lonely figure. "The moon is like a hook", and the first "moon hook" not only highlights the loneliness and desolation of the environment, but also has symbolic meaning: the moon is missing but not round, just like a pair of lovers who are not allowed to meet. The plantains do not show their lilac knots, and they are all worried about the spring breeze. The "spring breeze" contrasts with the "sorrow". There is no spring color in the eyes of a sad person. When he raises his head and looks at the moon, the new moon is like a hook. Lowering his head and taking a closer look, he saw that the palms of the banana trees had not yet stretched out, and the lilac trees were full of flower buds that would not bloom; they all faced the cool spring breeze at dusk, each with their own sorrow. This is not only a description of the real scene in front of the protagonist, but also a description of people through objects. The banana is used as a metaphor for the lover, and the lilac is used as a metaphor for the woman herself. It is a metaphor that the two people are in the same place in a different place, and they are both worried about not being able to meet each other. The unopened plantains and unopened lilacs are objective natural scenery, and there is no need to worry about it, but in the eyes of the protagonist, they are full of sadness. This is because there is sorrow in the heart, so it is difficult for the banana leaves to unfold; because the belly is full of hatred, it is difficult for the petals to bloom. People are extremely sad, so it hurts their feelings, and the sadness that touches their eyes adds to the hatred of leaving others. These two lines of poetry empathize with the scenery, use the scenery to describe the feelings, use the metaphors exquisitely, and integrate the symbolic symbols into one. The poet uses unopened plantains and solid lilacs to compare melancholy, which not only makes abstract emotions visible, tangible, and concrete, but also makes this comparison have a certain symbolic meaning. The stagnant plantains and solid lilacs are not only the triggers of the protagonist's melancholy; as images of the poem, they also become the carrier and symbol of his melancholy. These two sentences have a beautiful artistic conception and swaying music. They express the wandering between two places with "one kind of lovesickness and two places of leisure and sorrow" as a long-lasting interest and full of emotions. Lu Minggao of the Qing Dynasty said: "The beauty lies in the 'sameness', and the beauty lies in the 'separate'. What others can't say enough, I can sum it up in one sentence." What I admire is the endless rhyme of these two lines of poetry.

About the author

Li Shangyin: (about 813 to about 858), whose courtesy name was Yishan and whose name was Yuxisheng. He was born in Hanoi, Huaizhou (now Qinyang City, Henan Province). A famous poet in the late Tang Dynasty, he and Du Mu were collectively known as "Xiao Li Du".

?Li Shangyin was one of the few poets in the late Tang Dynasty and even the entire Tang Dynasty who deliberately pursued poetic beauty. He is good at poetry writing, and his parallel prose has high literary value. His poems are novel in conception and beautiful in style, especially some love poems and untitled poems, which are sentimental, beautiful and moving, and are widely read. However, some poems (represented by "Jin Se") are too obscure and difficult to understand. There is a saying that "poets always love Xikun and hate that no one writes Zheng Jian."

?Li Shangyin’s highest achievement in poetry is modern poetry, especially the seven-character rhyme poem. He is the second milestone in the development history of Qilu in the Tang Dynasty after Du Fu. Li Shangyin's poems In "Three Hundred Tang Poems", Li Shangyin's poems account for twenty-two, ranking fourth in number. According to the "New Book of Tang", there are twenty volumes of "Collection of Fan Nan", twenty volumes of "Collection of Fan Nan", three volumes of "Poems of Yu Xi Sheng", one volume of "Fu", and one volume of "Wen". Some of the works have been lost. There is "Li Yishan Poetry Collection".

“The spring silkworms will not run out of silk until they die, and the wax torches will turn to ashes before their tears dry up.” This is also his eternal famous saying.