the leyou tombs, a poem by Li Shangyin.

the leyou tombs

Li Shangyin [Tang Dynasty]

with twilight shadows in my heart, I have driven up among the Leyou Tombs.

the sunset is infinitely beautiful, buried by the coming night.

Translation

In the evening, I was in a bad mood and drove to Leyouyuan Scenic Resort alone.

this sunset is really beautiful, but it is already dusk.

Note

Leyouyuan Scenic Resort: In the south of Chang 'an (now Xi 'an), it was the highest place in Chang 'an in the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Xuandi of Han Dynasty established Leyou Temple, also known as Leyou Garden. Boarding it is expected to be Chang' an. Leyouyuan Scenic Resort was a part of Yichun Garden in Qin Dynasty, which was named after the early Western Han Dynasty. "History of Han Dynasty Xuandi Ji" contains, "After three years of being a god, I started to have fun in the Garden". Xu Shi, the first empress of Emperor Xuandi of Han Dynasty, died and was buried here after giving birth. Because of the homonym of "Yuan" and "Yuan", Leyou Garden was called "Leyouyuan Scenic Resort". There is a record in Guanzhong Records: "Xuan Di Xu Hou was buried in Leyou Li, Chang 'an County, and the temple was built in the north of Qujiang Pool, called Leyou Temple, which was named after the Garden (wrongly written as a burial word in Chang 'an Records)."

evening: evening. Discomfort: displeasure, unhappiness.

Guyuan: refers to Leyouyuan Scenic Resort.

near: soon.

Appreciation

Here I think this poem reflects the author's sadness. When the poet boarded Leyouyuan Scenic Resort to dispel the feeling of "discomfort", he saw a brilliant sunset, so he felt deeply.

The first two sentences of this poem, "with twilight shadows in my heart, I have driven up among the Leyou Tombs", point out the time and reason for going to the ancient plains. "Evening" means it's getting dark, and "discomfort" means unhappiness. The poet was in a melancholy mood. In order to relieve boredom, he drove out and looked at the scenery, so he boarded the ancient plains, namely Leyouyuan Scenic Resort. Since ancient times, poets have been sentimental and thoughtful, but whenever they climb high and look far, they are more likely to arouse endless thoughts: the sadness of home and country, the feeling of life experience, the feelings of ancient and modern times, and the thoughts of man and nature, which are often intertwined, full of grievances and almost indescribable. As soon as Chen Ziang boarded the Youzhou Ancient Platform, he gave a sigh of "I think of heaven and earth, without limit, without end", which is probably the most representative example. Li Shangyin's visit to I have driven up among the Leyou Tombs this time was not to seek emotion, but to dispel his feelings of "with twilight shadows in my heart".

The phrase "sunset" has always been regarded as a poet's lament about the impending decline of the prosperous Tang Empire. The Tang Dynasty flourished for a while, but now it's just like this sunset, and it doesn't last long. Therefore, this poem has long been translated like this: "The sunset is infinitely beautiful! It's just that it's about to fall. " In the late Tang Dynasty, Li Shangyin always had a sense of decadence after extreme luxury, so this poem was understood as Li Shangyin's exclamation of the Tang Empire. The sense of loss that this beautiful thing is about to disappear and sink is deeply branded on every poet in the late Tang Dynasty. Therefore, compared with the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the poems of poets in the late Tang Dynasty always lack the heroic self-confidence, and most of them are depressed and subtle. Like this poem, after it was brought into Li Shangyin's time, it was an ordinary and simple language, but it had a faint sense of loss. After all, it was the most prosperous empire in China and even in human history. How could its decline not make people sad?

However, this poem also has another interpretation angle, which has been recognized by many academic circles in recent years: this view holds that the word "just" is not a turning point here, but a rational explanation. So the last two sentences should be translated as: the sunset is infinitely beautiful! Because it's close to dusk to see it! The author has researched many materials about this poem and found that since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there have been different views on the interpretation of the last two sentences. Moreover, regarding the usage of the word "just", more and more data show that there was a meaning of "because" in the late Tang Dynasty, such as Li Shangyin's own "and a moment that ought to have lasted for ever, has come and gone before I knew." Moreover, this poem was written on a whim when the poet was playing, and it may not be possible to deliberately compare the image of "sunset" to the late Tang Dynasty, but it was just natural and natural at that time. This explanation naturally makes the whole poem without the sadness of the above explanation, but it has a strong feeling of admiring the beauty of nature. Although it is near dusk, we can still feel the beauty, which is positive and contrary to the previous explanation.

This poem is rare in Li's poems, because of its clear language, no ornamentation, lively rhythm, deep feelings and rich philosophy.

Creation background

This poem was written during the fourth and fifth years of Huichang (844, 845), when Yishan went to Heyang and retired to Taiyuan, traveling to and from the capital and passing through Leyouyuan Scenic Resort.

Li shangyin?

Li shangyin (about 813-858), born in Yuxi (Xi) and Fan Nansheng, was a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty. His ancestral home was in Qinyang, Hanoi (now Jiaozuo City, Henan Province) and he was born in Xingyang, Zhengzhou. He is good at poetry writing, and his parallel prose is also of high literary value. He is one of the most outstanding poets in the late Tang Dynasty. Together with Du Mu, he is called "Little Li Du", and together with Wen Tingyun, he is called "Wen Li". Because his poems and essays are similar to those of Duan Chengshi and Wen Tingyun in the same period, and all three of them rank sixteenth in the family, they are also called "Thirty-six Style". His poems are novel in conception and beautiful in style, especially some love poems and untitled poems are touching, beautiful and moving, and are widely read. However, some poems are too obscure and confusing to be solved, and there is even a saying that "poets always love Xikun and hate no one to write Zheng Jian". Being in the middle of the struggle between Niu and Li, I was frustrated all my life. After his death, he was buried in his hometown Qinyang (now the junction of Qinyang and Boai County in Jiaozuo City, Henan Province). His works are included in Li Yishan's Poems.