On the issue of poetry appreciation, every time some unpopular poems are introduced to readers, some netizens will always jump out and retort: ??"What's so unpopular about it? It's because you're not good enough! Have you just graduated from elementary school?" "At the beginning, I couldn't help but argue a few words. Later, I didn’t want to pay attention to it anymore.
Because when an expert and a layman argue, he really becomes a "layman." In fact, the so-called "unpopular" and "popular" are just readers' personal feelings. For readers with limited appreciation of poetry, there are naturally many unpopular poems; however, for readers who love classical poetry, especially scholars who specialize in ancient poetry, there are naturally very few unpopular poems.
Even among those very famous literati in history, not all of their poems are widely known. In fact, there are also many unpopular poems in their works. For example, today I want to share with you Xin Qiji's song "Partridge Sky Gives to People", which is an unpopular but extremely wonderful poem. The famous lines in the poem are astonishing for thousands of years, and the ending is full of philosophy and thought-provoking. The full poem is as follows:
Xin Qiji, a poet who could rival Su Shi in the Song Dynasty poetry world. However, compared to Su Shi's strong literary popularity, Xin Qiji was both literary and military, and won the respect and love of more readers in later generations. As you can tell from the title, this is a farewell poem. As a common topic in classical poetry, farewell poems mostly describe the separation of men and women, with a lingering and sad mood.
However, Xin Qiji's farewell poem has good intentions, profound artistic conception, strong and powerful, and can be called a masterpiece. So, when and where was this poem written? According to records: In the spring of 1178 AD, the fifth year of Chunxi reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty, the poet traveled from Yuzhang (today's Nanchang) to Lin'an. It is unknown whether he came to Lin'an for work or to visit friends.
On the way, he said goodbye to a friend. When I was leaving, I thought about the setbacks I had experienced in my official career, and I couldn't help but feel filled with emotion, so I wrote this eternal song. The poem is about farewell. The opening chapter "I sang through "Yangguan" before my tears dried, and I have nothing left to do but eat." It expresses feelings of separation. "Yangguan Sandie" is a farewell song written by the Tang Dynasty people. It has a melancholy tone and a sad style. Everyone who listens to it sheds tears.
However, the poet "sung" "Yangguan Sandie" "thoroughly", which shows the depth of his separation. The five words "tears are not dry" make people feel infinitely sad when reading it. However, readers who understand the poet's character should know that farewell is an ordinary thing in life, and the poet will not feel such deep sadness because of farewell. So why is he so sad?
The subsequent sentence "If fame and fortune are not enough, let's add food" reveals the answer to us: the poet is bold in nature and open-minded. Only the Northern Expedition and reunification have always been brooding in my heart. At this time, I happened to meet a friend who was bidding farewell. Under the sadness of parting, these emotions that had been depressed for many years suddenly came out. The so-called heroic tenderness is mostly like this.
However, in this sentence, the poet regards fame as "extra things". Why exactly? In fact, the poet is dissatisfied with the imperial court's surrender to the Jin people in suing for peace, and is an angry statement about his unfulfilled ambition and being forced to retire. In addition, the word "and add a meal" is adapted from "Nineteen Ancient Poems" "Don't throw away donations." He replied, "try your best to eat more." He looked helpless and sad.
Immediately afterwards, "The water floating in the sky brings endless trees, and the rain clouds bury half of the mountain" are two sentences that have amazed thousands of years and are highly praised by future generations. It not only describes the natural scenery when saying goodbye, but also contains deep meaning. The poet looked up into the distance and saw the endless flow of water on the horizon, which seemed to be sending the endless colors of trees far away; in the continuous drizzle, the clouds were dense, hiding more than half of the green mountains.
The poet may be saying goodbye to his friend by the water, so looking from a distance, the water and sky meet each other, and the sky seems to be floating on the water. The word "floating" is really ingenious; and the word "send" , which means both "flowing water brings the beauty of the trees" and "sending friends", which is a double entendre; the word "buried" that follows is very heavy, vividly depicting the weather with dark clouds.
However, behind the description of the scene, there is hidden the deep anger and worry in the poet's heart. At this time, treacherous ministers were in power, and the Zhuhe faction had been instigating the monarch to seek peace with the Kingdom of Jin, and his idea of ??the Northern Expedition had never been realized. Many upright ministers were suppressed by treacherous villains, just like dark clouds covering the green mountains and clear waters. It’s really subtle and has a long aftertaste!
According to the normal logic of writing, the poet should closely follow the above and express the sadness and sorrow of separation. However, in the third chapter of Xiaque's opening chapter, "There are thousands of hates in the past and present, only parting and separation are joys and sorrows." The poet changed his tone and said: There are thousands of hates in the past and present, so how can only parting be sad? In the strong rhetorical tone, the anger in the poet's heart is even more exposed.
Since the poet said that separation is not the only sad thing, then, the poet's thoughts and feelings will definitely be further developed in the future. Therefore, the poet then said in the following words, which seemed to be shouting and swallowing: "The river head is not stormy, and it is difficult to travel on earth." Pedestrians embark on a journey, and the storms in nature can easily put people in danger.
However, these turmoils in the world are not the most fearful and worrying thing. The "turmoil" that is truly scary is the turmoil in the human world, the turmoil in officialdom, and the invisible "turmoil" that exists in people's hearts and in personnel struggles. It makes people fear and hate it. It is more frightening than the ordinary hatred of separation and the sorrow of travel. How thought provoking!
"A long-lasting hatred is not as good as water, and it is easy to make waves". In fact, this is the author's personal experience, rather than simply using previous poems. Xin Qiji was committed to the Northern Expedition throughout his life, actively preparing for war and building an army. Therefore, he offended many peace factions and capitulation factions. Once, when he was serving as the pacification envoy of Hunan, he was falsely accused of being "corrupt, violent" and "powerful" because of his active preparations for the "Flying Tiger Army", and was eventually dismissed from office.
Bai Juyi, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty, once said: "The difficulty of traveling does not lie in the water or the mountains, but in the repeated human relationships." It can be seen that throughout the ages, it has been a very difficult thing for a truly talented person to make a difference. The whole poem is powerful, light and thought-provoking, and is quite tolerable to everyone. Whether you think this kind of lyrics is unpopular or popular, it will not prevent it from being passed down through the ages and becoming a masterpiece.