Qing Dynasty Lin Zexu's "Going to the garrison and predicting family members at the entrance"
If the strength is weak and the responsibilities are heavy for a long time, the spirit will be exhausted, and if it continues to be exhausted and mediocre, it will definitely fail.
If you want to benefit the country's life and death, how can you avoid it because of misfortunes and blessings?
Relegated residence is a sign of kindness from the king, and it is appropriate to cultivate the weak and strong in the garrison.
The play tells stories with the mountain wife, and tries to sing to death.
Appreciation:
The first couplet says: I have shouldered important responsibilities for the country with my meager strength, and I have long felt tired. If you continue, decline again, and become exhausted, no matter your weak physique or mediocre talents, you will definitely be unable to support it. This is the same idea as Meng Haoran's "If you don't have talent, you will abandon it" and Du Mu's "What is interesting in the Qing Dynasty is incompetence".
If the couplet is expressed in modern language, that is, "As long as it is beneficial to the country, even if it means death, I will do it; how can I escape because of fear of disaster." This couplet has been widely used for more than a hundred years. The famous line that has been passed down for generations is also the ideological essence of the whole poem. It expresses Lin Zexu's upright and noble moral character and loyal and selfless patriotic sentiment. The phrase "life and death is based on" comes from "Zuo Zhuan·Zhao Gong Four Years": Zheng Guo's official Zichan was slandered by others for reforming the military tax system. He said: "To benefit the country, life and death are based on it." The original meaning of the word "yi" here It means "to do", "do" or "engage in". Only by understanding its meaning accurately can we understand the whole poem.
On the surface, the neck couplet seems calm and resigned, but in fact, there is huge pain buried deep in my heart. If I chew it carefully, it seems to be a huge wave. "Relegation" means dismissal from office and returning to one's hometown or being exiled to a remote area. According to the custom of feudal society, no matter what punishment a minister received, as long as he was not beheaded, he had to thank the emperor for his great kindness. This is just like what the loyal but unjustly blamed old Russian slave in Pushkin's novel said to his violent master: "It is also your grace to let me herd pigs." Next, he said: "Go to the border and do a lot of work. The "garrison soldier" who does physical work and uses his brain less is just the way to support my clumsiness. "Gang" means "just right" and "just right". In other words: "This is the most appropriate way for you to deal with a guilty minister."
The last couplet is derived from a story in Zhao Ling's "Hou Zhenlu": During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, he visited the hermits in the world Yang Pu, a native of Qi, was summoned to the court. He said that before leaving, his wife gave him a poem that said: "Don't be greedy for a glass of wine when you are down, and don't be crazy about chanting poems. If you catch the general today, you will lose your scalp this time." "Yang Pu used this limerick to express to Song Zhenzong that he was unwilling to become an official in the court. Lin Zexu used this allusion to humorously say: "I was joking with my wife. This time I have become Yang Pu, and I might lose my life." The implication was that he implicitly said to Emperor Daoguang: "I too I have served you enough, let me live peacefully as a common man." For a loyal minister in a feudal society, this is the limit of what he can say. If we carefully appreciate this seven-melody poem, we should be able to feel that it has the same inner voice as Qu Yuan's "Li Sao".
The stability and flexibility of antithesis is a characteristic of the writing technique of this poem. For example, "country" versus "misfortune", "life and death" versus "avoidance", according to the part of speech, they are all correct. The word "yi" in "生死义" is interpreted as "wei", which is a verb; and the word "zhi" is a function word. The author not only uses the substantive meaning of the word "Yi" to express the ideological content, but also uses its function meaning to form a contrast with the word "Zhi", which shows the profound power of controlling words.