Four poems from "Untitled" by Li Shangyin

——Notes on Reading Poems

Tian Huidong

Chinese classical poetry often relies on imagination Juxtapose and superimpose to express relationships and express modality. Li Shangyin's lyric poetry takes this point to the extreme. Some of his "Untitled" poems often completely abandon the superficial logical relationship between images. If you don't go deep into the details of his poems, you will encounter obstacles at any time. However, these enigmatic poems, with their elegant language, complex structure, and burning emotions, radiate a mysterious charm and have been passed down through the ages. Poetry critics in the past dynasties have debated endlessly about those charming "Untitled" poems. They may think that they are "half a lavender to express anger", or that they have no moral meaning at all and are purely about love. Mr. Liang Qichao thought: "I can't understand what Yishan's poems such as "Jin Se", "Blue City" and "Holy Maid Temple" are about. If you ask me to explain them sentence by sentence, I can't even explain the meaning. Come out. But I think it is beautiful, and reading it gives me a new spiritual pleasure." He advised people to respect the mystery of beauty. "If you know something, you know it; if you don't know it, you don't know it." This is everyone's demeanor. Critics have different opinions, and the more they argue, the better it will be for the spread of Yishan's poems. Below, I will talk about my feelings about his four poems "Untitled", so as to provide some advice to the Fang family.

The four poems of "Untitled" seem to be no different from other single or double poems of "Untitled". In fact, these four poems are a quite rigorous combination. It is like a symphony, divided into four independent and interrelated movements under the same theme.

First of all

It is empty words and disappear forever,

The moon is setting at five o'clock upstairs.

The dream is far away and it is difficult to recall it,

The book is hastened to become ink.

The wax shines on the half cage of golden jade,

The hibiscus is slightly embroidered with musk smoke.

Liu Lang already hated that Pengshan was far away,

it was even more separated by 10,000 layers of Pengshan.

This is a smooth and moving lyric poem that uses almost no allusions and almost no melodies. Because of its smoothness, it is easy for people to take things literally. Many annotators believe that this is about a woman who is lovesick and misses her lover. But when I thought about the seventh sentence, it didn't make sense, so I had to undergo sex reassignment surgery to compare myself to Liu Lang. In fact, this poem is about the hero's lovesickness. He is pained by the heroine's loneliness and hopelessness, waiting for him.

One or two sentences about dreams, the promises that come are just empty words; they disappear without a trace. At this time, the moon is setting and the clock is ringing. He blamed himself by imagining his lover's mentality.

Three or four sentences, still in the dream, the lover comes floating in, but is told to stay away. The sorrow of being far away makes the lover choke with sobs and struggle to make a call; the hastily written letter has no time to thicken the ink. The color is as light as tears, and the love is as deep as tears.

In five or six sentences, when I woke up from the dream, I saw the candlelight half-covered with the golden jade screen, and smelled the musk slightly passing through the domed hibiscus tent; this light and shadow and the boring fragrance made people suffocate. Melancholy. Although the dream is sad, it seems to have more room for movement than this lonely and suffocating boudoir. In a dream, maybe he will come floating in the air.

In the seventh or eighth sentence, the male protagonist conveys his heartfelt voice to his hard-to-see lover: "Liu Lang hates that Pengshan is too far away. I am ten thousand weights further away from you than Pengshan." Borrowing from Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty The story of people going to Penglai to seek immortality to set off their love shows a noble style and poetic flavor.

The first song is the first movement, written about dreams, symbolizing that life and love are like dreams, empty, changing and erratic, but the pain of love embellishes dreams, making them more poetic than reality. . When I wake up from the dream, there are just some luxurious and heavy mundane things, which squeeze people out of breath. The male protagonist was unable to keep the appointment. In addition to his own pain, he was also savoring his lover's situation and pain. Thinking of her sadness and criticism, he felt even more guilty.

Although the first poem is written smoothly and naturally, the structure is still tortuous. The melody of the poem is as simple and beautiful as a dream, and it also changes freely like a dream.

The woman in the boudoir was locked behind the curtain of the deep house and wrapped in gold and jade, so she had to use dreams to express the pain of lovesickness. Men have relative freedom and are closer to nature, but they miss lovesickness by imagination when they are awake. This is the tone of the second song "Untitled".

Second

A rustling east wind and drizzle came,

There was light thunder outside Furong Pond.

When the male protagonist (or the poet himself) was alone, he heard the soft east wind and drizzle outside the window, and heard the light thunder outside Furong Pond. Although the sound of wheels in the rain no longer sounds like thunder, and noble people rarely go out in the rain, the poet can imagine that it is the sound of wheels in the distance. Sitting in this luxurious carriage, it may be a noble lady, or even more likely, the person of interest who "drives away without understanding the sound of thunder". Hearing is connected with imagination, the east wind, drizzle, and light thunder outside the lotus pond constitute a lyrical, melancholy and beautiful artistic conception. It is best to miss lovesickness at this time.

The golden toad gnaws at the lock and burns incense,

The jade tiger pulls the thread back to the well.

On the surface, Golden Toad and Jade Tiger have nothing to do with Dongfeng Drizzle, but they present a kind of mystery. Smart readers can be attracted by them, hoping to get a hint from the chaotic combination. Repeatedly chanting, you will naturally understand the two homophonic words; the "incense" in burning incense, and the "silk" in pulling silk, the homophony implies "lovesickness", the poet's unspeakable secret, first hide what he wants to hide People, but couldn’t help but confide in smart readers. If you pursue it further, you will naturally think that this is a lovesickness for a private relationship. There is evening incense burning inside the belly of the golden toad biting the lock (nose button). This is not the incense boudoir of ordinary people. At this time, the hero went on a tryst. The Jade Tiger pulled the thread in the early morning, when the servants or housewives were drawing wells, and he came back safely. This is a secret that Jin Chan and Jade Tiger can bear witness to. He and his lover once experienced heavenly happiness. Now only the bitter taste of lovesickness remains.

Jia Shi peeked behind the curtain and Young Master Han

Concubine Mi stayed with King Cai of Wei as a pillow.

There are two historical stories comparable to his love. Lady Jia spied on the handsome man Han Shou behind the curtain, which later developed into an affair. After Concubine Bi died, she left a pillow for Cao Zhi to show her loyalty and regret. This is the first meaning. On the second level, the poet believes that his youth (known as Yishan Shaojun) and his unparalleled talents can be compared with Han Shou and Cao Zhi. On the third level, judging from the sadness and melancholy of the poem, it is self-inflicted; Han Shou had an affair with Jia Nu and then became a couple. He was not as lucky as Han Shou; nor did he have the noble background and opportunities like Cao Zhi, which made "Luo Shen Fu" " has become the bible of love. The story of Cao Zhi and Concubine Mi has become a mark of history and has become an idol in the hearts of readers for thousands of years. The world does not value Li Yishan's handsomeness and genius, and even casts dirt on his love, calling him "the evil prodigal son". Live like a fool, love like a fool.

Acacia is not as beautiful as flowers.

Every inch of lovesickness is an inch of gray.

This is an aphorism. Acacia cannot bloom as brightly as spring flowers. The more intense the burning, an inch of lovesickness will become an inch of ashes.

The pain of lovesickness did not extinguish the yearning. The poet ignited new hope. He fell in love again, so he mustered up the courage to have a tryst. The sentence "Swissing East Wind" naturally transitions to "Sentimental Spring Festival Evening".

The third one

The Spring Wanwan evening is sentimental,

The night is dark for a while.

When I went to meet my beloved, it was late spring and sunset.

The sound of the building is about to make the climb timid,

The curtains are dry and it is hard to endure.

I felt timid when I heard my footsteps going upstairs. I didn't dare to walk over when I saw the lights in the room. The more sincere the love, the more timid it becomes. This is the poet's respect for love. On the other hand, the poet's timidity is also reflected in the following two sentences.

I am so ashamed of the hairpin and the swallow,

I am really ashamed of the Luan in the mirror.

The person he likes is more fortunate than him to be close to her, which makes the poet feel envious and ashamed. The lone luan can sing to the mirror for a long time, and it will stop with one song to show its heroic power. loyalty. The poet felt ashamed of himself and thought that even if there was a mirror to look at, he would not have the courage to sing a single song, so he was ashamed to look at the luan bird in the mirror.

Returning to Hengtang in the evening,

Hua Xing gave me a precious saddle.

It was too late to return home. The beautiful and lonely starlight, accompanied by his lonely pommel horse, came in joy and left sadly. If you want to see what you don't see, you will encounter good difficulties together. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. The experience of hope and loss is more unforgettable than having no hope. No one was to blame for this loss but himself: his inferiority complex caused him to lose the joy that was so easy to find. Judging from the description of the environment, this is not a deep palace, and he cannot enter the deep palace. It's not among the people either. Common people don't have this kind of atmosphere. Rather, it looks a bit like the princess's home that is built outside the palace to lead her practice. Many princesses in the Tang Dynasty asked themselves to become monks, apparently seeking immortality but actually pursuing freedom of love. History books are slightly critical of this. At the same time as Yishan, eight princesses served as Taoist priests. "Three heroes should be admired at the same night, and the jade towers are all made of water essence curtains.

"This is a poem sent by Yishan to a female Taoist priest. She advised the Song sisters to admire the moon with the handsome young man in plain silk lamb fur. The poet understood that female Taoist priests were also children of the world. When he recalled the arrival of his beloved, he might not How regretful he felt when he felt disgusted and could only feel joy!

Fourth

Where is the mourning kite,

The cherry blossoms are hanging on the banks of the alley! .

The old daughter of the boss is not for sale,

It is March and a half,

Princess Liyang is fourteenth year,

Qingming is warm. Later, I watched it on the same wall.

The exhibition moved to the fifth watch.

Liang Jianyan sighed after hearing it.

The four poems of "Untitled" were transferred from modern style to Yuefu. The flat rhyme changes to oblique rhyme, from a lyrical narrative with heavy brush strokes to a sudden transition to white description, from pity to sadness, like a variation on a symphony theme, with bones and flesh, as smooth as flowing water and clouds, with a mournful harp and a long, blocked song. In the alley, there are weeping poplar trees on the bank, which make those who are tired of spring excited. Spring is about to end, and women are getting old and cannot get married. However, the fourteen-year-old Princess Liyang, as beautiful as a flower, goes to the garden with her husband to enjoy the scenery. This situation made the old and poor beauty grief-stricken. She had nowhere to talk and lay awake until the fifth watch. Only the swallows in the Liang Dynasty heard her sigh. The swallows can still be in pairs, but they are smaller than the poor girl. Better.

This poem makes no secret of his injustice and clearly hints at his life experience.

The twists and turns of love in the previous poems. The expression also implies the longing for happiness and ideals, and vaguely reveals the sigh of his life experience. All his lovesickness, his hopes and disappointments, and all his pain are summarized in the fourth song "Untitled". It all stemmed from his frustration in his career. Linghu Xu, who was a student with him and had a close friendship for a time, may not be as handsome and talented as the poet, but the young Xu became famous because of his work. The father of the prime minister. He is a princess, and the poet is just a poor old woman who has no one to love her, so she can only sigh under the bird's nest.

These four poems, like all the poet's lyric poems, use elegant and vulgar language. Embedded, the contrast is strong. It uses legends and historical stories to bring you into a beautiful cultural atmosphere. It uses wonderful structures and distills real life and psychological details into a series of shining and thick lines of poetry. It has nothing to do with it on the surface, but is closely connected internally. Even if you don’t understand it, you can still feel its beauty and strike a certain chord in your heart.

In form, the four pieces of "Untitled" are. It intentionally breaks the format of ancient poems. Most of the poems in the Tang Dynasty were grouped into poetry styles, and these four poems, "Untitled", have different styles, two have seven rhymes, one has five rhymes, and one has Yuefu. The changes are both different and harmonious. Simplicity and splendor, gentleness and strength, stagnation and smoothness are all connected by a red rope of emotion. One selector actually divided these four poems into three parts. This is too disrespectful of the original meaning.

Commentators in the past think that Yishan's poems are too bitter, some despise them, and some curse them. However, they have not died out and are still alive in people's criticism. passed down vigorously. Some people say that this is because he put gorgeous clothes on his pain. This is superficial. In fact, the pain in the gorgeous clothes is the wine fermented from the resilient soul. The painful poet gained the courage to live in the brewing process. He hopes to use his poems to seek friends and understanding from the vast world and the future. Anyone who reads his poems can, like him, seek to understand the inner world and the outside world. , the balance between the individual and the times, poeticizing one's own feelings, thereby increasing the resilience and strength of life, and can comfort the poet's loneliness in case of "blue sea and blue sky".