What does "half awake and half drunk day after day, flowers bloom and fall year after year" mean?

The meaning of this poem is: between waking and drunkenness day after day, and between blooming and falling year after year.

This poem comes from an ancient poem by Tang Yin, a poet in the Ming Dynasty. The title of this poem is Song of the Peach Blossom Temple. The literary genre belongs to seven-character ancient poetry, which comes from "Six Ru Ju Shi Ji". Tang Yin described herself as a peach blossom fairy, showing her true heart with vulgar negative side and cynical spirit in her ordinary reality.

The whole poem is as clear as words, without any allusions and flowery rhetoric. The tone of the language is close to vulgar, light and self-contained, but it contains infinite artistic tension, giving people a steady stream of aesthetic enjoyment and strong sense of identity. At the same time, the level is clear, the language is simple, euphemistic and almost a ballad-like monologue. It is the best of Tang Yin's poems.

This poem was praised by Wang Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty: "The language is meaningful, like resentment, intoxicating, and the pen and ink are smooth and gratifying."

The full text of this poem is:

Taohuawu Taohua Temple, Taohuaguan Taohuaxian.

Peach Fairy cultivates peach trees, picks them and drinks them.

When you wake up, you just sit in front of the flowers, and when you are drunk, you come to sleep under the flowers.

Half drunk and half awake day after day, flowers bloom year after year.

I hope I die of old age. I don't want to bow my head in front of horses and chariots.

If you are rich, you will become a hermit.

If the revealer is compared to a hermit, one is underground and the other is in heaven.

If we compare Hua San to chariots and horses, I will have no leisure.

The world laughs at me for being crazy, and I laugh at others for not being able to see through it.

There are no graves of Hao Jie in Wuling, no flowers, no wine, and no hoes to plow the fields.

Translation:

There are Taohuawu Taohuaan and Taohuawu Taohuaxian.

The Peach Fairy planted many peach trees, and he picked them for wine.

Sit quietly in the flowers when you wake up, and sleep under the flowers when you are drunk.

Half awake and half drunk, day after day, year after year.

I just want to die of old age in the peach blossom wine room, and I don't want to bow before the horses and chariots of dignitaries.

Flow is the interest of nobles, and wine glasses and flowers are the fate and hobbies of poor people like me.

If you compare the wealth of others with my poverty, one is in the sky and the other is in the ground.

If I compare my poverty to the horses and chariots of the powerful, they work for the powerful, but I get the pleasure of leisure.

Others laugh that I am crazy, but I laugh that others can't see through the world.

You haven't seen those rich families once brilliant, but now you can't see their graves, just for farmland.

Extended data:

The creative background of this poem:

This poem was written in the 18th year of Hongzhi (1505), only six years after Tang Yin imperial examination hall was falsely accused. Tang Yin once won the title of Xie Yuan, and later got involved in the fraud case in the examination room, which made him famous. In the long-term life training, he saw through the vanity of fame and fortune, and thought that fame and fortune at the expense of freedom could not last long, so he refused to make a living by selling paintings and lived a leisurely life with flowers as friends and wine as friends.

The poet wrote this poem, expressing his attitude towards life that he was willing to retire and indifferent to fame and fortune.

In this poem, the poet pretends to be the Peach Blossom Fairy, and refers to two completely different lifestyles by "drinking from old age" and "bowing before riding a horse" respectively, which forms a sharp contrast between the rich and the poor, and shows his true heart in ordinary reality with vulgar negative side and cynical spirit.

This poem mainly expresses the poet's attitude towards life that he is willing to retire, indifferent to fame and fortune, and unwilling to give it to the secular in pursuit of leisure. Peach blossom has the meaning of seclusion because of its homophonic "escape", and it also embodies the precious spirit of pursuing freedom and cherishing the value of individual life.

Many people once spoke highly of this poem. For example, Professor Luo of the Chinese Department of Fudan University mentioned when appreciating Tang Yin's Song of the Peach Blossom Temple: "This poem was a new style at that time. Its language is simple, almost all vernacular, and its syllables are fluent. The first poem has the effect of continuous notes and is very refreshing to read. It is only in the poem that the poet expresses his sincere and frank feelings and praises the happiness of the world. "

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Peach Blossom Temple Song (Ancient Poetry)