Appreciation of the English Version of A Short Message to Friends in the North on a Rainy Night

A Short Message to Friends in the North on a Rainy Night is a poem by Li Shangyin in the Tang Dynasty.

original text

Write to my wife in the north on a rainy night.

Li shangyin? Tang dynasty

When you ask about the return date, it's hard to say, evening rain, Manqiuchi.

When * * * cut the candle at the west window, but talk about the rain at night.

translate

You asked me the date of going home. I haven't set a date yet. At this moment, the night rain in Bashan is raining, and it has already rained over Qiuchi.

When can we have a long talk by candlelight and tell each other our thoughts in the rainy night tonight?

To annotate ...

Send to the north: write poems to send to northerners. The poet is in Bashu (now Sichuan Province) and his relatives and friends are in Chang 'an, so he says "send to the north". This poem expresses the poet's deep nostalgia for his relatives and friends.

Jun: In modern Chinese, the honorific title for the other person is equivalent to "you".

Return date: refers to the date of going home.

Bashan: refers to Daba Mountain, the junction of southern Shaanxi and northeastern Sichuan. This refers to Bashu area in general.

Qiuchi: A pond in autumn.

He dang: When?

* * *: Adverb, used before the predicate, indicates that the action is caused by two or more agents. It can be translated as "together"

Cut the candles in the west window: cut the candles and the burnt wick to make the lights bright. The following is a description of a long talk in the evening. As an idiom, "Rain at the West Window" and "Cut the candle at the West Window" are not limited to lovers, but are sometimes used to write about the feelings of missing friends.

But: let's talk about it when we go back.

Make an appreciative comment

A friend and his wife said who the poem was for. The former thinks that Li Shangyin lived in Bashu when he was the aide of Dongchuan Ambassador from 39 to 43, but before that, his wife Wang had died. The holder believes that Li Shangyin has traveled to Bashu before this. Others think it is addressed to "family or friends". Judging from the passionate thoughts and sentimental feelings expressed in the poem, it seems more suitable for giving it to his wife.

The first two sentences of this poem, with questions and answers and descriptions of the immediate environment, illustrate the lonely feelings and deep thoughts for his wife. The last two sentences imagine the joy of meeting again in the future and compare with the loneliness tonight. This poem is improvised, showing the twists and turns of the poet's feelings in an instant. The language is concise, and there is no trace of modification in the wording and sentence making. Unlike most of Li Shangyin's poems, which are rich in rhetoric, exquisite in allusions and good at symbolism, this poem is simple and natural, and also has the artistic characteristics of "deep sustenance and gentle wording".

Open the first question, "Your question is not due yet". When you ask and answer, you pause first, then turn, ups and downs, which is very expressive. The sadness of his journey and the pain of not coming back flooded his mind. A long passage was omitted before the poem. It can be guessed that the poet received a letter from his wife, hoping that her husband would return to his hometown as soon as possible. Poets naturally hope to go home and reunite as soon as possible. However, due to various reasons, the wish cannot be realized at the moment. The first sentence expresses the pain and miss of parting.

The second sentence "Autumn Pond with Rose in Late Rain" means that the poet tells his wife about his environment and mood. The rainy night in autumn mountain always evokes the sadness of leaving people. The poet expressed his infinite yearning for his wife with this scenery that sent people away from their thoughts. It seems to make people imagine that on an autumn night, the pond is full of water, and the poet is alone in the room, leaning on the bed and thinking. Thinking about his wife's life and mood at home at the moment; Recall their previous life together; Chew on my loneliness.

Three or four sentences, "Why cut the candle at the west window, but talk about the rain at night", are all beautiful imaginations for future reunion. Lonely thoughts in my heart can only be pinned on the future. At that time, the poet returned to his hometown, whispering with his wife under the Westinghouse window, and stayed up all night, so that the candlelight blossomed. They cut off the flowers, but they still have endless feelings of parting and endless joy of reunion. This poem not only describes the loneliness of listening to autumn rain in Bashan today, but also imagines the happiness when we meet tomorrow. The pain at this time is intertwined with the joy in the future, and time and space change.

The language of this poem is simple and fluent, sincere and sincere. "Late Rain" appears repeatedly at the beginning and end, which is thrilling. "What to do" and "unexpired" are closely linked, which effectively shows the author's eagerness to return home.

Creation background

This poem is selected from Volume III of Yuxi Shi Sheng, which was written by Li Shangyin when he was in Bashu (present-day Sichuan). Because Chang 'an is in the north of Bashu, it is entitled "A note to friends in the north on a rainy night".

In Ten Thousand Tang Poems edited by Hong Mai in the Southern Song Dynasty, the title of this poem is Rain at Night, which means this poem is for his wife. In their view, Li Shangyin went to Dongchuan in July of the fifth year of Dazhong (85 1), and Wang died at the turn of summer and autumn this year. It was several months before Li Shangyin learned of his wife's death.

The note to friends in the north on a rainy night is the title of Shi Li's poems. "North" refers to people in the north, either wives or friends. Some people think that it was written after the death of the author's wife Wang, so it is not a poem "Send Inside", but a gift to friends in Chang 'an.

As far as the content of poetry is concerned, if we understand it by "sending it inside", we will feel sad and lingering; Think of it as "north delivery", too delicate, too plain and too delicate.

Brief introduction of the author

Li Shangyin (about 813-about 858), a native of Yuxi, xi, was a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty. His ancestral home is Qinyang, Hanoi (now Jiaozuo, Henan) and Xingyang, Zhengzhou. He is good at poetry writing, and his parallel prose also has high literary value. He is one of the most outstanding poets in the late Tang Dynasty. Together with Du Mu, it is called "Xiao", and together with Wen, it is called "Wen Li". Because his poems and essays are similar to the paragraphs and essays of the same period, all three of them rank sixteenth in the family, so 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 to be solved, and there is even a saying that "poets always love Quincy and hate that no one writes about Jian Zheng". Caught in the struggle between Niu and Li, I was frustrated all my life. After his death, he was buried in his hometown of Qinyang (now the junction of Qinyang and Aibo County in Jiaozuo City, Henan Province). His works are included in Li Yishan's poems.