A classic love poem dedicated to his wife

The most affectionate love poem written by an ancient poet to his wife,

In June 756, the rebellion of An Shi invaded Tongguan, and Chang 'an was in danger. Du Fu had to flee Chang 'an, where he had lived for ten years, with his wife and children, and go to relatives' home in Qiang village of Zhou (fū).

When the country was in crisis, when he settled his family, he sought a way to serve the country. When he learned that Tang Suzong had succeeded to the throne in Lingwu (now Ningxia), he wanted to go to Lingwu to help thieves and rebels.

By this time, the rebel forces may have expanded to the north of Zhangzhou. Shortly after Du Fu set out, he was captured by the army and sent to Chang 'an after the fall.

Du fu statue

Du Fu was a small official, so he was not detained, but he was also trapped in Chang 'an. In the days when he was trapped in Chang 'an, Du Fu was most worried about the safety of his wife and children.

At the foot of missing his wife, Du Fu wrote an infinitely affectionate love poem "Moonlit Night" to his wife. This poem is one of the most famous love poems written by ancient poets to their wives.

moonlit night

Du Fu

In Fuzhou, far away, she is looking at the moonlight, looking at it alone from the window of her room.

For our boys and girls, poor little baby, too young to know where the capital is.

Her cloudy hair is sweet with mist, and her jade-white shoulders are cold in the moonlight.

When can we lie on the screen again and look at the bright light and stop crying? .

This poem by Du Fu is good, but it is not easy to read. The reason is that poets often omit a lot of information because of the limitation of the number of words in ancient poems. For those of us who have not been trained in classical poetry, we need to carefully analyze these poems in order to understand them.

In Fuzhou, far away, she is looking at the moonlight, looking at it alone from the window of her room. Look, read the flat voice kā n.

Who is watching the moon alone? This poem omits the theme, which needs our careful analysis. At the beginning of the poem, the moon in Zhangzhou is written, while the poet Du Fu is in Chang 'an at this time, the poet's wife and children are in Zhangzhou, and women are generally written in the background of boudoir, so it is the poet's wife who enjoys the moon alone here.

At the beginning of the poem, the poet does not look at the moon alone, but his wife in Zhangzhou alone, which shows the poet's eager yearning for his wife.

For our boys and girls, poor little baby, too young to know where the capital is. Unknown: I don't know yet.

Who is here, for our boys and girls, poor little baby? The first sentence is about wife, and the subject is wife, so is the subject here still wife?

The word "Yao" proves that it is separated from younger children. According to the background, we know that Du Fu is alone in Chang 'an and his wife and children are in Zhangzhou, so for us boys and girls, the poor baby is not a wife, but a poet.

Here, the poem quietly made a spatial transformation, from Zhangzhou where his wife and children were located to Chang 'an where the poet was located.

Under the jathyapple in Chang 'an, the poet imagined his wife who was far away looking at the bright moon alone, thinking of Chang 'an's husband, while the children who were joking aside did not understand why their mother stood alone under the bright moon, thinking of the distance.

The "unsolved" of young children highlights the "independence" of his wife. The poet's "pity" is not only pity for young children, but also pity for his wife.

Her cloudy hair is sweet with mist, and her jade-white shoulders are cold in the moonlight. Sweet fog, this kind of fog originally has no fragrance, because the fragrance is emitted from the clouds covered with cream, so it is called "sweet fog" Yunxiu, the ring hair accessory of ancient women.

The space in the poem has once again changed from Chang 'an, where the poet lives, to Zhangzhou, where his wife lives.

In these two poems, the poet changed the word order of the poems in order to achieve the requirements of rhyme and rhyme. The correct word order should be "fragrant fog and wet clouds, jade arms bright and cold" "Wet" and "cold" are adjectives used as verbs, meaning "make … wet" and "make … cold".

Under the jathyapple in Yanzhou, my wife watched it alone for a long time, and the night fog in the air wet her hair like a cloud. The bright moonlight chilled her arm as white as jade.

It should be noted that the word order of these two poems is not simply to conform to the rules. It is often said that since the writing of ancient poetry is so influenced by the levelness, there is no levelness, as long as the poem is well written. No, no, I don't believe you. Would it be better to read the poems with changed word order and the poems with normal word order twice? Obviously, the word order of "her clouds are fragrant and foggy, and her shoulders are cold" is not only more beautiful in rhythm, but also more beautiful in artistic conception.

"Wet" and "cold" are the poetic eyes of these two poems. Adjusting "wet" and "cold" to the end emphasizes the wet and cold environment, which makes the artistic conception of the poem more lonely and cold, and at the same time can better express the poet's pity for his wife.

When can we lie on the screen again and look at the bright light and stop crying? . Transparent curtains. Sapporo, curtain. Double photo refers to the photo taken by the poet and his wife together.

The separation in reality, not looking at the moon together, so the poet entered the imaginary future time and space.

When can we sit side by side in front of transparent curtains and let the bright moon dry the tears on our faces? "Double photos" corresponds to the first sentence "watching alone", which once again reflects Du Fu's deep affection for his wife.

In these eight short poems, the poet Du Fu switches back and forth between his wife's space and his own space, and finally enters the imaginary time and space. This transformation of time and space is like a montage clip of modern movies, and the delicate and profound expression of affection in poems is not as good as that in movie clips.

To appreciate Du Fu's Moonlit Night, we should appreciate a different wife image created in this poem, and feel Du Fu's love and affection for his wife through this image.

In most of Du Fu's other poems, the image of his wife is old, thin and kind. Try this:

A thin wife's face glowed again. (Northern Expedition)

Old wives count papers. ("Guest Night")

The old lady draws paper as a chess game. ("Jiangcun")

In these poems, Du Fu directly addressed his wife with the words "old wife" and "sick wife", giving readers the image of "wife of dross". This is because Du Fu is limited by knowledge and belief, and traditional ethics requires his wife not to appear as a female aesthetic image in the poet's works.

However, in the poem "Her cloud smells fragrant and her shoulders are cold", Du Fu suddenly broke through the inner limit and portrayed his wife as a beautiful female image, thus conveying the poet's love and gentleness.

Ou Li-chuan, a professor at National Taiwan University, analyzed this poem in The Original Tang Poetry Can Be Read This Way, saying: "She is fragrant and foggy, and her shoulders are cold." She boldly entered the palace narrative category, separated the waiting wife of Acacia, imprisoned her in a frozen and still female space, and pulled away from the moral image of "old" and "thin", which was endowed with strong sensory beauty and sensibility, showing the female body in smell, touch and vision.

Fragrant mist, clouds and jade arms are commonly used to describe dancers in karaoke bars, and are also common words in palace poems, but they are very rare to describe wives. Du Fu used these words to describe his wife. At this time, the wife is not only an ethical wife, but also a female object that Du Fu loves.

Her cloudy hair is sweet with mist, and her jade-white shoulders are cold in the moonlight. There is no fragrance in the fog, but the fragrance of his wife is scattered in the fog, which makes the night fog emit a delicate fragrance. The poet also stood in the night fog. Through the night fog, the poet seemed to smell the fragrance of his wife, and the poet stood in the moonlight. With the bright moon, the poet seems to be able to touch his wife's jade arm.

In the description of this couplet, the beauty of women's bodies is highlighted. The fragrance of the body arouses the desire for smell, while the moist clouds and white jade arms arouse the desire for touch. The gesture of his wife standing under the bright moon for a long time turned into a pure picture, behind which was the loving eyes of the poet Du Fu.

It is precisely because this couplet is beautifully written and full of temptation that a few critics who stick to the traditional ethical standards disagree. Fan Jiyun of A Qing Dynasty criticized: "It is unsightly to use jade arms." Some people even think that these two sentences were changed by later romantic literati.

As we all know, it is such a poem that shows the richness of Du Fu's feelings and makes the poet Du Fu more generous and broad.

Finally, aside from the topic, we often have the view that the end result of love is affection, and the best end result of husband and wife is to become relatives of each other. This is the relationship between husband and wife in traditional ethics. As we all know, both men and women have aesthetic needs for the opposite sex. Shouldn't your wife or husband be the opposite sex you love, admire and indulge?

Du Fu's description of his wife here is so beautiful and attractive, which shows that his wife is not only a member of his family, but also a woman he really loves.