* * * What does it mean to cut the candle at the west window and talk about late rain?

Meaning: when can you and I get together again and cut candles at the west window night to talk with you;

What if it rains tonight?

With appreciation:

[Brief Comment] This poem, written by Li Shangyin in Bashu, has been widely circulated. This poem combines the deep affection between the poet himself and his wife with the rainy night scenery in a foreign land, and in the drizzle, it shows the lovesickness between the two places. In the first sentence, the poet directly complained that he had left his feelings because he could not go home for the time being, which made his feelings stronger. The rapid rise of Qiuchi is compared to the poet's endless feelings of parting, and his heart is becoming more and more restless. Imagine the moment of reunion in the future. If you recall the distress of separation today and taste the joy of reunion tomorrow, there will be a bitter and sweet taste hovering in your heart. This is a place to release feelings. The four poems begin with emotion and begin with complex, and take care of each other from beginning to end, one after another, with clear context and ups and downs of thoughts. The artistic technique of this poem is brilliant, first of all, it uses the rhetoric of "doubt and irony". The poet's original intention in writing this poem was to feel homesick because he was lonely in Sichuan for a long time, but he didn't say that he missed his wife first, but said that her wife wrote a letter on the day of asking for her return, which was about the distant thoughts of her loved ones. The advantage of this way of writing is to achieve the purpose of setting each other off, that is, to deepen their love depth with the same ideas. Li Shangyin still uses this brushwork in this poem. The first sentence is about his wife's thoughts, the second sentence echoes his own thoughts (but not directly, only thanks to the image rising by the pool), and the third and fourth sentences echo the above words with "* * * scissors" and "words of refusal", bringing life to the soul love between two people. Secondly, there is a great leap in scene description, and the span is very large. The first sentence includes Chang 'an and Bashan, the second sentence highlights Bashan, and the third and fourth sentences repeat Chang 'an and Bashan. The four poems use the "montage" technique in the film, changing time and space, cleverly splicing and seamlessly combining, which can be called a match made in heaven. The scene blends again, and the rising water in the pool is the externalization of the love waves in the poet's heart. How many authors care about their wives in the scene of "Rain in the Autumn Pool at Night"! In addition, the "Qi" and "Late Rain" in this poem are piled up in writing, swaying and full of folk songs. The poem is really thoughtful and affectionate. From seeing the rain in a foreign land and missing the two places to expecting to meet each other, I feel deeply and naturally, and it also makes people feel warm in the cold. Therefore, this poem is a rare masterpiece among the poems sent by the Tang people.

This is a well-known poem written by Bashu, a poet living in a distant foreign land, to his wife (or friend) in Chang 'an. Li Shangyin's love for his wife is sincere. They were married less than 12 years, and their wife died. Even in that 12 year, because the poet was wandering around, he could not get together with his wife often. As the saying goes, a little parting is better than a wedding. Li Shangyin and his wife are often separated for a long time, so they have a deeper and stronger understanding of their love and acacia. In his works, he shows the enthusiasm of "spring silkworm spinning silk" and "wax torch turning into ash", showing a unique artistic style.

This little poem is written clearly, without allusions or comparisons, and goes straight to books, landscapes and words. The affection in the scene, the blending of the scene and the infinite affection in the plain words leave endless room for aftertaste.

At the beginning of the first sentence, you directly call the other person "Jun" and draw a picture of lovesickness between husband and wife from a unique perspective: Dear wife, you must be anxious to ask me when I will return to China. So, now I tell you, I don't know when I can go home. The uniqueness of this poem lies in the poet's writing of acacia from a misplaced perspective, that is, the other party may not really write to ask about the date of return, but the poet imagines his wife's missing and asks about the date of return. China's ancient poems about lovesickness often don't directly write about how to miss each other, but how to miss himself, which euphemistically expresses the poet's feelings of missing. For example, Du Fu's Moonlit Night shows his thoughts about his wife by imagining his thoughts about himself on the moonlit night. The phrase "Jun asks if he will return soon" seems dull, but it injects the thoughts of his wife into every word, which is euphemistic, affectionate and intriguing.

"Late Rain Rising in Autumn Pond" is about the environment in which he lived at that time, that is, the scenery. The poet described a specific environment in concise language: Bashan, autumn night and pouring rain. The author gives a more specific description of this environment, not only describing the rain in the sky, but also describing the rain accumulated underground. Through the realistic scenery, people seem to feel such an atmosphere: it is dark all around, it is raining cats and dogs, the pool is full, there is no intimate friend around the author, and it is raining cats and dogs, making people feel lonely and desolate. This intermittent autumn rain makes people upset, the pool is full of feelings, and the nature author's heart is also surging. Then, the feeling of "autumn pool rising" is more than torrential autumn rain and rising pool water. Obviously, it is the emotional wave of the author's infinite yearning for his wife in sleepless nights. Therefore, there are deep feelings in the scenery, and the environment is written, but it is not just the environment. There is a word "love" between the lines. In this way, the blending of scenes constitutes an artistic realm.

This poem was written twice: "Rain at Night". The first time it was written in fact, the second time it was written in white. I dreamed of meeting my wife again, and then I recalled the scene of rain at night when "the candle was cut at the west window".

If the first two sentences are written as prospect, then the last two sentences are written as future. On the night of autumn rain, the poets touched the scene, spread their wings of imagination and expressed their love with rich natural associations. The poet chose two modes here: one is the dynamic scissors, and the other is the confirmation of pronunciation. "* * * Cut the candle at the west window" depicts a beautiful picture of a beautiful night in detail and infinitely, and the word "* * *" describes the intimate mode. However, the word "He Dang" pushed the beautiful scenery described by the poet into the distance and into the void. This beautiful scenery turned out to be nothing more than the poet's yearning for it. As for when to return to my gentle hometown, everything is "irregular". This is a cruel thing and a helpless thing. This sentence is full of emotion, but it does not contain a word "emotion", which is very implicit.

There is no better way to express your feelings than words. "Keep your word". The poet imagined that husband and wife would get together, talk by candlelight and communicate with each other. "Refusing to talk" is a retrospective memory. The poet imagines that time at this time, and then he is talking about this time, talking about the feelings of missing when the rain is there at night. The word "late rain" appears in two places in this short four-sentence poem, which is extremely rare in ordinary ancient poetry.

Image, delicacy, implication and profundity are the artistic features of this poem.

2. Who is this poem for? Friends and wives say. 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.

Opening the first topic, "the date of your return is uncertain", makes people feel that this is a poem that replaces letters with poems. 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" is closely related to "unexpired", which effectively shows the author's urgent mood of returning home.

3. Now Li's poem is titled "Rainy Night Writing to Northern Friends", and "Northern" refers to people from the North, which can refer to wives or friends. After textual research, some people think that it was written after the death of the author's wife, Wang, so it is not a poem, but a gift to friends in Chang 'an. However, judging from the content of the poem, it seems more accurate to understand it by "sending it inside"

The first question and answer, first pause, then turn, ups and downs, very expressive. Translated, it is: "You asked me the date of going home; Oh, the date of going home, there is no time yet! " The sadness of his journey and the pain of not coming back flooded his mind. Next, I wrote the eye scene at this time: "It rains at night in the autumn pond", which has vividly shown the sorrow of the journey and the pain of not returning. It is intertwined with the rain at night, falling and falling, rising all over the autumn pond and filling the night sky of Bashan. However, this sadness and pain is only a natural expression through the prospect of the eyes; The author didn't say anything about bitterness, but set out from this prospect, galloped his imagination and opened up a new realm, expressing his wish to "cut the candle at the west window, but talk about the rain at night". The novelty of its conception is really a bit surprising. However, if you put yourself in the other's shoes, you will feel sincere and sincere, and every word will naturally flow from your heart. The word "when can be" expresses the wish, which comes from the reality that "the return date of the gentleman is uncertain" in generate. "* * * scissors ..." and "Nothing to say ..." Is the desire for future happiness inspired by the current hardships? Looking forward to "cutting the candle at the west window" when you get home, it is self-evident that you are homesick at this time. I hope I can reunite with my wife one day, but saying "rain at night" means "listening to rain at night alone". No one can speak * * * language, which is not obvious. Cutting candles alone, staying up late, reading his wife's letter asking about the return date in the rain of Bashan, it is not difficult to imagine that his mood is depressed and lonely. The author, on the other hand, crossed all this to write about the future, hoping to catch up with everything tonight in the joy of reunion. Therefore, the joy of the future naturally reflects the bitterness of tonight; The bitterness of this evening has become the material for cutting candles in the future, adding to the joy of reunion. Four poems, as clear as words, so tortuous, so profound, so implicit and meaningful, memorable!

In Li Yishan Poetry, Yao Peiqian commented on Notes for a friend in the North on a rainy night, saying: "Those who look far away sit in the boudoir at midnight" (Bai Juyi's Homesickness from Winter to Day and Night), which means that the soul flies home. This poem also flew home in advance, which is amazing! "This view is good, but only said half. In fact, the "soul" is "pre-flying home", flying back to the place of detention before going home, and going back and forth once. This kind of back and forth not only includes the reciprocal comparison of space, but also reflects the cyclic comparison of time. Gui Fu said in the sixth volume of Miscellaneous Spectrum: "Seeing the future rather than thinking about it has a deeper meaning. "As far as space is concerned, this refers to the comparison between here (Bashan), there (West Window) and here (Bashan). Xu Dehong said in Li Yishan's Poems: "If you look back at him and talk about this night, you will feel deeply if you don't start writing at this time. "As far as time is concerned, this refers to the comparison of this night, another day and this night. In the poems of predecessors, there are many examples of people writing here and thinking about other places. There are many people who want to remember today when writing. However, the combination of the two forms such a perfect artistic conception, but Li Shangyin is not only good at learning from the artistic experience of his predecessors, but also brave in making new explorations and exerting his original spirit.

The originality of the above artistic conception is reflected in the originality of the composition structure. The word "period" can be seen from two aspects, one is to ask your wife and the other is to answer yourself; The wife asked to urge her to come back early, but lamented that the date of her return was not accurate. "Late Rain" re-emerged, one is a real scene among the guests, and it is a tight answer; One is to talk about help after going back, and the wife should ask from a distance. And with "how to do" in the middle, connect the past and the future, turn reality into nothingness, open up the realm of imagination, and make the cycle control of time and space blend seamlessly. Modern poetry generally avoids literal repetition, but this poem deliberately breaks away from convention. The two views of the word "period", especially the reappearance of "late rain", just constitute a wonderful cycle of timbre and composition, which just shows the artistic beauty of the cycle of time and space and achieves the perfect combination of content and form. Wang Anshi, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote in "Waiting for Longhua Courtyard with Bao Jue": "When will water and Jing Gong asking for the moon take care of me?" Asking for the moon:' When shall I stay in Zhongshan?' Yang Wanli's "Listening to the Rain" says: "Returning to the boat, I stayed in Yanling last year, and the rain hit the awning and I heard the light. Last night, it began to rain under the thatched eaves, and the dream was called the sound of the sky. " These two poems are handsome and lively, each with its own new ideas, but they are also obviously inspired by "Notes to a friend in the North on a rainy night" in terms of conception and writing. (Huo).

4. At that time, Li Shangyin worked as a secretary in Liu Zhongying Shogunate, our envoy in Dongchuan (now Santai, Sichuan), but his wife and children were far away in Chang 'an (now Xi 'an, Shaanxi), and Chang 'an was in the northeast of Bashu, so it was called Beisong.

This is a simple poem. The whole poem is like a poem, clear and fresh, without interest and allusions? There are no symbols. This is rare in Li Shangyin's poems. Most of his works are famous for their flowery rhetoric. This poem is just four sentences, but it is just an expression: you ask me when I will return, and I don't know when I will return. At present, Bashan in the night is full of autumn rain, and the pond is full of autumn water. When can I cut candles at night under the west window and talk with you, and then talk about the rainy night today?

Generally speaking, modern poetry should avoid literal repetition. But in this poem, the author seems to deliberately repeat the phrase "late rain", and late rain has indeed become the most impressive image in the whole poem. This image appears twice in the poem, but it gives people a completely different feeling.

The first appearance of "Late Rain" in "Late Rain and Autumn Pond" is the poet's realistic background, pointing out the poet's time and space position at that time: autumn, rainy night, Bashan; It is also a portrayal of the poet's feelings of being a stranger in a foreign land. Bashan, which refers to Shu, was still an undeveloped "wasteland" in Li Shangyin's time. Liu Yuxi, another poet in the Tang Dynasty, once lamented that "Bashan is a desolate land, which has been abandoned for 23 years". The autumn rain is continuous, the autumn night is long, the lonely and desolate land, the sadness of the poet's life experience, the feeling of wandering, the feeling of missing, just like the rain in the evening, the autumn water in the pool, trickling down and overflowing my heart.

At this point, the biting autumn wind and autumn rain seem to have soaked the back of the paper and cooled into the bone marrow. However, at this time, the poet changed his pen: "* * Why cut the candle at the west window, but talk about the rain at night." A warm and romantic picture immediately replaced the bitter wind and rain. The "late rain" here is a faint memory in imagination-that foggy and cold autumn night seems to be just to set off the flickering red candle under the west window; The patter of rain on Bashan seems to be accompanied only by whispers. The same evening rain suddenly became so affectionate and unforgettable. Maybe happiness is like this. It needs comparison and reflection. Can you present happiness to the greatest extent by comparing past misfortunes or sorrows? In a word that people often say now, it is "recalling bitter thoughts is sweet". And Li Shangyin here, it is with his wife * * * in the west window when cutting candles, snuggling together to watch the rain. The poet wrote such a poem, in fact, looking at the happiness of that era at this time, because the rain in the evening has not changed from the background of reality to the background of memories. He just imagined and dreamed that in the near future, he could look at this time so happily. But even if it is just a distant happiness, the poet has been immersed in some kind of happiness. Bashan in the night and autumn water in the pond are also painted with a layer of poetic beauty.

It has been verified that this poem was written by the author when he entered the Dongchuan provincial government of Liu Zhongying from July to September in the fifth year of Dazhong (AD 85 1 year). At this time, the poet's wife Wang Shi died (Wang Shi died in the summer and autumn of Dazhong five years). Because of this, some people think that this poem was given by the poet to his friend in Chang 'an, not his wife. However, Li Shangyin went to Zizhou and his wife died in the summer and autumn of the fifth year. Even if Wang's death came first and Yishan's poems came last, it was entirely possible in the era of traffic jams and poor information at that time. If this speculation is true, then this note to a friend in the north on a rainy night is really a sad work. If the poet's distant vision of happiness in Rain at Night fails to settle in reality after all, what kind of pain does it end in? We don't know all this today, but when we read this poem again today, will we be moved by such a distant scenery? On the one hand, heaven and man are separated forever, on the other hand, they are still looking at each other affectionately. Are their thoughts more profound and real than those of modern lovers in that age when news is hard to pass, in that day when life is like death?

We don't know whether the poet got the happiness he expected, and he didn't explain it. However, his poems at least describe the possibility of expecting happiness even in the sadness of the rainy night. (Source: Five Cars Study)

5. In Ten Thousand Tang Poems edited by Hong Mai in Southern Song Dynasty, the title of this poem is Rain at Night, which means this poem is for his wife. Judging from the word "Bashan" in the poem, this poem is about Bashu. Li Shangyin once applied to join Sichuan as the chief of staff of Liu Zhongying, our time in Dongchuan. The time was the sixth year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 852). Before this year, Li Shangyin's wife died. Feng Hao, a Qing Dynasty man who annotated Li Shangyin's Poems, thought that the title of the poem should not be changed to "send it inside" (because "all the poems in it are unknown"), but the content should be "send it inside". To this end, he advanced the writing time of poetry to two years (AD 848). According to Feng Hao's textual research, Li Shangyin was the shogunate of Zheng Ya in Guangxi (now Guilin) this year. Zheng Ya was framed by his political opponents and demoted to being a secretariat with Suizhou. Li Shangyin didn't go to Zhou Xun, but went to Changsha by water and returned to Chang 'an the next year. Feng Hao believes that Li Shangyin once "roamed Jianghan and traveled to and from Bashu" and "had a land and water journey between Bashu" on his way home. A note to friends in the north on a rainy night was written when I passed Bashu on my way home. Neighbors Cen and Chen Yinque once pointed out that the statement about the trip to Bashu was incorrect. In fact, Feng Hao didn't say much. He vaguely said that Li Shangyin had been to Bashu at this time, "playing with poetry and seeing it with his own eyes, but there was no breakdown." It can be seen that the note to friends in the north on a rainy night is generally sent by Li Shangyin to his wife. This statement seems to need to be reconsidered.

Li Shangyin's life is unfortunate. As soon as he embarked on his official career, he was involved in the dispute between Niu and Li's cronies. (cattle, cattle monks and nuns; Li, Li Deyu. A clique, a bureaucratic group. ) In 852, it was a last resort to go to Shu with Liu Zhongying. How difficult the career is, my wife died young and I feel sad. A few years ago, when Lu Xun was the shogunate in Xuzhou, he was quite complacent. "Let's sing RoyceWong in military music, don't recite Yuan Ming." After arriving in Sichuan, this optimism disappeared. "Three years of bitter fog, leaving no one to manage the beams." He cut off contact with the outside world and even had no friendship with the staff of the same government. "A short message to a friend in the north on a rainy night" was written with great passion. I sent a poem to Jun and asked him about his return date with concern. He also looked forward to "cutting the candle at the west window" with Jun. This "gentleman" has at least three conditions. First, the past was relatively dense; Second, there are still poetry books at the moment; Third, we are soul mates. Judging from the existing poems of Li Shangyin, there is one person who can be such a "monarch", and that is the humanities in the late Tang poetry. When Li Shangyin was in Xuzhou, there was a poem "Autumn Stay in". When Li Shangyin was in Sichuan, he also sent three poems to Wen. Wen's birth is more precious than Li's, and he is a descendant of Wen Yanbo, the prime minister of the early Tang Dynasty. However, he was also pushed out and suppressed by Hu Ling Mao, a Niu Dang, and became Fang Chengwei's teaching assistant in his later years. If there is no evidence to the contrary, it can probably be said that "Friends in the North on a Rainy Night" was written to Wen by Li Shangyin when he was in Zizhou Shogunate. In this way, we may be able to taste the emotional content contained in the poem more carefully.

At the beginning of the poem, there is an unavoidable contradiction that "the date of your return is uncertain" The hope of returning to China and disappointment in the future are opposites. Sorrow enveloped the whole article. On the surface, "it rains at night in the autumn pool" is an impromptu point. But this scene makes the sadness of not returning for a certain period of time more vivid and rich. Bashan, alone in a foreign land, is autumn, late at night and rainy at night. The situation itself is very sad. In particular, the word "rising autumn pool", continuous autumn rain, filled the pool with water. The poet captured this beautiful and realistic picture and inspired the imagination of readers. It seems that what rises in the autumn pool is not autumn water, but the pain that the poet can't get rid of.

Although the quatrains are short, they also pay attention to structural skills. It has been said by predecessors that quatrains are generally difficult to inherit two sentences, and it is better to say them directly and calmly. Change takes a lot of time, all in the third sentence. The third sentence of this poem shows this kind of effort. "Why * * * Cut Candles at the West Window" jumps from now to the future, from Bashan to the north (Chang 'an), and writes the poet's reverie with the rhetorical method of expressing the present. "Cutting candles at the west window" may have melted the poetic meaning of "holding candles at night is more like a dream" in Du Fu's "Three Songs of Qiang Village", but it has changed from a couple to a friend and is more affectionate. The word "when" means "when will it be possible", and the first sentence "not yet" is done, which is both urgent and unpredictable. Emotionally, with the first two sentences, it seems to be broken

The fourth sentence is more exciting. Farewell to the Rain at Night comes from "* * * Cutting the West Window", which is a boat sailing down the river. In the genre of quatrains, which is as short as only four sentences, it is not a pity to use the meaning of repeated sentences, but it is bold. However, the reappearance of Late Rain is not monotonous, but its significance is tortuous and profound. If the "late rain" in the previous sentence is based on scenery, then the "late rain" in this sentence is based on feelings. It and Cut the Candle at the West Window form a warm and dynamic picture, which shows the poet's longing for the return date and his deep friendship with Jun. This adds joy to the poem. This joy is only an unpredictable expectation, so it shows the joy of the future and aggravates the pain of untimely return. We can feel the poet's mood constantly ups and downs, but the emotional tone is always harmonious and unified.

Li Shangyin's poems, especially those in his later years, are full of sentimental feelings. This sentimentality reflects the darkness of the times and his personal misfortune. A note to a friend in the north on a rainy night, although it reflects some happiness, is also sentimental on the whole. It's just that this sadness is tortuous and profound. The sentence "Rose in the Autumn Rain at Night" contains a lot of subtext. It seems that it is not the pain caused by the separation of husband and wife, but it really contains the sadness of the poet's review of his life here and now, and implies the anger and despair of reality.

This poem is improvised, showing the twists and turns of the poet's feelings in an instant. The language is simple, and there is no trace of modification in wording and sentence making. Most of Li Shangyin's poems are rich in rhetoric, exquisite in allusions and good at symbols and hints. This "Notes to a friend in the North on a Rainy Night" shows another style of Li Shangyin's poetry: simple and natural, but with the artistic characteristics of "deep sustenance and gentle wording".