Yuan Zhen's epitaph heron lodge ancient poems

Author: Wang Zhihuan

The sun sets slowly near the western hills, and the Yellow River flows into the East China Sea.

By going up one flight of stairs, look further.

Translation:

The setting sun slowly sinks beside the western hills, and the surging Yellow River rushes to the East China Sea. If you want to see the scenery of Wan Li, you must climb a higher tower.

Make an appreciative comment

The poet's extraordinary ambition to climb high and look far reflects the positive and enterprising spirit of the people in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Among them, the first two sentences are what you see. "The Mountain Covers the Day" is about the view, the mountain and the scenery seen when climbing the building, and "The River with the Ocean Discharging Gold" is about the close-up view, the water is spectacular and magnificent. Here, the poet captured the rivers and mountains of Wan Li in a very simple and plain language with just ten words; Later, when people read these ten words a thousand years later, they felt like they were underground. If they see the scenery, they will feel that their minds are open. Looking into the distance, a touch of sunset sank to the endless rolling mountains in front of the building and disappeared into Ran Ran at the end of the field of vision. This is the sky view, the distant view and the western view.

The second sentence is about the Yellow River flowing through the front and bottom of the building, roaring south, then turning east in the distance and flowing to the sea. This is from the ground to the horizon, from near to far, from west to east. When these two poems are combined, the scenery of up and down, far and near, and things are all contained under the pen, which makes the picture look particularly broad and distant. As far as the second poem is concerned, the poet can't see the Yellow River entering the sea on the stork building. The sentence is about the poet's view of the Yellow River far from the horizon, which is a way to combine the prospect with the view of the middle. This writing increases the breadth and depth of the picture. Calling the sun "daytime" is a realistic style. The setting sun holds the mountain, and the clouds cover the fog. At this time, the brightness of the weakened sun is even dimmer, and the poet directly observes the wonders of the sun. As for the "Yellow River". Of course it is also realistic. It flies like a golden ribbon in the mountains.

What the poet presented to him was a magnificent picture. This picture is still in a fast-changing dynamic. It's only a short process to walk by the mountain for a day; The Yellow River flows to the sea, but it is an eternal movement. If this kind of scenery is beautiful, then it is a dynamic beauty, full of infinite vitality and lively beauty. This is not a so-called "freeze frame", not a precious fossil or specimen. The generosity of the poet left a deep impression on the readers. Write the last two sentences. "But you have broadened your horizons by three hundred miles", a poet's endless desire to explore, wants to see further and see where his eyesight can reach. The only way is to stand higher and "walk up a flight of stairs". "A thousand miles" and "the first floor" are imaginary numbers, which are both vertical and horizontal spaces in the poet's imagination. The words "to be poor" and "to be better" contain many hopes and longings. These two well-known poems are not only unexpected, but also very natural, close to the first two. At the same time, the use of the word "Lou" at the end also plays a role in pointing out that this is a poem about climbing stairs. It can be inferred from the second half of the poem that the first half was written on the second floor. The poet wanted to see the distant scenery as far as possible, and even climbed to the top floor of the building. The poem seems to write the process of climbing stairs straightforwardly, but it has far-reaching implications and is intriguing. Here is the poet's enterprising spirit, forward-looking mind, and also the philosophy of standing high and looking far. As far as the writing characteristics of the whole poem are concerned, this poem is what the Japanese monk Konghai said in On the Chamber of Secrets in the Mirror. Some people say that poetry should not be reasonable.

This should only mean that poetry should not be blunt, boring and abstract, not that philosophy cannot be revealed and promoted in poetry. Just like this poem, it perfectly dissolves truth, scenery and events, making readers feel comfortable instead of reasoning. This is a mode to express the philosophy of life through thinking in images according to the characteristics of poetry. The writing of this poem has another feature: it is a quatrain full of antithesis. In the first two sentences, the nouns "daytime" and "Yellow River" are relative, the colors "white" and "yellow" are relative, and the verbs "one" and "ru" are relative. The last two sentences are the same, which constitutes a formal perfection.

When Shen De selected this poem in Tang Poetry and Song Poetry, he pointed out: "All four languages are correct, and it is not too expensive to read, so the bones are high." There are only two couplets in the quatrains, both of which are antithetical sentences. If it is not full of momentum and clear-cut, it will easily appear dull or fragmented. In this poem, the previous combination is the opposite name, the so-called "right and wrong", and the sentence is extremely neat, heavy and powerful, which shows the greatness of the scene written; The latter combination is that although the two sentences are relative, there is no trace of confrontation. Therefore, the poet's dual skills are also very mature.