Tang Dynasty: Yuan Zhen

In the empty and desolate old palace, there is only the lonely brilliant red of Hua Gong.

Several white-haired footmen were sitting around talking about the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

Translation and annotation

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In the deserted old palace, only the palace flowers are lonely and brilliant red.

Several white-haired ladies-in-waiting sat around talking about Xuanzong.

To annotate ...

Leo: Lonely and cold.

Palace: the palace of the emperor outside the capital. This refers to the emperor's palace in Luoyang, the eastern capital at that time.

Palace flower: the flower in the palace.

White-haired maids: According to Bai Juyi's "Shang Yang White Haired Man", some maids Tianbao were secretly assigned to Shang Yang Palace at the end of the year and were kept in this cold palace for more than 40 years, becoming white-haired maids.

Say: talk.

Xuanzong: refers to Xuanzong in the Tang Dynasty.

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Judging from the content of the poem, the key to understanding this poem lies in the sentence "Debating Xuanzong's grand occasion" at the end. The previous sentence of the speaker has pointed out that it is a "white-headed maid-in-waiting". The time and place are in the desolate and cold ancient palace, and the red flowers are in full bloom, which is the season of warm spring in bloom. From Tianbao to Zhenyuan, after half a century or so, the ancient palace has long been eroded by wind and rain, and the girl who entered the palace in those days has endured dozens of spring and autumn in loneliness, and now she is white-haired. Their youth is ruined here, their sad tears flow here, and they sigh and hiss at the blooming red flowers. Through simple words, we clearly heard their painful heart sounds. Bai Juyi's "Shang Yang White-haired Man" wrote: "Shang Yang's beauty is black and his hair is new. Green guards the palace gate. As soon as the sun closes, it is spring. Xuanzong entered the primary election at the end of the year, aged 16 and 60. At the same time, more than 100 people were selected, which was deeply disabled in that year. " White poems directly reveal the bitterness of old ladies-in-waiting, while Yuan poems touch the sparse environment. By comparing with the images of the brushwork of Red Palace Flower and White-headed ladies-in-waiting, the tragic life and psychological activities of ladies-in-waiting are revealed. Compared with these two poems, one is concrete, the other is general, the other is good at stirring up feelings, and the other is winning with profound and meaningful realm.

Here, the white-haired maids in the faded old palace are also witnesses to the history of the Tang Xuanzong era. In the later period of Tang Xuanzong's succession, he favored Yang Guifei, indulged in debauchery all day, and entrusted all government affairs to Li and Yang who were sycophantic, which eventually led to the Anshi rebellion. After the chaos, Xuanzong was forced to abdicate, and the powerful Tang Dynasty never recovered and went downhill day by day. Bai Juyi once said with deep affection in Song of Eternal Sorrow: "The emperor's eyes can't get enough of her because of soft songs and slow dances and string and bamboo ensemble. Until the sound of drums came from Yuyang, it shook the earth and broke the tune of rainbow skirts and feathers. " The four poems vividly summarize the historical reasons of Xuanzong's lust for national subjugation and chaos, and their satire and exposure are very profound. Of course, Yuan Zhen's short poems can't be as elaborate as white poems, so we can only concentrate and typify this vigorous history by means of comparison and suggestion, which makes people think about it. Sparse ancient palaces, palace flowers that have died with the changes of years in loneliness, and girls who have become white-haired old people are deeply marked by the ups and downs of the times. White-haired ladies-in-waiting witnessed the world of Kaiyuan Tianbao, and they themselves were witnesses of history. "Debate Xuanzong's grand occasion" to control chaos. This is the main idea of the poem, and it is also the place that the poet thinks should be taken as a warning. However, it is expressed in a seemingly leisurely but deep style, which has little meaning and endless charm.

From the perspective of expression, the poet mainly used two kinds of expression when shaping the artistic conception. First, less is more. This poem has the characteristics of drawing inferences from others, with few words and many meanings. Four poems, the first sentence indicates the location, is an empty and cold ancient palace; The second sentence implies the environment and time, and the red flowers in the palace are in full bloom, which coincides with the spring season; Three sentences explain the characters, several white-headed maids, and with the last sentence, we can know that they are the old maids who survived when Xuanzong Tianbao entered the palace in the last year; The last sentence describes the action, and the ladies-in-waiting sit around to recall and talk about Tianbao's legacy. Twenty words, places, times, people and actions are all displayed, forming a very vivid picture. This picture has aroused readers' imagination: ladies-in-waiting are all beautiful and charming when they are young. These beautiful ladies-in-waiting are imprisoned in this cold ancient palace and are lonely and bored every day. Looking at the palace flowers, bloom flowers fall, year after year, the youth withers, the face is haggard, the hair is long, so it is ruined, and the past is unbearable. However, they were shut up in the cold palace, isolated from the world, and there was no other topic, so they could only look back on the legacy of Xuanzong in Tianbao era. This situation is absolutely pathetic. "Loneliness", "loneliness" and "sitting around" not only describe the scene at that time, but also reflect the poet's tendency. Sad life experience, sad feelings, ups and downs of emotions, 20 words describe a vivid picture, showing profound meaning.

Another way to express it is to write sad feelings in music scenes. In China's classical poems, the scenery sometimes reflects psychology from a negative angle. Using the contradiction between sad mood and its instantaneous beautiful atmosphere, sad feelings are written in a happy scene, but good artistic effects can be achieved. This poem also uses this technique. What the poem wants to express is a sad mood, but it deliberately depicts the red palace flower. Red flowers usually show lively scenes and set off happy emotions, but they play an important role in setting off here: the blooming red flowers set off sparse palaces and strengthen the sense of ups and downs that change with time; The red flowers in spring set off the white hair of ladies-in-waiting, showing the feelings of life that beauty is easy to get old; The beauty of safflower contrasts with the sad mood, which highlights the sad mood of the maid-in-waiting being confined. Red flowers have played a great role here. This is to use the contradiction between good scenery and bad mood to highlight the central idea, that is, Wang Fuzhi's "Jiang Zhai Shi Hua" said "writing sorrow with joy", which doubled his sorrow. Bai Juyi's "Shang Yang White Haired Man", "Gong Ying is worried about happiness, and Yan Liang is jealous in both places", which can also be said to be based on happiness. However, Bai Juyi's writing directly reveals the contradiction between music and sadness, while Yuan Zhen's Palace is a more subtle contrast with music and has more aftertaste.

The language of this quatrain is unremarkable, but it is very general, alert, moving and subtle, giving people an imaginary world. The sense of historical vicissitudes is self-evident, with profound implications and high self-evaluation. Wang Jian's Gong Ci, Bai Juyi's Song of Eternal Sorrow, and Yuan Zhen's Lian Chang Gong Ci are all masterpieces of about 1000 words, which describe in detail the historical process of the rise and fall of the Tang Xuanzong era and lament the rise and fall. Summing up the lessons is extensive and profound. Yuan Zhen's short poems are only * * * 20 words, which can be selected as "Three Hundred Tang Poems". Compared with these novels, they can be said to be short and pithy.

Creation background

Yuan Zhen lived in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, just when the Tang Dynasty experienced the Anshi Rebellion and all aspects of national strength were declining. This poem is an important reason for the decline of the Tang Dynasty.