The emperor of China, eager to shake the beauty of an empire, has been in office for many years, searching and never finding it.
The Song of Eternal Sorrow wrote: "The emperor of China, eager to shake the beauty of an empire, has been in office for many years, looking for it and never finding it." We know that in history, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was a prosperous emperor, and in his emotional life, he was also an affectionate monarch who loved his country and beauty. His love and yearning for Li Furen is well known. According to the biography of Han consorts and Lady Li Xiaowu, when Li Yannian introduced his sister to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, he wrote a song: "There are beautiful women in the north, and they are peerless and independent. Take care of the city first, then the country. I'd rather not know the whole city and country, and it's hard to get another beauty. " Sure enough, after the Emperor Wu of Han got Li Furen, he was very fond of him: "Good! Is there such a person?' The main reason for Pingyang is that he has a younger brother for a long time. He was called by the Lord. He is really beautiful and good at dancing. So, it's lucky ... Li Furen doesn't have fleas, so he sympathizes with others. The picture shows its shape in Ganquan Palace. ..... when Li Furen was just sick, he went up to wait for him ... Think of Li Furen, an alchemist can make a difference. At night, he lit lanterns and candles, put up curtains, aged wine and meat, put him in his tent, and saw a good woman like Li Furen in the distance, but he still sat and walked. I can't just watch, but I'm more and more homesick and sad about the world. For poetry, I said,' Is it evil, not evil? Watch it, it's too late, He Shanshan! "Let Yuefu musicians sing a string of songs. On the other hand, he made a tribute for himself to mourn his wife. " Therefore, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was an emperor who loved his country deeply and was ridiculed by later poets. In the Tang Dynasty, Liu Xiyi called "Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the cloud is the king of rain and Chu Xiang" ("The Journey of the Childe"), and Li Shangyin also recited the cloud "The night of the Han Palace is early in the morning, and the dew is dew. When the Empress Dowager Xiao Jifang returns, Li See Fu Jen is required "(the above two poems are all Tang poems, and the following are the same as Tang poems).
We know that the "Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty" in Bai Juyi's poems refers to the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty on the surface, but actually refers to the metaphor of the Tang Dynasty with Han. He used the name of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to satirize Emperor Tang Ming. So these two sentences actually mean that Tang Xuanzong paid special attention to beauty. Although he has been in office for many years, he has not found a particularly desirable beauty. What deserves our attention here is why Bai Juyi compared the Tang Dynasty with Chinese. I think, in addition to the Chinese expressions used by Tang people, such as "China's northeast border is shrouded in smoke and dust, repelling the barbaric invaders, and our army generals leave their homes" in Gao Shi's Travel, "Going to Li Yong to slide the platform" in Tang Dynasty, and "The Han family attaches great importance to the East County and is equipped with white horses and gold" in Wei's Chang 'an Road. One is to avoid directly laughing at Emperor Li Tang, who intends to become a taboo for distinguished people. Secondly, in Bai Juyi's eyes, the "heavy color" of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is quite similar to that of Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty, so when we say Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in the open, we mean Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty in the dark. Thirdly, Bai Juyi not only described the story that Tang Xuanzong entrusted Taoist priests to "ascend to heaven and enter the earth" and "search for blue sky on the top and yellow earth on the bottom" to find Yang Guifei in Song of Eternal Sorrow, but also arranged for Tang Xuanzong to send "Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty" to the fairy mountain at sea to find Yang Guifei and invited her back to Chang 'an to meet her. Such a plot arrangement is in line with the story that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent the alchemist to Li Furen, so as to "watch the fire from the other side". Therefore, it can be said that the sentence "Emperor Han" at the beginning of the poem laid the groundwork for the story that the later Han messengers found Yang Taizhen in the sea fairy mountain, and played the role of a grass snake gray line. This kind of grass snake gray line exists in many places in Song of Eternal Sorrow, which can be said to be one of the remarkable artistic features of this poem.
In addition, it is worth noting why Bai Juyi used "heavy color" instead of "lewdness" in this poem? I think this word is quite measured. There is a difference between "heavy color" and "lust" The so-called "lewdness", that is, the lust for women, is somewhat derogatory. For example, "Guan Zi Xiao Kuang": "I am evil, unfortunate and lustful." Biography of Han Du Qin: "When I was a prince from the world, I heard his lust and acceded to the throne. Empress Zhao adopted a good woman." And "heavy color" here only emphasizes the special attention to beauty. This sentence combined with the second sentence "I have been on the throne for many years, looking for it, but I have never found it" is to highlight that the color of "dumping the country" has not been obtained for many years, thus rendering the color of "dumping the country" rare and paving the way for the stunning appearance of the late Yang Wenjia's daughter; On the other hand, judging from the poet's original intention, although this kind of "heavy color" is different from "lust" and has obvious derogatory meaning, it not only emphasizes that Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty pays special attention to beauty, but also has criticism. This can be understood from the following explanation of Chen Hong's Song of Eternal Sorrow as an annotation:
At the beginning of Kaiyuan, the stage in Thailand was flat and there was nothing in the four seas. Xuanzong reigned for a long time, tired of eating night clothes, and had no political size. He was appointed as the right prime minister and lived at a banquet to entertain himself. First, Empress Yuan Xian and Wu Shufei were favored and died first. Although there are thousands of good people in the palace, none of them is pleasing to the eye.
Chen Hong's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" has "the song has become, making Hong Chuanyan. What is not known to the world is not known to the adherents of Kaiyuan. It is well known that there is a biography of Xuanzong. Today, however, the passage "Song of Eternal Sorrow" has been handed down. From then on, we understand that the content and theme described in Song of Eternal Sorrow is only a biography for Song of Eternal Sorrow, and we have not added our own views. In other words, Chen Hong's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" and Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" are basically the same in content and theme, and they are both inventions of each other. To understand this truth, when we interpret some poems and themes of Song of Eternal Sorrow, we can read Biography of Song of Eternal Sorrow.
From Xuanzong's reign for a long time, anorexia night clothes, no political size. He was appointed as the right prime minister and entertained himself a little at the banquet. The so-called "Yu Yu has been in office for many years" means "Xuanzong has been in office for a long time"; The so-called "homesickness" and "not seeking success" mean "staying for a banquet to entertain yourself and enjoy it", but at this time I deeply regret that "there are thousands of good families in the palace, which is very pleasing to the eye". Then, the importance of "emphasizing color" includes the implication that Tang Xuanzong attached great importance to "entertaining himself" and took the political affairs of "eating evening clothes" as light. Tang Xuanzong's attention to this point led to the later writing "But the spring night was short and the sun rose too early, so the emperor gave up his early hearing", which led to the ending of "until the drums of Yuyang rang, shaking the earth and breaking the tune of the rainbow skirt and feather coat". So for the average person, it is not an exaggeration for you to "emphasize color", which is also human nature. But for the king, you shoulder the responsibility of governing the country. If you make mistakes in politics and country because of "heavy color", you are not fit to be a monarch and will be laughed at. For example, Li Shangyin mocked the Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, and Han Wo called the Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty "not sad about frost and dew, but hurting spring" and "seen in strange incense" (Guo Mao Order). Therefore, Bai Juyi felt sorry for the "heavy color" of Xuanzong in the Tang Dynasty, which was tactfully implied in the rare poem that highlighted "dumping the country" at the beginning of the poem.
Fireflies were flying on the throne, and he was meditating in the twilight. He will extend the wick to its end and still never fall asleep ... bells and drums will slowly ring the long night, and before dawn, the Milky Way in the sky will become clear. And the porcelain mandarin ducks on the roof grow thick morning frost, and the jade is cold, so who and who * * *.
This poem specifically describes the lonely life of Tang Xuanzong after he returned to the palace after the Anshi Rebellion, and secretly compares it with the life in which he and Yang Guifei were immersed in love and joy before, thus describing the desolation and loneliness of Tang Xuanzong after losing Yang Guifei.
The next six sentences are "fireflies flying on the throne, while he is meditating in the twilight." Describe the lonely long night scene of Xuanzong in Tang Dynasty very concretely. What kind of atmosphere and scenery is fireflies flying in the evening palace? "Evening" is from dusk to evening. If you are a lonely person, it is the most lonely and even anxious moment. This is a moment that often reminds people of their hometown and strongly misses their loved ones. Therefore, there are poems in the Yellow Crane Tower in Cui Hao, "But I look to my hometown, and the twilight is getting dark, and there is a sad mist on the river waves" and "The west wind is thin and the horse is old, the sun is setting, and the horizon is heartbroken" in Ma Zhiyuan's Tianjingsha. At this time, the darkness has enveloped everything in the empty palace, and only a few faint fireflies are flashing green light, showing loneliness and desolation. In this case, the lonely Tang Xuanzong, why not meditate quietly in silence!
Here, I want to explain why Bai Juyi used the description that "he stretched the wick to the end and still couldn't sleep". In Song Dynasty, Shao Bo commented on Bai Juyi's poem in Volume 19 of Shao Tinglu: "It is better to burn wax oil in the middle of the night than Xingqing Palace, and Ming Di will carry the lamp himself." This scholar's point of view is ridiculous! In his view, palaces or wealthy families in the Tang Dynasty lit candles at night. Han Yi's poem "Cold Food" in the Tang Dynasty has the sentence "At dusk, candles are passed in the Han Palace, and light smoke is scattered into the Wuhou House". The emperor should light candles. How can he light an oil lamp like an ordinary poor man? ! Besides, Tang Xuanzong was left out in the cold at this time. He is also the emperor's father. He can't light oil lamps, and he has to light lanterns himself. We thought that what Shao Bo said was right in terms of historical facts, but it was wrong for him to criticize Bai Juyi for writing that "the opinion of a scholar is ridiculous", because Bai Juyi was not describing the historical truth, but writing poems. Poetry creation and history are both related and different. The poet's brushwork, which violates the historical truth, aims to better show the coldness and desolation of Xuanzong in Tang Dynasty at this time, thus forming a strong contrast with the rich and luxurious scene of indulging in the love with Yang Guifei before. Therefore, many contents in this section imply a comparison between the past and the present. Look at the words "white hair is new" and the eunuch in her pepper court is narrow-minded; Before this poem, the disciples of Liyuan, Bai Fa Xin and Qing E Lao clearly show that these people around them have changed from young to old. "He will stretch the wick to the end, but he still can't sleep. The "darkness of the past" was covered by warm hibiscus curtains on spring nights. But the nights in spring are short, and the sun rises too fast. Since then, the emperor has given up his early hearings. Now, the bells and drums will slowly ring the long night, and the river of stars will become clear in the sky, just before dawn. The porcelain mandarin ducks on the roof are getting thicker and thicker with the morning frost, which is the contrast between jade and * * *. The so-called "belated bell and drum" means that it is already very late. The ancients divided into five watches a night, that is, five drums. Delay, very slow. When he heard the drums striking the time, he felt that every drum came slowly. This feeling of slowness is especially felt by people who suffer from insomnia. This is a painful feeling that is hard to get. It is something that a sleeping person can't feel when he wakes up in the morning and still feels sleepy. So keep saying "the first night". The poem "The Milky Way is about to break dawn" means that it is almost dawn, and at this time, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty is still "sleepless", which is really sleepless all night! This shows his pain of losing Yang Guifei.
We say this accurately, in order to understand the mood of Tang Xuanzong at this time, which Bai Juyi wants to express. Because at that time, the words "and the porcelain mandarin ducks on the roof are thick and frosty, who thinks the jade is cold and * * *" clearly show this idea. "Yuanyang Tile" and "Biography of the Three Kingdoms and Zhou Weizhi": "Emperor Wen asked Xuan:' Two tiles in my dream room fell to the ground and became a pair of Yuanyang. What is this? ""So' Yuanyang tile' is two tiles embedded together. There is also a metaphor for husband and wife. There is also "Who is Leng Yuhe * * *", which clearly shows that Tang Xuanzong deeply misses Yang Guifei. It used to be "hibiscus warm", but now it is "emerald cold". If it is cold and warm, it will remind us of the past. Compared with the past and present, the pain of cold and warm, the sorrow of ownership and loss, readers can silently experience it! From the above poems, we can deeply understand that Bai Juyi used grass snake gray lines in many places in Song of Eternal Sorrow, and his artistic expression technique is very clever.
The distance between life and death is year after year, but no beloved soul has visited his dream.
Yang Guifei and Tang Xuanzong have been separated for a long time, but Tang Xuanzong never dreamed of Yang Guifei's "soul". The "soul" here refers to the soul of Yang Guifei. Do you believe what Bai Juyi wrote? You can read from Song of Eternal Sorrow that Tang Xuanzong's yearning for Yang Guifei is unforgettable, such as "Only the water in Shu is evergreen, the mountains are evergreen, and your majesty's affection is deeper than the sky." He stared at the desolate moon from his temporary palace, and he heard the bells in the late rain cutting his chest "; Another example is "But petals are like her face and willow leaves are like her eyebrows, so why not cry?" and "flies fly on the throne while he meditates at dusk." These are the concrete descriptions of Yang Guifei's thinking in Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty. We often say "thinking day and night", so according to common sense, Tang Xuanzong will definitely dream of Yang Guifei. So, what does the poet here say? "However, no lovely soul has visited his dream"? Is it true?/You don't say. Isn't this writing inconsistent with the poet's repeated description of Tang Xuanzong's unforgettable thoughts about Yang Guifei? This "contradiction" deserves our deep thinking and exploration. I put "contradiction" in quotation marks here, which means that there is actually no so-called contradiction mentioned above. The "contradiction" we mentioned above is actually that we didn't delve into the exact meaning of the relationship between "soul" and personal body for a while, but were blinded by the poet's wonderful pen and didn't understand the poet's good intentions in saying so. We understand the "soul" in the poem as Yang Guifei, which is not surprising to ordinary people, because most people represent someone's soul. But the mystery lies in whether the soul is possessed. Because the possession of the soul and leaving the body are very particular and have essential differences. So what is a "soul"? The Chinese Dictionary explains: "The ancients imagined a spirit that could exist independently from the human body. Possession leads to life, while in vitro leads to death. "Seven years of Zuo Gong" said: "A man and a woman died hard, but the soul can still cling to others, thinking that they are obscene. "The so-called" strong death "is also called" strong death ",that is," death due to illness or old age; People still die strong. "Therefore, a stranger is possessed by a soul. If the soul leaves the body, people will die. Bai Juyi used "but no beloved god came to his dream" here, which meant that Yang Guifei's soul never entered the dream of Tang Xuanzong. According to the above explanation of soul, if Yang Guifei dies, then her soul can leave her body and enter the dream of Tang Xuanzong. If she didn't die, how could her soul leave the body and enter the dream of Tang Xuanzong? Since "the soul has never dreamed", Bai Juyi's subtle meaning in this poem is to imply that Yang Guifei is not dead but still alive, so "the soul" has never dreamed. No wonder Song of Eternal Sorrow says, "There lived a Taoist priest in Lingqiong, who was a heavenly guest and could concentrate. People were moved by the emperor's constant meditation, and they begged the Taoist priest to see if he could find her. He opened a path in space, like lightning, cut through the sky, up and down, looking for it everywhere. Above, he looked for the green void, below, the yellow spring, but he didn't find the one he was looking for in two places. "You see, the Taoist priest in Lin Qiong was moved by the sincerity of Tang Xuanzong's yearning for Yang Guifei, so he worked tirelessly to find Yang Guifei's" soul "for Tang Xuanzong. Originally, the Taoist priest of Lin Qiong in the capital (namely "Hongdu") was very capable, and he could attract people's "soul" with sincerity and magic, but although he "opened up a road in space, the lilac ether, like lightning, went up to heaven, down to the earth and looked around. Above, he looked for the green void, below, the yellow spring ",but the result was" but he couldn't find the person he was looking for in two places ". The so-called "two places" refers to the sky, the earth or the blue sky and yellow land. These two places are off limits to the living. Only when people are dead can they visit the "soul". Then such a clever Taoist priest can't find Yang Guifei's "soul" in heaven and earth, which shows that Yang Guifei's "soul" outside the body does not exist. In other words, Yang Guifei is not dead at all, how can there be a soul in vitro! No wonder Taoist priests couldn't find Yang Guifei's soul, and Tang Xuanzong didn't meet Yang Guifei's soul to dream. At this point, it suddenly dawned on us that Bai Juyi wrote "The soul never sleeps", the purpose of which was to subtly change Yang Guifei's narrative "Until their hooves, they may trample on those moths" and "From the soil along Mawei Slope, that buried, that memory, that depression. Where is her white face? Judging from the original text written above, Yang Guifei did not die in Ma Yi's post, because as the suspicious clue said, "That memory, that depression". Where is her face as white as jade? " The poem implies that Yang Guifei is not actually dead, but her soul is still there. So he is a Taoist priest, and his spells are brilliant. Although he went to heaven and died, he still couldn't find Yang Guifei's soul! So Yang Guifei is not dead. Where is she? It turns out that Yang Guifei is in Haixian Mountain, which will be described in detail below! Imagine, if this poem is about Yang Guifei really dying in an ant station, then how can there be a narrative description of the plot of Song of Eternal Sorrow, and then he hears a narrative about an enchanted island at sea and one of them-they call it once true? That's hopeless. Not only does Bai Juyi's Song of Eternal Sorrow have to be closed, but the second half of the story of "There are fairy mountains overseas" can't be used to show the love of Tang Xuanzong for Yang Guifei's life and death, nor can it be said that although they have always loved each other, they can't be together for a long time! In order to achieve this, we can understand from the above turning point to the following plot that "The Soul Without a Dream" is indeed a critical poem worthy of deep thought and meditation. Bai Juyi wrote this with ulterior motives, and we can also see the superb artistic expression of Bai Juyi's poetic realm.
The artistic expression of Bai Juyi's Song of Eternal Sorrow is various. Here's another example of his concern about the poem. We say that Taoist priests are looking for Yang Guifei's soul, which is described here. In fact, in the first sentence of this poem, "The emperor of China longs for the beauty that may shake an empire", we can appreciate his grass snake gray line and the art of poetry layout. The first sentence about Emperor Wudi's "attaching importance to the country" can remind readers of Emperor Wudi's yearning for Li Furen after Li Furen's death, and make Taoist priests call for Li Furen's soul. According to "History of Han Dynasty, Xiao Jing, Military Discipline", Li Yannian's younger sister is beautiful and good at dancing, thanks to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. "She died with her wife, and then she was buried with a ceremony, and the figure was in Ganquan Palace ... I missed him, but the alchemist's small words could lead him into ecstasy, but it was a night candle, and Chen's wine and food made him reach the peak. I can see a good woman, such as Li Furen, paying the bill, but I can't see it. " . Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty invited Li Shaoweng, an alchemist, to visit Li Furen, which echoed the story of Lin Qiong Taoist priest looking for Yang Guifei's soul. It can be said that writing Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty before is also an allusion to later depicting Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, and there are similar conceptual arrangements. It's just that Li Shaoweng can recruit the soul of Li Furen, but the Taoist in Lin Qiong can't find the soul of Yang Guifei. The reason is that Li Furen really died, but Bai Juyi arranged for Yang Guifei to live here, so she couldn't find her soul, but later she found Yang Guifei's deity in the sea fairy mountain. Then he heard a narrative about a magical island at sea, which is part of the invisible world. There are pavilions in the five-color sky, and exquisite immortals walk back and forth. One of them-they call it forever true, with a face of snow and flowers like hers. The fairy mountain here generally refers to Penglai, abbot and Yingzhou in the legendary East China Sea. "Cloud Seven Signs": "Yuanzhou has an absolutely empty palace. Among the five clouds, I often visit Yuling Xianmu and Jinhuaxian. " This is the place where the immortals in the Five Clouds live, so the pavilion here is the place where the immortals live on the illusory fairy mountain, and Yang Taizhen lives here. Here, fairy mountain is written in such an illusory way. On the one hand, it is the original appearance, on the other hand, it is also the ingenuity of Bai Juyi's works. He deliberately wrote so falsely as if nothing had happened. If it is realistic, with Bai Juyi's reason, how can he really believe in the fairy mountain where fairies live? But if not, how can there be a follow-up description such as Yang Taizhen living in Xianshan? Therefore, he can only write as if nothing happened, and the actual situation is born. This is also written in the sentence "with one of them-they call it forever true, with a face like her with snow and flowers, he is looking for it". In other words, among these fairies living in the illusory fairy mountain, one is "too real". "Too true" is a fairy name. "Cloud Seven Signs" Volume 98: "Mrs. Taizhen is also the daughter of the Queen Mother." It's really Yang Guifei's name when she was a Taoist priest. So "too true" can be said to refer to both Yang Guifei and other immortals. Therefore, there is ambiguity about the existence and non-existence of Yang Guifei, which is Bai Juyi's intention to make people confused. So when he said, "He is looking for one of them-they call it a person who is always true and has a face like her snowflake", on the one hand, he was afraid to say it was Yang Guifei, on the other hand, he said it was an "uneven" appearance. What is "injustice"? Almost, almost. This is the meaning of Tang Zhou's poem "Meeting Neighbors": "Don't be ashamed to kill Bai Furong." The so-called almost, almost "too real", is very similar, but not sure. You see, Bai Juyi's attention to this kind of wording here is really ingenious and artistic. It is too deliberate to mislead readers in good faith for his perfect story, so that readers seem to really see the living Yang Guifei.
(Author: Chinese Department of Xiamen University)