Plum blossom is a common aesthetic image in ancient China. Because of its tortuous form and frost resistance, it was repeatedly sung by ancient literati. With the help of this objective image and his own subjective meaning, the poet endowed plum blossom with various beautiful characters. Subjective meaning and objective image are integrated, and the artistic image of plum blossom is both rational and emotional, which stimulates readers' imagination. Now let's talk about the plum blossom image centered on the Song Dynasty. There are three main images: first, it symbolizes ambition and chastity; Second, it symbolizes hermit and high earth; The third is to symbolize beauty and fairies.

As early as the Wei and Jin Dynasties, plum blossom was written into poetry. People first recognized and described it as a common spring flower and spring tree, such as Xiao Gang's "Xun Mei in the Snow": "Never be surprised at the late opening of plum blossom, let us get a glimpse of it in the snow." The lower branches are visible, but the higher branches are hard to know. Everyone is ashamed to show off their wrists and let them win at the waist. Later, plum blossom gradually rose as an independent aesthetic expression object, not just as an ornament of spring scenery, which naturally produced its unique image.

Bao Zhao in the Southern Dynasties said in his Plum Blossom Fall: "There are many miscellaneous trees in the atrium, and the plum blossom is the only one. Ask why you are unique, thinking that you can make flowers in the cream. In the dew, this can be done, and the spring breeze can charm the spring day. Nianer dispersed, chasing the cold wind, with or without frost. Although plum blossoms are still regarded as spring flowers, I have seen the sadness of plum blossoms in the frost and snow, which is intended to support my talents. In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, when Zhang Jiuling was frustrated in his official career, he wrote "Mei Ting Yong": "I pity the weak and spend the cheap, and I am not moved by the cold of the year. I envy the snow, and the evil wind blows again and again. Although the fragrance is still good, who knows if it floats? While expressing his life experience, he also embodied the poet's indomitable will, which Bao's poems did not have. In Zhu Qingyu's poem "Early Plum" in the middle Tang Dynasty, he praised the noble character of plum blossom: "Everything is difficult to accompany because of different natures. Since ancient times, spring has come early, and it snows in severe winter. It can be seen that the poet endowed plum blossom with noble character.

Especially in the Song Dynasty, poets who lived in a dirty world and could not stretch their ambitions formed an indissoluble bond with Meihua. They saw plum blossom in full bloom in first frost season, proud of the cold snow and fragrant, so they interpreted it as a noble sentiment, chastity and self-love, and compared their virtues with plum. Ouyang Xiu's "Remembering Plum Blossoms with Snow" depicts the beauty and elegance of plum blossoms, which can resist cold and stand tall and straight. In the eyes of Han Wei, a poet in the early Song Dynasty, plum blossom was so aloof and unique that it still maintained its iron graceful posture in the cold, frost and snow. "Xie Jin" = There is also a description of plum blossom growing in a harsh environment: (Stone "Plum Blossom in a Stone Seam") Although the growth environment is not good, it is still tenacious from the bottom up, not vulgar, and remains true to itself.

In the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, the image of a gentleman in Meihua was further deepened through the chanting of Su Shi and others. Su Shi is a plum blossom poet. He wrote a large number of Yongmei poems, all of which have strong subjective expression. On the one hand, he vividly showed the poet's narcissistic, quiet and self-sufficient personality interest like his predecessors, on the other hand, he also entrusted his loneliness and loneliness that he was unwilling to give up because he was deeply detached from the world. & lt Don't sigh when drinking alone. Fortunately, I caught a glimpse of the bright moon. & gt (plum blossoms bloom under the pine wind pavilion)