- "A child can sing the song of "Long Hate", and a hu'er can sing the song of "Pipa"" -
"Pipa Xing" was written in the 11th year of Yuanhe, when Bai Juyi was relegated to be the Secretary of the Department of Justice of Jiangzhou for the crime of overstepping his bounds by speaking out on matters, because of the discontent of the old bureaucratic clique caused by a letter he wrote to the government. It is a long narrative poem in seven lines, inheriting the excellent tradition of Han Lefu narrative poems, and is a masterpiece of the Tang dynasty's seven-line song and line style, which is another peak of China's classical narrative poetry creation. The poem was widely circulated during the poet's lifetime, and there was a saying that "a child can decipher the song of "Long Hate", and a hu'er can sing the song of "Pipa"". Why was this poem so popular? Let me tell you in detail.
- Drunkenness is not a joyful parting-
At the head of the Xunyang River, the autumn wind is cold, and the night sends off the guests. The author used only fourteen words to explain the time of the characters, location, events, time and environment. "The first time I saw this, I was in the middle of the night, and I was in the middle of the night, and I was in the middle of the night, and I was in the middle of the night, and I was in the middle of the night. Just two people, "raise wine to drink without strings". Ancient literati and elegant guests could not drink without wine and could not be happy without music. Without music, there was no joy. The environment was bleak, and so was the inner world of people. "Drunkenness is not enough to make merry, but misery is to be parted." Trying to drown one's sorrows in wine will only add to them. The word "miserable" emphasizes the infinite bleakness of the farewell party. In the beginning of the poem, the author repeatedly points out the bleak atmosphere, the environment is bleak, the human heart is also bleak, even the moonlight at this time is also bleakly shining on the vast river. If I were the director of such a farewell scene, I would have accompanied it with the cawing of crows, which would have made the atmosphere even more bleak.
- At this time, no sound is better than sound-
"Suddenly I heard the sound of pipa on the water", just at this infinitely bleak time when there is no sound of pipes and strings, suddenly the sound of pipa came from the water. Literati, most of all, love the sound of the pipa. After hearing such a beautiful sound, the two of them, "the master forgot to return to the guest does not send", searching for the voice secretly asked who played such a beautiful pipa music? The phrases "the sound of the pipa stops, the pipa is slow to speak" and "a thousand calls come out, but the pipa half covers the face" perfectly show the player's hesitation and seeming concealment, and her bashful form leaps out on the paper, which is extremely evocative and skillful. Of course, the artist wants to show his talent in front of the crowd, to show his skill and to win everyone's applause. But why does this artist not want to show it in front of the crowd and hold the lute to cover half of his face? In three words, the complex inner emotions of the player are evocatively expressed, what secrets she hides that can not be said, and what is the unknown story?
Under the repeated invitation of the two, the lute woman "spindle plucking" debugging the strings, just play a few, even if it has not formed the tune, but has laid down the mood, the lute woman's level of performance is quite high, such skills, should have been successful and famous, but now it? One cannot help but sigh. The sound of the strings is low, and it seems that the player intends to hide and repress her inner feelings, which is why "the strings hide the sound of thoughts, seem to complain about not being able to fulfill their aspirations in life." Each string emits a low, melancholy sound, and each sound symbolizes infinite sadness, telling endless thoughts. Although the hand play, but also in line with the beat, playing skills of the pure fire, unrivaled.
The pipa woman's skill is quite skillful, and she is able to gather and knock the strings; twist and knead the strings; wipe and pluck the strings; and pick and pluck the strings with her backhand. The author lists several movements of playing the pipa in one sentence. Although it is just a list, we still feel the pipa girl's skill and skillfulness. "First for the Neishang and then the Sixth": "Neishang" is the music and dance of the western region, and "Sixth" is the score recorded by the emperor's order. Pipa women will not only the capital of the tune, the border tune is also able to play, proficient in all parts of the repertoire. To be able to do so, you can learn that the pipa girl's level, absolutely superb.
How do you translate music into words? Sound is ephemeral and difficult to describe, but Bai Juyi put his literary talent to good use. "The big strings are noisy like urgent rain, and the small strings are cutting like whispers". Playing the thickest string, the sound is heavy and subdued; playing the thinnest string, the sound is urgent and fine. What kind of music did the pipa woman play at that time, but we know the sound of rapid rain and whispers is known, the author is like this, turning abstraction into concrete, playing the rhythm of fast and slow changes make the pipa sound become very beautiful. The crispness of the sound is like a jade pearl falling on a jade plate. The change of melody is very fast, first "slippery" and then "astringent", and the sound has a process of "sound break". Poet with "other sorrow dark hate born, at this time no sound is better than sound" to depict the aftermath of the sound curls, the aftermath of the infinite art world, whether it is playing or the author's writing, are all very impressive. Sorrow does not end, immediately after the repression of the outbreak, the sound is like the first break of the water bottle, the iron rider sword and spear, sentence novel and apt, the metaphor is quite vivid, the reader seems to be in the realm of reality. At the end of the song, the four strings in the center of the pipa are scratched with the plucking force, and the sound is like tearing a piece of cloth, which is very loud. Just before the climax, the lute lady ended the tune, abruptly. All were listening to the lute song, no one spoke, and at the end of the song it was suddenly very quiet, recalling the sound of the departed lute in the silence.
- seem to complain of life is not ambition -
Such a beautiful music, let a person forget, intoxicated. At the end of the song, the listener is estimated to have asked about the player's life, so there will be a gesture of silence, want to talk, and the previous article's "holding the pipa and half cover the face" echoed the pipa woman's shy appearance. She says that her home is next to the Toad Tomb in the capital. The Toad Tomb was near the southeastern suburb of Chang'an, a place where the song houses and restaurants of Chang'an gathered at that time. (It is rumored that Dong Zhongshu's tomb was here, and his students had to dismount when they passed by, so it was called Dismounting Mausoleum, and later it was blackened to Toad Mausoleum) This place was very prosperous. At the age of thirteen, she learned to play the pipa and ranked high in the music and dance teaching organizations, and her compositions were considered superior works in the court music and dance. The teachers who taught pipa were all bowled over and were envied by courtesans after applying makeup. The Wuling teenagers referred to the noble sons of the capital, and these rich young men competed for gifts, so you can see how popular this pipa woman was, in today's words, a superstar, a popular actress with her own flow. Red silk is a fine, thin silk fabric, especially valuable, but "do not know the number" is particularly many. Both ends inlaid with gold, silver or jewelry hair grate headdress, is also quite expensive, dancing on the ground broken is not a pity, red wine flipped to the skirt, it can be seen that life is quite rich and wonderful. However, year after year, the glory is easy to pass away, the face is easy to age, the old color of the artist no longer close to no one, from the "Wuling young people compete in the head" to the "cold down in front of the door saddle horse scarce", how big this gap, only the pipa girl herself know. This is also a true depiction of the life of many singing and dancing artists in their twilight years, and these artists want to be discarded like toys that have been played with. As they get older, pipa girls can only trust the rest of their lives to merchants. But can't an old artiste who has lost her beauty be tethered to the heart of a businessman who emphasizes profit over parting? Men leave their homes to do business, and women are left alone in their homes, which is the inevitable end for them. Deep in the night to think of the past and the present encounter, can not help but old tears and fat flow.
- Jiangzhou Sima green shirt wet -
The author was deposed is also very sad and angry, heard such music, and heard the pipa woman's miserable life, the emotion overflowing, produced a **** Ming. "The same is the end of the world, meet each other," associated with their own experience. Relegated to live in Xunyang, the body is not very good, the place is remote, there is no soulmate, can not hear any music, living in a very poor environment, there is no beautiful plants around, only the yellow reeds and bitter bamboo around the house growth. Every day you can only hear the "azalea cries blood ape wailing". Spring river flower morning, autumn river moonlight night, no one to accompany, only one person to drink, the poet because of the scenery, homesick. No music around? Yes, there is! But it's hard to listen to it, so people can't listen to it. The writer's ears seem to have been rejuvenated after hearing such good music. The author asked the pipa girl not to excuse herself, but to play another piece and write lyrics to the tune of the music, composing "Pipa Xing". The author asked repeatedly, and the pipa girl returned to her seat and played again. The sound was so dismal that everyone hid their faces and wept. And Bai Juyi cried the most, not only for the lute girl, but also for his own relegation to Jiangzhou Sima, an official from the ninth rank.
The whole poem is based on the pipa girl's life encounter as the main line, the poet's feelings as the dark line, there are virtual and real, to create a thousand years of transmission of the poem.
Let us experience the description of the sound in the poem with our hearts, and feel the miserable, sentimental and disappointing emotions.
The author was also very angry after being relegated, heard such music, and heard the miserable life of the pipa woman, emotions overflowing, produced **** Ming. "The same is the end of the world, meet each other," associated with their own experience. Relegated to live in Xunyang, the body is not very good, the place is remote, there is no soulmate, can not hear any music, living in a very poor environment, there is no beautiful plants around, only the yellow reeds and bitter bamboo around the house growth. Every day you can only hear the "azalea cries blood ape wailing". Spring river flower morning, autumn river moonlight night, no one to accompany, only one person to drink, the poet because of the scenery, homesick. No music around? Yes, there is! But it's hard to listen to it, so people can't listen to it. The writer's ears seem to have been rejuvenated after hearing such good music. The author asked the pipa girl not to excuse herself, but to play another piece and write lyrics to the tune of the music, composing "Pipa Xing". The author asked repeatedly, and the pipa girl returned to her seat and played again. The sound was so dismal that everyone hid their faces and wept. And Bai Juyi cried the most, not only for the lute girl, but also for his own relegation to Jiangzhou Sima, an official from the ninth rank.
The whole poem is based on the pipa girl's life encounter as the main line, the poet's feelings as the dark line, there are virtual and real, to create a thousand years of transmission of the poem.
Let us experience the description of the sound in the poem with our hearts, and feel the miserable, sentimental and disappointing emotions.