Original text
Memory of South River
Bai Juyi? The scenery is old and familiar to me. The sunrise river flowers are more red than fire, and the river water is as green as blue in spring. I can't help but remember the south of the river.
Translation
Jiangnan is good, how familiar I once was with the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan. In springtime, the red flowers on the banks illuminated by the morning light were redder than a blazing fire, and the turquoise river water was greener than blue grass. How can one not miss Jiangnan?
Notes
Remembering Jiangnan: the name of a Tang opera. The author's own note under the title says: "This song is also known as 'Xie Qiu Niang', with five lines in each song." According to the "Lefu Poetry Collection": "'Remembering Jiangnan' a 'looking at Jiangnan', because of Bai's words, and then renamed 'Jiangnan good'. " In the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, it became the name of the word. The Jiangnan referred to here is mainly the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Unversed in (ān): familiar with. The author visited Jiangnan three times when he was young.
Jianghua: flowers by the river. One says it refers to the waves in the river.
Red is better than fire: the color is brighter than fire.
Green as blue: green is greener than blue.
The color of green is more green than blue.
Blue: blue grass, its leaves can make green dye.
Background of Composition
Liu Yuxi had composed several lyrics of "Remembering the South of the River", which were sung in harmony with Bai Juyi, so he said in the small preface, "The spring lyrics of Wo Le Tian were composed in accordance with the song beat of Remembering the South of the River as a sentence." The words were written in Luoyang in the early summer of 837 A.D. (the second year of Emperor Wenzong's reign), and it can be inferred that Bai Juyi's three words were written in the early summer of the second year of Emperor Wenzong's reign.
Appreciation
Bai Juyi was once the assassin of Hangzhou, where he stayed for two years, and then he became the assassin of Suzhou, a post he held for more than a year. In his youth, he had traveled to the south of the Yangtze River and lived in Suzhou and Hangzhou, so it should be said that he had a considerable understanding of the south of the Yangtze River, so the south of the Yangtze River left a deep impression in his mind. When he was ill, he left his post as the assassin of Suzhou, returned to Luoyang after twelve years, when he was sixty-seven years old, he wrote three songs remembering the south of the Yangtze River, it can be seen that the beautiful scenery of the south of the Yangtze River is still vivid in his mind.
The first poem of this poem, the author remembers the south of Jiangnan in general, including Suzhou and Hangzhou, and writes about the spring scenery.
The whole poem is in five lines. At the beginning of the poem, he praises "Jiangnan is good!" It is precisely because of the "good" that I can't help but "remember" it. "The scenery of the old once familiar" sentence, that the Jiangnan landscape of the "good" is not to hear people say, but that year, personally felt, experienced, and therefore left an unforgettable memory in their own aesthetic consciousness. Both the implementation of the word "good", but also point out the word "memory". Next, he used two lines to write about the scenery of Jiangnan, which he "used to know well": "The sunrise flowers of the river are more red than fire, and the water of the river is as green as blue in spring." The words "sunrise" and "spring" are mutually meaningful. Spring flowers bloom, already extremely red; the red sun shines, even more red dazzling. Here, the brightness of the color is enhanced by the same color baking. Spring river water green, red sunshine sprinkled all over the river bank, more green waves sparkling. Here, the sharpness of the colors is enhanced by the contrast of different colors. The author connects "flower" and "sun" for the same color; and connects "flower" and "river" for the different colors. and the river in order to reflect the different colors. The river flowers are red, the river water is green, and the two serve as the background for each other. So the red is even redder, "red is better than fire"; the green is even greener, "green as blue".
The word "memory" in the title and the words "old acquaintance" in the lyric also indicate that there is a more important level of the lyric: the northern spring scene against the Jiangnan spring scene. The whole lyric is written with the sentiment of reminiscence, writing the "old once familiar" Jiangnan spring scenery. At this time, the author was in Luoyang. Compared with Jiangnan, the spring in Luoyang came late. The author's "Wei Wang Dike", written in Luoyang, says: "The flowers are cold and lazy, the birds cry lazily, and the horse walks leisurely to the west of the sun. Where there is no spring first thought, the willow is powerless Wei Wang Causeway." In the south of the river, "the sunrise of the river flowers red hot" season, Luoyang, but "flowers cold lazy hair", only the willow on the Wei Wang Causeway, only through a little spring.
Flower hair later than Jiangnan, the water is also different. Luoyang has Luoshui, Yishui, not far from the Yellow River. But even if spring has come, these waters are not as green as the spring water of Jiangnan. Therefore, the author tries his best to recall the spring scenery of Jiangnan, and praises "Jiangnan is good" from the bottom of his heart, and after he writes the good scenery of Jiangnan that he "used to know well" with his skillful pen, he can't help but say "I can't remember Jiangnan! After writing about the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan with his "old acquaintance", he can't help but conclude his words with the sentiment of "I can't help remembering Jiangnan". This closure not only support out of the author in Luoyang on the Jiangnan spring color unlimited admiration and nostalgia, but also cause a long and deep rhyme. Although the word is closed, but the rest of the feelings swing, the air far away, naturally lead to the second and third song.
About the Author
Bai Juyi (772-846), the word Lotte, the name of the Jushi of the Fragrant Mountain, and the name of Mr. Drunkenness, was born in Xinzheng, Henan Province, and his ancestor was born in Taiyuan, but he was relocated to Xiangui when his great-grandfather was there. He was a great realist poet of the Tang Dynasty, one of the three great poets of the Tang Dynasty. Together with Yuan Zhen***, Bai Juyi advocated the New Music Movement, and was known as "Yuan Bai", and together with Liu Yuxi, he was known as "Liu Bai". Bai Juyi's poems have a wide range of subjects, diverse forms, and simple language, and he is known as the "Poetry Devil" and the "King of Poetry". He became a scholar of Hanlin Academy and the left minister of Zanshan. In 846 AD, Bai Juyi died in Luoyang and was buried in Xiangshan Mountain. There are Bai's Changqing Jie (Collection of Bai's Changqing), representing poems such as Song of Long Hatred, The Charcoal Seller, and Pipa Xing.