In China's classical poems and songs, the willow is one of the most common imagery, and it is also one of the most beautiful and touching, lingering and sentimental imagery. A careful and in-depth exploration of the role of willow imagery in ancient poetry will be of great benefit to understanding ancient cultural traditions, improving national cultural literacy, and enhancing the ability to appreciate poetry.
One, the willow expresses the deep feelings of farewell
"There are endless trees on the Chang'an Strand, and only the weeping willow manages the parting." (Liu Yuxi's "Nine Words on the Willow Branch") is the most essential artistic feature of willow imagery. There are countless ancient poems and songs that use willow imagery to express the feelings of separation. "The spring breeze knows the bitterness of parting, but does not send the willow green." (Li Bai's "Laolao Pavilion") "When the rain falls on the city of Wei, the dust is light, and the color of the willows in the guest house is new. I advise you to drink a glass of wine, and there is no old man in the sunshine in the west." (Wang Wei, "Sending Yuan Er to Envoy An Xi") "Spring is in the willows at the head of Yangzi River, and the willows kill the people crossing the river." (Zheng Gu, "Farewell to Friends on the Huai Shang") "On a closer look, it's not the poplars, they are the tears of the departed." (Su Shi's "Song of the Water Dragon") "Sentiment has always been sad about parting, and it's even more sad to see the cold fall of the autumn festival. Where are you waking up from the wine tonight? On the willow bank, the wind and the moon are gone." (Liu Yong, "Rain Lin Bells") "It is difficult to tie the long willow wire to the jade buckskin, and I hate the slanting sunlight hanging over the sparse forest." (Wang Shifu's "The West Wing") These beautiful words and phrases all convey love with the willow, and they are all very sentimental.
The willow imagery is associated with parting, first of all, because of the willow posture graceful and soft, gentle and sentimental, "I used to go, the willows are still; now I come to think, the rain and snow fall." (The Classic of Poetry? Xiao Ya? Caiwei") The willow's attitude of reluctance and people's feelings of farewell are blended together, so much so that the Southern Dynasty Liu Feiqiao praised it in the chapter of "Wenxin Diao Long": "The Color of Things". The color of things", praised: "burning like the peach blossom's freshness, yi yi all the appearance of the willow." It is believed that "Yiyiyi" vividly expresses the soft and beautiful appearance of the willow, "totaling the many with the few, and leaving nothing to be desired". Starting from the source of "The Classic of Poetry", the willow imagery in China's classical poems and lyrics has been suggestive and inspirational for farewell.
Secondly, it is because the ancient people had the custom of folding the willow to send off, the so-called "carrying wine to send off the spring, folding the willow to tie up the feelings of separation". This custom was especially prevalent in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, many people in Chang'an went to Ba Bridge to break the willow to say goodbye. According to the Sanfu Huangtu, "The Ba Bridge is located in the east of Chang'an, and it is a bridge across the water. The Han people would send their guests to this bridge by folding a willow to bid them farewell." This is the earliest record of the close connection between willow folding and bidding farewell. "The Ba Bridge is often climbed and folded, but it is an unfeeling tree. I think of it as an unfeeling tree that only gives away." (Pei said, "Willow") "The smoke and willow of Ba Bridge and the pavilion of Qujiang River should be waiting for people to come." (Lu You, "Autumn Beauty") "The willow hangs green on the ground, and its blossoms fly in the sky. When the willows are broken and the flowers fly, I ask the pedestrians if they will return." (Anonymous "Farewell")
Once again, "willow" and "stay" harmonize, folding the willow to send off, containing the meaning of earnestly retaining, expressing the feelings of longing and hard to leave. "The willow in the west city is soft in spring, moving away from the sorrow, tears are hard to collect. I still remember how sentimental it was to tie up the boat for the return. The bridge over the blue field was a thing of the past, but the people have disappeared, and the water is running empty." (Qin Guan's "Jiangchengzi")
Another point is that there are ancient compositions that include the farewell song "Folding the Willow". For example, there is the song "Folding the Willow" in the Han Lefu "Hengbuki Qu". In the Northern Dynasty folk song "Folding the Willow Song", there is a line that reads "I don't carry the whip on the horse, but fold the willow branch instead". The Tang Dynasty poet Wang Zhilu's Liangzhou Lyrics reads: "The Yellow River is far away from the white clouds, and the lone city is ten thousand feet high. The Qiang flute has no need to complain about the willow, and the spring breeze does not pass through the Jade Gate." The "willow" refers to the song "Folding the Willow". Li Bai's "Hearing the Flute in Luoyang City on a Spring Night" is even better: "Whose jade flute flew secretly, scattering into the spring breeze that filled Luoyang City. When I heard the flute in the song this night, I could not recall the love of my hometown." The sound of the flute stirs up nostalgia and sadness, why? This is because the flute is playing the song "Broken Willow"!
Second, the willow singing beautiful spring
The willow grows in the spring, dense in the summer, the branches and leaves are luxuriant, vigorous, so the ancients often borrowed the willow to praise the spring to sing the nature. For example, "Elm and willow shade the back of the eaves, peaches and plums in front of the hall." (Tao Yuanming's "Returning to the Garden") "The light rain on the sky street is as wet as crispy, and the color of the grass is nowhere to be seen in the distance. It's the most favorable spring in the year, and it's the best time to see the willow and smoke all over the capital." (Han Yu, "Early Spring Drizzle") "The spring breeze makes the willows want to be green, and the smoke is light and the rain is clearing." (Yan Shu's "Complaints of Love") "One or two orioles under the leaves, the day is long and the flotsam is light." (Yan Shu's "The Broken Formation") "The green poplar smoke is light at dawn, and the red apricot branches are bustling with spring." (Song Qi, "Jade Tower Spring") "A river of tobacco, a city full of wind and flotsam, plums yellow with rain." (He cast "The Case of the Green Jade") Spring is bright and beautiful, and the scenery is picturesque, which makes people forget to go back and forth. The most famous of all is the song "Winging the Willow" by He Zhizhang, a poet of the Tang Dynasty: "Jasper is made up into a tall tree, and ten thousand threads are draped with green silk tapestries. I don't know who cuts the fine leaves, but the February spring breeze is like scissors." The use of metaphor, anthropomorphism, not only shows the delicate beauty of the willow leaves, celebrates the fullness of life in the spring, but also evokes the reader's imagination, leaving people with a very broad imagination space, can be called the willow of the ancient masterpiece.
There are also some who express the feeling of spring by willow. For example, "The willow is soft and gentle, and the wisps of smoke are woven into sadness. Begonia before the rain, pear first snow, half of the spring break. Now it is difficult to revisit the past, and the dream of returning to the Qin Tower. The love affair is only on the lilac branches and the cardamom tips." Another example is, "The Ba Bridge is filled with different kinds of smoke and willows, and the scenery of the past dynasty is all gone. The withered willows and poplars have been bent and broken several times, emaciating the waist of the Chu Palace." (Liu Yong's "A Young Man's Journey") organically combines the feelings of sadness, farewell and longing for each other.
Third, the willow depicts women and love
From an aesthetic point of view, the willows are windy, shy, shy, and extremely feminine feminine beauty, and thus the ancients often used the willow to describe the woman's appearance. "Hibiscus like face, willow like eyebrow" (Bai Juyi's "Song of Long Hate"), "Cherry Fan Su mouth, willow small savage waist." (Bai Juyi "can not forget the love chant") to "willow eyebrow", "willow waist" like a woman's beautiful posture, elegant attitude, such as in the present.
The aesthetic pleasure given by willow is also reflected in the depiction of love. "The moon is over the willow, and people are about to fall in love after dusk." (Ouyang Xiu's "Sheng Chazi") What a beautiful mood, what a beautiful love! "The willow is at the level of the river, and I hear the sound of Lang Lang singing on the river. The sun rises in the east and rains in the west, but there is a clear sky." (Liu Yuxi's "Bamboo Branch Lyrics") The poem starts with the willow and puts love into the scenery, depicting a wonderful picture that combines poetic, pictorial, and philosophical feelings into one. There are also poems that use the willow to depict the tragedy of love and express feelings of sadness: "Don't climb on me, I am too biased. I am a willow in the pool of the Qujiang River, and I have been in love for a long time." ("Dunhuang Quzi words") to the willow, a direct expression of their feelings, the body was abandoned by the pain and resentment, love can not be helpless and sad, how can not make people weeping tears, the Department of emotion?
Four, by willow to reveal the philosophy of life
Classical poems and songs in the willow imagery is very rich, and some of them are borrowed from the willow to express the philosophy of life. For example, "There is no way out of the mountain, but there is another village in the darkness." (Lu You, "Traveling to Shanxi Village") "Please don't play the song of the previous dynasty, but listen to the new song of the willow branch." (Liu Yuxi, "Nine Lyrics of Yang Liu Zhi") "I plant flowers with the intention of planting them, but I do not have the intention of planting willows to become shade. (Guan Hanqing, "Bao Zhaishi Zhi Chopping Lu Zhailang") and so on, elegant, rich in connotations, intriguing, are typical examples of this aspect of the sentence, we will not repeat here.
Badu Literature ()
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