The bright moon startles the magpies on other branches, and the breeze chirps the cicadas in the middle of the night. The fragrance of rice blossoms speaks of a good year, and the sound of frogs is heard.
Seven or eight stars in the sky, two or three spots of rain in front of the mountains. The old time thatched store by the social forest, the road turned to the stream bridge suddenly see.
Appreciation
This song was written during the period when Xin Qiji was living in Shangrao with a lake. Huangsha, that is, Huangshaling, in Jiangxi Shangrao County, west, beautiful scenery, the so-called "creek and mountain a picture of the opening" (Xin Qiji "Partridge Sky Huangsha Road that is the matter"). Xin Qiji built a study hall nearby, and often traveled on the Huangsha Road. Xin Qiji in the Southern Song Dynasty had to do the big official, but his great and open-minded discussion and decisive style, especially the political advocacy of resistance to war and recovery, but by the cynicism of peers and the highest ruling class of the crackdown. Song Xiaozong Chunxi eight years (1181), he was finally impeached and dismissed from office, back to the lake home, living a life of retirement. Xin Qiji always attached importance to agricultural production and sympathized with the hardships of the people. During his tenure as the deputy ambassador of Hunan Province, he once wrote "On Thieves and Robbers", pleading for the people, counting the people's "suffering", pointing out the fact that "the officials are forcing the people to rebel", and exclaiming that the court should "take the benefit of the Yuan Yuan as the intention! ". Before he resigned from his post and lived in idleness, he said, "Life is hard work, and the first thing to do is to work in the fields." So he took the name of Jiaxuan and called himself Jiaxuan Jushi. The long-term rural life, more close to the countryside, and farmers to establish a deeper feeling, and even the countryside of one thing and another have aroused his great interest. Therefore, he was very concerned about the plight of the peasants: "Fathers and mothers argued that the rain was even, and their brows were not knitted like those of last year. He thanked them earnestly for the dust in the cauldron." ("Raccoon Creek Sand") He was also happy when the wind and rain were favorable and the people did not go hungry. In these rural words, Xin Qiji is the peace and tranquility of the countryside and the dirty and tilted "city dynasty" in opposition to each other. "In the past and present, the valleys are vast, and the city is often plowed and mulched." ("Qing Ping Le 题上卢桥" ) He was ostracized in the officialdom *, but in the countryside can get temporary solace, seek spiritual support. As his friend Lu You said, "The farmhouse is a happy place, not worse than the city" ("Yuechi Farmhouse"). It is under the prompting of such complex feelings, Xin Qiji wrote such light and lively rural words as "West River Moon Night Walking on Huangsha Road", and only in connection with the author's life and ideological aspirations, we can more y appreciate the beauty of such words.
This song "Moon on the Western River" is about a fragment of the author's experience of traveling on the Huangsha Road at night. In a clear summer night in the south of the Yangtze River, the moonlight is bright, shining like day, perched on the branches of the green tree magpies, thinking that the dawn is approaching, "ah ah ah" startled to fly up, jumping from one branch to the other, so that the branches of the tree is also music! When it realized that it had made a mistake, it stopped at another branch. The breeze and the gentle swaying of the branches startled the sleeping summer cicadas into chirping in the dead of night. On this intoxicatingly clear moonlit night, our lyricist walked alone on the yellow sand road, listening to the cicadas and magpies, sniffing the rich aroma of rice flowers, the proud sons of the water country seemed to understand our lyricist's joyful mood, so they played a joyful symphony for him. From this chorus of frogs, our lyricist has heard the news of a good harvest. The moon, the breeze, the magpies, the cicadas, the fragrance of rice, the sound of frogs, the lyricist saw, heard, smelled, touched, are refreshing, all his body and mind are immersed in the comfort of the summer night in Jiangnan, so I can not help but look up at the sky, where there are only a few sparse stars hanging in the azure sky. However, "the sky has unpredictable clouds", not to mention the summer weather in the south of the river! I do not know when, suddenly drifted a few floating clouds, mischievous as if sprinkling a few points of rain. This sudden shower broke the lyricist's pleasure, so that he had to hurry and hurry, to avoid this night flying rain. In a hurry to rush, no time to look around, the road to the stream bridge a turn, looked up, hey! A valve familiar thatched store appeared in the land temple by the woods. This is a beautiful and interesting picture of the summer moonlit night in a mountain village in the south of the Yangtze River! It is full of poetic and picturesque, giving people a rich enjoyment of beauty.
This picture of a moonlit night in a mountain village in the south of the Yangtze River, the author is the use of which artistic means to show?
First of all, in the choice of words, the author chose to express the lively and cheerful mood of the small order of the West River Moon. The words "cicada", "year", "front" and "side" in this song are all in plain tone. The four words "cicada", "year", "front", "side" are in the flat tone, and the two words "piece" and "see" in the last line are in the oblique tone, but they are also in the same part in the rhyme of the words. This is the same part of the rhyme, can increase the beauty of the sound of the word, and the two oblique rhyme words are arranged in the lower section of the concluding sentence, the tone of voice short, abrupt end, so that the whole word is more harmonious and powerful. The number of words in each sentence of "Moon on the Western River" is roughly neat, in the form of six, six, seven, six sentences. The two six-character sentences at the beginning of the upper and lower sections are easy to couple. The opening two lines of the first and second sections of the song are very stable. What needs to be pointed out here is the interpretation of the word "Bie Zhi" (别枝). As far as I can see, there are roughly three interpretations: one is to interpret "leave" as "leave", and here there are two subtle differences: one says that the moonlight "leaves the branches", and the other says that the magpies "leave the branches". One says that the moonlight "leaves the branch" and the other says that the magpie "leaves the branch"; the second interprets "another branch" as "a branch that slopes out"; the third interprets "another branch" as "another branch"; and the third interprets "another branch" as "another branch". "I think the third interpretation is better. I think the third interpretation is better. Because the two lines of "bright moon" are very stable. "Bright moon" to "breeze", are natural scenes, can be said that the breeze and the moon do not have to buy a penny; "startled magpies" on the "cicada", "startled", "startled", "startled", "startled", "startled", "startled", "startled" and "startled". ", "startled" "song" is a verb, and all have the meaning of making a move, "magpie" "cicadas Both "magpies" and "cicadas" are animals that can fly and chirp well; "Branches" is a noun, and "branches" is a noun, and "night" is a noun, and "night" is a noun. "Half" is a noun, "half" is used as an adjective here, "don't" should also be an adjective, if it is a verb, it is not paired with "midnight". Besides, the opening lines of the second section of the lyric: "seven or eight stars in the sky, two or three points of rain in front of the mountain", the number of words to the number of words, nouns to the nouns, orientation words to the orientation words, the pairing is very neat. How can one imagine that Xin Qiji, who was well versed in lexicography, would have a mismatch in the couplet of the same song? In fact, the "other branches" here has the same meaning as the "other branches" in the poem "Cicadas trailing their remnants through the other branches" by Fang Gan of the Tang Dynasty in his poem "Living in Hao's Forest Pavilion". Su Shi's "The moonlight startles the magpies" (see the poems "Second Rhyme for Uncle Jiang Ying" and "Peonies in Hangzhou ......") and Zhou Bangyan's "The moonlight startles the crows" (Butterfly Loves Flower: Early Morning Walking) are also about the moonlight startling the magpies. Zhou Bangyan's poem "The Moonlight Alarms the Magpies" (Butterfly Lovers' Morning Journey) is also about the moonlight alarming the magpies and preventing them from perching peacefully.
Secondly, the author has adopted the expression of side accent and movement and static. The moon, the breeze, the rice flowers, the starry rain, the thatched store, the stream bridge, are all emotionless objects, and the startled magpies, the cicadas, the frogs, naturally, will not have human feelings. However, the description of these objective scenes can reflect the author's thoughts and mood. For the author who traveled on the yellow sand road at night, everything he saw, heard, smelled, touched and felt was soothing and joyful. The center of the whole lyric is "talking about the year of plenty", and the focus is on the author's joyful mood caused by the year of plenty. The first section of the song focuses on the rendering of the "surface". The first and second sentences are static with movement, which emphasizes on the depiction of the static situation, the magpie alarm, the cicadas chirping, which more and more reveals the quietness of the environment; the third and fourth sentences are a mixture of static and movement, which emphasizes on the static and movement, with the sound of the frogs and the fragrance of rice to highlight the word "say a good year! The first part of the song is about the "face". In the first section, the rendering of "face" has formed a cheerful and joyful atmosphere. The next section of the song focuses on the portrayal of "points". The author chose a dramatic close-up shot of the night journey, which is like throwing a stone into a calm lake, stirring up ripples. This interesting little episode makes the whole word sound and feel one. The second section of the word one, three two sentences written quietly, two, four two sentences written in motion, and one, two sentences of the "four two" sentence style, fast-paced, ups and downs, the last sentence of the "turn" word, "suddenly" word, more so that the The author's joyful mood jumps off the page. Night flying rain, did not make the author chagrin, spoiled, on the contrary, more increased the lyricist's interest. Some comrades think that "seven or eight stars outside the sky" is "writing the dense clouds", just from the clouds leaked out seven or eight stars. However, from the perspective of the whole lyric, such an interpretation lacks emotion. This sentence is and the first sentence of the word corresponds to the first sentence, write is "moon and stars" of the actual scene. Huang Zunxian's poem "Morning Walk" says: "The east wants to be bright, but the color is not yet bright, and the Big Dipper has three points and two stars." This is the same scenario. If the clouds are very thick and dense, then the brewing time is bound to be longer, the stars can only leak out seven or eight, then the moon must be dim, so the author's thoughts must have been prepared to prevent rain, which is described in the last section of the leisurely and comfortable state of mind is not commensurate. Besides, the author often come and go in the yellow sand road, very familiar with the scenery along the way, such as early preparation, that the sentence "suddenly" word is no place. In the height of summer, the weather is changeable, just now or the moon and stars, the breeze, I can not think of a moment to fly to a few dark clouds, and then sprinkled "two or three points of rain", the author was caught off guard, do not have time to think and hastily avoid the rain, and to the "road to the creek bridge", "the old cottage", "the old cottage", "the old cottage", "the old creek bridge", "the old cottage", "the old cottage", "the old cottage". The "old thatched cottage" appeared suddenly in front of his eyes. The word "suddenly" is used here in a very evocative way. That's why I say it's "flying rain at night", a shower in the middle of summer. If it is a rainy day and a heavy rain is coming, it would be a bit of a scene-stealer and would not be in harmony with the light and lively mood of the whole song. Lu Yanjian's poem "Pine Temple" of the Fifth Dynasty reads, "Two or three bars of electricity want to become rain, and seven or eight stars are still in the sky." In the Tang Dynasty, Li Shanfu's poem "Cold Eclipse" also reads, "Sometimes there are three points and two points of rain, and everywhere there are ten branches and five flowers." Xin Qiji is obviously influenced by them in the use of words, but it can not be concluded that "seven or eight stars" is caused by "dense cloud cover".
Once again, the whole word is clear as words, but flexible, this is to better express the light and lively mood. Xin word is good to use the dictionary, good discussion, but this small word, the author does not use the dictionary, two do not discuss, but the use of the technique of white description, to see and hear their own feelings truthfully described, fresh and lively, swaying, showing the author's love of rural life, so that people feel unusually intimate and natural reading. It should be said that the lyrical lyrics like Xin Qiji's "Moon on the Western River" describing the rural scenery are rare in the whole classical lyrics. (Zhang Zhongzang)
Appreciation II
The original title of "The Moon on the Western River" is "Walking on the Huangsha Road at Night," which is an account of the sights and emotions that the author saw when he traveled in the countryside late at night. When reading the first half of the piece, one must realize the bustle in the silence. In the sentence "The moon's parting from the branches startles the magpies", the word "parting" is a verb, which means that the moon has set and parted from the branches of the trees, startling the magpies on the branches. This line is a very detailed and realistic one, and only those who have seen such a scene in the middle of the night will understand the beauty of this poem. Magpies are extremely sensitive to light, and they startle and fly about when the sun eclipses, as well as when the moon sets. This line is actually the meaning of "The moon falls and the crow cries" (Tang Zhang Ji's "Night Poetry on the Maple Bridge"), but it is more vivid than "The moon falls and the crow cries", and the key lies in the word "don't", which implies that the magpies and the branches are attached to the bright moon. It implies that the magpie and the branch are reluctant to part with the moon. The magpies often cry when they are frightened, but here they don't cry, and they cry since they see it, which literally avoids the result of piling up the dullness with the "song of the cicadas". The two lines of "rice flowers" indicate that the season is in summer. In the whole song, these two sentences produce the most vivid and deep impression, which brings to life the lively atmosphere and joyful mood of the rural summer night. This can be said to be a typical setting. In each of these four lines, there are sounds (magpies, cicadas, people, frogs), but there is also the silence of the late night in each line. Both flavors are reflected in the feelings of the night walker, who is in a pleasant mood. In the second half of the piece, the situation changes somewhat. The sparse stars in the sky indicate that time has progressed, and it is clear that it is the second half of the night, almost dawn. The rain in front of the mountain is a threat to the nightwalker, it is a wave on the ground, you can imagine the anxiety of the nightwalker. There is this wave, then the closing two sentences set off more powerful. The phrase "I used to be by the thatched store and the social forest, and I suddenly saw the bridge over the stream" is an inverted sentence, and the inverted sentence brings out the surprise of "suddenly seeing". I was worried about the rain, but when I walked across the bridge and the road turned, I suddenly saw the thatched store where I used to rest by the social forest. The happiness at this time can be compared to the two lines of the poem "There is no way out of the mountain, and there is another village in the darkness" (Lu You's "Traveling to Shanxi Village"). The title of the lyric was "Walking on the Yellow Sand Road at Night", and the first six of the eight lines of the song are all about scenery, and only the last two lines show someone walking at night. Only in the last two lines do we see someone walking at night. These two lines play a role in illuminating the whole song, so every line is about walking at night. The first is hidden, and only at the end does it hit the nail on the head, so that the ending has the effect of drawing a dragon's eye. This technique is worth learning.
This poem has a vivid and concrete atmosphere (usually called scenery), which expresses a kind of affectionate feeling (usually called sentiment). The whole of this scenario is an artistic image. The strength of an artistic image does not lie in the number of episodes adopted, but in whether those episodes are typical, whether they can serve as a stronghold for touching on all sides, reaching into the deepest and most subtle places of real life. If this can be done, it will be the end of words and endless meaning. When we say that Chinese poetry utilizes refined language, we are referring to this broad representativeness and rich suggestiveness. (Zhu Guangqian)