"She still hides half her face in front of us behind her guitar" is a famous sentence in Bai Juyi's poem Pipa Xing. It was originally used to describe the shyness of pipa women when they came out, and later it was often used to describe the shy and lovely side of women. At a deeper level, it extends to ambiguous attitude and fear of revealing one's true feelings.
Pipa Xing is one of the long Yuefu poems written by Bai Juyi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty. Eleven years of Yuanhe (8 16).
This poem reveals the unreasonable phenomena such as bureaucratic corruption, the decline of people's livelihood and the burying of talents in feudal society by describing the superb playing skills and unfortunate experiences of the pipa girl, expressing the poet's deep sympathy for her and the poet's resentment at her innocent demotion.
The Full Text of Pipaxing (Parallel Preface)
In the tenth year of Yuanhe, Yu moved to Sima, Jiujiang County. Next autumn, I will send a guest to Pukou, and I will hear those pipa players in the middle of the night. Listen to its voice, there is the voice of Kyoto. Ask him, Ben Chang 'an advocates women, learns from Mu and Cao. Old age is fading, and I am committed to being a wife. Then he ordered wine and asked Aauto Quicker to play some songs. When I was young, I told myself my happiness. Now I am wandering, haggard and wandering between rivers and lakes. After two years as an official, I feel at ease and feel that I have moved towards the future. Because of the long sentences, I gave them songs, all of which were 6 16 words. Life is called pipa xing.
In the evening, I bid farewell to a guest on Xunyang River. Maple leaves and mature rushes rustle in autumn.
I, the host, have dismounted, my guest has boarded his boat, and we raise our cups, hoping to drink-but, alas, there is no music.
Although we drank a lot of wine, we were not happy. When we were leaving each other, the river mysteriously widened in the direction of the full moon.
We heard a sudden sound, a guitar crossed the water, the host forgot to go home and the guests left.
We followed the direction of the melody and asked the player's name, and the voice was interrupted ... and then she reluctantly answered.
We moved the boat closer to hers, invited her to join us, and summoned more wine and lanterns to start our party again.
However, before she came to us, we called a thousand times and urged her for a thousand times, but she still hid half of her face behind her guitar from us.
... she turned the tuning pin and tested several strings, and even before she played, we could feel her feelings.
Every string is a kind of meditation, and every note is a kind of deep thinking, as if she were telling us the pain of her life.
She frowned, bent her fingers, and then started her music, letting her heart share everything with us bit by bit.
She brushed the strings, slowly twisted, swept and plucked, first the air in the rainbow skirt, then the six small ones.
Big strings hum like rain, and small strings whisper like secrets.
Humming, whispering-and then mixing together, like pouring large and small pearls into a plate of jade.
Between Guan Ying's words, the bottom of the flower is slippery, so you can't swallow the spring scenery and flow under the ice.
The ice spring is cold and astringent, and the strings condense, and the condensation will never stop.
The depth of sadness and the hiding of sadness are more told in silence than in voice.
A silver vase suddenly burst, pouring out a stream of water, jumping out of the conflict and blow between armored horses and weapons.
Before she put down the pick, her stroke was over, and all four strings made a sound, just like tearing silk.
The east ship was silent, and the west ship was silent. We saw the white autumn moon entering the river.
She tied it thoughtfully on the rope, stood up and smoothed her clothes, serious and polite.
Tell us how she spent her girlhood in the capital and lived in her parents' house in Toad Hill.
She mastered the guitar at the age of thirteen, and her name ranked first in the list of musicians.
Her art even attracted the appreciation of experts, and her beauty attracted the envy of all major dancers.
How did the aristocratic youths in Wuling compete generously? Countless red silks were given to a song.
The silver comb inlaid with shells was broken by her rhythm, and the bloody skirt was stained with wine.
Season after season, joy followed, and neither the autumn moon nor the spring breeze attracted her attention.
Until her brother went to war, and then her aunt died, and the night passed, and the night came, and her beauty disappeared.
Lengma was at the door, so at last she gave her wife to a businessman.
Who, first of all, stole money, accidentally left her and went to Fuliang to buy tea a month ago.
She has been taking care of an empty boat in the estuary, with no companions except the bright moon and cold water.
Sometimes in the middle of the night, she dreams of her victory and is awakened from her dream by her hot tears.
Her first guitar note made me sigh. Now, after listening to her story, I feel even sadder.
We were all unhappy until the end of the day, when we met. We understand. What is the relationship between acquaintances? !
A year ago, I left the capital and came here. Now I am a sick Jiujiang exile.
Jiujiang is so far away that I haven't heard music, neither strings nor bamboo sounds for a whole year.
My residence is near the town by the river, low and humid, and the house is surrounded by bitter reeds and yellow rushes.
What can you hear here in the morning and evening? ? The cuckoo's bleeding cry, the ape's sobbing.
I often pick up the wine and drink it alone in the spring morning with flowers and the autumn night with moonlight shining.
Of course, there are folk songs and bagpipes in the village, but they are rough and harsh, and they are harsh in my ears.
Tonight, when I heard you playing the guitar, I felt that my hearing was illuminated by wonderful music.
Don't leave us. Come, sit down. Play it for us again. Translate the travel notes of pipa for you.
... she was moved by my words, stood there for a while, and then sat down to play her strings-they sounded even sadder.
Although the tune was different from what she had played before, all the listeners covered their faces.
But which of them cried the most? ? This Jiujiang official. My blue sleeves are wet.
Full-text translation of Pipa Xing;
In the tenth year of Yuanhe, he was demoted to Sima of Jiujiang County. The following autumn, I sent my guests to Songpukou. At night, I heard a pipa player on the boat, listening to the sound of pipa, jingling, with the charm of Beijing dialect. The man who plays the pipa turned out to be a geisha in Chang 'an. He studied under two masters, Mu and Cao. He was old and frail, and married a businessman. I ordered my men to set the wine and let her play some music happily. After the play, her face was sad. She told the story of her happy life when she was young, saying that now she is wandering, suffering and wandering around. I went out to Beijing to be an official for two years, and I lived very calmly and comfortably. I was moved by her words and felt the humiliation of being an official that night. So I wrote this seven-character poem, recited it to her and gave it to her. The whole poem * * * 6 16 words, titled Pipa Xing.
One night in autumn, I sent my friend to Xunyang River, and the maple leaves and reeds kept ringing in the autumn wind.
My friend and I got off the horse, boarded the ship that was about to travel, and drank a toast. It's a pity that we don't have geisha around to pull the strings.
Drunk, still boring, so sad when leaving, I saw the rising moon immersed in the boundless river.
Suddenly there was a pipa on the river, and I forgot to go home, so my friend was in no mood to sail.
We explored where the pipa sound came from and whispered who was playing the pipa. The pipa stopped, but the player tried to say it but didn't answer.
We rowed in a hurry to invite pipa players to meet each other, filled the wine, turned on the lights and set up a banquet.
After waiting for a long time, the pipa girl came shyly, holding the pipa in her arms and covering her face half.
She turned the spindle and tried to play it three or two times. Before it became a tune, she showed infinite affection.
She played a low and melancholy tone with hidden fingers, and her voice was sad and thoughtful, as if telling her life's misfortunes.
She is natural and graceful, free to play, continuous, as if to reveal the infinite pain buried in her heart.
She tapped the strings, manipulated them slowly, wiped them skillfully and fiddled with them. She first played the famous song Colorful Feathers, and then the dance music Six Glory.
The big strings are noisy, and the sound is heavy and long, such as a shower, and the small strings are cut, and the sound is urgent and thin as a whisper.
It was she who staggered the big strings and the small strings, and her voice was round and clear, like large and small beads falling on a jade plate.
The tone is light and smooth, like an oriole crowing among flowers, and suddenly it becomes painful and choked, like Koizumi stagnant under the ice.
The tone is getting deeper and deeper, the strings seem to condense and cut off, and all the sounds are cold and quiet, and all the sounds are temporarily stopped.
Pipa girl once again poured out a piece of resentment hidden in her heart. Although there is no sound at this time, it is better than sound.
Suddenly, the strings suddenly played, making a crisp and majestic sound, like a broken silver bottle, splashing water, like an iron horse rushing, and a sword whistling.
After the tune was finished, I suddenly scratched in the middle of the lute groove with a plectrum, and the four strings sang in unison, as sharp and clear as tearing silk.
The people around the big and small ships were silent, and they were fascinated. Only the autumn moon on the river is exceptionally bright.
Pipa girl is full of worries, awkward, put the plectrum on the string, get dressed, stand up, and restrain the excited expression on her face.
She said, I am a singer in the capital, who lives in Ling Ran near Qujiang in Chang 'an.
I learned to play the pipa at the age of thirteen, and my name appeared in the first part of Jiao Fang.
Playing a tune often makes the pipa master admire you. I always envy beautiful women when I dress up.
Grandson, scrambling to give me a gift, a song, won numerous red medals.
Hair pegs inlaid with gold and jade are often broken by singing and beating time, and red skirts are often stained by teasing and spilling wine at banquets.
Year after year, time passed quietly in laughter, and the good years disappeared inadvertently.
Later, my brother joined the army and my sister died unfortunately, so time passed. Every day, my age gets worse.
Since then, no one cares about the door, and the prince and grandson rarely come. When he is old, he has no choice but to marry a businesswoman.
Businessmen love money like life, but they don't know the pain of husband and wife leaving. Last month, they went to Fuliang to buy tea.
He left, leaving me alone to guard the empty bow, only the bright moon covered the hull, and the cold river was accompanied by sadness.
In the middle of the night, I suddenly dreamed about what happened in those days, crying and bursting into tears.
Listening to her playing the pipa made me sigh, and listening to her telling stories made me deeply moved.
She and I are strangers living at the end of the world. When we meet by chance, we can talk about our worries. Why have we known each other for a long time?
I left the imperial capital Chang 'an last year. I retired and lived in Xunyang, an ancient city.
Xunyang is a remote place, where there is no music appreciation, and the orchestral sound has never been heard all year round.
My home is next to the Ganjiang River, the ground is wet, and reeds and bitter bamboos are everywhere around the house.
What did you hear there day and night? Only crying cuckoos and apes.
Whenever there are beautiful mornings and evenings in the Spring Festival, I often take out my wine and drink that cup by myself in the autumn moonlight.
From time to time, mountain songs and shepherds' flutes came, but it was messy and complicated, and it was hard to hear clearly.
When I heard the pipa music you played tonight, my ears suddenly lit up, as if I had heard of Yue Xian.
Please don't refuse, sit down and play another song for me, and I'll write a lyric pipa for you according to the tune.
Deeply moved by my words, she stood for a long time without saying anything, sat back in her place, tightened the strings, and the melody became more complicated and urgent.
I feel sad and sad, which is very different from what I just played. People around you covered their faces with sadness and cried.
If you ask who shed the most tears among them, Jiangzhou Sima, the tears are all wet.
Creation background
In June of the 10th year of Yuanhe (8 15), in the Tang Dynasty, the forces of the buffer region sent assassins to stab the Prime Minister Wu and the imperial minister Pei Du at the head of Chang 'an Street. Therefore, the forces of the buffer region further demanded the removal of Pei Du, so as to stabilize the buffer region's "anti-frontier" heart. Bai Juyi advocates cracking down on the murderer in the above table, which is suspected of "ultra vires"; Moreover, Bai Juyi often wrote allegorical poems, which offended the powerful people in the DPRK, so he was demoted to Jiangzhou Sima. Sima is the assistant of the secretariat. In the mid-Tang Dynasty, the placement of "criminal" officials was a disguised distribution. This incident had a great influence on Bai Juyi and was a turning point in his ideological transformation. Since then, his early fighting spirit has gradually worn away and his negative emotions have increased. In the autumn of the 11th year of Yuanhe (AD 8 16), Bai Juyi was demoted to Jiangzhou Sima for two years. He saw off guests in Jiangtou, Xunyang, and met a singer who was abandoned in his youth because of his artistic skills. She was unhappy, and combined with her own travel experience, she wrote this famous Pipa Line (the original Pipa Line Preface) in the form of singing.
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A complicated plot
In "we drank all the wine, we felt unhappy, and we were breaking up", and then "we heard a sudden sound, the guitar crossed the water, the host forgot to go home, and the guests had to go his way", which pushed the plot to another realm. The first pipa performance is over, and it seems that "the east boat is quiet and the west boat is quiet" is over. Suddenly, she became "thoughtful" and "astringent", and the pipa girl was going to tell her life story. As soon as the pipa girl finished her story, the poet expressed her feelings, linked her experience with that of the pipa girl, and promoted the development of the story. Another song was played, and the music reached its climax, but the poet no longer described it positively, saying that his voice was "sad" and "not like moving forward". When he wrote here, he came to an abrupt end. This can not only make people feel profound, but also make people feel profound and profound. This tortuous and changeable plot makes the drama experience of the pipa girl stand out, and her pipa stunt has also been described in detail. And the author's mood and emotion can also be expressed incisively and vividly.
Make people emotional
This poem is touching, narrates events and describes characters, and is full of lyrical colors. In the section of seeing the guests off, words such as "autumn rustling", "solemn farewell" and "soaking in the moon over the river" create a sad atmosphere for the environment. This is the first time for a pipa girl to play. When the poet described the pipa girl's playing skills and tunes, he let his feelings and hatred run through. Self-narration is the root of "sadness and resentment", which is full of all kinds of sadness brought by past ups and downs. The poet lamented his own experience, set off his feelings with the environment everywhere, and fully described the sad feelings of wandering. At the end of the paragraph, the sad string sound and the crying sound complement each other, which is the grief of the poet. The whole poem uses few allusions, and the language is concise and clear. Shortly after the poet's death, Li Chen wrote a poem to mourn him, saying, "The child can sing Song of Eternal Sorrow, and Hu Er can sing Pipa.
Brief introduction of the author
Bai Juyi (772-846), whose real name was Lotte, was a layman in Xiangshan and a native of Xiayi. Realistic poet in Tang Dynasty. In Zhenyuan, he was a scholar, awarded the secretary of the provincial school book lang, and later moved to be an old man and a doctor who praised Zuo Shan. In the tenth year of Yuanhe (8 15), Prime Minister Wu was assassinated, and Bai Juyi advocated severely punishing the murderer. He was demoted to Jiangzhou Sima for exceeding his authority, and successively served as the secretariat of Hangzhou, the secretariat of Suzhou and the minister of punishments. In the sixth year of Huichang (846), he died and was given the right servant of Shangshu, posthumous title. Bai Juyi is an advocate of the new Yuefu movement. He advocates that "articles should be written in time and poems should be written for things". His poetic language is well known, and he is called "Bai Yuan" with Yuan Zhen and "Bai Liu" with Liu Yuxi. His representative works include Song of Eternal Sorrow, Charcoal Man, Pipa Travel and so on. And Bai Changqing's collection has been passed down from generation to generation. Later generations called it "the poet king" and "the poet demon".