The Hibiscus Tower sends off Xin Jian Wang Changling
The cold rain is coming into Wu at night, and the people are sent to Chushan alone in the morning.
If my friends and relatives in Luoyang ask me about it, my heart of ice is in a jade pot.
[Notes]
1. Furonglou: the city building of Runzhou (present-day Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province). Xin Jian: a friend of the author.
2. Cold Rain on the River: Runzhou is on the Yangtze River. This sentence means that cold rain fell on the Yangtze River at night. Wu: The state of
Wu in the Spring and Autumn Period was in the area of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, so the area was called Wu.
3. Pingming: early morning. Chushan: The state of Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period was around the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, so the area was called Chushan.
4. Luoyang: present-day Luoyang, Henan Province, where Xin Jian went.
5. Ice Heart: a metaphor for the purity of the heart. Jade Pot: Ice in a jade pot, a further metaphor for a person's purity and integrity.
[Explanation]
After a night of cold rain, the poet said goodbye to his friend at the Hibiscus Tower, when only the morning light reflected the distant mountains.
He instructed his friend, "If my friends and relatives in faraway places ask about me, please convey to them my thoughts of being clean and honest.
[Appreciation]
This poem does not try to express his deep attachment to his friend like ordinary farewell poems, but focuses on his own pure feelings and noble aspirations. At that time, the poet's friend Xin Jian was about to take the road to Yangzhou and go north to Luoyang. The poet, who was serving in Jiangning (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu Province), personally saw him off to Runzhou and gave him a farewell party at the northwest city tower (i.e., "Furong Tower"), and wrote this poem. "Cold rain and the river enter Wu at night, sending guests to the lonely mountains of Chu in the evening", the cold night rain, the torrential river, even the hazy distant mountains also seem lonely, this scene sets off the poet's feelings of farewell to his friend. But the focus of the poem is in the last two lines. My friend's destination for this trip is Luoyang, where there are also many relatives and friends of the poet. The poet y misses his friends and relatives in Luoyang and imagines that they also miss him. He instructs Xin Jian, when asked by his friends and relatives, to say that my heart is still pure and flawless, as crystalline as ice and as translucent as jade. The poem uses an ingenious mutually contrasting metaphor to describe a pure and perfect character, showing great linguistic skill and leaving an unforgettable impression.
Author's biography:Wang Changling (c. 698-756), courtesy name Shaobo, was a native of Chang'an, Jingzhao (present-day Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province). He was a poet of the Tang Dynasty.