Chapter 47 Nine Ancient Poems (Part 4)

From a hundred feet away, you can clearly see the four deserts.In the evening, the work returns to the cloud house, and in the morning, it is the bird hall.The mountains and rivers are everywhere, and the plains are alone.The famous scholars in ancient times fought generously for this field.Once a hundred years old, we will return to Beimang with each other.The pines and cypresses are felled by people, and the high graves are lowered for each other.Where is the wandering soul?Prosperity is precious, but it is also pitiful! "Bigu" means to imitate ancient poems. Zhang Yugu said that this poem is "a poem that intends to climb up an abandoned building and look from afar, but hurt the glory soon" ("Appreciation of Ancient Poems").It is the most common artistic conception in ancient poetry to climb high and look far away and think deeply.This poem clearly states "imitating ancient times", so the climbing of the building may not actually happen, but just a fictitious image to express feelings.

"A hundred-foot building from a distance, clearly looking at the four deserts." "Distance" and "Hundred feet" both describe the height of a building, and Li Shangyin's poem "A hundred-foot building in a high city" ("Anding City Tower") probably comes from this. "Four wildernesses", the farthest places in the four outer worlds.Due to the height of the building, it can be seen "clearly" from far away, which can be regarded as writing the height of the building from the opposite side. "In the evening, it is the house of clouds, and in the morning it is the hall of birds." These two sentences mean that clouds float in this building in the evening, and birds sing and gather in the morning.In this aspect, the description of the building is still high. Wang Bo described the "Gaoge of King Teng" as "the painted buildings fly towards the clouds in Nanpu, and the bead curtains roll in the rain from the western mountains at dusk", with similar brushwork.On the other hand, it is about the ruins of this building, where only clouds and birds live, but no one is seen.These few sentences about the height of the building and the waste of the building are the reason for the poet's excitement. "Mountains and rivers are everywhere, and the plains are alone." See far, think broad. "Boundless" not only shows the vastness of the territory and the vastness of thoughts, but also means that there is nothing on the plain.These two sentences are very desolate, and they are famous sentences for Dengtiao. Li Qiao's "Mountains and rivers are full of tears and clothes" ("Fenyin Xing"), and Yan Shu's "Mountains and rivers are full of empty thoughts" ("Huanxisha"). dehydrated.

"The famous people in ancient times fought generously for this battle." The following is the sigh. "This field" refers to the desired mountains, rivers and plains. How many people have competed here since ancient times, and they are so passionate and generous during the competition, as if all the pursuits of life are greater than this.And "once a hundred years old, we will return to Beimang with each other". "Beimang", the name of the mountain, is in the north of Luoyang City. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, many monarchs and ministers have been buried here.This means that these "celebrities" ended up dying one after another.From the previous "generosity" to the "once" and "relationship" here, we can see the ruthlessness of fate and the almost child's play of fame.What about the situation behind him? "The pines and cypresses are felled by people, and the high graves are lowered together." The pines and cypresses on the graves that have been said to last through the ages have also been felled, revealing the high and low graves. "The ruined foundation has no survivors, where is the wandering soul?" "The survivors", the descendants of the deceased.These two sentences say: The collapsed tomb foundation has not been repaired, so where is the wandering soul of the dead?In other words, even the soul could not find a place to rest.The death of these "famous people" is too bleak. Where is their merit and fame?The author finally said: "Prosperity and sincerity are precious, but they are also pitiful and sad!" "Pity" and "hurt" are tautological, and they are aggravated exclamations.

In many poems Tao Yuanming expressed the idea that "it is difficult to live in glory for a long time".Denying fame and wealth is an affirmation of one's own life path of returning to the fields and working hard.This is one of the basic themes of Tao's poems.Most of the other poems use self-narrative writing, from my own feelings, from the current life, and the mood seems relatively calm;This is different from the usual "slow and slow" style.The writing about the building in the front already implies the sigh of waste and replacement; the nostalgia in the back, the comparison between life and death, and the sorrow after death, are full of ink;All these show that this poem is not just a general "sorry for glory and glory soon", but also has specific political connotations.It is very possible that the commentators say that it is because of the "revolution of the national destiny" and the change of Jin and Song dynasties.