A happy meeting with an old friend from Liangchuan in Huaishang

Tang Dynasty: Wei Yingwu

I was a guest in Jianghan, and I returned drunk every time I met.

After the floating clouds parted ways, the water flowed for ten years.

The laughter and affection are as old as before, and the hair on the temples has become stained.

Why not go back? There are autumn mountains on the Huai River.

Translation

We used to be guests together in Jianghan, and every time we met we would return drunk.

After parting, the clouds drifted like floating clouds, and the years passed by like running water for ten years.

Although we met today with the same laughter as before, it is a pity that we are already old and stained.

Why don’t I go back with my old friend? Because there are beautiful autumn mountains on Huaihe River.

Notes

Huaishang: Beside the Huai River. Liangzhou: refers to Xingyuan Prefecture (now Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province).

Flowing water: It refers to the passage of time, and coincides with Jianghan.

There are Autumn Mountains on the Huaihe River: The scenery on the Huaihe River is lovely, and it means "not going back" if you stretch your feet.

Creative background

The poet met an old friend in Huaishang (now Huaiyin, Jiangsu) who had interacted with him in Jianghan, Liangzhou ten years ago, so he wrote this work out of emotion.

Appreciation

This poem describes the poet's happy encounter with an old friend from Liangzhou in Huaishang (today's Huaiyin area, Jiangsu Province) and his emotions. He and this old friend had a relationship ten years ago in the Jianghan area of ??Liangzhou. The title of the poem is "Happy Meeting" with Old Friends, but what the poem expresses is a mixture of sadness and joy like "we meet today and miss the old days, a cup of wine can turn both joy and sorrow".

The beginning of the poem describes the poet's joy in meeting old friends when he was a guest in Jianghan in the past, summarizing the previous friendship. At that time, they often gathered together to drink heavily and return drunk. The poet wrote this past event as if he was trying to get comfort from the sweet memories, but the result was the sadness of wasted years. The couplet dropped, directly expressing the sadness of ten years of separation. The sentence of the neck couplet returns to the title of the poem, describing the "laughing" state of this meeting. There is indeed a joyful side to seeing each other again after a long absence. They also drink heavily as they did ten years ago. However, this joy can only be said to be superficial or temporary, so in the couplet, the pen is opened again, and the hair on the temples is sparse. Ten years of wandering make people old. This aging image is not only sad but can be expressed in words, and the feeling of wandering is also left unsaid. One happy and one sad, the writing style is ups and downs; one positive and one negative, interactive writing. The last couplet turns with cross-examination and ends with scenery. Why not go back? The reason is "there are autumn mountains on the Huaihe River". The poet's poem "Climbing the Tower" says: "I am tired of sitting in Huainan, there are many mangroves in the autumn mountains." The mountains full of mangroves in the autumn light are exactly where the poet spends his time and nostalgia. This ending leaves room for aftertaste.

In the art of painting, there is a saying that "it is airtight but not airy." The expression of poetry also has the problem of density. Some things are not the focus of the expression, so they should be omitted to make them clear; some things are the center of the expression, so they should be written in detail to make them detailed. Only by alternating density and density with appropriate detail can the subject be highlighted. What this poem expresses is the reunion of two people after ten years of separation. There is a lot to write about. If you talk about the trivial matters of ten years without paying attention to the density and detail, you will not be able to distinguish the priority, that is, It no longer counts as poetry. This requires tailoring. The first couplet of the poem summarizes the previous friendship; the neck couplet and the last couplet seize the scene of reunion after a long separation as the focus and subject, describe it in detail, and describe today's gathering, drinking and laughter, as well as the environment, appearance and thoughts. , performed very meticulously. The couplet "After the floating clouds parted, the flowing water lasted for ten years" has the longest performance. The space for expression is the widest, and the personnel and affairs represented are the most complicated. Here, only ten words are used to express all this. These two sentences use flowing pairs, which are natural and smooth, concise and summarized. The vicissitudes of life after farewell and the thousands of customs, I don't know where to start. The poet only expressed it by naming "floating clouds" and "flowing water" before "one farewell" and "ten years". The artistic conception is ethereal, and it is really "sparse and carefree". "Floating clouds" and "flowing water" allude to the poetic farewell of Su Wu and Li Ling's rivers in the Han Dynasty. Li Ling's "Three Poems with Su Wu" has "Looking up at the floating clouds, they are about to overtake each other. Once the storm is lost, everyone is in a corner of the sky". Su Wu's "Four Poems" has "Looking down at the flow of Jianghan, looking up at the floating clouds", which is often followed by "Floating clouds" means wandering and changing, while "flowing water" means that the years are flowing and the years are fleeting.

The "floating clouds" and "flowing water" in the poem are not realistic, but are virtual scenery. They are used to express the poet's subjective feelings and express the sadness of ten years apart. This shows the poet's tailoring skills.