"Long Song Xing" is a poem in the Han Dynasty Yuefu, which belongs to "Xianghe Song Ci". It is a poem that exhorts the world to cherish the time and forge ahead. The full text is as follows:

Chang Ge Xing

Han · Anonymous

In the green garden, the sunflowers are blooming, the morning dew awaits the setting sun.

Budze in spring brings brilliance to all things.

I am often afraid that when the autumn festival comes, the yellow flowers and leaves will wither.

From the east to the sea, when will the rivers return to the west?

If a young man does not work hard, the old man will be miserable!

Translation

The green vegetable garden, the green sunflowers, the morning dew will disappear in the sunshine.

The warm spring has generally given grace, and all things on the earth are full of vitality.

Everyone is afraid that the chilling autumn will come, which will cause the leaves to turn yellow, branches to wither, and the flowers to become haggard.

Time is like countless rivers flowing eastward to the sea. When will any of them return to the west again?

If you don’t work hard when you are young, you will achieve nothing when you are old and you will only be sad in vain!

Introduction to the work

"Long Song Xing" is a poem in the Han Dynasty Yuefu, which belongs to the "Xianghe Song Ci". It is a poem that exhorts the world to cherish the time and forge ahead. This poem mainly says that seasons change quickly and time is gone forever, so it advises people to cherish their youth and work hard to make a difference. The whole poem uses scenery to express feelings, and is based on emotion. It embodies the life philosophy of "young people don't work hard, old people will be sad" in vivid images such as the morning dew is drying, the autumn leaves are falling, and the hundreds of rivers are flowing eastward. The flowers and leaves fall in autumn, and the flowing water goes eastward and never returns, which emits a sigh of passage of time and short life, encouraging people to hold on to the life that flies by with time, work hard, and make a difference in their youth.

Appreciation of the work

This is a poem that blends scenes, contains philosophy, and comprehends life. By describing the change of seasons and the prosperity and decline of living things, he laments that time is gone like running water and never returns, and then advises people to use the precious years when they are young and strong to work hard and strive hard, and never end up old because of wasting time. regret. Especially the last two sentences not only highlight the theme of the whole poem, but are also very inspiring to generations of young people. This poem uses a series of metaphors to illustrate that we should cherish time and work hard early.

The first four sentences of the poem describe to us a bright spring scene. The green sunflowers in the garden are still covered with dew. After the sun rises, the dew dries up, and the sunflowers are bathed in the sun again. In the sunshine, everything in the world is blessed by the rain and dew of nature in spring, and glows with incomparable brilliance.

The fifth and sixth sentences describe nature from the opposite side, that is, from prosperity to decline, from growth to death, from young to strong. When autumn comes, they all lose their bright luster and become withered and yellow. All things undergo changes in their ups and downs, and people also undergo a process from youth to old age. However, plants can come back and start again, but people cannot turn back time.

The seventh and eighth sentences use the metaphor of hundreds of rivers flowing eastward into the sea and never returning to the west, to express the truth from the front in a euphemistic and tortuous way. In this way, it not only deepens the truth to be preached, but also strengthens the power of persuasion. In terms of technique, it is "gaining momentum", and in terms of concept, it is "simple explanation" to reflect "depth".

In the end, it all boils down to nine or twelve sentences. If we don’t cherish time and work hard when we are young and strong, we will only be sad in vain when we are old!

The whole poem starts from "green sunflower", associates it with the changes of the four seasons, and uses rivers as a comparison to draw the conclusion that we should seize the time and work hard. The comparison technique is very obvious. This poem reminds young people of the perishable life from the beauty of youth in front of them, and encourages young people to cherish time and give warnings to inspire people.

Creative background

This poem is one of the Yuefu poems of the Han Dynasty. Changgexing refers to a free-style singing style with the tune of "long singing". The Yuefu is a court music organization established since the Qin Dynasty. In addition to setting and singing poems by literati singing their praises, it is also responsible for collecting folk songs. It was greatly expanded during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and a large number of poetry works were collected from the people, with rich content and a wide range of themes.