Original title: What do the fireworks in "Fireworks under March in Yangzhou" mean?
A friend asked: What does the "firework" in Li Bai's poem "Fireworks under March in Yangzhou" mean?
is not fireworks anyway. This is a proprietary vocabulary that was formed later, and there was no such name in the Tang Dynasty.
did not have this word at the time, so I can only disassemble it and understand it.
First of all, we make sure that the words "smoke and flower" are actually the attributive term of "March". Flowers are easy to understand, and March in Yangchun is full of flowers. Therefore, the meaning of the two lines of Li Bai's poem "The old man quits the Yellow Crane Tower in the west, and the fireworks will go down to Yangzhou in March" is not complicated. Meng Haoran said goodbye to the Yellow Crane Tower and went to Yangzhou in this blooming March.
The key is why the word "smoke" can be used to describe the spring in March.
One said it is "Smoke Willow" of Catkins
The argument of烟柳 has always been the mainstream. Smoke is Yan Liu, that is Liu Ruyan. March and April is the time when catkins fly in the sky. Smoky willow refers to the willow forest that resembles smoke, and also refers to willow forests and willow trees in general.
Then the meaning of this poem is: Meng Haoran bid farewell to the Yellow Crane Tower, and went to Yangzhou in March when the catkins were like smoke and blooming flowers.
The situation is quite beautiful, and the explanation is smooth.
But I am personally suspicious.
There is no inevitable relationship between "smoke willow" and "firework". The word "smoke willow" first appeared in one of Zhang Zhongsu's "Spring Outing":
Smoke willow fly lightly, wind elm down small money.
In the misty flowers, Luo Qi is on the swing.
Han Yu, who is probably the same year as Zhang Zhongsu, also has one of the poems "Early Spring Chengshui Department Zhang Shibayuanwai":
The light rain on the street is as smooth as crisp, the color of grass is near but nothing.
The most benefit of the spring is one year, and it's a win over Yanliu Mandu.
Judging from these two poems, "smoke willow" does not refer to the willow forest where the catkins are like smoke. Otherwise, the sentence "smoke willow flying light catkins" is an extremely failed repetition. Willow forest full of catkins flying soft catkins? It doesn't make sense.
Going forward, Xie Daoyun, the most famous talented woman in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, has a blockbuster "The talent of chanting catkins", which compares the sky full of snowflakes to catkins: "How does the white snow look like (Xie An), not like catkins because of the wind." We usually see the scene of flying catkins all over the sky, and it has not changed for thousands of years. The catkins drifting up and down like snow, not like green smoke or white smoke, or even in the shape of smoke at all.
One said it is the "smoke willow" of light yellow
So what do Zhang Zhongsu and Han Yu's "smoke willow" mean? There is another saying that when the willow leaves are slightly growing, they are still yellow but not green, and they look like a light smoke covering the crown of the tree, so it is famous. That is, the half-yellow half-green willow leaves swaying in the wind, it sounds a bit like farm smoke.
In this way, the poems of Zhang Zhongsu and Han Yu make sense. After all, Han Yu's poem precedes "The light rain on the street is as smooth as crisp", and the capital after the rain cannot be full of catkins. But the city is full of fresh green and golden silk (Wei Zhuang’s "Liu Tus Golden Silk Orioles"), it is indeed a spring scene after the rain that deserves to be praised.
The word "Liu Ruyan" first appeared in Wen Tingyun's "Bodhisattva Man·Shui Jing Lian Li Poli Pillow" in the late Tang Dynasty:
There is a lot of pillows in the water essence curtain, and the warm fragrance provokes the dream of mandarin ducks. The willows on the river are like smoke, and the geese fly in the waning moon.
The lotus root silk is light in autumn, and the cut is uneven. The fragrant red is separated from the temples, and the jade hairpin has the upper hand.
And Wen Tingyun’s poem is about the remnants of the boudoir girl’s dreams. Naturally, “Liu Yan on the river” is no problem. The water is misty and the willow swings in the wind, creating a feeling of green smoke floating, let alone in a dream. It's well written. But this is the same as the "smoke willow" in frontThere is no similarity.
Even though Han Yu and Zhang Zhongsu's term "smoke willow" refers to the tender willow with new leaves, it has nothing to do with Li Bai's poem.
Because Han and Zhang were both in the Mid-Tang Dynasty, they were both born seven or eight years after Li Bai's death. And from the appearance of "smoke willow" to the use of "smoke" to refer to willows, it must be after "smoke willow" becomes a fixed image and is recognized by most poets before it is possible to use a word in the image. Refers specifically to this image.
Li Bai probably didn't have the wording of "smoke willow" at that time. Even if he was very literary and created this kind of imagery, it is impossible to use the word describing the form in a new image to refer to the description of the subject. If he wanted to write about willows and blooming flowers, he could only write "Willows under March in Yangzhou", or use the "Yang" (Puliu) in "Yangliu" that was mature at that time to replace "willow" in order to find the balance of sound and rhyme. Instead of using the word "smoke" which is unclear and misunderstood.
Even today, no one would use "smoke" to refer to "smoke willow". This omission method is incorrect.
Althoughis beautiful, it's just that we look beautiful today, because we have accumulated more than a thousand years of culture, and even acquiesced that fireworks have the splendid beauty of fireworks.
may have nothing to do with "smoke willow"
Under the circumstances at the time, "smoke" should not mean "willow".
Most likely, just like "flowers", flowers are flowers, smoke is smoke, and cooking smoke. Because Yangzhou, where Meng Haoran is going, is a prosperous place, densely populated by natural people and blooming. In other words, near the Yellow Crane Tower where they are different, the flowers are blooming and there are people everywhere.
Meng Haoran bid farewell to the Yellow Crane Tower and will go to Yangzhou in March when the tourists are weaving and the flowers are blooming.
Look, this may be the most meaningless explanation of Fireworks March, but it may also be true.
But this is also my personal speculation. Maybe the term "smoke" used to refer to "smoke willow" and "smoke willow" to refer to spring has existed, and then it changed later and it was no longer used. "Smoke" refers to spring.
But anyway, I don’t agree with the saying that “smoke willow” is a willow tree with catkins in the air.
Of course, this does not affect the beauty and status of this poem in our hearts.
A poem has left the poet itself and the dynasty. The words have new meanings and images attached, but they still trigger our emotional resonance. It is a great work in itself.
The deceased left the Yellow Crane Tower to the west, and the fireworks went down to Yangzhou in March.
The lone sail is far away from the blue sky, only the sky stream of the Yangtze River can be seen.
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