Bai Juyi's poem "Everlasting Regret" wrote about the lingering love between Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei. The last sentence of this poem is "This hatred never ends." So, why write this in the last sentence? What is meant by "hate" here?
I think that Bai Juyi wrote "hate" here, which has several meanings.
(Death of Concubine Yang)
1. The hatred of life and death.
When Tang Xuanzong left Chang'an, he probably never thought that someone would kill his favorite concubine Yang. Concubine Yang might never think that she would be killed by insiders. Yes, they might have thought of being killed by rebels such as An Lushan, but they would never have thought that it was their own people who killed her.
For Tang Xuanzong, he could not accept the fact that Concubine Yang Gui was killed anyway. For one thing, it can be said that it is not easy for him to obtain Yang Guifei. He risked being ridiculed by the world for robbing his daughter-in-law. The universe moved greatly, and finally got Concubine Yang Gui. For both, he is too old, and he really needs a person who knows cold and hot, who is also beautiful and delicious, to serve him by his side. Among the three, as an emperor, he could not even protect his own woman and had to agree that the woman was forced to death. His authority has obviously been severely challenged. Four of them, he knew that when he couldn't keep Concubine Yang's life, Concubine Yang would definitely despise him and despise him, thinking that he, a man with boundless power, was so worthless.
Watching Yang Guifei being killed, how could there be no hatred in Tang Xuanzong's heart?
Maybe when he agreed to kill Concubine Yang, he was still thinking that he would avenge Concubine Yang after the "Anshi Rebellion" was put down. But soon after, his throne was taken away. Obviously, the goal of revenge cannot be achieved. How could the hatred in his heart be eliminated?
(An Shi's Rebellion)
2. The hate of endless miss.
If Tang Xuanzong can continue to be emperor after the "Anshi Rebellion", then he might not care about Concubine Yang so much. After all, there are so many beauties in the world that the old will not go, and the new will not come. As long as he gives an order, naturally there will be beautiful women presented to him.
But his throne was lost and he became too emperor. Now that he has become the Supreme Emperor, he obviously no longer has such a right to possess the beauty of the world. And those who stood by his side were all unsatisfactory, those concubines he had never looked down upon.
In this way, his thoughts of Yang Yuhuan will exist all the time. Tang Xuanzong missed Yang Yuhuan all the time, and he might not miss Yang Yuhuan anymore until the day he died. How can this "hate" be eliminated?
(Stills of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty)
3. Hate that cannot last.
actually mentioned a big concept here. What Bai Juyi wanted to express was that even if Tang Xuanzong and Yang Yuhuan were able to meet in the sky, "wish to be a lovebird in the sky, and to be a branch in the earth." But will they be able to achieve forever?
is obviously impossible. There is an end to life, and there is an end to feelings. No matter how beautiful the relationship is, after a period of time, it may change. This is a manifestation of life's impermanence.
Bai Juyi mentioned an important philosophical issue, that is, the relationship between eternity and impermanence, which was also a common concern of ancients. In the eyes of the ancients, there is no way to keep good things forever, and they will mutate. "Heaven is easy to grow old, but hatred is hard to pay." In Song Dynasty poet Cheng Gai's "Tallest Building · Old Times Mindset", "Heaven" and "hate" are vividly explained. Here we compare hate with the sky, thinking that hate is not easy to subside than the sky. That's why we "hate this everlasting".
(Yang Guifei)
Fourth, the hate of inaccessibility.
Bai Juyi wrote a poem here. All literary works express the thoughts and feelings of the author. In other words, it is not only writing about others, but also writing about yourself, and also a kind of thought in your heart. Most literati in ancient times were dissatisfied with real life, and felt that they could not be reused, could not make contributions, and could not achieve mastery. The reason for not being able to achieve mastery is not that he has no talent, but that he is full of talents, but not rewarded by the emperor.
When the ancients expressed their talents but were not rewarded, they usually used "the emperor's concubine" fromMetaphor. They wrote that concubines were not treated by the emperor, but what they wanted to express was that they were not liked by the emperor and were not promoted by the emperor.
Bai Juyi wrote here that Concubine Yang Gui was deeply loved by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, and that Tang Xuanzong's miss for Concubine Yang was endless. In fact, he was expressing that he couldn't get the emperor's favor like Concubine Yang.
This is of course "hate". It is the hatred in my heart.
However, Bai Juyi also expressed here that although Concubine Yang has received the emperor's favor, the fate of Concubine Yang is still not good, and this favor cannot last forever.
We cannot say that Bai Juyi is a kind of gloat. But Bai Juyi actually expressed a meaning here, even if he can really be favored, what about it? Things are impermanent, and beautiful things can never continue. This is a problem that cannot be solved.
In short, as the last sentence of a poem, what Bai Juyi wants to express here is obviously the main theme of this poem, and he also reveals the main theme of this poem through the word "hate".
(Reference materials: "Old Tang Book", "New Tang Book", "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", etc.)
