"Pipa Play" was written in the autumn of the 11th year of Yuanhe (AD 816) of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi was forty-five years old and served as Sima of Jiangzhou. Ten years before Yuanhe, Bai Juyi first served as Zuo Shiyi, and then as Dr. Zuo Zanshan.
In June of the 10th year of Yuanhe, assassins sent by the vassal forces of the Tang Dynasty stabbed to death the prime minister Wu Yuanheng on the streets of Chang'an, and stabbed the censor Zhongcheng Pei Du, causing an uproar in the government and the public. The spokesperson of the vassal town's forces in the DPRK further proposed the removal of Pei Du in order to calm the vassal town's "rebellious" intentions.
At this time, Bai Juyi stepped forward and insisted on punishing the thieves, believing that otherwise the country would be ruined. Bai Juyi's idea was originally correct, but because he usually wrote allegorical poems, he offended many dignitaries in the court, so some people said that he was a low-ranking official and overstepped his duties. In addition, someone accused him of making mistakes, so he was demoted to Jiangzhou Sima.
The state government of Jiangzhou is in Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province today. Sima was the assistant to the governor, which sounded good, but in fact during the Mid-Tang Dynasty, this position was specially reserved for "criminal" officials, who were sent to a certain place in disguise to receive supervision. This incident had a great impact on Bai Juyi and was a turning point in his ideological changes. From then on, his early fighting spirit gradually faded away and his negative emotions became more and more numerous.
"Pipa Play" was written in the second year after he was demoted to Jiangzhou. By narrating the superb acting skills of the Pipa girl and her miserable life experience, the work expresses the author's personal feelings of being hit and reviled politically. Feelings of depression and sadness.
Here, the poet regards a prostitute as his close confidant in the world, and he has sympathy for her. He writes about others and himself, and weeps about himself and others. The ups and downs of officialdom and the sorrow of life are all integrated into one, so Give the work an unusual appeal.
The small preface before the poem introduces the time and place where the story described in the long poem takes place, the person of Pipa Girl, and the origin of the author writing this poem. In fact, it has simply summarized the following long poem. Basic content.
Left move: refers to demotion or demotion. Penpukou: The confluence of the Pen River and the Yangtze River, in the west of today's Jiujiang City. Kyoto Sound: The charm of Chang'an, the capital city, refers to the regional characteristics of the tunes on the one hand, and also refers to the superb acting skills, which are not found in ordinary places. Shancai: used to refer to pipa players in the Tang Dynasty. Mingjiu: Send someone to prepare a banquet. Compassionate, sad look. Tianran: Looks peaceful. The meaning of relegation: refers to the sorrow of being demoted or exiled.
The author said that he has been happy every day since he was demoted to Jiujiang for a year. Only today when he listened to the pipa girl's performance, the sadness of his exile was aroused. This statement is necessary for writing an article, and readers will certainly not believe him. Long sentence: refers to the seven-character ancient poem.
The whole poem "Pipa Xing" is divided into four sections, from "Seeing off guests at the Xunyang River on the first night" to "Still holding the pipa half-covering my face", the fourteenth sentence is the first section. Write about the appearance of Pipa Girl. The first six sentences describe the time, which is a night with red maple leaves and yellow flowers, under the rustling autumn wind; they describe the location, which is the head of the Xunyang River.
Xunyang is today’s Jiujiang City; the head of the Xunyang River is the Penpukou mentioned in the preface. The background is explained, and it is the poet saying goodbye to his friend. Parting itself is unpleasant, and without a singing girl waiting in front of the banquet, it will of course become even more lonely and intolerable.
The syntax of the sentence "the host dismounted and the guest was on the boat" is a bit strange. It actually means that the host accompanied the guest on horseback to the riverside, and then dismounted and came to the boat together. "It's so sad to say goodbye without being drunk, and the vast river is soaked in the moon when we say goodbye."
The scenery and atmosphere here are very well described. It gives people a feeling of openness, loneliness, and melancholy. It blends with the frustration and sadness of the host and the guests, forming a strong sense of depression. Be prepared for the sudden turn of events below.
Among them, the eight sentences after "Deng" are about the appearance of the pipa girl: "Suddenly I heard the sound of pipa on the water, and the host forgot to return to the guest without saying a word." The sound drifted from the water, coming from the boat. This sound immediately attracted the attention of the host and guests. They didn't want to leave or come back. They must explore and find out what happened to this wonderful sound. "Who is the one who is asking about the sound in secret? The sound of the pipa has stopped and it is too late to speak. Move the boat closer to invite us to meet, add wine, turn back the lights and resume the banquet. After calling for a long time, he comes out, still holding the pipa half-hiding his face." The description here is very special. meticulous.
Because it was night, and because they heard only one sound, they did not know where the sound came from or who the performer was, so the "Sound-seeking Dark" here The four words "ask" are very expressive.
Then "the sound of the pipa stopped" indicates that the player has heard the call of the visitor; "it is too late to speak" is consistent with the following "it came out after calling for thousands of times, still holding the pipa half-hiding" , all show that the performer is frustrated and ashamed of her own life experience. She is no longer willing to show her face. This description of the pipa girl's appearance is vivid and moving. She heard her pipa sound before she saw her, and her inner pain was slightly revealed before she heard her words, which created a lot of suspense for the development of the story later.
The second paragraph is composed of twenty-two sentences, from "Three or two sounds of plucking the strings on the rotating shaft" to "Only the white moon in autumn in the heart of the river", describing the superb acting skills of the pipa girl. Among them, "the three or two sounds of turning the strings to pluck the strings" are written about the tuning test before the official performance; then "the strings are suppressed" are written to describe the pathos of the tune; "low eyebrows are followed by formalities" are written to describe the soothing lines. plate. Gathering, twisting, wiping, and picking are all techniques for playing the pipa. Nishang: namely "Nishang Yuyi Song", the name of a dance produced in the Tang Dynasty court. Six: A popular dance name at the time.
Bai Juyi's Pipa Play (2) Bai Juyi's Pipa Play Original Text