Translation of Pipa Xing
In the tenth year of Yuanhe, I was demoted to Sima of Jiujiang County. One day in the second autumn, I saw my friend off at Songpukou, and at night I heard someone playing the lute on the boat. Listen to that sound, jingle bells, with the popular rhyme of Kyoto. Ask about this person, who turned out to be a singer in Chang 'an, and once studied under two pipa masters, Mu and Cao. Later, she got old, retired and married a businessman. So I ordered someone to set the wine and asked her to play a few songs happily. After she finished playing, she looked a little blue. She talked about the joy of childhood, but now she is wandering, haggard and wandering between rivers and lakes. After leaving Beijing for two years, I had a very relaxed and enjoyable life. Now I am moved by this man's words, and I feel that I was demoted that night. So I wrote a long poem for her, a total of 6 16 words, entitled "Pipa Travel". In the evening, I went to Xunyang River to see the guests off, and the maple reeds were rustled by the autumn wind. My guests and I dismounted from the boat to bid farewell and drank useless music. If you don't drink well, it will be even sadder. When we left, there was a Leng Yue in the boundless river. Suddenly I heard the sound of pipa from the river; I forgot to return, and the guests didn't want to leave. Find the sound source and ask softly who is playing the pipa? Pipa stopped for a long time, but it was still silent. We moved the boat closer, invited her out to meet us, and asked the servants to add more wine to rekindle the banquet. It was a long time before she came out slowly, holding the pipa in her arms and covering her face. She turned the piano shaft tightly, plucked the strings and tried to play a few times, but before playing it into a tune, she had feelings first. The sad voice of the strings suggests meditation, as if telling her life's unhappiness. She kept her brow down and played slowly and continuously, pouring out endless sadness in her heart. Close it gently, twist it slowly, wipe it, pick it, and play "Colorful Feather" first, then "Liuyao". The voice of the big string is heavy and heavy, like a storm, and the small string is light and quiet, eager and fine, like people whispering. Noise and tangles play alternately, just like pearls, big and small, falling off the jade plate one by one. For a while, it is like a flowering oriole singing tactfully and smoothly, and for a while, it is like spring water flowing under the ice. It seems that the cold and astringent pipa sound of the ice spring began to condense, and the condensed but unsmooth sound gradually stopped. It seems that another kind of sadness and hatred is secretly breeding. At this time, the sound is more moving than the sound. Suddenly, the pipa sounded suddenly high, like a silver bottle bursting and water rushing; It's like playing a team of fighters, whistling with swords and guns. At the end of the song, the plectrum crossed from the middle of the strings, and the four strings roared as if tearing the cloth. It turns out that boats and cruise ships in the east and west are very quiet, and only the autumn moon reflected in the middle of the river is white. She thoughtfully put the pick away and inserted it on the strings; Finishing clothes still looks solemn. She said that she is a famous singer in Beijing, and her hometown is in Ling Ran, southeast of Chang 'an. At the age of thirteen, he learned to play the pipa, and his name was registered in the first part of Jiao Fang Philharmonic Orchestra. Every time I perform, I marvel at the master of art, and every time I make up Chengdu, I envy my fellow singers. All the rich children in Beijing are vying to give me a reward. Whenever a song is played, I don't know how many colored silks to give. The beat of the silver grate at the bridgehead is often broken and scattered, and the red skirt is stained with wine without regret. Year after year, I spent my time laughing and playing, and the good times of autumn and spring were wasted. Jiao Fang's brothers joined the army, and the aunt in charge died. I am old and faded in the past. Cars and horses in front of the door reduce diners, and you have to marry a businessman when you are old. The businessman only pays attention to profit, but despises parting. Last month, he went to Fuliang to buy tea and handle the goods. He left me alone at the mouth of the river, accompanied by the autumn moon, and the autumn water was cold by the boat. I often dream of having fun as a teenager in the middle of the night, and I wake up crying in my dream and stain my face. I shook my head and sighed when I heard the pipa, and it was even more embarrassing to hear her speak. They are also poor people who are reduced to the end of the world. Why do you ask if you have met when you meet today? I have been ill since I left the prosperous capital Chang 'an last year and was demoted to live by Xunyang River. Xunyang is a desolate and remote place. There is no music, and you can't hear the orchestra all the year round. Living near Ganjiang River, low-lying and humid, around the yard, try to plant some Huang Wei and bitter bamboo. What can you hear here sooner or later? Full of sad cries of cuckoo apes. Riverside flowers, as good as Qiu Jiang moonlit night; I can't help it I often drink wine alone. Are there no folk songs and village flutes here? It's just hoarse and harsh. Tonight, I listened to you play the pipa and spoke your mind, just like hearing Yue Xian's refreshing. Please don't refuse to sit down and play another song; I want to write a new poem "Pipa" for you. Moved by my words, she stood for a long time; Turn around and sit down, then tighten the strings and dial the urgent tone. It's so sad, it's not as monotonous as when it was first played. People here are hard of hearing and have been crying. Which of you shed the most tears? Jiangzhou Sima's blue shirt has been soaked with tears!
Pipa Travel is a long narrative poem by Bai Juyi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty. This poem reveals the unreasonable phenomena such as bureaucratic corruption, the decline of people's livelihood and the burying of talents in feudal society by describing the superb playing skills and unfortunate experiences of the pipa girl, expressing the poet's deep sympathy for her and the poet's resentment at her innocent demotion. The narrative and lyric of the whole poem are closely combined to create a complete and distinctive character image; The language flow is symmetrical, beautiful and harmonious, especially the description of pipa performance, which is clever in metaphor, turns virtual into reality and presents a distinct musical image. The original text is as follows:
Pipa and Tang Bai Juyi merged for ten years and moved to Sima, Jiujiang County. Next autumn, seeing off guests in Songpukou and listening to those who play the pipa in the middle of the night will have the clank of iron in Kyoto. Asked male, Ben Chang 'an advocates women, learns the pipa from the old and faded Mu and Cao, and devotes himself to being a good girl. Then he ordered wine and asked Aauto Quicker to play some songs. When I was young, I told myself my happiness. Now I am wandering, haggard and wandering between rivers and lakes. After two years as an official, I feel at ease and feel that I have moved towards the future. Because of long sentences, songs are given to them, and every 6 16 words are called "pipa merging order" In the evening, I bid farewell to a guest on Xunyang River. Maple leaves and mature rushes rustle in autumn. I, the host, have dismounted, my guest has boarded his boat, and we raise our cups, hoping to drink-but, alas, there is no music. Although we drank a lot of wine, we were not happy. When we were leaving each other, the river mysteriously widened in the direction of the full moon. We heard a sudden sound, a guitar crossed the water, the host forgot to go home and the guests left. We followed the melody, asked the player's name, and the voice was interrupted ... and then she reluctantly answered. We moved the boat closer to hers, invited her to join us, and summoned more wine and lanterns to start our party again. However, before she came to us, we called a thousand times and urged her for a thousand times, but she still hid half of her face behind her guitar from us. ... she turned the tuning pin and tested several strings, and even before she played, we could feel her feelings. Every string is a kind of meditation, and every note is a kind of deep thinking, as if she were telling us the pain of her life. She frowned, bent her fingers, and then started her music, letting her heart share everything with us bit by bit. She brushes the strings, twists them slowly, sweeps them and plucks them, first "Nishang" and then "Six Yao". Big strings hum like rain, and small strings whisper like secrets. Humming, whispering-and then mixing together, like pouring large and small pearls into a plate of jade. Between Guan Ying's words, the bottom of the flower is slippery, so you can't swallow the spring scenery and flow under the ice. The ice spring is cold and astringent, and the strings condense, and the condensation will never stop. The depth of sadness and the hiding of sadness are more told in silence than in voice. A silver vase suddenly burst, pouring out a stream of water, jumping out of the conflict and blow between armored horses and weapons. Before she put down the pick, her stroke was over, and all four strings made a sound, just like tearing silk. The east ship was silent, and the west ship was silent. We saw the white autumn moon entering the river. She tied it thoughtfully on the rope, stood up and smoothed her clothes, serious and polite. Tell us how she spent her girlhood in the capital and lived in her parents' house in Toad Hill. She mastered the guitar at the age of thirteen, and her name ranked first in the list of musicians. Her art even attracted the appreciation of experts, and her beauty attracted the envy of all major dancers. How did the aristocratic youths in Wuling compete generously? Countless red silks were given to a song. The silver comb inlaid with shells was broken by her rhythm, and the bloody skirt was stained with wine. Season after season, joy followed, and neither the autumn moon nor the spring breeze attracted her attention. Until her brother went to war, and then her aunt died, and the night passed, and the night came, and her beauty disappeared. Lengma was at the door, so at last she gave her wife to a businessman. Who, first of all, stole money, accidentally left her and went to Fuliang to buy tea a month ago. She has been taking care of an empty boat in the estuary, with no companions except the bright moon and cold water. Sometimes in the middle of the night, she dreams of her victory and is awakened from her dream by her hot tears. Her first guitar note made me sigh. Now, after listening to her story, I feel even sadder. We were all unhappy until the end of the day, when we met. We understand. What is the relationship between acquaintances? ! A year ago, I left the capital and came here. Now I am a sick Jiujiang exile. Jiujiang is so far away that I haven't heard music, neither strings nor bamboo sounds for a whole year. My residence is near the town by the river, low and humid, and the house is surrounded by bitter reeds and yellow rushes. What can you hear here in the morning and evening? ? The cuckoo's bleeding cry, the ape's sobbing. I often pick up the wine and drink it alone in the spring morning with flowers and the autumn night with moonlight shining. Of course, there are folk songs and bagpipes in the village, but they are rough and harsh, and they are harsh in my ears. Tonight, when I heard you playing the guitar, I felt that my hearing was illuminated by wonderful music. Don't leave us. Come, sit down. Play it for us again. Translate the travel notes of pipa for you. ... she was moved by my words, stood there for a while, and then sat down to play her strings-they sounded even sadder. Although the tune was different from what she had played before, all the listeners covered their faces. But which of them cried the most? ? This Jiujiang official. My blue sleeves are wet.
works appreciation
As stated in the preface, Pipa Travel tells the story of the author's demotion from Chang 'an to Jiujiang, listening to an Chang 'an playing the pipa and telling his life story. As a long narrative poem, this poem is rigorous and meticulous in structure, with twists and turns in plot and ups and downs.
In the first part, from "I saw the guests off on Xunyang River in the dead of night" to "I still hid half my face behind her guitar so that we wouldn't see it", I described the regret that there was no music at the farewell party, invited businessmen to play the pipa, described the timbre of the pipa in detail, and tried to shape the image of the pipa girl. The first sentence, "I see a guest off at night in Xunyang River", is only seven words, which roughly introduces the people (host and guests), the place (head of Xunyang River), the event (host sees a guest off) and the time (night); Dye the environment with the phrase "Maple leaves and adult rushes rustle in autumn", and the bleak feeling of farewell to Fujian in autumn night has already spread. But it's bleak and lonely, so it starts from "We raise our glasses and hope to drink-but, alas, there is no music". Because the foreshadowing of "No strings" and "We are unhappy after drinking all, and we are leaving" is very strong, then "When the river mysteriously widens to the full moon" is used as an environment for baking and dyeing, which constitutes a strong sense of depression, and makes "We heard a sudden sound and a guitar crossed the water" have a strong hollow footstep to prepare for the sudden change below. From Autumn's Bleak, No Chord and Farewell at Night to Sudden Smell, Sounding for Sound, Quietly Asking, Moving Boat, to Inviting to See, it can be said to be "yet we called and urged a thousand times before she started toward us". Just like "I" is eager to listen to Yue Xian's pipa, which means "I am eager to write about the hatred of the end of the world", so she is "but we called for it a thousand times and urged it a thousand times before she set off for us", because she is full of "the hatred of the end of the world", so it is inconvenient to say it and she doesn't want to see anyone. Because of this, the poet used the voice to cut off the portrait ... Then, she reluctantly answered, still hiding half of her face behind the guitar from us to express her indescribable pain. The description of this pipa girl's appearance is vivid and touching. She didn't see the pipa before she heard it, and her inner pain was slightly revealed before she heard it, which caused many suspense for the development of the next story.
The second part, from "... she turned the string shaft and tried to pluck a few strings," We saw the white autumn moon enter the middle of the river "to describe the pipa girl and the pipa music she played, which showed the inner world of the pipa girl concretely and vividly. The six sentences of "one thought for each string, one thought for each tone" always describe the playing process of "rainbow skirt first, then six-year-old children", in which "she frowned and bent her fingers, and then began to play" and "she brushed the strings, twisted them slowly, swept them and plucked them" are used to describe the playing methods. And "as if telling us the pain of her life" and "let her heart share everything with us bit by bit" are used to summarize the thoughts and feelings expressed by Pipa women through music. In the following fourteen sentences, when copying music with the help of the phonology of language, various vivid metaphors are used to enhance its vividness. The big string is like rain, which not only uses the overlapping word "noisy" to describe the sound, but also uses "like a downpour" to visualize it. The same is true of "whispering as a secret". That's not enough. "Humming, whispering-and then mixing together" reproduces the interlaced features of two melodies, such as "like a shower" and "like a whisper". If we use the metaphor of "like pouring large and small pearls into a plate of jade", the visual image and auditory image will be exposed at the same time, which is dazzling and dazzling. The melody is constantly changing, and there are two artistic conceptions: first "slippery" and then "astringent". "Off-site" sound is light and smooth, which is like "flower bottom", and the beauty of visual image strengthens the beauty of auditory image. The sound of "choking" is sad and choked, which is like "a clear spring flowing under the ice". The coldness of visual image intensifies the coldness of auditory image. The poet's quatrains of "Going into mourning and hiding deeply, silence is better than sound" describe the artistic realm with lingering sound and endless meaning, which is amazing. At this point, I thought it was over. Who knows that "sadness and dark hatred" has accumulated infinite power in the process of "the voice gradually subsided" and cannot be suppressed. In the end, just like the "silver bottle bursting", the water slurry burst, and like the "iron horse standing out", the sword roared and suddenly pushed the undercurrent of "Ningjue" to a climax. Although the song is over, the soul-stirring and soul-stirring musical charm has not disappeared. The poet takes the environmental description of "the east boat is quiet, the west is quiet, and we see the white autumn moon entering the heart of the river" as the side lining, leaving readers with a broad space with lingering charm.
The third part, from "thoughtfully putting the strings on the strings" to "being awakened from a dream by her hot tears", describes the story of a pipa girl. Her experience from a girl to a businesswoman is like the excitement and silence of the pipa sound. Just like after the invitation, the details of playing the pipa were omitted; After the song, the inquiry about life experience was also omitted, and two sentences describing the portrait were used to transition to "soliloquy": the expression of "thoughtful" was obviously related to the inquiry, reflecting the contradiction between her inner desire to talk and rest; A series of actions and expressions such as "letting go", "inserting strings", "dressing up", "getting up" and "closing up" show her psychological activities of overcoming contradictions and taking her mind off her chest. After soliloquy, she wrote a gripping elegy for the pipa girl's half-life experience, which complemented the music "Let her heart share everything with ours bit by bit" and completed the image-building of the heroine. The image of the heroine is extremely vivid and true, and it is very typical. Through this image, the tragic fate of musicians and artists who were insulted and damaged in feudal society was profoundly revealed.
The fourth part, from "her first guitar note made me sigh" to "this Jiujiang official" at last. My blue sleeves are wet, which expresses the poet's deep affection and sympathy for the pipa girl. The author reveals his self-image in the emotional waves aroused by the fate of the pipa girl. A year ago, I left the capital to come here, and now I am a sick exile here in Jiujiang. The "I" in the book is the author himself. The author suffered a blow because he wanted to get rid of tyranny and practice benevolent government. He was demoted from Chang 'an to Jiujiang, and his mood was very painful. When the pipa girl played sad music for the first time and expressed her thoughts, she had already resonated with him and gave a deep sigh. When Pipa girl confided her life experience and said that "sometimes in the dead of night, she would dream of her victory and be awakened from her dream by hot tears", it even aroused his emotional resonance: "We were all unhappy-until the end of the sky, we met. We understand. What is the relationship between acquaintances? "In the same boat, with one voice, I couldn't help telling my story. In the past, the pipa girls in Beijing "often taught good players to be impressed, and their beauty was admired by the leading dancers", which was similar to the situation before the author was demoted; Similarly, after his demotion, his situation is similar to that of a pipa girl who "finally married herself to a businessman", otherwise, he would not send out the feeling that "we are far apart, and everyone is happy".
This is a famous masterpiece of realism. The full text takes the characters as clues, not only writing the life experience of the pipa girl, but also writing the poet's feelings, and then meeting in the sentence "We are both unhappy-to the end of the day". The singer's tragic experience is very specific and can be regarded as a bright line; The poet's feelings permeate between the lines, and with the constant changes of the music played by the pipa girl and her life experience, it can be regarded as a dark line. This one is bright and dark, one is real and one is empty, which makes the plot ups and downs. The story it tells is tortuous and touching, and the emotion it expresses can resonate with people. The language is beautiful but not flashy, refined but not obscure, the content is close to life, and it has a wide range of sociality and tastes both refined and popular.
Creation background
Pipa Xing, written in the 11th year of Yuanhe (AD 8 16), is a seven-character ancient poem. When Bai Juyi was appointed as an admonition officer, he dared to remonstrate, sympathized with the sufferings of the people, and wrote a lot of satirical poems, which angered Tang Xianzong and offended powerful people. In the tenth year of Yuanhe, Prime Minister Wu was assassinated by Li Shidao, a buffer region. In desperation, Bai Juyi wrote a letter asking for an assassin, which violated the interests of powerful people. Accused of overstepping his authority, he was demoted to Jiangzhou Secretariat, and later framed for his poems "Appreciating Flowers" and "New Realm", and later demoted to Jiangzhou Sima. Jiangzhou was regarded as a "wild land" at that time. Jiangzhou Sima, though nominally a secretariat assistant, is actually a sinecure, which is a great irony to Bai Juyi. He was demoted, in fact, it was an unjust case, repeatedly hit, feeling sad, full of frustration and anger. The following year (in the 11th year of Yuan Dynasty), I saw a lute girl in Pukou and wrote this famous song handed down from ancient times.
Brief introduction of the author
Bai Juyi (772-846) was born in Xinzheng, Henan, and his ancestral home was Taiyuan, Shanxi. He was a great realistic poet in the Tang Dynasty and one of the three great poets in the Tang Dynasty. He was called "Bai Yuan" with Yuan Zhen and "Bai Liu" with Liu Yuxi. Known as the "poet demon" and "poet king". Advocating the new Yuefu movement with Yuan Zhen, from official to Hanlin bachelor and Zuo Zanshan doctor. His poems have a wide range of themes, diverse forms and popular language. Up to now, there are Bai's "Changqing Collection", and the representative works include Song of Eternal Sorrow, Charcoal Man, Pipa Travel and so on.