1. Noble character
The phoenix tree symbolizes noble and beautiful character in ancient poetry. For example: "The phoenix is ??singing, and it is on the high hill. The phoenix tree is growing, and it is rising in the sun ("The Book of Songs·Daya·Juan")." The poet uses the phoenix to sing in harmony here, and the song is flying over the hill; the phoenix tree is growing wildly, and the body is covered with The bright morning sun symbolizes the purity and beauty of character. In ancient times, there was a saying of "planting tung trees to attract phoenixes".
2. Loyal love
In ancient legends, the phoenix tree is a male tree, and the tung tree is a female tree. The phoenix tree grows and grows old together, lives and dies together, and the phoenix tree has tall and straight branches, deep roots and luxuriant leaves. , in the poet's writing, became a symbol of loyal love.
3. Loneliness and sorrow
The wind blows the fallen leaves and the raindrops drop on the sycamore trees. It is a desolate scene. The sycamore trees have become the image of loneliness and sorrow in the literati's works. For example, "Speechlessly I went up to the west tower alone, the moon was like a hook. The lonely phoenix tree locked the autumn in the deep courtyard" (Li Yu's "Happy Meeting"), which vividly describes the story of this subjugated king living in seclusion in a lonely deep courtyard. Down and out.
4. Emotions of separation
In the poetry of the Tang and Song Dynasties, Wutong has the most images and meanings of separation and hatred. For example, "When the peach and plum blossoms bloom in the spring breeze, and the sycamore leaves fall in the autumn rain" (Bai Juyi's "Song of Everlasting Sorrow"), the poet compares the grandeur of the past with the desolation at hand, describing the desolate situation of Emperor Ming of Tang Dynasty after he lost Concubine Yang Guifei due to the Anshi Rebellion.
A brief analysis of the rich imagery contained in "Wutong" is as follows:
1. Plant pines and cypresses to the east and west, and sycamores to the left and right?
Tall sycamore trees Tall and straight, with fine wood and smooth trunk, it is regarded as a good tree. As early as more than 2,000 years ago, the phoenix tree was associated with the legendary Phoenix, the king of birds. "The phoenix is ??singing in that high hill. The phoenix tree is growing in the rising sun." ("The Book of Songs") So there is still a proverb circulating among the people: "Planting the sycamore tree will attract the golden phoenix." It has a noble and holy nature. The phoenix only chooses the sycamore tree to rest, which shows the miraculous properties of the phoenix tree. ?
Later, the idiom "good birds choose trees to roost" was derived from the characteristics of the phoenix living in the sycamore tree, and the phoenix here was replaced by other birds. For example, in the poem "Cicada" by the poet Yu Shinan of the Tang Dynasty, he replaced the most noble phoenix with an autumn cicada: "It hangs down to drink the clear dew, and the sound of the trees flows out." The ancients believed that cicadas drink dew naturally because of their nature. Noble. The high sycamore tree where the cicada lives makes its image noble and noble, making it even more extraordinary. Because the phoenix tree stands alone and proudly and has a noble character, people put it together with pines and cypresses and call it a beautiful material. ?
Flowers and trees are often used to express love and longing. The green phoenix tree with green stems and green leaves is a symbol of the deep love between husband and wife. According to ancient legends, the phoenix tree is male and the tung tree is female. The phoenix trees grow and grow together and grow together. There is a saying in our country that "the phoenix tree treats each other until old age, and the mandarin ducks die together". Therefore, the phoenix tree is often used in poetry to express the undying love between men and women. The most imaginative and romantic final section of the Yuefu folk song "The Peacock Flies Southeast" uses the above connotation. "Pine and cypress trees are planted on the east and west, and plane trees are planted on the left and right. The branches cover each other and the leaves communicate with each other. There are two flying birds in the middle, which they call themselves mandarin ducks. They raise their heads and sing to each other until the fifth watch every night." This wonderful and magical picture embodies both meaning and meaning. It not only stimulates people's hope for pure love and desire for a happy life, but also uses deification to relieve people's dissatisfaction and indignation against reality.
2. Wu Si, Shutong and Zhang Gaoqiu?
Reading Li He's "Li Ping Konghou Yin", people will definitely not forget the author's magical and weird description of the music and Li Ping Appreciation for outstanding performance skills. So where does this kind of music like "Kunshan jade phoenix screams, hibiscus weeps and dew fragrant orchid laughs" come from? ? "Wu Si Shu Tong". Wutong is also known as soft wood and can be used to make musical instruments. The most famous one is the "Jiaowei Qin" made by Cai Yong of the Han Dynasty from Wutong. According to the "Book of Han" records, Cai Yong encountered someone using paulownia wood to make a fire in Wudi. Cai Yong, who was well versed in rhythm, heard the extraordinary sound of burning and exploding Paulownia wood, and concluded that it was a good wood, so he rescued this piece of Paulownia wood and made it into a qin. The sound was really wonderful, because the tail part had been burnt, so It is called "Jiaowei Qin". With the fine silk from Wu and the Liangtung from Shu, coupled with Li Ping's superb skills, it can certainly produce an artistic effect like "Nuwa made stones to mend the sky, and the stones broke the sky and made the autumn rain fall".
3. The sycamore trees are drizzling more and more, and at dusk, it’s drizzle, bit by bit. This time, how could there be such a thing as "sorrow"? ?
The sycamore leaves fall early. The ancients said that "when a leaf falls from the sycamore tree, the whole world knows about autumn." The ancients have always had a sad autumn complex. They feel sad when they see things, and they feel the depth of autumn when they see the leaves falling.
"Speechless, I went up to the west tower alone, the moon was like a hook. The lonely phoenix tree locked the autumn in the deep courtyard." (Southern Tang Dynasty Li Yu's "Happy Meeting") The emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty in prison certainly had a lot of sorrow, and this cold moon The light shines on the bare plane trees, adding to the sadness of the people in the courtyard. ?
"Autumn wind and autumn rain make people sad", and the tung leaves in the autumn rain add to the mood of depression and loneliness. "It rains in the middle of the night under the sycamore tree. Ignorance and separation are the most painful. Every leaf, a sound, drips into the sky." (Tang Dynasty Wen Tingyun's "Geng Liu Zi") The sound of rain combines with the tung leaves, a leaf, a sound , ringing in the ears and dripping in the heart, how can it not make the missing woman feel the loneliness after parting? The representative work "Slow Voice" by the female poet Li Qingzhao of the Song Dynasty even borrowed the last bit of "searching and searching" in "Wu Tong" and "Drizzle" to create a disappointing ending of "deserted and miserable", which made the female poet After losing her husband and subjugating the country, she expressed the infinite sorrow that she experienced through all the vicissitudes of life and suffering. People often use the word "sorrow" to describe this state of mind, but for this elderly widow who was in extreme melancholy, "how can the word "sorrow" be used this time?" ?
Perhaps the image of "phoenix trees and drizzle" can always arouse people's melancholy and infinite reverie. Bai Pu, a famous playwright of the Yuan Dynasty, named the love tragedy between Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei "Wutong Rain", which made the sad and melancholy mood in the title of the play envelope the whole play.
It’s hard to tell you the beauty of it, just like the tall and straight branches of the sycamore tree, the good birds that have been perching on it for a long time, the endless sound of the piano that circles the beams, the autumn sound of the rain hitting the tung leaves, and the drama surrounding it. A touching story, all of which will tug at people's heartstrings, inspire people's emotions, and bring them rich imagination and full inspiration. No wonder the modern writer Yu Dafu did not forget his longing for the "Wu Tong" in "Autumn in the Old Capital".