A Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty, Li Bai (also known as Li Po, Li Pai, Li T’ai-po, and Li T’ai-pai) was probably born in central Asia and grew up in Sichuan Province.
题北榭碑[1]
李白
一为迁客[2]去长沙[3]，
西望长安不见家。
黄鹤楼中吹玉笛，
江城[4]五月落梅花[5]。
注释：
[1] 《千家诗》注说：“此诗太白将谪长沙，至鄂中黄鹤楼作也。”《梅花落》是曲名。这里可以双关，诗人因为遭贬谪，听见笛声，仿佛看见五月落梅花了。
[2] 迁客：指被贬谪的官员。
[3] 去长沙：此处李白以贾谊自喻，因贾谊曾经被贬谪为长沙王太傅。
[4] 江城：指武汉。
[5] 落梅花：笛曲名，又名《梅花落》。
On Hearing the Flute in Yellow Crane Tower
Li Bai
Since I was banished to the riverside town,
Looking westward, I’ve found no home I’d call my own.
Hearing in Yellow Crane Tower the flute’s sad tune,
I seem to see mume blossoms fall in the fifth moon.
Jia Yi of the Western Han Dynasty was slandered by powerful officials for criticizing the current politics and was demoted to Changsha. Li Bai was also implicated in the Yongwang incident and exiled to Yelang. Therefore, the poet cited Jia Yi as a sympathizer. “One is to go to Changsha as a migrant”, which is to use Jia Yi’s misfortune to compare his own experience, revealing the resentment of innocent victims, and also contains his self-defense. But the political blow did not make the poet forget about state affairs. On the way to exile, he couldn’t help but “look west to Chang’an”, where there are memories of the past, concerns about the fate of the country and attachment to the court. However, Chang’an is thousands of miles away, which is very far away and full of barriers for the exiled people. The poet couldn’t help feeling melancholy when he couldn’t see it. Hearing the sound of the flute playing “Plum Blossoms Falling” on the Yellow Crane Tower, he felt particularly desolate, as if the river city in May was covered with plum blossoms. The poet cleverly used the sound of the flute to exaggerate his melancholy. Wang Qi quoted Guo Maoqian’s “Collection of Yuefu Poems” to explain the title of this tune: “The Plum Blossoms Falling” is originally a flute song. In May, Jiangcheng is in the early summer, so of course there are no plum blossoms. However, because the flute music “The Plum Blossoms Falling” is very beautiful, the poet seems to see the scene of plum blossoms falling all over the sky. Plum blossoms bloom in the cold winter. Although the scene is beautiful, it can’t help but give people a chilly feeling, which is exactly the portrayal of the poet’s desolate mood. At the same time, it reminds the poet of the historical legends of Zou Yan’s imprisonment and the flying frost in June. The expression method of associating the sound of music with the image of music is what poets call “synesthesia”. The poet thinks of plum blossoms from the sound of the flute, and appeals to vision from hearing, and the synesthesia is intertwined to depict a desolate scene that matches the desolate mood, thus effectively setting off the sad mood of leaving the country and missing home. Shen Deqian of the Qing Dynasty said: “The seven-character quatrain is valuable for its close language and distant feelings, and implicit expression. It is only the scene in front of the eyes and the spoken words, but there is an overtone, which makes people feel far away. Li Bai has it.” (Volume 20 of “Tang Poetry Selection”) This seven-character quatrain is known for its “close language and distant feelings, implicit expression”, which allows readers to hear the poet’s overtones from the scenes and spoken words such as “blowing jade flute” and “falling plum blossoms”.
In addition, this poem is also good in its unique artistic structure. The poem describes the feeling of listening to the flute, but it is not written in the order of hearing the flute and feeling the emotion, but the emotion comes first and then hearing the flute. The first half captures the typical action of “looking west” and describes it, vividly expressing the feeling of missing the imperial capital and the sorrow of “looking” but “not seeing”; the second half points out the hearing of the flute, and the desolate scene of “plum blossoms falling in Jiangcheng in May” is transformed from the sound of the flute, using the scene to express emotions, making the previous and next scenes complement each other, and the combination is infinite.
