Li Bai is a well-deserved elder brother in the Tang Dynasty poetry circle. His song “Silent Night Thoughts”, “The bright moonlight in front of the bed is suspected to be frost on the ground. Raise your head to look at the bright moon, and bow your head to think of your hometown”, which can be said to be known by all women and children.
But you know what? The version we are reciting now is adapted by later generations.
For so many years, we have recited “Silent Night Thoughts” by mistake, only after reading the original poem did we know that Li Bai How talented.
Looking at the moonlight in front of the bed, it was suspected that it was frost on the ground.
Raise your head to look at the mountains and the moon, and bow your head to think of your hometown.
This is the version of the Song Dynasty. “Li Taibai’s Works”, “Yuefu Poems” and so on are all “Watching the Moonlight” and “Looking at the Moon on the Mountains”.
It is said that Japan’s Jingjiatang Library also collected “Li Taibai’s Collected Works”. At that time, the Japanese highly advocated the Tang poetry culture and did not change it.
So this version of Song people is more recognized by later generations.
Then how did the version we recite now come from?
During the Ming Dynasty, Huang Xiyuan and others edited and revised the Song Dynasty’s “Ten Thousand Quatrains of Tang Dynasty”. “.
In the Qing Dynasty, when Shen Deqian compiled “Different Poems of the Tang Dynasty”, he changed the first sentence “Watching the moonlight” to “bright moonlight”, while the third sentence remained unchanged.
Some people say that this was adapted by the Han people to “reverse the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty”, maybe this is also a reason .
During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, Tuishi Hengtang made reference to Huang Xiyuan and Shen Deqian’s changes when compiling “Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty”, so it became the “Mingyueguang” and “Wangyuguang” we know today. Bright Moon”.
We also know the popularity of “Three Hundred Poems of Tang Dynasty”, and other versions of poetry collections are far less popular than it, so Li Bai’s original version was gradually ignored, but the adapted “Silent Night Thought” Sing is not bad.
If Li Bai found out, I don’t know how sad he would be.
Now let’s take a look, why is Li Bai’s original poem more artistic?
Let’s say the first sentence “Look at the moonlight in front of the bed”.
First of all, we need to understand that the “see” here is the first sound, so there is no problem of flatness.
Some people think that the word “see” is tacky, not as good as “bright moonlight”.
I don’t think that his younger brother Du Fu once said, “Tonight, the moon in Kunzhou is only seen in the boudoir”, and Su Shi, a great writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, also has a poem saying, “This night will not grow well in this life, the bright moon will be next year. Where to watch”, and Yan Jidao’s “Remembering Feiqiong to watch the sleep of the moon”…
So don’t look at the tacky word “see”, in fact, it has an indescribable melancholy when it is paired with the moon .
Some people also say that moonlight is intangible. Looking at it deliberately, it will not be “suspected of frost on the ground”.
But in fact, we can look at it from another angle. The theme of this poem is “homesickness”. If he can see the moonlight, but still see it as “frost on the ground”, does that mean that he is because Do you have such a misunderstanding when you miss your relatives in your hometown too much?
The word “look” invisibly deepened his homesickness.
Looking at the third sentence “Looking up at the mountain and moon”, in fact, for this sentence, many people think that “Mountain Moon” is more artistic than “Mingyue”.
But in fact, apart from the artistic conception, from the perspective of the poet’s homesickness, it also fits the theme better. Why? So what?
What many people don’t know is that after writing the poem “Quiet Night Thoughts”, Li Bai also wrote a poem “Travelling on the Autumn Evening”. In this poem, Li Bai misses his hometown. more intense.
There is such a sentence “When the mountains go endlessly, when will the flowing water return”.
He could only see the mountains, but not his hometown. Reminds me of “Homesickness” written by Li Gou of Song Dynasty. “People say that the sunset is the end of the world, and when you look at the end of the world, you can’t see your home. I already hate that Bishan is separated from each other, and Bishan is still covered by twilight clouds.”
And Li Bai The same is true for the “Wangshanyue” here. When he looked up, he could only see the distant mountains and the bright moon, but he could not see his hometown, so he “lowered his head and thought about his hometown”.
So “Mountain Moon” is not only more artistic than “Mingyue”, but also more able to highlight the theme of “Homesickness”.
In general, Li Bai’s original version is more beautiful and more intelligent than the current version. After reading the original poem, I realized how talented Li Bai is.