Liu Yong was the first "free lyricist" in ancient China, he was born in a family of eunuchs, and when he was a teenager, he also worked hard to study books and go to Beijing to catch the exam. However, after several setbacks, he began to sink into the wind and moon, filling in words for people full-time, and became famous for a while.
At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, euphemisms had not yet arisen, so the upper-class literati could not appreciate Liu Yong's style of words. In the second year of Da Zhongxiangfu (1009 AD), the twenty-five-year-old Liu Yong took the exam for the first time, and he fell off the list because of "subordinate words". In the following fifteen years, it fell off the list three times.
Discouraged, Liu Yong wandered all day, anesthetizing himself by drinking and filling in words. Later, once the imperial court opened the Enke to recommend talents, someone mentioned the name of "Liu Sanchang".
After the emperor learned of Liu Yong's deeds, he directly rejected the nomination and replied: "And go and fill in the words." Since then, Liu Yong has specialized in filling in words for a living. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Liu Ci had a great influence on the people. There are often wind and dust singers, in order to win his word, twisting and turning.
Whenever there was such a moment, Liu Yong watched the fight on the side, and also blew the fa snail, boasting that his belly was full of strange brocade, spraying the Yangtze River with his tongue, and saying: "I don't ask for people to be rich, people must ask me for articles." The talented man occupies the speech field, and it is really a white-clad Qingxiang. ”
It can be seen that although Liu Yong's career is not good, his life is very comfortable. The poem "Raining Bells and Cold Cicadas" is a poem written by Liu Yong after failing the fourth examination in the second year of Tiansheng (1024 AD).
Later, the euphemism was gradually accepted by people, and Liu Yong's song "Raining Bells and Cold Cicadas" reached the peak of the euphemism. When later generations interpret this poem, they always love to mention Liu Yong's parting with his lover "Worm Lady" and his personal inner sorrow.
Appreciation of "Raining Bells and Cold Cicadas"
"Raining Bells and Cold Cicadas" - Northern Song Dynasty Liu Yong
The chill is miserable, the long pavilion is late, and the rain is at the beginning of the break. Dumen tent drinking nowhere, nostalgic, Lan Zhou urged. Holding hands and looking at each other with tears in their eyes, they were speechless and choked. Thoughts go, thousands of miles of smoke, twilight and mist.
Amorous parting since ancient wounds, more that kan, snubbed the Autumn Festival! Where is the wine awake tonight? Willow shore, dawn wind and moon. This past year should be a good day and a good scene. Even if there are a thousand styles, who to say?
Vernacular Translation:
Walking to the long pavilion in the evening, the sound of cicadas in the ears is bleak and sad, and a torrential rain has just stopped. You set up a banquet outside the gate of the capital for me. Just as he was about to give up, the ferry came again to urge him to leave.
They held each other's hands and looked at each other with tears in their eyes, but they couldn't say a word. Only to let the sobs freeze in the throat and emit a whimper. This place is different, separated by thousands of miles of smoke and waves. The future radiates the twilight of the sunset, and the sky of Chudi is boundlessly vast.
Amorous people, since ancient times, love to grieve for parting. What's more, it's time for this cold and lonely season! But I don't know where I am after I wake up tonight? Or the willow shore, blowing the morning breeze, looking up at the remnants of the moon in the sky.
From now on, no matter how many years have passed. Without you by my side, even if it is a beautiful day, it is only useless. Even if there are thousands of feelings and interests, who can I tell about such a heart?
Su Shi once said that the willow word is suitable for seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls, holding a red tooth board to sing "Yang Liu An Xiao Feng Remnant Moon". Unlike his words, it is more suitable for the Kansai Han, holding an iron plate to sing "The Great River Goes East".
The reason for this statement is not out of Su Shi's "arrogance" or contempt for Liu Yong, Su Shi just stated a fact.
Liu Yong is actually a commercial lyricist, and many song ci researchers believe that his poem "Raining Bells And Cold Cicadas" was written for a wind and dust confidant named "Worm Lady".
However, as a free lyricist, Liu Yong's method of filling in words at that time was already very "commercial". Because of the impassability of Shilu, Liu Yong has long relied on filling in words to make a living, so he will always stand on the position of "audience" when creating.
The biggest audience for Yanagi is the seventeen- and eighteen-year-old kabuki and the ordinary guests who listen to them sing. Like many love words created by Liu Yong, "Raining Bells and Cold Cicadas" is a kind of creation that "substitutes" for Ge Ji's perspective.
Because the feeling of mixed sorrow and joy in the lyrics must be able to make the singer feel empathy. Therefore, these words are very shallow in terms of word formation and ideological connotation.
The only place that makes Liu Ci famous is the "creation" and rhetoric in the word. However, this artistic technique was accused of being "rhetorical and floating" at that time.
When we carefully read Liu Yong's "Raining Bells and Cold Cicadas", we will find that the beginning of the word is full of clichés such as "long pavilion", "cold cicada", "sudden rain" and so on.
The "imagery" formed by these words does not need to go deep into the inner world of the characters at all, and can easily mobilize the emotions of the audience. The real brilliance of the whole word is only in the three sentences of "holding hands to see the tearful eyes" and "where is the wine awake tonight".
The former successfully uses the "hand of the son, and the son with the old age" in the Book of Poetry, combining a scene of a lover's breakup with the classic love poem involving the alliance of the white head; the latter fictionalizes a situation and successfully shows the author's own genius in "creating the realm".
Like many willow words, "Raining Bells and Cold Cicadas" is brilliant in that he fills in the love words with the tone of an obsessive boy and caters to the tastes of seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls.
Since Qu Yuan compared himself to the beauty in the Chu Ci, ancient Chinese poets especially liked to call themselves "concubines" in their poems, and carried out "bitter chanting" as "concubines", and wrote a large number of poems with the themes of "parting", "thinking of return" and "grievances".
But like Liu Yong, it is extremely rare for a person to openly write love words as a hall man. When Liu Yong fills in the words, although he has always used the "commercial elements" that girls can understand, at the same time, he has never given up expressing personal emotions in the words.
"Where is the wine awake tonight, Yang Liu'an, Xiao Feng and the Moon", is the most real and natural feeling of Liu Yong, the prodigal son. Therefore, the combination of "commercial elements" and "personal sincere feelings" has made Liuzi realize a real elegant and popular appreciation, which is why Liuzi is so famous.
epilogue
The success of Liu Yong's "Raining Bells And Cold Cicadas" is actually inseparable from the musical harmony of the word itself, and the harmony of the musical rhythm has promoted the spread of this word to a large extent.
However, with the passage of time, the "popular" elements in the original song have not seemed popular enough today. For example, the feelings of seventeen and eighteen-year-old girls today are already different from those of girls a thousand years ago.
Therefore, when people today read this song, their favorite is not those "long pavilions", "cold cicadas", and "sudden rain". Even the nagging love words of "holding hands and loving each other with tears" have been mentioned less and less frequently.
Later, people's favorite thing is actually the unique "creation of the realm" in this song, that is, it belongs to the prodigal son of the rivers and lakes - "Willow Bank, Dawn Wind and Moon".
However, Liu Yongya's popular way of creation allowed his lyrics to be popular at the time and to be popular in future generations, which is worth learning from today's people.