周慧珺 草书:陈子昂《度荆门望楚》
【释文】遥遥去巫峡,望望下章台。巴国山川尽,荆门烟雾开。城分苍野外,树断白云隈。今日狂歌客,谁知入楚来。
【款识】陈子昂诗一首,周慧珺书。
【注释】章台:即章华台,楚之章华台在今湖北监利县西北离湖上。巴国:古国名,在今四川东部。荆门:荆门山,在今湖北宜都县西北,与长江北岸的虎牙山相望,是巴楚咽喉之地。
【简析】
唐代结束了南北朝时期的分裂局面,消灭了隋末的混乱状态,对外开疆拓土,威震四方,国内安定统一,经济繁荣,从而进人了中国历史上最为光辉灿烂的—个时代。科举制度的确立,又为广大世俗地主阶级知识分子开辟了进入政治舞台的通道。李唐王朝和新兴的世俗地主阶级都处在上升时期。勃勃进取、积投向上的英雄主义感,成为这一时期的时代精神,体现在文艺作品中,便出现了所谓“盛唐之音”。
陈子昂这首《度荆门望楚》写于他二十一岁初次由蜀入楚之时。这是他第一次离开故乡四川梓州射洪县,准备东入洛阳求取功名,和唐王朝一样年轻的诗人对前途充满了信心和憧憬,对外面的世界充满了新奇之感。当他经荆门入楚时,写下了这首豪壮的五言律诗。
“遥遥去巫峡,望望下章台。巴国山川尽,荆门烟雾开。”。诗的开头连用四个地名,紧扣住诗题“度荆门”的“度”字,突出了船行的疾速。“去、下、尽、开”四个动词的连用,更使诗句具有了强烈的动感。我们仿佛看到一叶轻舟颠流而下,险峻秀美的巫峡被它远远抛在身后,小船飞驶直入楚国故地。
五律第一联,本不须对仗,但诗人却用了“遥遥”、“望望”这个连珠对,写得轻快、流畅,兴奋喜悦之情尽在其中。船出荆门,诗人眼前一下子豁然开朗,天地似乎突然变得宽广了,两岸重崖叠嶂的巴东山峡消失了,狭窄的河流一变而为万顷汪洋。江雾迷茫,烟波浩渺。神秘的大自然的变化,使年轻的诗人惊愕、迷惘而欣喜、赞叹,引起不尽的浮想联翩。
如果说“巴国山川尽,荆门烟雾开”是写江面景象,那么“城分苍野外,树断白云隈”则是写两岸风光。极目远望,楚天辽阔。青苍苍的原野无边无际,远远地偶尔可见一两座城镇的轮廓。视野尽头,树林如带,隐隐与白云相接。千里江河平原,向初次入楚的诗人敞开了自已的胸膛,迎接着这位远道而来的蜀中才子。眺望这奇妙而美好的风光,很自然地使人想到在这块古老的土地上活动过的人和事;想到当年孔夫子过楚的凄惶潦倒;想到屈原江畔行吟的悲愤抑郁;也想到项羽面对秦皇仪仗发出“彼可取而代之”的壮语、先贤先哲们已经逝去了,—代新人又举步重来,于是诗人仰天长吟:“今日狂歌客,谁知入楚来。”狂歌客,指春秋末期楚国着名隐士陆通,字接舆。他才学很高,不肯入仕,有许多轻世蔑俗之举。这里诗人用这个典故,是用接舆的才高自负比喻自己:但今天诗人狂歌、入楚,不是为了隐居不仕,却是为了求取功名,施展抱负,风流少年的得意之情跃然纸上。倘使接舆复生,见到狂歌入楚的青年诗人,不知该作何感想?
这首诗写得昂扬有力,气势流动。前六句写景,场面开阔;后两句写人,豪放倜傥。大自然的壮丽景象与诗人神采飞扬的形象交相辉映,使这首诗具有鲜明的时代特征和个性特征。无怪有人称之为“初唐描写荆门形势的第一佳作”。
【Simple Translation】
The Tang Dynasty ended the division between the Northern and Southern Dynasties, eliminated the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and opened up new territories to the outside world. The establishment of the imperial examination system opened up a channel for the majority of secular landowning intellectuals to enter the political arena. Both the Li Tang Dynasty and the emerging secular landowning class were on the rise. The sense of heroism and aggressiveness, and the sense of upward investment, became the spirit of the times during this period, which was reflected in literary and artistic works, resulting in the so-called “sound of the Sheng Tang”.
Chen Zi’ang’s song “Looking at Chu from Jingmen” was written at the age of twenty-one when he first entered Chu from Shu. This was the first time he left his hometown in Shehong County, Zizhou, Sichuan Province, and was preparing to go east to Luoyang to pursue his career. Like the Tang Dynasty, the young poet was full of confidence and longing for the future, and was full of novelty about the outside world. When he entered Chu through Jingmen, he wrote this magnificent poem in five lines.
”I am far away from the Witch Gorge, and I am looking down to Zhangtai. The mountains and rivers of Ba are all gone, but the smoke at Jingmen is open.” . The poem begins with four place names in a row, closely following the word “Du” in the poem’s title “Du Jingmen”, highlighting the speed of the boat’s journey. The use of the verbs “to go, down, exhaust, and open” gives the poem a strong sense of motion. We seem to see a light boat upside down, the dangerous and beautiful Wu Gorge is far behind it, the boat sailed straight into the homeland of Chu.
The first couplet of the five lines is not necessary, but the poet uses “distant” and “look out”, which are written lightly and smoothly, and the excitement and joy are all in it. When the boat leaves Jingmen, the poet’s eyes are suddenly opened up, and the world seems to have suddenly become wide and wide. The river was misty and smoky. The mysterious change of nature made the young poet astonished, confused and delighted, and aroused endless imagination.
If “the mountains and rivers of Ba are exhausted, and the smoke of Jingmen is open” is about the scene on the river, then “the city is divided into pale wilderness, and the trees are broken by white clouds” is about the scenery on both sides of the river. Looking far into the distance, the Chu sky is vast. The green and pale wilderness is boundless, and the outline of one or two towns can be seen occasionally from afar. At the end of the field of vision, the woods are like a belt, faintly connected with white clouds. A thousand miles of river plain opened itself to the poet who came to Chu for the first time, welcoming the talented scholar from Shu. Looking at this wonderful and beautiful scenery, it is natural to think of the people and events that took place in this ancient land; to think of Confucius’ miserable and desperate life when he passed through Chu; to think of Qu Yuan’s sorrowful and depressing song on the riverside; to think of Xiang Yu’s magnificent words “he can take over” in the face of the Qin emperor’s war of honor; to think of the sages and philosophers who have passed away and the new generation who are coming back. -So the poet looked up to the sky and sang, “Today, the mad singer, who knows that he has come to Chu.” The poet refers to Lu Tong, a famous hermit of Chu at the end of Spring and Autumn Period. He was very talented, but refused to join the civil service, and did many things that were contemptuous of the world. Here the poet uses this allusion to compare himself with the high talent and conceit of Jiju: but today the poet sings wildly and enters Chu, not for the purpose of seclusion, but for the purpose of seeking fame and ambition. I wonder how the young poet would feel if he were to come back to life and see the young poet singing wildly into Chu.
This poem is written with vigor and momentum. The first six stanzas are about the scene, and the last two stanzas are about the people, which are bold and elegant. The magnificent scenery of nature and the poet’s exuberant image are intertwined, giving the poem distinctive characteristics of its time and personality. It is no wonder that some people call it “the first masterpiece describing the situation of Jingmen in the early Tang Dynasty”.