熊伯齐 隶书:李商隐《嫦娥》
【释文】云母屏风烛影深,长江渐落晓星沉。嫦娥应悔偷灵药,碧海青天夜夜心。
【款识】李商隐诗,甲申四月,熊伯齐书。
【注释】深:暗。长河:银河。碧海青天:指嫦娥的枯燥生活,只能见到碧色的海,深蓝色的天。夜夜心:指嫦娥每晚都会感到孤单。
【简析】
这首诗题为“嫦娥”,实际上抒写的是处境孤寂的主人公对于环境的感受和心灵独白。
前两句描绘主人公的环境和永夜不寐的情景。室内,烛光越来越黯淡,云母屏风上笼罩着一层深深的暗影,越发显出居室的空寂清冷,透露出主人公在长夜独坐中黯然的心境。室外,银河逐渐西移垂地,牛郎、织女隔河遥望,本来也许可以给独处孤室的不寐者带来一些遐想,而现在这一派银河即将消失。那点缀着空旷天宇的寥落晨星,仿佛默默无言地陪伴着一轮孤月,也陪伴着永夜不寐者,现在连这最后的伴侣也行将隐没。“沉”字正逼真地描绘出晨星低垂、欲落未落的动态,主人公的心也似乎正在逐渐沉下去。“烛影深”、“长河落”、“晓星沉”,表明时间已到将晓未晓之际,着一“渐”字,暗示了时间的推移流逝。索寞中的主人公,面对冷屏残烛、青天孤月,又度过了一个不眠之夜。尽管这里没有对主人公的心理作任何直接的抒写刻画,但借助于环境氛围的渲染,主人公的孤清凄冷情怀和不堪忍受寂寞包围的意绪却几乎可以触摸到。
在寂寥的长夜,天空中最引人注目、引人遐想的自然是一轮明月。看到明月,也自然会联想起神话传说中的月宫仙子──嫦娥。据说她原是后羿的妻子,因为偷吃了西王母送给后羿的不死药,飞奔到月宫,成了仙子。“嫦娥孤栖与谁邻?”在孤寂的主人公眼里,这孤居广寒宫殿、寂寞无伴的嫦娥,其处境和心情不正和自己相似吗?于是,不禁从心底涌出这样的意念:嫦娥想必也懊悔当初偷吃了不死药,以致年年夜夜,幽居月宫,面对碧海青天,寂寥清冷之情难以排遣吧。“应悔”是揣度之词,这揣度正表现出一种同病相怜、同心相应的感情。由于有前两句的描绘渲染,这“应”字就显得水到渠成,自然合理。因此,后两句与其说是对嫦娥处境心情的深情体贴,不如说是主人公寂寞的心灵独白。
这位寂处幽居、永夜不寐的主人公究竟是谁?诗中并无明确交待。诗人在《送宫人入道》诗中,曾把女冠比作“月娥孀独”,在《月夜重寄宋华阳姊妹》诗中,又以“窃药”喻指女子学道求仙。因此,说这首诗是代困守宫观的女冠抒写凄清寂寞之情,也许不是无稽之谈。唐代道教盛行,女子入道成为风气,入道后方体验到宗教清规对正常爱情生活的束缚而产生精神苦闷,三、四两句,正是对她们处境与心情的真实写照。
但是,诗中所抒写的孤寂感以及由此引起的“悔偷灵药”式的情绪,却融入了诗人独特的现实人生感受,而含有更丰富深刻的意蕴。在黑暗污浊的现实包围中,诗人精神上力图摆脱尘俗,追求高洁的境界,而追求的结果往往使自己陷于更孤独的境地。清高与孤独的孪生,以及由此引起的既自赏又自伤,既不甘变心从俗,又难以忍受孤孑寂寞的煎熬这种微妙复杂的心理,在这里被诗人用精微而富于含蕴的语言成功地表现出来了。这是一种含有浓重伤感的美,在旧时代的清高文士中容易引起广泛的共鸣。诗的典型意义也正在这里。
孤栖无伴的嫦娥,寂处道观的女冠,清高而孤独的诗人,尽管仙凡悬隔,同在人间者又境遇差殊,但在高洁而寂寞这一点上却灵犀暗通。诗人把握住了这一点,塑造了三位一体的艺术形象。这种艺术概括的技巧,是李商隐的特长。
【Simple Translation】
This poem is entitled “Chang’e”, but in fact it is about the feelings and soliloquies of the lonely hero about his environment.
The first two stanzas depict the main character’s environment and the sleepless night. Inside, the candlelight is getting dimmer and dimmer, and the mica screen is covered with a deep dark shadow, which reveals the empty and cold room, revealing the gloomy state of mind of the main character in the long night sitting alone. Outside the room, the Milky Way is gradually moving westward to the ground, and the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden are looking across the river, which might have brought some reverie to the sleepless person in the solitary room, but now the Milky Way is about to disappear. The few morning stars that dotted the empty sky seemed to be silently accompanying the lonely moon and the sleepless man of the night, and now even this last companion is about to disappear. The word “sinking” realistically depicts the dynamics of the morning stars hanging low and not yet falling, and the main character’s heart seems to be gradually sinking. “The words “deep shadows of candles”, “long rivers falling” and “dawn stars sinking” indicate that the time has come when the dawn is approaching but not yet. The word “gradually” implies the passage of time. The protagonist in the solitude, facing the cold screen with the remaining candles and the lonely moon in the blue sky, has spent another sleepless night. Although there is no direct lyrical portrayal of the protagonist’s psychology here, his lonely and desolate feelings and unbearable loneliness can be almost touched by the rendering of the ambience.
In the long, lonely night, the most striking and evocative thing in the sky is naturally a bright moon. When one sees the moon, one is naturally reminded of Chang’e, the fairy of the moon palace in mythology and legend. It is said that she was originally the wife of Hou Yi, because she stole the immortality medicine given to Hou Yi by the Queen Mother of the West, she flew to the Moon Palace and became a fairy. “With whom does Chang’e live alone?” In the eyes of the lonely protagonist, the lonely Chang’e, who lives in the palace, is not in a similar situation and mood as himself. So, I can’t help but from the bottom of my heart out of the idea: Chang’e must also regret the time to steal the immortality pill, so that the night, living in the Moon Palace, facing the blue sea and blue sky, the lonely cold feelings can not be overcome. The word “should” seems to be a natural and logical choice because of the first two lines. Therefore, the last two lines are not so much an affectionate consideration of Chang’e’s situation as they are a soliloquy of the main character’s loneliness.
Who is this hero who lives in silence and never sleeps at night? The poem does not give a clear answer. In the poem “Sending the courtesan to the Way”, the poet compares the female crown to “the widow of the moon”, and in the poem “Sending the sister of Song Huayang again on the moonlit night”, he uses “stealing medicine” as a metaphor for the woman studying for immortality. Therefore, it may not be nonsense to say that this poem is a poignant and lonely poem on behalf of the female guardian of the palace. In the Tang Dynasty, Taoism was prevalent, and it became the trend for women to enter the Tao. After entering the Tao, they experienced the spiritual distress caused by the shackles of the religious rules on their normal love life.
However, the loneliness and the resulting emotion of “regretting the theft of the elixir” in the poem are integrated with the poet’s unique realistic life feelings, and contain a richer and deeper meaning. Surrounded by the dark and polluted reality, the poet spiritually tries to get rid of the mundane and pursue the realm of exaltation and purity, but the result of his pursuit often puts him in a more lonely situation. The twin births of nobility and loneliness, and the resultant self-appreciation and self-sorrow, the subtle and complex psychology of being unwilling to change one’s mind to the mundane and unable to bear the torment of loneliness, are successfully expressed here by the poet in subtle and implicative language. This is a kind of beauty with a strong sense of sadness, which easily resonates among the noble scribes of the old era. The poem’s typical meaning is also here.
Chang’e, who lives alone without a companion, the lady in the Taoist temple, and the poet, who is noble and lonely, are all connected in their spirituality and loneliness, despite the difference between the immortals and the mortals and the different situations of those who are on earth. The poet has grasped this point and created an artistic image of the trinity. This skill of artistic generalization is Li Shangyin’s speciality.