Memories of Peach Blossom Creek: A Poetic Journey through Love and Loss

In the realm of Chinese literature, the poetic form known as “Yulou Chun” captures the essence of fleeting beauty and poignant emotions. This form, also referred to as “Mulan Hua” or “Gui Chao Huan Ling,” evokes imagery of delicate springtime scenes and the bittersweet nature of human existence. Developed during the later years of the Five Dynasties by poets like Gu Xiu and Ouyang Jiong, it consists of fifty-six characters divided into two stanzas, each with a consistent rhyme scheme that underscores its lyrical appeal.

Peach Blossom Creek

In the context of poetry, “Taoxi” is not merely a geographical reference to a place in Yixing but rather a metaphorical setting that symbolizes distance and longing. This poetic device was beautifully articulated by Zhou Ji in “Selected Ci of the Song Four Families,” where he highlighted the profoundness and distance portrayed in such literary settings. The mention of “Taoxi” in poems by Han Yu and Wei Chengban further emphasizes its symbolic use in expressing deep sentiments of separation and unfulfilled yearning.

Autumn Lotus Ends, No Continuation

Comparable to “Taoxi,” the phrase “Autumn Lotus” contrasts with it, signifying a rupture rather than a stable continuity. Common wisdom often speaks of “connecting threads despite broken lotus stems,” yet in this instance, the lotus stems are severed without any remaining ties.

Red Lattice Bridge

The poetic depiction of “Chilan Bridge” in various works by Gu Kuang and Wen Tingyun illustrates a scenic setting where willows and spring waters intertwine. Han Wo’s reflection in “Passing by the Li Shi Pavilion with Emotion” portrays the poet’s reminiscence of past poetic settings. The phrase “Chilan Bridge” subtly hints at spring landscapes without explicitly revealing them.

Ranking the Peaks

Citing Chen Yuanlong’s annotations in “Selected Literature,” which quoted Xie Tao’s poem “Idle View from the County Pavilion,” this piece conveys intricate details, unveiling distant vistas akin to the elegance and poignancy found in the verses of Tang poets like Liu Changqing, Li Shangyin, Ma Dai, and Wen Tingyun. Li Shangyin’s “Meeting with Zhao Shi’s Brother” vividly illustrates the poetic imagery of “rainbows and blue hills in the rain,” closely resembling this portrayal.

Emotions Resemble Rain Remnants on Sticky Ground

In Yan Jidao’s “Yulou Chun,” the phrase “spring thoughts are chaotic like clouds, do not control the world lightly like snow.” Although the first sentence is slightly different in meaning, the comparison is similar, and the next sentence is similar, but the meaning is the opposite. Doubtful Zhou’s sentence changes from the words of Yan. Peach Blossom Creek flows unwillingly to stay, and the autumn lotus breaks with no place to go.

This poem begins with a story of immortal love between mortals, describing the melancholy caused by the return of the old place to the poet and his lover after the separation. The entire poem is paired, dignified and flowing, deep in emotion and long in meaning. The first sentence “Taoyi” uses the Eastern Han Dynasty Liu and Ruan’s immortal affair. The legend of the Eastern Han Dynasty when Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao went to Tianjin Mountain to collect medicine, they met two women by the creek, who were very beautiful in appearance, so they admired each other and stayed for half a year. Thinking of hometown and returning home, the woman sent away, indicating the way back. When he returned home, his offspring had already been through seven generations. Later, revisit Tianjin, no longer see two women. Tang poetry often uses fairy encounters and real dark allegories. “Taoyi” does not live comfortably and stays, implying that the poet once had a romantic encounter like Liu Ruan’s entry into Tianjin. However, he did not stay for a long time, and he separated quickly, regretting that he had some regrets in his tone, but he used a lighter brush. With the “Peach Blossom” edition, there is also an implied meaning of “the former Liu Lang now again,” which is consistent with the story of the old place being found again. The second sentence used a metaphor to suggest that “Taoyi” was separated, and the relationship between them was severed, just like the autumn lotus (Xie) did not connect again. The tone is full of regret and regret, and the desire to rekindle the old love but not to be missed. People often use “lovers who cannot forget each other” to describe the hard feelings of old love, but here they turn their words around and use their meanings, showing novelty and persistence. The following two sentences focus on summarizing the narrative and exposing the traces of separation and reunion, opening the next paragraph. “When you were waiting at Chilan Bridge, today you are alone looking for a yellow leaf road.” The three or four sentences contrast sharply with “Peach Blossom” to meet and “extinguish the continuation” to create a clear contrast. Chilan Bridge and Huangyelou are the same but different. Yu Pingbo’s “Selected Ci of Tang and Song Dynasties” introduces Gu Kuang, Wen Tingyun, and Han Wei’s poetry, stating that Chilan Bridge is often associated with willow and spring water, pointing out that this word “Huangyelou Mingdian” is not talking about willow and spring, it is not broken, although the “Chilan Bridge” and “Huangyelou Mingdian” are two spring words, but they are not talking about spring scenery. “Three or four sentences in “Peach Blossom” and “autumn lotus” are just a hint and a clear point of spring and autumn. “Chilan Bridge” and “Huangyelou Mingdian” this poetry image, the connotation has far exceeded the range of time and land, and become a symbol. Change “Smoke from the mountainous green is countless, and the geese’s back in the setting sun is about to be late” two sentences, and transfer the pen to write the scene: it is a clear autumn evening. In the misty mist, there are countless green mountains standing far away. The sunset’s afterglow, reflected on the geese’s back in the sky, reflects a red about to fade away. The two sentences separately used the poems of Xie and Wen, but compared with the original sentence, they are more divine. The subtlety lies in the elaborate description of the landscape, not the depiction of the character itself or any symbolic meaning; and between the emotion and the landscape, there is a kind of faintness, if it is close to the separation and integration of the relationship, make people read it with a difficult to express feeling. The green hills, which do not speak, and the “lonely search” are facing each other silently, which highlights the openness of the environment and the loneliness of oneself; while the red on the back of the goose, on the one hand, shows the brilliance of the late scene, but it is about to fade away, and disappear in a patch of twilight. In the last two sentences, “People like the wind after entering the river cloud, emotions like rain are sticky to the ground.” It describes the situation of the close up of the river in the sky, not only showing the sudden appearance, the light movement, the mysterious figure of the atmosphere, but also making the mood with the mood, the dilemma cannot be released in the effect. Two metaphors, are not the type of a bit of a natural and self-cultivation, but the result of the purpose and search, because they vividly and vividly express the feelings of the poet, read its thick and powerful, and do not feel the trace of its carving and carving. “Emotions like rain are sticky to the ground,” is the word of the word, the word of the poem of the song, is the right to be the moment of the Yin, full of the lips of the two hearts, is the next song in poem and o is also the feeling of sadness.