CATDOLL : CATDOLL: The background of writing The Lady of the Camellias

Background of The Lady of the Camellias

The Italian name of the opera is Traviata, which originally means a fallen woman (or a person who has fallen), and is generally translated as the Lady of the Camellias. The opera describes a character with multiple personalities in the social scene of Paris in the first half of the 19th century - Marguerite. She was famous for a time, outstanding in talent, and lived a life of luxury and debauchery as a prostitute, but she did not pursue the secular style of fame and fortune, and was an image of a persecuted woman. Although she won the love of Alfred Armand, she resolutely gave up her love in order to save the honor of a so-called decent family, making herself a victim of the upper class. The plot summary is that Marguerite, a famous Parisian prostitute known as the Lady of the Camellias because of her love for camellia, was originally a store clerk. After she became a prostitute, although she lived a life of spending a lot of money, she suffered great pain in spirit and body, and thus became seriously ill. By chance, she met a young man named Armand, who had been secretly in love with her for 4 years. After they met, Marguerite happened to be ill. Others were indifferent to this, but Armand took care of her sincerely and was considerate of her. Marguerite was deeply moved and accepted Armand's love. In order to get rid of the luxurious but suffocating environment, she spent all her savings and lived with Armand in the countryside. They were affectionate and loving in a quiet life. Unexpectedly, Armand's father was furious after hearing the news and rushed to the countryside to question him. When he learned that Marguerite was really sincere to his son, he was touched, but still insisted that she break off relations with her son. Considering Armand's future happiness, Marguerite reluctantly agreed to Armand's father's request, left a letter to Armand, pretending that she had become someone else's mistress, and returned to Paris. Armand didn't know the inside story and accused her of being unfaithful and heartless for pleasure. Marguerite was hit by this and fainted immediately. Her condition worsened and her life was in danger. At this point, Armand's father told his son the truth. When Armand returned to Marguerite with a guilty conscience, she was already dying. In the end, she left the world with the regret of not being able to realize love and family happiness.

The background of Wang Wei's poem "Watching Hunting"

The year of this poem is unknown, so it was not written in his later years. It starts with the climax of hunting, unfolding a series of flying scenes. The last two lines are contrasted with the gentleness, making the previous galloping seem as if it is still vivid. The style is light and vigorous, and the ending is thought-provoking.

Volume 1 of Huang Sheng's Revised Anthology of Tang Poetry: The beginning is vigorous, sharp and bold, and the third and fourth notes are vigorous and exciting. Therefore, the fifth and sixth notes turn to a melodious tune, and the seventh and eighth notes turn again, but it is like a bend at the end of a carving, and the beginning is several meters long.

In the first volume of Shuoshi Xiyu by Shen Deqian of the Qing Dynasty, it is said that it is important to start with an abrupt move. Wang Youcheng's "The strong wind makes the horn bow ring", Du Gongbu's "The boundless mountains", "The world is full of armor", Cen Jiazhou's "Flying birds see off guests", etc., are so amazing that one would think that rocks have fallen from the mountains, and one does not know where they came from. Also: Tang Xuanzong's "The clouds are steep at Jiange", Wang Youcheng's "The strong wind makes the horn bow ring", are full of spirit and energy, and the composition, sentence structure and word structure are all at the peak. This is the correct form of regulated verse.

Shi Runzhang of the Qing Dynasty said: "Bai Shangshu used Hu's hunting poem to say that Zhang San was no better than Wang Youcheng. It seems that Shang was not serious. Hu's poem says: "At dawn, we left the east of the forbidden city and surrounded the shallow grass. The red flag was raised to the sun, and the white horse rushed into the wind. With his back hand, he drew the golden arrowhead and turned over to control the horn bow. When ten thousand people pointed at it, a wild goose fell into the cold sky. Reading it carefully, it is completely different from Youcheng's style ("Qie Zhai Shihua").

"Watching Hunting" is a poem written by Wang Wei in his early years that describes the hunting scene of a general. The whole poem is divided into two parts. The first four lines are the first part, which describes the hunting process.

The first couplet, "The wind is strong and the horn bow is ringing, the general is hunting in Weicheng", adopts an inverted sentence structure, which cleverly points out the identity of the hunter - the general, the hunting location - the suburbs of Weicheng, the weather conditions - the strong wind blowing, and the hunting method - shooting with horn bows and sharp arrows. The opening sentence "The wind is strong and the horn bow is ringing" is quite abrupt, and the poem "takes the lead", allowing readers to look forward to the heroic image of the bowman following the sharp sound of the horn bowstring in the strong wind, creating a suspense for readers. Here, the word "strong" exaggerates the strong and fierce wind; the word "ringing" contrasts the strong wind and the strong bow force. The five words in the opening line are very good at "picturing the sound", which successfully creates a typical atmosphere for the general's appearance, and paves the way for the later depiction of the general's heroic posture, agility and joyful mood, showing the general's spirit and temperament of a strong man who "draws the bow when it is strong", dares to gallop proudly, and dares to fight against difficulties. The images in Wang Wei's poems often have the form and dynamics of paintings, and absorb the essence of music, so they can have the comprehensive charm of poetry, painting and music, which is particularly profound and touching.

The second couplet, "The grass is dry, the eagle's eyes are sharp; the snow is gone, the horse's hooves are light", mainly describes the scene of hunting. Here, "the grass is dry" and "the snow is gone" convey the seasonal information of late winter and early spring to us while describing the scene; "the eagle's eyes are sharp" and "the horse's hooves are light" directly describe the movements and postures of the warhorse and falcon when hunting, and do not directly describe the general's expression, but "fast" and "quick" are the general's inner feelings, thus accurately rendering from the side the dexterity and agility of the general's body and the high morale when he rides the eagle and rides the horse to chase the prey.

The last four lines: "Suddenly passing by Xinfeng City, returning to Xiliu Camp. Looking back at the place where I shot the eagle, the evening clouds are flat for thousands of miles." describe the scene of the general returning to the camp after hunting in the evening. The symmetry of "suddenly passing by" and "returning" not only depicts the general's superb riding skills, magical hunting skills, and the image of being energetic after a day of hunting, but also shows the general's joy and light-hearted mood when he returns with a full load. Xiliu Camp: It is located in Chang'an County, Shaanxi Province today. It is said to be the place where Zhou Yafu, a famous general during the reign of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, stationed his troops. Shooting the Eagle: "Northern History" records: "Huoluguang once went hunting at Huanqiao. He saw a big bird on the cloud. He shot it and hit its neck. It was shaped like a wheel and spun down. It was an eagle. Xing Zigao sighed and said, 'This is the skill of shooting the eagle.'" Here, the poet uses the two allusions of Xiliu Camp and Shooting the Eagle, which not only contains the meaning of praising the general for his heroic talents of Zhou Yafu and Huoluguang, but also implies the brilliant results of this hunting activity. When entering the military camp, the general's "look back" is even more charming. On the one hand, it shows that the general's excitement is not over yet and he hopes to go again another day. On the other hand, it also makes the ending of the poem have the implicit beauty of lingering sound. It is endless to think about. This poem is very good at using artistic means such as preemptive, side-by-side contrast and flexible use of allusions to portray characters, making the image of the poem vivid and vivid, and the artistic conception magnificent and implicit.

Looking at the whole poem, half of it is about hunting and the other half is about returning from hunting. It starts abruptly and ends with a far-reaching meaning. The two couplets flow smoothly in one breath, and the transition is natural. There is a momentum that cannot be restrained by the rhythm, and it can be linked from beginning to end, and it conforms to the five-character regulated verse. This is the beauty of the composition. There are three place names hidden in the poem without people noticing, and the allusions are seamless. The description of the scenery can convey emotions. The three or four sentences are both extremely physical and express the opinions beyond the words. This is the beauty of the sentence structure. "Withered", "exhausted", "fast", "light", "suddenly passed", "returned", the words and characters are accurately refined and can be taken care of. This is the beauty of the word method. All these techniques can express the far-reaching spirit and heroic spirit of the people in the poem. Therefore, this poem is fully worthy of the reputation of a masterpiece of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Although this poem is about daily hunting activities, it vividly depicts the bravery and heroic posture of the general, giving people a high-spirited and uplifting infectious power. (Xie Hongda)