Interpretation of Su Dongpo - Female Emotions

Author: Dongfang Longyin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: As the saying goes, Su Shi, who often dreamt, was a dreamer. It is estimated that the character "dream" appears 738 times in his poems and prose. Besides River Town, Su Shi's Collected Poems also includes two palindrome poems titled Recollection of a Dream, describing "a person boiling small tea balls with snow water in a dream," and Recollection of a Dream with Preface, which notes the time of Zhang Fangping's dream. Other works such as Dharma for Wang Jinqing's Past Life, Recollection of a Dream and Tea Poetry for Canliao, Su Dongpo's Forest of Records (including Recollection of a Dream and Poetry, Recollection of Ziyou's Dream, Recollection of Ziyou's Dream Tower, In a Dream, Composing an Inscription on Snow, and Recollection of a Dream), are all unrelated to love and mostly do not specify the time. Since the dreams in his poems are not usually marked with time, why would he explicitly annotate them with phrases like "Recorded in the night of the 20th day of the first month in the year Yi Mao" in the even less time-sensitive ci poems? Why did Wang Fo specifically dream on this night? Six years later, in the fourth year of Yuanfeng, Su Shi, who was under house arrest in Huangzhou, revealed more information in a poem:
> The east wind refuses to enter the east gate,
> I ride to seek the village of last year.
> People come like autumn swans with messages,
> Things fade like spring dreams without traces.
> Three cups of Jiangcheng white wine are strong,
> An old man with a weathered face smiles warmly.
> We have promised to meet like this every year,
> Old friends, no need to compose a Zhaohun poem.
> —With Pan and Guo on a Spring Outing, Suddenly Recalling Last Year’s Visit to Queen’s City and Composing in the Same Rhyme
Here, Pan and Guo refer to Pan Bing and Guo Guo, who had bid farewell to Su Shi shortly after his arrival in Huangzhou the previous year. Several pieces of information in this poem are worth noting:
First, Su Shi enjoyed outings on the 20th day of the first month, and he did so on the same day for two consecutive years. Last year, he went out despite the cold, as evidenced by the line "Ten days of spring cold kept me indoors." Visiting the temple was undoubtedly to burn incense and commemorate his loved ones. Su Shi used the imagery of Zhaohun (Summoning the Soul), which is not auspicious in general gatherings of friends. Yet he deliberately wrote it, revealing his secret motive for visiting the temple.
Second, the place he visited, Qitian, was originally called Chuwangcheng (where the Spring and Autumn period statesman Chunshenjun of Chu was enfeoffed). Yet Su Shi deliberately referred to it as Queen’s City. Upon closer examination, he was accompanied by the knight Chen Jichang, for whom he wrote a poem titled Seeing Plum Blossoms on the Way to Qitian and Complimenting Chen Jichang, with the opening lines:
> The orchid, orchid, and chrysanthemum all wither,
> The fragrance of Fanhun enters the plum blossoms at the mountain peak.
> —On the Way to Qitian, Seeing Plum Blossoms and Complimenting Chen Jichang
This again reflects his longing for the departed. At this time, his second wife Wang Runhe and his concubine Chao Yun were both in good health, so the "soul of the orchid and orchid" he sought could only be Wang Fo. Chen Jichang, a close friend Su Shi had met in Fengxiang, was very familiar with Wang Fo. Moreover, Chen Jichang was notorious for being dominated by his wife, as the story of "the lioness from the east river roaring" (a playful term Su Shi used to describe him) suggests. Perhaps not only was Chen’s wife the "queen" at home, but Wang Fo was also regarded as a "queen" by Su Shi and Chen Jichang when they were in Fengxiang?
Third, the line "People come like autumn swans with messages, Things fade like spring dreams without traces" again refers to the "spring dream" of "things," with the people being Pan, Guo, and others, while the "spring dream" of "things" has nothing to do with them.
Fourth, "We have promised to meet like this every year, Old friends, no need to compose a Zhaohun poem" appears to show Su Shi’s determination to visit the temple annually. However, the word "every year" here resonates with the "every year" in "I expect that every year my intestines will break," revealing another dream deep in the poet’s heart.
P41-42