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Then why does "small bridge, flowing water, a family's home" sit in the middle of the poem?
It is the one warm line: others have a home to return to, the speaker is on the road. In the middle, it gives the cold around it a contrast. Poetry 2.
The Duowenwen team · Updated
In Ma Zhiyuan's "Autumn Thoughts," before this line come 枯藤老树昏鸦 ("Withered vines, old tree, crows at dusk"), and after it come 古道西风瘦马 ("Ancient road, west wind, a lean horse"). In between sits 小桥流水人家: "A small bridge, flowing water, a family's home." This is the second question in the middle school Chinese chain of the question map.
Then why does "small bridge, flowing water, a family's home" sit in the middle?
Because it's the only warm line in the poem. On one side are withered vines, an old tree and crows at dusk. On the other are an ancient road, the west wind and a lean horse. And in the middle, suddenly, there's a little bridge, flowing water, and a house where people live, with the smoke from the chimney and the lamplight belonging to someone else's home. This line isn't there to describe scenery; it's there to set up a contrast: other people have a home to go back to, and the speaker is still on the road. Placed in the middle, it gives the cold on either side something to stand against. The warmer the middle, the colder the rest feels.
What if…?
What if you took out the last line, 断肠人在天涯 ("A heartbroken traveler at the world's edge"), and left only the scenery? Would the poem still work?
Next: open the next question, "If you remove the last line, does the poem still work?"