Interesting that it's translated to 'touching' the flowers-- the original word is more like 'rub'. Modern connotation would pick 'crumple' as well, but the Baike gloss suggests rub is more accurate.
The sentence translated to "edge of the sea and end of the sky" is a set phrase meaning "the ends of the earth," but Baike says that it is referring to Lin'an, a city in Hangzhou. Hangzhou does border the ocean, but modern-day Lin'an does not.
"streaks of grey" is MUCH less poetic than the original "growing flower", which Baike says means flower hairs = white hairs.
Baike says the "evening winds" are a reference to the continued Jin army advance on the Southern Song. Similarly, though the plum blossoms are on the surface a reference to the hair ornament and [object of sorrow?], they have a symbolic meaning. The exegesis later specifies this meaning to be that the plum blossoms symbolize beautiful things, so the difficulty of looking at them indicates the misfortunes of the state; with the hardships endured, she doesn't have the leisurely mood to admire the plum blossoms.
Re: 3.24
The sentence translated to "edge of the sea and end of the sky" is a set phrase meaning "the ends of the earth," but Baike says that it is referring to Lin'an, a city in Hangzhou. Hangzhou does border the ocean, but modern-day Lin'an does not.
"streaks of grey" is MUCH less poetic than the original "growing flower", which Baike says means flower hairs = white hairs.
Baike says the "evening winds" are a reference to the continued Jin army advance on the Southern Song. Similarly, though the plum blossoms are on the surface a reference to the hair ornament and [object of sorrow?], they have a symbolic meaning. The exegesis later specifies this meaning to be that the plum blossoms symbolize beautiful things, so the difficulty of looking at them indicates the misfortunes of the state; with the hardships endured, she doesn't have the leisurely mood to admire the plum blossoms.