Chapter 15 Yan Jidao

Yuan Zhen, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, once went to visit a seven-year-old child in person, but was turned away. The other party said that he was from the Mingjing Department (a special Jinshi Department in the Tang Dynasty), but he did not see him.This child is Li He. Su Dongpo, a great talent in the Song Dynasty, was also rejected once.He admired the other party's title very much, so he asked his friend and disciple Huang Tingjian to introduce him to him. As a result, although the other party knew that he was Su Dongpo, who was famous all over the world, he still didn't see him.The reason is that "more than half of the people in power now are former guests of my family, and I have no time to see them."This person is Yan Jidao.

Yan Jidao (1038-1110), courtesy name Shuyuan, nicknamed Xiaoshan.Linchuan (now Nanchang Jinxian) people.Yan Shu's seventh son.Although he was the prime minister's son, he was only eighteen years old when Yan Shu died.He is the only one of Yan Shu's sons who has inherited his father's ability to write lyrics and has a reputation as a master.Being born with a noble background and being highly talented and educated, one develops an air of aloofness. As a literati, one can sometimes raise one's social status with this, but entering an official career is the way to defeat.Therefore, after Yan Jidao fell into poverty, he only worked as a small official such as Xutian Town Supervisor in Yingchang Mansion, General Judge of Qianning Army, and Judge of Kaifeng Mansion, and he was depressed all his life.

Yan Jidao is a poet outside the mainstream society.The noble birth has cultivated the arrogance in his bones; he has become a lowly official, so he can only use this kind of arrogance to maintain the poor dignity of the fallen nobleman. He lives in the memory of the good old life and the real life. In desperation.His words have nothing to do with society or others. They are completely the confession of his own inner world. Whether it is emotion or environment, they all come out of his heart. Yan Jidao's Ci is most praised for his writing of love.The true words of love are beautiful, and they are not evil.He said in the "Preface" of his collection of ci "Xiaoshan Ci": "At the beginning, Uncle Shen Twelve Lian and Chen Shijun's Long family had Lian, Hong, Ping, and Yun, and they used Qing to entertain guests. Every time they got a solution , That is to teach the children with grass. The three of us hold wine and listen to it, just for a laugh." "Lian, Hong, Ping, and Yun" are four kabukis, and the heroines in Yan Jidao's poems are almost all of them. The so-called "feeling" is mainly for them.

These are the two most acclaimed poems by Yan Jidao, recalling the lingering love with singing and dancing girls such as Lian, Hong, Ping, and Yun when he was rich and honored, and the infinite loneliness caused by looking back at the past. There are more than 260 poems written by Yan Jidao, most of which are Xiaoling.He is as famous as his father Yan Shu, known as "Er Yan" in the world, and of course he is also called "Little Yan".His words, sincerity of emotion, and language skills all surpassed Yan Shu's.Huang Tingjian commented on his Ci, saying: "Strong and vigorous, can shake people's hearts. The top ones are like "Gao Tang" and "Luo Shen", and the bottom ones are not less than "Peach Leaf" and "Tuan Fan".His Ci is actually the remaining thread of the "Huajian School", which occupies a relatively important place in the Ci circle of the Song Dynasty.