Chapter 8 Section 1 Han Yuefu Folk Songs
Qin Shihuang unified China and established the Qin Dynasty. It existed for a short time, and almost no poems remained.The Han Dynasty (Western Han Dynasty and Eastern Han Dynasty) after the Qin Dynasty existed for about 400 years, leaving behind a valuable poetic heritage, first of all, Yuefu folk songs. "Yuefu" was originally a music institution established by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. It produced music for the court and trained actors, and also collected folk songs for the entertainment of the court and nobles. "Hanshu·Yiwenzhi" said: "Since filial piety, Wu established Yuefu and collected ballads, so there are Dai, Zhao Zhiqiu, Qin, and Chu styles. They all feel sorrow and joy, and they come out of events. You can also observe customs and know the thickness. cloud.” In fact, the area where poetry was collected at that time was not limited to the four areas of Dai, Zhao, Qin, and Chu, but the scope was much wider. The words "sent out of sorrow and joy, and sent out because of the situation" mean that these ballads are the true expression of the people's pain and joy, and they are all targeted. From them, the ruler can observe the people's sentiments and understand the gains and losses of politics and religion.These folk songs have been preserved due to the collection and arrangement by Yuefu organs, and they are collectively referred to as "Yuefu Poems".Later dynasties often called the poems that can be sung in music "Yuefu", which is no longer the meaning of the music institution in the Han Dynasty.
The Yuefu folk songs of the Han Dynasty inherited the traditional Chinese culture, truly reflecting social life, with sincere feelings, sentence patterns of different lengths, flexible expressive techniques, and full of artistic appeal. They are a precious part of ancient poetry.First look at the song "War City South":
This is a battlefield after a fierce battle, and no one can bury the corpses, only for the crows to peck at them.The ghost who died in battle said to the crow: "Before you eat me, howl (howl) for me a few times, and pay your respects. No one will come to bury you when you die in the wild. Our rotten meat will be your meal sooner or later." The rushing water and boundless pampas grass beside the battlefield are also shrouded in a sad atmosphere.The fine horse charged and died, and the inferior horse wandered and croaked.Fortifications are built on the bridge (beam), how can the north and the south pass through?The strong men all died in battle, and no one harvested the crops. What did people eat?It is impossible to be a good citizen (good minister) in the midst of war.Thinking of those good people, how pitiful they are: going out to fight in the morning, and not returning at night!In the history of constant wars, this folk song has typical significance.The following "Elegy" describes the pain caused by social dislocation:
The singer may be a person who was exiled because of the expedition.Weeping in elegiac songs is because the tears have dried up; looking at angelica in the distance is because it is impossible to return home.Nostalgia weighs on my heart, and I can't get rid of it for a moment.Parting from life and death, never seeing relatives again, and returning home is never possible.Full of sorrow and nowhere to tell, as if there is a wheel rolling in the belly, the mental torture will never end.This poem is full of pain, metaphors are appropriate, language is fluent, it is an excellent lyric poem.When encountering wars and famines in the feudal society, the people often took risks because they could not live on. "Dongmen Xing" reflects this situation:
This is a conversation between a man and his wife before he became a robber.He wanted to go out to the east gate to do illegal things, so he left recklessly; but he was worried and turned back.Seeing the poor situation of his family, he was very sad and angry: there was no food in the basin to satisfy his hunger, and there was no clothes on the shelf to keep out the cold, so he made up his mind to leave.The child's mother grabbed his clothes and persuaded him earnestly: "I don't envy other people's riches and honors. I would rather drink porridge with you to live. The above is for God's sake, and the below are pitiful to these young children. You have to break the law!" Husband At this time, the decision was made, and he reprimanded: "Hey! I'm leaving, don't miss my business! Look at the gray hair on my head, I can't live through this bad life anymore!" , This is how peasant uprisings happened in the old days.
There are also quite wonderful love poems in Han Yuefu, such as "Shangxie":
This is the tone of a girl. The word "evil" should be read as ye (Jesus), which is an interjection.The poem says: My God!I want to be in love with you, and never change my mind for the rest of my life.Unless the mountains become flat, the river suddenly dries up; thunder explodes in winter, snow falls in summer, and the sky and earth close, then love can be cut off.These five assumptions are never possible in people's experience, so their love will never end.This is a bunch of "stupid words" uttered when love is at its extreme, so innocent and cute, it is amazing.Thinking about it in detail, who can write such a wonderful poem, who can be smarter than her?
It is worth noting that quite perfect narrative poems appeared in the Yuefu folk songs of the Han Dynasty, such as "Moshang Sang", "Habayashi Lang", "Peacock Flies Southeast" and so on. "Moshang Sang" portrays a beautiful and intelligent woman Luofu. After describing her gorgeous clothes at the beginning of the poem, it says:
The poem does not directly say how beautiful she is, but only says that the traveler put down his burden and stroked his beard to admire her; when the boy saw her, he took off his hat subconsciously and put it on again.Those who plowed the fields forgot to plow, those who hoeed the fields forgot to work, and complained to each other when they missed their work, all for the sake of watching Luofu.This method of holding the clouds and supporting the moon is quite clever.Luo Fu sternly rejected the prefect's molesting, praised her husband's demeanor and talent, and showed her intelligence and perseverance in love.After this poem appeared, "Luofu" became synonymous with smart and beautiful women. "Habayashi Lang" tells the story of a restaurant maid "Hu Ji" (a girl from an ethnic minority) who resists flirting with Feng Zidu, a lackey of the aristocrat. "A man loves his wife, and a woman loves her ex-husband. There are old and new in life, and there is no difference between high and low!" Hu Ji made a generous speech, showing the integrity of lower-class women, and it made people feel extremely happy after reading it.The above-mentioned poems expose the ugliness of the aristocratic class and praise the beautiful sentiments of working women. The characters are beautiful and the language is beautiful. They are all famous folk songs of the Han Dynasty.The longest narrative poem in ancient my country, "The Peacock Flies to the Southeast" (also known as "An Ancient Poem Written for Jiao Zhongqing's Wife"), tells the story of Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing, a young and loving couple who were forced to divorce and both died in love, and accused the crime of ritual murder , the whole poem is full of tragic atmosphere, and it is a rare masterpiece among Yuefu poems.
