Chapter 19 Chapter 9 Poems of the Ming Dynasty
The literature of the Ming Dynasty has made great achievements, but mainly in the field of novels, there have been such immortal works as, but in the field of poetry, there have never been first-rate poets and first-rate works.For more than 270 years, poetry creation has always been in circles on "retro" and "repeating the ancient", lacking creativity and pioneering spirit, and most of the written works are relatively mediocre, which cannot but be said to be a pity.Of course, there are still some excellent poets and works. Let’s briefly introduce the development of poetry in the Ming Dynasty.
The famous poet in the early Ming Dynasty was Liu Ji, courtesy name Bowen, from Qingtian, Zhejiang.In the Yuan Dynasty, he was a Jinshi and an official, and later assisted Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the world. He was one of the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty.He studied Du Fu and Han Yu's poetics, and his poetic style is relatively vigorous.Let's look at his "Ancient Shu":
Since ancient times, the places guarding the border have been constantly fighting, and the sound of the newly built border town is everywhere.The domestic political situation has not yet stabilized, and the people have not yet lived and worked in peace and contentment.On the border, the sky is high and the ground is far away, with dark clouds above and white snow below, and it is desolate. Only wild plums burst out a few new flowers with their tenacious vitality, revealing the news of spring.This poem is a metaphor for the life of frontier guards in the early Ming Dynasty by chanting the life of frontier guards in ancient times. The last couplet brings a lively atmosphere to the whole poem, which is a good sentence.One of his poems is also quite meaningful:
Obviously this is an allegory.Spring silkworms spin silk to benefit people, but they are boiled to death; spiders spin silk and weave webs, which are useless to people, but they can live safely.Flying insects.After Zhu Yuanzhang won the world, he was famous for slaughtering heroes, and Liu Ji also lived in fear. This poem may express his emotion about it.
A more famous poet than Liu Ji is Gao Qi.His name is Jidi and his name is Qingqiuzi.Because he did not cooperate with Zhu Yuanzhang, he finally incurred the disaster of killing himself.He is good at learning the strengths of the poets of the past dynasties, and he is talented, so he is the most accomplished poet in the Ming Dynasty.Let's read one of his "Closer Songs":
This is a condemnation of the rulers of past dynasties who have resorted to military violence against the people.It is the customary usage of poets to use "Han family" to represent the imperial court.The place names in the poem: Wuyuan is in present-day Ningxia, Feihu is in present-day Hebei, and Yunzhong is in present-day Shanxi.These place names are synonymous with the frontier, not actual references.Pavilions are outposts.Shandong refers to the area east of Hangu Pass, that is, the Central Plains, referring to the whole country.The emperors of all dynasties were so rejoicing that they continued to launch wars to expand their dominion, regardless of the suffering of the people. The poet condemned this with endless emotion.
The title of this five-character quatrain is "Huang's Yanlvxuan", and it is about Chunjing.The second couplet has a novel imagination: after the rain, the curtain opens and the spring scenery floods into the room. This is a scene that we have all experienced but is not easy to write. It should be said to be a good poem.
From the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, a so-called "Taige style" poem appeared.Its advocates are known as the "Three Yangs", that is, Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and Yang Pu, all of whom are "Taige officials", so his poems are called "Taige style".Its appearance is a retrogression of poetry creation, because it only pursues the so-called "graceful and elegant", and it is all about flattering the emperor, without innovation and lifelessness, and its influence is worse than that of "Xikun style" in Song Dynasty. .
During the popular period of "Taige Style", there was a poet who was not affected by it, and he was Yu Qian.Yu Qian was a wise and honest official, especially famous for repelling the invasion of Mongolian soldiers and defending the capital.His "Lime Song" was widely read by later generations:
What is chanted is lime, and what is sung is the noble character of people.He himself welcomed Daizong during the period when Ming Yingzong was captured by the Mongols, and was later killed by Yingzong who regained power, leaving a good reputation in the world.
The "Taige style" has been popular for a long time, causing people's dissatisfaction, so its opposition appeared, which is the "former seven sons" headed by Li Mengyang and He Jingming, and its members include Xu Zhenqing, Bian Gong, Kang Hai, and Wang Jiusi , Wang Tingxiang.Their slogan is "Writing must be Qin and Han, poetry must flourish Tang", that is to say, only the articles before Qin and Han are good, and the poems are only good before the prosperous Tang, and they completely deny the articles after Qin and Han and the poems after the prosperous Tang.They are undoubtedly right in their opposition to the "Taiwan style", but their "retro" proposition is not wise.Their retro is just "imitation of antiquity", without creation.Later, Qian Qianyi criticized Li Mengyang's poems as "imitating plagiarism, which is equivalent to learning language for babies".These words seem to be too sarcastic, but they can be regarded as seeing their shortcomings.In all fairness, some of Li Mengyang's ancient poems are still good, but his modern poems seem to be forced together and have no new meaning.
After the "former seven sons", there appeared the "last seven sons" headed by Li Panlong and Wang Shizhen, and its members also included Xie Zhen, Zong Chen, Liang Youyu, Xu Zhongxing, and Wu Guolun.Their claims are basically the same as those of the "former seven sons".They also have different opinions with each other. For example, Xie Zhen once pointed out that their poems blindly imitate the ancients, resulting in pretentiousness and false feelings.
The poetic style formed by the seven sons of the previous and later generations has been popular for a long time, and its disadvantages have been fully exposed, so its reaction appeared again, and the "Gan Gong faction" was its most powerful opponent. The main members of the "Gan Gong faction" were three brothers, Yuan Zongdao, Yuan Hongdao, and Yuan Zhongdao, who were called "Three Yuans" at the time.Because they are members of the Public Security Bureau of Hubei Province, they are named "Public Security School".Among them, Yuan Hongdao had the greatest influence.They resolutely opposed the old-fashioned proposition of the Seven Sons, and accused their works of "plagiarism, which has become popular among thousands of people".They believe that the quality of literature cannot be judged by the times, and that the literature of each era has its own characteristics. If one worships the previous generation blindly, then literature will not be created and developed.They put forward the idea of "individually expressing the soul" and "the poems that come from the soul are true poems", advocating that literary works should express their true thoughts and feelings, and oppose imitation and falsehood.Their works practice their claims to a certain extent.Let's try Yuan Hongdao's "Bamboo Branch Ci":
The monopoly of the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty endangered the whole society. The "Diaohu" in this poem refers to the eunuchs.Yuan Hongdao hated the dirty reality, he didn't want to be an official, and even more hated the crimes of the eunuch group headed by Wei Zhongxian, which harmed the country and the people. This poem expresses his hatred. A considerable part of the poems of "Three Yuans" is about lingering scenes, such as Yuan Zhongdao's "Yequan":