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Chapter 19 Chapter 9 Poems of the Ming Dynasty

Chinese poems and songs 刘耕路 3066Words 2018-03-20
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":
Tranquil, cool, bright, clean, and simple to outline the scenery of Yequan, it is not only a description of the scenery, but also an expression of the state of mind.

The literary proposition of "San Yuan" is in line with the law of literary development.They succeeded in opposing the old-fashioned faction, and under their influence, the abuses of the previous seven sons were gradually swept away.But it should be pointed out that most of their own poems describe personal leisure and leisure, that is, the so-called "elegant taste" of literati. The subject matter and realm are very narrow, so the overall achievement is not high. Another school of poetry opposed to revivalism that emerged almost at the same time as the "Gan'an School" was the "Jingling School".Its representatives are Zhong Xing and Tan Yuanchun, because they are both from Jingling, Hubei, so they are called "Jingling School".Their literary views are generally consistent with those of the "Gan'an School", but they deliberately pursue the so-called "deep and solitary" style, with a narrow realm and uncommon language, and their achievements and influence are inferior to those of the "Gan'an School".

The last years of the Ming Dynasty were an era full of disasters.If it is said that the poetic achievements of the entire Ming Dynasty were not high, then the patriotic poems in the late Ming Dynasty were quite glorious. Zhang Huangyan, styled Xuanzhu and named Cangshui, was a national hero in the late Ming Dynasty. He once cooperated with Zheng Chenggong in resisting the Qing Dynasty, and was captured and killed later.The following song "Recalling the West Lake" was written before he was killed: In dreams, sometimes you can temporarily forget the suffering in front of you, and the West Lake is charming and vivid in your memory; but after waking up from the dream, the reality of suffering comes to your mind, and the image of West Lake is blurred instead.The important thing is the second line: the tombs and ancestral halls of the two national heroes Yue Fei (Wu Mu) and Yu Qian (Zhongsu) are on the bank of West Lake. Is there another ancestral hall standing there now?The implication is that I hope to be the third national hero, who will be buried by the West Lake with Yue Fei and Yu Qian.After Zhang Huangyan was captured, his bones were not weak, his speech was not weak, and some of them were full of enthusiasm and pride. He was indeed a national hero as he promised.

Chen Zilong, courtesy name Wozi, was born in Huating, Songjiang.He was a famous scholar who cared about the national economy and the people's livelihood, and at the same time was a poet. He devoted himself to the struggle against the Qing Dynasty in the late Ming Dynasty and died for his country.His verses are the best, and we read one of his "Miscellaneous Feelings of Autumn": In the autumn when the mountains and rivers are broken, the poet walks or sits, reciting poems and screaming, feeling sad all the time.The clouds and mist above the river and the sea are all causing inner sorrow.I don't believe that God is always so blind and blind, and one day will punish the evil forces, but right now I can't eradicate the sadness in my belly.There are murdered ghosts everywhere in the desolate village.The sixth sentence uses allusions: the Marquis of Dongling in the Qin Dynasty became a commoner in the Han Dynasty, and lived by growing melons in the east of Chang'an City, which was called "Dongling melons" at that time.This sentence is lamenting the vicissitudes of the world and the rapid changes in people's social status.The Five Lakes were originally known as the land of fishing and rice, but now they are only used by Qing soldiers to drink war horses. Where can farmers and fishermen go to make a living?This poem is full of grief and desolation, which just shows the style of his patriotic poems. Xia Wanchun is also from Huating, Songjiang, a student of Chen Zilong, and his father Xia Yunyi and Chen Zilong are close friends.He was a child prodigy who could have become a scholar or writer, but the catastrophe at the end of the Ming Dynasty caused him to join the armed struggle against the Qing Dynasty at the age of 14. He was arrested at the age of 17 and died heroically, becoming a young hero.Mr. Guo Moruo's famous drama "Southern Crown Grass" takes Xia Wanchun as the main character.Let's read his poem "Recalling Shao Jing in the Zhouzhong and Sending Zhang Zitui": This is a poem mourning the dead to the living.There are scenes of idyllic and desolate wars everywhere in front of my eyes, and there are ghosts crying every year.Sailing on a boat by myself (Qinghanfang: a boat engraved with a bird-shaped pattern), often meditating alone under a lonely lamp on a rainy night (Lunjin: a headscarf, talking about my own attire).When I set my ambition to serve the Ming Lord, when can I realize it?On weekdays, I often mourn the news of the death of my deceased.The cause of saving the country and the nation is still promising, so don't lose confidence because of the wars everywhere.The last two sentences are to encourage friends, but also to encourage themselves.
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