First, the course of life: the official life is bitter.
"Writing is like a person" and "Writing is the voice of the soul" are the wise sayings. To understand a poet, if we don't start with the study of his life track and mental journey, no matter how good the comment is, it can only be a fantasy. The same is true of knowing such a great poet as Yuan Zhen.
Yuan Zhen was born in the spring of 779 in 16 after the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty (755-763), when the mountains and rivers were still broken and everything was broken. His writing is implicit, and his other writing is brilliant, which is called Yuan Jiu in the world. His ancestral home was Luoyang (now Henan), and his sixth ancestor, Yan Yuan, moved to Chang 'an (now Xi). Yuanshi county County is a descendant of Tuoba, a northern Xianbei nationality. He was a prominent royal family in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and a large number of dignitaries came out in Zhou and Sui Dynasties. After entering the Tang Dynasty and the Anshi Rebellion, the family declined. Grandfather Mao Yuan, just officer to XianCheng. His father Yuan Kuan is a warrior with many talents, but he has been in trouble for a long time. In the second year of Zhenyuan, when Yuan Zhen was 8 years old, his father died. My father's family has a rich collection of books. He wrote the manuscript The Book of the Blind (lost). As a descendant of Xianbei nationality, Yuan Zhen has a deep cultural origin in his blood. There are great differences between Mobei culture in the western regions and the ritual and music culture in the south, which are mainly manifested in disobedience to etiquette, advocacy of martial spirit and women's rights, and openness of mind that affects people's psychology and behavior. Since Zhenguan, there has always been a tendency to worship and suppress martial arts, and the Hu family has to go through a process of sinicization. Such a forced cultural integration will lead to the multiplicity of national cultural psychology-both the natural desire for unrestrained enthusiasm and those who are forced to enter the official career by strictly observing the norms of etiquette and law, and so is Yuan Zhen.
Yuan Zhen, a diligent scholar, was born in troubled times. After my father died, my family became poorer. My mother moved to Fengxiang with her four brothers, Yuan Zhen, and stayed with relatives. Fengxiang is the northwest barrier of Chang 'an, the capital of Tang Dynasty. Security was tight and society was relatively stable for some time. Yuan Zhen spent his childhood here. His mother, Zheng Xian, is knowledgeable and good at housekeeping. Bai Juyi once praised him: "Today, women are so beautiful, women's virtue is also, and the mother is also. All three are beautiful, which is the best in ancient and modern times. " Yuan Zhen himself said in Xie Shangbiao, "I lost my father at the age of eight, and my family was poor and unemployed." My mother and brother live on money, and I don't dress well and eat enough. When I was young, I had no teacher training. Because I think my neighbor is naive, I am angry that my father and brother run a school, and I want to know about poetry books. The loving mother mourned the minister and was a professor. " It can be seen that Yuan's mother not only keeps her home in good order, but also personally teaches Yuan Zhen's poetry books and shoulders the heavy responsibility of educating her children. Yuan Zhen was diligent and studious since childhood. He is not only taught directly by his mother, but also often borrows books from his neighbor's house, and then walks to his brother-in-law Lu Han's house for advice. Cousin Hu Lingzhi also taught him poetry, rhythm and archery. At the age of 9, Yuan Zhen was mature in poetry, which amazed his elders. Growing up among the people, he has learned something about the frontier clouds and the depression in the countryside.
In the winter of the eighth year of Zhenyuan in Dezong (792), Yuan Zhen, aged 14, returned to Chang 'an. The following year, I selected two classics of the Ming Dynasty. There were many imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty, and the subjects that took the most examinations were Jinshi and Mingjing. But compared with the two subjects, it is also difficult, and Jinshi is more difficult. "About 1000 people got the first one." The Ming Classics Department "doubles, the first place for a thing or two", so there is a saying that "Ming Classics at the age of 30, Jinshi at the age of 50", and Jinshi in the Tang Dynasty also paid more attention to the Jinshi Department. In order to get rid of poverty and gain fame as soon as possible, Yuan Zhen chose Mingjing, a relatively easy subject, and won the first battle. An interesting episode is that even though Yuan Zhen was brilliant, he was despised by Li He because of his background in the Ming Dynasty. Yuan Zhen wanted to make friends with Li He in his early years, but he didn't expect to get a sentence "Ming Jingji, what happened to Li He?" Yuan Zhen, who was ashamed and angry, recalled unpleasant memories at the thought of Li He. Unexpectedly, things change, and Li He, a genius, is sometimes planted in the hands of Yuan Zhen. Li He, the examinee, met Yuan Zhen, the examiner. Needless to say, Yuan Zhen naturally got revenge in one sentence. However, Yuan Zhen first lived in Chang 'an and had no official. But he didn't stop studying hard. The family library provided him with extensive reading conditions, and the cultural environment in Beijing and his extensive interests cultivated his cultural literacy. In the second year, I carefully read hundreds of poems by Chen Ziang and Du Fu, and began to write many poems.
Love and Friendship In the fifteenth year of Zhenyuan, Yuan Zhen, 2 1 year-old, lived in Zhou Pu and first became an official in Hezhong House. At this time, when the garrison was in chaos, Zhou Pu was on pins and needles. Yuan Zhen protected his distant relatives in distress with the help of his friends. Random, falling in love with your own girl. Soon, Yuan Zhen took the lead in becoming famous and returned to West Chang 'an to take the exam. In the 19th year of Zhenyuan, he and Bai Juyi, who was eight years older than him, went to the same school, got an excellent grade, and merged into the secretary province to be a school bookkeeper. From then on, they became lifelong friends. At this time, Yuan Zhen was twenty-four years old, young and promising, and was elected as a son-in-law by the famous contemporary Prince Ke Wei. Zhou Pu's love went up in smoke, but it became a beautiful memory that he will never forget, leaving the world with "Once the sea was difficult for water, it was amber forever" ("Leaving Thoughts").