In this turbulent era, Tang poetry has gone through a glorious course, and the last sunset in the late Tang Dynasty has disappeared. The star of the five pronouns shines brighter every day. One of the most dazzling is Li Yu, the queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty. In terms of quantity, Li Yu's poems can be believed to have been written by himself, but there are more than 30 poems, less than those written by Wen, Wei and Li. But his words can bring a little of himself and win more than others. People speak highly of the artistic achievements of Li Yu's ci. For example, Tan Xian in the Qing Dynasty said in "Tang Fu Thorn": "The words of my ancestors are enough to be too white poetry and unparalleled." As a decadent and incompetent monarch, Li Yu's ci can be read by people for a long time, which has aroused strong resonance among many people and can't help but arouse our thinking. Based on the historical background of Li Yu's ci creation, this paper makes a comprehensive discussion on his ideological content and artistic achievements.
1. The creative background of Li Yu's ci
Criticizing literary works must be "understanding people and discussing the world", because literary works reflect the author's life experience, ideological interest and the atmosphere of the times. Especially poetry. Therefore, to correctly evaluate the ideological content of Li Yu's ci, we must combine his life experience.
Li Yu (937-978), formerly known as Zi,No. Zhong Yin,No. Lianfeng lay man. The sixth son of Li Jing, the master of the Southern Tang Dynasty. The documentary prince died. He lived in the East Palace, knowing politics according to the orders of the minister. In nineteen years in Yuan Zong, he was made a prince. Yuan Zong's southern tour, the prince stayed in Jinling to supervise the country. In 19961year, he succeeded to the throne at the age of 25. Fifteen years in power. 1975, Cao Bin was attacked by Song, and Li Yu came out of the mountain. In the second year, he went to Bianjing and was ordered to disobey orders. Later, he was named the Duke of Longxi County. Taiping Xingguo was poisoned by Song Taizong on July 7th at the age of 42.
Li Yu is a sentimental genius poet. He has lived in an artistic environment since he was a child. Father Li Jing, "versatile, good at reading, riding and shooting", is good at calligraphy. "It's coquettish to make songs and poems from time to time." Both younger brothers (Wang Han Cong Shan and Ji Wang Qian Cong) are literate. These two ladies are good at music, singing and dancing. After the big week, "I am good at singing and dancing, especially the pipa." I have compiled the residual spectrum of clothes and feathers.
In this artistic atmosphere, Li Yu is more knowledgeable and accomplished.
Workbook: There is a book Shu Shu, which claims to be the calligraphy of Mrs. Wei He, as well as various styles, such as gathering needles, gathering gold and so on. Huang Tingjian called Li Houzhu's postscript "profound brushwork", and Xuanhe Huapu called his book on Jin Cuodao "thin, but more attractive"
Good at painting: Meng Qian Bu Bi Tan Volume II: "The first master was good at painting, especially at feathers." ("Ink bamboo is refreshing and extraordinary." (Du Mu's "The Implication of the Title Zhu Mo" "The bird in the tree is far from extraordinary, higher than accidental." (Guo "Pictorial")
Bosom friend: Xu Xuan wrote an epitaph for Li Yu, saying that he was a bosom friend and refined and elegant. "I used to enjoy literary criticism, so I can continue my theory of music" (Xu Xuanqi's Collection of Provinces). Song Shaosi's Wild Goose Gate unofficial history: "After the Southern Tang Dynasty, the master mastered the melody, how can the music be wonderful?" In the process of opening the treasure, the country will split. I wrote a poem "Nianjiashan", which was widely praised as "Nianjiashan Broken" and its prediction is well known. The folk in the palace played day and night, and it spread all over the south of the Yangtze River in less than two months. "
Exquisite appreciation: Shangya books, with a collection of100000 copies. "Many schools have carefully reviewed and compiled rankings, which is different from the whole country." (Ma Ling's "Southern Tang Shu Zhu Bichuan" has at most calligraphy and painting in the inner government. "There is an inscription by Li Houzhu in the calligraphy and painting." (Volume II of Meng Xi's Supplementary Notes)
Li Yu wrote 30 volumes of exquisite poems and hundreds of essays. "At that time, people thought that Dian Lun could be inherited." (Ma Ling's Biography of Southern Tang Dynasty)
The combination of Li Yu's artistic talent and his poetic temperament makes his ci have poetic characteristics beyond ordinary lyrics. In Li Yu's artistic career, his ci has the greatest influence and the highest achievement.
Li Yu's life course can be divided into two stages before and after the national subjugation.
Before the national subjugation, he lived the life of a little emperor. Although in his father's time, he surrendered to the next week. When I arrived at myself, I became a vassal of the Lord of the Song Dynasty, and the country became weaker and weaker, and I had no independent power in military politics. In order to save his life and avoid the subjugation of the king, he made every effort to compromise with the Song Dynasty. "Song Shi Nan Tang Li" said: "Every time I hear the news of the court's departure and Jiaqing, I will send a teacher to repair the tribute. In Daqing, it is in the name of buying a banquet. No treasures, no good or bad luck, no tribute. " Because of his compromise diplomacy, the small court remained until the eighth year of Kaibao. During this period, he was still the head of a country. Live a luxurious and dissolute life. "Tales of the Five Kingdoms" said: "Taste it in the palace, sell gold red Luo to screen its wall, put silver nails on it, brush green cymbals, paste red Luo and transplant plum blossoms." Another "Memoirs" said: "In Li Houzhu's palace, at night, big pearls are hung, and the light is as bright as the sun." Gu Tao's "Qing Louis" says: "Li Yu lives in a long autumn like Zhou. There are ladies-in-waiting who burn incense. Their incense burners are called Balian and Sanyunfeng, and there is a bent lion. There are dozens of gold and jade for it. " Hong Chu's "Fragrant Spectrum": "The late master made his own incense in his tent. One or two cloves, agarwood, sandalwood and musk, and one or two Jia Xiang were all finely ground into pieces, and the goose pear juice was steamed and burned, and the fragrance filled the room." Here, we can see that his life is rich and luxurious, and this living environment has a great influence on his early works.
In addition, Li Yu is also "Shuang Shan Pagoda, worship Pagoda Temple, monks and nuns are hard to win." Don't go to North Korea again. It's easy to worship and wasteful to build a Buddhist temple. (Lu You's Book of Southern Tang Dynasty) Until Cao Bin led Song Bing to Jinling Gate, Li Yu was still listening to the monks chanting in Jingju Temple.
Li Yu is not a politician. "Preface to Yuqinzhai" said: "Li Zhongguang is a romantic genius. He was mistaken for a master and hated being involved in the Song Dynasty." It is precisely because Li Yu is addicted to poetry, music and painting, addicted to debauchery and neglected to govern the country. Although he tried his best to make friends with the Song Dynasty, he also reduced the tax service at home to enrich the people. But in the end, I failed to escape the fate of being a prisoner. 1975 was destroyed by the song dynasty, and Li Yu's body came out naked. 1976, he was fined to wear a white gauze hat downstairs in Mingde, and was blocked because he was considered disobedient. Li Yu was a prisoner in Bianjing for more than two years. After being captured, it goes without saying that he suffered mental pain and humiliation. He said, "After two years of peaceful revival, Yu said he was poor." He also wrote with the people in the Forbidden City in Jinling: "In broad daylight, I only have Lacrimosa." (summer copy). From these words, you can imagine how miserable his situation is. However, his heart is immortal, expressed in words, showing the pain of home and country and the feelings of drawing lessons from mistakes, which is regarded as a kind of rebellion in the eyes of the rulers of the Song Dynasty. So he was killed by Song Taizong. His later life environment was completely different from his previous court life. From the air of pleasure to the realm of impossibility. Only in this way can he have a deeper understanding of politics and life. He feels comfortable in his old life, spiritually free, lovely in his old country, and regrets all kinds of mistakes in the past. Everything becomes empty, and everything tends to be destroyed. In this painful and desperate mood, the resulting works naturally form a sad and low mood.
Second, the ideological content and artistic characteristics of Li Yu's early ci.
The great changes in Li Yu's personal life determine the difference in his creative content and tone. There are more than twenty of his early poems, which can be roughly divided into two categories. One is to describe the rich court life and the affair between men and women. The tone is cheerful and brisk, and the style is the continuation of the court style and flower style in the Southern Dynasties.
A typical poem reflecting the former is Huanxisha:
The red sun is three feet high, and the golden furnace adds incense to the beast for the second time, and the red brocade lichen wrinkles with every step. Good people dance a little bit. Smell the flowers when the wine goes bad. Don't listen to the flute and drums in the temple.
This is the first song and dance in the palace in the heyday of Jiangnan. On the film, point to the place first, and then write the preparation before the banquet. In the next film, I wrote a feast: Chai Jin slipped in dancing, his dancing was full of knowledge, his stamens frequently stinked, and his drunkenness was very clear. The last sentence is the sound of flutes and drums in another hall, which shows the bustling scenes everywhere.
Yu Dianchun:
The evening makeup just started to shine and it snowed. In the spring palace, moths filed in. The flute blew away the water clouds and played the song "Nishang" again. Who smells better in the breeze? Drunk and exhausted. Don't light the candle red when you come back. You can't clear jathyapple until you step on the horseshoe.
The whole poem is full of debauchery and luxury, describing the joy of singing and dancing, feasting and traveling in the spring night in the palace. The seemingly objective description actually implies the author's great appreciation for it. From the radiant ladies-in-waiting after evening makeup, to the lingering music and joyful atmosphere in the palace, and finally to the situation of joy and intoxication during the banquet tour, the beauty of beauty is that the joy of singing and dancing has turned into tranquility and indifference, and the former is strong and the latter is light, forming a sharp contrast. It is not only addicted to banquets, but also to the bright moon, and it is even more delicate, indifferent, detached and elegant. Thus, it broke the traditional literary theory that "it is difficult to work if you like words, but it is skillful to work if you are poor".
A typical poem reflecting the latter is Bodhisattva Man:
The moon is dark and foggy, so I can go to Lang's side tonight. Well, socks smell good and gold shoes are portable. See you at the south bank of the painting gallery, and you will tremble at noon. A slave is hard to get out, so you can be merciful.
This word was written by Li Yuwei (played by Nv Ying), describing a private meeting with him. Through the strong artistic image, the inner love of the characters is presented to the readers in plain language:
In the dim night with flowers in the moonlight, after a timid young week, I secretly went to see my beloved along the path full of flowers with a flustered look, telling a deep whisper. This kind of scene describing the private meeting between men and women breaks through the boundaries of lyrical words, has the plot and interest of drama and novel, and is touching, reaching the status of "love story masterpiece" as Wang Guowei said.
Another example is the Bodhisattva Road:
Penglai pavilion closes the rooftop girl, and the painting hall sleeps day and night without words. Cui Yunguang threw the pillow and embroidered clothes smelled strange fragrance. The hidden beads lock and move, feeling the dream of the silver screen. With a slow smile on his face, he looks forward to it infinitely.
It is said that this word was also written for Zhou Xiao. Uptown wrote a beautiful woman who was taking a nap. The first sentence outlines a slightly mysterious quiet realm. Then write about the beauty of women: long hair is black and supple, and embroidered clothes are messy. The poet sneaked into the inner room and disturbed the woman in her dream. In the last sentence, she is not only calm and angry, but also has long feelings, which shows that she and the poet have deep feelings. From an aesthetic point of view, the whole word ends with feelings of love and joy, and it is beautifully written.
Although this kind of ci has more artistic generalization power than Huajian Ci-poets in the description of characters and scenes, it still has a gentle wind and presents the breath of Huajian Ci-poets. This is the shortcoming of his early works.
The other is the heavy sadness when he feels doomed to fate that he can't get rid of. Li Yu "tasted discontented and worried about the country, and feasted with his ministers that day, lamenting his worries." China Dictionary of Literati, together with his younger brother, has always been very good. Without going back to the Song Dynasty, he will naturally feel that his future is unpredictable, and there are some tragic works in the form of words. Such as "Qing Ping Le":
Don't come in mid-spring, tearing your heart out. Bricks and stones fall like snow, but they are still full after being brushed. Wild geese come without evidence, and dreams are hard to return. Leaving hate is like spring grass, still alive.
The word is spontaneous. Write the fallen flowers and the people standing in them first, and write the reasons for heartbroken. In the following film, I wrote "Farewell, No Faith, No Dream", and then through a vivid metaphor, I told a story of infinite separation between man and hate, which was told by people.
Another example is "Night Cry":
It was stormy last night, and autumn curtains rustled. Candle residual leakage often drips on the pillow, so he can't sit on his back. Things are different, drifting with the tide is a dream, and the road to drunkenness is steady and unbearable.
This word is based on scenes and feelings, and it describes the boredom of life. It's sad that people don't sleep in the autumn wind and autumn rain. The last two sentences about the distress of life are very compassionate.
In Li Yu's early poems, there are still some contents different from the above two categories. Such as the word "fisherman" who longs for seclusion:
The waves deliberately have a thousand layers of snow, peaches and plums are silent, a team of spring, a pot of wine and a shot. How many people are there in the world?
A spring breeze, a boat with leaves, a cocoon and a light hook, full of flowers and wine, are free in the waves.
It can be seen that Li Yu was influenced by Buddhism in his youth.
Another example is "Wangjiang Mei" (two songs) describing the scenery:
Dreams are far away, flowers bloom in the south, orchestras on the boat are green, catkins fly all over the city, and people are busy killing flowers.
Idle dreams are far away, and the south is clear in autumn. Thousands of miles away, the cool color is far away, the boat is deep in the reeds, and the flute is on the moon floor.
The former writes about spring scenery in the south of the Yangtze River. First, write about the beauty of spring water in the south of the Yangtze River, the prosperity of orchestra on board, and then write about the complexity of the city, the noise of BMW cars and the carnival of the people in the capital. It can be seen that Jiangnan is ups and downs.
The latter is about autumn scenery in the south of the Yangtze River. First, write about the great rivers and mountains of Qiu Lai and the depression of the four fields, and then write about the prosperity of the reed flowers on the far shore, which set each other off with the lonely boat. At the end of the sentence, I wrote the flute under the moon, which made me feel more full of Qiu Si.
These words gradually got rid of the influence of Huajian Ci School and took on another look.
Thirdly, the ideological content and artistic characteristics of Li Yu's later poems.
Due to the great changes in life, Li Yu's later poems are full of unfortunate nostalgia and sadness for prisoners. As soon as the work is washed, the charming atmosphere of red and green disappears. Become sad. Both content and art have reached the highest level of fine print. The voice of national subjugation is heartbroken, and blood and tears are dripping. Not only the description of "chewing red velvet and laughing at Tan Lang" ("A Welcome Bead"), which is full of life interest, is gone forever, but also the descriptions of "eyebrows can't be put down for a while and then open" ("Picking mulberry seeds") and "things are like running water, so it's just a dream to float up" ("Crying at night") are unnecessary. In the pen, all the family hatred and national hatred that hurt into the bone marrow flowed out. It embodies a style that takes sadness as beauty. Such as "Meet You Huan":
Hua Lin thanked Chunhong and left in a hurry. Helpless, cold rain comes early and wind comes late. Cochineal tears, stay drunk, when heavy. Naturally, people hate water when they grow up.
This word reflects the infinite disappointment with life in the description of the remnants of late spring, and is a model of live lyric. The first sentence writes the author's feelings of hurting spring and loving flowers, and the second paragraph points out the reasons why forest flowers wither in a hurry. Naturally, it reminds people of rational thinking about life. Isn't the premature death of the spring of human life also due to hurricanes and too much rain? As it seems, flowers and people are suddenly opposed. The next movie personifies the scenery and writes the modality of attachment to each other. The conclusion seems to combine personal frustration with the shortcomings of life shared by all mankind, making the text extremely touching.
Another example is "Yu Meiren":
When is the spring flower and autumn moon? How much do you know about the past? The small building blew eastward again last night. The old country can't bear to look back on the mid-Ming Dynasty. Carved jade should still exist. Just Zhu Yan' ai. Ask how much sadness you can have. Like a river flowing eastward.
This word is nostalgia for the motherland. Recall the past, write the present scene and the recalled scene. Spring flowers and autumn moon are beautiful things, but the author hopes they will "disappear" as soon as possible. The "east wind" in the small building brought the news of spring, but it caused the author to sigh, because they all caused the poet's personality to change, from a head of state to a prisoner's melancholy. Very real and profound.
These words are the pain in his heart after his death. In these works, there are feelings of compassion, but they also show high artistic skill.
The "infinite country", "past events" and "old country" in these words all refer to his past life in the small court in the southern Tang Dynasty and the old king of the country. He misses the happiness of the former emperor, but he feels bitter about the misfortune of the prisoners now. Therefore, the ideological content and emotional range reflected in Li Yu's later poems have basically not left his narrow imperial life circle, and there is nothing worthy of recognition. However, due to the great changes in life and the prisoners' life feelings, he has cast a wide range of life contents in these words. Moreover, in Li Yu's later poems, the specific true connotation of melancholy is often not clearly written, only its external form is written, and the scenery and color are integrated, so that the melancholy in the poems summarizes the personal sadness and pain with universal significance, thus making these words have a strong appeal, touching those who have lost their good life or are depressed, allowing them to gain some spiritual resonance from it and express their similar feelings with it. This had a strong resonance and even sympathy for his experience. This is really the objective effect of artistic works beyond the author's subjective thoughts. As the saying goes, "image is often greater than thought." This is the main reason why Li has been widely recited through the ages.
As far as artistic features are concerned, Li Yu's later poems express his deep feelings and sufferings in a straightforward way. "I didn't know I was a guest in my dream, and I was greedy for pleasure", "Last night, the east wind blew in my small building, so my country couldn't bear to look back at the bright moon" and "People naturally grow up and hate that water is longer than the east" are all manifestations of his feelings after he became a prisoner, pouring out his past life and his country's sense of extinction. His lyricism is good at generalization, full of hints, strong appeal, vivid creation, and particularly sensitive to the surrounding things, forming a unique style. On the one hand, because of his profound literary and artistic accomplishment, but also because of his profound experience of the painful life after the national subjugation, his outstanding lyric art was formed.
Secondly, he is good at grasping the characteristics of things and using extremely appropriate metaphors to visualize and concretize feelings such as "leaving sorrow", such as "how much sorrow can you have?" Just like the sentence "a river of spring water flows eastward", we use "a river of spring water" to compare the number of troubles, and use spring water to compare the infinite and vivid images of troubles. Another example is: "the running water fades to spring."
Thirdly, the language is accurate and refined, vivid, beautiful and natural, close to spoken language, with amazing expressive force, which further gets rid of the golden carving and jade carving style of Huajian Ci poets. The most prominent thing is that there is no schoolbag gas, and there is no powder gas in the later period. He is good at sketching out his life feelings, just like the above saying, "The east wind blew in a small building last night, so my country can't look back on the bright moon, and the future is bright" and "People naturally grow up and hate water growing in the East" all constitute the artistic conception that the brush can't reach, writing his profound feelings about the painful life, creating a popular language that everyone knows, and at the same time, it is an artistic language tempered. His later poems are completely different from those carved by Wen and others. They are piled up with words, like hibiscus, which makes people feel fresh and clear.
Fourthly, the position of Li Yu's ci in the history of literature.
Li Yu's position in the history of literature can be completely summed up by what Wang Guowei said in "The Thorn on Earth": "When the word arrived in Li Houzhu, the vision began to broaden and the emotion began to deepen, so it became a musician's word and a literati's word."
First of all. Li Yu's ci expanded the scope of the subject matter of ci. When the Southern Tang Ci developed into Li Yu Ci, the difference between it and Huajian Ci was very obvious. Although the authors of Hua Jian Ji are all literati, its scope is limited by romantic powder, and its function is limited to drinking and singing, or "a musician's words." To be lyrical, nineteen is chanting prostitutes' feelings, painting gold powder, and being poor in heart. However, Li Yu's lyric expression directly changed the way of expressing feelings unintentionally or tortuous through a woman's unfortunate experience since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, which made Li Yu's ci get rid of the traditional style of singing to flowers for a long time. His later ci poems described his own life experience and true feelings, as well as the generosity of many countries, which broke through the original barriers of ci poems, expanded the realm of ci poems, surpassed the literary harmony in content and style, and showed new direction and strength. Ci is introduced into the normal way of praising life. Only in this way can Ci and poetry reach the same goal by different routes. Only by becoming a new poetic style, which enables poets to express their feelings and wishes in many ways, can there be future masters of Su and Xin, which also has an important influence on the artistic techniques of later bold poets.
Secondly, Li Yu enriched the artistic means and writing skills of lyrics, and the brushwork and emotional appeal in his lyrics also had a far-reaching impact on later poets. No matter Yan, Qin Guan and Li Qingzhao in Song Dynasty or Nalan in Qing Dynasty, we can see the shadow of Li Yu's ci. According to Wang Shizhen's Listening to the Tone Sequence, there are graceful and restrained schools in Ci: (Li) Jing and Yu Weizu, who flourished in Shuyu and Huaihai.
Of course, these artistic achievements of Li Yu's ci are not only determined by his unusual personal experience and his efforts in ci creation. At the same time, since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, some poets have continuously explored and accumulated rich creative experience in art, which makes it possible for him to continue to improve on this basis. At the same time, Wei Zhuang in western Sichuan is unique among the Huajian School, while Feng Yansi and Li Jing in the Southern Tang Dynasty directly led him to this aspect.
In a word, Li Yu made great contributions to changing the style of ci and improving the literary status of ci, and played an excellent role in connecting the past with the future for the prosperity of song ci.