Su Shi was a famous writer, calligrapher and painter in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Su Shi (January 8, 1037 - August 24, 1101), also known as Zizhan and Hezhong, was also known as Dongpo layman, and was known as Su Dongpo and Su Xian in the world. Han nationality, a native of Meishan, Meizhou (now part of Meishan City, Sichuan Province) in the Northern Song Dynasty. His ancestral home is Luancheng, Hebei Province. He is a famous writer, calligrapher and painter in the Northern Song Dynasty.
In the second year of Jiayou's reign (1057), Su Shi became a Jinshi. During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, he served in Fengxiang, Hangzhou, Mizhou, Xuzhou, Huzhou and other places. In the third year of Yuanfeng (1080), he was framed for the "Wutai Poetry Case" and was demoted to Huangzhou as deputy envoy of Tuanlian. After Zhezong of the Song Dynasty came to the throne, he served as a bachelor of Hanlin, a bachelor of imperial examination, and a minister of the Ministry of Rites. He also went to Hangzhou, Yingzhou, Yangzhou, Dingzhou and other places. In his later years, he was demoted to Huizhou and Danzhou because of the new party's rule. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was pardoned and returned to the north, but died of illness in Changzhou on the way. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, he was posthumously given the title of Grand Master, with the posthumous title "Wenzhong".
Literary Achievements:
Su Shi made extraordinary achievements in the creation of Ci. In terms of the development of a literary style itself, Su Shi’s historical contribution exceeded that of Su Wen and Su Shi. Following Liu Yong, Su Shi carried out a comprehensive reform of the style of poetry, finally breaking through the traditional pattern of "Yanke" poetry, improving the literary status of poetry, and transforming poetry from an accessory to music to an independent lyric poem. style, fundamentally changed the development direction of Ci history.
Su Shi's transformation of Ci is based on his concept of Ci poetry integrating poetry and his creative idea of ??"being a family of his own".
Since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, Ci has been regarded as a "little way". Although Liu Yong dedicated his life to writing Ci and promoted the development of Ci style, he failed to improve the literary status of Ci. This task needs to be completed by Su Shi. Su Shi first theoretically dispelled the concept that poetry is superior and Ci is inferior. He believes that poetry and poetry have the same origin and belong to one body, and words are "the descendants of poetry." Although poetry and words have differences in external form, their artistic essence and expressive functions should be consistent. Therefore, he often compares poetry with poetry. Since he elevates poetry to the same status as poetry from a stylistic perspective, this provides a theoretical basis for poetry to move closer to the poetic style and achieve mutual communication and penetration between poetry and poetry.
In order to make the aesthetic taste of poetry truly keep pace with poetry, Su Shi also put forward the creative idea that poetry must "be of the same family". The theory of "we are one family" here is put forward for the "flavor" that is different from Liu Yong's poetry. Its connotations include: pursuing a magnificent style and broad artistic conception, the quality of poetry should be consistent with the character of the person, and the lyrics should be consistent with the character of the person. It should be like writing poetry to express one's true temperament and unique life feelings. Because only in this way can "the writing be like the person he is" ("Reply to Zhang Wenqian County Prime Minister"), and be unique in the creation of lyrics. Su Shi always attached great importance to the integrity of his articles, but opposed following others' footsteps in literature. Therefore, he was dissatisfied with Qin Guan's lack of "character" for "learning from Liu Qi's lyrics".
Expanding the expressive function of words and opening up the context of words are the main directions of Su Shi's reform of word style. He expanded the traditional feminine tender words to masculine heroic words, and expanded the traditional love words to express temperament, so that the words can fully express the author's temperament, embrace and temperament like poetry. Personality personality. Su Shi allowed people with lofty ideals, full of enterprising spirit, lofty ideals, passion and vitality to enter the world of poetry, changing the original soft sentiment of poetry, and ushering in the Xin School of poetry in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Like Su’s poems, Su’s poems often express thoughts about life. This kind of rational thinking about the destiny of life enhances the philosophical connotation of the words. Although Su Shi deeply felt that life was like a dream, he did not deny life because of this. Instead, he strived for self-detachment and always maintained a tenacious and optimistic belief and a detached and adaptable attitude towards life.
Su's poems relatively completely show the author's mental journey from positivity to contradiction and depression, his constant pursuit of transcendence and self-adaptation, and his wildly romantic, sentimental and thoughtful personality. Following Liu Yong and Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi further moved the lyrical characters in his lyrics from separation to unity.
Su Ci not only expands to the inner world, but also to the external world. The life scenes expressed in the literati's poems of the late Tang and Five Dynasties were very narrow, mainly confined to closed painting buildings, embroidered houses, pavilions and courtyards. After entering the Song Dynasty, Liu Yong began to extend the realm of his poetry to urban marketplaces and natural spaces such as Qianliguan River and Weicun Mountain Station, while Zhang Xian moved closer to the daily official life environment. Su Shi not only vigorously described the author's daily communication, leisurely reading, farming, hunting, sightseeing and other life scenes in his poems, but also further showed the magnificent scenery of nature.
Su Shi used his own creative practice to show that there is nothing that cannot be written about words, and there is no intention that cannot be included. Ci, like poetry, has the function of fully expressing social life and real life. Because Su Shi expanded the expressive function of words, enriched the emotional connotation of words, and expanded the time and space scenes of words, thereby improving the artistic taste of words, introducing words into the palace of literature in a dignified way, and raising words from a "little way" to a kind of relationship with others. Poetry has the same status as the lyrical genre.
The technique of "using poetry as lyrics" is Su Shi's main weapon in changing his style of writing. The so-called "poetry as words" means transplanting the expression techniques of poetry into words. The more successful expressions in Su's poems include the use of title sequence and the use of allusions.
With the word title and word order, it is not only convenient to explain the time, place and origin of the word's creation, but also to enrich and deepen the aesthetic connotation of the word. Su Shi also began to use a large number of allusions in his poems. The use of allusions in words is not only an alternative and condensed narrative method, but also a tortuous and profound lyrical method. Su Ci made extensive use of prefaces and allusions to enrich and develop the expression techniques of Ci, which had a significant impact on the development of subsequent Ci.
Essentially speaking, Su Shi's "poetry as lyrics" is to break through the restrictions and constraints of music on the style of lyrics, and transform lyrics from an accessory to music into an independent lyric poetry style. Su Shi wrote lyrics mainly for people to read, not for people to sing, so he paid attention to the freedom of expressing emotions and aspirations, although he also abided by the musical rules of the words and was not restricted by the rhythm. Because of this, Su Shi was able to express himself as he wished when composing lyrics, even if he occasionally did not conform to the rhythm standards. It is precisely for this reason that Su Ci, like Su poetry, shows rich passion, rich imagination and freely changing and colorful language styles. Although the style of most of Su Shi's 362 extant poems is still relatively close to the traditional graceful and gentle style, a considerable number of works already reflect a new style that is unrestrained and heroic, upright and upright, like the wind of the sky and the rain of the sea. For example, the famous work "Shui Tiao Ge Tou" (When Will the Bright Moon Come)
Su Shi was a key figure in the transformation of the style of poetry in the Song and Song Dynasties. Volume 2 of Wang Zhuo's "Biji Manzhi" says: "Mr. Dongpo is not a person who is obsessed with music. He occasionally writes songs and points out the way up, which will bring new eyes and ears to the world. Only then will the author know how to revive himself." Strengthen the literary nature of the words and weaken the importance of the words. The dependence of music is what Su Shi pointed out to later generations of poets as "the way up." Later Nandu poets and Xinpai poets further developed and developed along this road.
Su Shi’s views on society and thoughts on life are unabashedly expressed in his literary works, among which poetry is the most vivid and vivid. Among more than 2,700 Su poems, the themes of intervening in social reality and thinking about life are very prominent. Su Shi had an attitude of being "out of touch with the times" towards various unreasonable phenomena in social reality, and always regarded criticizing reality as an important theme of poetry. What's even more valuable is that Su Shi's criticism of society was not limited to the New Deal, nor was it limited to the present. He criticized the long-standing bad policies and bad habits in feudal society, reflecting a deeper critical consciousness.
Su Shi had many ups and downs in officialdom throughout his life, traveling around the country and having extremely rich life experience. He is good at summarizing experiences from life encounters and seeing patterns from objective things. In his eyes, extremely ordinary life content and natural scenery contain profound truths, such as the two poems "Inscribed on the Western Forest Wall" and "He Zi Nostalgia from Mianchi". In these poems, natural phenomena have been elevated to philosophy, and the feelings of life have been transformed into rational reflections. What is particularly commendable is that the philosophy in the poem is expressed naturally through vivid and distinctive artistic images, rather than through logical deduction or argumentative analysis. Such poems are both beautiful and interesting, and are truly rational and interesting poems. "I don't know the true face of Mount Lu" and "Snow Mud Hongzhao" became popular as idioms as soon as they came out, which shows that Su Shi's rational and interesting poems are universally loved. There are many similar works in Su's poems, such as "Sizhou Sangha Pagoda", "Drinking Lake on the First Sunny and Later Rain", "Ci Lake Blocking the Wind", etc. Su Shi was extremely spiritual and discerning, so he could find new ideas everywhere.
Su Shi's profound thinking about life made him have a calm and broad-minded attitude towards the ups and downs of honor and disgrace, which is fully reflected in Su Shi's poems. Su Shi's poems in adversity certainly contain pain, anger, and depression, but more of Su Shi's poems express his disdain for suffering and his transcendence of pain.
Su Shi was a man of great erudition and talent, and his mastery of the artistic techniques of poetry had reached a level of proficiency. He treated artistic standards with a spirit of innovation and innovation, and whatever he wished, he could achieve success at his fingertips. Moreover, the expressive ability of Su Shi's poems is amazing. There are almost no themes in Su Shi's works that cannot be included in poems.
The late Northern Song Dynasty, represented by the "Yuanyou" poetry circle, was the heyday of Song poetry. The creations of Wang Anshi, Su Shi, Huang Tingjian, Chen Shidao and others pushed the art of Song poetry to its peak. In terms of outstanding and distinct style and personality, Wang, Huang and Chen's poems may be more eye-catching than Su Shi's poems. However, in terms of creative achievements, Su Shi is undoubtedly the number one poet in the Northern Song Dynasty. Su's poetry is outstanding in the dimensions of broad subject matter, variety of forms, and profound emotional connotation. More importantly, Su Shi has strong artistic compatibility, and he does not push a certain style to the status of a single one in theory or creation. In this way, although Su Shi made a huge contribution in the process of creating a new look of Song poetry, he basically avoided the two main shortcomings of the new style of Song poetry and its boringness. Therefore, Su Shi surpassed the poets of his contemporaries in terms of overall achievements and became the most popular poet of the Song Dynasty among future generations of readers.
Su Shi’s literary thought placed equal emphasis on literature and Taoism. He praised Han Yu and Ouyang Xiu's contributions to ancient prose, both of which focused on both literary and Taoist aspects. However, Su Shi's view of literature and Taoism was very unique in the Northern Song Dynasty. First of all, Su Shi believes that the art of articles has independent value, such as "fine gold and beautiful jade". Articles are not just tools for conveying the truth, but their own expressive function is an advanced form of human spiritual activity. Secondly, Su Shi's mind "Tao" is not limited to Confucianism, but generally refers to the laws of things. Therefore, Su Shi advocated that articles should be as natural as the objective world and full of gestures. He advocated the diversity and vividness of artistic styles and opposed the uniformity of writing styles. He believed that this would cause the literary world to be as desolate as "everything looks like yellow grass and white reeds".
It was under the guidance of this unique literary thought that Su Shi's prose showed a colorful artistic style. Su Shi drew artistic nourishment extensively from the works of previous generations, the most important of which were the majestic momentum of Mencius and the Warring States politicians, the rich associations of Zhuangzi, and the natural and unbridled writing style. Su Shi indeed has extremely high expressive power in his writings. There are almost no objective things or inner thoughts that cannot be expressed. Su Wen's style changes freely according to the objects of expression, and is as natural and smooth as flowing water. Han Yu's ancient prose relies on eloquence, layout, momentum and other means to achieve momentum. Su Wen achieves the same goal by expressing his thoughts freely and freely, but his language is simple and natural. This is one of the characteristics of Song Wen that is different from Tang Wen.
Su Shi was good at writing argumentative essays. The historical treatises he wrote in his early years had a strong political style, and sometimes he made shocking remarks that were unreasonable. For example, "Lun on Jia Yi" accused Jia Yi of not knowing how to make friends with ministers in order to win the trust of the court. "Fan Zeng Lun" proposes that Fan Zeng should kill Xiang Yu as the Righteous Emperor, but there are also many unique insights. For example, "Liu Hou Lun" states that the old man Wei Shang was a hidden gentleman in the Qin Dynasty, and humiliated Zhang Liang in order to cultivate his perseverance; "Ping Wang Lun" criticizes King Ping of Zhou's misguided decision to avoid the invaders and move the capital. The insights are novel, profound and inspiring. These historical treatises are good at random occurrences in writing, and they show a high degree of argumentation skills, which made them popular among scholars at that time. It is a model essay, so it is widely circulated. Su Shi's early political essays also have similar style characteristics, but with the deepening of experience, the habit of being a politician gradually weakened. For example, some of the memorials written by Yuanyou later were targeted in content and eloquent. The writing style is clear and composed, close to that of Jia Yi and Lu Zhi.
Although the historical and political commentaries show Su Shi's extraordinary talent, the essays, letters, prefaces and postscripts can better reflect Su Shi's literary achievements. . These articles are also good at surprising innovations, but their forms are more lively and their discussions are more lively. They are often mixed with narratives and arguments, and they use artistic appeal to enhance logical persuasion, so they are more powerful than historical treatises and political treatises. The nature of beautiful writing.
Su Shi’s narrative travel writings combine the three functions of narrative, lyricism and discussion very well.
Because Su Shi’s composition is based on the principle of “expressiveness of speech”. , so when it is done, it is done, and when it is stopped, it is stopped, and there are few words and sentences. This is most prominent in his notes and sketches, such as "Recording Chengtian Night Tour", the full text is only more than 80 words, but the artistic conception is transcendent. The charm is meaningful and it is a masterpiece among the sketches of the Song Dynasty.
Su Shi's Ci Fu and Siliu also achieved high achievements. His poems and poems inherited the tradition of Ouyang Xiu, but incorporated more of the sparse and scattered atmosphere of ancient Chinese prose, and absorbed the lyrical meaning of poetry. As a result, he was better than his predecessors and created "Red Cliff Fu" and "Later Red Cliff Fu". Such a famous article.
"Red Cliff Fu" follows the traditional pattern of question and answer between the subject and the guest, and suppresses the guest and reveals the subject. It expresses his own philosophy of life and also describes the beautiful scenery of the Yangtze River on a moonlit night. The whole text uses a combination of parallel and prose, with both scenes and scenes, making it a beautiful prose poem.
Su Shi also embodied the flowing style even in No. 46 Middle School. The imperial poems he drafted when he was serving in the Hanlin Academy were rich and powerful, rarely seen in Taige texts. The confession he wrote after being demoted is even more heartfelt and touching. It is a rare work of character among the four or six bodies.
Su Shi's prose was as famous as Ouyang Xiu and Wang Anshi in the Song Dynasty, but from a literary perspective alone, Su Wen was undoubtedly the most accomplished among Song writers.