"Ci Yu Shu"

[Song Dynasty] Li Qingzhao

Nan Gezi

The stars in the sky are turning, and the human curtain (green) is hanging down . Liang Sheng's pillow was stained with tears. He got up to take off his clothes and asked what the night was like.

The green lotus leaves are small and the golden lotus leaves are sparse. Old weather and old clothes. Only feelings, not like the old home!

"Shu Yu Ci" is a collection of poems published by Li Qingzhao in the Song Dynasty. On a quiet autumn night, the poet looked up at the sky, bowed his head and shed tears. She asked herself: The weather is the same as before, the clothes are as old as before, but why are the feelings today different from those before? This tells us: in a certain sense, the emotional content expressed in Li Qingzhao's poems is her various life feelings arising from different life situations. From the perspective of this poem, as long as people roughly appreciate the lonely atmosphere of the autumn night and the wandering scene of the heroine, it is not difficult to perceive the very lonely and lonely female feelings of the poet. However, Li Qingzhao clearly stated in the poem above: "There are only feelings, not like the old home." So, did her feelings before crossing to the south not be desolate and lonely? Our view is "no". As a woman in the feudal era, especially as a talented and sentimental boudoir poetess, Li Qingzhao was "designated" to spend her entire life with desolate and lonely feelings. Or in other words, just as Bai Juyi described Yang Yuhuan's beauty as "a natural beauty that is hard to abandon", the desolate and lonely feelings of Li Qingzhao (and other talented women in the feudal era) are also "natural" and "hard to abandon", but Its degree will increase or decrease due to changes in circumstances. The reasons can be roughly explored from the following three aspects:

First of all, women were basically excluded from the vast social life in the feudal era, and even their daily social circles were restricted to a very small size. Therefore, their "career" is limited to caring for their husbands, raising children, and managing the household. Li Qingzhao's situation is of course special. According to her "Preface to the Records of Jinshi", after she first entered her husband's house, she went to Xiangguo Temple to go shopping and buy books with Zhao Mingcheng, who was a Tai student; later, when she lived with her husband in the countryside of Qingzhou, , and worked together in the "Return Hall" to collate ancient books, examine and appreciate inscriptions and cultural relics, and completed a large-scale academic monograph such as "Inscriptions on Gold and Stone". However, fundamentally speaking, she can still only appear in limited social situations as "Li Gefei's daughter" or "Zhao Mingcheng's wife", and cannot have an independent personal status. Therefore, her life circle must be narrow, and her talents and emotions must be suppressed. Let's try to read these words of hers: "How deep is the courtyard? The cloud windows and foggy pavilion are often exposed" ("Linjiang Fairy"); "The small building is cold, the night is long and the curtains are drooped at dusk" ("Duoli"); " The spring scenery in the small courtyard window is deep, and the heavy curtains are not rolled up to cast shadows" ("Huanxi Sand"); "The people are quiet, the moon is lingering, and the green curtains are hanging down" ("Reporting Heartfelt Love"), you can wonder how much her living space and activity place are. It's too small. But for such a thoughtful and talented person who is imprisoned in such a small building in a deep courtyard and a small world with heavy curtains all day long, he will inevitably have a strong desire to fly out of the "siege city". But pitifully, this hope can only be realized through dreaming. Please read his poem "The Proud Fisherman": "The sky is connected with the clouds and waves, and the morning mist is connected, and the stars are about to turn around and thousands of sails are dancing. It's like the soul of a dream returns to the emperor's residence, hears the words of the sky, and asks me diligently where I am going? I report that the road is long and the sun sets, and I study poetry There is an astonishing sentence in the poem: The wind is calm, and the boat is blowing away from the three mountains. "In the dream, she was flying in the vast sky, flying towards the Penglai Fairy Mountain; However, when I wake up, I still can only feel that "the Taoist is haggard under the spring window, bored and worried," ("Spring in the Jade House"). For this reason, how could she not feel depressed and lonely? It should be noted that humans are not grass and trees, and one of their essential attributes is their "sociality"; and once they are deprived or restricted of the right to participate in social life (at most they can only make some comments in poems and works), they are like fishes leaving If the pond is caught in a wooden basin, people will inevitably feel lonely and lonely, even women are not immune. This is the first reason why Li Qingzhao developed his desolate and lonely feelings. From this, we also think that she often played a gambling game of "horse fighting" (that is, backgammon) in her boudoir, and wrote "Ba Ma Fu" and "Ba Ma Picture Preface" for it. Two articles. In her article, she once compared this kind of game of wits to the battle between two armies; she also compared it to the way a Pao Ding unloads an ox, the Ying people's luck in luck, and even the statecraft of Yao and Shun. This tortuously reflects Li Qingzhao's life ambition and intelligence.

If she were a man, she might be able to make a difference on the political stage; but now she can only waste her time and talents on games similar to today's playing poker and mahjong. This also illustrates the loneliness and boredom in her heart.

Secondly, as a talented woman with "dignified style and clear words", Li Qingzhao was fortunate enough to have a very happy marriage and family life. Her husband, Zhao Mingcheng, has similar interests as her. As early as the early days of their marriage, the two went shopping together in the market. "The fruits of the inscriptions on the market returned, and they played and chewed each other. They called themselves the people of Ge Tian's family." Later, in the "Return Hall", the husband and wife worked together on sorting out books and cultural relics. In their spare time, they drank tea, drank wine, and even held "intelligence competitions" to test their memory. Li Qingzhao felt satisfied with this and said that he was "willing to stay in his hometown forever" ("Preface to the Records of Jinshi"). Therefore, on the surface, it seems that she should not have that kind of lonely feeling. But this is not necessarily the case. For one thing, Zhao Mingcheng was a son of an official, and later he continued to rise and fall in the officialdom. He had his own career to do, such as studying, studying, making friends, working in politics, and other things that a scholar-official scholar needed to do. He could not be like Liu. As Yong wrote, "It's like nestling in the fragrance and leaning on the warmth, holding the sun high while sleeping" ("Slow Juan Tsumugi"), accompanying the person in the boudoir all day long. Therefore, separation and lovesickness between couples are common occurrences. For example, the following poem "A Cut of Plum Blossoms" is said to have been specially written on a brocade handkerchief by Li Qingzhao as a gift to Zhao Mingcheng when he was traveling on a long journey shortly after his marriage (according to Yi Shizhen's "The Story of Lang Huan"). The words are: "The fragrance of red lotus root remains. In the autumn, I undressed Luo Shang and went alone on the orchid boat. When the wild geese came back, the flowers were falling and the water was flowing. The plan can be eliminated, but the frown is on the heart." This describes her lonely feelings caused by the separation and lovesickness. Secondly, women in the feudal era, especially the wives and concubines of officials and officials, often faced marriage or love crises. Take the Song Dynasty as an example. It was common for scholar-bureaucrats to have three wives and four concubines (or even groups of wives and concubines); it was not too shameful for them to go out looking for flowers and prostitutes. Therefore, it is quite natural that a wife who stays at home behind closed doors will develop feelings of self-pity and loneliness out of the fear of her husband liking the new and hating the old. Of course, there is no precise historical data to determine whether there were any marital disputes or emotional crises between Zhao Mingcheng and Li Qingzhao. However, some scholars speculate that there was a sentence in Li's poems: "When people read Wuling, they are far away, and the smoke locks the Qin Tower" (an allusion to Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao who went to Tiantai Mountain to collect medicine and met fairies and had sex with them). When describing the death of Zhao Mingcheng in "The Preface to the Records of Jinshi", the allusion of "dividing incense and selling shoes" was mentioned (before Cao Cao died, he asked to distribute the incense to his concubines, so that the maids could learn to make shoes to support themselves). sentence, from which it may be possible to deduce that Zhao Mingcheng had an affair and had a concubine (according to Chen Zumei's "Critical Biography of Li Qingzhao"). Although we may not agree with this view, it can at least help us understand the worries that Li Qingzhao may have had in marriage and love. Besides, people always get older. As people age, their beauty fades, and throughout the ages, how many women have harbored a sense of crisis in this regard! Let's try to read the following words of hers: "At first I tried to pinch the golden seam of my shirt, and I leaned on the mountain pillow, and the pillow was damaged by the hairpin head and the phoenix. I hugged alone and was so sad that I had no good dreams, and the night was still cutting lights and flowers." ("Butterfly Love Flower") What is this woman who is trying on spring clothes for the first time thinking about when she is awake late at night? The last sentence gives some hint. Li Shangyin's poem said: "Why should I cut the candles from the west window, but I can't tell you when it rains at night in Bashan." ("Night Rain Sends to the North") means that the couple reunites and the couple cuts the lanterns. But now Li Qingzhao is "alone with deep sorrow" and cutting lanterns alone. This may be complaining about her husband's failure to return and expressing his own sorrow (if this poem was written before the southward journey, it can be understood in this way). Therefore, even if she was lucky enough to have a good husband, and even if she lived in a relatively peaceful and beautiful environment, as a woman, Li Qingzhao could not escape the psychological shadow of "abandoning the autumn fan" - although this is somewhat "taken for granted" Suspicion, but not too far off the mark. And this kind of psychological shadow unique to women has of course become another layer of ideological connotation in her desolate and lonely feelings.

Again, let’s talk about Li Qingzhao’s feminine temperament in poetry. It is said that Zhao Mingcheng had a poem that came to him in a dream when he was a child. When he woke up, he could only recall three sentences: "Yan and Si are in harmony. They have been put on and taken off, and the grass has been pulled out." His father explained it: "Yan and Si are in harmony." It’s the character for ‘ci’, the character for ‘安上有得了’ is for ‘female’, and the character for ‘zhifucaopu’ is for ‘husband’.

Doesn’t it mean that you are the ‘husband of a poetess’? "(Volume 16 of "Licheng County Chronicles") This story is mostly attached by later generations, but it also shows that people have long recognized Li Qingzhao as a real "poem girl". The basic conditions for a poet are, first, to have the ability to write Secondly, the talent and ability of the poet must be sentimental. As a poet, Li Qingzhao fully possesses these two conditions. As her talent and ability in writing lyrics are generally recognized, there is no need to say more about her sentimental psychological temperament. We should pay special attention to her female gender. . Generally speaking, women are relatively weaker than men in terms of physical characteristics and psychological temperament. The ancients generally classified men and women as "yang" (masculine) and "yin" (feminine). In the field of philosophy, in addition to the bias of favoring boys over girls, this meaning is probably included. Therefore, female authors are usually more sentimental than ordinary male authors. Furthermore, women's living space is very narrow, and their lives are very narrow. The content is quite monotonous, which further contributes to their sentimentality. The reasons are: first, just like the blind people who "compensately" develop their hearing because they cannot see the outside world, they are bound in the small courtyard and purdah. Women, because they are unable to participate in a wide range of social life, show extra care and sensitivity to the changes in the natural scenery around them (this is called "sentiment"); secondly, because their development to the outside world is blocked, they become more and more sensitive to changes in the natural scenery around them. Paying meticulous attention to one's own destiny, one's own life status and emotional world, often resulting in self-pity and autistic resentment and mentality (this is "sorrow"). In this way, the spring and autumn of nature will come and go. Flowers blooming and falling, even a drizzle, a breeze, may cause them to feel sad about the spring and autumn, the beauty will grow old, and the longing for the long-distance love. This kind of sentimental psychological temperament often leads female poets to develop desolate and lonely feelings. If you don't believe it, please read the following words of Li Qingzhao, for example: "Lonely in the deep boudoir, there are thousands of sorrows in the heart." Cherish that spring is gone, what time will the flowers rain? "("Dian Crimson Lips") "The incense of Ruinao lulls the soul away from the dream, and the golden bun is used to ward off the cold. The sky is red with candles when I wake up. "("Huanxi Sand") "The spring scenery is deep in the idle window of the small courtyard, the heavy curtains are not rolled up, and the shadows are heavy. I lean against the building and listen to the Yao Qin speechlessly. "("Huanxi Sha") "In the cold spring weather, the jade furnace sinks into the water and smoke lingers. In my dream, I return to the mountain pillow and hide the flowers. "("Huanxisha") "After the singing in the wine stall, the jade statue is empty, and the green vat is dark and bright. The soul's dream is unbearable and resentful, and it even cries. "("Good things are near")... A few drops of rain to encourage flowers, a wisp of smoke from a jade furnace, a sudden cry, even the spring scenery outside the small window and the breeze that can't roll up the heavy curtains can all arouse her melancholy. Resentment, this shows that her sentimental psychological temperament is indeed an internal factor that formed her desolate and lonely feelings.

So in summary, even in the first half of her life before moving to the south, Li Qingzhao was in the emotional world. , has long been filled with a feeling of desolation and loneliness. Its most expressive expression can be cited as the word "thin". As everyone knows, two of Li Qingzhao's poems are popular with the word "thin". One is "Like a Dream". "You know, you know, it should be green, fat, red and thin"; the second is "The curtain is blowing in the west wind, people are thinner than yellow flowers" in "Drunk Flower Yin". The word "thin" in these two places not only shows that she practices. His profound skill in crafting words and sentences can also give a glimpse of his inner loneliness. Although the previous part describes the leaves and flowers of Begonia after being exposed to wind and rain, the feeling of cherishing the flowers expressed by the word "thin" is another one. The "sympathy" between her and the flower? The latter part refers directly to herself: in the autumn wind, she is actually a bit thinner than the yellow flower! The word "thin" not only describes the haggard and thin appearance, but also gives people a "people" The association of "sickness (heart disease), God knows whether it is true or not" is a vivid portrayal of the desolate and lonely female mood. Therefore, if future generations want to paint a portrait of Li Qingzhao, then the sentence "A person is thinner than a yellow flower" will definitely be their suspense. The best "blueprint" to describe the Fengshen.

At this point, the reason why Li Qingzhao had a lonely feeling before crossing to the south seems to have been basically explained, and the reason why we have to spend a lot of space on it. Talking about this issue actually has a deeper meaning, that is, Li Qingzhao's feelings are actually the same feelings of other female poets. Therefore, "anatomy" of Li Qingzhao can help us understand the emotional world of the entire Song Dynasty female poets. . As for Li Qingzhao herself, since she deeply cherished this feeling of loneliness even in a relatively affluent environment, it is not necessary to elaborate on her emotional pain after she lost her country and lost her husband.

Next, let us make some additional remarks on the common sentiments of female poets in the Song Dynasty:

In addition to Li Qingzhao, the more famous female poets in the Song Dynasty can also be cited as Mrs. Wei and Zhu Shuzhen. Showing their mentality can deepen the perceptual understanding of the common feelings of female poets in the Song Dynasty.