Life of Li He
Li He (790-816), also known as Changji, was a famous poet in the mid-Tang Dynasty. A native of Fuchang, Henan, he is a descendant of the Tang clan, and his distant ancestor is Li Liang, the uncle of Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. At the age of 18, he went to Luoyang, the eastern capital, and met Han Yu with "Yanmen Governor's Journey". He was highly praised and became famous. At the age of 21, he participated in the Henan Prefectural Examination and was recommended as a Jinshi. However, he was jealous and attacked by villains. They said that the "Jin" in Li He's father's name, Jin Su, was the same as "Jin" in Jinshi. This was a family taboo and should be avoided according to etiquette and law. Take the test. Li He was forced to give up his right to take the imperial examination and cut off his path to benevolence. He has been suffering from depression and pain ever since. Later, on the recommendation of others, he went to Chang'an to serve as a minor official of the ninth grade Taichang Temple Fengli Lang. With a humble status, Li He couldn't bear the humiliation and resigned due to illness before the expiration of his term. At the age of only 27, he died of illness and stroke. The collection of his works is "Li Changji's Poems". His poems are unique among Tang poems and are called "Changji style".
Li He, whose courtesy name is Changji, was born in Changgu, Fuchang, Henan (now Yiyang). He was born in Zhenyuan (791) of Dezong (Li Shi) of Tang Dynasty and died in the second year of Yuanhe (817) of Xianzong (Li Chun). A *** only lived to be twenty-seven years old. In the history of Chinese literature, he is a talented but unfortunately short-lived poet.
Li He’s father’s name is Li Jinsu. He once served as a border official and died young. Just because the word "Jin" has the same pronunciation as the word "jin" for Jinshi, some people who are jealous of talents use this as an excuse to avoid the taboo of the emperor and father and not to take the test of Jinshi. Although Han Yu, who was famous in both the government and the public at that time, wrote "Taubian" to defend him, it was of no avail. This was a very heavy blow to the young poet. In order to support his family, Li He had no choice but to become a minor official serving Li Lang "from the ninth rank" who listened to others' instructions and obeyed them.
Li He, a young man, came from a poor family and loved poetry and calligraphy. Excessive study and chanting caused his body to age prematurely: "New Book of Tang Dynasty" said that he was "able to write poems at the age of seven", and also said: "He was slender. He has straight eyebrows and long fingers and claws, and he can write quickly. "The Old Book of Tang Dynasty" says that he is "quick in writing, especially good at writing poems." This shows that he is precocious and quick in writing. It is said that Han Yu and Huangfu Shi were initially skeptical about Li He's poetic talent. They both went to his home at the same time and asked for an interview. Li He immediately imitated the ancient Yuefu title and drafted "Gaoxuan Guo". The two read it and were greatly impressed. After Han Yu returned to Chang'an, he praised Li He greatly.
Does Li He have a wife? Neither the new nor old books mention it. From his own poems, he has provided readers with some evidence; "One of Two Ode to Huai", Sima Changqing said of himself: "Playing the piano to see Wen Jun, the spring breeze blows the shadow on the temples." He proudly revealed the piano writing after his wedding. The joy of self-entertainment; in "Remembering Changgu Mountain Residence in Beginning to Pay Rites", he even regretted leaving home prematurely: "The dog book once went to Luo, and the crane regretted traveling to Qin due to illness." Ancient poem: "Double white cranes flew from In the northwest,... my wife is ill and can't accompany her. I look back every five miles and wander around every six miles..." My wife is sick at home, but I go to Chang'an. He was not allowed to take the exam because of his father's taboo and failed. In "Out of the City", he thought of how to tell each other when they met; "Qingqing asked each other reluctantly, with tears in the mirror." These can show that Li He not only became a family , and the relationship between husband and wife is very harmonious and harmonious.
Although Li He comes from a poor family, he is still a member of the royal family, and cannot be completely equated with the poor people at the bottom of society. Take the house he bought on loan, which has a courtyard and fruit trees. "The rat path across the courtyard is empty and the soil is astringent, and the jujubes hanging out of the fence are broken." ("Renhe Li Miscellaneous Narratives by Huangfu Zhuo") From his daily life, There are slaves to serve him, he reads in Changgu, Ba Tong accompanies him, he searches for poems on horseback, Xi slaves follow him, and when he returns home, he has to wait for his maid to fetch poems for him. He drank frequently, and every time he drank, he would get drunk: "I am drunk tonight, and I will write when I leave." ("Shi Di") It is said in the old legend that he traveled every day to look for poems, and when he got a sentence, he immediately put it in the ancient brocade bag, "It is not very drunk." , the rate is so on the day of mourning. "The reason why Li He has a special interest in wine is mainly to use it to extinguish the pent-up anger in his heart! "Longxi Changji destroys the guests, and the sensory center of the wine room is narrow." ("After drinking, Zhang Dache asked for a poem, and Zhang Chu was acting as Lu Mu") "During the day and night, the internal heat becomes hot, and I drink the wine from the pot thirsty." ("Long Song Continues Short Song" 》) In just over twenty years, apart from drinking, I just chanted. Every night when his mother saw the poems he had written in her ancient brochure, she would say angrily: "This kid has to vomit his heart out!" Drinking and moaning were the main factors that made him immortal. . The reason why Li He was obsessed with poetry and wine was the result of the decadent feudal system and cold social reality imposed on him at that time.
"Life is full of poverty, and we talk about drinking at dusk" ("Gift to Chen Shang"), "The sky is filled with clouds that cannot be opened" ("Song of Kaishou"), "I advise you to stay drunk all day long!" ("Jian Jin Jiu") " The Geyi is broken and Zhao Chengqiu recites poems all night long in the east!" ("After drinking, Zhang Dache asks for poems, and Zhang Chu acts as Lu Mu") Like this, drinking and chanting day and night, it is no wonder that "the song must be changed before the hair is ready" ("Change") The song continues with the short song ")!
In addition to his hometown in Changgu, Fuchang, Li He also has an old residence in Luoyang. Among the poems is "From Changgu to Luohoumen". In the cold winter of October, I went there in the wind and snow to ask whether I should "go south to Chu" or "west to Qin"? Li Shangyin also said that he "often rides alone to and from Beijing and Luo." ("Li Changji's Biography") In Luoyang, I often went to see Huangfu Shi. When Huangfu Shi came to Beijing, he even rushed outside the city to send him a message: "Pingxuan shed a pair of tears in front of the green clothes!" ("Farewell to Huangfu Shi outside Luoyang City")
At that time, Li Heguo's close relatives included Quanzhen, Yang Jingzhi, Wang Gongyuan, Cui Zhi, Zhang Che, Shen Yazhi, Chen Shang, Zhang Youxin, Li Han, Shen Ziming, etc., and they all successively passed the Jinshi rank. Wang Gongyuan and Yang Jingzhi particularly loved Li He's poems and often copied his works and took them home. When Shen Yazhi failed to become a Jinshi in the first place, Li He complained about it and wrote a poem to comfort him: "Chun Qing picked up his talent in the daytime and threw gold to solve the dragon's horse." He also encouraged him not to lose heart and try again next year: "I heard that a strong man values ??his heart and his bones. The ancients "Three walks without defeat, please wait until the end of the day and give him a whip." ("Song of Farewell to Shen Ya") Shen Yazhi accepted this opinion, and in the tenth year of Yuanhe, he finally passed the examination.
Reflected in Li He's poems, there is also an enterprising and ambitious side, "Young people should take care of their worries" ("To the Wine Shop"), "The excitement of a twenty-year-old man" ("Hao Ge") 》)? "A man is poor but his heart is full" ("Wild Songs"), "Husband can only be happy when he likes it" ("Wine with each other")! I even thought: "There are no heroes in the world" ("Hao Ge"), "Like a scholar with thousands of households" ("Thirteen Poems of Nanyuan·Part 5")? I want it, "Once I come out of the ditch, I can see the flying clouds." Fly" ("Twenty-three Horse Poems·Fifteen")! Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Just like the political situation at that time, the brief brightness soon returned to darkness and chaos; "The road is now blocked" ("Gift to Chen Shang"), "I am willing to be a leopard hiding in the fog" (" Spring returns to Changgu"). "Thinking about the drama cycle for a long time, and worrying about Qin Ge" ("Autumn Liang Poems to Zhengzi Twelve Brothers")! Finally, he lamented that "the road is narrow and has no boundaries, and the strong people are impatient" ("Spring Returns to Changgu")!
Li He is thin and clear-headed, with long eyebrows that meet each other (thin eyebrows), thin hair, and unmanicured nails. "When you return home, your bones are thin and your face is bare, and the plague is strong on your head and temples." ("Ren He Li Miscellaneous Narratives by Huangfu Zhuo") Not only is the body prematurely aging, but also the spirit is empty, "Don't work in vain in this life, the wind blows the candle on the plate!" ("Copper") He deeply understands that in that kind of hypocritical and snobbish society, no matter how beautiful your talent is, it will be in vain if it cannot be cited by someone with status and power; if you cannot be flattered and grovel, it will be in vain.
Li He had no children. When he was about to die, he compiled the poems he had written in his life into four volumes and gave them to his friend Shen Ziming. On the afternoon of the 15th, Shen asked the poet Du Mu to write a preface for it. Du Mu listed nine of his good qualities and praised them repeatedly, preparing to be overwhelmed with emotion. It pointed out: "I reluctantly offered congratulations, but in the end I was very ashamed!" Legend has it that God wanted to build the White Jade Tower and specially called Li He to write an article and record. This was nothing more than giving a romantic color to this unlucky poet who was born at the wrong time. Li He is like a comet that cuts through the quiet night sky, leaving us with a string of immortal flashing memories!
Du Fu's life
Du Fu (712-770), courtesy name Zimei, was born in Gong County (now part of Henan). He was born in a bureaucratic family with a long tradition. Starting from the 13th ancestor Du Yu, almost every generation had people holding different official positions. Therefore, Du Fu was proud to call him "a man of Confucianism and an official without falling into a career" ("Jin Diao"). "Fu Table"). His maternal line is the Cui family of Qinghe, the highest-ranking among the noble families in the Tang Dynasty. However, Du Fu's father Du Xian only served as the magistrate of Fengtian County, and the family was in decline.
The family gave Du Fu an orthodox Confucian cultural upbringing and the ambition to make a difference in his official career. Therefore, throughout his life, the thought of transcending the world rarely occupied his mind. In addition, the Tang Dynasty was an era that valued poetry, and Du Fu's grandfather Du Shenyan was the most famous poet in Empress Wu's dynasty, which further deepened Du Fu's interest in poetry. He once proudly said to his son: "Poetry is my family's business." ("Zong Wu's Birthday") The pursuit of official career and immortal poetry both formed the trajectory of Du Fu's life.
Du Fu was precocious and was said to be able to write poems at the age of seven. When he was fourteen or five years old, he "traveled to the calligraphy and ink field" ("Zhuang You") to socialize with scribes and sing. For more than ten years after turning 20, Du Fu lived a wandering life. This is not only to increase experience, but also to make friends with celebrities, publicize your reputation, and prepare for future official career. He first arrived in the Wuyue area, where the scenery and culture of Jiangnan left a deep impression on him. At the age of twenty-four, Du Fu went to Luoyang to take the exam, but failed to pass. He wandered around Qi and Zhao, and lived a wild life. He later recalled: "The wild life between Qi and Zhao was very wild."
("The Grand Tour") When he was thirty-three years old, Du Fu and Li Bai met in Luoyang, and they traveled together as heroes in the Liang and Song Dynasties. Li Bai was already a world-famous poet at that time. His special style and outstanding talent deeply attracted Du Fu.
Du Fu called being an official his family's "professional career" - a profession that was passed down from generation to generation. His various cultural upbringings are related to this. Around the age of thirty-five, Du Fu came to Chang'an to seek an official position. At first, he was full of confidence, "claiming that he was able to stand up and ascend the important road", and believed that he could "serve the kings of Yao and Shun, and then make customs pure" ("Twenty-two Rhymes Presented to Wei Zuocheng"), but he was stranded for ten years. But he has repeatedly hit a wall over the years. This may be because his family background is no longer strong enough, and Li Linfu and others who hold power have adopted an obstructive attitude towards the introduction of talents. Shortly after Du Fu arrived in Chang'an, his father passed away, and his life became difficult. In order to survive and seek official positions, Du Fu had to travel among the wealthy and powerful, writing poems and giving gifts, hoping to get their recommendation. In addition, he also presented poems to Emperor Xuanzong many times, such as "Carving Fu", "Three Great Rites", etc., hoping that Xuanzong would favor his literary talent. As a result of all kinds of efforts, it was not until the 14th year of Tianbao that he was granted the humble official position of Youwei, captain of the government, and Cao Cao, who joined the army. This was already the eve of the Anshi Rebellion.
In the late Tianbao period, although the society of the Tang Dynasty maintained its prosperity on the surface, crises were lurking everywhere. This is mainly manifested in three aspects: First, Xuanzong and his generals bent on expanding territory and resorting to militarism, which resulted in an empty country, poor people's livelihood, and many innocent deaths; second, Xuanzong indulged in pleasure, and Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong and others took power. Dictatorship blocked the way of speech, and politics became dark; third, An Lushan, favored by Xuanzong, served as the third military envoy and held powerful troops, threatening the unity of the country. People in adversity can easily see the ills of reality. When a great collapse was coming, Du Fu saw the misfortune of the country and the people through his personal misfortune. In the eleventh year of Tianbao (752), Du Fu wrote his famous article "The Troops and Chariots", which with a serious attitude truly recorded the tragic scene of people being driven to the battlefield to die. This poem marks a change in Du Fu's poetry. After that, he wrote nine more poems "Out of the Fortress", continuing to question the disastrous Kaibian War; he wrote "Beautiful People" to expose the extravagant and lustful life of the relatives of Xuanzong's favorite concubine Yang Yuhuan. The long poem "Five Hundred Words of Ode to the Emperor from Beijing to Fengxian" sharply contrasts the drunken life and death of the supreme ruling group with the plight of the people who are hungry and cold. The poem summarizes the darkness and irrationality of society.
After the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Du Fu was trapped in Chang'an, which was occupied by the rebels. Later, he escaped alone and went to Suzong of the Tang Dynasty who was stationed in Fengxiang. He was appointed as Zuo Shiyi. This was an admonishment officer from the eighth rank. Although his status was not high, it was Du Fu's only experience of serving in the central government. However, Suzong was angered by his dismissal of Shang Shushen to save Fang Guan, and he was demoted as Huazhou Si Gong and joined the army in the early Qianyuan Dynasty. Due to war and famine, Du Fu could not support his family, and he was disappointed with his official career. In the second year of Qianyuan (759), he gave up his official position and entered Shu, which was still stable and prosperous at that time. In the four years from the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion to Du Fu's entry into Sichuan, the entire country was in violent shock. The dynasty was in danger, a large number of people died, and Du Fu's own life was also full of danger and hardship. And his poetry creation reached its peak state due to the nourishment of blood and tears.
"Spring Look", "Moonlight Night", "Bei Chen Tao", "Bei Qing Ban", "Northern Expedition", "Qiang Village", "San Li", "Three Farewells" and many other famous works passed down from generation to generation. Chapters continue to pour out from the poet's pen filled with sorrow.
Not long after arriving in Chengdu, Du Fu relied on the help of friends to build a thatched cottage in the west of the city. Later, Du Fu's old friend Yan Wu served as the governor of Jiannan and Dongxi Sichuan. He was very close to Du Fu and took great care of his life. When Yan Wu suppressed Shu for the second time, he recommended Du Fu to serve as Jiedu staff member and Yuanwailang of the inspection and work department (later generations called him "Du Gongbu").
Du Fu came to Shu to avoid chaos and seek food. For the first two years or so, he lived in a thatched cottage, and his life was indeed relatively comfortable. The poems he wrote at that time about the natural scenery around the thatched cottage also showed a fresh and leisurely charm. But this situation did not last long. Nationally speaking, although the Anshi Rebellion came to an end in 763 AD, the disintegration of the Tang Dynasty did not stop. In terms of foreign aggression, there was serious intrusion by the Tibetans, who even invaded Chang'an, forcing Emperor Daizong to flee in panic; in terms of internal strife, there was a general state of warlord separatism or semi-separatism, and political corruption and official tyranny continued unabated. From the perspective of the central Sichuan area, it is not only a focus of Tubo's offensive, but also a place prone to warlord separatism.
During the interval between Yan Wu's second campaign to suppress Shu, a serious military rebellion occurred. As a result, Du Fu fled Chengdu and wandered with his family. A violent turmoil turned into continuous decline, which made Du Fu even more disappointed with the country's future. His later poems and emotions were even heavier than during the Anshi Rebellion.
In the first year of Yongtai (765), Yan Wu died, and chaos broke out again in Shu. Du Fu also lost his support in Chengdu. He took his whole family and boarded a boat to live a wandering life. Life on the run (or it may be said that not long before Yan Wu's death, Du Fu left Shu for Chang'an because his position as a member of the Ministry of Industry was changed from a virtual title to a real one). The original purpose was probably to go east along the Yangtze River out of Sichuan, but he was stranded for a long time due to illness and war. First he lived in Yun'an for a while, and then lived in Kuizhou for nearly two years. At the age of fifty-seven, he finally took a boat out of the Three Gorges, but he still wandered on the waterways in Hubei and Hunan. Finally, at the age of fifty-nine, in the fifth year of Dali, he died on a boat near Leiyang. Du Fu's hard and wandering life came to a miserable end here.