Lu Xun has two famous comments on Records of the Historian, namely, "Historians never sing again, and Li Sao has no rhyme." The first sentence is that the historical books after Historical Records are unmatched. For the second sentence, the modern interpretation is generally: Lu Xun is praising the literariness of Historical Records, which can be compared with Li Sao. I think the explanation of the second sentence is reasonable, but it is superficial and should be further explained. For example, if it is literary, 300 poems also have their own characteristics, but
Lu Xun did not say that the Book of Songs had no rhyme, but that Li Sao had no rhyme, which was not chosen at random, but for other reasons.
To this end, I guess there are two main points:
First, Lu Xun thinks that both Sima Qian and Qu Yuan have suffered a lot, and they are both people with grievances and worries. Qu Yuan wrote Li Sao to express his anger, and Sima Qian wrote Historical Records to express his worries, so Historical Records is Li Sao. Gu quoted Lu Xun as saying that Historical Records is "the swan song of historians, while Li Sao has no rhyme".
(Sima Qian) hates playing tricks on ministers, puts his heart in ink, feels the humiliation of his life experience, and spreads the grotesque to future generations. Although he recited the meaning of Spring and Autumn Annals, it is a masterpiece of historians, and the rhyme of Li Sao is gone. Sima Xiangru and Sima Qian (Outline of the History of Chinese Literature) said that "hate is a jester", which means that Sima Qian was deeply dissatisfied with his position of "being teased by the Lord, advocating superior animals and ignoring customs" ("reporting for appointment") and "feeling humiliated by his life experience", which means that Sima Qian was saddened by the great shame of his imprisonment. All these have become the driving force for Sima Qian to write a book and complete Historical Records. The life experiences of Qu Yuan and Sima Qian are very similar: "Being a disciple of Wang Huai" is also a kind of "jester"; Being exiled to the river stone is similar to Sima Qian's great suffering. Qu Yuan wrote Li Sao to express his grievances. The so-called "Li Sao" means complaining and worrying. Sima Qian had a profound understanding of Qu Yuan. In the Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng, he wrote: "If you believe and see doubt, if you are loyal and slander, how can you have no complaints?" Qu Ping's work Li Sao is self-reproach. "Sima Qian knew that the work of Li Sao originated from resentment, and he did the same himself. The hearts of Sima Qian and Qu Yuan are interlinked. It is precisely because of their similar life experiences and the same state of mind that both of them "take care of each other" and become heroes. Sima Qian can be described as Qu Yuan in Han Dynasty, and the historical records are Li Sao in Han Dynasty. Therefore, Lu Xun said that Historical Records can be regarded as "Li Sao without rhyme". As a matter of fact, Lu Xun himself is also a man full of complaints and grievances, and he is United with each other. He knew the feelings of Qu Yuan and Sima Qian two thousand years ago-grumbling, resentment and melancholy. It is precisely because of this that he can profoundly interpret Historical Records as "Li Sao has no rhyme".
Second, Lu Xun's preference for Li Sao and Chu Ci. Lu Xun spoke highly of Li Sao. He wrote in the Outline of China Literature History that Qu Yuan and Song Yu:
In the Warring States period ... in rhyme, Qu Yuan originated in Chu and was demoted. It was Li Sao. Escape is a great speech and an outstanding life. Later generations were surprised by his literary talent and imitated it with the original Chu Ci, so it was called "Chu Ci". Compared with poetry, it is long, its thought is wonderful, its writing is beautiful, its purpose is clear, it comes from the heart, and it doesn't follow the rules. Therefore, the post-Confucianism's obedience to poets was either embarrassing or embarrassing, but it even influenced more than 300 articles in later generations. Lu Xun believed that Li Sao had a great influence on later literature with its "gorgeous rhetoric". Compared with the Book of Songs, Lisao has many outstanding literary features, so its influence often exceeds that of the Book of Songs. For example, "Songs of the South" means "speaking from the heart", that is, I write my heart and express my true colors, which is the same as "writing from the heart, writing from the heart" in Historical Records (Outline of China Literature History Sima Qian in Sima Xiangru). Lu Xun likes Li Sao (and Historical Records), a literary work that speaks from the heart and does not follow the rules. This has a lot to do with Lu Xun's noble personality and good literature with different customs. It is consistent with his love for Wei and Jin articles and Ji Kang, and also with his disapproval of "gentle and sincere" poetry teaching. From this perspective, Lu Xun would not praise Historical Records as "a poem without rhyme". Lu Xun's preference for Li Sao is especially manifested in his lifelong love for the beauty and profound meaning of Chu Ci. In his poems, he often borrows and quotes the words and allusions of Lisao, such as his poems "Some people on the Zehe River can't sing, but their eyes are lost in Lisao" (Untitled), "A lonely night in a high hill, fragrance scattered without spring" (Xiangling Song) and so on. He once wrote banners twice in Li Sao Ji. The sentence in Li Sao is "Look at it, don't push it, fear the sound first". The first time I asked someone to write to encourage me, and the second time I gave the book to my friends. It was written by Qiao Dazhuang for the first time, and this figure still hangs on the west wall of the "Tiger Tail" of Lu Xun's former residence in Beijing. It is precisely because Lu Xun loves the literary characteristics of Li Sao very much and sees the similarities between Li Sao and Historical Records in literary characteristics that he moved Li Sao to comment on Historical Records, and therefore compared Historical Records to Li Sao.
Lu Xun's comments on Historical Records are both very accurate and contain personal feelings and kindness. Through the above analysis of Li Sao's blank rhyme, we can understand a thing or two.