Ouyang Xiu was the advocate of the poetry innovation movement in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty.
Ouyang Xiu (August 1, 1007 - September 22, 1072), courtesy name Yongshu, nicknamed Zuiweng, and later nicknamed Liuyi Jushi, [1] Yongfeng, Jizhou (now Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province) Yongfeng County), born in Mianzhou (now Mianyang City, Sichuan Province) in the fourth year of Jingde (1007), was a politician and writer in the Northern Song Dynasty. [2]
Ouyang Xiu became a Jinshi in the eighth year of Tiansheng's reign (1030) of Renzong in the Song Dynasty. He served in Renzong, Yingzong and Shenzong dynasties, reaching Hanlin bachelor's degree, deputy envoy to the privy council, and participating in political affairs. After his death, he was given many gifts to the Grand Master and Duke of Chu, and was given the posthumous title "Wenzhong". In his later life, he was called Ouyang Wenzhong Gong.
Ouyang Xiu was the earliest literary leader to create a generation of literary style in the literary history of the Song Dynasty. Together with Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Su Shi, Su Xun, Su Che, Wang Anshi, and Zeng Gong, they were collectively known as the "Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties", and together with Han Yu , Liu Zongyuan, and Su Shi are collectively known as the "Four Masters of Eternal Writing" by later generations. [3] He led the poetry innovation movement in the Northern Song Dynasty and inherited and developed Han Yu's ancient prose theory. His high achievements in prose creation complemented his correct ancient prose theory, thus creating a generation of writing style. While Ouyang Xiu changed his writing style, he also innovated the style of poetry and poetry. In terms of history, he also has high achievements. [3] He once majored in "New Tang Dynasty" and wrote "New History of the Five Dynasties". There is "Ouyang Wenzhong Collection" handed down from generation to generation. [4]
On September 22, 1072, Ouyang Xiu died at home at the age of sixty-six.
Literary Achievements
Articles
The poetic innovation advocated by Ouyang Xiu is essentially aimed at the literary style of the Five Dynasties and the Xikun style of the early Song Dynasty. However, Ouyang Xiu’s literary theory Both his writing practice and his writing practice are very different from those of the retro literary theorists since Liu Kai. Before Ouyang Xiu took charge of the literary world, the writing style represented by Xikun style had been severely criticized. While Ouyang Xiu opposed Xikun style, he also opposed "Taixue style".
Seated Portrait of Ouyang Xiu
Seated Portrait of Ouyang Xiu [21]
Ouyang Xiu holds a new view on the relationship between literature and Taoism. First of all, Ouyang Xiu believes that Confucianism is closely related to real life. [22] Secondly, Ouyang paid equal attention to the cultivation of literature and Taoism. [23-24] In addition, he also believed that literature has an independent nature. [25] This idea of ??attaching equal importance to literature and Tao has two meanings: first, it regards literature as equally important as Tao; second, it regards the artistic form of literature as equally important as its ideological content, which undoubtedly greatly improves the status of literature. . When Liu Kai and others called upon Han Yu, they mainly focused on his moral tradition, while Ouyang Xiu focused more on inheriting Han Yu's literary tradition.
Ouyang Xiu loved Han and Liu's ancient prose since he was a child. Later, he also used Han and Liu's ancient prose as models to learn from, but he did not blindly worship the ancients. The strange and dangerous and esoteric tendencies that have emerged in Han and Liu Guwen are discarded and ignored. [26] At the same time, Ouyang Xiu did not completely deny the artistic achievements of parallel prose, and also praised Yang Yi and others for their "proud writing and erudite writing, with more than enough writing power". In this way, Ouyang Xiu not only corrected the biases of Liu Kai and Shi Jie in theory, but also corrected some shortcomings of Han and Liu's ancient prose, thus establishing the correct guiding ideology for the poetry innovation of the Northern Song Dynasty, and also opened the way for the development of ancient prose in the Song Dynasty. broad prospects.
In his early years, in order to take the exam, Ouyang Xiu worked hard on parallel prose. At the same time, he also studied Korean carefully, which laid the foundation for his future classical writing. After he met Yin Zhu in Luoyang, he consciously learned the concise and rigorous ancient prose techniques from Yin, and wrote in ancient prose as the main style, but also paid attention to the diversity of forms. Ouyang Xiu took an extremely serious attitude towards writing and often revised his works repeatedly before finalizing them. His profound knowledge and diligent practice made him achieve outstanding achievements in prose creation.
Ouyang Xiu's prose is rich in content and diverse in form. Whether it is discussion or narration, it is all done with intention and emotion. Some of his argumentative papers were directly related to the political struggles at that time, such as the "Remonstrance to Gao Si" written in his early years, which exposed and criticized Gao Ruone's despicable behavior in politics. With political passion. Another example is "On Clique" written during the Qingli period. In response to the conservative forces' remarks that slandered Fan Zhongyan and others as being cliques, he clearly put forward the argument that "no villains have no friends, only gentlemen have them", which effectively refuted the fallacy of political opponents. It shows the awe-inspiring righteousness and extraordinary courage of the innovators.
This type of article has positive substantive content and is a model of the organic combination of the practical function and artistic value of ancient prose. Ouyang Xiu also has another type of argumentative essay that is not directly related to real politics, but expresses the author's deep thinking about history and life. For example, some prefaces in "History of the Five Dynasties" summarize the historical lessons of the Five Dynasties and clearly express The author's praise and criticism, as well as the historical view that the rise and fall of a country depends on human affairs rather than destiny. Another example is the preface he wrote for his friend's collection of essays. He not only commented on his friend's literary achievements, but also expressed his emotions about the life experiences of life and death, ups and downs, success and failure. It was by no means a work for the sake of writing.
Ouyang Xiu's narratives are also meaningful, not to mention historical prose such as "Historical Records of the Five Dynasties", even his works such as Pavilions and Terraces, mourning memorials, epigraphs and other works also have substantial content. , such as "Fengle Pavilion" gives a detailed description of Chuzhou's historical stories, geographical environment and even its customs. Another example is "Takigang Qianbiao", which recalls the good words and deeds of his parents. The details are described in exquisite, realistic and lifelike ways. This effect cannot be achieved by mere words.
Ouyang Xiu's prose has a strong emotional color. His political essays are impassioned and emotional; his historical essays are low-key and reciprocated, full of emotion; other essays pay more attention to lyricism, heartfelt sorrow and joy, and a combination of emotions. to. For example, in "Preface to the Collection of Poems of Shi Miyan", in just a few strokes, the heroic and upright temperament and uncoincidental experiences of Shi Miyan and Shi Manqing are vividly revealed on the page, and the author's respect and regret for the two people and his feelings towards them are vividly displayed on the page. The emotion of the passage of time and the changes in personnel also permeates the words, which is deeply touching. In Ouyang Xiu's writing, the practical and aesthetic properties of prose have been fully demonstrated, and the three functions of prose, narrative, argumentative, and lyrical, have also been highly organically integrated.
Ouyang Xiu
Ouyang Xiu
Ouyang Xiu also made a great contribution to the development of prose style. His works are of various genres, each suitable for its own purposes. In addition to ancient Chinese prose, Ci Fu and Si Liu are also genres he is good at. First of all, Ouyang Xiu transformed the parallel fu and rhyme fu of the previous generation, removing the dual rules of pairing and rhyme restriction, and changed to single-stroke prose to compose fu, creating Wen Fu. His famous works such as "Qiu Sheng Fu" not only partially retain the formal characteristics of parallel fu, rhymed fu, parallel words and haiku, and set questions and answers, but also present a lively and flowing loose style tendency, and enhance the lyricism of the fu. mean. Ouyang Xiu's successful attempt was a milestone in the establishment of the form of literary fu. Secondly, Ouyang Xiu also innovated the four- and six-body styles. The four and six styles in the early Song Dynasty all followed the old system of the Tang Dynasty, and the scholars in Xikun strictly abided by the "Thirty-six Body" of Li Shangyin and others. Although Ouyang Xiu also complied with the old system and used four or six styles to write official documents, he often used the ancient prose style of single-line prose, rarely used story idioms, and did not seek precise parallelism, thus injecting this style of parallel four-legged and six-legged script into the style. With new vitality, his "Shang Suizhou Qian Xiang Gongqi" and "Caizhou Begging to Become an Official" are all masterpieces of the No. 46 Middle School of the Song Dynasty.
Ouyang Xiu's language is concise and smooth, and his writing style is gentle and euphemistic. He created a new style that is easy and natural, which is unique in addition to the majestic and sweeping style of Korean writing and the sharp cutting of Liu writing. For example, in the opening paragraph of "The Drunkard's Pavilion", the language is easy to understand, crystal clear and elegant. It is both concise and concise, yet mellow and brisk, without any sense of sluggishness or embarrassment. The deep emotions and precise discussions are expressed in a tactful and implicit tone, and the conversation is eloquent and gentle. This approachable style of writing is obviously easier for readers to accept, so it has broad development prospects. The subsequent development of prose in the Song Dynasty proves this.
Ouyang Xiu's creation makes the genre of prose richer and the functions more complete. Ouyang Xiu's high achievements in prose creation complemented each other with his correct ancient prose theory, thus creating a generation of writing style. [3]
The ancient prose movement of the Northern Song Dynasty led by Ouyang Xiu achieved complete success, ending the 600-year dominance of parallel prose from the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and providing a convenient way to discuss the next 900 years of Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. A new type of ancient prose that explains things and expresses emotions. Ouyang Xiu also became a master of writing. [27]
Ciography
Ouyang Xiu's profile portrait
Ouyang Xiu's profile portrait[28]
Compared with Yan Shu's poetry, although Ouyang Xiu It mainly follows the old path of the five generations of poets, but there are more new elements. Although he wrote lyrics using his spare time, [29] adhering to the traditional creative concept of lyrics, [30] as a literary sect who pioneered the trend, he also made some innovations in lyrics.
This is mainly reflected in two aspects: first, it expands the lyrical function of Ci, and further uses words to express one's life feelings along the direction pioneered by Li Yu's Ci; second, it changes the aesthetic taste of Ci, moving in the direction of popularization It is pioneering and echoes Liu Yong's Ci.
Ouyang Xiu had ups and downs in his career and was demoted three times. His official career was not as smooth as that of Yan Shu. He had a deep experience of the changes in life and destiny and the hardships of officialdom. Although there are not too many lyrics that express this kind of emotion, it shows a new creative direction after all. That is, lyrics can not only write traditional types of lovesickness and hate, but also express the author's unique life experience and mentality. . His famous "Chaozhongpu·Pingshan Hall" (Pingshan railing leaning against the clear sky) further demonstrates his free and open-minded Fengshen personality. This optimistic and broad-minded attitude towards life and the creative method of using words to express his own feelings had a direct impact on the later Su Shi.
In his political life, Ouyang Xiu was strong and upright, and acted bravely when he saw justice. His poems and some of his "elegant words" showed this aspect of his character. And his daily private life, especially when he was young, was quite laissez-faire. [31] As a result, some erotic poems with a "secular flavor" were also written, some of which are relatively vulgar, while others are more healthy in content and mood, such as "Nan Gezi" (Phoenix Bun with Gold Mud Belt), "Spring in the Jade House" ( Come to sleep at night and argue about other things). This type of poetry embodies an aesthetic taste that is different from the aristocratic tendency of Five Dynasties poetry that pursues rich and gorgeous language, but is close to the aesthetic taste of the public.
Another manifestation of Ouyang Xiu's development in the direction of popularization is that he drew on and absorbed the "fixed frame couplet" and other expression techniques of folk songs, and created two sets of "Fishermen's Proud" that sing about the December solar term. 》"Guzi Ci", which had a great influence on Su Shi's later use of couplets to form lyrical chronicles; and the other two poems "Fishermen's Proud" ("I suddenly heard two oars beating at the bottom of the flower" and "Lotus leaves and fields clearing the water" ) lyrics, respectively describing the romantic joy and love distress of the lotus picking girl. The style is fresh and has the flavor of folk songs. In the history of Ci poetry in the Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu was the first person to take the initiative to learn folk songs, which also created the fresh and clear artistic style of his Ci poetry. This style is reflected in "Ten Poems on Picking Mulberries", which praises Yingzhou West Lake. [3]
Poetry
While reforming his writing style, Ouyang Xiu also innovated his poetic style. He attached great importance to the characteristics of Han Yu's poetry and put forward the poetry theory of "poetry is poor before work is done". Compared with the opinions of Xikun poets, Ouyang Xiu's poetic theory undoubtedly contains the spirit of attaching importance to the content of life. Ouyang Xiu's poetry creation was guided by the idea of ??reversing the unhealthy tendency of Xikun style to break away from reality, which reflected the Song Dynasty poets' initial awareness of correcting the poetic style of the late Tang and Five Dynasties.
There are some works based on social reality in European poetry. For example, "The People Who Eat Slag" exposes the unreasonable reality that farmers who grow grain can only eat distiller's lees to satisfy their hunger. "Border Household" describes the border areas of Song and Liao Dynasties. The misfortune of the people. But the more important content of European poetry is to express personal life experiences or express personal feelings, as well as chanting historical themes. Because most of his poems contain deep feelings about life, they are essentially different from similar poems in Xikun style. For example, "A Reply to Yuan Zhen" (Spring Breeze Can't Believe the End of the World).
European poetry is greatly influenced by Han Yu, which is mainly reflected in prose techniques and discussion in poetry. However, European poetry does not follow the footsteps of the ancients, so it still has its own identity. Discussions in European poetry can often be integrated with narrative and lyricism, so Korean poetry can be smooth and smooth without being boring and difficult. For example, "Zai He Ming Fei Song" is a well-articulated and full of emotional charm. The prose technique of European poetry is not mainly reflected in syntax, but draws on the narrative techniques of prose. For example, "Book of Feelings and Reflections on Plum Blossoms" narrates banquet and travel experiences, which is straightforward and thoughtful, and is inspired by the beauty of ancient prose.
European poetry also learned from Li Bai, mainly due to the freshness and smoothness of the language. This, combined with the unique euphemistic and simple composition of European poetry, formed a fluent and graceful style, such as "Spring Day at the West Lake to Thank Fa Cao" "Song" is about longing for a friend thousands of miles away and the emotion of growing old and growing old. The span of time and space is very large, and the emotions are also ups and downs. However, the style of writing is still very subtle, and it is as eloquent as telling the story of home. The achievements of European poetry are not as good as Owen's, but the stylistic tendency of the two is consistent. This style of poetry is obviously a correction of the Sikun style poetry style.
[3]
Other achievements
Ouyang Xiu’s calligraphy works
Ouyang Xiu’s calligraphy works
In terms of Confucian classics, Ouyang Xiu studied "Spring and Autumn" and was able to be informal The predecessors have original insights; for the pioneering work of epigraphy, he edited and sorted out thousands of epigraphic artifacts, inscriptions and inscriptions from the Zhou Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and wrote more than 400 chapters in ten volumes of "Collected Ancient Records and Postscripts" , referred to as "Ji Gu Lu", is the earliest surviving epigraphy work.
In terms of history, Ouyang Xiu has achieved relatively high achievements in history. In addition to participating in the revision of 250 volumes of "New Book of Tang", he also wrote "Historical Records of the Five Dynasties" ("New History of the Five Dynasties") to summarize the historical experience of the Five Dynasties. Intended to serve as a warning. Ouyang Xiu is also famous for his calligraphy, and his calligraphy was deeply influenced by Yan Zhenqing. Zhu Xi said: "Ouyang Gong's calligraphy is just like the person he is, with a graceful appearance on the outside, but a strong character on the inside."
In terms of agronomy, Ouyang Xiu visited people all over the country and made a detailed investigation and summary of the cultivation history, planting techniques, varieties, flowering period and flower viewing customs of Luoyang peonies, and wrote "Luoyang Peony Records". The book includes three chapters: "Preface to Flowers", "Flower Names" and "Customs". The book lists 24 peony varieties and is the first peony monograph with important academic value in history. [32]
In terms of genealogy, Ouyang Xiu pioneered folk genealogy and wrote the "Preface to the Ouyang Family Genealogy", which detailed the migration chart of Ouyang Xiu's ancestors, that is, before Dayu arrived The history of the Yue royal family also describes the process of the Ouyang family moving south to the south of the Yangtze River again after the Eight Kings Rebellion and the development of various ethnic groups in the south.