Li Shangyin is not only the most noteworthy poet in the late Tang Dynasty, but also a new model for the development and renewal of Tang poetry form. His artistic skill of seven rhythms and seven unique skills can almost be said to be the pinnacle of Tang poetry. It is said that "no one in the Tang Dynasty has any equal." (Note: People in the Qing Dynasty spoke highly of Li Shangyin's poems, especially the Qilu Qijue. Ye Jiaoran called "Li Shangyin the first poet in the late Tang Dynasty" ("The First Collection of Long Xingtang Poetry"); Tian Wen's "Gu Huantang Miscellaneous Works" Vol. Secondly, Li Shangyin's seven rhythms and seven masterpieces are "unparalleled in the Tang Dynasty" and "the best among the Tang Dynasty"; Ye Xie's "Original Poetry" said: "Li Shangyin's seven unique poems, with deep sustenance and eloquent phrasing, are truly unrivaled in a hundred generations." ") Of course, if someone promotes Du Fu, the mainstream critics will compromise or give way. For example, Xue Xue said: "There is Shaoling in front of him and Yuxi in the back. There is no one else to advocate. There are only two great masters of the Tang Dynasty. That’s all” (“Yi Lao Shi Hua”). People from the Song Dynasty such as Wang Anshi also said: "The only person in the Tang Dynasty who learned from Lao Du and gained a vassal status was Yishan" ("Cai Kuanfu's Poetry Talk"). As mentioned before, people in the mid-Tang Dynasty actually felt that poetry was close to proficiency in terms of language, syllables, sentences, and imagery, and the development of art seemed to have come to an end. It was under the strong pressure of Li Duhan that Li Shangyin, He tried to carve out a dangerous path in aesthetic form - Han Yu was his role model and the last senior authority that he strived to surpass. His method is simply to create a vague and aesthetic image structure in the seven laws and seven uniques, which creates an aesthetic effect of defamiliarization in both form and content. It is precisely because of this that the last monument stands in the history of Tang poetry. The study of Li Shangyin is a prominent branch of Tang poetry, with a large team, many famous scholars, and fruitful results. The author listened to "Jin Se" outside the house, but I don't have much insight. I just briefly mentioned a few points: first, Li Shangyin's evaluation issues; second, Li Shangyin's politics and epic poems; third, Li Shangyin's untitled poems.
Although there are many people who praise Li Shangyin's poems, it seems that there are also many people who criticize them. From the end of the Tang Dynasty, Li Fu slandered Li as a "curtain obscene" literati, saying that he had "nothing to say about the country, no fine ideas", to the Qing Dynasty, Huang Ziyun's "Yehong Shi" denounced him as "three hundred poems" sinner". Most of these criticisms are directed at the poetic aspects of his poems, including the extravagant beauty of the fragrance and the eroticism of men and women, which he calls "beautiful and general" and "injurious to the famous religion". Wang Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty directly denounced him in his "Comprehensive Poems of the Tang Dynasty" as "a prodigal son of Yishan who has little talent". His contempt is palpable. Shen Deqian's "Collection of Tang Poems" refused to accept Li Zhi's "untitled" poems, which probably also meant to exclude his "amorous feelings". There was a small wave of people studying Li Shangyin's style in the poetry circles of the late Ming Dynasty and the late Qing Dynasty. His evaluation also fluctuated, with mixed praise and criticism. In the last 50 years, the field of research on Tang poetry has also seen an interesting phenomenon of alternating praise and criticism. In the 1950s and 1960s, due to the specific political and cultural pattern and criticism standards at that time, Li was evaluated relatively low. Peking University's 55-level red book "Chinese Literature" "History" almost completely rejected Li Shangyin, calling him an "anti-realist" poet, and his poems were "a reaction to the New Yuefu Movement." Some people in mainstream academic circles who recognize the benefits of Li Shi can only say politely: "Of course, Li Yishan is not completely without things worthy of recognition. If we put him in an appropriate position and evaluate him realistically..." How so (see "On Li Yishan and His Poems", "Literary Heritage", Issue 218, 1958). But by the early 1970s, Li Shangyin was greatly praised because his poems revealed the ideological tendency of respecting the law and opposing Confucianism. He was called a "progressive poet" and his works were said to be a "poeticized Legalist politics". Said that his untitled poem "exposes the Restorationists". (Note: See articles such as "Li Shangyin's Untitled Poems and the Confucian-Legal Struggle in the Late Tang Dynasty" by Tong Xin, published in "Educational Revolution Newsletter" 1975 Issue 1, "Jilin Normal University Journal" 1976 Issue 2 and other publications.) Liang Xiao's "On Li Shangyin's "Untitled" Poetry" ("Historical Research", Issue 2, 1975) also talks about Li's "loneliness and anger" in the struggle between Niu and Li (that is, the struggle between Confucianism and Legalism). Since the new era, there are still many people studying Li Shangyin politically, and most of them are discussed in conjunction with his large number of political allegorical epic poems, which has become a hot topic.
We know that Li Shangyin has many unabashed political poems: "Sui Shidong", "Two Poems with Feelings", "Chong Yougan", "Princess Shouan's Surrender", etc., all of which show sharpness. His political edge, his "Chen Hou Gong", "Wu Gong", "Southern Dynasties", "Passing Jingling", etc., are full of strong realistic critical significance in the poetic surface, such as "Crying the Twenty-Four Rhymes of Xiao Shilang in Suizhou", "Crying Qianzhou Yang Shilang Yu Qing" is also written with emotion for a specific life experience. "Crying Liu @ (12)", "Crying Liu Sihu", "Human Desire", "Hannan Calligraphy" and several other poems, especially "A Journey to the Western Suburbs Composing a Hundred Rhymes" blatantly criticize the current affairs. Express your political opinions. Many of his epic poems have a strong political allegorical meaning, such as "Jia Sheng", "Yong Shi", "Han Palace", "Maoling", "Sui Palace", "Two Poems from the Northern Qi Dynasty", "Longchi", " A number of famous poems such as "Huaqing Palace", "Fuping Shaohou", "Qigong Ci", "Mawei", etc. draw lessons from the past and express feelings about the times, all beating the poet's passionate heart for political evaluation. Even if some of his poems do not fall within the themes of political history, the style and atmosphere displayed in the poems are still filled with a strong political and historical atmosphere. Therefore, the great statesman Wang Anshi admired Li Shangyin's broad-mindedness the most, and praised his poems such as "I will always remember the rivers and lakes and return to my white hair, and I want to return to the world in a small boat", "Three years of being a guest in the rivers and seas, and hundreds of battlefields in the world" and other poems overflowing with emotion about life. and political ideals. When Zhu Heling wrote the preface to the annotation of Li Yishan's poems, he also praised him for his concern for the times and the country, and for his profound attachment. He said that "the sound of the mood of the wind man is the legacy of Qu Song Dynasty", and that "you can look at the old man Qujiang and smile". Zhu Yizun's "Jingzhiju Poetry Talk" also said that Li's political poems and historical poems "contort his references and express his words. This style is inherited from "Xiaoya" and can be derived from his aspirations and can promote Shaoling."
One problem here is that Li Shizhi was affirmed, praised, and valued because he used Qu Yu instead of Xian Yan, and used Roman Ci instead of Zhuang Yu to express political emotions and rely on political criticism. Therefore, a large number of his "untitled" poems have been attached to the tradition of vanilla beauty, and have been included in the sustenance of political feelings and even the sighs of the righteousness of the monarch and his ministers. The many Yaotai palaces, singing banquets and dancing pavilions in his works, the many emerald hibiscus, the dancing ducks, the many osmanthus plum piles, the green-calyx Duran, Zhuangsheng's butterflies, and the emperor's cuckoo have all become political lingo and expressive expression. The ambition of political loyalty and indignation is reflected in the traces of the decline of officialdom. Zhu Heling and Feng Hao's "Explanation" of Yishan Poetry and the contemporary Ye Congqi generally follow this path. ——Although Li Shang is hidden in the political whirlpool and the turmoil is dangerous, "the times" prevent him from speaking out. However, we have read many of his previous political poems and epic poems, some of which express emotions directly, or use the past to satirize the present. The words are also very extreme, and the meaning is also very cruel. It seems that we have never violated the literary prohibition. His life was full of troubles and his official career was bumpy, mostly due to the embarrassment of trying to survive between the Niu and Li parties. That is to say, it was not because of political sentiments (poetry), but because of the precarious interpersonal relationships. The Niu Party scolded him for "taking advantage and stealing profits" and "being deceitful", mostly referring to attacks on his personality and integrity. If his "untitled" poems with euphemistic twists and profound meanings are really about politics, even if they are about evading suspicion of cronyism or personal resentment towards Linghu, there is really no need to hide them so obscurely and profoundly. The enchanting and lustful nature is attributed to sadness, stubbornness and beauty. From this, I always suspect that most of his "untitled" poems have nothing to do with politics. At most, they are about the abnormal frustrations of life or the embarrassment of a difficult career, a distressed mood, and personality problems. Just a little lonely and angry. One of his "Freehand Expressions" ("Swallow Geese Far Away in the Forest") is almost "untitled", which is a typical example of this kind of artistic conception, especially the two sentences "The sun leaves its evening light on the lace, and the clouds form clouds over the city." , a feeling of sorrow for the world, a graceful and sad thought, a sad and cold feeling. The so-called "sustenance" generally falls on this level - a large number of his "untitled" poems are deep and obscure, affectionate, or have deep meanings. The word "deep" is obviously not in the political theme of Vanilla Beauty.