The total number of poems handed down by Li Shangyin is about 600, of which more than 80 are epic poems. This was rare among the Tang Dynasty poets before him. In terms of the ideological content of these epic poems, there are mainly three aspects: first, they chant history and remember the past, which fully reflects his progressive view of history; second, they use the past to describe the present, and express a series of his political thoughts in a tortuous way; third, He used the title to express his frustration at not being able to appreciate his talent.
As mentioned in the question, why did Li Shangyin spare no effort in writing epic poems? This is closely related to the poet's family background, the era he lived in, political ambitions, personal encounters, etc. 01?The declining political situation during the Tang Wenzong period and the blow suffered by Li Shangyin from 836 to 838 made him start the creation of epic poems
Li Shangyin's family was originally from the Tang clan. According to his self-narration in "Please Write a Letter to Sister Zhong", his family also had a family history of "the succession of virtues and rituals from generation to generation, the prosperity of tadpole couplets, and the writing of historical documents". But later the family declined, and his grandfather and father only served as low-level officials such as county captains and magistrates. Therefore, the poet said that he belongs to the "lower class of hairpin group, and the lower class of Qiu and Fan".
When he was 10 years old, his father died of illness. He was in the predicament of "a place with nowhere to return to, and nine tribes with no relatives to rely on." From the age of 17 until the age of 25, he had been relying on Yu Linggu Chu and Cui Rong shogunate. The life and social status of this poor common people gave the poet the "high-spirited heart" to be proactive and make contributions.
The Wen Zong Dynasty coincided with the poet's youth, which was also the period when he actively pursued fame and worked hard to realize his political ambitions. However, the twilight period of the Tang Dynasty had arrived at this time. In 821, after the three towns in Hebei were restored, the vassal towns became even more domineering. The central court of the Tang Dynasty either "didn't care about their age" or "didn't care about their obedience or disobedience". Instead, they promoted officials or even married off princesses in order to achieve a superficial vassal relationship. Even if there were occasional conquests, the decadent Tang army's military discipline was ruined, and generals would falsely report their military exploits in order to invite generous rewards.
Just as the poet revealed in "Following the Master to the East", "The military order was not heard and Ma Su was executed, but the only book written by the emperor was Sun Xin." The feudal war brought serious disasters to the people. Not only was Cangzhou, where the war took place, "covered with skeletons, the city was deserted, and there were not even three or four households left alive," but even Jianghuai, the main economic base that the Tang Dynasty relied on in the middle and late stages of the Tang Dynasty, was "depleted by it."
At the same time, the eunuchs became more tyrannical. Especially after the "Nanlu Incident" in the ninth year of Taihe, the eunuchs took the opportunity to massacre courtiers, resulting in a terrifying situation where "the evidence and the secret of the talisman and the secret book will cost the person's life". The more adverse the situation becomes, the more cruelly the rulers will oppress the working people. As the poet wrote:
"The country is richer in taxes, and the people are scarce and the labor is more complicated."
Under the cruel exploitation and oppression, the rural economy has been seriously bankrupt. In the winter of 837, the poet returned to Chang'an from Xingyuan. On the way, he witnessed the situation in the Gyeonggi area as he said in "A Hundred Rhymes on a Journey to the Western Suburbs":
"There are long thorns in the high fields, and thorn trees in the lower fields." Hazel. The farm tools are abandoned by the road, and the hungry cattle are wandering through the village. There are no survivors, and they have no clothes to welcome the guests."
Although the buildings of the Tang Dynasty will collapse. , 838 years ago, the young poet was still full of political enthusiasm for returning to heaven and earth and trying to reverse the crisis of the Tang Dynasty. He imagined that the "Zhenguan Age" would appear in the late Tang Dynasty, when virtuous ministers would be in charge, officials would be honest and kind, there would be no war and harassment, and the people would live and work in peace and contentment.
He wrote "Following the Master to the East", "Two Poems with Feelings", "Chong You Feelings", "Princess Shouan's Departure", "Travel to the Western Suburbs and Composed a Hundred Rhymes", etc. to directly expose the A historical poem about the current situation. During this period, although he failed the imperial examination twice, he still hoped to get closer to the emperor through the road of officialdom, in order to eradicate the root cause of the decline of the Tang Dynasty: "Before the emperor, he cut his heart and liver, kowtowed on his head and drew blood, and slandered Tuo and Zichen."
From the perspective of the current situation, the poet witnessed vivid examples such as the arrogance of Pu Town, the growing dictatorship of eunuchs, and the successive deportations of upright people. In particular, he witnessed the large number of eunuchs framing courtiers after the "Manna Incident" After the tragic situation, they have realized that it is difficult to restore the Tang Dynasty's crisis.
Therefore, while he angrily criticized the bad government, he also had hidden worries about the current situation, such as "thorns and bronze camels", and expressed a sentimental lament that "although the heart has changed in the world, it is not as bad as the spring." .
He has understood that under the situation of "nine layers of darkness have separated", he cannot state his ideas to save the crisis, so he can only "tears on his lips".
In terms of personal experience, the poet's experience of being unappreciated made him feel depressed and depressed while complaining. Therefore, after failing the exam at the age of 23, he once "learned from Yu Yang". "Return to the East" written at this time borrowed the sentiments sent by the immortals:
"I have immortal talents and I don't know them. I have been dreaming of picking up Huazhi for ten years. The autumn wind stirs the earth and the yellow clouds are dusk. I go back to Song to find my old teacher." ".
While the above-mentioned complex contradictions of being angry and sentimental about the current situation, pursuing academic fame but being frustrated and frustrated were intertwined in the poet's mind, although he won the Jinshi in 837, In the next year's Ying Bo Xue Hong Ci exam, Niu Dang denounced him as "disloyal" because of his marriage, and was removed from the list of admitted students.
In 839, the poet responded to the Ministry of Civil Affairs examination and was promoted to Secretary Provincial School Secretary. Soon after, he was rejected by the Niu Party and was transferred to Hongnong Wei. At this time, the dark and cold reality and repeated setbacks dealt a heavy blow to the young and politically passionate poet.
In "An Ding Tower", he angrily criticized the party members who excluded him, "I don't know what it feels like to grow into a rotting rat, and I guess that the chicks are still alive." In "Miao", he sang plaintively, "The laughter of the pomegranates is not as good as the spring, and the early fall is even more sad." Caught in the middle of party strife, no matter how hard he tried, he could only "force the snake's feet" and lamented with extreme disappointment that "the two have always been in conflict with each other."
At this time, compared with before, the original spirit of fighting against the forces of darkness and decadence has weakened, and there are fewer works that directly criticize current affairs; there are also works that express sadness, anger and sentimentality about the fate of the Tang Dynasty, as well as the depression and hesitation of unrecognized talents. Increased. However, the poet's "Yin Hao's scheming in the world" has not been lost.
So, he exposed the corrupt forces and expressed the anguish of unrecognized talents through the form of remembering ancient times and chanting history, and began the early stage of his epic poem creation.
During this period, the poet's "Three Chapters" written in 838 used He Xun to describe himself and criticized the Niu Party's slander against his marriage to the Wang family; written in 839, "Zi Kuang" uses Tao Yuanming's story to express his arrogant and aloof fighting spirit of not collaborating with the corrupt and dark forces. "Ode to History" written in 840 used the lament of Tang Wenzong's efforts to govern but failed to expose the "fate" of the late Tang Dynasty. The dejected trend of "I can't find a horse in Qinghai, and I can't pull out a snake in Shushan" expresses the poet's mood when he is troubled.
During this period of time, although the number of epic poems written by the poet was not large, their content and tone played a role in starting and laying the foundation for future epic poems. 02 The political development of Wu Zong's dynasty and the poet's situation caused the creation of epic poems to enter a stage of decline
Li Yan, the emperor of Wu Zong, was a man of "serious determination and determination". He appointed Li Deyu as prime minister and made some achievements in reforming bad governance. Shi Xiong, who came from a rough background and had made many military exploits, was employed to defeat the Uighurs at Shahushan in the spring of 843, and the northern frontier gained temporary peace.
Wuzong also exercised some restraint on the exclusive power of eunuchs. In 844, he attacked the feudal town Liu Zhen and pacified the five states of Ze and Lu. The political improvement of Wu Zong's dynasty changed Li Shangyin's disappointed attitude towards the fate of the Tang Dynasty. Thus, his political enthusiasm was aroused.
In addition, in 843, he became secretary of the provincial government and was full of confidence and fantasy in realizing his political ambitions. Later, the poet retreated to home due to the death of his mother, and deeply regretted that he "prospered in idleness". His eagerness to make contributions to the country was vividly reflected in his writing, which shows his high political enthusiasm at that time.
Because of this, the poet directly exposed and denounced the root causes of the country's decline and expressed his own political views and creations entered a climax stage. At this time, he wrote "Crying for Liu Gan", "Crying for Liu Sihu Gan", "Sending Li Langzhong of the Household Department on Zhaoying County Road to Attack Zhaoyi", "Denghuoshan Post Tower", etc., all of which are deeply indignant and full of emotions. A joyful and satisfying work.
Obviously, subjectively and objectively, it is no longer necessary to write an epic poem with twists and turns. Judging from the confirmed chronological poems, the poet did not write even an epic poem from 841 to 844.
However, there were also many bad policies in the Wuzong Dynasty, especially Wuzong himself who loved women and loved hunting. In the later period, he was even more enthusiastic about seeking immortality and elixirs, and extravagantly hoped for immortality. As an upright poet, Li Shangyin's political ambition was to save the crisis and achieve national peace and prosperity. Wu Zong's later actions conflicted with the poet's political ambitions. He could not directly criticize the emperor at that time, so he resorted to chanting history to express satire.
So, from the winter of 845 to 846, each of Li Shangyin's epic poems was related to satirizing the emperor's quest for immortality. Such as "Han Gong Ci", "Han Gong", "Maoling", "Yaochi", "Guo Jingling", "Hua Yue Xia Xiwangmu Temple", etc. 03?The more decadent and darker politics of the Xuanzong Dynasty and the various misfortunes of the poets brought the creation of epic poems to a new stage
In the Xuanzong Dynasty, the eunuchs were more authoritarian and the feudal separatism became more arrogant. The Niu Party gained power and was cruel. Attacking the Li party, the government was in chaos. Xuan Song also "revolted against the Huichang regime", which further deepened the root cause of the Tang Dynasty's decline.
In addition, Xuanzong also reversed Wu Zong's measures to reverse the emphasis on money and light on materials, and restored the long-standing disadvantages of emphasizing money and light on materials since the implementation of the "Two Tax Laws" in the Mid-Tang Dynasty, which caused farmers to suffer even more. Under cruel exploitation and oppression, peasant uprisings continued to occur in Jishan, Hunan and other places. All these events shattered Li Shangyin's hopes and ideals during Wuzong's Huichang years, and made him immersed in the sorrow and sadness of "the golden sword will last forever".
At this time, in terms of personal experience, Li Shangyin, who had not joined the party bureau, was rejected by the powerful party figures. He soon left the Secretariat. During most of the Xuanzong Dynasty, the poet had been working as a staff member. Although he was later recommended as a salt and iron official, his life was rough and depressed. In addition, in 851, his talented and passionate wife Wang died of illness, and loneliness and sadness tortured the poet. He said in his autobiography in "Fan Nan Yi Ji": "In the past five years, I have lost my family fortune and have been unhappy in my daily life."
At this time, under internal and external pressure, the poet's state of mind was fully expressed in the poem "Freehand Expression". He said with anger and melancholy:
"The wild geese are far away in the forest, and they are chanting in the high autumn. The Tongjiang River is dangerous on the road in the world, and the mountains outside the sky are only as deep as the jade barrier. The sun is lingering among the flowers. Looking back, the clouds formed a layer of darkness over the city."
However, the huge pressure did not make Li Shangyin forget about the past. For example, in "Du Gongbu left the banquet in Shuzhong", the poem "Xueling has not returned to heaven to fight outside, and Songzhou is still garrisoned in front of the palace" poem, showing close attention to state affairs; the misfortune of the family did not make the poet fall, " "God will take pity on the quiet grass, and the world will be clear at night", which shows that the poet is still ambitious and eager to use the world and display his ambitions. Regarding the dirty political environment, the poet used the metaphor of "high pines and outstanding trees" to express the quality of being aloof and arrogant and not going with the crowd.
It is precisely because the poet is in the contradiction of witnessing the imminent destruction of the Tang Dynasty, being righteous and unable to bear its destruction, and wanting to correct the country's evils, but is repeatedly rejected. In the poet's view, it is no longer necessary or possible to speak out loudly and directly point out the current shortcomings; however, the poet does not want to escape reality. Therefore, by summarizing the lessons of national subjugation in history, and expressing his progressive political thoughts in epic poems in a tortuous way in response to reality, Li Shangyin became the main means of political struggle in his later period.
Therefore, the quantity, quality, breadth and depth of epic poems during this period exceeded those in the past, forming the climax of his epic poems. The epic poems that best represent the characteristics of this period include: "Meng Ze", "Inscribed on the Han Ancestral Temple", "Sui Palace", "Southern Dynasties", "Chou Bi Yi", "Song Yu", etc.
To sum up, it can be clearly seen that Li Shangyin's epic poem is the product of the specific historical conditions of the late Tang Dynasty, the product of the poet's special encounter, and the expression of the poet's intricate ideological contradictions.