The poet Su Shi was a figure in the Song Dynasty.
Su Shi (January 8, 1037 - August 24, 1101), a native of Meishan, Meizhou (now Meishan City, Sichuan Province), was a famous writer, politician, artist, and medical scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty. . His courtesy name is Zizhan, and his nickname is He Zhong. His nickname is Dongpo Jushi and Tieguan Taoist. In the second year of Jiayou's reign, he became a Jinshi, and became a bachelor of Duanming Palace, a bachelor of Hanlin, and a minister of the Ministry of Rites. When Neo-Confucianism flourished in the Southern Song Dynasty, he was given the posthumous title Wenzhong and was posthumously given to the Grand Master.
Su Shi was a literary leader in the mid-Northern Song Dynasty and made great achievements in poetry, lyrics, prose, calligraphy, and painting. His writing is bold and unbridled; his poems have broad themes, are fresh and bold, are good at using exaggerated metaphors, and have a unique style. Together with Huang Tingjian, they are called "Su Huang"; "Xin"; his prose writings are grand and bold, and he is called "Ou Su" together with Ouyang Xiu, and is one of the "Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties".
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Su Shi's style of writing is bold and unrestrained, "poetizing" his words, with strong writing power and distinctive personality, showing the author's broad-minded and hearty personality, with many heroic words and high spirits. , unrestrained emotions, rich and unique imagination. In terms of genre and rhythm, Su Shi did not like to tailor his poems to suit the rhythm. The literary life of his words was more important than the musical life. Su's poetry works are often orderly, clarifying the content of the lyrics, or the origin, time, and place of the lyrics, and the facts are clear.
Su’s poems often express his thoughts on life. This kind of rational thinking about the destiny of life enhances the philosophical connotation of the words. Although Su Shi deeply felt that life was like a dream, he did not deny life because of this. Instead, he strived for self-detachment and always maintained a tenacious and optimistic belief and a detached and adaptable attitude towards life.
Because Su Shi received Taoist enlightenment education since he was a child, he had a special liking for Taoism throughout his life. He often wore Taoist robes and visited Taoist priests. For example, "The Crane-Felting Pavilion" highly praises the Taoist Zhang Tianji, while "Hou Chibi Fu" ends with the Taoist falling into a dream. When he was demoted, he still wrote articles for many Taoist temples and Taoist halls, so he wrote "Zhongmiaotang Ji", "Guanmiaotang Ji", "Zhuangzi Ancestral Hall Ji" and other beautiful articles.
In the article "Zhongmiaotang Ji", he described how he met his primary school teacher Zhang Yijian in a dream and was deeply taught by him. This shows the profound influence of Taoism on him.
In the second year of Jiayou reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, Su Shi won the appreciation of the examiner Mei Yaochen with his essay "On the Perfection of Honesty in Punishments and Rewards" and recommended it to the examiner Ouyang Xiu. Ouyang Xiu also appreciated it very much and wanted to promote it to the first place. However, he was afraid that the article was written by his disciple Zeng Gong. In order to avoid suspicion, he ranked it as the second one. As a result, after opening the test paper, I discovered that the article was written by Su Shi. When it came to the re-examination of the Ministry of Rites, Su Shi again ranked first with "Spring and Autumn Duiyi".