Literary Achievements
Poetic Innovation
Ouyang Xiu plays an important role in the history of Chinese literature. As a leader of the poetry innovation movement in the Song Dynasty, his literary theory and creative achievements had a great influence on that time and future generations. In the early Song Dynasty, in a temporarily peaceful social environment, Xikun style poems and poems promoted by the aristocratic literati group flooded the literary world. They were compiled in a flashy way and had no social significance, but they were popular for a while. In order to correct the shortcomings of Xikun style, Ouyang Xiu vigorously promoted ancient prose. He loved reading Han Yu's collected works since he was a child. After he became an official, he personally edited the Korean version and published it all over the world. He learned from Han Yu in terms of literary views and advocated the application of enlightenment. He emphasized the decisive role of Tao on literature, taking "Tao" as the content and essence, and "Wen" as the form and tool. But he also falsely corrected some of Han Yu's biases. In his interpretation of "Tao", he regards "things" in reality as the specific content of "Tao", and opposes "abandoning everything but not caring about the heart" and "talking too high but not the facts". When dealing with the relationship between "Tao" and "Wen", it advocates emphasizing both "Tao" and "Wen". It is believed that "Wen" must be subordinate to "Tao", but it does not mean that "a virtuous person must have words." . He cited many examples to illustrate that "from what has been passed down in poems and historical records, the person must not be a qualified scholar." It is pointed out: "Words are used to record things, and words are used to cover up words. Words of faith can be expressed in the world." The so-called "words of faith" mean that the content must be true, the language must be literary, and the content and form must be perfect. unified. Later, when Zhi Gongju (in charge of the examination for Jinshi), candidates were encouraged to write simple and clear ancient prose. Any work that was empty in content, flashy, or used weirdness to win the prize would be rejected. At the same time, he promoted and trained a generation of new writers such as Wang Anshi, Zeng Gong, Su Shi, and Su Che.
Poems, lyrics, songs and poems
Su Shi said when commenting on his articles: "The discussion of great principles is like Han Yu's, the discussion of principles is like Lu Zhi's, the chronicle is like Sima Qian, and the poems and poems are like Li Bai's". However, although Ouyang Xiu always admired the profoundness, majesty and generosity of Korean literature, he did not follow suit.
Ouyang Xiu wrote more than 500 essays in his life, including political essays, historical essays, narrative essays, lyrical essays and notebooks, etc. Most of his prose is rich in content and vigorous, with an artistic style that is easy, natural, smooth and tactful. The narration is both euphemistic and concise; the discussion is slow but full of inherent logical power. The legal structure is both twists and turns and very strict. "On Clique", "New History of the Five Dynasties: Preface to the Biography of Lingguan", "Admonishment to Gao Si", "Drunkard Pavilion", "Fengle Pavilion", "Longgang Qianbiao", etc., are all recited through the ages. excellent work. Ouyang Xiu also pioneered the creation of notebooks in the Song Dynasty, and his "Return to the Fields", "Bi Shuo", and "Trial Writing" are all famous. Ouyang Xiu's poems are also very distinctive. The famous "Ode to the Sound of Autumn" uses various metaphors to describe the invisible sound of autumn so vividly that it makes people seem to hear it. This Fu changed the "regular style" since the Tang Dynasty to "San style", which is of pioneering significance for the development of Fu. Ouyang Xiu's poetry creations are not as successful as his prose, but they are also very distinctive. Many of his poems reflect the suffering of the people and expose the darkness of society. He also discusses current affairs and criticizes corrupt politics in his poems. But what he wrote more and more successfully were poems that expressed personal feelings and landscapes. His poetry was mainly influenced by Han Yu in art. Overall, the styles are diverse. Ouyang Xiu was also good at discussing poetry. In the "Preface to the Collection of Poems by Mei Shengyu", he put forward the argument that poetry "comes from poverty to the poor", developed the poetry theories of Du Fu and Bai Juyi, and had a great influence on the poetry creation at that time and in later generations. His "June 1 Poetry Talk" is the first poetry talk in the history of Chinese literature. It comments on poetry in a casual and friendly way, becoming a new form of poetry discussion. Ouyang Xiu is also good at writing lyrics. The main content is still about love and lovesickness, drinking and singing, cherishing spring, admiring flowers, etc. He is especially good at describing scenes and expressing emotions with fresh and light brushwork. There are also some erotic poems, although they are about men and women dating, they are also simple and vivid. Ouyang Xiu plays an important role in the history of Chinese literature. He vigorously advocated the poetry innovation movement, reformed the formalist style of writing and poetry from the late Tang Dynasty to the early Song Dynasty, and achieved remarkable results. Due to his political status and great achievements in prose creation, his status in the Song Dynasty was similar to that of Han Yu in the Tang Dynasty. He recommended and guided prose writers such as Wang Anshi, Zeng Gong, Su Xun, Su Shi, and Su Che, and had a great influence on their prose creation. His plain writing style has continued to influence the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
The first monograph on peonies
In 1034, Ouyang Xiu saw with his own eyes that "the custom in Luoyang is that flowers are mostly good. In spring, everyone in the city, whether noble or low, arranges flowers, even those who are responsible."
When the flowers bloom, the common people compete for invitations to visit." So he visited the people 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 Chronicles" This book includes three chapters: "Preface to Flowers", "Flower Names" and "Customs". It lists 24 varieties of peonies and is the first peony monograph with important academic value in history.[10]
Creating the style of applied writing
Ouyang Xiu is an outstanding writer of applied writing. He not only made great achievements in writing applied writing, but also made great contributions to the theory of applied writing. Ouyang Xiu created the concept of applied writing and constructed the general theory of applied writing. Framework. He believes that practical writing has three characteristics: one is authenticity, the other is simplicity, and the third is appropriateness. Ouyang Xiu advocates that practical writing should be based on general style, style, and language. Ouyang Xiu has made great contributions to official documents. There are 1,102 official documents, and the official document theory is also very systematic. The content of the official document "must be consistent with the material discussion and please the people's sentiments"; the form is "easy to read" and adopts the "four-six" language form ("Internal Collection Preface"). 》), pioneered Su Shi's reform of parallel prose. He blamed his official documents for their shortcomings of being "uninventable", "meaningless", "unworked" and "stuck in the regular pattern". He advocated that the content should be completely new. Organized and orderly; the form must be both standardized and innovative.
Political Achievements
Ouyang Xiu’s early political thoughts reflected the interests of the small and medium-sized landlord class and had an important impact on the economy, politics and military of the time. He maintained a clearer understanding of the serious crises in other aspects, advocating the elimination of accumulated abuses, lenient practices, and economical farming, and worked with Fan Zhongyan and other leaders to seek innovation. There was some resistance and ridicule to the new law; but it was more pragmatic and had a different attitude from Sima Guang and others.
Other achievements
Ouyang Xiu wrote a lot and made great achievements throughout his life. In addition to literature, Confucian classics can study "Spring and Autumn" without adhering to the previous opinions and have original insights; epigraphy has contributed to its pioneering work, editing and sorting out thousands of epigraphic artifacts, inscriptions and steles from the Zhou Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and writing it into " There are more than 400 chapters in ten volumes of "Ji Gu Lu and Postscript", which is referred to as "Ji Gu Lu". It is the earliest epigraphy work in existence today. It has made great achievements in history. In addition to participating in the revision of 250 volumes of "New Book of Tang", he also wrote it himself. "History of the Five Dynasties" ("New History of the Five Dynasties") summarizes the historical experience of the Five Dynasties and is intended to serve as a reference. 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 like a person. It looks smooth on the outside, but strong on the inside."