Li Shangyin is a famous poet in the late Tang Dynasty, known as "Lingyun Poet". His poems are wonderfully conceived, beautifully written and touching, and are widely read by later generations. But many of his poems are obscure, and most of them are untitled, which makes people hard to understand.
Li Shangyin lived a miserable life, suffered many setbacks in his feelings and career, and eventually died young.
Li Shangyin claimed that his family had royal blood, but it was never recognized. His father, Reese, is just a county magistrate, honest and official, and his family is very poor. Li Shangyin was clever since childhood. "When you are five years old, you can recite the scriptures, and when you are seven years old, you have to write a pen." . However, when Li Shangyin was nine years old, his father died. As the eldest son, after the death of his father, the burden of family life was ruthlessly pressed on the children. From then on, Li Shangyin began to live as a "book seller", that is, copying books and rice for others to earn living expenses to support his family, and to support his sick mother and his infant siblings. But he was not overwhelmed by the hard life, but used the opportunity of copying books to practice beautiful calligraphy. Li Shangyin's uncle is a well-read man. Under his guidance, Li Shangyin studied hard and gained a rich and solid education in a few years.
Li Er, the ancestor of Taoism, was the ancestor of the royal family in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the royal family worshiped Taoism and once set up "Daoke" in the imperial examination. When Li Shangyin was sixteen years old, in order to improve his family, he decided to take the Daoke exam to gain fame. To this end, he studied Taoism in Yuyang Mountain, where he met the first woman in his life-Song Huayang. Due to their devotion to Taoism, members of the royal family in the Tang Dynasty were keen on monasticism, and Yang Guifei had a "too real" Taoist name. Song Huayang is a princess maid who practices monasticism in the mountains. Li Shangyin talked with her about poetry and painting, and fell in love at first sight. However, after all, Song Huayang is the princess's maid, and Li Shangyin is a poor scholar. Taoist rules and regulations do not allow them to be together. Just when they were inseparable, they had to be separated. For this reason, Li Shangyin wrote "Farewell Sister Huayang in the Moonlight" and "Give a real person of Huayang Song to Mr. Liu, the capital". Of course, these two sentences in the first "Untitled" truly reflect the unforgettable feelings of this relationship:
The stars were bright last night, but there was a cool breeze at midnight. Our banquet is on the side of Hualou Temple and the east of the county.
Without Cai Feng's wings, it is impossible to be Qi Fei in fly with me; The heart is like a soul, and the feelings are the same.
After Li Shangyin went down the mountain, he went to Luoyang, a first-tier city at that time. In Luoyang, Li Shangyin showed his unparalleled talent and wrote two articles, On Talent and On Sacredness, which shocked Luoyang literary world. Bai Juyi, a literary leader, read these two articles and applauded Li Shangyin, a literary star. He even said, "After I die, I will be satisfied to be Li Shangyin's son in the afterlife!" Later, Li Shangyin really named his first son "Bai Lao", but he was a fool. At this point, Bai Juyi has passed away. If he knew he was reincarnated as a fool, he didn't know what to do.
On the recommendation of Bai Juyi, Li Shangyin visited the political figure Ling Huchu at that time. Linghu Chu not only has a lofty position, but also is the first master of parallel prose in Tang Dynasty.
After seeing Li Shangyin, Linghu Chu was extremely satisfied with this young man. He hired Li Shangyin as his aide and made great efforts to train him to study with his son Ling.
Influenced by his uncle, Li Shangyin likes ancient prose and despises parallel prose. Linghu Chu advised him that although ancient prose is good, it is not the mainstream after all. If you want to make a difference in the imperial examination and even the official career, you must attach importance to parallel prose. I can teach you if you like. From then on, Li Shangyin studied parallel prose with Ling Huchu.
Li Shangyin is talented and quick to learn parallel prose. Before long, Li Shangyin's parallel prose level was comparable to that of Ling Huchu, who was very pleased and thought he was obedient. From then on, Ling Huchu took Li Shangyin with him almost everywhere and told everyone about Li Shangyin's great talents. According to historical records, someone praised Li Shangyin, which made Hu Chu ecstatic. If someone slanders Li Shangyin, Ling Huchu will be furious. Linghu Chu has shown his preference for Li Shangyin, and his concern for Li Shangyin even exceeds that for his son Linghu Tao. Linghu Chu left two wishes before he died. One is that Li Shangyin must write a thank-you note to the emperor, and the other is that Li Shangyin must write an epitaph, which shows that he really regards Li Shangyin as his son.
Although favored by Linghu Chu, Li Shangyin's career was not smooth. He took part in the scientific research for four times in a row, but he was not admitted to the Jinshi, while Ling Hutao, whose knowledge is not as good as his, has been admitted. He wrote a letter to Ling Hu Tao in dismay, saying, "My first step here was to be an official, but my servant still didn't move." The feeling of loss cannot be expressed in words.
After receiving the letter, Hu Ling Taoran ran ran around, calling up and down. Finally, Li Shangyin won the Jinshi in the fifth exam. Just as Li Shangyin was looking forward to a bright future happily, there was bad news. His great benefactor, Ling Huchu, is dying, hoping to go to Li See for the last time. Li Shangyin arrived in a hurry, and Linghu Chu left with a smile.
The death of Linghu Chu made Li Shangyin lose his dependence. In the dark society of the late Tang Dynasty, it is difficult to make progress without support. After arranging Ling Huchu's funeral, Li Shangyin went to take an examination of erudition and poetry, but he was not selected and lost confidence in his career. However, when a relationship comes unexpectedly, it can be said that officialdom is frustrated and love is proud.
At cousin Li Rangshan's home, Li Shangyin met a willow branch girl who admired him very much. Facing the lovely willow branch girl, he was tempted and asked her to have a tryst. However, when the ceremony came, he broke his promise because he had something to do. When he finished his work, the girl had already left, and he never saw Liu Zhi again.
The next winter, Li Rangshan suddenly came in the face of the heavy snow and told him that Herry Liu had been married as a concubine by a rich family. After hearing the news, Li Shangyin regretted it and blamed himself. He wrote five poems "Willow Branches" in a row, all to no avail. Since then, Li Lang has been a passer-by. As he wrote in his poem, "the willow branches on the well are flat, and the lotus leaves in the middle are withered." Embroidered feathers with brocade scales are prohibited on land and water. "
Because he couldn't get an official position and didn't get a salary, but he had an old mother and sisters to support at home, so he went to be the staff of Wang Maoyuan in Jingyuan era. Wang Maoyuan appreciated his talent and married his beautiful daughter. In this way, Li Shangyin's life has changed for the better, and the door of fate seems to be opened for him again. However, happiness and misfortune lurk, and there is also a crisis lurking in the door he stepped into.
At that time, the struggle between Niu and Li was in full swing, and the DPRK officials had to choose the side station, and no one could stay out of it. Ling Hu Tao, the son of his boyhood friend and benefactor, was a member of the Cattle Party and later became its leader. Li Shangyin's father-in-law is a member of Li's side, and the two sides are incompatible. Ling and Li Shangyin were not in the same camp, but became the aides and son-in-law of Li's officials. He couldn't stand it and accused him of ingratitude. That's why there is the phrase in the book of the old Tang dynasty, "it's especially important to hide kindness by business, not for things." Since then, Li Shangyin has been accused by thousands of people for his bad conduct and is notorious in history.
Li Shangyin soon paid the price. In the spring of three years (838), he took the official examination, and as a result, he was removed from the list because of his bad conduct.
A year later, he took the official examination again, and finally got the position of secretary and bookkeeper of the provincial school, but he was only assigned a county commandant. However, such a small official was far from realizing his political ambition, and because of his integrity, he was squeezed out everywhere in his work, so he returned to Beijing.
Originally, relying on the influence of his father-in-law, as long as Li Shangyin settled down and Xu Tu developed, it would be possible to move up the ladder. But at this time, Li Shangyin's old mother passed away. As a rule, he will leave his job and go home to be filial for three years. This means that 30-year-old Li Shangyin can only give up the best opportunity to join the power class. He lived at home for three years, which was the most glorious period of the Li Party group, but Li Shangyin had no choice but to miss it.
Soon after, with the death of the supporting Li Party, the Niu Party regained power, and Li Shangyin just returned to the DPRK at this time. The sinister situation can be imagined. It never rains but it pours. Just as Li Shangyin was treading on thin ice, his father-in-law Wang Maoyuan died, and the Wangs who lost their pillars soon fell into poverty. Li Shangyin returned to his previous embarrassing days.
In order to support his family, he even had to put down his face and begged Hu Ling Mao, who has become one of the leaders of the Cattle Party, to support himself again for the sake of old love.
When he visited Hu Ling, Hu Ling was not at home, so he wrote a poem on the wall:
Don't plant alfalfa like China officials, but teach Chu people to recite Gracilaria.
Officer lang, you have to implement the horse. Brother Dong has no reason to glance at it.
Euphemistically expressed the desire to renew the old love. However, Hu Mao was furious after reading it, and ordered his men to tear down the wall on the poem wall. Just because his father's name was in the poem, the word "Chu" could not be destroyed, so Ling simply locked the door and stopped reading it.
In desperation, Li Shangyin can only return to his old job and work as an aide in various yamen. Fortunately, his wife Wang is still with him, which has become his last warmth in this world.
In order to make a living, Li Shangyin had to run around, and the husband and wife gathered less and separated more, but they were as loving as ever. But God was too cruel to him, and his wife, Wang, soon left him because of illness.
When he received the bad news, he was still working in the Xuxu shogunate and hurried home. His wife has been dead for two days. In addition to grief, he wrote many mourning poems for his wife. Among them, this song "Song in the Room" is the most touching:
Rose dew, such as cold in a crying hut, green tendrils, such as small money.
Jiao stood in the sky like a floating cloud, embracing the western sky until dawn.
Pillow is the stone of Dragon Palace, which can share the color of eyes.
Yuchan lost her tender skin, but she saw Monroe.
Recalling the previous spring, I wanted to spend it with my sadness.
We can't meet again when we return, only Jinse lies on the ground.
Today is like a pine with a sharp bottom, and tomorrow is like a phellodendron amurense on a hill.
I am afraid that when the earth turns upside down, we will never meet again.
His wife died, but he left a young son and a daughter. In order to support them, Li Shangyin, who was exhausted physically and mentally, had to cheer up and become the staff of Liu Zhongying in Our Times in Dongchuan.
On the way to Sichuan, he wrote "going to Shu Dong for snow removal after the funeral":
The road beyond the sword I'm going to is very remote. You can't send me warm clothes without home.
The snow in the three passes is three feet thick, and the past is like a dream. Remember the past and make a loom for me.
After his wife died, his home was gone. He calls himself a "homeless" person in his poems. No one will send him winter clothes anymore. In the snow-capped third level, I occasionally dream of my wife at midnight on a cold night.
Master Liu Zhongying was very sympathetic to Li Shangyin's middle-aged wife loss, so he gave singer Zhang Yixian to Li Shangyin to take care of his daily life, but he politely declined.
In Shu, Li Shangyin spent the last and most miserable time in his life. These days, he wrote the famous untitled:
It was a long time ago that I met her, but since we separated, the time has become longer, the east wind is blowing and a hundred flowers are blooming.
Silkworms in spring weave until they die, and candles drain the wick every night. ...
Undoubtedly, this poem is also written for the dead wife. Li Shangyin had several women in his life. I can't say that he is single-minded, but he is very emotional.
In the last few years of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (about 858), Li Shangyin left sadly in poverty, and no one went to mourn.
Li Shangyin was brilliant and ambitious all his life, but he was unlucky and missed key opportunities many times, which was as "strange" as Li Guang. His good friend Cui Jue lamented in the poem "Crying for Li Shangyin": "I have never been able to keep my talents in vain." He comes from humble origins and works hard, but he can't help himself in the Jianghu. In order to get a stage to display his ambition, he didn't want to miss every opportunity, but he was also accused of ingratitude, which made people sigh.