Li Yu has made great achievements in art. The most famous words are Poppy and Lang Tao Sha Ling.
Calligraphy and Painting
He is good at calligraphy and painting, and his calligraphy: Tao Gu's "Qing Yi Lu" Zeng Yun: "Later He is good at calligraphy, and his pen is trembling and curved, as strong as cold pines and frosty bamboos, which is called 'gold-wrapped knife'. He can write large characters without using the pen, and can write on silk scrolls as he wishes. The world calls him 'cuojinshu'." Regarding his paintings, Guo Ruoxu of the Song Dynasty wrote in "Books and Stories": "Li Yu, the late master of Jiangnan, had a clear vision and was good at calligraphy and painting. When you look at the woods, rocks and birds he painted, they are far beyond the ordinary flow and higher than unexpected." It is a pity that no calligraphy and painting have been handed down to future generations.
Ci
The style of Li Yu's Ci can be divided into two periods based on his capture in 975.
The style of his early poems was beautiful and soft, keeping in mind the "flower room" style. According to the content, it can be roughly divided into two categories: one describes the magnificent palace life and romantic love affairs between men and women,
For example, "Bodhisattva Barbarian":
The bright moon and the dark veil cover the mist , It’s a good time to go to Langbian today. Wearing socks on the fragrant steps, carrying gold-leafed shoes. Seeing him on the south bank of the painting hall, he trembled for a while. It is difficult for a slave to come out, but he can show mercy to his master.
There is also a type of heavy sadness expressed when one feels the fate of being unable to escape under the pressure of the Song Dynasty.
For example, "Meeting Happily":
Silently, I went up to the west tower alone, the moon was like a hook, and the lonely phoenix tree locked the autumn in the deep courtyard. Continuous cutting and confusion remain, which is the sadness of separation and separation, the ordinary feeling in the heart.
Due to the great changes in his life, his later poetry made the king of the subjugated country become the "King of the South" in the world of poetry through the ages with one swan song after another that wept with blood. It is precisely "the country is unlucky and the poet is lucky, and his words reflect the vicissitudes of life and begin to work." These later Ci poems, with their desolate and solemn mood and profound artistic conception, have laid the foundation for Su Xin's so-called "bold and unconstrained" school, and are the great masters in the history of Ci poems who inherit the past and connect the future. As for the clarity of its sentences and the harmony of its phonology, it is unprecedented.
For example, "The Poppy":
When will the spring flowers and autumn moon come, how much do you know about the past? There was an east wind in the small building last night, and the motherland could not bear to look back at the bright moon. The carved railings and jade masonry should still be there, but the beauty has changed. Asking you how much sorrow you can have is like a river of spring water flowing eastward.
"Lang Tao Sha Ling":
The rain is gurgling outside the curtain, and the spring is fading. Luo Jian couldn't stand the cold at midnight. In his dream, he didn't realize he was a guest, and he was greedy for pleasure for a while. Don't lean on the fence when you are alone. There is no limit to the country. It is easy to say goodbye but difficult to see others. The flowing water and falling flowers are gone in spring, and it is heaven and earth.
Wang Guowei believed: "Wen Feiqing's words are beautiful in sentence; Wei Duanji's words are beautiful in bones; Li Chongguang's words are beautiful in spirit." He also said: "When the poets came to Li Houzhu, their vision began to expand, and their emotions became deeper, so they changed from the poems of Ling Gong to the poems of scholar-bureaucrats. Zhou Jie's poems were placed under those of Wen and Wei, which can be said to be confusing right and wrong." This last sentence is in response to what Zhou Ji said in "Jie Cun Zhai's Miscellaneous Works on Ci": "Mao Qiang and Xi Shi are the most beautiful women in the world. They are good with either strict make-up or light make-up. Their rough clothes and messy hair do not cover up their national beauty. Fei Qing is wearing a strict makeup; Duan Ji is wearing a light makeup; the queen is wearing a rough clothes and messing up his hair." Wang believes that this comment is to promote Wen and Wei and suppress the later masters. Some academics also believe that Zhou Ji's original intention is that Li Yu is not as good as Wen Tingyun and Wei Zhuang in terms of the neatness of words and sentences, etc. However, in terms of the vividness and fluency of his words, the former is obviously more vibrant and natural. "Rough clothes and messy hair do not hide the beauty of the country."
Li Yu's poems got rid of the frivolousness of "The Collection of Flowers". His poems are not artificial, with bright language, vivid images, distinctive characters, and sincere feelings. His works after the fall of the country are even more broad in subject matter and profound in meaning. , surpassed the Ci of the late Tang and Five Dynasties, and became the founder of the Wanyue School of Ci in the early Song Dynasty. Later generations honored him as the "Sage of Ci".
Li Yu’s poetry inherited the tradition of Huajian poets such as Wen Tingyun and Wei Zhuang since the late Tang Dynasty, and was also influenced by Li Jing, Feng Yansi, etc., which pushed the creation of poetry forward a big step . Its main achievements are as follows:
①Expanded the expression field of words. Before Li Yu, the poems were mainly about eroticism, and the content was shallow. Even if they expressed a little love, they were mostly hidden and not revealed. Most of Li Yu's poems express his feelings directly from the heart, expressing his feelings about his family and country, with sincere feelings. Therefore, Wang Guowei said: "When the Ci came to Master Li, his vision began to expand, and his emotions became deeper, so he changed the Ci of Ling Gong and became the Ci of scholar-bureaucrats." ("Renjian Ci Hua")
② It has a higher level generality. Li Yu's poetry often reflects a certain state of general significance in real life through concrete and perceptible personal images.
"The east wind blows again in the small building last night, and the motherland cannot bear to look back in the bright moonlight" ([Yu Meiren]), "The flowers fall on the flowing water and spring is gone, and the heaven and the earth are gone" ([Lang Tao Sha]), "I naturally hate the water as long as I grow in the east" ( Famous lines such as "The Crow's Night Cry") and "Departure and hatred are just like spring grass, we can walk farther and come back to life" (Qing Ping Le), etc., deeply and vividly wrote the joys and sorrows of life, and aroused the excitement of many readers in later generations. .
③The language is natural, concise and expressive. His lyrics are not embellished with gold and color, but they are elegant and moving; they are not subtle, but they are meaningful and meaningful; forming an artistic feature that is both fresh, smooth, graceful and profound.
④ Be original in style. The Collection of Flowers and Southern Tang Dynasty poems are generally good at euphemism and beauty, while Li Yu excels in sparseness. For example, the "arrogance" of "Spring in the Jade House", the "influence of the brushwork" of "Crying in the Night", and the "magnificence, wonder and resentment of Langtaosha" are two heroes at the same time (see Tan Xian's "Fu Tang Ci Hua") The "natural and unrestrained" and "uncontrollable catching of a foal" in "The Poppy" (Zhou Ji's "Jie Cunzhai's Miscellaneous Works on Ci") have the beauty of both strength and softness. It is indeed different from ordinary graceful works. It is unique among the Ci poems of the Tang and Five Dynasties. As Nalan Xingde said: "Huajian's poems are like ancient jades, which are precious but not applicable. Song poems are applicable but less high-quality. Li Houzhu has both their beauty and the confusion caused by smoke and water." ("Lushui") "Ting Zashuo")
Li Yu's original collection has been lost. There are forty-four existing poems. Several of the early works may have been composed by others, but only thirty-eight of them can be confirmed.
His old ministers said that he had 30 volumes of "Collected Works" and 100 pieces of "Miscellaneous Comments". "Junzhai Shuzhi" contains 10 volumes of "Collection of Li Yu", and "History of Song Dynasty·Yiwenzhi" also contains 10 volumes of "Collection of Empress Li of the Southern Tang Dynasty", both of which are lost. "Zhizhai Shulu Jieti" contains one volume of "Two Main Poems of the Southern Tang Dynasty". The Mohuazhai edition of the 48th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1620) contains 34 poems by Li Yu, among which "Looking to the South of the Yangtze River" can be seen. Divided into two pieces. In the later Qing Dynasty, Shao Changguang recorded another poem. In modern times, Wang Guowei added 9 poems in the supplement "Two Main Poems of the Southern Tang Dynasty", but there seem to be many problems among them. According to the opinions of most modern scholars, only 32 poems can be identified as Li Yu's poems. The annotated editions of his poetry collections include "The Second Vocabulary Notes of the Southern Tang Dynasty" by Liu Jizeng of the Qing Dynasty, "The Second Vocabulary Notes of the Southern Tang Dynasty" by the recent Tang Guizhang, and "Revision of the Second Primary Poems of the Southern Tang Dynasty" by Wang Zhongwen, etc. Zhan Antai's "Li Jing and Li Yu's Ci" has detailed annotations. His deeds can be found in "New History of the Five Dynasties", "History of the Song Dynasty", "Book of the Southern Tang Dynasty" by Ma Ling and Lu You, and "Chronology of the Two Masters of the Southern Tang Dynasty" by Xia Chengtao.