Unfortunately, Li Shangyin was involved in the struggle between Niu and Li, and suffered long-term exclusion. He fell into the shogunate all his life and was frustrated. As an intellectual with political aspirations, he lived in a social environment where eunuchs were autocratic and the Ming Party was in dispute. He has been wandering on the rugged and dangerous road all his life, and is as famous as Du Mu, and is known as "Little Du Li" by the world. Li Shangyin's poems have a unique artistic style, which has been summarized as "deep affection" or "profound knowledge and beautiful beauty", which is embodied in the following aspects: a large number of metaphors are used to express their hopes; Everything in the pen endows the author with character; Taking parallel prose as a poem, the text is gorgeous, the rhyme is sonorous, and the metaphor is used well; Discussion, narration, lyricism and allusions are combined. He created the hazy beauty of poetry with graceful artistic conception and delicate lyrics. He made an important contribution to the development of classical poetry. [ 1]
First, the historical background and life experience of the poet's era
1, time background
Li Shangyin was unhappy all his life, suffering from poverty and illness, and his talents were not satisfied. The scourge of factional struggle and the exclusion of officialdom from him constitute the lonely and tragic tone of the poet's life. "I lost my talent, but I have never won my heart in my life." This is a poem in Cui Jue's "Laughing at Li Shangyin's Poems", and it is also a contemporary evaluation of Li Shangyin. These poems summarize the tragic experience and unfortunate fate of Li Shangyin's life.
Li Shangyin lived in the middle and late Tang Dynasty and experienced three dynasties: Xianzong (Spring Calendar), Mu Zong (Hengli), Jing Zong (Li Zhan), Wenzong (Li Ang), Wuzong (Li Yan) and Xuanzong (Li Chen). Most of these six emperors were mediocre people, either believing in alchemists or having fun; Either die young or be killed. As Li Shangyin said in his poem Le Yuanyou, "to see the sun, for all his glory is buried by the coming night." The decay of the central government directly affects the situation in various places, and mercenaries in various buffer regions often make trouble, plunder and annex, and so on. There is also a "Niuli Party Struggle" in the court. This is the late Tang Dynasty when poets lived. In this dark officialdom and declining social atmosphere, he can only live in contradiction. For example, his emotional attitude towards Ling Hutao is very contradictory and complicated, with both resentment and expectation; There are both praise and irony; There is both emotion and disdain ... [2]
This dark society and real life have a great influence on the poet, not only his life path, but also his artistic creation. The interaction between the dark reality and the objective environment makes the poet have to adopt the way of hiding regret and sidelining, or writing scenery and expressing emotion, or satirizing the present with the ancient, praising history and summarizing, or "letting the grass blame the king and grandson, and using beauty to contain the gentleman." This is recorded in Volume 4 of Fan Nan Wen Ji, Xie Hedong and Shi Qi.
2. A miserable situation
Li Shangyin's father died when he was very young, and his family was poor. As the eldest son, he had to shoulder the burden of the family with his mother when he was a minor. Although he was later appreciated by Ling Huchu, he was poor and lonely. He wrote in the preface of Fan Nanjian's Anthology:
In ten years, the capital was hungry and cold, and people or eyes said that Handu, Peng and Fan Nan were poor and frozen, and people or people knew it.
It can be seen that his life is hard. In his letters to relatives and friends, he often talks about his pain. Such as "one official and one person, just a smile" and "the appearance of Li Sheren". Although Li Shangyin grew up from a poor family, he received a good education and wrote a good hand. Besides, he is good at writing. Because of this, Linghu Chu was later taken a fancy to and promoted by Dongdu left-behind and Dongdu garrison. From then on, Li Shangyin followed Ling Huchu to learn the style of CET-4 and CET-6 poetry, and also began the poet's career journey. In the fourth year of Daiwa (830), Li Shangyin went to Beijing to take the Jinshi exam with the support of Ling Huchu, and finally settled in Sun Shan. In the following years, he was repeatedly sponsored by Ling Huchu to take the exam in Beijing, but he failed many times. In the spring of the seventh year of Daiwa (833), Ling Huchu was transferred to the Ministry of Ritual and wanted to leave Taiyuan for Beijing. At this point, Li Shangyin had to leave Linghu Chu and return to his hometown. In 838, Linghu Chu died of illness, and Li Shangyin lost his mentor and a protector. More seriously, the death of Ling Huchu affected the poet's source of life. The weather was fine, just as the poet was worried about his life, our envoy Wang Maoyuan from Jingyuan was ordered to inspect the people's feelings and asked him to be the secretary of our office, and the poet gladly went. Later, he married Wang Maoyuan's daughter Wang. Unexpectedly, however, after he entered the door of Wang Maoyuan, he fell into the political whirlpool of "Niu Li Party Struggle", and finally became an innocent victim and ruined his career.
3. Caught in the fight between Niu and Li.
Giving and receiving in private and cronyism are the drawbacks of politics in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and they are also the common practice of officialdom struggle in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. The party struggle between Niu and Li is an important political struggle related to the majority of officials in a period after the middle Tang Dynasty. Li Shangyin's entanglement with this incident has deeply influenced his life experience and creation.
The Niu Party is headed by Zongmin Li, including Niu Sengru and Yang Yuqing. Li Dang is headed by Li Deyu, and its members include Qin Zheng and others. In 838 AD, due to the death of Linghu Chu, Li Shangyin lost his asylum, which further affected his family's source of life. Just then, Wang Maoyuan, the former ambassador of China, sent him a letter of appointment. Ask him to work as a secretary in a drug rehabilitation center. Li Shangyin, who was worried about his livelihood, gladly went, but unexpectedly, his entrance into the curtain made him fall into the whirlpool of "the dispute between cattle and Li" from now on. The reason is simple: before this, most of Li Shangyin's friends were cattle parties, and he was naturally classified as a cow party, but now Wang Maoyuan, who hired him, belongs to the cow party. Li Shangyin is just an innocent victim of the "Niu Li Party Struggle". As a result, his life was wasted and his talents were not well displayed, so he has been ups and downs in the shogunate, and such a life track has also affected his poetry creation.
He wrote in an untitled poem:
According to Liang Chu, sentient beings are famous for their water. Skirts are smaller than hibiscus and hair is lighter than jade. The brocade book is solemn, and the eyebrows are fine. Don't play chess nearby, the center is the most uneven. The Complete Works of Tang Poetry Volume 539- 108
This poem first describes the beauty and happiness of the newly married wife. In the end, the pen suddenly turned and revealed the hidden worry in my heart: I was like an innocent chess piece and became a victim of factional disputes. Fate is in the hands of others. [3]
These miserable lives of Li Shangyin have a great influence on his creation. His poems are covered with a layer of lost emotions and mysterious and obscure colors, which also makes his poems have a distinctive and unique style. Therefore, he had a great influence on the literary world in the late Tang Dynasty and even the development of China's classical poetry.
Second, the artistic features of Li Shangyin's poems
(A) Carefully conceived
"Rhyme in Yang Qiu" records Yang Yi's evaluation of a mountain poem: Li Shangyin's poem has a wonderful feeling of "inexhaustible taste and drilling". His poems are ambitious, novel and meticulous. The miserable life path has cultivated his insight and critical spirit to the society. Although his poems with Wen are beautiful, Li Shangyin is sentimental about current events, which has a lasting appeal and implies beauty. His self-introduction and political satires are memorable and lamentable, and even the general narrative lyrics are unique and have not been published so far. So it gives people a sense of freshness and accuracy.
On the whole, his poems are widely selected, and the commonly used poems form a picture and are regarded as a unified whole, or are expressed in the form of a group of poems to express lyricism and realism. For example, in his political satirical poems, the poet skillfully combines argument with lyricism, and achieves the purpose of irony by using methods such as singing history, singing people, singing things and writing scenery. At the same time, the poet also uses the form of group poems to satirize a specific problem. Such as "Two Trousers" and "Longtan" and other poems describing the deeds of Tang Huangming and Yang Guifei. There were many poems describing the deeds of Ming Taizu and Yang Guifei in the Tang Dynasty, most of which expressed sympathy for their tragedies. Li Shangyin, on the other hand, can take a critical attitude, especially teasing Ming Chengzu that "being an emperor can't protect his wife". This view negates the traditional concept of "not showing the indulgence of the monarch", expands the conception field of epic, and plays a good enlightenment role for later generations. For example, Wang Anshi's poem about history says: "The counselor is in ancient times, is it a curse for me?" ! I hope the king is satisfied with the massacre and there are beautiful women in the palace. " [4]
Judging from the specific poems, those political satirical poems and his own poems can best reflect Li Shangyin's incisive thoughts. Such as his four-line "Jia Sheng".
The propaganda room asks for courtiers, and Jia is even more incoherent; Poor midnight is unprecedented, and Mo Wen people ask ghosts and gods. This poem blends history, argument and lyricism. According to Records of the Historian Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng, Jia Yi was excluded by powerful people, and Dr. Dazhong was appointed as the teacher of King Changsha, and was later paid back. Emperor Wendi summoned Jia Yi in the propaganda room in front of Weiyang Temple. "He has feelings for ghosts and gods, and asked the origin of ghosts and gods ... until midnight, Emperor Wen came to the front seat. Later, he said,' I haven't seen Jia Sheng for a long time, so it's better to be now.' "This ordinary historical fact, melted by Li Shangyin, wrongly chose a very incisive political satire. Satire the absurdity of Emperor Wen and admire Jia Yi's talent. Besides, poets are good at narrating, describing and expressing feelings. He can grasp the most typical characteristics of things to outline a vivid image, capture things and ideas that briefly appear in front of his eyes or flash through his mind, and artistically color them to convey his deep feelings. His heart is lonely and painful, his feelings are secret and profound, and his poems are mostly tortuous and euphemistic sentences. As the saying goes, "out of mind" and "returning to work" are one of the characteristics of Yishan's poems. [5]
terse language
Li Shangyin, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, created a series of excellent poems with his amazing talent, distinctive and unique style and novel artistic conception. The language in these poems is also rich and varied. So what are the characteristics of his language? Let's understand it from the following aspects.
1, with gorgeous words and bright colors.
The word "Yishan" gives people a beautiful and elegant feeling. Poets use idioms and allusions in their poems, and also use beautiful words in spoken language and folk proverbs to avoid sentences and shallow words. [6] The content of his poems is subtle and beautiful, giving people room for imagination and giving people a beautiful feeling. For example, the poet described the beauty as "coming to Xiting, blocking the ceremony, going to Zhanghe, dreaming." Knowing that Fu Fei is infinite, you can have your cake and eat it. "Private gift to Daiwei Palace"; The frost goddess and the moon are not afraid of the cold, and they are more beautiful and pure in the cold and frost recreation. Frost Moon. For example, poems describing the moon: "Last night, the moon was full of light", "A river was empty, Wan Li taught himself" and "The moon was full of Chu". Another example is the poem "I want to travel to the West for the sake of the East", "I want to travel to the West for pleasure" and "Yun Lan goes east to the beautiful clouds and goes west", which is full of ups and downs in the poet's pen and makes the ordinary * * look colorful and dazzling. Look at the following poem:
The moon pavilion in my hometown is covered by rain, and the wind curtain and candle are separated by frost to clear the Milky Way and blowing sheng.
I was shocked to hear the rain, but I didn't know that I was lost and became Zhong Yuanzuo of Bloom.
An empty garden wastes trees, but a port loses flowers.
The wind girl is crazy for a long time, and the moon is lonely and happy to travel together. At that time, if I loved Han Gongzi, I would bury my bones and hate it. "He Han's clerk sent imperial secretary into Taoist temple"
Although eternal change of heart is broken, if it hurts spring, Qujiang is not much.
The above poems are vivid, gorgeous and sonorous, which can be described as "color, fragrance and taste".
2. Sentence patterns are changeable.
Li Shangyin's poems fully reflect his ability to master language and his efforts to temper words in language application. In addition to imitating the form of predecessors, he is also good at five-character, seven-character, ancient style and modern poetry.
For example, the usage of overlap:
Secretly dizzy purple, harmonious yellow. chrysanthemum
The leaves turn again, and the inclined bridge faces the side door. plate
A hundred miles of clear clouds are covered with snow mud, and pedestrians are only west of the snow clouds. Southwest travelers with strange feelings
Chutian length * * * faint rain, Song Yu no sorrow also from sorrow. Athena Chu
Another example is the most authentic sentence pattern:
Leave the palace on the mountain and go upstairs, where the river flows. Athena Chu
One after another, the spring scenery is unique in the world, and the red is growing westward. end of the world
Such as inverted sentence type:
If the thread is silk, it will hate each other, and the prince and grandson will return to the road. willow
For example, complicated sentences:
Look at the mountains and miss me, listen to the drums and leave town to see you. Early son of suburban villa
The use of these sentences makes the language tortuous and meaningful, and it is wonderful to sing back and forth when reading. Makes the artistic conception euphemistic, colorful and intriguing.
3. Strict laws
Li Shangyin's poetic method is rigorous and rigorous, and he is famous for being good at antithesis. In addition to his seven laws and seven words, he also has five laws, five unique poems and five ancient poems. Because of the different ideological content, his poems have different artistic forms and rhythms. Because the poet attaches great importance to the fluency and rhyme of poetry, his poetry has a strong sense of music and rhythm. For example: "the beginning"
Imagine, Xianchi longs for light, and it will be more ileal after five minutes. Three years of bitter water mist, leaving no one to look at the house beam.
The two groups of words "Imagination and Bitter Fog" in the poem are all overlapping words except rhyming and leveling according to quatrains, while "Li and Liang" are disyllabic.
The use of these reduplicated words and disyllabic words not only embodies strong melody and rhythm, but also makes them read tactfully and beautifully.
In addition, the poem is also good at secretly using allusions, integrating historical facts and leaving no trace. The poet developed rich associations, skillfully supplemented and created simple legends and historical facts, and made ordinary things "live" at once. For example, in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, the legend that "the king of Chu had a thin waist and starved to death in the palace" was written by the poet "Meng Ze", in which the king of Chu was buried in the city. I don't know how much singing and dancing can do, but I can slim the palace kitchen to a thin waist. "
(C) Bixing, the use of symbolism
"Bi" in Li Shangyin's poems is simply a metaphor. Whether comparing things with things or things with things, or comparing concrete things with abstract truth, or comparing objective scenery with subjective feelings, they are praising things and supporting ambitions. The "xing" in his poems is simply an association. I am deeply touched by seeing the external scenery from one thing to another. That is, touching the scene. [7] The poet combines realism and romanticism with his rich imagination and profound knowledge, which makes his metaphors and symbols have distinctive features and profound meanings. He combines myths and legends, historical stories and real life, which makes his poems have the advantages of deep affection and lasting charm.
His poems often use symbols, metaphors, personification, imitation and other techniques in a poem to express subjective feelings and allude to real life, or the poet's evaluation of life or his feelings about a certain problem. For example, the consciousness of "living alone with pregnancy" ostensibly refers to a girl who lives alone after being lovelorn, but in fact it is a metaphor that the poet hopes to improve his relationship with Hu Ling Mao after political frustration.
Another example is in the poems "Yuanyang" and "Shicheng", the poet uses Yuanyang to symbolize the good wishes of men and women to live together. Tanabata, through the myth of the black magpie pouring into the river, conveys to young lovers the wish that "all lovers shall have Jill".
In addition, the poet skillfully applied rhetorical devices such as personification, parody and pun to poems such as Chicken Faud and Willow. This is also an important reason why the poet's poems are far-reaching and euphemistic.
(D) the creation of untitled poems
Untitled poems were written by Li Shangyin. Or take "untitled" famous articles, or borrow the first two sentences of the poem as the topic. Content or write about love, or borrow the feelings of men and women and don't point to it. This kind of poetry mostly uses seven methods, with rich imagination, vivid image, clever metaphor, good use of symbols and hints, forming a beautiful, exquisite and affectionate unique style. [8] The creation of untitled poems is undoubtedly one of Li Shangyin's greatest contributions to the development of Tang poetry. Untitled poetry expands the field of lyric poetry and develops the skills of lyric poetry. Except Li Shangyin, poets of all ages have written untitled poems. For example, Han Wo in the late Tang Dynasty had four untitled poems, and there were as many as thirteen untitled poems in the Tang Dynasty, but they failed to catch up with Li Shangyin's untitled poems.
The summary of Sikuquanshu points out that "there are indeed entrusted people in the title, such as" coming to time and space, leaving no trace "; There are indeed gorgeous people, such as' near name Ahou'; There is such a thing as "last night's star, last night's wind", an evil person; There are people who have lost their noumenon, such as "Wan Li storm leaves a boat"; Some of them are connected with untitled, and mistakenly merged into one, such as "You are tireless in repaying others"; Its first two words are titles, such as "Bi Cheng" and "Jinse", which are also in the same proportion. They are all interpretations of beauty and vanilla, which are different from the original intention. " Li Shangyin's untitled poems are mainly based on sustenance, but everyone has different interpretations, so it is difficult to determine the original intention of the poems.
For example, Untitled Time was written long before I met her, but Longer after Breaking Up is usually read as a love poem. The poet used metaphors, subtle metaphors and lyrical techniques to show the love life of feudal literati sincerely and movingly. Among them, the phrase "Spring silkworms die, night candles shed tears" has become a famous sentence throughout the ages.
Another example is "Four Untitled Poems" (Part II): "There is a rain in Mao Mao from the east wind", which expresses the feelings of eroticism with symbols and metaphors, and alludes to real life with factual allusions, which is profound and graceful.
In addition, we can see from his untitled poems that untitled poems are the crystallization of Li Shangyin's artistic achievements. The comprehensive use of various rhetorical devices, the combination of novel conception and concise language constitute the obscure, profound and gorgeous characteristics of Li Shangyin's poems.