The similarities and differences between Tao Yuanming’s “Pastoral Poems” and Xie Lingyun’s “Landscape Poems”
Abstract: Tao Yuanming’s “Pastoral Poems” and Xie Lingyun’s “Landscape Poems” occupy a pivotal position in the history of Chinese literature. There are many similarities and differences between the two men's poems. This article attempts to analyze the artistic characteristics of Tao Xie's poetry from the comparison of similarities and differences.
Keywords: Tao Yuanming, Xie Lingyun, similarities, differences, comparisons
Tao Yuanming and Xie Lingyun were both leading poets during the crisis period of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Tao Yuanming is the master of poetry styles in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and Xie Lingyun created a new style in the Southern Dynasties. Tao's "pastoral poetry" and Xie's "landscape poetry" occupy a decisive position in the history of Chinese literature. Later generations referred to them as landscape idyll. On the basis of inheriting Tao Yuanming's "pastoral poetry", Xie Lingyun's "landscape poetry" also has some developments and innovations.
1. The similarities between Tao and Xie’s poems
(1) Both Tao and Xie inherited the characteristics of metaphysical poetry and both talked about metaphysics in their poems. Many of Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems integrate metaphysics into daily life. For example, in the fifth poem of "Drinking Drinking", "There is a true meaning in this, and I have forgotten the words in the attempt to argue." This issue of the relationship between "words" and "meaning", Tao provides answers in his daily life. When he was picking chrysanthemums under the east fence, he accidentally saw Nanshan Mountain, saw the returning birds in Nanshan Mountain, and realized the true meaning of life. In Xie Lingyun's poems, description of landscapes becomes the main body of the poem, which makes metaphysical poems turn to landscape poems and gain new life. Landscapes become his means of enlightenment, so his landscape poems often describe scenery in the first half and talk about mysteries in the second half, such as "Stone Wall" At the end of "Returning the Jingshe to the Lake" there is: "Thinking about the things in the water makes you light, and the meaning of comfort is not contrary to the principles. It is a fable for health-preserving guests, try this way." Generally, the meaning of Lao Zhuang is used to convey that one wants to live in seclusion among the mountains and rivers. The pursuit of the natural state of waiting for life and death, forgetting honor and disgrace, and achieving a balanced view of things.
(2) Tao Xie’s poems all have strong self-emotional color. Although the poems of Tao Yuanming and Xie Lingyun have many differences in content and style, they both emphasize the expression of self-emotions.
Tao Yuanming’s poetry creation mainly focuses on freehand brushwork. The pastoral home scenes he describes clearly place the symbolic meaning of the poet himself. "Flying birds" is the most common image in Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems. The "flying birds" in the four-character poem "Returning Birds" go to the forest in the morning. Once they find that the outside world is "unsuitable", they "turn over the paper and seek their hearts" and return to the forest for a long time. "The sounds are in harmony with each other" and "happy to find their old habitat" both express the contentment of the birds after returning to the forest. The image of the flying bird is a symbol of the poet's final retirement and seclusion. The joyful state of the bird after returning to the forest is also a true reflection of the poet's mentality at the beginning of his retirement. In addition, pine and chrysanthemum are also images that often appear in Tao's poems, and they also have the meaning of the poet's self-expression. Tao Yuanming often describes refreshing, lofty and clear scenery in his poems. Those external objects in the scenery are the external expression of the poet's clear and pure inner world.
Xie Lingyun’s descriptions of landscapes are also full of expressions of the subject’s emotions. In the poem "Returning the Stone Wall Scenery to the Lake" we can vaguely interpret the poet's emotional context. The description of the scenery at the beginning is a subjective description. The focus of his expression is not to reproduce the unique style, but to express the poet. The state of mind of admiring the mountains and rivers and lingering back and forth; and then objectively reproducing the scenery in the mountains: "The forest ravine gathers the dim color, and the clouds collect the sunset." At this time, the subject's emotion is hidden behind the description of the scenery. When it appears again, it has become Feel the joy of understanding the truth. Most of the emotions expressed in such poems have such a process of looming and emerging. It can be seen from this that Xie Lingyun hides the poet's subjective emotions behind his objective description of scenery.
2. Differences between Tao Xie's poems
(1) Poetry changes from subjective freehand to objective imitation
Tao Yuanming himself is an expert in freehand, and the position of the subject "I" in his poems Very distinct. Tao Yuanming "Life is poetic, and so are emotions. Therefore, he does not intend to imitate mountains and rivers, but only writes about the state of mind that is integrated with the scenery" 1. For example: Part 1 of "Returning to the Garden and Living in the Fields":
There is no rhyme suitable to the vulgarity, and the nature loves hills and mountains. I accidentally fell into the dust net and passed away for thirty years. The tame birds are nostalgic for the old forest, and the fish in the pond are missing their old abyss. Open up the wilderness in the south, stay humble and return to the garden. The square house covers more than ten acres and has eight or nine thatched houses. There are elms and willows on the back eaves, and peach and plum blossoms in front of the hall. The warmth is far away from the village, and the smoke in the ruins is still there. Dogs bark in the deep alleys, cocks crow in the mulberry trees. The courtyard is free of dust and clutter, and the empty room has plenty of leisure. Being in a cage for a long time becomes unnatural.
The narrative perspective of this poem is the first person "I". And "the square house has more than ten acres and eight or nine thatched houses. The elms and willows are shaded on the back eaves, and the peach and plum blossoms are in front of the hall. Nuannuan is far away from the village, and the smoke in the ruins is still there. Dogs bark in the deep lanes, and roosters crow on top of the mulberry trees. The courtyard is dust-free. "There is leisure in the empty room." It not only writes about the beauty of the pastoral scenery, but also writes about the happiness and satisfaction of living in a leisurely pastoral life. There is emotion in the scenery, and the scenes blend together.
The natural landscapes described in Xie Lingyun’s poems are not contaminated by the author’s subjective emotions. Things and I are separated in Xie’s poems. He strives to vividly depict the appearance of natural landscapes, and in specific verses There is no shadow of the subject "I". The author "quietly observes" the natural landscape with an objective attitude, so his description of the natural landscape becomes a pure description of the natural landscape. For example: "The rain clears the horizon in the evening, and the clouds return and the sun rushes to the west. The dense forest contains Xu Qing, and the distant peaks are half hidden."
"("Wandering to the South Pavilion") It can be seen from the above poem that Xie Lingyun tried his best to outline and depict, trying to reproduce the four seasons of the landscape and the changes in cloud and sunshine one by one, to the point of coincidence. We cannot find the meaning of "I" from between the lines. Shadow. This is due to the separation of object and self in Xie's poems, which results in the loss of the poet's subject. The natural landscape loses the poet's emotional observation, and the freehand brushwork completely disappears, replaced by an objective and cold imitation.
(2) Xie Lingyun. Tao Yuanming's landscape poetry breaks through the limitation of "one poem stops at one current event". Tao Yuanming's pastoral poetry evokes infinite emotions from the scene before his eyes. After being refined and concentrated, it was concentrated into one poem. His landscape poems often use the technique of changing shapes step by step, such as "Going to the County for the First Time": "Following the stream and wading through the water, climbing the ridge and starting the journey to the mountains." Being able to include a period of travel in one poem presents a different style. The poem "Entering Pengli Lake Pass" written on the way to Linchuan has completely broken through the narrative mode that is limited to one moment and one event.
< p>(3) From revelation to realismThe language of Tao Yuanming's poems is very philosophical, requiring readers to associate and understand things that "can only be understood but cannot be expressed" in Tao's poems. Underneath the surface of description, there is infinite "eternal". This language feature of Tao's poems is related to the culture of Wei and Jin metaphysics advocating long-term and far-reaching goals. However, he is not like the metaphysicians who use language to make mysteries. The depiction of the image and the structure of the poem reflect the profound meaning and purpose. For example, the fifth chapter of "Drinking" shows the poet's state of harmony between things and myself in front of the reader in just a few sentences. , inspire readers.
Xie Lingyun is different. His poetic language is realistic. Xie Lingyun uses the expressive power of language to enhance the effect of describing physical objects and uses various techniques to describe them. It developed under his efforts. In "First Arrival to the County", he wrote: "The wilderness is vast and the beach is clean, the sky is high and the moon is bright in autumn." He uses "kuang", "jing", "gao" and "bright". The four adjectives describe the autumn fields, the beach, the sky and the moon, reproducing the characteristics of autumn. As for "the pond grows spring grass, the garden willows turn into songbirds", and "the bright moon shines on the snow, and the late wind stirs and mourns" has been passed down through the ages. These poems give full play to the realism of language and express the impression that others want to say but may not be able to say, giving people a refreshing feeling.
From pastoral poetry to landscape poetry, From Tao Yuanming to Xie Lingyun, this is definitely not a coincidence. Xie Lingyun and Tao Yuanming both inherited the characteristics of metaphysical poetry and expression, and Xie Lingyun pioneered and developed the realm of poetry on the basis of Tao Yuanming's poetry, becoming pastoral landscapes. A pioneer of poetry, he laid the foundation for the formation of the pastoral landscape poetry school in later generations.
References:
Notes: 1 Yuan Xingpei. History of Chinese Literature: Volume 2 [M]. Beijing: Higher Education Press. 2005.88
①闰 Wei. Omission--Poetry changes from Tao Yuanming to Xie Lingyun [J]. Journal of Liaoning University of Engineering and Technology (Social Science Edition). 2006 Volume 8, Issue 6. 629-630
② Liu Chunyan. Tao Yuanming A brief analysis of the origins of the artistic styles of "Pastoral Poetry" and Xie Lingyun's "Landscape Poetry" [J]. Guangxi Social Sciences. Issue 8, 2003. 131-133
③Yang Bin. Wonderful Articles*** Appreciation Differences The Secret Soul of Man—Comparison of Tao Yuanming and Xie Lingyun’s Poems [J]. Journal of Langfang Normal University, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2001. 34-38
Hope to adopt it! !