Source: Han Yu's Preface to the Poems of the Tang Dynasty
Literally, it is easy to write sad articles and poems, but not easy to write happy articles and poems.
"Poetry is poor and backward" is a very traditional viewpoint in China's ancient poetics. From Sima Qian's Report on Ren to his determination to complain that prisoners were "outraged" after being humiliated, and then to Han Yu's "Happy words are hard to make, poor voices are easy to make" (Preface to Tan Singing and Poetry) in the Tang Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu in the Song Dynasty further developed to the extreme: "Being known to the world means that poets are poor and few. The poorer you are, the more you work. It's not that poetry can be poor. You almost became poor and worked later. " (Preface to the Poems of Mei) These comments reveal a law of poetry creation in feudal society in China, that is, the closer the author is to the bottom people, the more he can reflect the people's voices; The greater the author's own suffering, the deeper his indignation, and the deeper and sharper his criticism of reality in his works.