Who knows that every grain of Chinese food is hard?
Shen Li, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, is famous for his short 20-word poem Wo He. However, in recent years, there are often articles exposing his later bad behaviors, such as extravagant life, no sympathy for the people, and even harsh treatment. He used unconventional means to frame and suppress political opponents in officialdom, and some even broke the news that even the author of the poem was not him.
Opinions vary, and it is difficult to distinguish between true and false, and look at the following analysis.
Small directory:
1, was Benjamin's poem Wo He written for him?
2. About the luxury life that followed.
3. Wu Xiang's case has different opinions.
4. Complex personality in the context of party struggle.
5. Zhang regarded him as a person.
6. Honest and upright true character.
7. Saving small evils makes great good.
1. Was Benjamin's poem Mohe written for him? Among many articles criticizing Li Shen, the most sensational one said that the author of Mohe was not even Li Shen, but another poet Nie Zhongyi. If this theory holds, all the arguments about Li Shen can be terminated. Since even the author is not him, is it meaningful to pity the farmer and accuse him of living a luxurious life?
The author of this article signed Sima Niu, and the title of the article was "Poetry of Li Shen and Chu River", which was published in the literature and history edition of Taiyuan Daily on June 5438+February 65438+February 04, 2009. The author believes that some historical records record that the author of this poem is, but some people put the copyright of this poem under the name of another pro-agricultural poet Nie. After textual research, he believes that Nie is this person. "
The basis of his argument is as follows: First, Nie Zhongyi first recorded the poem Chu River, which was written by Sun Guangxian who lived in the Tang and Five Dynasties and was very close to Li Shen's life; In contrast, the Chronicle of Tang Poems, which identified the author of Chu River as Li Shen, first appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty. Li Shen has been dead for more than 200 years. Therefore, he concluded that the record of Bei Meng Suo Yan was more reliable, that is, Nie was the real author of the poem Mohe.
Second, Nie Zhongyi was born in a poor family, and he can better understand the sufferings of the people. In addition, he wrote many other poems to express his feelings for * * * from the standpoint of farmers. Compared with Nie, the author thinks that he was born in an official family. Although the official career was bumpy after entering the Jinshi, overall, he was promoted step by step. Later, he served as a senior official and even served as a prime minister. It was written by a high-powered and prosperous person like him. "
In view of the first statement, the author finds reliable evidence to refute his own conclusion: Dai Fan's book Friends in Yunxi, which lived in Tang Xizong, has clearly recorded that the author of the poem Chu River is Li Shen, not the Chronicle of Tang Poetry, which Sima Niu thought didn't appear until the Southern Song Dynasty, and the book was written earlier than North Dream. Therefore, the first argument of this paper is based on this.
Second, although he was born well, his great-grandfather Li was also a prime minister, and his ancestors were also small officials. But he lost his father at the age of six, and he fell from his family and suffered from poverty. Many historical materials have records of his childhood life. In order to study, he had to go to the temple to read books, and even was beaten by monks for taking Buddhist scriptures as manuscripts.
Poet Du Fu, Du Fu's grandfather Du Shenyan, has a similar fate to him, but Du Fu still has to live a life of broken cups and cold cooking in Chang 'an, and there are sorrows everywhere. Because of his diligence, Shen Li, together with Li Deyu, Yuan Zhen and others, was later called the Hanlin Third Army, and even once claimed to be the prime minister, and his career was booming, but the poor life he experienced when he was young was also a fact. He has such a life experience. It shouldn't be too difficult to write a poem like Mohe, should it?
In addition to these two points, there are many examples to prove that Shen Li has the ability to write this kind of poem.
First, when he was in charge of the local government, he reiterated that he would resolutely enforce the law with a very peasant metaphor: didn't you see the wheat? Those who are full and full will stay below, only those chaff will drift with the wind, and those who will flee to other places because of strict laws and regulations, like this chaff, don't worry about him! As a result, since then, fewer and fewer people have left the country, and the area under his rule has since stabilized. If you are not familiar with farming, how can you make such a metaphor?
Secondly, he wrote another poem with indisputable copyright, which is also related to the life of the bottom people, but with a little more joy in style:
Village,
Sangma is lush and fertile, with abundant years in winter and summer.
Brother hoes his brother's wife on the plane, and the dog doesn't bark at night.
Village children, drunk and full, muddy mash first ripe to persuade Weng Wei.
Singing pigeons blow their feathers to know that the year is good, and they are stepping on spring grass.
..... (excerpt)
It can be seen that Li Shen is quite familiar with farm life. He doesn't have a certain life experience, how can he write this kind of farm life so carefully and full of original ecological flavor?
Therefore, I think there is no doubt that the copyright of Mohe belongs to Li Shen. As for why some historical books put this poem under the name of Nie, another poet who loves agriculture, this is a common phenomenon in the process of event dissemination, so there is no need to investigate it too much.
2. Regarding the luxurious life that followed, Shen Li later became the prime minister. Even after being expelled from the court in the whirlpool of party struggle, he often served as a local senior official such as our envoy and secretariat, and always enjoyed the treatment of high salary and generous salary. Therefore, there is no doubt that his later life is indeed quite luxurious.
For example, the most typical example can refer to the common origin of idioms. This word comes from a poem by Liu Yuxi: high clouds and palace-like makeup are Du Weiniang's songs. Nostalgia is a common occurrence, and it is completely ruined in Suzhou. This poem is called "Being a Prostitute for Li", and here it is Li. This poem by Liu Yuxi is a gift for a beautiful prostitute in Shen Li.
The background of this poem is that Liu Yuxi was invited to attend the banquet of Shen Lijia. At the banquet, Shen Li invited a beautiful prostitute to accompany him. When he was drunk, Liu Yuxi was covered in blood and was very interested in the beautiful woman who accompanied him, so he wrote this beautiful poem for her on the spot. Li Shen was generous, too, and gave the prostitute to Liu Yuxi to spend the night with him that night.
Another joke circulating on the Internet said that after becoming an official, Shen Li gradually became extravagant, and a meal cost hundreds of dollars. He especially likes to eat chicken tongues, and he spends more than 300 live chickens every meal. The chickens slaughtered in the yard were piled together, which many scholars of his time scoffed at. When the rumor came out, many netizens reacted strongly, saying that they didn't expect to be cheated by hypocrites since childhood. This example is even worse than the last one, because the last example is only luxury, and this example is waste. Waste is more unbearable than luxury.
In order to find the source of this statement, the author consulted a large number of historical materials and ruled them out one by one, but so far no such record has been found. Online articles describing this matter often say methodical. According to historical records, there are some historical records, but there is never a clear statement about what specific historical materials are recorded, but it has always been so vague.
But today, it has been proved to be a fabricated rumor, and the initiator of the joke also admitted that he did not fabricate this statement according to relevant historical facts. Just kidding, at the productivity level at that time, 300 live chickens a day was more than 10 thousand a year. Where can the economy tolerate such profligacy?
However, although it is false to eat 300 chicken tongues at a meal, it is true that Li Shen lived a very luxurious life after becoming a high official. In particular, Liu Yuxi said that Shen Li has long been used to that romantic scene, which shows how well Shen Liping lives every day-but is this worthy of criticism?
From the perspective of women's rights today, it is of course a great disrespect to women to raise prostitutes privately and give them away at will. However, people should follow the characteristics of the times when they look at historical issues today. It should be noted that the culture of keeping prostitutes privately was quite strong at that time, and almost all senior court officials had similar behaviors. Shen Li once lived as a prime minister, but he could not escape the customs. I don't think he should be particularly harsh.
The reason why Shen Li wrote poems about farmers is not only because of his experience in the lower class, but also related to the new Yuefu movement advocated by Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen, which used Yuefu poems to reflect more social problems. As a good friend of Mr. and Mrs. Bai Yuan, Li Shen was also an active promoter of this movement, including poems about peasants, and wrote 20 Yuefu poems with new themes.
But in essence, the purpose of the new Yuefu movement is to make people sick with songs, hoping that the emperor can listen, that is, hoping that his Yuefu poems can be heard by heaven, so that the emperors in the high walls of the deep palace can hear the voices from the bottom of the people. On the other hand, while writing such poems describing human suffering, it does not prevent the literati from continuing to live a luxurious life belonging to their class. Therefore, it is not surprising that Bai Juyi, who can write great realistic poems such as Selling Charcoal Weng, has so many beautiful prostitutes at home and even often appears in his works to learn from his good friend Yuan Zhen.
Therefore, my attitude is that it is not easy for a scholar-bureaucrat in a high position to point his pen at the bottom of the people, so it is no longer necessary to criticize their style in private life, and to measure people's behavior more than a thousand years ago with today's moral standards. When Li Shen became a senior official, he lived a better life, but he was criticized too much because he wrote poems about farmers.