Poetry and atmosphere of the prosperous Tang Dynasty
Yuan Xingpei
1. The tide is flat on both sides and the wind is blowing and the sail is hanging
- The prosperous Tang Dynasty The style of the times
The prosperous Tang Dynasty refers to the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, which is roughly equivalent to the first half of the eighth century AD. At this time, the country was unified, the economy was prosperous, the politics were enlightened, the culture was developed, foreign exchanges were frequent, and the society was full of confidence. It was not only the peak of the Tang Dynasty, but also the heyday of China's feudal society. A large number of poets emerged in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, represented by Li Bai, Du Fu, and Wang Wei. Together, they opened up a magnificent golden age of poetry.
The so-called "weather of the prosperous Tang Dynasty" focuses on the overall impression given by the poetry of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the style and spirit of the times of the poetry: broad, powerful, far-reaching, and transcendent; full of vitality, joy of creation, and newness experience; and the new sense of beauty formed through the use of imagery, the presentation of artistic conception, and the combination of temperament and voice - all these together become the characteristics that distinguish the poetry of the Tang Dynasty from the poetry of other periods. Wang Wan, a poet in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem "Under the Cibeigu Mountain". The then Prime Minister Zhang Shuo praised it so much that he copied the neck couplet on the wall of the official office as a model for poetry. (See Yin's "Collection of Heroes in Heyue") The middle two couplets of this poem can be used to describe that era: "The tide is flat on both sides, the wind is strong and the sail is hanging. The sea is full of sunshine and the night is over, and the river spring is entering the old year." Those three Adjectives: flat, broad, upright, and the high-hanging sail. From the sea sun generated in the remaining night to the Jiang Chun of the old year, people can feel the atmosphere of the prosperous Tang Dynasty and the style of the poetry of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. . Let’s look at the following songs of poets from the prosperous Tang Dynasty: “Steaming clouds and dreamy lakes, waves shaking Yueyang City.” (Meng Haoran’s “Looking at Dongting Lake to Prime Minister Zhang”) “If you want to see a thousand miles away, go to the next level.” (Wang Zhihuan’s “Wang Zhihuan” “Wang Zhihuan” “Wang Zhihuan” “Wang Zhihuan” "Climbing the Stork Tower") "Climb high to see the spectacular world, and the vast river will never come back." (Li Bai's "The Ballad of Mount Lu") "We all want to fly, and want to go up to the blue sky to embrace the bright moon." (Li Bai
"Xuanzhou Xie? Loujie Farewell School Secretary Shu Yun") "When you are at the top of the mountain, you can see all the small mountains." (Du Fu's "Looking at the Mountains") "Don't worry about the road ahead without friends, because no one in the world will know you." ( Gao Shi's "Farewell to Dong Da") These verses are filled with a majestic spirit that covers the heavens and the earth, and can still make the cowardly brave and the weak strong after thousands of years. Poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty were not without sorrow. Li Bai often mentioned the word sorrow on his lips, such as "sad illness", "sad face", "sad heart", "sad hair", "sorrowful intestine", and so on. But as long as we compare Li Bai with Meng Jiao and Li He of the mid-Tang Dynasty, and Wen Tingyun and Li Shangyin of the late Tang Dynasty, we can feel that Li Bai's sorrow is powerful and his sorrow is magnificent. Just like his famous saying: "Cut the knife to cut off the water, the water will flow more, raise a cup to relieve the sorrow, the sorrow will become more sorrowful." ("Xuanzhou Xie? Loujie Farewell School Secretary Shu Yun") shows the sorrow of the strong, and there is a sense of grandeur in the sorrow. Strange Qi. Du Fu also wrote about sorrow, which is a great sorrow and a health sorrow that worries about the country and the people: "Worry ends all over the southern part of the country, and the hole cannot be broken." ("Five Hundred Words of Ode to the Heart from Beijing to Fengxian County")
Poets who embodied the atmosphere of the prosperous Tang Dynasty were often charming figures. For example, Wang Wei, an all-rounder cultivated in that era, is such a person. He has profound attainments in Buddhism and is able to integrate Zen ideas into poetry. He was a calligrapher, musician and painter, and was respected by later generations as the ancestor of literati painting. According to the "Xuanhe Painting Book", there are 126 pieces of his paintings in the Song Dynasty court alone. Wang Wei could compose poems and essays at the age of nine. His political poems, landscape poems, frontier poems, and farewell poems were all first-rate. Su Shi said: "When you taste Mojie's poems, there are paintings within the poems; when you look at Mojie's paintings, there are poems within the paintings" ("Shu Mojie's Pictures of Misty Rain in Lantian"). Li Bai's charm is unmatched by anyone. He conquered the readers at that time with a shocking power. He was not willing to follow the imperial examination path of ordinary scholars, and wanted to directly win the chancellorship by virtue of his talents and reputation. He often compares himself to a roc, flying freely between heaven and earth. Secretary Superintendent He Zhizhang met Li Bai for the first time in Chang'an. He recited his "The Road to Shu is Difficult" and called him "the Immortal". He took off his golden tortoise and exchanged it for wine. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty also lowered his chariot to welcome him, holding a spoon in his hand to entertain him. On his way to Chang'an to take the exam, Du Fu met Li Bai, who had left Chang'an and wandered eastward. He actually gave up the exam and followed Li Bai to roam many places. After farewell, Du Fu still missed him and wrote many poems in memory of him, praising him for "the pen is astonishing in the wind and rain." , the poem became a cry for ghosts and gods." ("Twenty Rhymes to Li Twelve and White") There is also a man named Wei Wan who followed Li Bai from Song Song Dynasty for thousands of miles and finally met in Guangling. Li Bai's poems are praised for their "ghosts and ghosts". The charm of the poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty is not only their personal, but also belongs to that era. Only a glorious era can provide conditions for brilliant characters to develop their charm.
As a reflection of the spirit of the Tang Dynasty, the atmosphere of the prosperous Tang Dynasty is also present in other art categories such as calligraphy, painting, and music. Zhang Xu's cursive calligraphy is wild and uninhibited. Li Qi described his demeanor when writing in "A Gift to Zhang Xu": "With the top of the bed exposed, he screamed three or five times. When he was happy, he sprinkled the plain wall with his pen like a shooting star." Yan Zhenqing's The regular script reveals a solemn and inviolable momentum. Wu Daozi's paintings made a sensation in Chang'an. When he was painting at Xingshan Temple, he "set up his brush and swept it with a force like a whirlwind. Everyone said it was divine help." (Zhu Jingxuan's "Famous Paintings of the Tang Dynasty"). Wu Daozi met the calligrapher Zhang Xu and the famous sword dancer Pei Yu in Luoyang. Pei asked Wu to paint a mural for his deceased parents in Tiangong Temple. Wu did not accept the gold and asked Pei to dance with swords to strengthen his strength.
"After dancing, I started writing hard and finished it in a short while." Zhang Xu also wrote a wall of words there. People in Luoyang said: "In one day, you can see three unique things." (Zhu Jingxuan's "Famous Paintings of the Tang Dynasty") At that time, there were Cao Ba, Han Gan, Wei Yan and others who were good at painting horses. Du Fu praised Cao Ba's paintings as "spiritual" in "Danqing Yin"; he said that he was a portrait of Xuanzong's royal horse, "The nine-fold real dragon appears from here, and all the horses are washed away." Dong Tinglan is good at playing Hujia, Li Qi described it The effect produced by his music: "The river cleans its waves, and the birds stop singing." ("Listen to the sound of Dong Da playing Hujia and sending messages to the house") Aunt Gongsun is good at dancing with swords. When she dances, "The viewer is as depressed as the mountains, and the sky and the earth are depressed for a long time." (Du Fu's "Watching Gongsun Auntie's Disciples Dance with Swords") The appearance of these artists, as well as their divinely assisted art, also presented the atmosphere of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.