The concept of pastoral poetry in the prosperous Tang Dynasty has specific connotations: First, as the name implies, it was formed and active in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Obviously, Tao and Xie of the previous generation and Wei and Liu of the later generation are not included in this list. Secondly, from the beginning, it was associated with the seclusion style. Its members mostly sang in five-character style and rural scenery, expressing their seclusion and leisure mood, and their poetic style was fresh and elegant. In view of this, we will not classify Gao, Cen, Li and Du, who also wrote pastoral poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, into this first-class school.
Of course, it is no accident that the school of pastoral poetry appeared in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. The prevalence of seclusion, the development of manor economy and the wide spread of Buddhism and Taoism are the political, economic and ideological reasons for the emergence of the pastoral poetry school in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Among them, the prevalence of seclusion is particularly critical-in the era of economic prosperity and rich life, there are both people who regard seclusion as a "shortcut to the south" and those who use seclusion to escape from reality. They all pin their feelings on mountains and countryside, and regard them as their main aesthetic objects. As a result, the creation of pastoral poems will prosper for a while.
In addition to Wang Wei and Meng Haoran, there are also Chu Guangxi, Chang Jian, Zuyong, Liu, Lv Xiang and others who are the representative writers of the pastoral poetry school in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Among them, Wang and Meng can best represent the creative achievements and unique features of the pastoral poetry school in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Wang and Meng have always been equal. Throughout their life trajectory, it can be said that "all roads lead to the same goal": after their arduous trek, they all regard "landscape and pastoral" as the last stop of their life journey, eager to pin their tired body and mind in the embrace of nature. Therefore, in their long-term seclusion, they became seekers, discoverers, appreciators and executors of natural beauty, and then became outstanding representatives of the pastoral poetry school in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
As outstanding representatives of the pastoral poetry school in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, both Wang and Meng described and displayed a bright world in their poems. There are two main latitudes and longitudes that make up this bright world: one is the joy of the countryside, and the other is the beauty of mountains and rivers. The former is more inclined to blend in with leisure and seclusion, while the latter is more inclined to blend in with loneliness and lofty aspirations. But this is only in terms of its large and careful search and deduction, and both Wang and Meng have their own interesting things:
What's the difference between pastoral poetry and landscape poetry?
First of all, from the content, the theme of Meng's poems is more concentrated than Wang Wei's. Wang's poems not only express his feelings for the countryside, but also express his ideals and ambitions, and eulogize the frontier soldiers, such as The Journey to the West and The Book of Joining the Army. There are also works that expose social reality and pour out women's grievances, such as Song of Luoyang Girls and Xi Shiyong. Meng's poems not only express the joy of countryside and the beauty of mountains and rivers, but also express his thought of being an official and the pain of hard-to-pay ambition. The reason may be that Wang's life experience is rich: although he retired passively in the later period, he was keen on politics and worked hard in the early period. He once lived as an official in North Korea and asked questions. However, Meng lived in seclusion, although he didn't want to live in seclusion for life. Su Shi once commented: "The poetry of Haoran is only short in rhyme, such as making wine in the house, and it has no ears." If the "talent" of "short talent" is understood as the "material" of "theme", it is deep success.
Secondly, from the perspective of emotional appeal, both Wang and Meng are willing to show the leisure of seclusion, but Wang's poems are often mixed with a cold and lonely mood, while Meng's poems often reveal a depressed mood. Generally speaking, the two lyric heroes wandering in the bright world are so carefree, as if they have reached a high degree of tacit understanding with the beautiful landscape and countryside. But in fact, whether it is the beauty of mountains and rivers or the joy of the countryside, they have not forgotten the humiliation. As far as Meng Haoran is concerned, the pain of being an official has bitten his heart from time to time and turned into injustice between the lines. For example, the first half of the poem "I was ill in late spring, and sent Zhang Bazi Rong" was fresh and elegant, but after a short surprise, it caused a kind of melancholy that it was hard to find a bosom friend and there was no hope of fame: "The world is envious of itself, and there are few local conditions and customs" and "I am always afraid to make up for the vacancy and have no chance to flap my wings". In the poem "On Climbing the Wild Goose Mountain with Friends", the beauty of mountains and rivers certainly aroused the poet's desire to climb high and look forward to the past, but at the same time it also made him ashamed to see the sage Si Qi: "The sheep monument is still there, we have cried and read words." These tears are not only tears of shame, but also tears of sadness and anger. As far as Wang Wei is concerned, his appearance is not as broad and elegant as Meng Haoran, but it is quieter and more indifferent than Meng Haoran. Sometimes, this silence and indifference are almost close to silence. "Time goes by, only give me peace, nothing bothers me" (Answer to Deputy Governor Zhang) is the best summary of the poet's own cold and lonely mood. For example, the poem Zhuliguan, at first glance, the characters in the poem are so enjoying themselves and the scenery in the poem is so beautiful. However, if we link the sentence "It's too light for anyone to hear" with other poems such as "There seems to be no one on the empty mountain" (Chai Lu) and "There is no one in the stream" (Wu Xinyi), we can't help but be surprised by the poet's cold feelings. In my retreat in Zhongnanshan, two sentences "I will walk until the water blocks my way, and then sit and watch the rising clouds" were once considered as the most interesting famous sentences. In fact, what is hidden in his interest in watching flowing water is a cold and silent state of mind that "everything is clear". This cold and lonely mood is undoubtedly related to Wang Wei's worship of Buddha. Long before his death, he was known as "a contemporary poet and a good Zen master" (Yuan Zhen's "Appreciating Wang Weixu"); After his death, he got the title of "Shi Fo". The realms of "emptiness", "quietness" and "leisure" in his poems are the artistic projection of Zen's theory of mind and nature.
Thirdly, from the artistic conception, both Wang and Meng pay attention to the unity of subjectivity and objectivity, forming the harmonious beauty of the picture. However, Meng's poems often stop at the blending of emotion and scenery, while Wang's poems not only advocate the blending of emotion and scenery, but also integrate the word reason into it. Therefore, in Wang's poems, we can often capture the "philosophical spirit". Although this philosophy originated from Zen to a great extent, it made the artistic conception of Wang's poems more lofty. Therefore, if the artistic conception is muddy, Wang is not as good as Meng; If the artistic conception is lofty, Meng is not as good as Wang.
Fourth, from the technical point of view, the five-character poems are often virtual and real, and both static and dynamic, while Meng's poems are often straightforward and static; At the same time, Wang Shi is better than Meng Shi in framing, modeling and layout, paying more attention to the contrast between cold and warm colors and the cooperation between indoor and voiceover. In contrast, Wang's poetic skills are diverse, while Meng's poetic skills are monotonous. That is to say, as far as Wang's poem ""is concerned, the poet shows the overall ethereal artistic conception with a real corner. The warm color of the setting sun faintly covers the cold moss, which highlights the coldness of the empty mountain. The echo of human language in the valley shows the rare silence in the depths of the forest. The cold and warm colors of the picture complement each other, which is in sharp contrast with the dynamic and static contrast inside and outside the picture, so that the limited picture extends to the infinite space outside the picture. So he can do this because Wang Wei is familiar with both the art of poetry and painting and the theory of music.
In addition, we can further analyze the artistic features of Wang and Meng's poems from other aspects, such as the plain and simple language of Meng's poems and the delicate and delicate language of Wang's poems. In a word, there are similarities and differences between Wang and Meng's poems, and each has its own personality. Previous attempts have been made to compare the similarities and differences between Wang and Meng's poetic styles, such as Wang Shizhen's Poems in Class: "Comparison of Poetry, Wang Buddha Language and Meng Bodhisattva Language". This gives us the enlightenment that we should not only examine the pastoral poetry school in the prosperous Tang Dynasty as a whole, but also deeply see how Lingguang shines in the respective artistic pursuits of representative writers such as Wang and Meng. Pastoral poetry and landscape poetry are often referred to as the same category, but they are two different themes. Pastoral poetry will write about rural scenery, but the main body is about rural life, farmers and farming. Landscape poems mainly describe natural scenery, and poets' aesthetic appreciation of landscape images is often associated with travel.
Landscape poetry originated from Xie Lingyun in the Southern Dynasty (Song Dynasty), and pastoral poetry originated from Tao Yuanming in the Jin Dynasty, represented by Wang Wei and Meng Haoran in the Tang Dynasty. This kind of poetry is good at describing natural scenery, pastoral scenery and comfortable seclusion. Poetry and painting are meaningful and beautiful, the style is quiet and elegant, the language is beautiful and refined, and the line drawing technique is used.
Landscape pastoral poetry belongs to the category of landscape poetry, focusing on singing landscape pastoral in natural scenery. Landscape pastoral poetry formed a poetic monument in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. As for the counterexamples of more landscape poems than pastoral poems, it is not very prominent. Ancient excellent pastoral poetry is an artistic representation of the natural beauty of mountains and waters, so it has strong artistic appeal and gives people beautiful enjoyment. The main feature of this kind of poetry is that "all scenery words are sentimental words", that is, the natural scenery written by the author is integrated with the author's subjective feelings, or the scenery is used to express feelings, or the scene is blended. The main representatives of landscape pastoral poetry are Xie Lingyun, Tao Yuanming, Meng Haoran, Wang Wei, Fan Chengda and Yang Wanli. Li Bai, Du Fu, Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi also have a large number of excellent works describing landscapes.