Qu Yuan’s long poem that asked more than 170 questions in one breath is "Heavenly Questions".
The poem "Tianwen" has 373 sentences and 1,560 words. It is a long poem with four-character sentences as the basic format. It makes more than 170 suggestions on astronomy, geography, history, philosophy and many other aspects. (It is said that there are more than 150) questions, the artistic expression method of "Tianwen" mainly uses four characters as sentences, and associates from one question to another in the form of questions. You can still clarify the context by reading it carefully.
Questions about many historical issues often reflect the author’s thoughts, feelings, political opinions, and summary, praise and criticism of history; questions about nature reflect the author’s exploration spirit of the universe and his understanding of the universe. The suspicion of the legend also shows that the author has a more advanced cosmology and epistemology than his contemporaries.
"Tianwen" uses novel artistic techniques to express profound content, making it a unique work in the world library.
Many of these questions had not yet been solved in his time and he doubted them, and some of them were asked knowingly.
Artistic features of "Tianwen":
1. Original art.
The artistic originality of "Tianwen" is unique in the history of Chinese poetry, which is first of all manifested in the combination of deep rational thinking and passionate emotions. It expresses the poet's thoughtful opinions and doubts about nature, history, and society. It is very philosophical. However, it is also a passionate literary work and a long poem that is stimulating and touching.
2. Use of words.
"Tianwen" uses many interrogative words and function words, and changes in different sentence patterns, making the whole poem well-organized, fast and slow, and unique. The intricate changes in sentence patterns and question patterns, coupled with the rich emotional color, constitute the whole poem's majestic, vivid, and subtle style, achieving a strange and astonishing effect.
3. Classic poetry.
"Tianwen" is a classic poem full of strong rational exploration spirit and profound literary sentiment. Mr. Guo Moruo said: "In fact, "Tianwen" can be regarded as the first-class extraordinary text of all time." Some scholars say that it reflects Qu Yuan's academic thoughts and hits the pulse of Qu Yuan's vigorous rational thoughts.