In Tang poetry, there is a historical theme, which we traditionally call epic. Praise history and regard historical figures and stories as a content and a theme of poetry.
The Tang Dynasty was a period that paid special attention to history. Before the Tang Dynasty, it experienced Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, long-term division, national turmoil and final reunification. Therefore, people in the Tang Dynasty paid special attention to historical experience and lessons and produced many poems.
Writing epic began with Zuo Si in Jin Dynasty. He wrote a set of poems, all about history, called eight poems about history, the most famous of which is:
The bottom of the gloomy ravine is loose, leaving seedlings on the mountain. With an inch in diameter and a rhizome, you can cover the hundred feet.
In the valley, there is a lush and very tall pine tree. On the top of the mountain, there is a small sapling, only one inch thick. As a result, this small tree covered the big tree instead. When the sun shines, it shines on the small tree first, and its shadow falls on the big tree and is blocked.
In fact, Zuo Si is talking about the unfairness and inequality in this society. Some people are gifted and virtuous, but they come from humble origins, just like pine trees growing in the valley. On the contrary, some people are born noble, although they are small saplings, but they grow on the top of the mountain.
This poem is about a sense of injustice in Zuo Si's heart, and a feeling of life. Finally, he pointed out historical figures. In the Han Dynasty, there was a man named Feng Tang. Feng Gong is not great, but his head is white. Isn't Feng Tang a great man? He is very insightful and talented, but because of his humble background, he has been a small official all his life and is not valued. In this way, he not only recited historical figures, but also expressed some of his feelings, which is what we call the tradition of chanting poems. Good poems are basically written like this.
So, what is the epic of the Tang Dynasty like? Li Bai and Du Fu wrote many poems about history, and they praised many historical figures. Li Bai's favorite poems are Lu Zhonglian and Sean.
Lu Zhonglian was a native of Qi during the Warring States Period. His greatest feature is that he likes to help others solve difficulties. Of course, they are all national affairs. When the capital of Zhao was surrounded by Qin, Lv Zhonglian stepped forward to help them out of trouble. After these things were done, he got nothing in return. Li Bai said that he would not be rewarded for his achievements, and he would not accept any offer from officials or money. Lu Zhonglian said that if I accept it, I will become a businessman. I'm not a businessman, I'm a scholar.
Another person whom Li Bai worships is Sean in the early Han Dynasty. He sent a Hercules to assassinate Qin Shihuang, but failed. Later, he helped Liu Bang fight against Qin, defeated Xiang Yu and established the Han Dynasty. He is a minister with outstanding achievements. However, after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Sean was not rewarded. He was ostracized by high-ranking officials and became a monk and studied immortals.
For Li Bai, these two people are their own life ideals. I hope I can stand up and contribute to my country and retire when I become famous. So Li Bai praised the ancients, one was Lv Zhonglian and the other was Sean.
Where is Du Fu? Among his epics, Zhuge Liang is the most famous. He wrote many poems praising Zhuge Liang in his life. After Du Fu arrived in Chengdu, he visited Zhuge Liang's ancestral temple and wrote a poem called Shu Xiang:
Where is the temple of the famous prime minister? It is in a deep pine forest near the Silk City.
I'm looking for Zhuge Liang's ancestral temple. Where is his ancestral temple? When asked, people said that there was a temple of Wuhou in the south of Chengdu, which was covered with cypress trees, so he went. This poem expresses Du Fu's heart, hoping that he can devote himself to it like Zhuge Liang and die. At the end of the poem, he said:
But before he conquered, he died, and since then the heroes have been crying on their coats.
Zhuge Liang's dream of reviving the Han Dynasty was not realized and he left with regret. Du Fu said it was a pity that his ambition was not realized and his life was over. Heroes of later generations will shed tears and sympathize with him when they think about this.
Du Fu sympathized with Zhuge Liang, and when later generations read this poem of Du Fu, they had double sympathy, both for Zhuge Liang and Du Fu. Therefore, many talented people in later generations, who want to serve their country, have no chance, and often find the figure of * * * from these two poems.
According to Professor Mo Lifeng's account, both Li Bai and Du Fu found a person who was most suitable for their own life ideals among the ancients, and then praised them in his poems. So who is the historical figure that Tang Dynasty poets like to sing most in the whole epic of Tang Dynasty?
Among all the epics in the Tang Dynasty, the poets in the Tang Dynasty like to chant historical figures best, and the first one is Jia Yi in the Han Dynasty. Jia Yi was a famous politician, writer and thinker in the early Han Dynasty, and also a typical figure in history.
Jia Yi's talent is outstanding. In his early twenties, Emperor Wen of Han called him a doctor. Not a doctor now, it was an official name in ancient times, and he was promoted to a doctor in Taizhong within one year. Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty asked him to hold public office. Now he is a senior cadre with a high status. Because he is only in his early twenties, many courtiers with high status in the court are jealous of him, such as Zhou Bo and Guan Ying. These people are older than him. When they saw that Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty wanted to entrust an important task, they were unwilling, and they slandered Jia Yi in succession. Finally, Emperor Wen of Han had to banish him to Chang 'an. Twenty-three-year-old Jia Yi was demoted to Changsha and asked him to be the teacher of Changsha King. Changsha is a metropolis now. In ancient times, it was just a very remote and desolate place.
Four years later. Jia Yi was twenty-seven years old, and Wendi recalled Chang 'an. According to historical records, Jia Yi wrote a famous poem to the imperial court at that time, saying that the present Han Empire seems to be very powerful, but in fact there are many internal and external troubles. In many places, our measures and policies have not been done well, which is regrettable. Two things make me want to cry, and six things make me want to sigh.
What he wanted to cry was that the Han Dynasty sealed many governors at that time. These governors are all local kingdoms, such as Wu and Chu. These kings are too powerful. If the local government is too strong, it will be too big to lose, and it will be difficult for the central government to control it. Over time, the country will split. Jia Yi said that this is a big worry and should be solved.
What he regrets most is that the Huns invaded from abroad, and they are not doing very well at present. These are the worries of the country. He put forward some methods and concrete measures to solve the problem, what should be done and what countermeasures should be taken to ensure the long-term stability of the Western Han Empire.
Emperor Wen of Han attached great importance to Jia Yi and thought that this man was great. Later, Emperor Wen appointed him to assist his youngest son, who was named King Huai Liang. Jia Yi is the little prince's teacher, teaching him how to read and how to be a man. It's a pity that Jia Yi's life is bad. He worked as a teacher for several years, and only a teenager, Liang, accidentally fell off his horse and died. Jia Yi felt sad that she had not fulfilled her responsibility. He often cries. At the age of 33, Jia Yi also passed away. He gave so many good suggestions to the court that he died before implementing them. Historically, Jia Yi was regarded as a typical talent.
Poets in the Tang Dynasty began to praise him. Du Fu said that since Jia Yi's funeral, no one has cared about state affairs like Jia Yi. Liu Changqing, a poet in the middle Tang Dynasty, passed by Changsha 950 years after Jia Yi was demoted to Changsha. He went to mourn Jia Yi's former residence and wrote a poem. He said Jia Yi's former residence was desolate and overgrown with weeds. At sunset, I walked into my hometown. He is too sympathetic to Jia Yi, relegated all the way here, he asked:
If even a good Wendi has a heart of stone, can you still expect the slow Hexiang to understand you?
Xiangshui is the Xiangjiang River, heartless. It has been flowing like this since ancient times. You Jia Yi is in Xiangjiang River, and you mourn him. How would he know? This means that Jia Yi was demoted to Changsha. When he passed the Xiangjiang River, Jia Yi wrote a poem to pay tribute to Qu Yuan.
Guluo River, where Qu Yuan committed suicide, is a tributary of Xiangjiang River. Qu Yuan was also loyal to Chu He, but he was suspected and exiled. Jia Yi thinks I'm just like him. He put the written fu into Xiangjiang River to pay homage to Qu Yuan. Liu Changqing said, although you mourn Qu Yuan, who knows? The implication is that who sympathizes with you?
If even a good Emperor Wen has a heart of stone, and a Tao refers to a king with a Tao, the Emperor Wen of Han is a king with a Tao. He paid taxes lightly in order to let the people recuperate. Only in the time of Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty did the curtains in the palace be sewn together with old cloth bags. This is a good emperor, but even if you meet such a good emperor, he is not very good to you Jia Yi! In other words, he didn't value you and didn't give full play to your talents.
Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty reigned for twenty-three years and was a generous and thrifty king of benevolence and righteousness. Although Jia Yi was demoted in his early years, he was recalled to Chang 'an four years later, which shows that Emperor Wen of Han appreciated Jia Yi's talents. However, why did Liu Changqing say that Emperor Wendi was not generous to Jia Yi?
There is a poem that illustrates this problem. In the late Tang Dynasty, Li Shangyin wrote a poem praising Jia Yi called Jia Sheng. Jia Sheng means Mr. Jia. This poem says:
In the propaganda room, seeking the virtuous to visit the minister, Jia was even more incoherent, pathetic in the middle of the night, not asking the people to ask ghosts and gods.
The main hall of Weiyang Palace in Han Dynasty is called Xuan Shi. Emperor Wendi recalled Jia Yi from Changsha and met him in Xuan Shi. Wendi and Jia Yi sat face to face and talked until midnight. Jia Yi spoke well, and Wendi was fascinated. Wendi Deng unconsciously moved her body forward, which is the so-called front seat. This way you can get closer and hear more clearly. Unfortunately, this is an empty front seat, empty. You should know that Jia Yi's greatest talent is to bring peace and stability to the country. If you ask Jia Yi for advice, you should ask how to govern the country, how to build the country well, and how to make people's lives better. You should care about ordinary people, but Wendi didn't. I kept talking about it that day. What is that? It's about ghosts
This is not Jia Yi's strong point or his main skill, so Li Shangyin feels very sorry. This is the key to even being a good emperor. On the surface, Emperor Wen of Han attached great importance to Jia Yi. Four years later, he was recalled, met in person, talked with him, and asked him to assist the prince. However, in the most fundamental national policies and plans, you have not adopted Jia Yi's opinion. After all, you still don't pay attention to him.
Poets in the Tang Dynasty felt that Jia Yi was incompetent, so they wrote many poems to praise Jia Yi.
There is also a historical figure who shines brilliantly in the epic of the Tang Dynasty. Although she is only a weak woman, she has attracted many scholars to recite scriptures for her. Who is she?
There is also a historical figure who shines brilliantly in the epic of the Tang Dynasty. She is a weak woman, and many scholars recite scriptures for her. She is Wang Zhaojun, one of the four beauties in ancient times.
Wang Zhaojun, a native of the Western Han Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, was elected to the palace during the court beauty contest. Wang Zhaojun is in the palace. He didn't have a chance to see the emperor for many years, so he stayed in the palace silently. A few years later, Uhaanyehe, the leader of the southern Xiongnu, appeared before the Han emperor. In order to win over the Huns, he decided to choose five beautiful women from the palace and marry Uhaanyehe.
This choice is not important. Wang Zhaojun was chosen. But Wang Zhaojun took the initiative to register, because she had not seen the emperor in the palace for many years, and she was silent. After signing up, I was really selected. On the day of departure, the emperor gave a banquet in honor of Hu and his party, and then called out the five ladies-in-waiting and gave them to Khan, saying that you can take them away!
As soon as these five ladies appeared, they were amazing. You have read Bai Juyi's Song of Eternal Sorrow, and there is a saying about Yang Guifei, and the makeup of the sixth palace is wiped out. In other words, as long as there is a particularly beautiful person, looking at other beautiful women will lose their luster. As soon as Wang Zhaojun appeared, the whole palace suddenly lost its luster, and the emperor of the Han Dynasty froze at first sight: How to give such a beautiful woman to the Huns? I have never seen this beautiful woman. I should want her. I can make her queen, but now that the list is published, I regret it. In this way, Wang Zhaojun married Uhaanyehe, a Hun. She never came back after this trip. Later, he died in Xiongnu and was buried in Xiongnu.
Both Hanshu and Houhanshu recorded this matter. Other books, such as Miscellanies of Xijing, also recorded some details: Why did Wang Zhaojun enter the palace for many years and never see the emperor? It turns out that Emperor Hanyuan was also a bureaucrat. He didn't watch the beauty pageant one by one, but looked at the portrait. There were no photos at that time. The painter in the palace drew a picture for each beautiful woman for the emperor to see and let him choose.
I remember clearly in Miscellanies of Xijing that those painters took the opportunity to make money. If any maid-in-waiting gives me money, I will paint her beautifully. If you don't pay me, I'll paint you ugly. Wang Zhaojun thinks that I am the most fashionable in the palace and born with beauty, so I won't spend this money. Maybe her family is poor and has no money. In short, she didn't send money to the painter, so of course people won't give you good paintings. Therefore, Wendi has never seen the most beautiful woman in this Han Palace.
Wang Zhaojun's deeds have aroused endless sympathy and sighs from future generations. Both Li Bai and Du Fu wrote poems for her. A poem written by Li Bai is called Wang Zhaojun:
The Han family plays the piano on the moon, and the princess is projected.
Once on the jade pass, the end of the world is gone forever.
John also went out from the East China Sea, and Fei Ming married the west with no future.
Swallow branches grow in Leng Xue, and moths are haggard and unshaven.
It's awkward to live in the control of gold and waste pictures and die in the tomb.
Wang Zhaojun married the moon of the Western and Han Dynasties and followed her all the way to Yumenguan and the ends of the earth. Outside Yumenguan, it is not the site of Han Dynasty, but the site of Xiongnu. John still sailed from the East China Sea and continued to accompany Wang Zhaojun to the west. Tomorrow the moon will come, it will come back and rise from the East China Sea. But Wang Zhaojun married to the West and never came back.
On the other side of Xiongnu, there is a mountain called Yan Zhishan. It is said that on that mountain, there is a kind of grass called Yan Zhicao, which is used by local women for makeup and beauty. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, after the army of the Han Dynasty captured Yan Zhishan, the Huns had a folk song: Losing Yan Zhishan made my woman lose color, losing Yan Zhishan made us Huns lose cosmetics.
Yanzhishan, this Xiongnu Mountain, is very cold all year round, and there are no flowers. The snowflake on Tianshan Mountain is its flower, and Wang Zhaojun is here. Although she was beautiful, she languished and aged, and finally died there, a foreign country full of yellow sand.
The last two sentences: it's awkward to live in a golden waste picture and die in a grave. If you don't give the painter gold before you die, you have no chance to be valued by the emperor. After you die, you will only leave a grave, and future generations will come here to mourn you and sigh for you. Zhong Qing refers to the tomb of Wang Zhaojun, in the south of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. Legend has it that the local grass is all white, and only the grass on Qinghai-Tibet is green, so it is called Qinghai-Tibet.
Du Fu also wrote a poem to pay tribute to Wang Zhaojun. Du Fu came to Kuizhou in his later years, next to the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. There are many historical sites in that place. Du Fu wrote five poems in succession to commemorate five ancient people. Yu Xin, the last great writer in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Song Yu, a contemporary writer of Chu Ci, and a pair of ancient heroes Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang. The first two are male writers, the last two are male ancient heroes, and the third is Wang Zhaojun, a weak woman.
In Du Fu's mind, these five people are equal and all historical figures of great significance. In Five Poems about Epics, the third one is about Wang Zhaojun.
Thousands of valleys are near Jingmen, and girls grow up in Sri Lanka.
In the Three Gorges area, there are mountains on both sides, from Qutang Gorge to Wuxia Gorge and then to Xiling Gorge. The mountains on both sides are from high to low, and finally Jingmen Mountain. After going out, there are no mountains. Fei Ming is Wang Zhaojun, formerly known as Wang Qiang, whose name is Zhaojun. Because Emperor Wen of Jin called it, the words in the ancient emperor's name could not be used by others, so the word Zhao in Wang Zhaojun could not be used, and it was changed, so it was called.
There is a small village among the mountains. This is the birthplace of Wang Zhaojun, called Zhaojun Village, in Zigui County, Hubei Province. There is a beautiful river called Xiangxi. Xiangxi originated in Shennongjia and flowed into the Yangtze River. Zhaojun Village is located on the banks of Xiangxi River, in the middle of Three Gorges, with Xiling Gorge in the east and Qutang Gorge and Wuxia in the west.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was a man named Hu Zhenheng. He said that the first two sentences of Du Fu's poem were not well written. The mountains flew all the way to the east, magnificent. A hero should be born here. Now Wang Zhaojun, a weak woman, is born. The two don't match.
A man named Wu Zhantai of A Qing Dynasty disagreed with him. Wu Zhantai said that this is a very good start and the mountains and rivers are magnificent. Then Zhong Ling is beautiful, and the essence of mountains and rivers is concentrated in one point. In a small village, a figure of Rainbow Zhaojun appeared. These two poems, he used eight words to evaluate: the beauty of gentle and graceful, earth-shattering, although it produced a weak woman and a beautiful woman, but she is an earth-shattering figure.
Objectively speaking, Wang Zhaojun's marriage to Xiongnu contributed to the peace and friendship between the southern Xiongnu and the Han Dynasty. After Wang Zhaojun got married, there was no war for 40 years.
Subjectively speaking, it is a tragedy for Wang Zhaojun personally. Her peerless beauty was not valued in the Han Palace, and she could never return to her hometown or motherland. Du Fu expressed deep sympathy for Wang Zhaojun here:
The Tatar song on her jade guitar tells her eternal sadness.
In pipa music, there is a special tune called "Zhao Jun's resentment", which plays the resentment in Zhao Jun's heart.
Du Fu's poem was appraised by Jin Shengtan in Qing Dynasty as an accusation against the talented people. Wang Zhaojun is not a gifted scholar. She is a beautiful woman. Beauty is not valued, why is it the same as talent?
In feudal society, men were more important to society because of their talents, while women were more important to society because of their looks. In feudal society, women did not participate in social activities, and there was no possibility of doing business. Therefore, in feudal society, women's beauty was ignored, and it was the same as men's talent and value, which was a tragedy of life.
If it is important to say that the theme of failing to meet talents in epics, then we can regard the poems about Jia Yi as the male version of this theme, while the poems about Wang Zhaojun are the female version of this theme. Praise men, talents are not met, praise women, looks are not met. Their tragic nature aroused the feelings of future generations, and so did they.
There's a saying in feudal society, it's called a perfect match! Let's not talk about the perfect match now. Later generations, when reciting history, show sympathy for those who have no talent, because they also have no talent. In this value orientation, choosing historical figures Jia Yi and Wang Zhaojun is the first choice. In Tang poetry, these two people are the most recited and the best.
Lecture Room 0 1 Tang Poetry: Meteorology of Tang Poetry
Lecture Room "Tang Poetry" 02: Poetry Expressing Aspiration
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