The literary achievements of the Southern Dynasties are mainly reflected in poems, novels, literary comments and literary summaries.
Xie Lingyun (A.D. 385 ~ 433), a famous "landscape poet", was called the founder of landscape poetry school by later generations. His works greatly enriched and expanded the realm of poetry, made the description of landscape independent from metaphysical poetry, reversed the style of metaphysical poetry since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and established the status of landscape poetry. Xie Lingyun and his contemporaries, Yan Yanzhi and Bao Zhao, are also called "Three Masters of Yuanjia". They all pay great attention to describing the scenery of mountains and rivers, paying attention to flowery rhetoric and neat confrontation.
In addition, Xie Tiao (464-499 AD), a poet in the Southern Dynasties, also made great achievements in landscape poetry. He was meticulous in observation, vivid in description and beautiful in style. The scenery is lyrical, fresh and natural, with novel artistic conception, full of emotion and many beautiful sentences.
Shen Yue (A.D. 44 1 ~ 5 13), who wrote The Book of Song Dynasty, was called the literary leader of Qi and Liang Dynasties. At the same time, among the poets in Yongming style, Shen Yue was also famous at that time, and his poetic achievements were also outstanding.
Xu Ling (A.D. 507-583), a poet between Liang and Chen, is as famous as Yu Xin, and has made great achievements in the creation of palace poems and frontier poems. According to textual research, Xu Ling also edited a collection of poems from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty to the Southern Dynasties in the Liang Dynasty, named "Yutai New Poems", with a total of 769 poems, including 8 volumes of five-character poems, songs 1 volume, five-character four-sentence poems 1 volume and * *1volume. The standard of poetry in this book has certain characteristics, such as selecting some popular folk songs and nursery rhymes. China's ancient long narrative poem Peacock Flying Southeast first appeared in this book. Some valuable masterpieces also depend on the preservation and circulation of this book. The book also attaches importance to the five-character and four-sentence short songs that emerged in the Southern Dynasties, and it is included in a book, which has a certain role in promoting the development of the five-character and four-sentence poetic style in the Tang Dynasty.
Before The Portrait of Xie Lingyun, an important literary anthology appeared, edited by Xiao Tong, the son of Liang Wudi (50 1 ~ 53 1). Selected Works is the earliest extant collection of poems and essays in China. After Xiao Tong's death, posthumous title became famous, and later generations also called it Selected Works of Zhaoming. Selected Works has 30 volumes, including 30 literary works/kloc-0 since the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, which are divided into three categories: Fu, Poetry and Literature, and 38 subcategories. Among them, fu and poetry account for the largest proportion. Although there are some defects in the selection criteria of Selected Works, it has preserved important materials for later literary studies and occupied an important position in the history of literature.
Novels in the Southern Dynasties also made progress, mainly in the creation of strange novels and note novels.
Mystery novels mainly record fairy and ghost stories, mostly from the anecdotes of wizards and alchemists. There are many novels named after "Zhi Guai" in the works of the Six Dynasties, such as Zhi Guai by Zutai, Zhi Guai by Cao Pi and Zhi Guai by Yuekong. Gan Bao's Search for the Gods is a representative of mystery novels. During the Southern Dynasties, more exotic novels appeared, such as Qi Xie written by Song Dongyang, You written by Liu Song Yiqing, Strange Garden written by Song, Stories about Different Stories written by Qi Zu Chongzhi, Continued Harmony written by Liang, Notes Collection written by Liang and so on. Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio has a direct influence on the legends of the Tang Dynasty.
Notebook novels mainly record the words and deeds of historical figures. The most representative work at that time was Shi Shuo Xin Yu compiled by Liu Yiqing in the Southern Song Dynasty. The book has 36 articles in 6 volumes, which are divided into 36 subjects such as morality, language, politics, literature, founder, magnanimity, knowledge, appreciation, taste and advice. The content mainly records the words and deeds and anecdotes of some celebrities from the late Eastern Han Dynasty to the Jin and Song Dynasties. The characters in the book are all real people in history, but some of their remarks or stories are hearsay, which is not in line with historical facts, while others are mostly taken from previous records. This book has a great influence on later novels and essays.
An important feature of the literary development in the Southern Dynasties was that literary criticism was very active at that time. Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long and Zhong Rong's Shi Pin are outstanding representatives of literary criticism at that time.
Wen Xin Diao Long is the first literary theory monograph with a strict system in the history of literary theory criticism in China. Book 10 volume, 50 articles. On the basis of studying the works of various dynasties, this paper comprehensively discusses some important problems in literature. Among them are the characteristics and historical evolution of various works, the principles and methods of creation and criticism, and the relationship between literature and quality. It is argued that literature should reflect reality and should not pursue form unilaterally. It also holds that the development of literature is restricted by the social situation and its development, and compares and comments on the advantages and disadvantages of many writers and works. Wen Xin Diao Long summarizes the literary development before Qi and Liang Dynasties, and pushes literary theory and criticism to a new stage. It is a wonderful work in the history of China's ancient literary criticism.
Zhong Rong's Shi Pin is a literary criticism after Wen Xin Diao Long. Poetry mainly comments on five-character poems. The book * * * comments on poets from Han to Liang 122 people, including top-grade poets 1 1 person, 39 middle-grade poets and 72 inferior poets. Zhong Rong is good at summarizing the poet's unique artistic style, and his words are very fresh and appropriate. He resolutely opposed the allusion and Shen Yue's theory of four tones and eight diseases, and also had a certain historical view. Shi Pin is the first book on poetry in China, which has a great influence on the creation and criticism of poetry in later generations.
Literature in the Northern Dynasties developed after Emperor Xiaowen and Taihe, and made outstanding achievements in prose and poetry.
Yan Zhitui (AD 53l~ ~ 595), a native of Linyi (now Linyi North, Shandong Province), was born in a noble family. In his early years, he served as an official in Nanliang, was captured in the Western Wei Dynasty, and then went to Beiqi. After the death of Northern Qi Dynasty, he entered Northern Zhou Dynasty again. After the Sui Dynasty, he served as a bachelor of Sui Dynasty. His most famous work is Yan Jiaxun, which consists of 7 volumes and 20 articles. It mainly describes personal experience, thoughts and knowledge, with the purpose of warning future generations. There are many descriptions and expositions about the society, politics and culture of the Northern and Southern Dynasties in the book, which are of high historical value.
Yu Xin (AD 5 13 ~ 58 1) was born in Xinye, Nanyang (now Xinye, Henan). He once worked in the Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties, and together with Xu Ling, he served as a bachelor of Xiaogang in the East Palace. His articles are as famous as Xu Ling's, and his literary style is called "Yu Xu Style". During the Hou Jing Rebellion, Yu Xin fled to Jiangling to assist Emperor Liang Yuan. Later, he was ordered to go to the Western Wei Dynasty and was detained by the Western Wei Dynasty. After the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Western Wei Dynasty, Yu Xin continued to serve in the Northern Zhou Dynasty and was never allowed to return to the South. Yu Xin was a literary master in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, with his own unique style of writing. His parallel prose and parallel prose express the nostalgia for the old country and the sadness of life experience, which can be compared with Bao Zhao and represent the highest achievements of parallel prose and parallel prose in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. His poems initially integrated the poetic styles of the North and the South, which had an important influence on Tang poetry.
Notes on Water Mirror by Li Daoyuan (466 AD or 472 ~ 527 AD) and Luoyang Ji by Yang A (Xà n) (the year of birth and death is unknown) in the Northern Wei Dynasty are not only outstanding works of geography, but also outstanding works of prose and literature in the Northern Dynasty.
The creation of Yuefu folk songs in the Northern Dynasties is also outstanding. The long narrative folk song Mulan Poetry tells the story of Mulan's father joining the army, which is both legendary and touching, with strong folk song characteristics and strong artistic appeal. "Chile Song" is a folk song sung by Chile singers, which has a clear and generous style unique to the folk songs of the Northern Dynasties and is praised by future generations.