The Relationship between China's Ancient Poetry and History

If literature is essentially subordinate to history, this may be a problem that no one opposes or delves into. The current calm of the forum can only show that modern people are numb in theory. In fact, this issue has been debated in both the West and China. Wang Tingxiang and Yang Shen in the Ming Dynasty were critical of Du Fu's practice of taking poetry as history, while Wang Fuzhi in the Qing Dynasty was even more intense. When commenting on Nineteen Ancient Poems: Stories Collected from Mountains, he wrote: A poem is particularly difficult to describe, but it is not easy to make a history solid and colorful, and it is easy to write from reality. Poetry is not just an emotional matter, that is, language painting, but also uses historical methods to make mutual feelings not in the harmony of eternal words, and poetry is useless. ..... Du Zimei put "Shi Qu Guan" this work, also will be cool, every time when depicting or forced to write, look at the truth, ultimately more history, less poetry. Commentators are praised as "the history of poetry", but when they see camels, they hate that their horses are not swollen, so they are called pitiful. [1] Wang Fuzhi is paranoid and cute because he advocates the concept of emotional essence. Although literature and history are different in form, they are not without identity at the height of historical truth. Especially those literary works that deliberately reflect the original appearance of social life, the historical truth they show is often amazing. Du Fu expressed the true historical features before and after the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty in the form of poems, leaving us with an image of the historical picture, thus enjoying the typical performance of unilaterally emphasizing literature as poetry, blurring the boundary between literature and non-literature, and obliterating the aesthetic characteristics of literature. [2] It seems that it is really necessary to seriously discuss the historical attributes of literature. Similarly, the debate about the historicity of literature also took place in the West. For example, Schiller wrote in On the Art of Tragedy: It can be seen that strict attention to historical authenticity will often damage the authenticity of poetry. On the contrary, serious damage to historical authenticity will give full play to the authenticity of poetry ... So no matter who wants to summon a tragic poet to the court of history to learn from him, he really lacks an understanding of tragedy-in fact, all poetic arts are like this. [3] Schiller completely opposed poetry and history, which is obviously a double misunderstanding of history and literature. If tragedy is created to "destroy" historical truth, what is the meaning of "poetic truth"? If tragedy can't stand the test of historical court, then, does tragedy still have the charm of poetry? Therefore, in the history of western literary theory, few people agree with Schiller's point of view. On the contrary, the historical attribute of literature has been fully discussed. However, due to the complexity of this issue, both China and the West have many problems worth studying and discussing. I. Discussion on the Historical Attributes of Literature in Ancient China China's earliest view of literary history is generally manifested in the confusion of poetry and history. This may be related to China's ancient concept of miscellaneous literature. Since all the people who resort to bamboo and silk are literature, the history of poetry is naturally a family. On the relationship between poetry and history, Mr. Min Ze has a striking outline in his History of China's Aesthetic Thought. Now, we will sort out and study it in detail on this basis. Monk was the first person to treat literature and history equally and resort to writing. (the trace of the first king died, but the poem died, and the poem died and then wrote the Spring and Autumn Period. Cheng of Jin, Yao of Chu, Spring and Autumn of Lu, one also. In Mencius' view, the emergence of historical books such as Spring and Autumn Annals is a continuation and supplement to The Book of Songs, and poetry has almost the same nature and function in history. Thus, China's view of poetry, history and literature came into being. In fact, this idea was not initiated by Monk, but probably his summary of the ancient poetic tradition. You see, the meaning of "view" in Confucius' theory of "enjoying the scenery and complaining about the people" does not contain the core of historical literature view? The so-called "observing the ups and downs of customs" (Zheng Xuan's note) and the so-called "observing gains and losses" (Zhu's note) must all admit that poetry is the theoretical premise for the true reflection of social life. This is the expression of the historical attribute of literature. Confucius' view of poetry did not come out of thin air, but was naturally summed up from the official attitude and practice towards folk poetry at that time. Before Confucius, many documents recorded the activities of "watching music" by the court and nobles. All these are the basis for Mencius to discover the relationship between poetry and history. In the Han Dynasty, Sima Qian, as a real historian, took the Book of Songs as a model and formulated writing principles for himself. He wrote: 300 poems are largely the work of sages. This man has a sense of stagnation that he can't understand. So he tells the past and thinks about new people, so he has been talking about Tao and Tang, and as for Lin, since the Yellow Emperor. [4] Obviously, Sima Qian inherited Mencius' viewpoint and wrote history according to the principle of "poetry", and Historical Records became his cynical work. In this way, it is not surprising that Historical Records is full of rich poetry and distinctive literariness. At the same time, Sima Qian's Historical Records also inherited the historical tradition since the Spring and Autumn Annals. He said: "Go to Ming and Wang Zhidao, argue the discipline of personnel, do not doubt right and wrong, be clear about right and wrong, hesitate, distinguish good from evil, be virtuous but not corrupt, save the country, make up for it, and be king." [5] In this way, he brought the spirit of "not empty beauty" and "not hiding evil" into historical biography literature, which opened the realistic tradition of China literature. This thought was integrated with the "irony" theory of pre-Qin poetics, which formed the literary view of "Preface to Poetry" and made a new interpretation of "The Book of Songs". Its cloud: it is based on the matter of a country and the foundation of one person, which is called the wind. It is an elegance to talk about everything and form a wind in all directions. Ya, yes, Wang said that it is also a waste. Politics is small and big, so there are few elegance. Praise for beauty and virtue tells the gods of its success. It means four beginnings, and poetry is the most important. Here, the style, elegance and vulgarity and praise of The Book of Songs are all tied together with social life, which is called "Four Beginnings". It is obviously from the perspective of historical observation that it is the reason for the artistic perfection of The Book of Songs. This view is also reflected in Yang Xiong and Ban Gu. Yang Xiong (former [6] In short, although the article is heartfelt, it is actually a spiritual reflection of the objective world in historical time and space. Ban Gu (Liu Xiang, Shu Qun, Ji Bo, Yang Xiong) said that he moved to a place with a good history, obeyed his good order and reason, was noble but not gorgeous, but good in quality, and his writing was straightforward, not empty and beautiful, and did not hide evil, so he called it a record. [7] Ban Gu's evaluation of Sima Qian not only established a historical principle, but also established a literary principle, which had a far-reaching impact and almost ran through the history of China literature. In Han Shu, he not only reiterated the ancient theory of "collecting poems" and "observing styles", but also discussed the social reasons for the death of "poems" and "fu" from a historical perspective. As a cloud said, after the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhou Dao was soaked and invited to sing, which was not good for other countries. People who study poetry are easy to dress, but saints are frustrated. Sun Qing, a great scholar, and Qu Yuan, a Chu minister, both left the country and worried about the country, and were endowed with wind, salt and poems. [8] This paper reveals the social reasons for the demise of poetry and fu, affirms the consistency of the social roots of poetry and fu, and is also the discovery of the historical attributes of literature. After that, Lin He summarized the essence of the poem "Hungry people sing about their food, and laborers sing about their affairs" in Biography of Rams, and Wang Chong reiterated the spirit of Sima Qian's record in Lun Heng, all of which can show the influence of Hanshu. During the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, Hyunri and his fatalistic literary view rose together and became the mainstream literary trend of thought. However, the historical essence of literature has little say. Only Ge Hong (Ban Gu) moved Huang Lao first, and then moved the Six Classics with history, which shows that moving is absurd. When the husband moved and heard about it, he lived in seclusion, washed away things and verified the evil of the ancients. Its comments are also loyal to nature, and its praise and criticism are accurate and reasonable, not empty beauty, not hiding evil, not the same or even customs. Liu Xiang's life is a record. Ge Hong admired both Sima Qian's courage as a historian and Wang Chong's unconventional vision. He can be said to be the only critic in the history of China literature who dares to say that modern poetry is superior to ancient poetry and that Han Fu is superior to the Book of Songs. This was valuable at the time. Liu Xie's view of literary history is not obvious, because he only advocates "the original way" and "Jing Zong" in the series "Wen Xin Diao Long", which also shows his respect for the historical attributes of literature. It is believed that the development of literature and art changes with the changes of the times (history), and the social life of a certain era will inevitably be manifested in the literature and art of that era. So he put forward the famous viewpoint of "fortune change, qualitative change" This includes an understanding of the historical attributes of literature. Its cloud: On the occasion of Taotang, Desheng; The wild old man talked about "Li He", and the children in the suburbs sang songs of "ignorance". More than the assistant, Zheng Fumin's leisure. Here, different times will produce different works to illustrate a truth: what kind of social life will produce what kind of literature and art. Therefore, the historical attribute of literature is clearly set off here, but Liu Xie didn't make it clear. The Tang Dynasty should be said to be the period when the historical essence of literature was formed in the history of China literature. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, writing history became a common practice, so the famous historical theorist Liu Zhiji appeared. Observe the national wind and observe the rise and fall. It is far from great to know how to use words. If it is propaganda and good governance, its beauty lies in Zhou Shi's poems and its evil lies in Chu Ci. Readers should not flatter Ji Fu and Xi Si, but vilify Qu Ping and Song Yu. Why? Cover is not empty, beauty is not hidden, and evil is not hidden. It is the history of literature and the embarrassment of flowing. Solid can drive south, dong, all called good and straight. [9] Liu Zhiji's exposition is of great significance: first, he regards "aestheticism as well as evil" as a historical tradition, and first as a poetic tradition, which may be the theoretical basis for Tang people to take poetry as history; Secondly, the literary works and writers he listed are models of loyalty to life and historical truth in content, and loyalty without flattering or slandering in personality, which set an ideal artistic model and personality model for writers in the Tang Dynasty. Third, in the traditional concept, historians are full of respect. They can "attack it with words, attack it with pens" and make "traitors fear it", which is a symbol of national spiritual justice. Until the Han Dynasty, literature and art were still regarded as "tricks" by some people, and literary scholars were regarded as "jesters". Liu Zhiji can go against the traditional idea that literature and history are of equal value, and writers and historians are the same. Fourthly, the proposition that "writing will be a history" is equivalent to setting a strict historical criticism standard for literature. In this way, many works in the history of China literature, such as Guo Feng and Chu Ci, such as Jia Yi, Zhao Yi and Chao Cuo, have the historical reference function of "recalling a promise once spoken" [10]. This is a very conscious view of the historical nature of literature. Obviously, he had a great influence at that time, and even Li Bai, who was wild and uninhibited, was influenced by this literary view. He wrote in two ancient styles: "elegance" has not been written for a long time, but who will fail me? ..... I aim to delete the narrative and reflect the spring again. If you want to be a saint, you will never get it. Here, Li Bai wrote Confucius in Spring and Autumn Annals on the basis of the death of Poetry, with the purpose of "deleting the narrative" and emphasizing that "Spring and Autumn Annals were written in Mitchell, and the basket was washed in the future. ("Eight Sorrow Poems, Native Land of Li Guangbi") Stay behind an old man and seize the day to write. ("Rain" for two seconds) I am tired of trekking through poetry, and my pen can still be remembered. Sing a song to excite the universe. Be careful not to fall. Du Fu's creative attitude is obviously influenced by the confusion theory of poetry and history since Sima Qian. He has a broad mind, shoulders the country, writes straight books and takes poetry as history, which is undoubtedly a pioneering work in the history of China's poetry. Du Fu not only used the historical view of literature to create, but also used this historical view to evaluate contemporary poets. For example, he wrote two poems, Yuan Jie (a trip to Yuan Zhijun in Daozhou) and "A thief retires as an official". He said: the place where children share their worries is in line with the purpose of being a good official in Han Dynasty. Today, thieves have not stopped, knowing the sufferings of the people, and have been doing it for more than ten generations, but they have gone astray and become stupid. Everything exhales, and there is little peace on earth! Du Fu believed that Yuanjie was a servant of the world, a loyal minister in troubled times and a good official in the Han Dynasty. His poems have the style of "Spring and Autumn" and the spirit of recording the truth. Therefore, Du Fu regarded Yuan Jie as a homonym. He wrote, "I miss the imperial court every day when I am sick" and "I think I am in danger. I heard from several people who know it". [12] He also said: "Whoever adopts the national style, I will dedicate this poem to whom. "It seems that Du Fu was not isolated at that time. He wrote "disciplined" poems, taking poetry as a warning. Taking poetry as history is the central idea of Du Fu's and Yuan Jie's literary views, which had a great influence after the middle Tang Dynasty and developed into a new Yuefu poetry movement headed by Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen. Bai Juyi (since coming to Korea, I have learned a lot and seen more and more things. Every time he talks to people, he asks about current events, studies history and looks for more reasons. He only knows that articles are combined with the times, songs and poems are combined with things. This is the creative principle of the famous New Yuefu Movement. The so-called "timely" and "timely" means that the content of literary works must conform to the original appearance of real life and respect historical truth. This kind of work must have distinct historical attributes, so this literary view is essentially a historical literary essence view. And these are the truths he learned from the books and history of his predecessors. This makes Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen become very conscious historians. In his poem to Fan Zongshi, he said: Yangcheng is the admonition, and business is the king ... Yuan Zhen is an imperial adviser, standing upright like his body ... Your husband is a writer, and your work is deserted and your ambition is empty. Although there is a good historical talent, there is nothing to write directly. Why don't you write your own book, record the good people, and compile a family book, in case there are historical flaws. [13] Bai Juyi's praise of Yuan Zhen's personality and his advice to Fan Zongshi all require writers to have the vision and boldness of vision of historians. The spirit of "Record" advocated by Sima Qian, Liu Zhiji and Du Fu has been actively expounded and carried forward here. His view that poets are "good historical talents" and poetry is "history" and "lack of literature" was quite influential at that time. For example, Tang Xianzong's Li Zhao (whose birth and death are unknown) wrote an Addendum to National History. This title is of great significance, which shows that he has taken literature as a supplement to history or official history, and marks the deepening of China's view on the historical essence of literature. In this book, Zhuangzi's fable, Shen Jiji's Pillow Story and Han Yu's Biography of Mao Ying are all regarded as "history". Perhaps they think that literature has the function of supplementing current politics, calling it a "supplement" to national history, and praising the authors of these works as "talents with good history". The theoretical category he used may come from the white pony. Li Zhao's literary view obviously wants to bring the whole literature into the category of history, while Bai Juyi's literary view only wants to regard current literature as history. It can be seen that the meaning of historical category is wide and narrow, while Li Zhao's vision is higher.