In the poetry of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, colorful frontier poems represented the mainstream characteristics of realism in the poetry of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
Continuous frontier wars and frequent ethnic exchanges are fertile ground for frontier poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Especially in the nearly 30 years from the mid-Kaiyuan period to the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, the border was almost filled with smoke and war.
The fiery military life and magnificent battle scenes attracted the love of many poets and aroused their strong desire for creation. During the life experience of frontier fortress in poor autumn in desert and sunset in lonely city, they learned the psychology of frontier soldiers and the exotic customs of frontier fortress, which aroused their creative interest. Therefore, "frontier poems" with the theme of reflecting frontier wars, frontier life and frontier scenery came into being.
Gao Shi and Cen Can are the most outstanding representatives of the Frontier Poetry School. They created a large number of poems with vivid life content and beautiful artistic style. These romantic poems full of poet's idealism are full of heroism.
Frontier poems in the Tang Dynasty are a kind of appellation based on the prosperous Tang Dynasty and classified by subject matter. Among them, Gao Shi and Cen Can (also known as Gao Cen School of Poetry) have the highest achievements. Frontier poems not only have great achievements in Tang poetry, but also occupy a very important position in the whole history of China ancient literature: they truly reflect the historical facts of the prosperous Tang Dynasty-ethnic contradictions and the process of war, politics, economy and cultural exchange and integration under ethnic contradictions.
"Cen Can is the most outstanding representative of frontier poets in Tang Dynasty" is well-deserved by Cen Can.
During the 100 years since the Tang Dynasty, border wars frequently occurred due to ethnic contradictions and territorial expansion. Coupled with the exchange and integration of national economy and culture, some poets began to turn their attention to frontier life, especially some literati with frustrated official career, and regarded frontier fortress as a shortcut to make contributions and gain official fame. Under such conditions, "frontier poets" came into being.
Among them, Cen Can is an outstanding representative, and his "frontier poems" have the highest achievements, which profoundly show all aspects of frontier life.
Cen Can's frontier poems can be roughly summed up in the following aspects:
One is to describe the frontier war or the military life related to the war, the contradiction between soldiers, the sadness of parting, and the nostalgia for relatives and friends, such as The Journey to the West, Song of Farewell to the Wheel Tower of General Feng in the Western Expedition, and Military Song of General Yumenguan Gai. These works directly reflect the social reality, show the author's strong love and hate, and have very profound ideological content;
The second is to describe the frontier scenery and natural scenery, such as Crossing the Volcano, On the tiemenguan Tower, and Poems of Yintai in Liangzhou. These works realistically reproduce the scenery and scenery of the frontier fortress, which is not as ideological as the former, but they are representative in artistic style in frontier fortress poems;
Thirdly, it describes the ethnic exchanges and customs in the border areas, such as taking a break, asking about Huamen Restaurant in a play, and taking a wheel platform. The content of these works is vivid, which is of great value for understanding the national customs, frontier customs and ethnic exchanges at that time.
Song Yuyan said: "Gao Cen's poems are tragic and touching, and the reading is emotional."
Tang Yinque also thinks that Cen Can's frontier poems are "strange in language and elegant in meaning".
Ming Hu Yinglin thought it was solemn and stirring, while Wang Meng was happy. Absolute beauty and Cen Can in the Tang Dynasty were beautiful ... Cen's sentence was magnificent and full of emotion. "。
Therefore, tragic beauty is the style feature of Cen Can's frontier poems.
Tragic embodiment
Tragedy, generosity and high spirits are the traditional styles of describing service and war since Qin, Han and Wei Dynasties. Cen Can's tragic poems are the inheritance and development of this tradition.
There are two traditional "tragic" styles, one is emotional desolation, such as Cao Cao's "Journey to Bitter Cold"; The second style is high-spirited and bold, such as Qu Yuan's national mourning and Cen Can's frontier poems.
On the one hand, the description in Cen Can's frontier poems of "the yellow sand is long, the wind blows the grass low, and the homesickness is caused by looking up at the bright moon in his hometown" shows the pain of soldiers trudging and homesickness, and the style is tragic and desolate;
On the other hand, the description of the war scenes in which people are summoning drums, Xue Hai is surging, the three armed forces are calling for mountains to move, and the soldiers are courageously advancing reflects the lofty aspirations and tragic demeanor of the soldiers. However, Cen Can's frontier poems not only reflect the hardships of fighting and war, but also show the heroism and dedication of soldiers. Therefore, the theme of Cen Can's frontier poems is tragic and generous.
Because of the heroism and dedication embodied in Cen Can's frontier poems, his frontier poems have a magnificent momentum, which is not reflected by the strength of the enemy, but by the dedication of the soldiers, even in the face of harsh natural environment-long yellow sand reaching the sky, towering snow-capped mountains and biting cold.
Like the enemy, these people knelt before the soldiers. The power of nature is enormous, but in front of the soldiers, the power of human beings obviously overcomes the power of nature. This is that man is fighting against the majestic nature, and man has overwhelmed nature. This is a tribute to human strength, but also to the heroic spirit of soldiers. Today, in our view, it is magnificent.
Therefore, heroism and dedication make the tragic style of Cen Can's frontier poems a powerful force, which is what distinguishes Cen Can from other frontier poets.
The concrete expression of Cen Can's poem Qi Li
(1) The absurdity of realism in Cen Can's frontier poems.
In Cen Can's frontier poems, there are two wonders of life: "General Huamen is easy to rest, and the potato of Ye He can satirize", "Muddy moxibustion plowing wild camels, making friends with rivers and drinking wine"; There are also phenological wonders of "autumn snow and spring rain are still falling, and the wind and flowers are not exhausted"; There are also wonders of natural scenery in the border areas, such as "the north wind rolls over the land and flowers fold, and eight In the snow crosses the Tatar sky", "the snow clouds in Tianshan Mountain will never open, and the snow on thousands of peaks and mountains will be brilliant". All of these, Cen Can showed us a huge and magical picture of the border region, which made us feel refreshed and imaginative, but it was also a true representation of life in the border region, which was different from Qu Yuan's imagination of flying wild and unconstrained.
Another example: the north wind rolled white grass and broke them, and eight In the snow crossed the Tatar sky. ("Bai Xuege Farewell Tian Shuji Wu Home"); Look, how fast the Benma River runs to Xue Hai! And sand, from the desert, yellow flies to heaven. On the night of the ninth month, there was a cold wind blowing in the wheel tower and the valley, and the valley was full of broken boulders like pecking rice, which went down and forward with the wind. ("Song of Running Horse River Farewell to General Feng of the Western Expedition"); The wind blows like an arrow at Yinshan Mountain Pass, and ... Hu Sha explodes his face. (Yinshan Qixi Pavilion); The clouds and snow on the Tianshan Mountains don't bloom all year round, and the top of the mountain is the top of Wanling Mountain. At night, the north wind rolls up the red pavilion and the horseshoe pulley table. ("Tianshan Snow Song sends Xiao Zhi back to Beijing"); In September, the cold wind is like a knife at the foot of the mountain, and the horses in the south of the city shrink their hair. ("Zhao Jiangjun Song"); The sword returns to the front and the horseshoe grinds. ("Send the Japanese Taishi") In the fog of the dagger river, through the biting cold wind, the sound of hooves, in the first line of Shazui, broke on the cold boulder. ("Luntai Song sent the doctor Feng Qibing to the West"); After the sand moraine in October, the wind never stopped. In the ruins, all four hooves are bleeding. (Judge Yuwen on the Road to Longshan for the first time) The vast sand sea, towering snow-capped mountains, windy and dusty surfaces, rocks, sharp knives, horseshoes and blood. ...
Strange cold, strange dangers and tragic scenes, changeable situations, ice and snow, swords and swords, and arduous and unusual environment show us a strange and magical world! In Yuan Dynasty, Xin said that "the pommel horse dusted Hazama jade, eager to leave, and the castle was blocked by the city, all of them were done ... That was a clear statement, with good intentions, and his poems were particularly high, which was rare in Tang Xing." He did not call Cen Can's frontier poems "absurd", but emphasized the "high" tone of his poems.
Xin believes that frontier poems are "rare works" since Tang and Xing Dynasties, which is related to his life experience in frontier fortress. In this sense, the "strangeness" in Cen Can's frontier poems first benefited from the strange and magnificent scenery of frontier fortress. Some novel epigrams and peculiar artistic conception in his poems were not created out of thin air by the poet's subjective imagination. It can be seen that the inner life of defamiliarization in Cen Can's frontier poems lies in the realistic defamiliarization in Cen Can's realistic frontier poems, and it also contains the poet's unique aesthetic interest in frontier mountains and rivers. Facing the frontier environment of flying sand and stones, ice and snow, cold and hot, different people will have different feelings at different times. Cen Can, a poet, joined the army in pursuit of his career. In the life and journey of the frontier fortress, Cen Can adapted to it with a broad mind, examined it with high enthusiasm, and felt it, so the harsh nature showed its magnificence in front of him.
"If a spring breeze comes overnight, it blows away pear blossoms from thousands of trees" (Bai Xuege sent Tian Shuji Wu home). It's early cold outside the Great Wall, and the situation is changeable. When the heavy snow is overwhelming with the north wind, the cold is hard to stop. "Bows become stiff and can hardly be pulled, so it is difficult to protect iron clothes." Facing the mountainous plain where thousands of trees and snow are pressing branches, the poet uses the metaphor of pear blossoms in spring to show the gorgeous spring scenery of pear blossoms in the vast frozen border, which makes people forget the cold and snow.
This magnificence is the perfect combination of the objective scenery of freezing cold and snow and the poet's optimistic and enterprising subjective feelings, which contains the vigorous spirit of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Cen Can "knows the bitterness of the cold wall" ("Judge Yuwen's first trip to Longshan"), but he embraces "fame and fortune only take a moment, which is really a hero husband" ("Send Deputy Li to Zhai").
Because of this belief, in the face of the frontier fortress, he naturally changed from strangeness and curiosity to familiarity and love. Then the poet overcame homesickness with fearless enthusiasm, looked at the harsh natural conditions, praised the hard work, and then used his heart to discover the wonderful beauty of the frontier. For example, "Like the spring breeze, when the night comes, ten thousand pears blossom" is conceived in the environment of "the north wind rolls white grass and eight In the snow crosses the Tatar sky". The cruelty of snow and wind, the harshness and cruelty of nature itself are not beautiful or lovely; But in the eyes of the poet, when he felt it with his own heart, he turned out the magnificent beauty written by the poet and made people feel the warmth of spring.
Another example is Cen Can's frontier poems, which describe the scene of frontier officers and soldiers marching on winter nights: "Real armor is worn all night, and the battle is sonorous! And the tip of the sharp wind cuts the face like a knife. " This kind of emergency March was carried out in the winter when the north wind roared at night, under the condition of "all over the mountains, full of pecking rubble, falling down with the wind and falling headlong", and every step forward had to pay a huge price, which was by no means comparable to the scene under the moon in the south of the Yangtze River. This scene of flying sand and stones is not beautiful, but it shows the fearlessness of soldiers in the face of harsh nature and the beauty of dispatchers.
The strangeness of style is also realistic in Cen Can's frontier poems, such as "The drums are like a storm, and the mountains shake ten thousand people.",
First, write the poet's true feelings. In the poet's mind, it seems that in the drums of the border, snow waves are surging, and even Yinshan Mountain is shaking in the shouts of soldiers. The drums and shouts are earth-shattering This is the poet's true feelings.
Secondly, the sound of drums and music also conveys the residual movement of culture and causes the linkage of other objects. As a poet of that era, Cen Can feels this now. As for vegetation, north wind, Xue Hai, volcanoes, yellow sand flying and heavy snow falling, these are also objective realities. Cen Can wrote them all in his poems, which was unintentional for the poet himself. However, for those of us who are not familiar with the frontier scenery and life, these things are fresh and full of mystery. Cen Can has no intention of pursuing novelty, but he is interested in novelty, which is also his characteristic.
(2) The artistic tone of "absurdity" in Cen Can's frontier poems.
In Cen Can's frontier poems, the singularity of artistic tone is reflected in the description of frontier scenery. For example, in the poem "Bai Xuege Farewell to Tian Shuji Wu's Homecoming", the main body reflects strangeness and strangeness, which is also a true portrayal of frontier life. However, the poet showed it in a peculiar style: "Like a strong wind in spring, it blows at night and blows open the petals of ten thousand pear trees." This is not spring flowers, but it is better than spring flowers. What a wonderful spiritual realm it is, revealed in strangeness and strangeness.
The poet regards snowflake as a pear flower that is about to bloom, a little warm wind blowing from the extremely cold frontier, and this beautiful state of mind is consistent with the whole poem. Therefore, in the face of frozen and gloomy clouds, snow, huqin and pipa, it is chilling to see them, but the poet's heart is beautiful in the face of such harsh nature. From these, we can see the poet's beautiful feelings and deep feelings for the magnificent rivers and mountains of the motherland.
Another example is the poem "Snow Song in Tianshan Mountain sends Xiao Zhi back to Beijing", in which the cold wind is howling and the snow is extremely thick, so cold that "all treasures are frozen off", but Cen Can's poem suddenly appears "pine branches". Beautiful life stands proudly in the cold. Therefore, Cen Can's poetry is a praise of life and a pursuit of beauty, and its style is unparalleled.
(3) The absurd language style of Cen Can's frontier poems.
The language used in Cen Can's frontier poems is plain and fantastic. For example, in the sentence "In the fog of the dagger river, with the biting wind", a word "wide" is used to describe the size of the snow flakes in Jianhe. It is realistic to write that the snow flakes fly very fast, and it is also thick and heavy. It is different from Xie Daowen's "If the catkins are at the end of the wind", and Li Bai's exaggeration of "Yanshan Snowflakes are as big as seats"
Another example is "Harmony with sand, rising from the desert and prospering". The word "vastness" is used to describe the boundless sand sea, the low and wild sky and the magnificent overall scenery. The word "mang" seems inconspicuous, but its precision and precision are reflected in strangeness; Another example is the sentence "Whispering Hu Sha explodes the face", which uses the word "explosion" to describe the power of flying sand and stones, and the image is vivid. However, the word "burst" is also an unremarkable verb, but it makes people feel like they are in a fantasy; For example, the word "roar" in "Blowing the Cold in the Tower on September Night", the word "cut" in "The Tip of the Glide is like a knife cutting the face" and "crisp" in "Clothes and Clothes" (bid farewell to Zong Yi, a bachelor of Beijing University).
It is the phrase "Spring breeze comes, night comes, and the petals of ten thousand pear trees blow open" that makes people feel that the words are true and natural, which describes the poet's experience and feelings without exaggeration, and describes the frontier scenery that people have never experienced truly, accurately and vividly. Cen Can's frontier poems, with beautiful mountains and rivers beyond the Great Wall, truthfully describe the beauty of nature, and the aphorisms are full of fun, as if flying from outside the Party. The above-mentioned "like a strong wind in spring, blowing at night, blowing open the petals of ten thousand pear trees" is an example.
Another example is "See You Go Straight to tianshan cloud" ("Drunk to Send Paizi to Zhenxi"), which can also be described as a fantastic artistic conception, but the language performance is extremely dull. From Beiting to Anxi, we must cross the Tianshan Mountain and ride on it, which is really like a cloud in the sky. The title of the poem is "Drunkenness", but its description of pedestrians riding horses in Tianshan Mountain is so vivid that it is by no means drunken nonsense.
(4) Cen Can's frontier poems are characterized by rich colors, loud tones and obvious rhythms.
For example, in the poem "Walking on a Mountain", the grass is yellow, the sand is yellow and the shining armor is black, but they are all considered yellow, the snow is white and the smoke is black. Cen Can may have inadvertently highlighted these colors, but naturally absorbed them into his poems.
Another example is Hu Jia's song. Ren Hu's beard is purple and his eyes are green, which shows that Cen Can is very sensitive to color. Furthermore, the three lines and one rhyme in Walking on the Mountain are fast and powerful, while the two lines and one rhyme in Hu Jiange are fast and short. There are words such as "the crescent moon rises and hangs on the city head, and the city head shines on Liangzhou" in the poem "Liangzhou Pavilion and Night Collection of Judges".
There are 100,000 households in Liangzhou, and the Hu people can play the pipa half-heartedly, and the pipa is heartbroken. Tonight, the wind and rain are deep. The end of the first sentence in the poem is the beginning of the second sentence, just like a silk thread strung pearls together, just like adding color, fragrance and taste to the style of "Qilixiang", which is amazing.