The Four Great Poets of Zhongxing in the Southern Song Dynasty refer to the four poets You Mao, Yang Wanli, Fan Chengda and Lu You, also known as the Four Great Masters of the Southern Song Dynasty. They were able to break away from the prison of the Jiangxi Poetry School and write works with unique ideological and artistic characteristics. Their great influence represented the second most prosperous period of poetry in the Song Dynasty. At that time, Yang Wanli and Lu You were particularly famous. There are very few works handed down by You Miao. Although Yang Wanli and Fan Chengda are not as good as Lu You, they each have their own characteristics. Yang Wanli rejected the rigid style of Jiangxi Poetry School and created a lively and natural Cheng Zhai style. The number of works handed down by Yang Wanli and Lu You is astonishing. Yang Wanli has "Chengzhai Collection", Fan Chengda has "Fan Shihu Collection", and Lu You has "Lu Fangweng Collection" handed down to the world.
You Miao
You Miao (AD 1127~1202), also known as Yanzhi and Suichu layman, was a poet and minister of the Southern Song Dynasty. He was a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. In 1148 AD (Wuchen, the 18th year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty), he was promoted to Jinshi. It was originally ordered by Taixing. During the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty, he was the Prime Minister of Dazong. He moved to Taichang Shaoqing. Quan served as Minister of Rites and compiled the history of the country. He also served as a scholar of Zhongshushe and a direct bachelor. In the Guangzong Dynasty, he was appointed as the minister of Huanzhang Pavilion and was given the title of Shizhong. After his death, he was given the posthumous title "Wen Jian".
Yang Wanli
Yang Wanli (October 29, 1127 - June 15, 1206), also known as Tingxiu and Chengzhai. A native of Jishui, Jizhou (now Jishui County, Jiangxi Province). An outstanding poet in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Yang Wanli advocated the war of resistance throughout his life and opposed surrender. In many "letters", "policies" and "letters" to the emperor, he repeatedly stated the country's ills and denounced the mistake of surrender and the patriotism. Love is beyond words. He was an upright and upright official and tried his best not to disturb the people. Xu Ji, a poet at that time, praised him as "as clean as water, but poor but with gold" ("Tou Yang Chengzhai"). After his term as deputy envoy to Jiangdong was completed, he should have had a surplus of ten thousand yuan, but he abandoned it all in the official treasury and returned without taking any money. He was upright and upright, spoke out when things happened, pointed out the ills of the times, and had no scruples, so he was never of great use. In fact, he did not bother to seek promotion when he was an official. When he was a Beijing official, he was ready to be dismissed at any time. Therefore, he prepared the travel expenses home from Hangzhou in advance, locked them in a box, hid them in his bedroom, and warned his family not to buy them. I am afraid that my luggage will be cumbersome when I leave my job and return to my hometown. Later, during the fifteen years when he was idle and at home, when Han Yuzhou was in charge of the government, Han Xinjian Nanyuan asked him to write a "note" and promised to reward him with a high-ranking official. Wan Li refused to write, saying that "the official can be abandoned, but the 'note' cannot be Zuo. "With just a few things, you can imagine his character. The poet Ge Tianmin praised him as having "a spine as iron as a heart as stone" (see "Collections of the Sages of the Southern Song Dynasty. Collection of Ge Wuhuai"), which is not a posthumous compliment.
Yang Wanli loved the countryside throughout his life, sympathized with farmers, and wrote many poems reflecting farmers' lives. For example, "Compassion for Farmers", "Farmer's Sigh", "Autumn Rain Sigh", "Compassion for Drought", "Bamboo Technique Song of Crossing Baisha", etc. describe the hardship and suffering of farmers' life, "Song of Four Seasons", "Sowing Yangge", etc. They write about the hardships and joys of farmers, and "Looking at the Rain" and "Miscellaneous Happiness on the Road to Descendants in the City" write about the joy and hope for good weather and living and working in peace and contentment, all of which have relatively high ideological and artistic qualities.
Fan Chengda (1126-1193) was known as Zhi Neng and also known as Shihu Jushi. Han nationality, from Wujun, Pingjiang (now Wuxian, Jiangsu). Poet of the Southern Song Dynasty. Posthumous title Wenmu. Together with Yang Wanli, Lu You and You Miao, he is known as the "four great poets of the Southern Song Dynasty".
Fan Chengda and Yang Wanli are similar in age. They were both born around the time of the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, and they both lived in Shaoxing for 24 years. Jinshi, also listed among the four great poets of the Zhongxing Dynasty. He started from the Jiangxi School in his early years. After his middle age, he turned to criticize the shortcomings of the Jiangxi School and wrote more than a thousand poems in "Jiangxi style". When Fan Chengda was young, he wrote some poems that exposed cruel exploitation and sympathized with the sufferings of farmers. Guan, Hao Fangweng. "Thousands of poems in sixty years." "There are 9,200 poems in existence, mainly written in the latter two periods. There were only more than a hundred poems before the age of 42, which were burned by himself.
Lu You also studied the poems of Li Bai, Du Fu and Bai Juyi:
Learning from Li - being bold and unrestrained. Lu never forgets the affairs of the country and longs for the restoration of the Central Plains, which often appears not only in the daytime, but also in his dreams. Therefore, his poems are full of imagination and have a romantic color. He is known as "Little Li Bai".
Learn from Du - brooding and vigorous. He cares about national affairs and is called "the history of poetry". But he is more like a warrior than Du Fu and has a higher fighting spirit. The seven-line poems are rigorously organized and confrontational. Neat.
Xuebai - works about daily life, simple and leisurely, with simple and clear language.
1. The composition is rigorous.
2. Language: neat and refined, plain and clear. Liu Kezhuang: "The ancients used up their good rivals. "
3. Poetic style: specializes in seven-character poetry, good at both ancient and modern styles;
4. Style: both melancholy and tragic as well as majestic and unrestrained.