Literary evolution
Literature in the Northern and Southern Dynasties is a long-term division of the country. From the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty to the tripartite confrontation between the three countries, and then from the Western Jin Dynasty to achieve a brief reunification, but it lasted for twenty or thirty years, followed by years of scuffle and division between the North and the South until the reunification of the Sui Dynasty. In the history of China, this is the longest division. Second, frequent regime changes. Throughout the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, except the Eastern Jin and Northern Wei Dynasties, the life span of other dynasties was not long. Song Qi Liang Chen in the south, the longest in Song Liguo is about 60 years, and the shortest in Qi is only over 20 years. The third is social unrest. During this period, due to the division of the country and the instability of the political power, various forces fought fiercely to seize the right to rule or expand the scope of rule. At the same time, it is inevitable that the coexisting regimes conquer each other, and the replacement of the old and new dynasties is mostly achieved through war. Even if there is no war, the power struggle within the ruling group is full of murderous look. In the constant social unrest, not only ordinary people suffered great disasters, but also many people in the upper class were inevitably killed. Fourth, ethnic contradictions are acute. Since the Han and Wei Dynasties, ethnic minorities in the west and north of China began to migrate to the mainland in large numbers. They are deeply oppressed by the ruling forces of the Han nationality. In the late Western Jin Dynasty, there was a "rebellion of eight kings" in which the royal family competed for imperial power. The leaders of these ethnic minorities took the opportunity to rise up in succession and drove the Han regime to the south. In the northern areas they ruled, they in turn brutally oppressed the Han people. The northern expedition of the southern Han regime and the southern expedition of the northern minority regime also fluctuated from time to time. At the end of the Han Dynasty, under the system of inspection and evaluation, the evaluation of the hard-working townships was popular among the gentry. So Xu Shao and his brother Xu Jing, "both have high surnames, and they are good at judging the figures of the township party. They should be named more every month, so the custom of Runan has monthly comments." In addition, Mrs. Guo is also famous for knowing people and being good at their duties. After Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of Wei, carried out the nine-product standard system, the taste evaluation atmosphere became more prosperous. (Wei) Liu Xie's "People's Tales" summed up the theories and methods of knowing people, paid special attention to people's materials, and formed the theory of talents. In Liu Yiqing's Shi Shuo Xin Yu (Song Dynasty), there are many vivid examples of people's comments, such as Shi Jian, Appreciation, Zao Taste and Rong Zhi.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, people's evaluation often had the meaning of predicting success or failure, emphasizing the identification of talents and the promotion of Toshihiko, so the focus of evaluation was politics and morality. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, there has been a new trend in character evaluation, that is, in addition to prophetic, political and moral comments, many aesthetic elements have been added, and image language and figurative symbols have been used to evaluate the already famous characters. For example, these titles in Shi Shuo Xin Yu: "Gongsun Du Yuan:' The so-called white crane in the cloud is outside the sparrow net. Wang: "The high posture of autumn, like a Yao tree, is naturally a foreign object. ""("Appreciation") "When human nature is generous, it once said:' The backbone is not as good as the right army, the simplicity is not as long as the truth, the youth is not as good as the middle ancestor, and the thought is not as good as the origin, but it has the beauty of all people. ""("Tasting Algae") "Some people sigh that the princes are brilliant and talented, and the cloud says,' Like a willow in spring. (Rong Zhi) The common aesthetic concepts of the headline characters in Shi Shuo Xin Yu are: emotion, spirit, lang, reason, expressiveness, elegance, communication, simplicity, truth, length, monarch, vastness, yuan, height, spirit, emptiness, escape and transcendence, among which the most common ones are: truth, spirit and lang. There are many natural images used as metaphors, such as Qianzhangsong, Matsushita Wind, Yushu, Yushan, White Crane in the Cloud, Yunjin in Yue Long, Chaoyang in Feng Ming, etc. The prosperity of character aesthetics has played a catalytic role in literary aesthetics. Some categories of literary aesthetics come from people's aesthetics, such as character, character, spirit, purity, clarity, sublimity, passion and talent. The division of people's logistics products also directly affects literary criticism, as evidenced by Zhong Rong's poems, Yu Jianwu's books and Sheikh's Record of Ancient Paintings.
The appearance of Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long marks a new stage of China's literary theory and criticism.
Liu Xie's image
Established a complete system. There are 50 articles in Wen Xin Diao Long, including 5 general comments, 20 stylistic comments, 9 creative comments/kloc-0 and 5 critical comments. The last preface is the preface of this book. Its content is profound and profound, and its main contributions are as follows: First, it discusses the external causes and internal laws of literary development. As for the external reasons, it is believed that "literary changes are influenced by the world and rise and fall in time sequence." (time series) links the changes of literature with the rise and fall of social customs and politics. As for the internal law, it can be summarized as "communication" and "change" ("communication"), that is, the interaction between inheritance and innovation. In Poems of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Xie discussed the evolution of some styles in the past dynasties, while Cailu commented on writers in the past dynasties. These discourses have become an important reference for future generations to study the history of literature, and they still have irreplaceable reference value. 2. Summarized many valuable literary creation experiences, revealed the mystery of creative activities, and formed a creative theory with China characteristics. On the theory of creation, Lu Ji made an in-depth discussion in Wen Fu, especially describing the process of galloping imagination, capturing images and exerting originality to achieve "meaning is thing". The creative theory of Wen Xin Diao Long is the essence of the book. There are many incisive generalizations in the book, such as thinking in images, artistic imagination, artistic style and artistic conception, which have high theoretical value.
The editing of anthology is the natural result of stylistic discrimination. Xiao Tong's Selected Works is the earliest extant collection of literature. Shan Li annotated 60 volumes of Selected Works, and selected the works of *** 130 people from pre-Qin to Liang Dynasty, as well as three ancient Yuefu poems and 19 ancient poems, totaling more than 700 pieces. The arrangement method of this book is to divide the style into 37 categories, such as Fu, Poetry, Sao, Strange, Zhao, Shu, Ling, Teaching and Wen, and then divide it into several subcategories according to the subject matter, such as Fu and many others. Among them, poems account for nearly 13 volumes, with ***334 poems, which is the largest in all kinds. From the poems selected by Xiao Tong, we can see that he is tolerant. The three poets he chose the most were: 52 poems by Lu Ji, 40 poems by Xie Lingyun and 3 1 poem by Jiang Yan. From today's point of view, they are not necessarily the best. Xiao Tong's vision is not first-class in naming first-class poets; However, he has a high vision in praising outstanding poets who have been neglected (such as Tao Yuanming and Bao Zhao). Tao Yuanming was selected for 8 songs and Bao Zhao was selected for 18 songs. Their lofty position in Selected Works shows that Xiao Tong is a literary critic. The Selected Works has won wide attention from scholars since the Tang Dynasty, and gradually formed the Selected Works, which deserves attention in the history of literature and philology.
literary trend of thoughts
From the works of literary theory and literary criticism in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, we can see a new literary trend of thought, which is to distinguish literature from scholarship, and then discuss the characteristics of literature, the classification of literature itself and literary creation.
Tao Yuanming
The value of law and literature. Confucian poetry in the Han Dynasty is dominant, emphasizing the relationship between poetry and political education. Poetry is regarded as a tool for "being a wife, filial piety, love, educating beauty and changing customs" (Preface to Poetry). As for the characteristics and laws of poetry itself, it has not attracted due attention. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, poetics got rid of the shackles of Confucian classics, and the direction of the whole literary trend of thought was to get rid of the need of political education emphasized by Confucianism and find the significance of independent existence of literature. At this time, some brand-new concepts and theories are put forward, such as style, verve, image, the relationship between words and meaning, and the relationship between form and spirit. , formed the aesthetic thought of emphasizing image, style and charm. Poetry seeks meaning, pleasure seeks meaning, and painting seeks interest outside the image. This conscious aesthetic pursuit of communication among various literary forms marks the arrival of a new literary era. The literary creation of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties was carried out under the influence of this new literary trend of thought, which also provided a practical basis for this literary trend of thought. A remarkable feature of literary creation in this period is that the demand for serving political education has weakened, and literature has become a personal behavior, expressing personal life experiences and emotions. Fu evolved from Da Fu in Han Dynasty.
Cao zhi
It is a representative change to write a lyric poem for Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Five-character ancient poems flourished in the late Han Dynasty, and the literati's personal lyric work Nineteen Ancient Poems was regarded as a standard by later generations. Since then, Cao Zhi, RoyceWong, Liu Zhen, Ruan Ji, Lu Ji, Zuo Si, Tao Yuanming, Xie Lingyun, Bao Zhao, Xie Tiao and Yu Xin have all embarked on the road of personal lyricism, and their creations are also personal behaviors. Some of these political lyric poems express grievances in political life and have no purpose of political education. As for Liang Chengong's poems, although they were written by court literati, they were only used for court entertainment. The direction of the poet's efforts lies in the formal beauty of poetry, that is, language skills such as temperament, duality and practicality, as well as the perfection of meter. It is under this trend that China's ancient poems have been perfected, and new poems have been formed, which has prepared for the emergence of modern poems in all aspects. It is on this basis that Tang poetry reached its peak.
Age characteristic
As early as the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, some aristocratic families appeared among the literati. They are loyal to the public and officials, and their disciples and old officials are all over the world. They have priority in the investigation and conquest, and occupy a special position in politics, economy and culture. The influence of the gentry was once suppressed when Cao Cao was in power, but it rose again in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Cao Pi, the Emperor of Wei Wen, established the nine-level Zheng Zhi system because Zheng Zhi officials were in the hands of the gentry, resulting in a situation of "no poverty for the top grade, no powerful family for the bottom grade" (Liu Yichuan, Book of Jin). The children of the gentry entered the official position through authentic products, forming nobles handed down from generation to generation; The poor people almost lost the opportunity to be an official. Entering the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the influence of the gentry became more and more powerful, especially some senior gentry controlled the central government, forming a situation of "king and horse, * * * the world" (Biography of Wang Dun in the Book of Jin). This kind of gate politics is the rule of the gentry and imperial power, and it is the abnormal condition of imperial power politics under the specific conditions of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In the Southern Dynasties, the influence of the gentry declined, so they returned to imperial politics.
The gate system blocked the way for those poor scholars to enter the official career, and some talented poor scholars naturally felt wronged. The opposition between gentry and common people became an important feature of this period, and the injustice of those poor scholars was reflected in their literary creation, which became a major feature of literature in this period. In fact, the injustice of those poor scholars was reflected in the literary works of the Warring States Period. "Chu Ci" and Song Yu's "Nine Debates": "Afraid of the poor and the people will not accept their posts" is their earliest cry. Nineteen Ancient Poems: "In life, the election is suddenly dusty. Why don't you want to go ahead, be an official first, and enjoy the wealth. Doing nothing, being poor and humble, bumpy and bitter. " It reflects the demand of the poor to change their status. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, under the door valve system, the injustice of the poor scholars was more intense, and the voice of shouting in poems was louder. Zuo Si's "Ode to History" II: "The bottom of the shady ravine is loose, leaving seedlings on the mountain. With an inch in diameter, I can cover this hundred feet. " It vividly reflects the social situation of "no poverty in the top grade, no potential in the bottom grade". Sixth, write about the arrogance of a scholar: "Although a noble person is expensive, he regards it as dust. Although the humble laugh at themselves, it is as heavy as a thousand miles. " Fifth, the last two sentences: "Thousands of tons of clothes are full of Wan Li." It fully shows the spirit of the poor. Bao Zhao also poured the grievances of the poor into his poems, such as "You can't eat the case, draw your sword and strike the column and sigh." . When can Ann put down her wings when her husband is alive? "(No.6 of Quasi-Hard to Go).
The emergence of a large number of literary families is also a noteworthy phenomenon. For example: San Cao (Cao Cao and his sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi); Ruan Yu
Lu Yun luji
And his son Ruan Ji; Ji Kang and his son, Shao,; Three (Zhang Zai and his brother Zhang Xiehe), two (Lu Ji and his brother) and two Pan (and his adopted son Penny); Fu Xuan and his son Fu Xian; Xie An and his grandchildren Xie Hun and Xie Hun and his sons Xie Lingyun, Xie Zhan, Xie Hui, Xie Yao, Xie Lingyun and his brother Xie Huilian, as well as his kin Xie Tiao; Xiao Yan, his sons Xiao Gang and Xiao Yi. The emergence of a large number of literary families is directly related to the door valve system. Literature and even culture are concentrated in the hands of a few aristocratic families and passed down from generation to generation with political power. Literary families flourished in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and gradually decreased after the Southern Dynasties, which is consistent with the gradual decline of the Southern Dynasties.
The tendency to attach importance to family status is also reflected in the emphasis on clan relations and ethical concepts in literary works. In the poems of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there are some works that trace back or show off their clan background. In those poems that express ethical relations or discipline children, there are often stories about the merits and demerits of ancestors, as well as the desire and mission to continue the family style and revitalize the family business, and most of them are written in elegant four-font. For example, RoyceWong's Poem of Homesickness for Pan, Cao Zhi's Poem of Responsibility, His Poem of Family Style, Lu Ji's Poem of Qinghe Yun and My Brother, Lu Yun's Poem of Answering My Brother's Plain, Zuo Si's Poem of Mourning My Sister, Penny's Poem of Chang 'an Ren and Xie Hun's Poem of Si 'an Ren. Interestingly, after entering the Southern Dynasty, with the decline of the gentry, this kind of poems almost disappeared, with the exception of two five-character poems written by Shu Zude by Xie Lingyun.