It's no accident that Chu Ci was born in Chu together with its greatest author Qu Yuan, which is determined by many factors.
The State of Chu was founded in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, when it was "secluded in Jingshan Mountain, and the road was so blue that it was rough" (Twelve Years of Zuo Zhuan Zhao Gong). After a long struggle, the people of Chu had a strong economic power in the Spring and Autumn Period. "Fertile terrain, no famine" (Biography of Huo Zhi in Historical Records) and "Shang Ji Nong Jia, invincible in official career" (Zuo Zhuan in the eleventh year of Gong Xuan) have been able to cross the Yangtze River and Han Basin. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Chu had a rare iron smelting industry in the Central Plains. In recent years, an iron dagger with a jade handle was found in the tomb of Chu excavated in Xichuan County, Henan Province, which further illustrated the progress of the iron smelting industry in Chu. The high development of economy provides a strong material foundation for the development of literature and art.
"It should be remembered that far from all' superstructures' grow directly from the economic foundation: the relationship between art and economic foundation is only indirect" (plekhanov's On Economic Factors). The developed economy of Chu only provides the necessary material conditions for the development of literature and art, and the development of an art form is more importantly rooted in traditional culture and restricted by society and the times. The development law of literature and art plays an important and direct role.
First of all, the developed and unique Chu culture gave birth to great poets, which is the soil for the emergence of Chu Ci. Like other nationalities in the world, the Chinese nation also has rich and colorful myths in primitive times. When the orthodox classics of Zhongyuan "historicized" all the beautiful myths left over from ancient times, there were still many magnificent myths in Chu State in the south. Han Shu said, "Chu people believe in witches and ghosts and worship them." This custom has also played a certain role in the preservation and spread of myths and legends. Nine Songs, a Chu Ci, is a folk sacrificial music song processed by Qu Yuan, from which we can see how the customs of Chu are full of myth and color. In poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen, and Evocation, the mythical materials have been carefully conceived by Qu Yuan and produced great artistic charm. At the same time, myths and legends expand the space for poets to gallop and imagine, enrich the content of Qu Yuan's creation, and pave the way for the formation and development of positive romanticism.
Chu has beautiful mountains and rivers and rich products, and Chu people especially like music and dance. The prevalence of witchcraft promoted the development of music and dance. Archaeological discoveries so far also show that Chu people are better at singing and dancing than people in other countries in the Central Plains. This also directly affects the creation of poetry. Wang Guowei believes that Nine Songs is the bud of later dramas. Wen Yiduo changed his Nine Songs into a musical. At the same time, the natural scenery not only cultivated the poet's temperament, enriched the poet's imagination, but also provided the material for the poet to express his feelings. Liu Xie said in Wen Xin Diao Long: "Can learning coquettish feelings help the country?" This is indeed a unique place for Qu Yuan.
Secondly, the traditional culture with the characteristics of the times in the Central Plains is also closely related to the emergence of Qu Yuan and Chu Ci. The Book of Songs is China's first collection of poems. It describes real life in many aspects, and shows how people of different classes or strata feel about real life. It has a realistic spirit. In terms of artistic techniques, it uses Bixing extensively and has achieved remarkable artistic effects. In the cultural exchange between North and South, The Book of Songs provides a very useful reference for Chu Ci, and the metaphor and realistic spirit in Chu Ci obviously inherit the tradition of The Book of Songs.
The country, actively running, looking for "bosom friends" among the rulers; And monarchs are willing to listen to their lobbying. The characteristics of this era make the reasoning prose written by scholars and Zhang Ci Li Hong emotional and convincing. In order to be more convincing, these essays also use a lot of metaphors and fables to make the articles more tortuous and vivid. The contention of a hundred schools of thought and the corresponding development of prose also greatly influenced Qu Yuan's creation. The thought of a hundred schools of thought contending, especially that of Confucianism and Legalism, is more vividly reflected in Qu Yuan's works. For the above reasons, for Qu Yuan, a simple style and language like The Book of Songs seems unable to fully express his thoughts and feelings. Therefore, based on Chu Ci, he refined the language of various schools' prose and integrated it into poetry, creating a new form of Chu Ci and a new generation of poetry style.
Liu Xie, a famous literary critic in ancient China, put it well: "Without Qu Yuan, there would be no Li See Sao" (Wen Xin Diao Long Bian Sao). Besides the above objective conditions, Qu Yuan's success as a great poet is inseparable from his own subjective efforts.
Qu Yuan (about 340 BC-278 BC) was born in Zigui (now Zigui, Hubei), and he thought he had a good endowment. According to legend, the ancient emperor Zhuan Xu Levin was the ancestor of Chu, and Qu Yuan's family belonged to a branch of Chu royal family. The day when Qu Yuan was born was Geng Yin in the first month of that year (old ephemeris called Sheti Pavilion, that is, Sheti in Lisao), and the year, month and day all conformed to the concept of "being born in the shade", so his father named him Ping with the word Yuan to match his birthday. Peace, justice, the symbol of heaven; The primitive, vast and flat terrain refers to the earth. In this way, Qu Yuan's name, personality and date of birth contain the meaning of the unity of heaven and earth. In the eyes of Qu Yuan more than 2,000 years ago, this is certainly a lucky and proud thing. However, Qu Yuan was not intoxicated by this kind of luck. He knows that "goodness cannot be obtained from the outside, and fame cannot be obtained in vain" (thought). Therefore, he cherished time and tried hard to teach himself: "If I am not as good as me, I am afraid I can't get along with my age" (Li Sao). Persevere in the pursuit of noble character: "Close your heart, be cautious, but never lose your anxiety, be selfless, and rise above the earth" (Ode to an Orange). Firmly and persistently pursue the truth and one's own political ideal: "The road is long, and I will pursue it from top to bottom", "My heart is also good, and I have not regretted my death nine times" (Li Sao).
Qu Yuan has rich historical knowledge and studied the rise and fall of ancient times. In Qu Yuan's works, he often claims that the success stories of ancient sages and ministers and the lessons of the failure of tyrants and traitors are mostly historical events and myths in the north. Biography of Qu Yuan in Historical Records says that he is "knowledgeable and strong, knows how to control chaos and is good at rhetoric". This is of course the result of his efforts.
Qu Yuan loves the motherland and sympathizes with the people. He is not only loyal to the country, but also has deep feelings for the local mountains, rivers, customs and customs of Chu. This feeling has a historical origin and is linked with the Chu people. Chu nationality is an ancient nationality in the south of China. Participated in the war in Zhou Wuwang and was knighted by Zhou Chengwang. Later, however, Chu was discriminated and hostile by the Central Plains countries for a long time, and was regarded as a "hairy" alien, and was falsely called "Man Jing". This has created a strong national concept and local feelings of Chu people, as well as a spirit of self-reliance. Qu Yuan, who grew up in this land with patriotic tradition, closely linked his destiny with that of Chu.
From the historical development to the Warring States period, there has been a trend of "great unification", which is the result of social development and the requirement of the whole Chinese nation. The merger war in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is an inevitable process of establishing a unified feudal country. Since Shang Yang's political reform, Qiang Bing, a country rich in Qin, has carried out political, diplomatic and military actions in a planned and step-by-step manner in the direction of destroying the vassals and unifying the "imperial industry" of the whole country. However, "Qin took the world and was unjust and violent" ("Warring States Policy Yance II") was quite cruel in the process of merger. For example, in the battle of Changping, General Qin actually buried all the more than 400,000 prisoners of Zhao alive. The predatory and destructive annexation war has brought profound disasters to the people. "The people are poor, and the ethnic groups are scattered" ("Warring States Policy, Qin Ce IV"). Qu Yuan "took a long breath to hide his tears and mourn the suffering of his people" (Li Sao). He sincerely hoped that the State of Chu would become strong, and asked the King of Chu to follow the example of Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang and other sages, cultivate the practice of Buddhism and cultivate their abilities. He imitated the famous ancient sages Hao Tao and Yi Yin, and wanted to rely on the strength of Chu State to unify the whole country with virtue.
Qu Yuan has such a great personality, profound knowledge, extraordinary talent and lofty political ideals. Therefore, only through Qu Yuan's hand, he created brilliant poems and became a great poet in the history of China. "The essence of human voice is to speak, and language is to speak, and so is its essence. Especially choose those who are good at lip-synching "(Han Yu's Preface to Send Meng Dongye), which is the truth that" without Qu Yuan, you can't be coquettish in Li See ".
However, all of the above are indispensable for the emergence of a great poet and the creation of an epoch-making literature, and so is the so-called "opportunity". "A great and strong person is often unknown because he has no opportunity or stimulation" (Dana's philosophy of art).
This "opportunity", this "stimulus", is the turmoil and decline of Chu, and it is Qu Yuan's personal extreme misfortune. This is very unfortunate for Chu people and Qu Yuan personally, but it is also a great blessing for Qu Yuan's creation.
Qu Yuan lived in the turbulent end of the Warring States Period. Faced with the threat, the vassal states produced a policy of uniting against Qin, while Qin tried every means to split the so-called Lian Heng. At that time, Su Qin, a famous military strategist, concluded that "the emperor of Qin is horizontal and the king of Chu is vertical" (An Introduction to Liu Xiang's Warring States Policy). Qu Yuan clearly realized that the success or failure of "Zonghe" or "Lian Heng" is directly related to the life and death of Chu. In order to realize his political ideal, he advocated uniting with Qi, and made many missions to Qi for this purpose. However, "at that time, the king of Chu was in charge of the country, and his ministers were jealous, flattering, good ministers repelled each other, and the people's hearts were out of harmony, and the city was not repaired" (The Warring States Policy, Zhongshan Policy), and the decadent forces represented by Chu Huaiwang were deeply rooted and occupied an absolute advantage. They "turn white and think they are black, but when they fall down, they think they are upside down" (Huai Sha). Qu Yuan not only suffered from their jealousy and persecution, but also gave up the idea of uniting Qi State against Qin State. In this way, the situation will inevitably develop in the direction that Qu Yuan foresaw and was extremely unwilling to appear. Chu offended Qi, an ally, and lost many wars with Qin. This made Qu Yuan very painful, but he still firmly believed in his own ideas and refused to compromise, thus being further persecuted and hit. He was exiled twice when he was with King Hexiang. He was "swimming on the beach and walking on the banks of the Yinze River, looking haggard and haggard" ("Fisherman") and suffered a lot. During the exile, the situation in Chu went from bad to worse. Qu Yuan saw that the fatuous Wang Huai was deceived to Qin and even died in other countries. I saw being captured by Qin. How can Qu Yuan, who loves Chu and connects his destiny with that of Chu, not be extremely sad? He "sobbed, mourned without sleep, and even woke up"; He was "only a short way away, and his soul died in a hurry." He couldn't stand the heavy blows one after another, and finally sank into the Miluo River in grief and despair, ending his miserable life.
"Qu Yuan's exile is a tribute to Li Sao" (Sima Qian's Bao Ren An). The poet was born of anger, and it was precisely because of the great pain of exile and national subjugation that Qu Yuan "expressed his feelings with anger" ("Xi Yong").
The thrilling reality made Qu Yuan feel more deeply about life, which was the "stimulating factor" for Qu Yuan. It is also the direct cause of Chu Ci. Judging from Qu Yuan's works, except Nine Songs, which was written before his political frustration, the rest were written with blood and tears after he was exiled. Some of them eulogize the motherland and sympathize with the people; There are bold exposures to the king of Chu and ruthless blows to courtiers. He is unconstrained and unconstrained, expressing a strong patriotic passion. These tragic and unrestrained emotional crystals also constitute the main body of Chu Ci.
Qu Yuan's Songs of the South marked the artistic achievements of poetry in the Warring States Period and had a great influence on later generations. As soon as it came out, scholars "surprised its literary talent and competed to imitate it" (Lu Xun's Outline of China Literature History). However, many people only see the novel form of Chu Ci, but they don't know that gorgeous Ci can only shine after expressing profound ideological content. The Ci Fu of Han Dynasty, which was born out of Chu Ci, is rich and colorful, but its content is vague and lifeless. With its unique artistic form and profound ideological content, Chuci has become a great and immortal glorious poem.