Why did Yuan and Ming Poetry Decline? Without him, the talent gap did not recover until the late Ming and early Qing dynasties!
The prominence of poetry in the Song Dynasty is related to the relaxed internal environment and sinister external environment of the Song people. The sinister external environment created the Song people's sense of hardship, while the relaxed internal environment gave them the opportunity to write, both of which were indispensable.
Unfortunately, the Yuan Dynasty went south, the Song Dynasty perished, and the Yuan people came to nine sons and ten beggars. If this goes on, how many literati will there be in the world, and how many have the heart to write poems? So Yuanqu is eating the remnants of the Song Dynasty! In such an era, it would be wonderful if its poetry could surpass the Song people!
Fortunately, after a while, Yuan people finally remembered that scholars were still useful, so they reopened the imperial examination. Although it was intermittent and wasted for a while, it at least gave the readers hope and gave them a little blood. In the turmoil at the end of Yuan Dynasty, the literature of Yi Dynasty came into being by the way, which made the poetry circles at the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty full of brilliance.
It stands to reason that when the imperial examination was reopened in the Ming Dynasty, scholars were respected and poetry should be developed. But the reality is that the poet's heart can't hold the emperor's knife. Zhu Chong Ba and Zhu Laosi killed the scholar too hard, which led to the consumption of that little blood back at the end of Yuan Dynasty. The period from the later period of Hongwu to Yongle and beyond should be the lowest point of poetry in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
After the lowest point, it is time to return blood. As a result, the first seven sons debuted. The so-called poetry of the first seven poets will flourish in the Tang Dynasty, which is nothing more than rejuvenating poetry under the banner of retro. After that, the last seven sons and the first seven sons took the same road, and there was no difference, but overall, the achievements of the last seven sons were slightly higher.
Most of the sentences here are necessary, that is, the Ming Dynasty, where the first seven sons lived, was a peaceful era when the Central Plains was stronger than the Siyi, so they had no sense of hardship, and learning from the powerful Tang Dynasty was their best choice. However, a complex ancient poem without anxiety consciousness, even if it is repeated, is not a real poem. When Yangming's theory of mind came out and developed greatly, the retro school suffered a great blow, and the idealism school appeared and began to innovate.
However, both idealism and Yangming's mind have a problem, that is, they are too thin. It's really unreliable to expect such a superficial and thin spiritual school of Zhongxing Poetry. The poetry of the Ming Dynasty struggled in the quagmire of retro and supernatural, until the end of the Ming Dynasty, when it perished.
Everyone knows the situation in the late Ming Dynasty. With the great changes of the times and the trauma of the soul, the poet's mind has suddenly broadened a lot, and the spiritual connotation of poetry has also been enriched. Chen Zilong was specifically mentioned. His view of poetry is also retro, which is not much different from that of the first seven philosophers, but because of the great changes of the times, his poetry is so much higher than that of the first seven philosophers. From this, we can also see the great influence of the times on the cultivation of outstanding poets.
With the deterioration of the situation in the Ming Dynasty, there was a philosophical change. Yangming's theory of mind, which prevailed in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, was greatly criticized in the late Ming Dynasty and replaced by the tradition of Chinese studies concerned with current affairs. The difference between traditional Chinese studies and Yangming's theory of mind lies in that the study of Chinese studies should start with compilation, collation and exegesis, thus forming a research method of re-examination and exegesis, which is very practical; However, Yangming's theory of mind is very empty, and it is difficult to make people with a heart become great scholars, because everything is in my heart.
The revival of Qing poetry is closely related to the prevalence of Sinology. We can see that poets are very clear, and quite a few of them are famous scholars. Most poets in Ming Dynasty were gifted scholars. Obviously, it is not as reliable as expecting literati to revive poetry. This goes back to what I said at the beginning. The decline of Yuan and Ming poetry was caused by the talent gap. The difference is that Yuan poetry can't work because of the whole political environment, while Ming poetry can't work because of the whole cultural environment. Only by correcting these two evils can poetry be revived.