Tao Yuanming lived in a very complicated political environment at the turn of Jin and Song Dynasties. His great-grandfather Tao Kan was a fu master in the Jin Dynasty. My grandfather was a satrap, and my father probably had a lower official position. He died in Tao Yuanming's childhood. In a society that attaches importance to the door, the status of Taoists is different from that of gentry such as Wang and Xie, but it is also different from humble.
Tao Yuanming spent his boyhood in the countryside of Chaisang. "There are no improper customs, and their sexual love is autumn mountains" (the first part of Guiyuan) and "Young people are poor, and they are good at swimming six classics" (the sixteenth part of drinking) are the portrayal of life at that time. He often says that because his family is poor, he has to be an official to make a living. This is true, but it cannot be ruled out that ordinary scholars have the motivation to make contributions. "I am eager to escape from all over the world, and I cooked it in Philip Burkart" (Part 5 of Miscellaneous Plan) revealed the news. At the age of 29, Tao Yuanming served as a wine offering ceremony in Jiangzhou and resigned soon. Later, Jiangzhou was called the master book, but he did not take office.
In 398, in the second year of Longan, Jin 'an, Tao Yuanming went to Jiangling and entered Jingzhou to secretariat Huan Xuan. At that time, Huan Xuan held the military and political power in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and he was ambitious to usurp gold. Tao Yuanming had the idea of resigning again. This winter, because of the death of his mother Meng, he went back to Chaiyang to pay his respects. Great changes have taken place in the political situation since then. In 402, Huan Xuan entered Beijing under the name of Sima Yuan Xian, a senior official. The following year, he usurped the throne and changed his name to Chu. In 404, Emperor Wu of Song set out to crusade against Huan Xuan, entered Jiankang and became the general of Zhenjun. He mastered the state power and brought a glimmer of hope to the rulers. So Tao Yuanming joined the army and became a general of the town army, Emperor Wu of Song. His mood is ambivalent. On the one hand, he feels that the time has come and hopes to make a difference. On the other hand, I am attached to life in the countryside: "Talk with change, move with it, and finally return to work." At this time, Liu concentrated on crusade against Huan Xuan and its remnants, and Tao Yuanming was afraid that it would be difficult to make a difference under the curtain of Emperor Wu of Song. So in 405, he was appointed as General Jianwei, joined Liu's army and served as Jiangzhou secretariat. In August this year, he requested the removal of Pengze county magistrate. After more than 80 days in office, he resigned and retired on 1 1 month. The direct reason for resigning from the Pengze county magistrate this time is recorded in Song Shuzhuan: "The county sent Du You to the county, and the county official said,' You go to see him with a belt. Qian sighed: "I can't kneel down to the village man for five buckets of rice!" " ! I'll cancel my work today. When he resigned, he wrote a deeper reason: "Go back to Xi Xi, please leave me for a long trip, the world is against me, and I can't ask for it any more!" Tao Yuanming thoroughly realized that secularism was contrary to his nature of advocating nature. Unable to change his nature to adapt to secularism, he was disappointed with the political situation and resolutely resigned and retired.
The resignation of Pengze county magistrate is the dividing line between the two periods of Tao Yuanming's life. Previously, he had been choosing between the two social roles of a bureaucrat and a hermit. When he lived in seclusion, he wanted to be an official, so he had to retire. His mood is very ambivalent. Since then, he has strengthened his determination to live in seclusion and practice all the time, but his mood is still not calm: "Sun and Moon abandon people and are determined not to win." I am sad to read this, but I can't be quiet in the end. "("Miscellaneous Poems ") He described the happiness of seclusion many times in his poems and expressed his determination to live in seclusion. This is of course his true feelings, but it is also a way of firm determination. He didn't have a chance to be an official again in the later period, but refused. At the end of the Jin Dynasty, he was recruited as a writer, so he didn't. Emperor Wu of song usurped gold to establish the song dynasty, and became more tired of politics. He implicitly expressed his thoughts on this matter in Syria. Poor and sick in his later years. "Jiangzhou secretariat TanDaoJi waiting, just lying hungry. "Dao Ji said,' A wise man is a man of the world. If there is no way in the world, it will be hidden, and if there is a way, it will be reached. The child was born in the civilized world, so why bother? Yes, I said,' How dare you look at the sage when you are lurking? You are not as ambitious as you think. Knife Ji feeds it with a bunch of meat, probably. (Xiao Tong's Biography of Tao Yuanming) Yuan Jia of Song Wendi wrote a self-sacrifice four years before his death. At the end of the article, he said: "It's really hard to live, so what's death?" "alas!" This became his masterpiece. After his death, his friends called him "Mr. Jingjie". His good friend Yan Yanzhi wrote an obituary for him.
Tao Yuanming is the representative of romantic life in Wei and Jin Dynasties. The romantic life in Wei and Jin Dynasties is a kind of personality beauty pursued by Wei and Jin scholars, or an artistic life pursued by them. They use their words, behaviors and poems to make their lives full of artistic flavor. From a secular point of view, Tao Yuanming's life is "withered", but from an extraordinary point of view, his life is very artistic. His works, such as Biography of Mr. May 6th, Returning to Welcome, and Returning to the Garden, all reflect his artistic life. Tao Yuanming's works are excellent in poetry, prose and fu.
Tao Yuanming wrote the most pastoral poems. Pastoral poetry is a new theme that he added to China literature. Taking his pastoral life as the content, he truly wrote the joys and sorrows of hard struggle. Tao Yuanming is the first person in the history of China literature.
Some of his pastoral poems express his carefree mood by describing the beauty of rural scenery and the simplicity of rural life. Spring outing, mountain climbing, drinking, reading, talking with friends, reuniting with family members, washing under the eaves, or picking chrysanthemums in Dongli, and new seedlings spreading their wings in the south wind, all turned into wonderful poems. For example, "Back to the Garden" is one of the following:
Few people do as the Romans do. Their nature is to love nature. I sneaked into the official career network and have been away from the game for more than ten years. Birds in cages are often attached to the forests of the past, and fish in ponds yearn for the abyss of the past. I want to open up wasteland in Minamino and keep my humility to the fields. There are more than ten acres of square houses and eight or nine straw houses. Willow trees cover the eaves, and peach trees cover Li Lieman in front of the hospital. The neighboring village of the neighboring village is faintly visible, and there is smoke in the village. Several dogs barked in the alley, and the mulberry tree was barked by a rooster. The house is clean and miscellaneous, and the virtual room is idle. Trapped in a cage without freedom for a long time, I finally returned to the forest today.
In contrast, the poet felt extremely happy when he returned to the field. Ye Nan, thatched cottage, elm willow, peaches and plums, distant trees, near smoke, crowing chickens and barking dogs are all pleasing to the eye, and they are all poems of Tao Yuanming after his enlightenment. "It's warm in a distant village, and smoke in a market in Iraq", as well as "dogs barking in deep alleys, chickens crowing and mulberry trees jumping", have simply reached the realm of transformation.
Some of his pastoral poems focus on the life experience of farming, which is the most distinctive and valuable part of his pastoral poems. The third part of Back to the Garden is a masterpiece in this respect:
I planted beans at the foot of Nanshan, and the weeds in the field were covered with peas. Get up early in the morning to get rid of weeds, and come back with hoes in the moonlight at night. The narrow path covered with vegetation, the night dew wet my clothes. It's not a pity to get wet, but I hope it won't be against my will.
This is the true feeling of a farmer who retired from his official post and went to the countryside, hoeing on the moon and revealing his clothes at dusk. The real scene is vivid. Behind the description of farming life is the contrast between farming and being an official, and the pursuit of ideal life.
Tao Yuanming's poems about cherishing the memory are mainly centered on being an official and retiring, showing his character of not colluding with the rulers. Among them, there is a review of his life, such as Drinking 19; There are attacks on society, such as Drinking, the twentieth; There is no lack of regret and anger, such as Ode to Jing Ke. As can be seen from the second part of Miscellaneous Poems, Tao Yuanming's worries and resentments are deep and extensive:
The sun sets in the west and the moon rises in Dongling. Far away, thousands of people are swinging in the air. When the wind enters the house, the pillow mat is cool at night. When qi changes, it is easy to realize, but not to sleep. Have nothing to say, wave a cup to persuade the lonely shadow. If the sun and the moon abandon people, they will be invincible. It's sad to read this, but I can't be quiet in the end.
This poem, written on a sleepless autumn night, expresses the loneliness of one's mood with the cold environment and leads to the sadness of one's ambition with the passage of time. It is the representative work of Tao Yuanming's Huai Huai poems.
Nature is the overall artistic feature of Tao's poems. The kiss and rhythm of Shi Tao's poems are soothing and calm. His poems do not pursue strong stimulation, strong color, tortuous structure and are purely natural and magical. As Yuan Haowen said: "A word is natural and eternal, and it is extravagant."
Tao Yuanming's position and influence in the history of literature depends on his prose and ci, no less than his poetry. Especially, these three articles, Biography of Mr. Wuliu, Peach Blossom Garden and Back to Xi Ci, are most famous for their temperament and thoughts.
The Biography of Mr. Wu Liu has only 120 words and 40 words of praise, but it has left a vivid biography for itself. His Biography of Mr. Wu Liu takes the form of an official biography, but it focuses not on telling life stories, but on expressing life interests and has the characteristics of self-narration. This writing was initiated by Tao Yuanming. In more than 100 words, The Biography of Mr. Wu Liu shows different popular figures with extremely concise pen and ink, and draws a clear line with the secular, thus shaping a lofty and free-spirited hermit image. Mr. Wu Liu became the ideal image of the ancient scholar-officials in China.
Returning to hometown is a declaration of returning to the countryside from official career. The scene of returning home, reuniting with my family when I get home, and farming next spring are all imaginary words, and the poet's yearning for freedom can be seen in the realistic ideal. There are many colorful paragraphs, swaying rhythms and comfortable kisses in the article, which present the poet's ecstatic situation to the readers. For future generations, all the regression and liberation can be expressed through this article, so it has eternal vitality. Ouyang Xiu said: "Jin has no article, and Tao Yuanming's Gui Ci is just a poem."
The story of Taohuayuan is similar to other fairyland stories, describing a beautiful fairyland. However, it should be emphasized that the ideal model provided by Tao Yuanming has its particularity: in fact, ordinary people, a group of asylum seekers, rather than immortals, live there, but they retain some natural innocence more than the world; Their peace, tranquility and happiness are all obtained through their own labor. Many ancient fairy tales are about immortality and treasure. There is neither immortality nor treasure in the Peach Blossom Garden, only a scene of farming. At the beginning of his retirement, Tao Yuanming only thought about his personal advance and retreat. When he wrote Peach Blossom Spring, he was not limited to individuals, but thought about the way out of the whole society and the happiness of the broad masses of people. This step of Tao Yuanming is related to years of hardships and poor life experiences. Although the Peach Blossom Garden is just an illusion, it is very valuable to put forward this illusion.
Tao Yuanming is the spiritual home of China scholar-officials. When many scholar-officials are frustrated or tired of officialdom, they often return to Tao Yuanming to seek new life value and comfort themselves. Bai Juyi, Su Shi, Lu You and Xin Qiji. Therefore, not bowing over five buckets of rice has become a fortress in the spiritual world of China scholar-officials to protect their freedom of choosing sources. And plain nature has become a lofty artistic position in their hearts. Tao Yuanming was lonely before his death. At that time, he was just a hermit. His poems are confessions of a lonely man, and the brilliance of his life gradually radiates after his death. "A thousand years of fame, ten thousand years of fame, what's good, when you die, it's gone", these two poems of Du Fu are more suitable for Tao Yuanming.