Gu Yanwu
Gu, a character, was knowledgeable in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and was famous for his noble character. The late Ming and early Qing dynasties were a period of social unrest. Gu personally experienced these vicissitudes and wrote them into his own poems. Gu's poems not only record the historical changes of a generation, but also show strong patriotism and noble thoughts and sentiments.
During the change of dynasties in Ming and Qing dynasties, he always missed his motherland until his death, which reflected the awe-inspiring national integrity. He paid deep respect to some people with lofty ideals who insisted on resisting the Qing dynasty and were killed by the Qing government. For example, Chen Zilong resisted Qing capture, would rather die than surrender, and drowned himself; After hearing about it, Gu wrote a sad and touching "Crying Chen Taifu Zilong". On the contrary, he hated the bureaucrats who surrendered to the Qing court.
Gu also has a lot of antique works of chanting history, and often expresses his ambition of anti-Qing and regaining sight by evaluating historical figures. Some object-chanting poems are also lyrical works, which use the methods of expressing objects and interests. He has traveled around the world all his life, so there are many chapters in his works praising the magnificent mountains and rivers of the motherland. However, even when traveling, he always shows his yearning for his motherland, rather than his general feelings. Many of his valuable works are also very touching and attractive. This kind of works often melt the pain of home and country into the matter of friends, and become the encouragement and comfort of like-minded people in the anti-Qing struggle, which is extremely touching to read.
Gu's poetry plays a very important role in the history of China's poetry development. As far as ideological content is concerned, Gu's poems stand tall in the poetry circles in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties with noble national integrity and distinctive characteristics of the times. He inherited the realistic creative spirit of Du Fu and Bai Juyi, and was revered by later generations. As far as poetic style is concerned, he devoted himself to the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Later, Huang Zongxi advocated the Song Dynasty and started the dispute between Tang and Song Dynasties since the Qing Dynasty. Gu, as a major singer in the Tang Dynasty in the early Qing Dynasty, was in the position of creating a generation of poetic style. Lin Changyi called him "the former Ming Dynasty succeeded the strength, and the poets of this dynasty started the mountain" in "Poems on the Carved Pagoda".
"Jiang Zuo San Jie"
"Three outstanding writers of Jiang Zuo" refer to three famous writers in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, namely Qian (Muzhai), Gong Dingzi (Meicun) and Wu (Meicun). The so-called "Jiangzuo" geographically refers to some areas on the left side of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which belonged to Jiangnan provinces in political geography at that time. Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty crossed the river, this area has been named Jiangzuo. Because all three people are from Jiangzuo, they are called this.
There is a * * * similarity in the poems of the three of them, that is, they all lived in the Tang Dynasty, and they all opposed the suppressed archaized and imitated poetic style since the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Together with Gu and other important poets, they can be called pioneers of poetry in Qing Dynasty.
Qian worships Du Fu and Yuan, and one of his works, Toubi Collection, is almost the rhyme of Du Fu's eight poems Qiuxing, which is the most representative work. Gong Dingzi's poems are similar to those of Qian and Wu, but they have little influence at that time and later generations.
Among the three great poets, Wu's poetry has the greatest achievement and influence. His poems are beautiful in rhetoric and sonorous in tone, especially those with seven-character rhythm. He borrowed from Bai Juyi's "Changqing Style" and created his own style, which was later called "Meicun Style". Garden Song is his most widely read poem, and it is also the most prestigious seven-character poem in Qing Dynasty.
The historical background of Yuanqu is the change of Shen Jiazhi in A.D. 1644, and the narrative plot of the whole poem consists of the joys and sorrows of Wu Sangui and Chen Yuanyuan. In the poem, Chen Wu's affairs are described and rendered vividly from first meeting, commitment, separation, plunder to reunion; At the same time, a serious theme runs through the poem, which is anger and satire about Wu Sangui's betrayal of the Ming Dynasty.
From an artistic point of view, since Bai Juyi's Song of Eternal Sorrow and Wei Zhuang's Ode to Fu Qin in the Tang Dynasty, there has not been a line comparable to Yuan Yuanqu. Although Wu is considered to have inherited Bai Juyi's Changqing style, he did not limit his works to personal simulations, but collected many aspects. For example, in Yuan Yuanqu, the author often adopts the syntax of "Lian", which has appeared in Lu's poems in the early Tang Dynasty, making the poems more musical and establishing his own artistic style.