The literature of Song Dynasty basically developed along the direction since the middle Tang Dynasty. In terms of prose, the ancient prose movement initiated by Han Yu and others, after the decline in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, received a warm response from writers in the Song Dynasty. They combined orthodoxy with literary tradition more closely, making the ancient prose in Song Dynasty truly a practical style with strong political function. In terms of poetry, writers pay attention to reflecting social reality, and the theme and style tend to be popular, eventually forming a Song poetry with different tastes from Tang poetry; Ci reached its peak in the Song Dynasty. Popular literature also developed by leaps and bounds in the Song Dynasty, and finally formed popular narrative literature represented by storytelling, Zhugongdiao, Zaju, Nanxi and other styles, thus changing the situation that China ancient literature was lyrical and attached importance to orthodox poetry while ignoring popular literature, laying the foundation for the development of novels and operas in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The number of literary works in Song Dynasty far exceeded that in Tang Dynasty. There are 278 kinds of Tang anthologies included in Comprehensive Records of China, while there are nearly 600 kinds of Song anthologies. There are more than 2,200 existing Tang poems, including more than 48,900 poems, plus various supplements, but at most there are more than 50,000 poems. According to Li E's Chronicle of Song Poems, there are more than 3,800 existing Song Poems, and Lu Xinyuan's Chronicle of Song Poems is supplemented by more than 3,000, with more than 6,800. The total number of Tang poems is as many as three or four generations. "All Tang Wen" contains more than 3000 writers' 18000 articles in the Tang and Five Dynasties, while the newly published "All Wen Song" contains more than 1000 articles by more than 10 million writers in the whole Song Dynasty, which is five times. There are only 68 Tang and Wu pronouns with more than 370 words in the appendix of Complete Tang Poetry, while Song Poetry contains nearly 20,000 words of more than 330 poets in Song Dynasty, 50 times as many as Tang and Wu pronouns.
There are many social, political and cultural reasons why the literature of Song Dynasty can make such great achievements.
First of all, the Song Dynasty implemented the national policy of respecting literature and restraining martial arts. Since Song Taizu's "relieving the military power with a glass of wine", emperors of past dynasties have been wary of military generals, ruling the army with Confucianism, Taoism and ministers, and firmly holding the military power in their own hands. At the same time, in the Song Dynasty, civil servants were reused, not only the prime minister should use scholars, but also the Tang envoys of the main commanders were mostly held by civil servants. Scholars entered the imperial examination and became the main part of the bureaucratic class in Song Dynasty. Song became a dynasty based on a mature civil service system, and the absolute monarchy and centralization of power were strengthened unprecedentedly, which was unprecedented in history. The Song Dynasty had a high sense of social responsibility and enthusiasm for participating in politics. They regard themselves as the pillars of the country, express their political opinions with great enthusiasm and show their unique mental outlook.
Secondly, the social environment in which the literati lived in the Song Dynasty also changed greatly. The gate system disappeared completely, and a large number of scholars from poor families entered the official career through the imperial examination. Their living environment is also quite relaxed and their living conditions are quite comfortable. The social ideal of "poor men" was realized for a long time in the Song Dynasty. On the other hand, the above characteristics also strengthened the literati's dependence on state power. Apart from the imperial examination, their road to realizing their own values became narrower. Related to this, the literati's thoughts have also been greatly bound. In the Song Dynasty, the monarch relied on and controlled the literati, relying on the literati was to establish a civil service system to prevent military commanders from being immune, and controlling the literati was to form a unified ideological pattern to stabilize people's hearts and achieve the ultimate goal of strengthening monarchical power. Although Neo-Confucianism didn't become the official ideology of the Song Dynasty, or even recognized by the imperial court, many scholars in the Song Dynasty were keen on preaching and teaching, had a relatively conscious sense of defending morality, had a strong sense of mission politically and academically, and attached great importance to the political enlightenment function of poetry. It was not until the Song Dynasty that the traditional concept of "writing carries Tao" was really highly valued. Many scholars in Song Dynasty put the social and political function of literature on the aesthetic pleasure function. Literary works in Song Dynasty, especially poems regarded as orthodox style, have always been the most important theme. Describing people's corruption and attacking the malpractices of the times have become the creative tendency of the whole literary world, with distinctive flavor of the times and vigorous bone strength, and the didactic meaning of poetry is obviously stronger than that of the Tang Dynasty. Literati consciously restrained their dissolute, arrogant and willful habits and became sophisticated, deep and serious. Therefore, the literati in Song Dynasty paid more attention to reason than emotion. Pay more attention to the individual's political responsibility and moral obligation to the country and society, but pay too much attention to sociality, which inhibits the free development and free expression of personality and weakens the significance of personal lyric. A direct influence of the above historical background on the literature of the Song Dynasty is the strengthening of the discussion elements in poetry and prose, which is unprecedented for scholars in the Song Dynasty to like to discuss. Whether prose or poetry, the atmosphere of discussion is everywhere.
Third, from the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty to the subjugation of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty was always under the threat of a strong enemy, and the weakness of foreign relations can be said to be nothing more than the Song Dynasty. Although the economy of the Song Dynasty was quite developed, people of insight were worried about the excessive expenditure of domestic officials and soldiers and the huge amount of foreign currency. The deep sense of hardship, on the one hand, makes the literati in the Song Dynasty seldom sing praises with literature, on the other hand, makes the patriotic theme in the literature in the Song Dynasty be promoted. Since the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court compromised with the Liao and Xixia wars with a large amount of property. This humiliating situation has become a heavy burden in the hearts of literati and a frequent theme in poetry and prose. In the war of resisting gold and Yuan for a century and a half, a large number of works showing strong national consciousness and sad mood were produced in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the patriotic theme became the dominant trend in the whole literary world. The works of Lu You, Xin Qiji and others raised the theme of patriotism to an unprecedented height, thus injecting heroism and masculinity into the literature of the Song Dynasty.
Fourthly, the influence of the ideological situation in Song Dynasty on literature. The ideological situation in the Song Dynasty also has its own characteristics, on the one hand, the gradual rise of Neo-Confucianism, on the other hand, the integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, especially Zen thought. The ideological trend of "the integration of the three religions" makes the cultural character of the literati in the Song Dynasty different from that of the previous generation. They integrated the traditional way of life, unified their social and political responsibilities with the pursuit of inner freedom, tranquility and harmony, and their attitude towards life tended to be rational, peaceful, stable and indifferent. The emotional intensity of poetry in Song Dynasty is not as good as that in Tang Dynasty, but its ideological depth exceeds that in Tang Dynasty. We don't pursue gaudiness and gorgeousness, but take plain beauty as the acme of art. Zen Buddhism is full of philosophical thinking methods, and it is good at arguing from small to large, and it has a great influence on the literature of Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, there were many phenomena of discussing poetry with Zen and entering poetry with Zen. More importantly, in the Song Dynasty, Zen Buddhism aimed at epiphany and transcendence, and the literati adopted a life attitude of sharing the same light with the secular, and their aesthetic attitude was also secularized. The literature in Song Dynasty changed from strictly distinguishing elegance from vulgarity to taking vulgarity as elegance, which was especially obvious in Song Dynasty.
Fifthly, the prosperity of urban economy in Song Dynasty gave birth to various literary forms mainly for entertainment, such as rap, zaju, performance, puppet show and Zhu Gong tune, which developed rapidly, and Ci became the most striking literary style in Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, due to the economic development, the rulers supported officials with wealth, and the atmosphere of indulgence was once prevalent. The way to enjoy is usually to dance and sing lightly. As a result, singing platforms and dancers have become an important part of literati's life, and the words bred in this soil will naturally flourish. Scholar-bureaucrat poets used poems to express their serious contents about politics and society, but used words to express their intimate feelings purely in their private lives. For example, Ouyang Xiu's poems and words are just like those written by two people. It is the Song people who regard ci as a carrier to entertain their feelings and vent their secret feelings. Therefore, Ci is rarely bound by the idea of "writing carries Tao", and literati can express their charming customs more freely, and the style of Ci can retain its own characteristics and gain an independent position. And folk entertainment places also need a large number of lyrics. Scholar-bureaucrat's ci works are circulated among the people through various channels, and some poets write lyrics directly for singers. The social demand for ci has stimulated the creative enthusiasm of ci writers and promoted the prosperity and development of ci.
Literature, poetry and prose in the Song Dynasty still occupy an important position, inheriting the tradition of the previous generation and having their own characteristics. Outstanding writers include Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi, Li Qingzhao, Lu You and Xin Qiji. There are many schools of poetry and they have made great achievements in art. Although there are not many works of China's traditional operas and novels, they mark the beginning of a new era.
Song ci has the highest achievement and has always been regarded as the representative of Song literature. Ci in the early Song Dynasty directly inherited the residual style of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties, and the tone of Ci was still dominated by Lingqu. Li Yu's works after the national subjugation "opened his eyes and deepened his feelings" (Wang Guowei's "Words on Earth"). Because the life of literati in the early Song Dynasty was different from that in the Southern Dynasties, new changes were brewing in the style of ci. During the period of Song Renzong, Ci entered its heyday, and its development experienced another important musical change. Short tune and short tune gradually take shape, while long tune and slow tune occupy the main position; Sequence, quotation, proximity and slowness, diverse styles and well-prepared words. Liu Yong adopted Jiao Fang's new harmony with Du Yi's new voice, "changing the old voice into the new voice" (Li Qingzhao's On Ci), and wrote a lot of slow words, which is the development of Ci. Yan Shu and Ouyang Xiu mainly inherited the legacy of the Southern Tang Dynasty and created more poems, but they also showed some new changes. Su Shi expanded the theme and realm of Ci, and regarded changing and refreshing the style of Ci as an important aspect of changing the style of Ci, becoming a representative of the bold school. Zhou Bangyan is a representative figure of the metrical school. He is proficient in temperament, writes slow songs and eliminates vulgar, elegant and homophonic festivals. Li Qingzhao advocated that ci should be descriptive, classical and realistic, "don't be a family." Her true colors of poetry are devoted to writing feelings, so she is known as the graceful school. Xin Qiji took Wen as Ci, which further expanded the realm of Ci developed by Su Shi and further established the position of Ci in the literary world. Jiang Kui also used the thin and hard style of Jiangxi Poetry School to write Ci, which opened up a new way of "self-tuning" and pushed the expression of slow Ci further. Song ci developed not only in content, but also in art, which made ci reach its peak.
Song poetry, as a poetic style, began in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. Bai Juyi's style had a great influence on the literary world in the early Song Dynasty, but most of the people who studied this style in the late Tang Dynasty were hermits. To Yang Yi and other "Kunxi Style" poets, they mainly imitated Li Shangyin, and their poetic style changed. Ouyang Xiu, Mei, Wang Anshi and Su Shi really created a new situation in the Song Dynasty. Huang Tingjian and his later writers formed the Jiangxi Poetry School, which had great influence on that time and later generations. Lu You is the most prominent figure in the Southern Song Dynasty, and he is full of patriotism. At the end of the Song Dynasty, the "Four Spirits School" and the "Jianghu School" studied the late Tang Dynasty and expressed their interest in pastoral roaming. Song poetry has its own artistic style, which is different from Tang poetry. Therefore, there are two schools of poetry in later generations: "respecting Tang Dynasty" and "worshiping Song Dynasty".
Prose in Song Dynasty has made new development on the basis of inheriting the achievements of Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan's ancient prose movement. After the promotion of Ouyang Xiu and others, the ancient prose movement really penetrated into all fields of social life. Six of the eight masters in Tang and Song Dynasties lived in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the influence of Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi extended to the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
During the Song and Jin Dynasties, the emergence of China traditional operas based on folk rap and song and dance performances was of epoch-making significance. Zaju in Song Dynasty is the embryonic form of China's ancient drama. The story of performances in Jin and Yuan Dynasties has been enhanced, and the music and performing arts of drama have made new progress. Southern Song Dynasty drama is a form of drama based on folk songs and dances in Wenzhou and other places in the south. Gongdiao in Song and Jin Dynasties was the result of the high development of China's rap art. The script based on the art of speaking is written in spoken language and relatively simple classical Chinese, which is the beginning of China's vernacular novels.