Scholars in the Tang Dynasty generally held a positive and enterprising attitude towards life. The increasingly powerful national strength has opened a broad life path for literati. There are more ways for the Tang people to be officials than the previous generation. The Tang dynasty inherited the old and became more mature. The subjects offered in the Tang Dynasty are divided into regular selection and system selection. Scholars, Ming Classics, etc. 12, including seven Ming Classics; It is difficult to know the exact number, but according to the records of the Tang and Song Dynasties, there are as many as eighty or ninety species. Besides the imperial examination, there are many ways to be an official, such as entering the local Jiezhen shogunate. Multiple ways to be an official provide more opportunities for the scholars in the cold door. A group of poor scholars who are close to the broad social life entered the literary world, which made literature go out of the narrow circle of the court and go to the streets, which is also of great significance to the development of literature. Due to the strong national strength, the scholars in the Tang Dynasty had a more magnificent mind, tolerance, ambition and strong enterprising spirit. Many of them, confident and arrogant, often combine together. William Wang Biography of Old Tang Dynasty says that William Wang "has a heroic temperament ... and made a speech, comparing himself with the princes". Chen Ziang has the same spirit: "Let's look forward to tomorrow, enjoy the feast and get ready. Then take Liangchengbi and visit Hou. Otherwise, I will brush my clothes and go back to the seagull. " (Master Luoyang's answer) Li Bai is such a person who thinks highly of himself. He compared himself to Guan, Ge, Xie An, who wanted to make contributions to the world, and then retired as usual. "What do you say about fishing for weeks and hunting Qin An and Li Yuan?" Away from the eleventh brother, Pepe, thirteen trips to the Great Wall. Gao Shi, Cen Can, Wang Changling, Zuyong, etc. "Wan Li at death, once successful. Drawing into the Palace of Light "(Xia Sai Qu by Gao Shi). "My husband is not rich in his thirties. Can he keep his pen and ink inkstone all day?" (Cen Can's Yin Qishan Xiting) "Yellow sand wears shining armor in hundreds of battles, and it will not be returned until the Loulan is broken" (Wang Changling's Joining the Army). "Although no young staff member intends to become a great general, I threw away my writing brush, just like a student throwing away his hat to lasso, I challenged what might happen" (Wang Jimen of Zuyong). Du Fu should also be loyal to the monarch and compare himself with Ji and Qi. In the Tang Dynasty, scholars were very interested in fame and fortune. Although it changed after the Anshi Rebellion and gradually weakened in the late Tang Dynasty, the general trend of actively joining the WTO has not changed. This enterprising spirit is embodied in literature, which is the high-spirited mood in literature (especially poetry).
In the early Tang Dynasty, a history museum was established to compile five histories: Liang Shu, Chen Shu, Beiqi Shu, Zhou Shu and Sui Shu. Later, the Book of Jin was revised in the name of Emperor Taizong Yu, and the History of South and the History of North were revised in the form of private officials' review. The compilation of Eight Histories has provided rich experience in compiling history. Soon Liu Zhiji's Shi Tong came out, which extensively discussed historical issues, reflecting a realistic ideological tendency. This ideological tendency is consistent with the development of literary trends. The literary trend of thought in the early Tang Dynasty gradually developed in the direction of anti-counterfeiting and truth-seeking, and gradually got rid of the influence of the style of writing in the Southern Dynasties. Historical truth-seeking and literary truth-seeking are both products of the trend of advocating truth. Historians' exposition of literary issues directly affects the trend of literature, such as Biography of Literature, Biography of Northern Qi, Biography of Wang Xin, and the wonderful literary opinions in biographies of various historical writers, which are in the same strain as the two strong poetic styles in the early Tang Dynasty, with profound ideas, far-reaching influence, skillful rhetoric and both temperament and character.
The prosperity of painting, calligraphy and sculpture in the Tang Dynasty also influenced literature. China's calligraphy has made great achievements in the Jin Dynasty. Since then, the northern dynasty has been vigorous and the southern dynasty handsome, and the Sui dynasty has gradually merged with the two powerful countries, but the law has not changed much. Great changes began to take place in the Tang Dynasty. In the early Tang Dynasty, Yu Shinan, Chu Suiliang, Xue Ji, Sun and other famous calligraphers appeared, forming another peak in the history of calligraphy in China. Although they still regard the two kings as the law, they have gradually sought change. As soon as Yan Zhenqing came out, he changed the charm of Jin people into statutes, with a dignified structure and a heavy pen, and the beauty was in it, which finally opened up a new way for the development of China's calligraphy. Zhang Xu and erotic cursive script are the most vivid manifestations of the high spirit of the Tang literati. Both of them are drunk and crazy, and the dragons and snakes are unpredictable. He's "every effort has a good side, and fighting against nature is beyond human reach" (Dou Meng's Shu Shu Fu). This free and unrestrained atmosphere in calligraphy is very similar to the spiritual outlook of poets in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, especially Li. Painting in the Tang Dynasty also entered a new period in the history of painting in China. This issue of painting has been divided into disciplines. Character painters include Yan, Wei Chiyi, Wu Daozi, Natalie and Zhou Fahe. Wu Daozi is also good at landscape painting, and Han Yun is also famous for painting cows. Landscape painters such as Li Sixun, Wang Wei, Zhang Yun and Zheng Qian. They are all famous figures in China's painting history. Painters of flowers and birds, such as horses of Cao Ba, Han Gan and Wei Yan, and flowers and birds of Bian Luan, also have a temporary name. Murals in the Tang Dynasty are the most prosperous, with paintings in houses, temples, Taoist temples, palaces, courtyards and outposts. Wu Daozi made great contributions to mural painting all his life. He painted more than 400 rooms on the walls of two temples. At that time, there were not only famous painters, but also craftsmen who painted murals, and the number was huge. When Wu Zong destroyed the law, many murals in more than 44,000 temples, Zhao Ti, Lan Ruo and other places were destroyed. The number of survivors is still considerable. Chengdu Dashengci Temple alone has 96 courtyards. By the Song Dynasty, there were 8524 murals. The high achievements of Buddhist art in the Tang Dynasty can also be seen from the Buddhist murals and statues left in various places today. The high achievements of calligraphy, painting and sculpture also affect literature, which we can see clearly from Tang poetry. There are 189 complete Tang poems written by Tang people. Many important poets, such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Changling, Cen Can, Gao Shi and Wang Wei, wrote poems about painting.
Roaming around famous mountains and rivers, in addition to enjoying mountains and rivers, may also be related to Taoist belief in immortals. "All the five mountains are sacred, and I don't think far, according to my unchanging habit all my life" (Li Bai's Lushan Song, Yushi Lu Xuzhou). Many important scholars in the Tang Dynasty believed in immortals. Visiting famous mountains and Taoism has become a fashion. This ethos also left its mark in Tang poetry.
Another important place for roaming is the frontier fortress. Frontier poems are an important theme of Tang poetry. You don't have to have been to frontier fortress to write frontier fortress poems in Tang Dynasty. But the excellent frontier poems are mostly the works of poets who have been to frontier fortress. Poets who have been to the frontier fortress, first, entered the Jie Zhen shogunate; First, the frontier fortress roams. The former such as Gao Shi, Cen Can, Li Yi; The latter such as Wang Changling, and Li Bai, Wang Zhihuan and others. Wandering in the Frontier has brought bold and vigorous breath and magnificent realm to Tang poetry.
Another place to roam is the capital, such as Chang 'an, Luoyang, Yangzhou and Jinling. This was the most prosperous city at that time. Song blew a feast, which made people angry and made friends. This also greatly expanded the theme of literature and enriched the performance field of Tang literature.
There were many ways for scholars to be officials in the Tang Dynasty, and entering the imperial examination was an important way. Many scholars have lived in the shogunate. William Wang, Gao Shi, Wang Wei, Li Bai, Cen Can, Du Fu, Little Shi Ying, Li Hua, Liang Su and Jie Yuan all lived in the shogunate. After the middle Tang Dynasty, entering the curtain is the main career experience of many literati. Du Mu lived in the shogunate for ten years, during which his life became the content of his life and deeply penetrated into his poems. Li Shangyin's official career mainly lies in the shogunate. According to incomplete statistics, more than 70 important writers appeared in the curtain after the middle Tang Dynasty. Shogunate banquets, musicians chanting poems, singing and farewell, and chatting in the act all have an impact on the creation of poems, the generation of words and the development of novels.
Another influence of Tang life on the development of literature is the atmosphere of reading mountains and forests. Before becoming an official, some scholars in the Tang Dynasty lived in seclusion in the mountains or went to temples to study. Chen Ziang studied at Yujing Temple in Jin Huashan; Li Bai studied in a big mine before he left Kuimen. Cen Can fifteen hidden in Songyang; Liu Changqing seldom studies in Songshan; Meng Jiao, Cui Shu, Zhang Wei and Zhang Luan also studied in Songshan. When Yan Zhenqing was not an official, he often studied and gave lectures in Fushan; Li Duan, Du Mu, Wen, Du Xunhe and Li Zhongdong all studied in Lushan Mountain. Yan Fang, Xue Zhi and Ji Xu studied in Zhong Nanshan. Xu Shang studied in Zhongtiaoshan; Blessed and others read Qingcheng Mountain; Li Shen studied at Huishan Temple in Wuxi; Wait a minute. In the Tang Dynasty, scholars from poor families were able to respond. One way for them to study was temples and Taoist temples. In the Tang Dynasty, temples developed economically and provided free accommodation for poor scholars. And the library is rich, which provides convenience for scholars to read. Reading in the mountains, not only reading the history of classics, but also writing poetry and fu. The quiet environment in the mountains will have an impact on the cultivation of literati's interest and the trend of aesthetic interest. Reading mountains and forests is often in youth, and this influence is often reflected in the poems they create with their lives. The quiet Ming Xiu style in Tang poetry is related to this.
The relegated life of the literati in the Tang Dynasty, especially after the middle Tang Dynasty, also enriched the literature of the Tang Dynasty, making it more colorful from life to artistic conception and artistic conception. Scholars were relegated and formed various songs, from Qu Yuan to later generations; However, there were so many good relegation works in the Tang Dynasty. Li Bai degraded Yelang, Wang Changling degraded Dragon Label, and Liu Changqing both had good poems. Uneven grief, loneliness, sadness, persistence in life and pursuit of ideals constitute the rich and diverse connotations of relegated literature. This rich and diverse connotation is particularly evident in Yuan He's relegated works. Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi, Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi all have excellent works in this field.
Wandering, traveling in the mountains, entering the curtain and relegating to life have enriched the connotation of Tang literature from different levels, forming a colorful emotional style of Tang literature.
The integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in Tang Dynasty: the influence of Buddhism on literature; Taoism and its influence on literature.
In the nearly 300 years in the Tang Dynasty, the thought adopted a compatible attitude. Mainly Confucianism, accepting hundreds of schools. The revision of the Five Classics in the early Tang Dynasty has included the significance of unifying the interpretation right of Confucianism. Confucianism is the foundation of the country. Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism coexist in the ideological field. The Tang royal family took Lao Zi as their ancestor, and Zhuangzi, Liezi and Wen Zi were all named after real people. Laozi, Zhuangzi, Liezi and Wen Zi are listed as classics. During the Kaiyuan period, Daoju was set up, and the four sons were included in the examination subjects. Emperor Taizong supported Xuanzang's translation of Confucian classics. Xuanzong not only personally annotated the Filial Piety, but also personally annotated the Tao Te Ching and the Diamond Sutra, which were promulgated in the world. This is evidence of taking three thoughts at the same time. The three factions are involved in political struggles, and their political status fluctuates from time to time, while their ideological status is always equal. The blending of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism can be said to be the basic feature of the Tang Dynasty.
In the operation of political power (such as legal basis, social structure and social ethics, etc. ), Confucianism is dominant in the selection and use of talents. Scholars enter the government, make contributions to the monarch, and hold the enterprising spirit of Confucianism's entry into the WTO. However, in life belief, social thought, life interest and lifestyle, it is always mixed with Buddhism and Taoism. These influences greatly influenced the development of literature in the Tang Dynasty.
Buddhism developed greatly in the Tang Dynasty. Tiantai Sect, Sanlunzong Sect, Fazong Sect, Huayan Sect and Zen Buddhism in China have all reached a quite mature stage, especially Zen Buddhism, which has been deeply integrated into China culture. The influence of Buddhism on the literature of the Tang Dynasty is mainly reflected in the works by influencing the life ideals and hobbies of literati. Many writers in the Tang Dynasty, such as Wang Ji, Shen Quanqi, Song, Zhang Shuo, Meng Haoran, Wang Wei, Cen Can, Chang Jian, Li Qi, Du Fu, Li Bai, Wei, Yuan Zhen, Bai Juyi, Liu Yuxi, Li He, Xu Hun, Pi Rixiu, Lu Guimeng, Luo Yin, Wu Rong, Huang Tao and Han Shu. Some directly talk about Buddhism in poems, such as "knowing without me, looking up to the sky and being tired of being tangible" (Meng Haoran's "Accompanying Yao as a gentleman and benefiting the main room"). "The first feeling is boring, and I am eager to try" (Li Jue's Su Yinggong's Zen Room Smells the Vatican). "There are ups and downs, and there is no difference" (Bai Juyi's View of Illusion). Some show a kind of Zen and a little Zen machine, such as "Do you ask me good or bad luck? Listen, there is a fisherman singing on the lake! " (Wang Wei answers Deputy Magistrate Zhang). "I will walk until the water stops me, and then sit and watch the rising clouds" (Wang Wei, my retreat in Zhongnanshan). The self-nature of Zen speaking style is broken in words and deeds, and it is difficult to express a little Zen machine through concrete images. This is a deeper and more important influence. It has brought new qualities to Tang poetry. The ethereal realm, quiet interest and indifferent profound meaning in Tang poetry all come from this. This is the positive influence of Buddhism on Tang literature.
The more direct influence of Buddhism on the literature of the Tang Dynasty is that a large number of poets and monks appeared in the Tang Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty compiled the complete poems of the Tang Dynasty, with 2783 poems by poets 1 13. The poems of these monks include Buddhist handouts, exhortations to goodness, hymns, etc., but most of them are ordinary poems, such as traveling, interacting with scholars, giving answers, etc. Among monk poems, Wang Fanzhi's poems and Hanshan's poems are more important. There are 390 poems written by Wang Fanzhi today. It seems that they were not written by one person. Write the part of secular life, multi-level poverty and misfortune; Generally, people who express Buddhist thoughts advise others to be kind. This language was very popular and seemed to spread widely among people at that time. Hanshan's poems describe secular life, some seek immortality, and some learn Buddhism. Among them, the poems expressing Zen have a wide and far-reaching influence. In addition to monk poems, the extensive contacts between scholars and Buddhism and the extensive contacts with monks are also reflected in the poems. There are 2273 such poems in the whole Tang poetry, accounting for 10.3% of the total. In other words, one of the ten Tang poems is related to Buddhism.
The extensive influence of Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty. It directly broadens the literary genre. Vulgarity and literary variation are the new styles that appear at this time. The main feature of this style is that it is easy to rap, the content is Buddhist scriptures, the form is the same as that of folk speech at that time, and it has the nature of popular literature.
Taoism and Taoism also had a wide influence on the literature of the Tang Dynasty. For the literati in the Tang Dynasty, Taoist thought is mainly to let them return to nature and get close to it. There are many poems about "carefree travel" in the Tang Dynasty, but all of them regard Dapeng as an image to express their great spirit and lofty aspirations. They left the fundamental spirit of Zhuangzi's "I forget everything" and "everything is the same", and sought success in doing nothing, moving from doing nothing to doing something. Taoism has a great influence on the life beliefs of the Tang people. This is mainly reflected in the influence of immortal thought. Writers in the Tang Dynasty, such as Lu, Song, Zhang Jiuling, Wang Changling, Bai Juyi and Li Shangyin all believed in immortals. There are many descriptions of the fairy world in Tang poetry, such as the fairy dreamland of Mount Tai, Mount Tianmu and Lotus Mountain in Li Bai's works, the colorful fairy world in Li He's works, and the images of saints, Chang 'e and the North Que of Dragon Palace in Li Shangyin's works, all of which are obvious examples of Taoist influence. Even Bai Juyi, who is famous for his realism, fantasized about a fairy world at the end of Song of Eternal Sorrow. The immortal thought also greatly enriched the imagination of Tang legends and made their plots more romantic.
Writers in the Tang Dynasty were rarely influenced by Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism alone. Most of them have the thoughts of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, but how many components are hidden or obvious. The influence of Confucianism brought enterprising spirit to Tang literature, Buddhism enriched the artistic expression of Tang poetry, and Taoism enriched the imagination of Tang poetry. They all played a positive role in the development of Tang literature.
The Prosperity of Tang Literature; The Development Track of Tang Poetry; The Style and Stylistic Innovation of Tang Prose; The Emergence and Prosperity of New Style; The Position of Tang Literature in the History of China Literature.
The Tang Dynasty is such a dynasty: it was once the most glorious period in Chinese history. More than 100 years of pioneering and development, strong national strength, economic prosperity, all-inclusive ideas, and the blending of Chinese and foreign cultures have created an extremely favorable environment for cultural development; The enterprising spirit and magnanimity of scholars brought up in prosperous times greatly enriched the creativity of literature, and also brought high-spirited spirit to literature, creating a prosperous atmosphere that was repeatedly praised by later generations. At the same time, it also experienced an unprecedented war disaster, and launched a life of killing, destruction, displacement and disaster in front of literati. They experienced great prosperity and destruction, and then they tried to revive but never recovered. Such a rich life is not available in every dynasty. Colorful life has prepared rich soil for the development of literature, provided writers with extremely rich themes, broadened their horizons, gave them passion and forced them to sing.
But this is only the objective condition for the prosperity of Tang literature. Judging from the development of literature itself, the prosperity of Tang literature is the inevitable result of the development of literature in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. With the development of China literature in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, its artistic features have been fully recognized and developed rapidly towards independence. This is mainly manifested in its gradual separation from academics, its dilution of the utilitarian purpose of political and religious utilization and its conscious pursuit of aesthetics. From the content, paying attention to the expression of personal feelings, whether expressing Hyunri or lyricism, is to express personal feelings, develop to extremes, and even move from lyricism to entertainment. From the form of speech, the pursuit of melody beauty in rhetoric, the innovation of expression skills, and the understanding of the creative process, including the perception and grasp of imagination, inspiration, meaning, form and spirit, have made amazing progress. Parallel prose pushes the beautiful form of prose to the extreme, but it also exposes its weaknesses. The rhythmic form of poetry has taken shape, and a new poetic style that will affect our country for more than a thousand years is coming out. The expansion of expression field and the richness of expression skills have promoted the change and expansion of article genre. The original writing purposes and norms of various styles are changing; New styles are constantly emerging. Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long alone has 865,438+0 styles. Although it contains a large number of applied styles and does not belong to the category of literature, the diversity of literary styles is an indisputable fact. All these indicate that the literature of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties has made all preparations for the development of China literature to a new stage. It is on this basis that the Tang people ushered in a poetic modern man, absorbed the achievements of parallel prose, abandoned the weaknesses of parallel prose and reformed the style of writing. As far as the development of literature itself is concerned, without the literature of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, there would be no prosperity of the literature of the Tang Dynasty.
The prosperity of literature in the Tang Dynasty is manifested in the all-round development of poetry, literature, novels and ci. Poetry developed the earliest and occupied the most important position in Tang literature. When poetry reached its peak, prose began to reform its style. As far as the scale and influence of the reform of style and writing style are concerned, no previous period can be compared with it. Novels also began to flourish. When prose, novels and poems entered the low tide one after another, another poetic style, Ci, appeared in the literary world again and shined brilliantly. Finally, with the Tang Dynasty, there was hardly a period of literary silence.
The prosperity of Tang literature is also manifested in the large number of authors and the emergence of masters. There are 3035 authors in the whole Tang Dynasty and more than 2200 authors in the whole Tang Dynasty. According to incomplete statistics, there are still twenty or thirty kinds of novels in the Tang Dynasty that can be found today. The number of outstanding poets in the Tang Dynasty is unprecedented in the history of China's poetry.
The highest achievement of Tang literature is poetry, which can be said to be the symbol of a generation of literature. The development of Tang poetry has different paragraphs. The first 90 years or so is the preparatory stage for the prosperity of Tang poetry. As far as the field of expression is concerned, it has gradually moved from the palace pavilion to the mountains and rivers desert, and the author has also expanded from court officials to ordinary literati; As far as the emotional mode is concerned, the vigorous vitality of the literature in the Northern Dynasties and the freshness and clarity of the literature in the Southern Dynasties are integrated into one, moving towards a heroic and cheerful realm. As far as the form of poetry is concerned, on the basis of Yongming style, the Tang people have done two things: one is to dualize the four tones, the other is to solve the problem of sticking to the law, from the combination of the law and the sentence to the formation of the law, to get rid of the shackles of Yongming's various theories of illness and crime, and to create a new style of poetry-regular poetry with both procedural constraints and broad creative space. Around the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan, both emotional style, artistic conception and musical form prepared sufficient conditions for the prosperity of Tang poetry. What followed was the all-round prosperity of Tang poetry in Kaiyuan and Tianbao. During this period, there appeared landscape pastoral poets Wang Wei and Meng Haoran, who fascinated people with the beauty of quiet Ming Xiu. Frontier poets Gao Shi and Cen Can appeared, who wrote the frontier life magnificently, sublimely and generously. There are many famous artists such as Wang Jingling, Li Qi, Cui Hao and Wang Zhihuan. Of course, the most important thing is the great poet Li Bai. With his peerless talent and bold and elegant temperament, his poems are flowing and unpredictable, and his feelings are rolling and surging, as beautiful as clear water hibiscus. Later generations have a lot of comments on this issue of Tang poetry. In a word, it's the fragrance on the spine, exquisite image, no work to see, no trace to find, but profound connotation and endless charm.
Just as the Tang poetry reached its peak, the Tang society also moved from its peak to turmoil and decline. In the late Tianbao period, social contradictions intensified, and some poets began to sketch the sufferings of the people. In the winter of the 14th year of Tianbao (755), An Lushan rose up and rebelled against john young, which was known as the Anshi Rebellion. The eight-year war swept across the northern half of China, and the social prosperity accumulated for more than 100 years was destroyed. The Anshi Rebellion became the watershed of Tang society from prosperity to decline. This great social change has also caused changes in literature. In the prosperous times of Kaiyuan and Tianbao, the exquisite image and heroic realm gradually faded, and the ideal color and romantic artistic conception gradually faded. The greatest poet representing this period is Du Fu, the poet saint. He faced up to the eight-year-long war and expressed the human disaster and people's blood and tears in the war with earth-shattering songs. Combining strong and deep lyricism with narrative techniques and writing current events with narrative techniques are different from poems in the prosperous Tang Dynasty in terms of subject matter and writing style. This can be said to be a change in the development of Tang poetry. Since then, Dali poets have come out of the mountains one after another, and their mood has been erratic due to the decline of society. There is a feeling of loneliness in their poems, and the spirit has declined. During Zhenyuan and Yuanhe periods, scholars longed for revival, and at the same time of political reform, there was also an atmosphere of poetry innovation. Poetry creation has reached a climax again. Han Yu, Meng Jiao, Li He and others, influenced by the rise of Du Fu and the elegance of prose and calligraphy, are even more bizarre, and even regard ugliness as beauty, forming the Han and Meng poetry schools. Bai Juyi, Yuan Zhen, Wang Jian absorbed nutrition from Yuefu folk songs and created poems in an easy-to-understand way, forming Yuan Poetry School and Bai Poetry School. These poets in the middle Tang Dynasty opened up a new world of poetry with their innovative spirit and courage in the height and extremely difficult situation of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. After Changqing, Zhongxing became a dream, and the life of scholars became mediocre, with introverted mentality and delicate feelings. Poetry creation has entered a new stage. How narrow the subject matter is and how bitter the writing is. In the ebb tide of this poem, Du Mu and Li Shangyin stand out and shine. In particular, Li Shangyin, with his sensitive spirit, delicate and rich feelings, used symbols, hints and illogical structures to express hazy feelings and hazy realms, which pushed the ability of poetry to express the deep world of the soul to an unparalleled peak and created the last glory of Tang poetry.
The prosperity of Tang literature is the achievement of prose besides poetry. The development and change of Tang poetry, except that Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi once put forward satirical and utilitarian ideas, the general trend is to explore, develop and improve the artistic materials of poetry itself. Different styles in different periods have the inducement of social life, but the different expressions and skills and the different pursuit of artistic interest are more due to the poetry itself. The gradual maturity of metrical poems in the early Tang Dynasty, the perfection of poetic artistic conception in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the innovation of poets in the middle Tang Dynasty, and Li Shangyin's discussion on the mysterious realm of poetic expression skills in the late Tang Dynasty are all for the needs of poetry's own development, not for the purpose of political utility. However, the development of prose is different from poetry, and its new changes are mainly driven by political utility.
The poems of Kaiyuan and Tianbao have completely faded out of the influence of the poetic style of the Southern Dynasties and reached the peak of art, while the conscious reform of prose style has just begun. In the last hundred years of the early Tang Dynasty, although there were many forms of scattered playing, sparse chapters and scattered tables, parallel style still dominated. In the late Tianbao period, Li Hua, Xiao, Du Fu, Liang Su and Liu Mian came out to advocate ancient Chinese prose, and clearly put forward the idea of relying on Tao, taking the Five Classics as the source and emphasizing the use of politics and religion. However, they emphasized that the idea of the integration of politics and religion was not combined with the political reality at that time, but had the nature of empty talk about Ming Dow. When Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan came out, they put forward that Ming Dow should be the style of writing, and the reform of writing style should be linked with Zhenyuan, Yuanhe and political innovation, which became a part of the revival trend of Confucianism, and only then did it form a huge momentum, and prose replaced parallel prose and occupied the literary world. This is the "ancient prose movement" praised by later generations.
The success of Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan's prose style reform lies in the following aspects: First, the text is applied to practice, from empty talk about Ming Dow to participation in political and real life, which has opened up a broad world for the performance field of prose. This makes it different from the parallel prose of the Six Dynasties not only in style, but also in style. Second, although it is retro, it is actually innovation. It not only absorbed the strengths of the prose of various schools in Qin and Han Dynasties, but also fully absorbed the achievements of parallel prose in the Six Dynasties. "Han Liu is a parallel prose, with parallel prose; Fang San Fang pian, Fang pian Fang San; That is, parallel is dispersed, that is, dispersion is parallel. " It greatly enriches the artistic expression skills of prose and pushes prose creation to a brand-new stage.
After Han and Liu, prose creation entered a trough. In the late Tang Dynasty, there were still sharp essays by Pi Rixiu, Lu Guimeng and Luo Yin, but parallel prose developed again. The reasons for this are very complicated. Because the advocacy of ancient prose is too closely related to the political reform, and the political reform fails, the ancient prose is also low. Moreover, because Korean disciples are too eager to take risks, the writing path of ancient Chinese prose is getting narrower and narrower, which also hinders its development.
The development and change of society provides a new cultural soil, and the emergence of new readers has new needs; The development of literature itself also provides possibilities, so a new style appears. Legendary novels came into being in the Tang Dynasty, which was based on strange stories and miscellaneous biographies in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Buddhism is widely spread, preached and vulgarized among the people, and vulgarization and variation have appeared. However, due to the prevalence of Yan music and the need of Yan drinking and playing flute, a new style of poetry-Ci appeared. Legend, variation and ci are new genres in Tang literature, and they are the new development of Tang literature in style.
The appearance of legendary novels, from the stylistic point of view, is the product of the evolution and development of strange novels and miscellaneous histories in the Six Dynasties. Fundamentally speaking, it is the need of entertainment in real life. After the banquet, in the leisure time of the shogunate, the journey was boring, and friends talked at night and expressed their opinions. * * * speaking for the drama, speaking for the drama, has become a fad. Coupled with the influence of proverbs and variants, the prototype of the existing novels in the Six Dynasties fully developed and evolved into legends. Legendary novels are different from novels of the Six Dynasties. First, its original intention is what Lu Xun said: "It was a novel from the beginning". Second, there is generally a relatively complete plot structure. Third, there is a relatively complete characterization. Tang legends have diverse themes; Full of life interest; Narrating fictional stories with historical biographies has both similarities and differences with historical biographies; Prose-style classical Chinese, sometimes with poetry and prose, has a subtle connection with the development of prose and poetry. Out of step with the development of poetry, the peak of Tang poetry was at the beginning of Kaiyuan Tianbao, and the legend began to flourish. Legends flourished in the middle Tang Dynasty, almost in sync with the climax of prose style reform. Like prose, it gradually declined in the late Tang Dynasty. The appearance of the Tang legend marks the maturity of China's classical novels as a style.
Another influential new style in Tang Dynasty is Ci. The emergence of this new style is mainly due to the need for entertainment. Ci begins with Yan Yue, and poetry is chosen to fill in the lyrics according to the tune, all for singing. Originally from the folk, there are folk songs and dances, drinking orders and speeches, which are used in daily banquets, geisha houses and geisha houses. After the middle Tang Dynasty, with the development of urban economy, Ci also rose rapidly, and literati also joined the ranks of Ci. In the late Tang and Five Dynasties, Ci was highly prosperous in West Shu and South Tang. The poets in the flowers of West Shu are gorgeous, and their eyes cannot be separated from the love between men and women. Their purpose is nothing more than entertainment. Poets in the Southern Tang Dynasty expanded the realm of Ci and turned to express their inner feelings.
Tang De