Tao Yuanming (365-427), whose courtesy name was Yuanliang, was also nicknamed Mr. Wuliu. In his later years, he changed his name to Qian. After his death, his relatives and friends privately gave him the posthumous title Jingjie. A native of Chaisang people in Xunyang (now Jiujiang City) in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Tao Yuanming was born into a declining official family. Great-grandfather Tao Kan was the founding father of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He had outstanding military exploits and held the rank of Grand Sima, military commander of eight states, governor of Jingzhou and Jiangzhou, and was granted the title of Duke of Changsha. His grandfather Tao Mao and his father Tao Yi both served as prefects
When they were young, their family declined. His father died when he was eight years old, and his mother died of illness when he was twelve years old. He lived with his mother and sister. Orphaned and widowed, most of them live in the home of their grandfather Meng Jia. Meng Jia is a contemporary celebrity. "He is not a stoic in his behavior, he is not boastful in his years, and he never looks unhappy. He likes to drink heavily, and does not mess up after too much. As for forgetting his pride, he acts as if there is no one else." ("The General of the Former Jin Dynasty in the West") "Shi Mengfu Jun Biography") Yuanming "managed to live in the world with great intentions, and many of his ancestors imitated him." (Daqin Liyu) In the future, his personality and cultivation were very much like those of his grandfather. His grandfather had a large collection of books at home, which provided him with the conditions to read ancient books and understand history. In the Jin Dynasty when scholars regarded "Zhuang" and "Lao" as their sects and deposed the "Six Classics", he not only studied "Laozi" like ordinary scholar-bureaucrats "Zhuangzi", and also studied the "Six Classics" of Confucianism and "exotic books" such as literature, history and mythology. Influenced by the ideological trends of the times and his family environment, he accepted two different ideas, Confucianism and Taoism, and cultivated two different aspirations: "a strong ambition to travel to the world" and "a natural love for mountains and hills".
Tao Yuanming rarely had the ambition of "flying across the world with his fierce ambition, and thinking about far away places" ("Miscellaneous Poems"). In the eighteenth year of Taiyuan (393) of Emperor Xiaowu, he had the ambition of "greatly benefiting the common people". If you wish, let Jiangzhou offer wine. At that time, the clan system was very strict. He was born in a common family, was looked down upon by others, and felt unworthy of his official position. He retired after a few days. ("The Biography of Tao Qian, Book of Jin") After he resigned and returned home, the state summoned him to be the chief clerk again. He also resigned. In the fourth year of Emperor An's reign (400), he went to Jingzhou and served as a subordinate of Huanxuan. At this time, Huanxuan was controlling the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, waiting for the opportunity to usurp the power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Of course, he refused to cooperate with him. Huan Xuan was of the same ilk and was the confidant of this ambitious man. He wrote in his poem: "How can I leave this place and go as far away as West Jing?" "("Xin Chou went on vacation in the seventh month of the year and returned to Jiangling for a night trip to Tukou") There is a sense of regret for the official Huanxuan. "How can I be drowned in love after a long journey of love? "("Two Poems from the Capital in the Fifth Month of the Year of Gengzi") expressed a deep sigh for the official life of relying on others. In the winter of the fifth year of Long'an, he resigned and returned home due to the death of his mother. Yuanxing In the first month of the first year (402), Huanxuan raised his troops to fight against the imperial court, invaded Jiankang, and seized the military and political power of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In the second year of Yuanxing, Huanxuan publicly usurped the throne in Jiankang, changed the country to Chu, and imprisoned Emperor An in Jiankang. Xunyang. He worked hard in his hometown and financed his own business. He closed his door and chanted: "I live under the Heng family, and I am isolated from the world." No one knows that the Jing Fei is always closed during the day. "It expressed disdain for Huan Xuan's proclaiming the emperor. In the third year of Yuanxing, Liu Yu, general Wu of the Jianjun Army and prefect of Xiapi, joined forces with Liu Yi, He Wuji and other officials to attack Huan Ping from Jingkou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu). Huan Xuan was defeated and went west, taking Emperor An who was imprisoned in Xunyang to Jiangling. He left home and joined the army under Liu Yumu (it is said that Tao Yuanming joined Liu Yu after he captured Jiankang). When Liu Yu led his troops to attack Huan Xuan, he imitated the story of Tian Chou who was loyal to the Eastern Han Dynasty and traveled in disguise. He disguised himself and traveled privately. He ventured to Jiankang and told the story of Huan Xuan's kidnapping of Emperor An to Jiangling. He reported to Liu Yu and completed his mission. He was extremely happy about the usurper's desire to fight, and wrote a poem to express his ambition: "Forty years old, I am unknown, and I am not afraid. I have a famous car, and I have a famous horse." Although it is thousands of miles away, who dare not reach it! " (Chapter 4 of "Rongmu") After Liu Yu entered Jiankang, his style was also quite extraordinary. The politics of the Eastern Jin Dynasty had long been suffering from the long-standing corruption phenomenon of "hundreds of officials wereted and slack". After Liu Yu's " "Leading by example" (leading by example), first rectifying the ban (imposing a majestic ban in advance), "all officials inside and outside are solemnly dedicated to their duties, and customs are changed." His character, talents, and achievements are quite similar to Tao Kan's There was a similar point, and I had a good impression of him for a while. However, not long after he entered the scene, he saw that in order to eliminate dissidents, he killed Diao Kui's family and the innocent Wang Yu and his son, and based on his personal feelings, everyone thought that he was a traitor. Huanxuan's confidant Wang Ji was appointed to the important official position of Yangzhou Governor. These dark phenomena made him feel disappointed. "My eyes are tired of the different mountains and rivers, and my mind is on the mountains and rivers." "We chatted and changed, and finally returned to Banshenglu." Then he resigned and lived in seclusion. In the first year of Yixi (405), he transferred to General Jianwei and Jiangzhou. In March, he was ordered to go to Jiankang to resign on behalf of Liu Jingxuan. In the autumn of the same year, his uncle Tao Kui introduced him to serve as magistrate of Pengze County. One day, when I saw the mail sent by Xunyang County, the official said: "We should tie up our belts to welcome him. He sighed: "How can I bow down to the village boy for fifty buckets of rice?" "So he was awarded the seal and resigned. Tao Yuanming's thirteen years of official life ended with his resignation as magistrate of Pengze County. These thirteen years were his constant attempts, constant disappointments, and final despair in order to realize his ideal ambition of "helping the common people". Thirteen years later, he wrote the poem "Come Back and Come Back", expressing his determination to break with the upper ruling class and not join the world.
Tao Yuanming resigned and returned home to live a "self-financed life". His wife, Zhai, shared his aspirations and lived in poverty. "The husband plowed in front and the wife hoeed in the back." They worked together to maintain their lives and were closely related to the working people at the beginning of their return to the fields. OK.
"The square house is more than ten acres, with eight or nine thatched houses, the back eaves are shaded by elms and willows, and the front hall is full of peaches and plums." Yuanming loved chrysanthemums, and they were planted all around the house. "Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, leisurely seeing the Nanshan Mountain" ("Cong Za Shi") is still popular today. He is addicted to alcohol and will get drunk after drinking. When a friend comes to visit, no matter how high or low he is, as long as there is wine at home, he will drink with him. He got drunk first. He said to the guest: "I'm drunk and want to sleep, please go." In the fourth year of Yixi's reign, his residence in Shangjing (the foothills of Yujing Mountain in the west city of Xingzi County today) caught fire, so he moved to Lili (today's Lilitao Village of Xingzi Hot Spring), and his life was more difficult. . If there is a good harvest, you can also "have a great time drinking spring wine and picking vegetables from my garden." If there is a calamity year, "you will be hungry in the summer and sleep in bed in the cold nights". In the last years of Yixi's reign, an old farmer knocked on the door early in the morning, brought wine to drink with him, and persuaded him to become an official: "Under the tattered eaves, there is not enough room for a high place. Everyone in this life is still the same (no distinction between right and wrong), I hope you will stir up the mud (referring to the mud) He replied: "I am deeply aware of my father's words. I can learn the fine bridle (entering the car), but if I don't like it, I can't go back." "Drinking") declined the old farmer's advice in a "harmony but different" tone. In his later years, his life became increasingly poor, and some friends took the initiative to send money to help him. Sometimes, he would come to ask for a loan. His old friend Yan Yanzhi was appointed as the prefect of Shi'an County in the first year of Jingping (423), the Young Emperor of the Liu Song Dynasty. He passed by Xunyang and went to his house to drink every day. Before leaving, he left 20,000 yuan, which he sent all to the restaurant and drank one after another. However, he has principles when asking for loans or accepting alms. In the first year of Yuanjia (424) of Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty, Tan Daoji, the governor of Jiangzhou, personally visited his home. At this time, he was sick and hungry for several days and could not get out of bed. Tan Daoji advised him: "When a sage is alive, if there is no way in the world, he will hide, and if there is a way, he will come. Today, you (you) are born in a civilized world, why do you suffer like this?" He said: "How dare you look for the virtuous when you are latent? You have no ambition." Tan Daoji offered beam meat, but he waved it away. He resigned and returned to his hometown for twenty-two years, living a poor pastoral life, and his determination to stay poor and keep moral integrity became stronger with age. In mid-September of the fourth year of Yuanjia (427), when he was still conscious, he wrote three "elegy poems" for himself. In the last two sentences of the third poem, he said: "What is the way to die? The body is supported by the same mountain." ", showing that he views death so plainly and naturally.
Tao Yuanming was the most outstanding poet in the 800 years of Han, Wei, Southern and Northern Dynasties. There are 125 Tao poems in existence today, most of which are five-character poems. In terms of content, it can be divided into three categories: drinking poems, chanting poems and pastoral poems.
1. Drinking Poems Tao Yuanming was the first poet in the history of Chinese literature to write a large number of drinking poems. His 20 "Drinking" poems use an "intoxicating" tone to accuse the upper class society of confusing right and wrong, criticizing and blaming the same; or exposing the corruption and darkness of the world; or reflecting the dangers of official career; or expressing the poet's intoxicated mood after retiring from officialdom; or It expresses the poet's dissatisfaction in difficulties. Judging from the mood and style of the poem, it may not be a work from the same period. In the second year of Yuanxi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (420), Liu Yu deposed Emperor Gong of Jin Dynasty as King Lingling. He killed him the following year and established the Liu Song Dynasty. "Shu Jiu" uses metaphors to obscurely and tortuously record this process of usurping power and changing generations. He expressed infinite sorrow for the fall of Emperor Gong of Jin and the Jin Dynasty. At this time, Tao Yuanming had been living in seclusion for many years. He was used to seeing troubled times and usurping power. But this poem still reveals his unforgettable spirit about worldly affairs.
2. Poems about feelings, represented by 12 poems in "Miscellaneous Poems" and 13 poems in "Reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas". Most of the 12 poems in "Miscellaneous Poems" express his political anguish of being unable to achieve his ambitions after retiring to seclusion, and express his noble personality that does not go along with the world. It can be seen that the poet's inner sorrow and anger are infinitely deep and wide. The 13th poem of "Reading the Classic of Mountains and Seas" expresses the same content by chanting strange things in "The Classic of Mountains and Seas". For example, the 10th poem expresses and shows that his ambition to help the world will never be extinguished by praising Jingwei and Xingtian's "fierce will is always there" .
3. Pastoral Poems Tao Yuanming has the largest number of pastoral poems and the highest achievements. This kind of poem fully expresses the poet's lofty aspirations and noble integrity that despise fame and wealth; fully expresses the poet's extreme hatred and complete break with the dark officialdom; fully expresses the poet's love for the simple pastoral life and his love for labor. understanding and friendly feelings towards the working people; fully expressing the poet's pursuit and yearning for the ideal world. As a literati, such thoughts and feelings, and such content, are unprecedented in the history of literature, especially in a society with a clan system and strict concepts. Some of Tao Yuanming's pastoral poems also reflect his difficult situation in his later years, which can allow us to indirectly understand the miserable life of the peasant class at that time. Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring Poem" was probably written in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty. It depicts a utopian ideal society. It expresses the poet's complete negation of the existing social system and his infinite pursuit of the ideal world. It marks that Tao Yuanming's thoughts have reached a new height. Tao Yuanming is the founder of pastoral poetry. With its simple and natural language and lofty artistic conception, it opened up a new world for Chinese poetry and directly influenced the pastoral poetry school of the Tang Dynasty.
Tao Yuanming's extant articles include 3 poems, 5 verses, and 4 prose, totaling 12 articles. "Xianqing Fu" in Ci Fu is imitated from Zhang Heng's "Ding Qing Fu" and Cai Yong's "Jing Qing Fu". The content is about describing a dream about love, which is meaningless. "Ode to Feelings for Scholars Not Encountered" is modeled on Dong Zhongshu's "Ode to Scholars Not Encountered" and Sima Qian's "Ode to Sad Scholars Not Encountered". Its content is to express the resentment of those who have ambitions and find it difficult to achieve under the clan system; "Returning to Come and Come to Xici" is Tao Yuanming's resignation from office and hermitage. A political declaration to openly break with upper class society.
The article devotes a great deal of space to writing about his infinite joy of leaving officialdom and imagining the infinite fun after returning to the countryside, which expresses the author's yearning and love for nature and hermit life. The article cleverly integrates narrative, discussion, and lyricism to create a vivid, natural, and fascinating artistic realm; the language is natural and simple, washed away from the lead, and has a strong local flavor. The rhymes include "Ode to Paintings on Fans", nine chapters of "Reading History", "Essays to Commemorate Cheng's Sister", "Essays to Commemorate Congdi Jingyuan", and "Essays to Commemorate Myself"; prose articles include "History of the Former Jin Dynasty's General in the Western Campaign" "The Biography of the Lord of Mengfu", also known as "The Farewell Biography of Meng Jia", is a biography written for his grandfather Meng Jia; in addition, there are "The Biography of Mr. Wuliu", "The Story of Peach Blossom Spring", "Yu Ziyan and others", etc. In general, the number and achievements of Tao's inscriptions are not as good as those of Tao's poems.
Tao Yuanming's works are sincere, simple and natural, and sometimes reveal the thoughts of Lao and Zhuang who escape reality and are optimistic about fate. He is known as the "Pastoral Poet".